"Binoculars?"

"Check."

"Notepad?"

"Check."

"Extra Notepad?"

"Check."

"Quills?"

"Check."

"Extra Quills?"

"Check."

"Ink?"

"Check."

"Number one assistant monster hunter?"

"Che- wait, Spike."

A chuckle came from the small purple and green dragon. Spike, Twilight's number one assistant, best friend, and adopted brother, smiled at the unicorn who simply rolled her eyes at his childish antics.

"Oh come on Twilight, you and the girls are heading off into the Everfree to find some mysterious monster, can't I come along?

The unicorn sighed.

"No Spike. This is a very important expedition, one in which the girls and I might be able to discover an entirely new species of Everfree entity. It could be dangerous and I don't want you to get hurt."

smoke blew from Spike's nostrils as he crossed his little arms.

"Oh? And what about you girls? Won't you be in just as much danger if I didn't come along?"

Double checking that she had everything she needed, Twilight closed her saddlebags and proceeded over to the door.

"Well, I'm sure the girls and I can handle whatever's out there. It's you I'd be more worried about."

"What's that supposed to mean? I can take care of myself!" The little dragon said, fuming as the unicorn simply giggled.

"Oh really? Do I need to remind you who was the one who needed to be tucked in every night while we were still living in Canterlot?" Twilight said cheekily, brow raised and mouth smirked at the blushing baby dragon.

"I-I thought we weren't going to talk about that! Besides, I'm much older now, aren't I?"

Once again the unicorn giggled, approaching her best friend and offering a reassuring nuzzle.

"Of course Spike. But you're still technically a baby dragon, and that's why you should stay her in the library."

Staring up at the unicorn, Spike tried and failed to come up with a proper response, choosing instead to just sigh and nod his finned head. To debate against Twilight Sparkle would have been a losing battle from the start.

"Hey, don't worry Spike. The girls and I will only be gone for a few hours. We'll be back before you know it, hopefully with some answers regarding the newest addition to the Everfree."

For a moment, the little dragon stayed quiet before smiling at her.

"Alright Twilight, you and the girls be safe, okay?"

"I'm sure we will!" Twilight said making her way to the door, but just before she left, she turned back to the little dragon. "And don't worry, I'll make sure Rarity stays safe as well."

Blush now returning and brighter than ever, Spike sputtered on his words as the unicorn simply giggled out the door, closing it behind her and leaving the dragon once again to himself.

"Sigh...sure Twilight, just don't go overboard, alright?"

It was about ten in the morning when Twilight had left Ponyville behind and met up with the rest of her friends, all standing near the edge of the Everfree Forest. On her approach, she was waved down by Pinkie and the rest of her friends followed suit.

"Hey Twilight! Ready for our super-duper fun hunt?" The pink mare said bouncing in place.

"Pinkie, for the last time." Twilight said, noting the mare's lack of supplies as she joined the group. "This expedition isn't for fun, its for research."

"Sure Twilight, keep telling yourself that." Rainbow Dash said, smirking as she looked over at the Everfree.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" The unicorn said, scrunching her muzzle.

"No offense Twilight, but every time there's something new to discover, you're the one jumping around like Pinkie Pie after one of her sugar rushes." Rainbow said, to which Twilight could only blush as the rest of her friends silently nodded.

"Whatever Rainbow. Anyways, why aren't you packed?"

The cyan pegasus chuckled, taking to the air.

"Who says I need anything else besides these bad girls?" the mare said, flexing her forelegs and doing a few poses all while the Twilight shook her head and Applejack rolled her eyes.

"Oh please Rainbow, like we'll ever need what you're packing." The county mare said, which Twilight noticed was sporting her own saddlebags as well as a set of black combat boots. "But if we need a cloud kicked, you'll be the first to know."

The pegasus, easily insulted, rounded on the mare as the two began to argue over who was supposed to be the apparent muscle of the group while Twilight simply shook her head before looking over to the other two ponies present.

Both Rarity and Fluttershy were thankfully equipped with their own saddlebags, though as Rarity was in the process of applying some sort of makeup and Fluttershy was busy conversing with the same Raccoon from yesterday, she couldn't help but wonder if she and her friends were really prepared for tackling such a quest as finding and documenting a supposedly new and potentially dangerous creature of the Everfree. No turning back now.

With a sigh, Twilight looked over her friends once more.

"Alright girls, are you all ready?"

The girls all looked to Twilight and each gave their own hearty reply.

"Let's do this!" Rainbow said coolly.

"Ready as ever sugarcube." Applejack nodded.

"Ready ready ready!" The bouncing Pinkie proclaimed.

"Just about...and done." Rarity said, putting the final touches to her face and mane before looking up at Twilight. "Now I'm ready dear."

"I am too, if that's okay." Fluttershy said.

And with a final nod. Twilight walked passed the group and stood before the Everfree.

"Excellent. Well then Fluttershy, is your friend ready as well?" Twilight said, turning to the pegasus as she nodded.

"Yup, Mister Raccoon is ready to show us where he saw the creature." Fluttershy said, looking over to the raccoon who nodded as well before slowly making his way into the forest interior.

"Well then girls, let go find us a new creature!"

And with that proclamation, Twilight and company proceeded into the forest, ready for whatever they may find.

A deep yawn came from Richard's maw as he walked down the empty halls of his new castle. For shortly after waking up on the stone floor, he had decided that today would be dedicated to exploring his home for the foreseeable future.

So with that idea in mind, he simply chose from one of the six secondary hallways that lined either side of the main entrance hall at random and just started looking around. Minutes would fly by as Richard took the time to look into every room he passed, though all it would be was a simple look as he couldn't fit his head, much less his whole body, through a majority of the doors he came across. Luckily the lot of them were either spare bedrooms or janitor closets.

Once the hall ended, either at a dead end or blocked by rubble, the deathclaw would turn around, return to the entrance hall, pick another hall, and repeat.

This process went on for maybe an hour or so before Richard, rounding another corner of one of the longer hallways, stumbled across a set of tall wooden doors, the left one sporting a carving of what looked to be a crescent moon while the right one, a shining sun.

