It was like any other chaotic neutral day in the Everfree Forest. The Sun was shining, the birds were singing, and the local wildlife was being, well wild. Now to your average Joe, this place would appear normal by nature's standards back home. However to many ponies, especially those that live near its green borders, it is anything but. And taking into account the very much alive plants, a magically tainted ecosystem devoid of any pony alteration whatsoever, and the mythical, supernatural, and downright give-a-duck-some-teeth-and-call-it-a-cryptid kinds of creatures that probably, and most cases literally, lurk within its foresty depths, they would be right. Truly, the Everfree Forest was a formidable beast in its own right. Able to turn back any visitor with but a single glimpse into its darkest depths. An entity that did not obey the laws of the land, but rather made others submit to its own. A wild animal that could be neither tamed nor easily defeated...until today that is.

At first, it was only the sounds of the forest, of birds and other small animals going about their day to day lives. Then came the oddities. The sounds of branches cracking and leaves rustled in abundance. Of course considering where they currently were, the birds and animals simply shrugged away these sounds as those indicating larger animals on the move elsewhere, maybe a few birds flew away and a rabbit or two hopped just a bit faster than usual, but the rest simply ignored them. Until they couldn't.

A deep, vicious roar sent birds scattering from their nests and branches alike. A thunderous beat of footfalls and the ever recognizable sound of falling trees sent many smaller critters scrambling for whatever hole they could dive into while bigger animals simply fled or hid.

A particular family of raccoons decided to take shelter in a burrow below a fairly large tree, watching as other woodland creatures passed by them in an frenzy for safety. Hugging one another, their collective cowering only intensified later as the ground itself literally shook from the ever-approaching steps of whatever was causing them. Then with one final thunderous step, a large clawed foot landed mere inches from where the raccoon family now huddled in shaking silence. It was also made very apparent to the family of raccoons that this area of the woods was now deathly quiet as the only sounds they could hear were the beatings of their own hearts. But even those sounds were soon drowned out as the creature suddenly dropped down to all fours, its front two limbs making thunderous contact with the ground as its large body seemed to lower to just mere inches off the ground.

The father and mother raccoon then clutched their two young ones ever tighter as a monstrous maw lowered itself just a hair from their hiding spot, close enough to where they could even see their own reflections in the creatures exposed fangs.

The creature meanwhile sniffed sniffed at the forest floor for a few seconds before a long reptilian tongue slithered out from a gap between its front teeth while its mouth still remained close, only to open slightly and release a low hiss which was then followed up by an even lower growl which shook the still shaking raccoon family to their very cores.

Seconds seemed to tick by like hours as the raccoons dared not to make a sound, the little ones even going so far as to hold their breaths, eyes tightly closed and paws covering eachother's tiny snout out of fear of tipping off the creature's senses even in the slightest.

The mother could do nothing but also partake in keeping her eyes closed, clutching her children ever tighter, for if worst came to worst, at least she would be near them till the very end.

Only the father continued to watch as the creature continued to sniff, to hiss and to growl. He watched its feet shift, its claws dig into the dirt, and even its tail slowly wag out of the corner of his eye. But never did he blink, for if he did, he knew that he and his family would pay dearly for it.

He also didn't blink because if he did, he could have risked forgetting what was standing in front of him, forgetting the curve of its claws, its toothy maw, the color of its scales, the arms, legs and whatever else he could see from where he stood. For when this creature finally left, hopefully miles away, only then would he take his family to safety, maybe tell every creature on the way about it, then tell them to tell others until every creature in the Everfree knew.

Maybe even Miss Fluttershy too.

Maybe...no, he was definitely going to tell her.

But first.

After an eternity and a half of watching, the raccoon almost wept with joy as the creature lifted its front limbs, and after one final growl, walked away. The raccoon then listened intently as the creature's great footfalls grew quieter and quieter until the ground no longer shook and the beating of his heart was the only thing he could actually hear. Once he knew it was truly safe, he shook his wife and children, their gasps for air almost music to his ears as it meant that they were still alive.

The raccoon family then spent the next few minutes or so hugging and calming down one another, and in that time the father raccoon had also relayed his plan to the mother raccoon, who agreed almost immediately after and had even suggested their kids stay with a relative so she too could spread the word. Though the father raccoon hesitated at that, he still nodded, and after checking that the coast was clear, lead his family to a close relative's den, stopping only to tell any animal they came across about the monster.

"Man this forest fucking sucks," Richard growled, knocking his head against, and promptly obliterating, yet another low-hanging branch. Actually scratch that, all the branches were alright, he was just big as hell.

