Richard's belly gave another low growl as he ducked under another low hanging branch. Growling just as lowly in annoyance, Richard patted at the outer layer of skin and scales that covered his rather obnoxious organ.

"Yeah, yeah, I heard you the last ten times."

As his stomach growled once again, basically just telling him to fuck off at this point, Richard merely gave it the metaphorical middle claw as he stepped over another small bush and into the light of a familiar, blood-bathed clearing. Looking about, Richard was momentarily amazed by the fact that the eleven lion-things he had violently put down were still left undisturbed, or as undisturbed as a pile of disturbingly mutilated carcasses could be in a forest populated by countless other creatures. Maybe it was the smell? Sniff sniff. Well it was certainly smelly, probably kept most creatures away. Yet to Richard, it wasn't so bad in his opinion. In fact if he was being honest with himself, it was actually kinda-

Cue stomach once again being a little bitch.

"Augh, you really want me to eat rotting meat don't you?" Another inner growl and another outer growling exhale later. "Fiiiinnnee, I'll eat the shit, but only because I couldn't find anything else."

Approaching one of the more intact bodies, Richard knelt down to sniff at the creature and, despite the absolutely wicked stench that seemed to visibly waft from the downed creature, Richard couldn't help but wipe at his maw as drool began to drip from it. But as he was just about to go in for the chomp, he halted, much to his stomach's vocalized displeasure.

Standing up, Richard began to sniff curiously at the air, and despite his belly's protests, the overgrown lizard couldn't help but be lead by the nose to whatever it was smelling for.

"Fuck off stomach, I think I'm picking up something else." And he most certainly was. For as Richard continued to sniff at the air, he began to leave behind the stench of meat for something else, something familiar.

Approaching the other side of the clearing, Richard could tell the smell was definitely getting stronger, and though he couldn't quite give the smell words, it was certainly enticing to say the least. Coming to a stop near the treeline, Richard fell to the ground as one spot in the dirt seemed to practically radiate the scent, and now that Richard could smell it more closely, he now knew what he was smelling.

"Perfume?" He hissed curiously.

With another sniff, it was confirmed. This smell was definitely perfume, and not just the cheap stuff either, real top shelf shit.

Looking around, Richard blinked twice at a thin wisp of purple smoke as it trailed through the trees. And if his schnoz wasn't sniffing bullshit, he was sure that he was also picking up several other fainter scents along with the one he was seeing snake through the air.

Stomach growls curiously.

"I'm not sure stomach." Richard growled, looking from the limp lion bodies to the direction that the new scents went in. "But could you shut up for a bit." Another stomach growl. "Five minutes tops. Sound good?" A moment of silence reigns before Richard's stomach grumbles one last time, causing him to smile toothily. "Groovy."

Falling to all fours, Richard wasted not a second longer before he was suddenly off, trees and foliage passing by him in a blur as he ran off, a little joyful roar signaling to no one in particular that the hunt was on.

Twilight gave a slight yelp as she stumbled over yet another exposed tree root, and much like the other dozen or so roots she had tripped over during their walk back to Ponyville, this root was not spared from punishment as she gave the guilty glorified twig a cute little death glare before she sighed and continued forward. Of course, this little incident would do little to stop the others from repeating the unicorn's mistake as all their heads were just as filled with conflict as her's was. And after a good ten minutes since the girls had left behind that abhorrent scene of horror, it was only reasonable to assume that such thoughts, of which clouded every one of the girls' minds with Twilight's being the most filled while Rarity's was likely the least on account of her still being rendered unconscious , would still linger long after the girls had left this forest far behind.

Figuring that she would likely be spending the next few nights sleepless, Twilight sighed dejectedly as she looked back at her friends. Yeah they didn't seem any better. Just a bit behind her, Applejack was still carrying Rarity on her back looking a bit pissed all the while. Just behind her was Pinkie Pie who was looking more down than Twilight could ever possibly imagine seeing the joyful mare ever be as she kept her eyes to the forest floor. And behind her, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were silently walking beside eachother, the former keeping her head on a near-constant swivel while the ladder simply walked on. Facing forward, Twilight couldn't bare the silence any longer as she attempted to lighten the overall mood.

"I think we're almost back to Ponyville." She turned to regard the group, but no reaction was discovered. "Shouldn't be much longer."

Silence was once again the group's response as Twilight sighed and turned back to the direction ahead and-

"Everypony stop!"

Immediately stopping, Twilight and the other girls looked at Rainbow Dash, who was now staring at the treeline behind them, her ears swiveling as her eyes peered into the dark woods behind them.

"Rainbow Dash, what's-" Twilight tried to ask before she was suddenly and somewhat rudely shooshed by the pegasus, who had yet to peel her attention from the trees beyond. Twilight huffed as Applejack simply raised a brow.

"What is it Dash?"

Keeping her eyes on the trees, she responded in a hushed tone.

"Something's following us." And as if she knew that Twilight among everypony else was going to ask the obvious, Rainbow Dash simply raised a hoof at the other mares. "Stay quiet and just listen."

And so the girls did. For a few moments the girls simply stayed quiet as they too tried to hear whatever it was that their friend was apparently hearing. But after several moments of silence, there was nothing to be heard.

"Rainbow Dash." Twilight whispered, for what reason she didn't know. "I don't hear anything."

To which the rainbow-maned mare simply replied, her voice just as hushed if not more so.

"Exactly."