'This looks promising.' Richard thought as he approached the doors. Luckily enough, they were as tall as him, which hopefully meant they lead to somewhere important.

Placing his claws on the doors, he gave a small push before the doors loudly creaked open, revealing a sight which didn't disappoint. After all, considering that the room which Richard now found himself in was none other than this castle's very own throne room, how could it not. Below him, a large red carpet that rested under Richard's clawed feet and stretched almost the entire length of the large room. Above him, a long balcony that wrapped around the room's upper area with stone stands situated further in that nobles or other spectators probably sat from and watched. And finally, passed all of that and several dozen feet in front of Richard rested two grand thrones, teardrop in shape and of the same color as the ripped banner which hung above it, the left one being dark blue below a starry moon banner while the other was of a bright yellow, its banner having a shining sun banner.

"Well that certainly is something." Richard growled, sparing the thrones another glance before looking up to the ceiling...to find that there wasn't one and instead only the blue sky above. "And that could be a problem. Ah, I deal with it later."

Natural skylight aside, Richard couldn't help but smile a toothy smile as he looked around the room once more, and with a nod of his head, decided that this room would be where he'd set up shop.

"Now that I got my bedroom figured out, time to get back to exploring."

And with that, Richard left the throne room and, after a bit of backtracking, found himself once again in the main foyer.

"So..." Richard growled. "Where the hell can I find more cool shit at?"

Looking around, Richard's eyes fell on the stairs at the end of the hall, just behind two massive torn banners that he hadn't actually notice until just now. And while they did look similar to the ones he saw in the throne room, the banners that hung before Richard's squinting eyes, there was something about them that held Richard's attention, or maybe it was what was on them instead.

The left banner was dark blue, featuring the picture of a crescent moon rising above a horse, though to Richard's raised brow, the horse was not only dark blue, but also had what looked to be a horn on its head and a pair of wings on its back.
It also appeared to be looking at something to the right, which lead Richard to turn his head to the other banner, a worn yellow one which featured a shinning sun above another winged horn-head horse, though the only difference between this horse and the other was the snow white color of its fur.

For a moment, Richard looked between the two banners, wondering what they meant, especially with the whole day and night theme.

"Folks here must really like their horses." He hissed softly, before shrugging and proceeding up the stars. Once he was at the top, and after having to choose between which of the two entrances he wanted to go through, he decided on the left and proceeded down the corridor.

A short walk later and Richard was now standing before a door just a few feet below his full height. And upon opening it and stepping inside, he was now in what looked to be a grand library, though with everything seemingly covered in about five layers of dust and cobwebs, it seemed anything but grand.

"Yeesh, get a load of this place." Richard growled to himself as he proceeding in.

Looking over the many wooden bookcases, and yes literally too, his eyes wandered over the many worn and surprisingly well-preserved books that filled their dusty shelves. He also happened a glance or two at the few books that were left open on some of the long wooden tables, and was genuinely surprised when he found that the writing within was actually in English, albeit of the older, medieval manner of writing, but still good ol' English nonetheless.

"Huh, well I'll be damned." Richard growled quietly as he closed one of the books he'd been looking over with a claw. "Maybe I'm actually in some sort of alternate Europe? that would kinda explain the horses."

Giving the library one last look, Richard turned and made his exit, stopping just outside the room to close the door before proceeding back down the hall. And after he had made it back to the lobby, he then returned to the throne room where after several moments of staring, thinking, and light tail swaying, the deathclaw had made up his mind.

"Well, time to do some cleaning."

"How much longer Fluttershy?"

The pegasus listened to her raccoon friend once more before turning to Twilight and the rest of the girls.

"Mister Raccoon said It shouldn't be that much longer now."

Sighing, Twilight and the rest of the girls continued to follow after Fluttershy and her animal friend as they lead them further into the Everfree. Though it hadn't been too long since they had entered the forest, maybe a half hour or so, the walk through the dark and dangerous forest was already beginning to put stress onto one or two of the group's members.

"How much longer must we go through this accursed place!"

Okay, maybe only on one of the group's members.

"Rarity. We've only been walkin' for about half an hour, calm yourself." Applejack said, closing her eyes as the fashionista responded with yet another whine, which made that the tenth one in the past half hour.

"Oh please, while you can most certainly enjoy the outdoors, I for one wish we didn't have to spend another minute in these horrid woods!" Rarity said, a hoof over her head as if she would suddenly faint from the sheer horrid-ness of the woods.

Applejack wasn't amused.

Rolling her eyes at the unicorn's foalish antics, she looked over and watched her other friend Pinkie Pie busy herself by jumping around the group and looking just about everywhere for the creature they were searching for. Though for Pinkie Pie, that meant that no stone was left upturned or bush unrustled as she darted about, occasionally going "Here Mister Lizard," or "Oh Mister Scaly, where are you?"

"Well, at least somepony is enjoyin' themselves." The farm mare said before she turned to regard her other friend Rainbow Dash, who kept her searching a bit more reserved by keeping her head on a swivel, looking this way or that for either anything dangerous or for their mystery creature.

"Seen anythin' yet, Dash?"

"Naw, nothing yet." The pegasus said, her eyes still scanning the woods around them. "You'd think finding a big walking snake-thing would be easy but all I've seen is trees, trees, and- wait a minute."

The mare suddenly stopped, her eyes squinting at something off in the distance to the group's left. Applejack had also stopped and looking over to where Rainbow had been looking, saw nothing but trees, even when she squinted her eyes as well.

"Dash, what do you-"

"I'll be right back." The mare said before quickly darting off, leaving Applejack confused and causing the rest of the girls to stop as well.

"Where's Rainbow Dash going?" Twilight asked, approaching the orange mare as she simply shrugged.

"Don't rightly know. She just said she saw somethin' in those woods over yonder and then flew off." Applejack said, to which Twilight hummed at while Rarity sighed heavily.

"Shouldn't we keep moving?" The unicorn asked. "Why must we stop just because Rainbow Dash thought she saw something? hmm?"