"And really, why are all these trees so damn small?" An inquisitive mix of a growl and long hiss came from Richard as he stopped to eye another tree, one which like all the others he'd passed by in the last hour or so, was just a few feet shorter than he was. "Either the trees in this forest were just planted, or I was just served an extra helping of tall-ass."

Now, given what basic information Richard knew about deathclaws, or whatever the fandom for them could come up with, their base height could be anywhere between ten to fifteen feet tall, twenty feet long from head to tail, and posses claws in a size twelve inches or more.

Now if Richard were on all fours, the tops of the trees would maybe match the height of his tallest back-spikes. Maybe. If he were slouching, kinda like how he has been for the past hour since leaving the cave, then the leaves and branches of the trees would sorta be at smacking-face-level, kinda like how they have been for the past hour since he left the cave. But if he were to stand up straight? That would put him at maybe five feet taller than any tree for literally miles. Instant access to the sky. That's pretty much how he's been navigating this midget forest for an hour, though at this point it would be a mercy to admit that he was just fucking lost.

"Yup, definitely an extra helping of tall-ass."

With that little issue resolved, he tucked his arms beneath himself, slouched his back, and resumed his dinosaur-deathclaw walk forward, stopping only to look above the treetops to confirm that yes, the many green trees around him were still green.

A little bit later, Richard had stopped momentarily to wonder whether he had seen that same rock just a few minutes ago when he suddenly received the infamous call of nature. With a short hiss, Richard looked about for a place to answer the call and growled happily when a collection of bushes all but beckoned him near. Standing over them, Richard was ready to relieve himself when he happened to glance down and suddenly froze. Holy shit, where was-

"WHERE THE FUCK IS MY DAMN DICK?!?!"

A vicious roar or pure confusion and utter shock shook the very air of the forest, sending nearby birds and small animals fleeing for the hills. The roar also seemed to have a negative effect on Richard as he found himself stumbling backwards by it's shear power, well that or he was just really fucking surprised to find his member missing.

Yet in his shocked state, he had't realized that while stumbling backwards, his arms had gone flailing as well as his tail, and when he had fallen on his giant ass with a mighty boom, the accompaniment of three lesser booms followed. But that was just background noise to Richard as he had yet to tear his eyes away from his groin. Then as if some inner switch was finally flipped, probably when the body realized it was actually about to die from shock, there came a shift in Richard's lower regions and not a second later did his lil deathclaw spring from its hidey hole, much to Richard's growling relief.

Though thankful to see he still had one to use, Richard still couldn't help but give his reptilidick a longer-than-needed look over, and though he was by no means an expert on lizardology, he still couldn't help but chuckle nervously at it in comparison to his former man meat.

"Hehe, now I know why they cover these boys up, they're big fucking targets."

Picking himself up, Richard approached the bushes once again, and with a calmed heart and just a hint of added pride, he happily relieved himself.

A solid minute and a dozen flooded bushes later, Richard had finished draining his lizard and was now currently wondering how- oh. Okay, I guess it knows when its done too. Stepping away from the small yellow pond, Richard was now ready to continue his journey, nerves steeled and dong now departed to its dick domicile defensively tucked away within his deathclaw depths. But before he could continue, he stopped to consider two things.

The first thing that he noticed, or rather didn't notice up until finally finishing his piss, was that nearly everything within a good twenty foot radius around himself was destroyed. One tree, recently uprooted, was now smashed in two against another tree, the large dent in its side proving that Richard's massive tail swipe was super effective. Two other trees also didn't far any better as they both were cleaved clean in half, their bottom halves still remaining rooted to the forest floor while the upper halves lay at their roots. Looking around, several other trees were also decorated with a set of monsterish claw marks cut inches deep within their woody exteriors. Oh, and there was also a near perfect imprint of his ass, tail in all, now depressed into the earth for any creature to find and potentially laugh at too.

Now the second thing, the second thing was that Richard was now definitely sure he was lost. Looking around, he wasn't quite sure where he had actually come from, and seeing as any indication of where he had come from previously was now likely destroyed from his earlier dick dilemma, he was fucked. And again looking over the treetops did absolute jack for him. So, with common means of navigation now out the window, Richard had to resort to more extreme methods.

"Alright other senses, you're up." Falling once again on all fours, Richard began to bloodhound around his little circle of destruction, sniffing here and there for any possible clue on how to proceed. And believe it or not, he was actually getting something, though whatever that something was, he didn't know. "Well, something is better than nothing." And with that being said, or growled, Richard began to move in the direction of that something, but not before sparing one more glance around his little 'impact zone.'

