A New Being, and A New Begining

The sun had set, as it was about nine PM, and Fluttershy was out in her yard, tending her nocturnal animals. The bats had been particularly needy this eve, but Fluttershy didn’t mind, even if there were ten dozen hanging out on the side of her house.

“Aww, do you have a tummy ache, little guy?” she asked one bat in particular. “Maybe you ate too many bugs tonight, try not eating so many, please. I don’t want you to eat yourself sick, after all.”

All the bats suddenly stopped squeaking at Fluttershy and each other, only to stare just over her shoulder… directly above the Everfree Forest.

“W-what’s wrong? I-is there s-something behind me?” Fluttershy stammered out.

Every last bat shrieked and took off at once, causing Fluttershy to jump back with a little “Eep!” sound. She looked over where the bats were looking, and saw something falling into the forest, from some odd hole in the sky.

‘Oh! Oh no, somepony needs to help! I… Oh, I need to help, they could be hurt!’ Fluttershy thought, grabbing her med kit and running off.

A few minutes later:

Fluttershy was peering through the trees, looking for any sign of whoever… or whatever fell. “Oh, where are they? I hope nothing” Fluttershy gulped, “ate them.”

Suddenly a roar rang through the otherwise silent forest. Fluttershy nearly jumped out of her fur hearing it.

‘Oh no, a Hydra! I really need to find this pony quickly!’ She started running the opposite way from the roar, but another stopped her.

‘Wait… Oh dear, that’s a hunting roar. The Hydra might have the pony!’ Fluttershy ran in the worst possible direction, towards the roars.

‘Oh, I hope I’m not too late. Oh I wish I had the girls with me!’ She thought, running through the dim Everfree.

Earlier, over the Everfree:

“Falling.” The creature opened it’s eyes. “Why am I here? Where am I? Wait… Who am I?” It tried to remember, thinking as hard as it can, falling through the air.
‘My name... is… Dante. I am a human. My location… Huh, no clue. Wait… I remember now. I have to thank him… her… whatever, if I see it again.’ He thought.

…

‘Damn, forgot I was falling. This will hurt, in any case.’

A loud crash was heard, as he hit the ground. ‘Okay, not dead again, so it was a good landing. How am I not dead? Why does my body feel funny?’ Dante thought to himself.

He got up on all fours, only to notice, he wasn’t human any more. He seemed to be a bone-white Kitsune, but when he felt his chest, something was off. ‘Well, this doesn’t help my not dead theory.’ He thought, feeling the four inch hole where his heart used to be.

‘Need to find some water or something to use as a mirror. Only then can I be sure.’

A few minutes have passed since he awoke:

He came across a small, still pool of water and looked at his reflection. He didn’t notice the low growl from behind him.

‘I suppose God must think this is funny. I prayed to go to Equestria, but not as this.’

A roar rang out behind him, and Dante said to himself “Well, might as well see what powers I got along with this fashion statement.”

‘Rarity is so gonna kill me when I meet her trying to get this thing off my head.’

Fluttershy was running, directly towards the source of the roars. She saw the white fox running from it, but stopped when the fox leapt a hundred feet in the air… and stood there, on top of air. Now realizing her jaw had hit the ground, she closed her mouth to watch for an opening to save the fox.

She noticed something was strange about the Hydra. It… was wearing masks? She had never seen a Hydra wear anything! But her jaw dropped a second time. At the bases of each of the four throats, were large, seven inch holes. Which went straight through, yet the Hydra could still breathe.

The Hydra roared and shot an odd, blue-black beam at the fox, which couldn’t dodge. As the fox fell, he began to spin, throwing spikes off his back at the Hydra hollow. When he hit the ground, he flicked his… Nine tails? Fluttershy couldn’t believe it, a Kitsune! She knew the Neighponese had myths of such creatures, but she never saw one before!

When she started paying attention to the fight again, the Hydra had just inhaled deeply, and the Kitsune was still flicking his tails at the Hydra, send scores of spines flying right to the Hydra, who then opened all four mouths and bellowed blue-black flames to the Kitsune.

Fluttershy gasped, fearing the worst, but a red-black beam shot through, and impacted the Hydra. Mortally wounded, the Hydra let four beams fly at the Kitsune, who could not dodge yet again. The Kitsune flew back and hit a tree a full hundred yards away. A sickening crack was heard, even at the full hundred yards, by Fluttershy. Looking at the Hydras lack of breathing, she knew it was safe to approach.

“H-hello? Kitsune? Are y-you okay?” Fluttershy said, approaching him quickly.

“Grah… That hurt…”

Fluttershy heard this and her eyes widened. “You can speak? You speak Equestrian?”

“To me… it sounds… like you are… speaking English…” He panted out.

