Deep within the Macintosh Hills

The sun was setting, brilliant golden light shone down on the largest of the Macintosh Hills. The green grass upon the hills swayed with the gentle breeze. The scene was picturesque, and indeed many a pony artist had traveled to this same hill to paint or draw. Unfortunately, a creature not nearly as pleasant as a pony resided upon the hill presently. The monster lay sprawled across the ground, all eight of its limbs splayed around it, a demented grin upon its face.

So......full. The monster thought, relishing in the feeling. The last several days had been spent sating a near insatiable urge for pony flesh, and the monster is exhausted. But the fruit of its labor shone clear as day by the distention upon its midsection. The beast had gorged until it could gorge no longer.

Its travels had told it how weak and gullible ponies are. Beckoning them to their deaths was child's play. So trusting and helpful, none of the ponies had ever suspected a thing, and their flavor was all the better for it. The monster was no fool however, it knew that slaughtering the ponies blatantly was unwise. Lest he attract unwanted attention. So it had eaten ponies swiftly, but did so one at a time, leaving no remains.

It had nearly wiped out an entire village. Nearly.

He had not noticed the scent until it was too late, the village had had a resident donkey, who upon seeing the village abandoned, became extremely suspicious. He had been the only one not to fall for the dark creature's bait. Upon hearing the voice of a small filly crying for help, the donkey had slowly approached the dark alleyway the voice called from, as opposed to the ponies that passed by before and after him, who had blindly ran in, to their almost immediate demise.

No, the donkey had been calculating, and upon seeing the alleyway to be empty, instead of investigating further to find the unmistakable sound of a plea for help, he had loudly exclaimed "NOPE!" and immediately turned tale.

At that point, half the village had 'dissapeared'. But only the donkey survived the night. None of the ponies had heeded his hastily shouted warnings as he fled the small town. The monster felt no anger that the donkey had gotten away, only shame.

Next time, none will survive, I will be sure of it. The monster began to think tiredly of how the last few days hunt could have gone better. The drowsiness caused by its massive meal began to take effect, and the monster closed the triangular slits that were its eyes. It did not notice the three forms that had quietly landed at the base of the hill behind it, that were slowly stalking toward it.

Three teenage dragons, Garble being the leader, a red scaled drake with slightly torn wings, and two other dragons, a skinnier white scaled dragon, and a fatter grey one. Named Bone and Muck respectively.

As the three dragons inched upwards, crawling on their stomachs, they began to speak in hushed whispers.

"What is that?" Bone asks apprehensively.

"Does it matter!?" Garble snaps, irritated.

"It just looks creepy is all he means Garble," Muck whispers, barely audible even to the dragons very near him. He would never admit it to Garble or Bone, but he was terrified, not just scared. Completely bloodcurdlingly terrified. All dragons know the scent of blood instinctively. However few dragons could differentiate different kinds of blood. Fewer still could distinguish old blood from fresh blood and blood from different members of the same species. Muck could. And he could smell the blood of over one hundred different ponies clinging to the monster. He gulped.

"Are you some kinda whelp?!" Garble whispers harshly. Stopping and looking back to Muck.

"U-Uhh, No... no im not," He responds meekly.

"You gotta admit, that thing looks pretty freaky, look at all those claws!" Bone adds. Garble begins to angrily respond before snapping his jaw shut, widening his eyes, and pointing. Bone and Muck follow his claw.

All three of them freeze as they see the creature open its massive maw... and girlishly yawn. Almost cutely, like a young filly. The teenage dragons shudder in unison. The creature sounds as namby-pamby as a pony, but those fangs are at least three times the length of any of their own, and the whole thing looks like something out of a nightmare.

"...what the hell," Garble murmurs. Bone and Muck just look on, with their mouths opening and closing but no words coming out.

"Nope," Muck whispers. "I'm gonna go eat some gems back at the badlands, screw this." He begins to inch backwards, head down, while shaking his head.

"Oh come on muck, get back here!" Garble half commands, half pleads, him and Bone turning to look at their retreating friend.

Muck just sighs and looks up from the dirt before gasping loudly. Garble and Bone wince at the volume.

"Muck, what the fuck!" Bone whisper shouts.

"It could have heard you!" Garble adds. The two stare at their awestruck friend in a mixture of confusion and silent rage, waiting for an answer.

....

"...its gone"

Garble and Bone nearly snap their necks turning them, the monster is gone. As if it vanished into thin air. The three exchange glances.

"Ok, yeah, you know, I'm out too." Garble states, jumping to his feet and spreading his wings. Bone and Muck do the same, however Bone is frantic, and trips over himself. Collapsing into a messy heap of teenage dragon.

Garble and Muck take off. A faint shimmer of light, nearly invisible to even a draconic eye, advances toward the prone form of Bone.

"Get out of there Bone!" Muck shouts, still rising.

Bone stumbles over his feet again, before finally spreading his wings and taking off. He opens his mouth in a joyous grin.

"That was a close one, eh guys?" He states proudly. before noticing the looks of confusion on his friends faces.

"Whats wrong?"

"You're not moving, like, at all..." Muck solemnly states. Bone's eyes widen in realization, as he notices the gripping pressure around his tail. He turns back, and sees a form faintly shimmering. Bipedal with six large claws, two of which gripping his tail. He could almost make out its face, but he did not see the sinister grin spread across it.

The monster reveals itself as Bone screams, thrashes, and belches fire all at once. The smirking monster, completely unfazed by the dragon's flame, makes a proclamation.

"You interrupted my nap,"

The girlish voice denies the creature's terrible nature, and for the second time the dragons all shudder just before Bone is slammed into the ground. The monster pins the dragons limbs to the ground, all five with the tail included, and still has a claw to spare. It raises it above Bone's face.

"Never eaten dragon before, its a shame. Your body will have rotted before I can eat again." The monster moves to strike with its claw, but is toppled by a large blow to its side. Garble and Muck had flown full force into it.

"GET OFF HIM!" Garble roars. He and Muck bellowing continuous flame upon the creature's side. Together their fire proves enough to hurt the beast, as it lest out a pained hiss, turning and springing to its feet far faster than a creature that large should be able. It spreads its six terrible arms around it, poising to strike as it begins to take the full force of the fire directly to its face.

Meanwhile, Bone had scurried as far away as he could from the monster, and watched in horror as his friends continued a stream of fire at the beast, while it spread his claws and began walking toward them. Looking at his friends, he sees Muck's eyes are open, and upon seeing the creature advance, he stops his spray and takes to the air.

Garble however had not seen, his eyes were clenched shut.

A moment after Muck took off, the creature pounces, all six claws striking at once.

Bone shrieks as he takes to the air, flying strait up toward Muck as fast as he can. Once the two are together they look down below.

Garble had been minced, the claws had cut through him like butter. Bloody chunks of former dragon litters the ground, and the one responsible stood upright, limbs at it's sides.

It stares at Bone and Muck, visibly seething with hatred, even as smoke rises off its charred carapace.

Turning, it slowly approaches the severed head of Garble. It places a clawed foot upon the former dragon's head before growling and stomping down, crushing it. Bone and Muck wince, and the monster vanishes again from sight.

Muck and Bone begin to fly east in silence as they try to process what just happened. They don't see the faint shimmer below as it practically glides down the hill, heading due north.

"What are we gonna tell his mom?" Muck remarks sadly as the short journey to the badlands begins to feel even shorter.

Author's Note

Hey guys. Sorry about the mini-chapter. It just did not feel like it belonged with the upcoming chapter, but it was necessary.

Any thought or concerns regarding the creature I can answer below, as long as they are not spoilers, of course.

Thanks for reading!