"Eh," Richard shrugged, "It's a big forest, like anyone'll really care." And with that being growled, the man-turned-deathclaw proceeded onward, hoping whatever this something was that hooked his nose was worth it.

Minutes went by while Richard tried to zero in on whatever had peaked his interest, but when he thought he had the something, it suddenly vanished for a moment, before reappearing somewhere to his left, or his right, or even behind him a few times. With his 'pissed off meter' nearing the red every time his nose navigation had to "recalculate," Richard decided to take a break near a fairly large (though still shorter than him by a foot or two) tree. There, he took a moment to breath, collect his thoughts and plan out his next move.

'Damn, I really hope I find something new soon. I'm starting to get hungry now.'

Falling to all fours, albeit with a bit of a louder emphasis on the falling due to lingering hints of pissed, Richard then lowered himself ever closer to the forest floor, practically hugging it with how close he was, so that he could hopefully get better readings scent-wise. Closing his eyes, he lowered his maw down to the ground and proceeded to sniff sniff away.

At first he wasn't really getting anything, seeing only darkness and hearing only himself sniff about. But as he continued, he soon began to pick up something, several somethings in fact that became clearer and clearer the more he sniffed. Then upon finally opening his eyes, he was met with a literal world of grey, a sight which definitely elicited a bemused hiss from Richard. Of course, rather than freak out after apparently sniffing so hard that he went colorblind, Richard simply growled a quiet "fuck it," and Let whatever was happening happen, and was he glad he did so. Because not a moment later, Richard was now seeing more than a dozen thin, wispy streaks of colorful air dance about his monochromatically-grey vision. With seemingly every color of the rainbow having its own smoke trail, Richard could only assume that what he was seeing was the visible scents of animals, and not just another random side effect from eating glowing cave mushrooms. But weird trip or not, Richard now had to decide on which scent to follow.

Maybe the red one on the far right that smells kinda like wet fur?

Or how about that green one on the left that stinks like hell?

Hmm...well what about that orange one that leads right under the tree next to him?

...Nah, nevermind, probably just a rat or something.

'Wait a minute, what's that one?'

With one deep sniff, Richard noted a particularly unique smell, one that was, in a word, spicy. A good kinda spicy. The kind of spicy that would give the nose a slight kick while simultaneously ringing the good ol' belly bell. And with one hell of a loud growl that came from his gut rather than out his maw, Richard needed no further convincing and with tail wagging happily, he headed off towards what he hoped was a damn fine meal.

Situated near the edge of the Everfree Forest, a small cottage rested peacefully atop a small hill near a small stream, surrounded by a plethora of animal dwellings, such as birdhouses, burrows, and even a chicken coop nearby. Now if you thought this cozy little home may seem to be the residence of some whimsical animal whisperer straight out of a fairy tale picture-book, then you'd be half right.

For this quaint little home belonged to none other than Fluttershy, a butter yellow pegasus who not only cared for any and almost all creatures, sapient or not, but specialized in knowing almost all there was to know about animals as well as provide a number of services for many of her animal friends. From feeding to healing, to literally offering her home to any creature who asked politely enough. And if you take into account that this particular pony has also had tea parties with an grizzly bear, has offered advice to snakes on dietary habits, and has even stared down a fucking dragon, and won, you'd probably wonder what didn't scare this kind, yet almost fearless powerhouse of a pony?

And to answer that question...yes, pretty much anything and everything scares her.

A door is closed just bit too hard, you get a eep.

Somepony sneezes across the street, you get an eep.

And if you're in the process of making a nice salad for a certain white bunny and your house is suddenly rocked to its foundations by a super loud and super scary roar that sends every animal nearby into a ecstatic frenzy...well let's just say that an eep can be expressed in many forms, liquid included.

"Yo Fluttershy, you okay?"

"Ye-e-es I'm a-a-alright."

A blue hoof rested over Fluttershy's still shaking wither, rubbing it slowly in an attempt to calm her down. It had been well over an hour or so since that initial scare, and a good ten seconds after that which Fluttershy used in an attempt to calm her rapidly beating heart before a certain rainbow-maned pegasus made an unexpected and rather explosive entrance through her front door, an entrance that caused Fluttershy to promptly faint.

When she awoke an hour later, she found herself resting on her couch, an apologetic Rainbow Dash sitting beside her, while the rest of her friends stood about with worried looks.