Hopping beside the flustered mare, Pinkie simply giggled.

"Weeeelll Rarity, maybe Dashie did find something." she said before she suddenly gasped. "Maybe she found a clue that was left by Mister Scaly, huh Twilight?"

She turned to the unicorn in question, who also shrugged.

"Maybe?" Twilight said, raising her brow as she looked over to Fluttershy. "Are we close to the spot, Fluttershy?"

After looking back to Mister Raccoon and listening to what he had to say, Fluttershy nodded at him before she looked backed to Twilight.

"Mister Raccoon says that we are."

"Hmm, well I guess we are then Pinkie, so maybe Rainbow did-"

Suddenly, Rainbow Dash.

"Girls, come quick! I found something crazy!"

A series of great rumbling noises echoed throughout the old castle halls as Richard pushed aside fallen stone arches and large chunks of rock, adding them to a steadily growing pile of debris that accumulated in the center of the main lobby. And after several minutes had passed and the pile of rock was just about half of Richard's height standing up, he then bulldozed the pile out the front doors and into the grassy field beyond.

Once most of the larger debris had been cleared from the entrance hall and throne room, Richard then proceeded to sweep the rest of the halls. Though without a properly sized broom, his tail would have to do. Down the halls Richard went, lightly brushing his tail side to side against the cobblestone floors, kicking up dust and smaller debris which was either quickly dissipated or simply pushed to the side. Richard would even occasionally stop and lightly tap his tail against walls and pillars alike, sending up clouds of dust that elicited a few sneezes from the towering hunk of terror.

And once the dusting was finished, at least to the point where Richard's vision wasn't impaired from a constant haze of smoky air, he returned to the throne room, several ideas already coming to mind as to how he would make the room more homely.

"By Celestia."

Twilight's mouth was left agape as she stared at the scene before her, just as astonished and slightly scared as the rest of her friends as they too looked on at what she could only really compare to the aftermath of a spell gone haywire. A clearing, or what was left of one stood before the group in absolute ruin. Almost every tree surrounding the clearing was damaged, with some barring large slashes across their bark to a few seemingly torn from their very roots and thrown aside as if they were matchsticks.

"Oh, you poor things!" Fluttershy gasped, flying over to one of the uprooted trees before brushing a hoof across it in a soothing manner. "Who would do such a terrible thing to these innocent trees?"

"Not a who Fluttershy, but a what." Rainbow Dash suddenly said flying over to one of relatively intact tress. "Check out these wicked claw marks."

As she rested a hoof against the tree with a look of apparent wonder, Twilight also approached the tree, examining the bark and the slashes across it.

"Hmm, these slash marks are way too large to be from any manticore, even from an alpha one at that." She said, taking a closer look. "Amazing. By how deep the slash marks go into the wood as well as the length from which they reach across the wood, the creature that created them must posses claws of an equal or greater length than that of the average pony's leg!"

A slight shiver went up Dash's spine when she heard that.

"Re-Really? Uh, I mean, pshh really? That's it? It doesn't sound that scary."

"Oh sure Rainbow Dash." Twilight said, levitating up a notepad and quickly scribbling down some notes. "Compared to the claws of a ursa minor or an adult dragon, the size difference isn't all that remarkable." She stopped to look up at the claw marks before returning to her writing. "But for a creature to posses claws of this size and sharpness, it would definitely be of a higher threat than the common manticore or timberwolf."

Rainbow Dash took a moment to process what she just heard before chuckling nervously.

"He he, yeah."

"Ahhh! Disgusting!"

All heads quickly turned to Rarity as she speedily backpedaled from some dead bushes.

"Rarity? What's wrong?"

The distraught mare, nose scrunched and eyes slightly watery, turned to her purple friend.

"What's wrong? Oh I'll tell you what's wrong Twilight!" She said, pointing to a bushes. "Some miscreant relieved themselves in these bushes and the smell is simply abhorred!"

Walking over to the bushes in question, Applejack shook her head.

"Oh come now Rarity, It can't be that-" The orange mare was quick to gag as she too got a whiff of the smell and removed her hat to fan away the stench. "By golly! That there's a smell if I ever smelled one."

Approaching the large pool of piss, Twilight did scrunch her muzzle, but still remained close as she opened her saddle bag and levitated out three small empty vials.

"It is only natural girls." She said as she lowered the opened tubes towards the edge of the pool and watched as they were quickly filled before she lifted them, capped them, then replaced them back into her bags, much to the uneasiness of her friends.

"Twilight dear, surely you're not going to be carrying those with you...right?"

Looking over to Rarity, Twilight simply shrugged.

"Samples are samples Rarity. They're crucial to the process of learning more about the unknown, and in this case, learning more about our mystery creature." Walking away, she turned to her friend. "And if you're worried about the smell, then I can just do a simple anti-odor spell."

The marshmallow-colored mare visibly cringed.

"It's not just the smell I'm worried about dear."

Before Twilight could inquire further, she was interrupted by Pinkie Pie giggling up a storm. Well more than usual. Turning to her friend, she raised a brow as the party pony continued to giggle at the forest floor which she sat upon.

"What's so funny Pinkie?"

The pink pone looked over to her studious friend.

"Oh nothing in particular, just having a little laugh at Mister Lizard's hilarious gift."

Raising a brow, Twilight was about to ask what she meant by that when she happened to glance at the ground and stopped. For what she had at first mistaken for a deformation in the dirt was actually an massive imprint most likely left behind by their mystery creature.

As Pinkie continued to giggle away, the other girls, save for Fluttershy who was still trying to somehow nurse the felled trees, gathered around the spot of interest.

"Well I'll be." Applejack said, eyeing the ground with surprise. "Wonder how this got here?"

Rainbow Dash hovered overhead, turning and tilting her head in order to make sense of the imprint.

"The tartarus is it supposed to be?"

"A pawprint perhaps?" Rarity wondered aloud.

"If it is, then it's the strangest and largest one I've ever seen." Twilight said, rubbing her chin as she gave the odd crater a critical eye.

