Claws

by Clare Gundersen

First published October 17th, 2016 15:20

CANCELLED, SORRY EVERYONE!.

A strange animal has shown up in the Everfree Forest- an animal the ponies said will bring doom and agony upon each and every one of them and needs to be avoided at all cost. However, Fluttershy sees past this animals teeth and claws, and understands that it needs help. However, knowing that it would surely be killed if found, Fluttershy takes the ultimate challenge- to raise the dangerous animal herself.
Coverart By Watercolor The Pegasus (Christmas Name: Watercolor The Elf)

Chapters

Prologue
Chapter 1: The Message
Chapter 2: The Discovery
Chapter 3: Lotus
Chapter 4: Slightly Peculiar Parenting

Prologue
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Claws

Prologue

Author's Note

Hello, Bronies/Pegasisters! Welcome to my first fanfiction! I know that's it's horrible, but I have literally no experience writing, so please give me a chance. I promise I'll improve. :fluttercry:

Prologue

The brances of the Everfree Trees tore at the young tigress's coat as she ran through the woods with her cub in her jaws. She had to escape! She had to save her daughter! She could hear the whinnying of the ponies pursuing her behind.

"Don't let her escape!"

"She can't outrun us!"

"Strike her down!"

The young tigress ran faster. She could not allow herself to be caught! She could die, but her daughter could not! She frantically scrambled through the woods, dodging the trees and puddles as many times as she could. However, she felt so exhausted. She just wanted to lie down...Just for a moment...

However, she understood what would happen if she even slowed down. She would be captured, and, along with her daughter, would be put to death. However, she couldn't run any faster. She decided that it wouldn't hurt if she slowed down...Just a little bit...

She stopped to catch her breath. She breathed in and out, in and out...But then she heard the voices, growing louder and louder...

As much as she wanted to stay, she knew she had to keep going. But right when she was about to run, her daughter started to whimper. She tried to quiet her down, but all in vain.

As she held her crying child, an idea came to her. She felt dreadful doing it, but she knew that she had to. She walked over to a group of nearby bushes and dropped her cub into them. "I'm sorry." She cried. However, right then, she heard the ponies' whinnying right behind her. She ran as fast as she could, but alas, right as she was almost out of sight of the ponies, a yellow beam shoot straight at her and hit her right between the eyes. Immediately she fell on the forest floor, dead. Four stallions and a tall hooded figure walked over to the remains of the tigress.

"We have the tigress, but where's the cub?" A stallion with an orange coat said.

"She must have misplaced it. Which means the beast is still somewhere in the Everfree Forest." The hooded figure said. "But never mind that. No reason to get our hooves dirty. Tomorrow, an annoucement in the form of a letter will be sent to the land. The ponies will do anything for a reward. They will kill the beast faster then you can say "Princess For A Day"." She nodded at the orange stallion, as if they were sharing some kind of secret. The orange stallion nodded back.

"We shall inform the princesses first. They will be able to spread the word faster then we can." The hooded figure continued. The four stallions nodded.

"But what shall we do with the body, your majesty?" One of the stallions asked.

"Take her to the castle. She'll look fine stuffed." The hooded figure said.

The four stallions nodded and, with all their might, hoisted the 6 foot long tiger on their backs and followed the hooded figure back to the castle.

Chapter 1: The Message
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Claws

Chapter 1: The Message

The morning sun shone through the window of Fluttershy's cottage. She wanted to sleep in, but she couldn't. She had to keep her promise. She sat up, yawned, and rubbed her eyes with her hooves. She hopped out of bed and ran downstairs, not remembering to brush her mane and tail or even eat breakfast. She had to get going. She had promised her friends she would meet them at Sugarcube Corner at 8:30.

She arrived at Sugarcube Corner right on time: 8:30. She ran right into the shop, almost crashing into the counter. She began to pant and scream.

"MRS.CAKE!" She cried. The blue earth pony walked up to the counter with a perplexed look on her face.

"Yes, deary?" She asked, puzzled at the young pegasus's nervous expression.

"Did you...*Pant* by any chance...*Pant*....see my friends?" Fluttershy said, about to collapse from exhaustion.

Mrs. Cake thought for a moment. "Do you mean, by any chance, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack?" She asked.

"YES!" Fluttershy gasped.

Mrs.Cake gestured over to a table in the corner. "They're right over there. They've been waiting for you."

She instantly galloped over to the corner table. "Sorry I'm late!" She cried as she quickly got into the remaining chair.

Twilight shook her head. "Don't worry. You're actually right on time. Please calm down." Fluttershy breathed in and out until finally she regained her breath.