"Are you sure, sugarcube? Cause when we all got here, we found you surrounded by all these critters," her ever-honest friend Applejack said, waving a hoof around the room, which to Fluttershy's surprise, was absolutely filled with hundreds of animals. Almost every inch of the cottage was brimming with them, with tiny animals and birds sitting along the rafters above, while small
and bigger animals took up whatever floor space they could. She even spotted her friend, Mister Bear, currently trying to console a large family of bunnies with many sitting atop his head and shoulders. And to make matters worse, almost all the animals in the room were strangely quiet, save for the occasional flapping of wings or soft wimperings.

"o-oh my."

"Here dear Fluttershy, this tea should work wonders at calming your nerves," her generous friend Rarity proclaimed, offering her a cup of freshly brewed tea with her magic. The still-shaking pegasus gladly accepted the tea, blew once, then twice, then practically downed the cup in one gulp, much to the white unicorn's shock. She then sighed happily as the warm liquid worked its own magic, washing away here fears while enveloping her in a satisfying warmth.

"You should also try these super duper special turn-that-frown-upside-down sugar cookies!" her always-ever-joyful friend Pinkie Pie said while pulling out a plate of diabetically-delicious treats from somewhere. Yet another offer that Fluttershy couldn't refuse, she simply nodded and took one of the cookies, nibbling at it much like how a tiny mouse would.

"All of this is rather peculiar, do you have any idea why all these animals are here Fluttershy?" her studious friend Twilight Sparkle asked, her head almost on a constant swivel as she noted the many different species currently crowding her friend's living room.

"Ain't it obvious Twilight? they all got scared by whatever made that crazy roar and came running to Fluttershy's," the prismatic pegasus said, waving a hoof in the direction of the Everfree. "Definitely wasn't some manticore, that's for sure."

"Be that as it may Rainbow Dash, I still don't believe it could have been anything but a manticore with the way you described it," Twilight retorted, much to Rainbow's annoyance.

"What do you mean? I told you exactly how it sounded!" Rainbow spouted, now hovering over the sighing purple unicorn.

"Telling us 'it was loud' and 'sounded like a dozen manticores roaring at once' by no means convinces me!"

"Well what if it was some big critter that lives deeper in the Everfree, sugarcube?" Applejack suddenly added in, to which an exasperated Twilight sighed before turning to her.

"That also wouldn't make any sense, considering the only creatures big enough to replicate whatever Rainbow Dash or Fluttershy heard would either have to be bigger than a hydra or an ursa minor, but there hasn't been any reports or sightings of any creature that big in the last three months. And since Rainbow Dash didn't see either of those creatures, it can be reasonably concluded that it had to have been a manticore, or maybe even a alpha manticore.

"But...but." Rainbow Dash was at a loss. And although she hated to admit it when she was wrong, especially to such an egghead like Twilight, it was probably best to just accept that it really was a-

"Actually, it wasn't a manticore."

"huh?"

"huh?"

The two arguing ponies suddenly looked at Fluttershy, who hid behind her pink mane when all eyes fell on her.

"And How do you reckon that, sugarcube?" Applejack asked, as neither Twilight or Rainbow Dash could find the words to.

"We-well, while Twilight and Rainbow Dash were arguing, Mister Raccoon here told me everything." Fluttershy said, pointing to a raccoon that introduced himself to the girls with a wave. "He said it wasn't a manticore, or a hydra or even a ursa minor."

Twilight blinked, Rainbow Dash landed, Rarity raised a brow, Applejack tilted her head, and Pinkie Pie munched loudly on some popcorn.

"Then, what was it?" Rainbow Dash hesitantly asked.

Looking back down at the raccoon, who after uttering something in raccoon-speak began to shake slightly, Fluttershy nodded and after looking back up to her friends, said rather eerily, "Something scarier."

It had been well over five minutes or so since Richard had embarked on his quest for that spicy scent. And with each passing minute of not finding whatever he was looking for, his stomach elicited a growl which seemed to build upon the previous growl in both duration and decibel the longer it was denied its meal.

"Dammit stomach, quiet! You're gonna scare away our meal." Richard growled through gritted teeth. Though even as he stepped into a rather large clearing and looked about, his stomach only seemed to growl even louder in response, as if explicitly voicing its dissatisfaction of being empty while also posing its concern as to why he had chosen to stop so suddenly.

"Because stomach, it's here."

And with that final statement to his stomach, Richard's vision soon began to return to normal, just as the bushes on the other end of the clearing began to suddenly rustle. Then slowly, ever so god damn slowly, Richard's meal emerged from the bushes. One furry paw after another, until it fully revealed itself as being a-...uhm...