"Hehe, come on girls. Isn't it obvious?" Pinkie said from her seat, to which none of the girls couldn't reply. After a few silent moments, Pinkie couldn't hold it in anymore and whooped. "It's a flankprint sillies!"

After a few moments of Pinkie laughing to herself as the other girls looked at the imprint, they all Ohhh in unison as they too all shared a giggle amongst themselves at the realization.

"Heh, guess we don't have to be worried if the thing's just a big klutz." Rainbow Dash said, seemingly more to herself than to anypony else. The other girls simply giggled, all except for Twilight who continued to stare at the imprint.

'I guess we don't." She thought, before looking over to Fluttershy, who up until this point had remained quietly sitting near the uprooted trees while her raccoon friend patted her back. Walking over to her friend, Twilight tapped her shoulder. "Fluttershy, are you okay?"

The pegasus sniffed before she looked up to her friend, a sad smile adorning her features.

"Yeah Twilight, I'm alright." Her expression suddenly hardened. "But we need to find this creature soon so that it can apologize for hurting these poor trees."

Blinking, Twilight could only offer a reassuring smile at her friend's sudden eagerness to find the creature, though the reason behind it did garner a raised brow.

"Sure we will Fluttershy."

"Heck yeah, lets go find this thing!" Rainbow Dash added in as the rest of the girls also joined them.

Looking over the group then back to Fluttershy, Twilight smiled once again as she offered a hoof to the sitting mare.

"Ready, Fluttershy?"

Smiling herself, Fluttershy took the offered hoof and once she was back on all four hooves, she puffed out her chest a little as she nodded.

"Yes I am."

Smiling, Twilight then turned to Mister Raccoon who, needing no further instructions, continued on the path to their destination, all while the girls followed along with a new wave of enthusiasm.

Richard casually strolled along the perimeter of the castle, looking over the various bits of rumble that piled around the cracked and crumbling outer walls. On his stroll, he would occasionally stop to examine a large piece of broken wall before shaking his horned head and continuing along. This little stroll lasted for maybe a few more minutes before Richard finally stopped to regard a particularly larger chunk of rock that had broken off from one the the castle's outlying towers. He then took the time to examine the chunk, raising a clawed hand to his chin as he tilted his head in thought.

'Hmm, it looks big enough.'

After a moment, Richard shrugged and, with a low grunt, he hefted the several hundred of pounds worth of stone slab as easily as if he were lifting a pizza box and turned to make his way back to the castle entrance.

But as he began to leave, there came the sudden noise of shifting rock which prompted the deathclaw to stop. Looking over his shoulder, Richard eyed the pile of rocks from which he had taken the slab from, yet saw nothing out of the ordinary. Shaking his head, Richard turned to leave once again when he happened to glance down and almost drop the slab in surprise at the sudden sight of a small creature perched right in the middle of the slab in his claws. Blinking, Richard peered down at the little thing that stared up at him, its black orbed eyes looking into his solid orange ones.

'It's a lizard.'

It was in fact a lizard, an orange little thing that was probably smaller than his pinky claw. Kinda looked like a gecko actually. And as the little gecko-lizard-thing continued to look up at Richard with its big yet little eyes, the towering scaled behemoth couldn't help but be reminded of a certain other little lizard. After a moment, Richard decided to humor it.

"You need something little guy?" He growled, to which the lizard responded with a little skwee of its own that Richard surprisingly, and I shit you not, actually understood. In fact, after hearing the little thing inform him that he had picked up its favorite sleeping spot, the giant rip-and-tear-reptile couldn't help but be genuinely shocked at just how clearly the little thing had sounded, as if it had just spoken legit English despite only uttering sounds akin to a chew toy.

"Oh. Um...I'm sorry." Richard hissed, still slightly perplexed at the fact that he was actually conversing with a lizard. "But I need this for a table."

The gecko tilted its head before it asked in lizard speak where Richard would be putting it.

"In my new castle." He replied, whilst nodding his head at the building in question, which the lizard also looked up at before it suddenly asked if it could come along. This made Richard pause for a moment and in his confused state, he asked the little lizard, "You wanna come along? Actually wait, shouldn't you be afraid of me though?"

The lizard in turn nodded its head at the first question before asking Richard to explain the second one. This however only further confused Richard to the point where he had to put the slab down before he stepped back to regard the lizard.

"Why? Because I'm a giant lizard of absolute death and destruction!" He roared, waving his arms. "I mean, you do realize that I could kill you without a second thought." He then fell on all fours, his maw now mere inches from the little lizard as he hissed quietly. "Or eat you whole in a single bite."

Richard then turned his head to the side so that the little lizard got a good look at not just his massive gleaning teeth, but of his eye, which now squinted at it, waiting for the lizard to call its bluff.

And yet, the little guy didn't falter. In fact, the lizard actually stepped forward from its spot on the rock, causing Richard to turn his head so that he now fully faced the lizard with one hell of a brass pair. The lizard then looked up at Richard and, without a single fuck to be had and or given, told him that it was not only not scared of Richard, but genuinely thought that he was cool and still wanted to come along with him. What a badass.

For several moments Richard was too stunned to say anything. I mean, how could he not be when the little gecko before him had literally stared down death itself and he was the one who blinked first. That definitely earned some respect from the mutant lizardboy for sure.

"Hehehe, well I'll be damned. Okay then, you got a name little guy?" Richard growled, to which the lizard sadly informed him that it did not. Yeah, that wasn't going to slide.

"Hmm, well that just won't do." Richard hissed, shaking his head while he crossed his arms in defiance to this utter bullshit. "A little badass like you deserves a cool ass name to boot...in fact."

Eyeing the lizard, Richard lowered his right arm, his clawed hand palm-up and presented to the lizard who, after taking a moment to look at it, hopped aboard before Richard raised his hand up to his face, bringing the two face to maw. He then pointed a claw with his other hand at the little lizard and with a roar, happily proclaimed, "From this day forward, I'll call you...Badass!"