"What is it that you wished to tell me?" She asked.

The 5 mares exchanged looks with each other. "Who should tell her?" Rarity whispered.

"I will." Twilight replied.

"Are you sure this is the right thing to do?" Rainbow Dash asked. "She might be traumatized."

"Every one else in Equestria know. It is only right for her to know as well." Twilight said. She turned towards the yellow pegasus and sighed.

"What would you like to tell me?" Fluttershy repeated, now feeling rather nervous.

"Well, you see..." Twilight began, "Yesterday, at precisely 8:30 PM, the princesses and I was delivered a message from an anonymous pony."

"What did it say?" Fluttershy asked with a slightly urgent tinge to her voice.

"Well..." Twilight said, clearly reluctant to continue, "It said that last night, two dangerous creatures were spotted. The royal guard took down one of them, but the other one is still out there. Any pony who finds the beast and kills it will be rewarded greatly." Twilight looked up. "The reward is a secret and will not be disclosed until after the beast is captured." Twilight finished. "That is all I wish to say. I told the others last night, but I was too scared you'd scream and run away unless I told you when it was daytime, so I sent you the letter saying to meet us all here at 8:30 to tell you the news."

Fluttershy gave the 5 a perplexed expression. "Are you sure that the news is true? I mean, are you sure that it isn't some foal playing a prank or something?"

Twilight shook her head. "It couldn't be. Nobody excluding respected ponies know how to contact the princesses. It had to be an official figure." Fluttershy opened her mouth to speak but Twilight held up her hoof. "Don't worry. It will be taken care of. Rest assured, you and your animals are completely safe from harm. I shall say no more." And with that, Twilight and her friends all got up and walked away from the table, leaving a perplexed Fluttershy to collect her thoughts.

"What could this creature be? She thought. "I know all the creatures of the wood, and not one is dangerous enough for an announcement like this. A bear, maybe, but everypony knows how to get a bear to leave them alone. She decided to think about this more on her way home. however, when she finally returned to her cottage, she still couldn't understand this phenomenon. She paced back and forth in her cabin, but she couldn't find a valid answer.

After a long while of thinking, she decided that there was only one possible solution. She had to go into the Everfree Forest and find this creature for herself. She was terrified of the idea, but she knew it was the only way to find an answer. She exited her cottage, her legs trembling underneath her. She walked through Ponyville until she finally reached the entrance of the Everfree Forest. She gulped and wanted more than anything to turn and run back to Ponyville, where she would be safe. But she understood she would never know for sure what this creature was unless she took a chance. So, with her body telling her to run and her brain telling her to continue, she stepped into the Everfree and began her journey.

Chapter 2: The Discovery
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Claws

Chapter 2: The Discovery

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Chapter 3: Lotus
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Claws

Chapter 3: Lotus

Fluttershy walked to the door of the her cottage and entered, careful not to hurt the cub. She went into the middle of her room and placed the cub in the middle of her rug. It was then that she realized she didn't know the first thing of caring for a cub!
"What was I thinking?" She said. "I have no idea how to care for this animal! I have taken care of rabbits, squirrels, ferrets, and many other animals, but I have never taken care of an animal like this! What am I supposed to do?" She began to pace wildly.
But just when Fluttershy was about to go crazy, the cub began to squeal. She stopped and looked at the cub. Although she wasn't familiar with the cub's species, she knew what that squeal meant. It was the hunger squeal, that both foals and other young animals made when hungry. She knew that this cub needed milk immediately, so she rushed to the kitchen to prepare a bottle.
She opened up her recipe book and found the emergency kitten milk replacement. Quickly she got out the ingredients:

1 egg yolk

1 tablespoon corn syrup

2 tablespoons yogurt

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

1 oz. evaporated canned milk

She began to stir the ingredients together. After creating the mixture, she began to heat up the milk on the stove. Once it was finished, she filled a baby bottle with some of the warm milk and rushed to the cub, who was still whining.
She rubbed the bottle near the little cub's mouth. However, the cub always turned away. She tried repeatedly to make the cub drink from the bottle, however every time the cub refused the bottle.
Fluttershy sighed. "Why won't you eat? You'll starve if you don't." It was then she got an idea. She removed the lid of the bottle and tried, carefully, to pour the liquid into the cub's mouth. However, Fluttershy slipped on the rug and accidentally poured the warm liquid all over her hoof.
"Oh no! I guess I'll have to try this again!" But just when she was getting up, the cub whined and reached for her hoof. The cub grabbed the hoof with its front paws and began to suck the liquid off of it. Fluttershy watched as the cub drunk the liquid to the last drop. It was then Fluttershy got an idea. She ran to the bathroom and washed off her hoof. She went back to the kitchen and dunked it into the milk. She went back and held out her hoof to the cub, and, sure enough, it again licked every last drop off of the hoof. They repeated this numerous times, until there was no milk left. By then, the little cub was full and fell asleep on Fluttershy's rug.
Fluttershy gazed lovingly at the cub. However, it was then that she realized that she hadn't given it a name. As a matter of fact, she didn't even know its gender! She decided to find out. She walked over to the cub, and, carefully, so as not to wake it, she tuned it over to see its gender. However, the differences between a girl and boy tiger is much more subtle then the differences between a filly and a colt, so it was rather hard for Flutteshy, so she carefully examined the cub and finally discovered its gender.
"Its a girl." Fluttershy thought. "What can I call a girl?" While she was considering names, the cub reached out to her and began to hug her hoof. Fluttershy chuckled softly. "Your touch is as soft as a lotus." She said. This gave her an idea. "So I guess I shall call you Lotus then?" The cub stretched out and yawned. "Lotus." Fluttershy said. "My little Lotus."

Author's Note

So that was the third chapter! I got the cat milk recipe from this website. And yes, that feeding scene was an homage to Born Free. All credit goes to the creator of that film. And yes, the ending was an homage to Bambi. All rights to Disney.

Chapter 4: Slightly Peculiar Parenting
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Claws

Chapter 4: Slightly Peculiar Parenting

For the first month, all went well. Lotus was a quiet child, and slept most of the time. She caused no problems with Fluttershy or any of the other animals and was obedient and kind. Her eyes and ears opened at 10 days old, revealing that she had olive green eyes with long black eyelashes. She was willing to hide whenever Fluttershy's friends came over, although she never realized why. And for a while, all was happy.
That is, until she turned two months old.
What Fluttershy didn't know was that tigers grew much faster then foals do, so by the time she was 2 months old, she was taking up space. She was too big for the cradle Fluttershy had prepared for her, so she moved onto a bigger bed- Fluttershy's bed. Fluttershy wasn't used to having anyone sleeping with her, so she took a while to adjust. However, she managed and eventually was used to it. But that was the least of her problems! Lotus had stopped drinking milk, so Fluttershy was required to go on extra shopping trips to buy more fruits and vegetables for Lotus to eat. However, Lotus had a huge appetite, and Fluttershy was always forced to go to the shop every day, for Lotus had to eat three large meals a day, otherwise, she'd yowl all night, keeping Fluttershy awake.
However, the real problem started one faithful day in Feburary.
It was a sunny day, and Fluttershy was about to take her morning stroll. However, before she left, she noticed Lotus staring out the window. "What are you looking at, Lotus?" She asked. Lotus didn't answer. Fluttershy walked over and stood beside Lotus. She saw that Lotus was looking at two foals playing hide and seek. She immediately understood what Lotus was thinking.
"You want to go outside, don't you?" She asked. The only times Fluttershy allowed Lotus outside was at night when she couldn't be seen. However, Lotus had always shown an interest of going outside in the sunlight.
Lotus nodded her head in response. "Why can't I go outside while it's light, mother?" She asked (She had learned how to speak due to Fluttershy giving her extensive lessons), "You get to outside while it's light. The other ponies get to go outside while it's light. Why can't I?" Lotus looked up at her adoptive mother with her big green eyes.
Fluttershy was about to answer when she looked at Lotus up and down. "Maybe you can." She whispered.
Lotus cocked her head. "What did you say?"
Fluttershy didn't answer, she ran into her room and opened her closet. A few months ago, Rarity had given her foal's clothes. FLuttershy couldn't wear them herself, but she kept them anyway, just in case. She pulled out a long white dress, a red cape and hood, and red slippers. She ran back into the living room and put the clothes on the floor in front Of Lotus. "Wear these." Fluttershy said. "And we'll go outside."
The little tiger was so happy, she would've hopped on one paw for a day to go outside! She quickly put on the dress, cape and hood, and slippers. Fluttershy examined her, luckily most of her was covered up excluding her ankles, which Fluttershy decided that no one would notice. And, carefully, so as not to let Lotus' hood fall down, she led Lotus outside for the first time.

Author's Note

Sorry that this chapter was awful, I am very sick and I have a HORRIBLE headache, so I find it hard to concentrate now. And yes, the titles for this chapter and the next are references to the anime movie Wolf Children.