"The fuck are you?"

One confused growl was met with a ferocious roar as Richard simply stared at what looked to be the end result of someone taking a lion, slapping a pair of oversized bat wings on its back and then finally stapling a big ass scorpion tail on its ass. Course, while that may have scared the piss out of Richard if he was still a regular-sized human, he just couldn't find the urge to turn tail, literally in his case, when this apparently "big" and "bad" cat of the woods had to crane its neck just to look Richard in the eyes.

Now, for a second, Richard wondered if his nose had messed up or something, but a quick sniff did confirm that what he had been hunting was now standing before him, albeit now looking just as confused as Richard probably did and maybe feeling a bit more hesitant after finally encountering something that was bigger than it despite Richard slouching.

And although the staring contest between the deathclaw and lion-thing could have gone on for maybe a few more seconds, it was brought to an abrupt end when the little big cat realized its hesitation, roared again, though this time with a bit less ferocity than the first, and charged what it thought would be its biggest meal yet.

Ladies and Gentlemen. Can you point out the mistake that this apparent "apex predator of the Everfree" made when it decided that the most ingenious way to take down a deathclaw was to charge directly at it?

Because in Richard's honest opinion, he didn't think that "get back-handed so hard that your body creates a two foot deep trench from one end of the clearing to the other" was a key part in this pussy's master plan. He also didn't think that the thing would actually go that far since he didn't think he put that much power in the slap, but I guess that just wasn't the case.

"Huh, guess i'm gonna have to work on that," Richard mused as he slowly approached the downed lion-thing that was still somehow alive despite taking a super-sonic bitch slap to the money maker.

Now standing over it, Richard took a moment to hiss in awe as he morbidly admired his clawwork. In a word, the thing itself looked like absolute hell.

Its jaw was completely broken, bent severely to the right and left to hang limply by the flesh. Where four large fangs should have been obviously visible were now absent, as for most of, if not all of its other teeth, save for a few small ones that were situated at the back of the mouth, though those ones were now difficult for Richard to see as they were soon flooded over by bleeding gums which began to form a deep crimson pool in the dirt.

And if you think all that's bad, then you obviously didn't get a look at its face. Or what was left of its face. Cause really, at this point it was probably more recognizable as a crumpled piece of paper than an actual face.

Its skull was probably- no wait, definitely cracked in several places. It also had a massive and heavily bleeding bruise that took up about three quarters of its face, and to top all off, one eye was almost swollen shut while the other dangled out of its socket by the nerve. Fucking Yikes.

And despite all of that, this little bastard still had the nerve to continue breathing, albeit very shallow and very chokey breaths.

"Sorry buddy, Not on my watch." Richard growled, raising a clawed foot over the cat's neck before, in one swift motion, promptly dropping it down on the thing's windpipe. There then came a loud cracking noise, followed by some twitching, before its body finally went still.

A few seconds of silence then proceeded before Richard blinked, suddenly realizing that he really did just kill another living creature.

"Damn...that was fucking metal."

And with that little murder settled, Richard now had to worry about more pressing matters, like how he was going to cook this thing for starters.

'Hmm, maybe I should find some wood first. Try and get a fire going. Then maybe I can try and skin it. Should also get rid of that tail too, don't want to...don't want to...to...'

Richard's thoughts ground to a full halt as he stared at the corpse before him. He was also faintly aware of the drool that began to rain from his mouth, at first being only individual droplets before switching to full-on waterfall mode. Licking his maw also didn't help as he could practically taste the stench of meat in the air, of blood, organs and all that other good shit. And if he thought his stomach was loud enough before, that shit was nothing compared to the beastly wail that suddenly erupted from his stomach, a siren wail which seemed to come from everywhere, and could only be silenced if he alone answered its call.

And did he answer it.

...

"Fuck it."

"OM NOM NOM NOM!"

"So it was a dragon then?"

Fluttershy listened intently to her Raccoon friend once again repeat as many details as he could remember, before looking at Twilight and shaking her head.

"Mister Raccoon says that he didn't see any wings, and he is absolutely certain that he never heard any wing flapping."

Twilight massaged her head, trying and failing to comprehend just what Mister Raccoon was telling them. Even with her extensive knowledge of the known and considerably unknown, she was actually drawing a blank as to pinpointing what exactly this mystery creature was. What a first.

"And you're sure it didn't just fly away later?" Twilight asked Fluttershy, to which she nodded.