“My name is Fluttershy, and we need to get you home! You must have broken ribs after a hit like that!”

“The name… is Dante,’ he said, blood dribbling out of his mouth, “And I… have a lot worse… than some broken ribs… But I fell from the sky pretty far… and survived, so… my body is tough enough to handle this… but some medical care would be nice” Dante promptly collapsed.

“Oh, oh no! Wait here, I’ll get Twilight to come fix you up!” Fluttershy said. ‘I hope the “Teleportal” of hers works out here!’

Fluttershy laid a small lavender disk on the ground. “I’ll be right back!” she yelled, flying off at a speed that would make Rainbow Dash’ jaw drop.

Golden Oaks Library, four miles away, and two seconds later:

“TWILIGHT!”

“Who in the world was that?” Twilight asked Spike.

“Sounded like Fluttershy, but way too loud for it to be her!” Spike said, walking over to the door.

Opening the door, Spike got pushed aside by a butter-yellow and pink blur. “Twilight! I need you to bring your best healing spell and use the Teleportal! Quickly, he won’t live much longer without healing!” Fluttershy exclaimed.
“Uh, y-yes, right on it! How big a creature?” Twilight asked.

“Pony sized Kitsune! Hurry!” Fluttershy was noticeably panicking.

“All right, I’m ready to go.” Twilight said, picking up a spell book and a scroll.

“All right, it’s in the Everfree, roughly four miles south-east.”

“Got it! Prepare yourself, this will be disorienting.” Twilight said as she charged her horn.

*FLASH*

“Ow… my eyes?” Spike said, rubbing his eyes to clear away the stars.

In the Everfree:

*FLASH*

“Oogh, that always feels odd… are you all right, Flutter… shy?” Twilight was looking at where Fluttershy had been to see nothing.

“Oh dear, he’s so much worse already.” Fluttershy said from Twi’s right.

“Oh my, you weren’t kidding, Fluttershy!” Twilight said, running over.

Twilight scrunched up her face and closed her eyes, casting the spell and overcharging it to compensate for the magnitude of the damage Dante had sustained.

“Hang in there Dante, you’ll be okay soon.” Fluttershy said.

“Okay, the spell took hold. He’ll be sore, I think, but he’ll live.” Twilight said. ‘How did he end up in this condition? Did he fight a dragon or something?’

“Oh, good. I was worried he had beaten the Hydra-like thing only to succumb to his injuries.” Fluttershy said with a sigh of relief.

“He beat up a Hydra?!?” Twilight jumped into the air and screamed.

“No, but it may have been a hydra/dragon Hybrid, given the four heads and fire-breath. But, wait, the both used another attack, an energy beam of some sort, and both wear these masks, and… Oh no, there is a hole in his chest!” Fluttershy screamed.

“WHAT?!?” Twilight came over and looked. “Good news, it isn’t a wound.”

“Oh thank Celestia!” Fluttershy sighed as she collapsed on the ground.
“Now, where is this supposed Hydra/dragon?” Twilight asked.

“Laying behind you.” Fluttershy said.

“Oh, okay. I’ll need some samples.” Twilight said.

After a few minutes, Dante began to open his eyes. The first sight he saw was Fluttershy right there, in his face, smiling ear-to-ear. He blinked twice, and asked, “So I take it I am still alive?” She noticed his eyes. The part that was normally white was black, the iris was blood red, and his pupils were slitted.

“Yes, all thanks to Twilight.” She said, looking over to her friend.

‘Well, at least there isn’t a language barrier.’ He walked over to Twilight, and sat down beside her. He waited about a minute for her to notice him, then sighed, and nuzzled her to try and get her attention.

“Not now Spike, I need to figure out what this thing is.” Twilight said without even looking up from the Hydra’s hollow mask.

“Pet names already? I haven’t even thanked you for saving me yet. I suppose I can cope with this. Spike kind of fits, though.” He said, smirking beneath his mask.

“W-what? Oh I didn’t even notice-EEK!” She screeched, jumping into the air as she caught sight of who was talking to her.

“… Ow… Note to self, sensitive ears” Dante said, laying his ears back and leaning away.

“S-sorry, you caught me off guard. Fluttershy told me what happened, seems like you gave it plenty of warning to back off. Nopony who gives that much warning can be all bad.” Twilight said, blushing.

“Sorry to you as well. I’m rather happy to be alive, and when I get happy, I make jokes. Uh, you ponies have hooves, so remind me to avoid any lewd jokes or the like around any females. Getting slapped with a hoof must hurt.” Dante said.

“Um, okay… You actually won’t have anything to worry about. Mares make lewd jokes all the time, just don’t make any around a stallion. Then you’ll get slapped. Hard.” Twilight said. “Now, I really need to figure out what this thing is. A hydra that breaths fire, with a bone mask on every head, or any head, is unheard of.”