The lizard, after having been given its new name, and repeating it a few times to itself, skweed with joy as it happily hopped around in Richard's open hand, all the while he continued to grin like a proud parent.

"I take it you like the name?" Richard asked, to which the lizard nodded its head vigorously before suddenly darting up his arm and coming to a stop atop his head in between the bases of his horns in just a few seconds. This however only elicited a deep chuckle from Richard as he lifted up the stone slab and began to make his way back to the castle entrance.

"Glad you do. And you know, where I come from, having that name means you're real tough. And after what you did, I think you deserve it."

"Is this the spot?" Twilight asked Fluttershy once the group finally stopped near a particularly large tree after a few minutes more of walking. The pegasus turned to her Raccoon friend who nodded, confirming their location. Smiling, she looked over her shoulder at the unicorn.

"Yup."

The unicorn sighed happily.

"Finally. Alright girls, spread out and look for any clues."

With that, the remaining four girls began to look about the area while Twilight approached the yellow pegasus who was just saying her goodbyes to the raccoon.

"Thank you so much Mister Raccoon!" She said, smiling brightly at him. "You can head back to your family now, if you want to that is." The raccoon in turn nodded, and with a wave, he dashed off, leaving the girls to their hunt. Watching him go, Fluttershy sighed happily before she turned to her friend.

"Wasn't he the most helpful raccoon you've ever met Twilight?" She asked, to which Twilight could only nod and brandish a smile of her own.

"He really was. And because of him, I think we're definitely getting closer to finding this creature."

Suddenly Rainbow Dash again.

"Hey Twilight, I couldn't find anything nearby so I'm going to go fly around and see if I can't spot anything from above."

Turning to the pegasus, Twilight blinked.

"Oh, well sure, but maybe it would be better if we stuck to-"

"Don't worry Twilight, I won't be gone too long. Later!"

And before the purple unicorn could finish what she was going to say, the rainbow-maned mare shot off, leaving the two ponies in her rainbow-tinged dust.

After a short coughing fit, Twilight sighed as she looked up to where Rainbow had dashed off to. Fluttershy waved a wing to dispel the dust but smiled nonetheless at Rainbow being Rainbow. And Pinkie Pie simply giggled at Rainbow Dash being true to her name.

"Hehe, Rainbow sure loves to dash off, right Twilight?" The giggling mare said, to which Twilight only groaned at while Fluttershy elicited the quietest of chortles.

"Sure sure. Anyway, did you find anything Pinkie?" The unicorn deadpanned, to which the pink party pony actually nodded, surprising her.

"Wait, you actually found something?" Twilight asked, to which PInkie nodded once again to. "...Well where is it?"

"Here."

The unicorn blinked.

"Here?"

"Here."

"In this clearing, you mean?"

"Yuppy."

"Okay, well where in this clearing?"

"Here."

"Where exactly is it, Pinkie?"

"Under."

"Under?"

"Under."

"Under where?"

The pink mare giggled.

"No silly, under who."

"Under who?"

"Under you."

"Under me?" The unicorn blinked, raising a brow while PInkie only nodded. "There's nothing under m-me-me- whoa!"

Twilight all but jumped into the hooves of Fluttershy, much to the pegasus' surprise and dismay as she wobbled on her hind hooves, trying and failing to support the shocked unicorn's weight before they both fell onto the dirt. A few seconds of apologizing, well more from the pegasus than the unicorn, and untangling of limbs later and Twilight was now practically muzzle to dirt examining the massive how-the-absolute-shit-did-they-not-see-it-earlier clawprint that most definitely belonged to their mystery monster while an ooo-ing Pinkie Pie stood by and tilted her head this way and that to better admire the print as a lightly blushing Fluttershy also happened to spare the clawprint a few glances from behind her pink hair.

The racket that Twilight had made earlier had also drawn in the other two mares and now all five were left in similar states of awe as they took in the imprint for themselves.

"Land sakes! Applejack hollered, raising her hat. "Now would you look at the size of that. Its definitely gotta belong to the critter we're chasing."

"It is rather impressive." Rarity said, before a slight shiver went up her back. "Though I can't help but shudder at what this dreadful creature must look like."

"Sure, it may seem scary now." Fluttershy murmured. "But, maybe it won't be so scary when we meet it."

"Hehe, Mister Lizard's claws are really big." Pinkie said before raising a hoof to her chin in thought. "Hmm, I wonder how many cupcakes he can hold in just one?"

"I'm still surprised I didn't see it earlier, but this imprint," Twilight said, opening her saddlebag and taking out a camera. "I just have to document it!" And document she did as she took several photos from several different angles, even having Fluttershy fly up to get a aerial shot.

Coincidentally, just as Fluttershy landed and returned the camera to her friend, Rainbow Dash made her return as well, though as she landed, there seemed to be something off about her. Ironically though, this oddity wasn't immediately picked up by Twilight, being the most studious out of the group, as she approached the pegasus with a smile.

"Hey Rainbow, you would not believe the amazing shots we got of the clawprint over here!"

The mare however remained quiet, as Twilight's smile faltered slightly.

"Di-did you also find something Rainbow Dash?" Twilight asked, to which the mare remained quiet but nodded nonetheless, making the unicorn squee with renewed joy. "Excellent, then could you lead us there?"

The usually-boisterous mare flinched at that, but after a few moments of shuffling her hooves and ruffling her wings, she again nodded silently, albeit with an obvious bit of hesitance, before turning around and simply walking off, throwing the whole group for a loop.

"Is dear Rainbow Dash alright?" Rarity asked to nopony in particular, to which Applejack couldn't help but answer.

"Not rightly sure. But then again, maybe whatever she saw just left her plum speechless."

There then came a gasp from Pinkie Pie, and when the other girls looked at her, she was smiling up a storm.

"Oo oo oo! Maybe she saw a really surprising clue left by Mister Lizard that left here so super-duperly-surprised that she kept quiet so as not to ruin the surprise and now she wants us to see it for ourselves and be super surprised like her!"