"Oh yes, many of my bird friends who were close by said that none of them saw anything that scary fly off, isn't that right guys?" the pegasus asked turning to a collection of robins, blue jays, a parrot, and a trio of crows, who all squawked their individual confirmation, much to Twilight's sighing dismay.

"So what, are we dealing with some oversized lizard or something?" Rainbow Dash asked, flying a few lazy circles around the room.

"Now you heard what the critter said Dash, this thing had a tongue like a snake, maybe its like one of them Chimeras?" Applejack posed, to which Fluttershy shook her head once again.

"Mister Raccoon said that it only had one head, and that it had no hooves or fur."

"Then its got to be some kinda snake monster with legs!'"

"Now that just doesn't make any lick of sense, Dash. Snakes don't have legs and they definitely don't have teeth the size of stakes." Applejack said, shaking her stetson-topped head.

"Come on! It's the Everfree Forest, nothing makes sense in there. I bet it had to be a some kinda snake monster!"

"Or maybe, it was just some deep-Everfree critter that decided to take a stroll." Applejack retorted.

"Yeah, like a snake monster with legs!"

"I wasn't going to say that Rainbow!"

"But I bet you were thinking it!"

"Maybe it was a snake with legs?" Fluttershy wondered, to which Mister Raccoon shrugged while Rainbow Dash laughed.

"Ha! See? Flutters believes me!"

"She wasn't agreeing with you!"

"Yes, she was!"

"No, she wasn't!"

"Yes, she was!"

And with that, the two natural rivals continued to bicker with one another, all the while Fluttershy continued to converse with Mister Raccoon, Rarity sipped at her tea, Pinkie ate her snacks, and a silent Twilight sat in the center of it all, deep in thought.

"Just what is this creature?"

An undisturbed and unsettling chewing noise persisted to echo around the clearing, broken only by the occasional slurping of something or the sudden snapping of something else. But after a time, the sounds of beastly consumption quickly ceased as the sudden rustling of bushes all around the clearing filled the air.

Then one by one, they emerged. More lion-things, similar to the one that Richard had beaten not five minutes ago and was still eating five minutes later, entered the clearing. There were eleven of them by Richard's count, and each and every one of them was pissed. Maybe because one of their own had been bested by an outsider. Or maybe because he killed one of their own. Or maybe because he was still in the process of eating one their own and he chose that moment to loudly slurp up an intestine like it was a stray noodle, then lick his teeth clean in full view of all of them before emitting a low growl.

"Oh i'm sorry, did you guys want some?"

There was a brief moment of silence as most of the lion-things present just stared at him, clear hints of disgust and rage, plain as day, adorned their liony features. That brief silence was then promptly shattered when Richard, for whatever reason, decided to lock eyes with one of the lion-things in front of him, and just fucking smiled. The lion-thing's eye then twitched once before it roared and made a dash for Richard's throat. The rest of the lion-things then collectively roared as they too all charged him at once.

But just as Richard was about to be pounced upon by five or so lions-things from literally all directions at once, time suddenly slowed to a snail's pace. And for whatever reason, Richard's vision also decided to once again change in color. But rather than having his world go grey, all he could see was red.

"Well then," Richard growled, noticing a faint echo in it as he shifted his feet, drew back a clawed hand and calmly hissed.

"More for me."

"You know girls, why don't we just go out and find this big guy?" Pinkie Pie suddenly asked, to which everypony present instantly stopped what they were doing and just stared at her.

"Come again, Pinkie?" Applejack questioned, while an equally curious Rainbow Dash blinked, still caught in a hoof-lock by her orange adversary.

"Like I said silly, why don't we just go into the Everfree and hunt down Mister Lizard?" Pinkie said, before suddenly gasping. "What if it's actually an super friendly alien that recently woke up after being buried in the ground for a super duper long time and now wants to take over all of Equestria through the power of hugs?!"

One lion-thing was suddenly swept off its paws as Richard swiped his feet under it, then with a quick twist of his body, introduced the lion-thing's chest to his massive tail, which upon making bone-shattering contact with it, sent the beast hurtling through two trees before it slammed violently against a third. The third tree then splintered in half before falling on and effectively putting the creature out of its internally bleeding misery.

...

"Okay Pinkie," Rainbow Dash said while the other girls simply stared at her like she'd grown a second head, "how many of those sugar cookies did you eat?"

"Twenty-seven and a half." Pinkie said matter-a-factly, "Why?"

"Cause what you just said was definitely crazy."

"Actually, she makes a good point." Twilight said, to which everypony's, even Pinkie's, jaw fell to the floor.

