Red in Tooth and Claw

Fluttershy was very confused. All of her animals were hiding in her house. There were even some new ones. She had never seen a golden eagle, and here was one in her bathroom. Most worrying, though, were the two creatures in her kitchen, cowering next to her bunnies.

A timberwolf and a giant scorpion. Something out there was scaring monsters, and they were going to the only place they could think of for safety. Most worrying, she had found three claw marks going through her door this morning. Something was stalking these creatures. She had to protect them, but she didn’t want to go outside. What if whatever was out there was waiting-

“Fluttershy!”

She jumped, and shakily looked over at Applejack.

“A-Applejack! Hi! What are you doing here?”

“I was walkin’ Winona and something spooked her. She bolted in here, and… Is that a timberwolf?”

“I don’t know what’s going on. There are more creatures in my house than there have ever been! Something is scaring them out of Everfree.”

“Sounds mighty fishy. Have you thought of lookin’ into it?”

Fluttershy showed Applejack the claw marks.

“Alright, I can see why you wouldn’t want to check. Those went right through your door!”

“Yeah…”

"Anyways, while I was here, and since I brought Winona, I thought maybe I would ask if you could watch her for a night, because she's seemed a little under the weather and the veterinarian is gone to Manehattan and all, but, since you're busy with so many creatures-"

"No, no, she'll be safe with me, Applejack."
* * *

It smelled them. A treasure trove of creatures. Food. Prey. It needed to eat, so it could continue to hunt the striped thing. It waited for the moon to come up, and then it quietly made its way over to the den where the creatures were hiding. It scratched at the door, quietly, gently. It was always quiet on a hunt, and as delicate as possible. Quiet was a given, as speed had to yield to stealth a lot of the time. As for delicacy, if it wasn't careful in it's kills, the best parts could be ruined.

Its claws finally broke through. It had broken through the door earlier, just to see if it could, after determining that the striped one could not be reached quietly. It felt inside the door, felt the cold metal, and flexed its claws, splintering the wood around the metal. Then it pulled the metal away, and pushed the barrier away, slowly. Quietly, it snuck in, and started to look for something to fill its stomach. One creature of the right size could fill its belly.

If it had known this place was here, it would have never gone hungry again. Birds, rodents, reptiles and so much more. There were fish out front in a stream, and even a yellow hoofed creature further up in the den. It really was a great place to hunt. It finally picked one animal, a small rodent, nice and plump. It didn't need much or want much. Just something it could carry away that would keep it full.

Delicate as ever, it slowly slid its jaws over the creature’s neck, and bit hard. There was a small pop. The creature might as well still be asleep. Peaceful. Then, it walked over to a large arthropod with a long tail, and precisely cut everything sharp off, slowly killing the thing. Predators would commonly kill each other off in situations like this to assert their territory and dominance over food, and it knew that more food was guaranteed if the arthropod was killed. It couldn't do anything about the wood creature next to it, as they were unable to be killed, but they instinctively left it alone anyways, and they didn't kill to eat. They didn't ever eat, probably. It usually ate their kills after they left. Or, it had before it had killed that pompous manticore. Now it had left its mark, and left the arthropod in a pile. It delicately picked the rodent up, and trotted out, soundless up to the point where its tail hit the barrier, knocking a feather loose and creating a large wooden crack. It ran off as creatures screeched shrilly in terror at this sudden sound, unseen, back into the night.
* * *

Fluttershy awoke with a start at the din of a house full of frightened animals. It was the middle of the night. She went downstairs, and the sight was horrid. The giant scorpion from before was dismembered, its legs, pincers, and tail lying in a pile around it. It was obviously dead. Her door was shredded, and the doorknob was lying in the dirt a few feet outside.

The most terrifying part of it all was that she was missing a bunny. She quickly found Angel, and put him up in her room. Then, she started a frantic search that lasted well into morning. No blood, no body parts. It was as if the bunny had just vanished. She was familiar with predators that left little behind of their kills, but this was taking it to a whole new level. Applejack, who had come to pick up Winona and frantically run in after seeing the door, was relieved to find her friend safe. She hauled the dead scorpion outside, and then helped search for the rabbit, but it was gone.

Eventually, Applejack went to get the rest of their friends as well, mostly for the sake of Fluttershy's comfort. Fluttershy refused to leave her animals, and Applejack hadn’t been so keen on leaving her, so she hurried as fast as she could and gathered everypony else. Pinkie was the only one who didn’t seem worried.

“Fluttershy, you need a better door!” was her only remark.

“Pinkie, this is serious!” Twilight said. “Something has broken in, it’s killed one creature systematically and ran off with another, and we don’t even know what it is! Fluttershy, did it make any noise?”

“Not that I know of.” She turned to her animals. “Did anyone hear anything before the sound of the door?” None of the creatures nodded.

“Did you all miss this? I mean, look at it, it’s huge!” Pinkie said, as she picked up a large grey feather, with a white tip, and a border of black between the grey and white. It was a good eight inches in length, not the biggest but certainly nothing small. None of them had ever seen one like it before, which terrified Fluttershy even more. She had seen everything, which meant that this was new, and new predators could have a devastating effect on the fauna of an ecosystem, which could mess up the ecology of the whole place and leave an ecosystem in ruins and, and… Oh no…

What would happen to anypony that got in this thing’s way? A predator like this could easily kill a pony, and probably would if it were hungry, desperate, or bored enough. Images of maulings she had seen when she had talked to troubled animals at zoos came to mind. A creature with claws like these would go for the thighs, midsection, and throat, and it would cut those. Asphyxiation, blood loss, immobility and evisceration. The image of blood finally got to her.

Fluttershy fainted.