And with that, the pink pony hopped off after the pegasus, giggling and guessing to herself what the surprise could be. The other girls however were hesitant to proceed, well almost all of them.

"Pinkie might have a point." Twilight said, starting to follow after the two as the others looked at her. "Maybe Rainbow was just a little surprised. Come on girls, lets go see for ourselves!"

And with that little spout of determination, Twilight was off. And after a few moments and a trade of looks between eachother, so were the other girls, albeit hesitant to proceed but curious all the same."

"And...there we go." Richard hissed, placing down the stone slab onto the throne room's cracked floor. Stepping back, he looked at it for a bit before nodding and looking up to his new friend.

"What do you think, Badass?" He growled, to which the little gecko that had been atop his head vanished suddenly, only to reappear atop the slab's surface, looking around, then up at the open sky, and finally back to Richard before skweeing happily. Hearing that it found this new spot for its sleeping spot to be better than the last spot it had been in earlier, Richard chuckled deeply. "Glad you like it buddy, now if you'll excuse me."

Turning around, Richard headed for the doors, but just as he was about to leave, he heard his friend utter a questioning squeak and the deathclaw turned his head to address it.

"Don't worry Badass, I won't be gone for long. Just going to go grab some things. Stay here, take a nap, and I'll be back before you know it."

After a moment, the gecko nodded and Richard couldn't help but smile toothily in turn. And with the wave of his massive tail, he was off, leaving the little gecko and his slab alone in their new room. There was a few moments that the little lizard spent staring at the entrance where the bigger lizard had left through. Turning its head here and there, the newly named "Badass" looked at its new surroundings and sighed, for despite being in a new place as well as always having been going solo for most of its life, it couldn't help but feel somewhat lonely with the absence of its first ever friend. But the big lizard said he'd come back so the little lizard shouldn't be worried. And since he also suggested that Badass should take a nap, a nap Badass would take.

Doing a few spins to get comfortable, the little gecko plopped itself onto the slab. Then, once its legs were tucked snugly under its orange little belly, the gecko curled its tail around itself before it rested its head upon said tail and closed it eyes.
A minute or two later and the little gecko was now quietly snoozing away under the rays of the sun. An unknown number of minutes spent snoozing uninterrupted later and the lizard was slowly opening its eyes to the sound of approaching footfalls, and judging by the weight that each step carried, the little lizard couldn't help but wag its tail happily at the sight of its big lizard friend's return. Though as he entered the room once again, Badass couldn't help but tilt its head at the many smaller slabs tucked under the large lizard's arms. Smaller and thinner than its own stone slab, rectangular in shape and white in color, The larger reptile boasted four under each arm, and as he growled his return, the little gecko chirped its question.

"Oh these?" Richard replied, raising the slabs under his arms a bit higher, to which Badass nodded and he smiled rather devilishly in turn. "Oh you're going to get a kick outta these."

Twilight pushed away another branch as she followed after Rainbow Dash, with Pinkie Pie at her side and the other three girls following up the rear. For the some time now the girls had been walking in relative silence, save for the occasional grunt or giggle as the group traversed the dark woods. Throughout their trip, Rainbow Dash had yet to ever say anything since she had returned from her scouting, and the distance that she kept from the rest of the girls only added to the unease that plagued them, save for Pinkie Pie of course. And out of the other girls, Twilight seemed to be the most perplexed by this, obviously, as she would occasionally glance back at the other girls, mostly to Applejack who had also picked up on Dash's odd behavior earlier on.

"So...Rainbow, are we almost there?" She asked, to which the pegasus simply nodded and silenced reigned once again. Twilight blinked before looking back to Applejack, who was now looking at her prismatic friend with suspicion. Truth be told, this silence was getting on Twilight's nerves as well, and if she wasn't already under a similar suspicion that Rainbow Dash was now definitely hiding something, there was little else to say before Twilight simply stopped and demanded that the mare just tell them what-

"Ohhh! My word!" Rarity suddenly exclaimed. "What is that horrid smell!"

Turning to the unicorn, Twilight was just about to ask what she was going on about before she to began to pick up something, and that something was scrunching her muzzle up something fierce. Pretty soon the other girls also began to voice their own disapproval of the stench, some more enthusiastically than others, and that disapproval only increased both visibly and audibly as the group soldiered on.

At that point, Twilight was how holding a hoof to her muzzle in a vain attempt to combat the smell. The other girls tried to ward off the smell as well, either covering their muzzles with hoof or wing, or even holding their breath as Pinkie was so expertly demonstrating. But their attempts were also in vain as the gagging and exclamations persisted.

Turning back to Rainbow Dash, Twilight was baffled that throughout the whole ordeal, the pegasus had not once voiced her own disgust nor did she attempt to cover her face as she continued on before disappearing through a bush up ahead. With confusion, disgust and interest all duking it out internally, Twilight wiped away at her teary eyes before pushing through the bush, smells be damned. And as Twilight forced her way passed the bush, so did she pass into the light of the evening sun.

Blinking away tears and rays of light, Twilight squinted up to see Rainbow Dash standing stock still beside her, her face unreadable as her eyes remained forward. Tilting her head, Twilight followed Dash's gaze and in that moment, everything stopped. Her hooves stood still, her senses dimmed, hell maybe even her own heart forgot to skip a beat. For at that very moment, Twilight was rendered utterly quiet. Everything around her seemed to slowly fade away, as if she were in some trance that not even the heavy rustling of leaves and the collection of gasps that followed shortly after could have snapped her from this apparent dream state. For what lay before her and her friends was a scene of true, absolute horror, an utter nightmare made a reality.

Is this real? Is this a dream? How is this possible?

These questions and more slowly drifted through Badass' mind as the little lizard laid sprawled across one of the many strange stone slabs that its larger friend had brought with him, its little body slightly sunk into the soft embrace of the slab's surface. As it rested upon the slab, its mind thought back to earlier on.