"Twilight Darling, you're not serious are you?" Rarity begged, as she was the first to somewhat recover from the initial shock before the others.

"I am." Twilight said with a nod of her head. She then attempted to remain upright when Pinkie suddenly glomped her just as the rest of the girls were coming out of their own states of disarray.

One lion-thing had managed to get on top of Richard's back while he held another one by the neck. Extracting his claws from the creature's stomach, he tossed it aside and without warning, fell backwards. With a loud thud, and a pained roar following immediately after, Richard rolled over and on all fours pounced on the fallen lion-thing. The several gaping holes in its shoulder and chest were then instantly forgotten as a set of large, razor sharp teeth dug deep into its throat. The tearing and spraying noises that followed were the last sounds the creature heard before its world went dark.

"Really Twilight!? You actually believe that Mister Lizard is a world-conquering hug machine too!?" Pinkie exclaimed, stars exploding in her eyes as she stood snoot to snoot with her friend.

"What? No. That alien idea was complete nonsense. I was just agreeing to the idea that we should go and look for it in Everfree." Twilight said, much to everpony's relief save a deflated pink party pony.

"So what, you actually want to go looking for it now?" Rainbow asked, to which an equally interested Applejack followed up on.

"Yeah Twilight, are we actually gonna go wrangle up this critter? Cause if we are, I need to know so I can get my wrangling rope."

"Well of course. If what Fluttershy's animal friends say is true, we could be dealing with a whole new species of creature, never before seen by ponykind. And if it is actually native to the depths of the Everfree, we could possibly uncover new evidence regarding the behavioral and evolutionary aspects from that specific habitat. Oh, can you just imagine all that new scientific data just waiting to be uncovered and thoroughly analyzed?"

As Twilight began to suffer from the early stages of what Rainbow referred to as "the nerdgasm," the prismatic pegasus decided that now was a good time as any to make her exit.

"Okay Twilight, how about we start our hunt first thing tomorrow morning, sound good?"

Twilight blinked a few times before an intense blush set over her muzzle. And in an attempt to recover what little dignity was left, she nodded and the blue pegasus took to the air.

"Awesome, I'll see you girls later then."

And with that, Rainbow dashed out of the house, a rainbow streak left in her wake as she headed home.

"I best head back to the farm then too." Applejack said, making her way to the door. "Gotta make my own preparations and all that." and with a tip of her hat, she set off for Sweet Apple Acres.

"Well I guess if we are going to venture into that horrid place, I must make all necessary preparations at home, ta ta darlings." Rarity said, taking her leave.

"And I have to finish up any other orders for the Cakes before we go out," Pinkie said already hopping out the door. "See you girls later!"

Once all the others had left, Twilight turned to Fluttershy who was sharing some final words with Mister Raccoon before he too scampered out the door.

"You going to be okay tomorrow, Fluttershy?" Twilight asked nervously. To which the pegasus in question simply smiled at her.

"Of course Twilight. In fact, i'm sure we have nothing to worry about."

Twilight blinked, tilting her head as she raised a brow.

"Oh, and why's that?"

"Because Twilight," Fluttershy said reassuringly. "I'm sure that even if whatever is out there may seem scary, It's probably just misunderstood. Maybe it's actually really friendly and sweet.

Richard sank both his claws deep into the chest of the the lion-thing currently writhing in his blood-stained grasp. He saw the pain and fear in its eyes. And even if the roar that came from the creature may have been one last plea for mercy, it fell only on deaf ears as he bent his claws inward, then with blood-chillingly fluid ease, he spread his arms wide, ripping the lion-thing clean in half, as if he were simply parting window curtains. Bloody, messy window curtains.

"If you say so, Fluttershy." Twilight said, smiling as she made her way to the door.

With one final hoof wave to her friend, Twilight soon headed off for home, ready to begin some extensive research regarding the Everfree Forest's newest inhabitant.

"Friendly and sweet, eh?" Twilight openly mused as the town of Ponyville came into view. "I'm sure we'll see soon enough."

Blood dripped from Richard's everywhere as he quietly stood surrounded by the bodies of eleven lion-things, left in various states of dead or dismembered, which ranged from slashed throats to the almost complete liquidation of the body.

Now, if he were his regular human self, he'd have probably been on the now blood-drenched grass, emptying his entire stomach. Yet as he stood literally coated in a thin layer of blood, gore and whatever else had been inside those lion-things, to which was now definitely outside at this point, he strangely didn't feel anything. Asides from being a bit sticky of course.