“It was a hollow, like me. But it was made from an animal, so it was pure instinct and no control.” Dante said. “Now it’s lunch for me, though. I would assume you ponies are herbivores, so you might want to look away.”

“Actually, ponies are omnivores. All sentient-sapient-intelligent creatures are. Seems to come with the territory of ‘No longer an Animal’, so we actually have no problems with meat consumption. We just don’t eat it much, as it is tough to chew and expensive to buy.” Twilight said.

“Well then. Want me to bring this back so we can share it, or want me to start cooking it here?” Dante asked.

“How will we carry it?” Fluttershy asked.

“Heh, special ability of mine.” Dante said. His eyes bean to change. The Iris turned white, then his body started changing. His tails all merged into one, long serpentine tail, his body lengthened, and his head became reptilian. His legs turned into huge, alligator like limbs, but it wasn’t done yet. He started growing even more legs, ending up with twelve total. His hide darkened to a dark sapphire blue. He was about five times his original size now.

“You’re still too small to carry that Hy- uh, hollow.” Twilight pointed out.

“Ngh… Not done… yet.” Dante grunted out.

He began getting bigger and bigger. He stopped growing when he was about a thousand feet long, thus being about five times the size of the Hydra hollow.

“Ugh, this should work.” Dante said. ‘Big and slow, but heavily armoured, and the lightning breath attack could be useful.’

He slithered under the hollow and lifted. “See, no problems now.” He said, smiling under his newly reformed mask.

“Uh, y-yeah, that’ll work.” Twilight said loudly. “He just broke half the laws of physics…” she muttered to herself.

“Here, Dante, follow me. We’ll go back to me house, and cook this.” Fluttershy said, leading the way back to Ponyville.

Fluttershy was clearing a field of nocturnal terrestrial animals, but a small white bunny wearing a nightcap was squeaking and trilling at her, which was keeping her from working.

‘One of the good things about this form, it’s silent.’ Dante thought as he came up behind the rabbit. “I just snuck up on a rabbit while carrying eight tons of meat on my back.’

“Please, Angel, I need to finish clearing the field.” Fluttershy pleaded. Angel cocked his foot back to kick her leg, and Fluttershy winced. Dante leaned down his head and quietly said “I would not suggest hurting her, considering it would piss me off, and I’m able to carry ten tons on my back, breathe lightning, am a thousand feet long, and have razor sharp claws and fangs.” His hollowized voice cut through the night air, and sent a shiver through Angel. The white bunny slowly turned and looked at Dante, whose hollow masks line of razor sharp teeth seemed to frown at him, while also grin with a thinly veiled starving madness. Angel did the only smart thing a coward can do. He promptly dropped a few “pellets” in the grass and ran twice as fast as if his tail was on fire.

“Hey, don’t threaten Angel! He might be a jerk, but that is no reason to threaten to kill him!” Twilight shouted, looking very stern.

“Ha ha ha ha! Sorry, heh, it’s just funny. Thought you would have caught on to what I did, Twilight. Did you, Fluttershy?” Dante asked.

“No, and I certainly don’t find you threatening my friends funny!” Fluttershy said, on the verge of giving him The Stare.

“Think about what I said, girls. The worst I said was that him attack my friend, one of the two who saved my life tonight, would piss me off. I then gave him a rundown of my current appearance and abilities for two reasons. First, and this is the main reason, was so he would imagine something even worse than me, so that I wouldn’t quite be as frightening, and that way he wouldn't have a heart attack. Second, it gave him a reason to clear the field in a hurry, as this hollow Hydra is heavy, and I do not want him getting crushed. Everything else but he and we cleared out as soon as I broke through the tree line. I will admit, I did want him to think I might hurt him if he hurts you, Fluttershy, because it seems I might be sticking around town a while, and considering you’re my friend, new friend or not, I plan to give him plenty of incentive to change his ways for the better. Mind you, I won’t actually hurt him until he pulls something stupid, and even then it’ll be at most the equal of a spanking for a misbehaving child.” Dante lectured. “I have no intent to bring lasting harm to anyone here that I have met, him included. Yet, anyway.”

“So, what you are saying is, you made his mind make up a threat you never actually made, because he abuses Fluttershy, and refuses to change for anypony? And you even still don’t want to harm him? Okay, that was kind of smart. Mean, but smart.” Twilight said.

“Oh, I do hope he isn’t too scared of you.” Fluttershy said.

“If he isn’t, then I’ve failed. But considering how fast he left, and not to mention the second between him turning around and him running, he ought to be glad he doesn’t wear pants. He’d need a clean pair right now. So, where do I dump the meat?” Dante said, oddly cheerfully.