After its friend had returned, the lizard had watched its larger friend take the strange slabs with him, and with a single jump, ascend up to a space above and behind those two colorful piles of stone. Curious, the lizard had zipped up the stone walls and passed the elevated rows of stone above and had stopped just short of the platform that had been somewhat concealed by those two large oddly colored leafs that hung above the two colorful piles of stone below. There it stood, watching as its new friend busied himself by arranging the stone slabs into a collection which, to the lizard, resembled a larger version of the individual slabs. Once all the slabs were in place and the larger lizard had nodded his apparent approval of said arrangement, he turned his horned head over to the little lizard, who looked at him, then at the slabs, then back to him again before tilting his head. The larger lizard simply chuckled as he waved a clawed hand over the slabs.

"Wanna try them out?" He growled, to which after some hesitation, the little lizard agreed, and after a short trip via a open clawed hand, the little lizard touched down onto the surface of one of the slabs, meanwhile expecting a cold and solid exterior much like its own stone, but instead being taken aback by a strange, almost alien sensation.

"Comfortable?" The larger lizard hissed, to which the little lizard gave pause to before slowly nodding.

Comfort. that was what the little lizard was feeling, and oh did it enjoy that feeling. The little lizard couldn't help but dig further into the comfort of the whimsical slab, and as it sunk further in, as if it were being absorbed, the little lizard did not care, for all it knew then, there, and now, was comfort.

"I knew you'd like them." The monstrous reptile hissed, a deep growling chuckle following shortly after. "Who doesn't like a comfy mattress? Had to bust down a couple walls to grab them though, but it looks like it was worth it."

The larger lizard then fell to all fours as he made his way over to the supersized bed, then as he casually plopped onto it, he chuckled once again when his lizard companion went airborne following his plop before falling back down and still remaining oblivious to the world.

"I'm guessing this means that you won't need to sleep on that slab anymore?" Richard asked, to which his lizard friend mumbled something along the lines of a half-response-half-snore before completely succumbing to the powers of the comfy and being reduced to a curled up and happily snoozing heap. "I'll take that as a yes then."

And for several minutes following that, Richard rested upon the many mattresses, simply watching his little friend innocently sleep away. The sight was familiar to say the least. It reminded him of times when he'd find Diablo snoozing in his bed or resting upon one of his pillows. And despite either hissing at him when he wanted the little devil off it or ignoring his demands altogether as he just got more cozier, he still couldn't find it in his heart to be mad at the little guy, slightly pissed sure, but never passed that and never for too long.

"Good times." Richard quietly growled to himself, before his stomach suddenly and loudly growled. "And now those good times are gone, thanks a lot stomach."

Looking over at Badass, Richard was glad that his insufferable appetite hadn't woken up the still happily snoozing lizard. Carefully getting up, he shuffled around the bed of beds and, with a claw over the side, swung himself down to the floor so as not to further risk waking his new friend. Heading over to the doors, he paused before looking over his shoulder at the somewhat hidden balcony he had found while he was cleaning earlier on. A moment of silence passed before he simply smiled and turned his head back around, heading through the doors before slowly pushing them closed with his tail.

"Sleep tight buddy, I'm just going out for a bite."

And with that being growled, Richard proceeded down the hall and was soon out of the castle, leaving his new friend to dream happy little lizard dreams while he went hunting.

Was this real? Was this a nightmare? How could any of this even be possible?

These were just a few of the dozens of questions rushing through Twilight's mind as she stared silently, almost breathless at the gruesome scene before her. So gruesome, so horrid, violent, and just downright nightmarish that words simply failed her, reducing her to a state of shock that seemed to cripple her to her most basic of primal instincts. Instincts that, at that very moment, were screaming at her to run. To hide. To do something. Yet she did not move, shake like a leaf in a hurricane yes, but she still remained still as she took in each and every minute detail of the literal massacre presented to her on a blood-soaked silver platter.

And for a few moments, in that clearing, she simply stood and stared. Her eyes moved from one mangled manticore carcass to the next. She counted ten, no wait eleven, the last one appeared to be under a tree a ways away from the clearing. She also took in there countless injuries, forced by some morbid fascination to see and identify there causes of death as plain as day, and for some of the manticores, simply having to guess from the lack of identifiable remains.

And the smell. Oh, the smell. To her, it was likely one of the worst things she had ever smelled, or will ever smell. And if what she saw wasn't horrible enough, then the stench of rotting flesh and exposed entrails dwarfed what she was currently seeing in comparison to what she was smelling. In some backwards way, the unicorn was actually glad that she didn't eat anything in the morning, because if she had, she would've most definitely been alongside Applejack who, as she turned around to see her, was now currently halfway through the process of emptying her stomach behind a nearby tree. Turning to Rainbow Dash, Twilight found the pegasus on the forest floor, shaking slightly as she tucked herself into a little ball of fear.

"Ra-Rainbow?" she asked, her voice almost as quiet as Fluttershy's. The mare flinched at the utterance of her name, but after a moment, finally spoke.

"I used to hang out with Gilda, so meat shouldn't bother me." The mare said, more to herself than to her friend. "But, I already barfed before I came to get you girls."

Blinking, Twilight didn't quite know how to respond to that, and after a few attempts to form a coherent response, she instead remained silent as she looked for the others.

The next mare she set her sights on was Rarity, who had fainted earlier on and was now lying unconscious in the dirt. Though at what point she had fainted, and whether it was the sight, the smell, or a combination of the two that had been the cause of the mare's collapse was anypony's guess.

Then came Pinkie Pie. Oh, Pinkie Pie. When Twilight had seen her, she found the mare sitting in the dirt, her back hunched over and facing the carnage while her own face was turned away and her hooves were shakily covering her eyes. She rocked back and forth ever so slightly, her usually poofy mane reduced to a wet mop of dark pink that also shook in turn with her. A collection of sharp breaths and other odd and incoherent sounds came from the sitting pone that, as Twilight got closer, were found to actually be words.

"They're just sleeping. They're just sleeping. Those big kitties are just really tired and are just taking a super long cat nap. Yeah, that's why they smell too, it's because they're so tired that they just forgot to take a bath. Heh, Silly kitties. Silly kitties. Silly kitties."