"Damn, I really need to wash all this shit off." Richard growled, and as he looked up, he noticed that the sky had now switched from a light blue to a bright orange. "And soon."

Looking past all the bodies and meaty chunks, Richard decided on just going straight and started moving, either while stepping over or just kicking aside chucks of lion meat as he once again continued forward.

A few minutes of walking and periscoping later and Richard soon found himself standing on one end of a flowing river. Now given that Richard was pressed for time, what with the sun steadily setting as it was, he had made the executive decision that bath time and river-crossing time had to be done at the same time. And without a second of hesitation, he simply walked straight into the river, wooden wagon raft forgotten and given the middle claw. And seeing as how he was able to easily walk through the river, despite the currents splashing against him and with the deepest part of the river leaving the water to stop only at his shoulders, Richard was now on the other end, dripping wet but clean nonetheless.

Following a good shake down of all exterior features, Richard pressed ever-onward into the forest. Minutes of continuous walking soon went by as Richard felt his energy reserves slowly dwindle and with them, any hope of finding a nice place to sleep before nightfall. Yet it wasn't until after brushing away one last tree branch from his face, that Richard finally stepped into the open late evening air and took in the sight of-.

"Is that a fucking castle?"

It was, to Richard's surprise. Albeit one that was in extreme disrepair following a few centuries of neglect. But beggars can't be choosers and given Richard's current situation, a ruined castle was definitely better than any cave or hole in the ground, that he was sure of.

Now, before he could approach the castle, Richard soon discovered that he and it were separated by what looked to be a ten foot long ravine, connected only at both ends by a little bridge made up of wooden planks and rope.

"Like hell that's going to support my ass." Richard growled, shaking his head as he thought of another way across. Give or take a few seconds later of thinking and Richard simply shrugged, backed up a few steps, dug in all four limbs into the dirt, sighed, and promptly shot off.

Dirt, grass and small rocks were sent flying as his claws tore chunks out of the earth, his body picking up speed as he dog sprinted towards the edge. Then at the last second just before he was about to go rocketing into the ravine, he jumped, and in easily clearing the gap, he also cleared an extra twenty feet before coming to a skidding and dirt-shoveling halt on the other side. Blinking, Richard looked from the ravine he just flew over to the crumbling stone walls of the castle which stood before him. Getting up, he approached a large set of double wooden doors that were luckily just as tall as he was, though as he opened them, he had to bend his back a little so as not to break his back spikes over the threshold.

But once he passed that, Richard was able to actually stand at his full height of over fifteen feet, and the ungodly cracking that resonated through the entrance hall immediately after was definitely music to his ears.

"Hot damn, I haven't even been here for over a minute and I'm already loving this place." Richard said, all the while committing to some very-much needed stretching, if the series of cracks, pops and hisses of pure bliss had anything to say about that.

By the time Richard had finished his little impromptu yoga session, the entrance hall had darkened significantly as the last rays of sunlight disappeared over the horizon. But one light source was apparently replaced for another as just a bit later after the sun set, the room was suddenly bathed in the glow of the rising moon, A sight which Richard was able to watch and actually admire through a large hole in the ceiling.

"Huh. Now isn't that just...just..ju-"

Rather suddenly, Richard began to sway back and forth as his vision darkened and his body felt a lot heavier than it was just a second ago. Then without warning, Richard's knees buckled and he suddenly collapsed, falling face first upon the stone floor with a loud thud.

A few seconds of silence then followed before the growling equivalent of a snore came from Richard's now slightly drooling maw. Arriving to the obvious conclusion that he had instantly fallen asleep due to an overexertion of the mind and body, coupled with not meeting the daily nutritional needs that'd keep a growing deathclaw happy and healthy, Richard could do nothing but continue to snore away on the stone floor as he slipped peacefully into the land of dreams.

Author's Note

Well folks, now you all know why this story's rated M. Because of gruesome violence and dick jokes. I hope you all enjoyed that hellspawn of a chapter as there definitely will be a few more like it later on. Though I should apologize in advance if there's a significant delay between chapters, as I am basically winging it with this story till the very end (if there is one).

But seriously folks, I'm really grateful that you all gave my fever dream of a story a chance. And I can't thank you folks enough for getting this thing actually featured. It's really giving me the motivation to stay off my lazy ass and continue writing crazy stuff like this (and trust me, if you think this story's entertaining enough, I'm sure you'll enjoy a few of the other ideas I got in the works). But anyways, I thank you folks for reading this and your comments and constructive criticism is always welcome. And so, until next time folks, stay casual.