Twilight tilted her head slightly at Pinkie's words, and as she raised a hoof to address the mare, she hesitated. Then after a bit of consideration, she lowered it and quietly watched the mare vainly assure herself of the impossible. Honestly at this point, Twilight really couldn't find it in her heart to fault the mare, seeing as how she was likely one of the most innocent mares she had ever met, well second only to-

"Fluttershy."

Blinking, Twilight whipped her head around in search of the pegasus before finding her and gasping shortly after.

Fluttershy, poor poor Fluttershy. At some point during Twilight's moment of shocked pause, she had failed to notice the timid mare approach one of the closer and relatively intact manticores before simply sitting down beside it. And there she had remained beside the dead creature, slowly and silently petting the creature's blood soaked mane.

It had taken several moments for Twilight to gather up any bits of remaining courage she had left before she stepped into the crimson-coated clearing. Several other moments were then spent taking step after hesitant, shaky step before the unicorn was standing just a few feet behind the still silent mare. Now closer to the body, Twilight actually whimpered when the smell hit her, yet even as she considered whether or not it would've been rude to openly gag, the butter yellow mare still remained quiet.

"Fl-Fluttershy?" Twilight whispered, to which the pegasus ceased in her comforting, her hoof still mid-pet as it rested on the creature's side. "Are you...are you alr-"

Twilight immediately went quiet when Fluttershy suddenly withdrew her hoof from the creature and slowly got up. Still staring down at the manticore's motionless body, she began to softly speak.

"Twilight, I'm okay. After all, it's the circle of life. Some creatures just need to ki-, to kill other creatures in order to survive, even if it means those creatures have to suffer so that another can live its life. Where there's life, there will always be loss. I've seen it all before Twilight, and now, I just have to be strong. To go on living and helping others. I'm sure its what they would have wanted."

Twilight was taken aback. For how could she not be when Fluttershy, sweet and caring Fluttershy could stand on four solid and blood-caked hooves, say what she had just said, and yet remain so calm and collected while she did so, while the unicorn herself could barely keep herself from pulling a Rarity any second now. So for a moment, Twilight remained silent. She just didn't know what to say, which in this case was almost so laughably ironic after considering who had spoken while the other simply remained shy to answer.

"Fluttershy." Twilight finally said, approaching the mare before stopping beside her. "That was amazing. It really was."

A faint smile appeared on the mare's face before it disappeared just as suddenly as it arrived, replaced by a slight grimace as she lowered her head.

"Are you really okay, Fluttershy?"

"Yes, I'm fine. It's just- it's a terrible day for it to rain."

Blinking, Twilight slowly looked up to the cloudless, late evening sky, Before turning back to her friend.

"Wh-What do you mean, It's not raining."

Fluttershy however, remained quiet as she to slowly raised her head to the sky, her expression hidden behind her long pink hair, but made ever painfully clear when she once again spoke.

"Yes." She softly replied, as a single tear rolled down her exposed cheek. "It is."

Realizing what she had meant, Twilight blinked before she turned her head away from her friend in mourning.

"O-oh, so it is."

Looking over the bodies of the other manticores, Twilight could understand the pain that her dear friend was experiencing, if only partially. For despite being dangerous monsters of the Everfree, they were still living, breathing creatures, who most likely had harder lives to live out in these woods then Twilight could ever possibly imagine. And maybe it was due to the smell, or maybe the fact that her friend was crying over the deaths of some creatures that she didn't even know yet considered as close as her own friends, or maybe even due to suddenly realizing the damning reality of all of it, of the death, the suffering that these creatures went through, and of the cruel fate which awaited them basically meant being swallowed by this forest and simply forgotten, that a deep pit now formed in the unicorn's already aching heart and already empty stomach. And with that pit, came tears as well. But for what exactly? Well, that was anypony's guess at this point. However, those tears didn't last long before a certain earth pony cleared her throat.

Turning her head, Twilight saw Applejack standing just a couple feet from the two mares. On her back laid a still unconscious Rarity, While a quiet Rainbow Dash and a equally gloomy Pinkie Pie with a visibly red hoof mark across her left cheek flanked her sides.

"Twilight, I think its time the lot of us headed home."

Looking at her friend, Twilight remained quiet for a moment before wiping away any stray tears and nodding once. The farm pony nodded in turn and with a shared look amongst the other two, they began to make their may towards Ponyville. Beginning to head back as well, Twilight looked over her shoulder to see Fluttershy still standing by the manticore's body.

"Come on Fluttershy, you should head back home before your animal friends get worried."

Hearing that, the pegasus sniffled once before she rubbed at her face and turned to follow after the other two girls. Watching her walk past, Twilight sighed before she joined the others as well, but just as she was nearing the edge of the clearing, Applejack suddenly stopped her with a hoof. And as Twilight raised a brow at the farm pony, her features suddenly became very serious in response.

"Twilight." The mare said, her voice lowered so as not to let the others hear. "What are we going to do?"

Twilight for her part merely blinked.

"A-About what?"

"Abou-" Applejack sighed heavily before she waved a hoof at the clearing behind Twilight. "About all of that, Twilight. What are we going to do about all of that?"

After a few moments of the unicorn trying and failing to say something, she simply sighed before glancing back one last time at the horror which lay behind her. When she spoke, her tone sadly betrayed her feelings, and the utter defeat, hopelessness, and fear that rode on every letter of her words did little to appease the orange mare, simply confirming her own fears instead.

"I...don't know, Applejack. I- I just don't know."

Author's Note

Well well well folks, there you have it. The moment some of you have been waiting for for so long now, the moment where we scar the ever-loving shit out of the main six. I know some of you were real eager to see their reactions. Well, there you go! I just hope I made it worth the wait.

I also hope that some of you can forgive me for that horrible reference near the end of the chapter. But in my defense, I honestly thought that it would've been a mistake if I didn't add it in. Besides, I'm sure that at least a few of you guys would've agreed with me, right?

Oh boy, the comments.

Anyways. I hope you all really liked this chapter. Have mercy on me in the comments. And as always folks, stay casual.