Blinking, It took Twilight and the girls a few moments to understand what Dash had been implying before it suddenly clicked. The reason they couldn't hear anything before was because there was nothing actually making noise. No small animals, no birds, no nothing. It was silent. Suspiciously, dangerously silent.

Almost instinctively, the girls slowly backed towards one another. A moment later and the girls were now standing flank to flank, their eyes and ears flicking from one area to another, searching, listening, waiting. The silence continued, seemingly growing to the point where it practically surrounded the girls, raising tensions while simultaneously lowering their spirits.

And yet the girls still stood strong, yellow legs nearly buckling aside. After all, they were the elements of harmony, they couldn't be scared, not now. They had to remain brave even in the face of danger, purple brow slightly sweating aside. They had a job to do, and that job right now meant that they had to find this creature.

Snap

Five set of ears swiveled in the direction of a snapping twig.

Crack

Five heads turned to the sound of a nearby branch being pushed aside.

Rustle

Five mares turned to face a collection of bushes several feet away.

Rustle rustle

Two mares got into semi-fighting stances as two others stood still. The last one simply shivered in place.

Rustle rustle rustle

All five mares braced themselves for their encounter with the, with a-

Rust- hop hop hop

A bunny. A little brown bunny.

The girls collectively blinked at the small creature as it too blinked up at them with large black eyes.

Opening her eyes, of which had been tightly closed up until this moment, Fluttershy was the first to sigh with relief as she happily approached the bunny.

"Oh my. You gave us quite the surprise Mister Bunny. You know it isn't nice to scare ponies like that."

The bunny looked up at the pegasus for a moment before it glanced over its shoulder and suddenly dashed off, leaving Fluttershy to shake her head at the animals antics.

"What a silly little bunny, right girls? Girls?"

Turning to her friends, Fluttershy raised a brow as the four of them were standing stock still, staring at her with varying looks of shock and horror.

"Girls? What's wrong? Did that bunny really scare you girls that much?" She suddenly giggled to herself, oblivious to their frantic hoof-waving and wordless breathes. "Well don't you girls worry one bit, because Fluttershy's here-

There suddenly came a rustling noise from behind the yellow pegasus.

"...to...protect-"

There suddenly came a low hissing noise from behind the now slightly shaking pegasus.

"...all of-"

There suddenly came a deep huff as a small gust of wind blew from behind the now violently shaking pegasus, jostling her mane passed her face. Slowly, so very slowly, the pegasus turned her head around until her pinprick-sized eyes revealed to her a creature of absolute terror, a beast that brought fear to every inch of her being, a monster that stared into her very soul.

"...you."

For Richard, there could have been several things that he was expecting to find when he finally zeroed in on the strange scent. The most obvious being humans, probably a group of them with some girl who sprayed herself one too many times with lady cologne. Or maybe a wild dog that had been doused with something that gave off the same flowery stink of perfume. Or hell, maybe some weird-ass creature that just so happened to excrete the same smell of a Bath and Body Works when it felt threatened.

But five small, colorful as hell, horse-looking creatures. Yeah, not exactly at the top of the list. Like not at all. And honestly, that description was pretty much spot on in Richard's opinion. Because they were definitely small. And not like half-his-height small, but like if he stood to his full height, they'd probably come up to knee height for him, if barely at all.

They were also really fucking colorful. And not just your typical horse shades of brown, black, and white, but straight up colors of the rainbow. And if his eyes weren't already fucking with him enough, Richard swore that one of the little horse things, a blue one, literally had a rainbow for hair. Mane color maybe? Anyways it was pretty much like someone dipped its head in a vat of melted skittles. And the other ones? Well the other ones were each a solid color of their own. There was a purple one, a really fucking pink one, an orange one with a cowboy hat for some reason, what looked to be a passed out white one on the orange one's back, and a yellow one too.

And if the midget-sized, pastel-colored horses weren't enough of a mind fuck for Richard, the extra appendages that a few of them were sporting only went to further prove that he definitely wasn't in Kansas anymore. No, it wasn't just the bright-ass fur colors or freakishly large eyes that the horses had, it was what was on their heads and on their backs that made Richard's head go full tilt. A pair of small, bird-like wings rested at the sides of two of the horses, the blue and yellow ones, while a single cone-shaped horn jutted from the forehead of two more of the horses, the purple and white ones. The last two didn't have anything, though from where Richard was currently hiding in a bush, he couldn't be sure if the orange one wasn't also hiding a head-spear under that little yee-haw hat of hers.

Wait. Was it a her? Well, now that Richard thought about it, it probably was safe to assume that they were all female due to the lack of any apparent man bits.

'Well, I found them, so now what?' Richard thought. Though, he wasn't really given much time to consider his options before the bush he was in suddenly rustled, causing all the little horses' ears to flick over in his direction. Blinking, he looked around in his hiding spot before his eyes fell on a small, brown bunny that had stopped beside his head. The bunny then looked at Richard, who in turn looked at it as if to ask 'The fuck do you want?' before it hopped further into the bushes. This in turn created a shit ton of rusting noises which caused the horses to now look directly at his hiding spot, causing Richard to inwardly curse.

'Oh, you little shit.'

The rustling continued, and the horses looked to be preparing themselves for battle, the orange and blue ones at least, the other two didn't do much else while the yellow one just shivered in fear. Luckily it didn't have to come to Richard shoving the bunny out of the bush as it had apparently filled its insistent bush-rustling quota for the day and finally managed to slip free from the grip of the green leaves. Once it was out, the horses were more or less surprised to think that they were scared of a small-ass rabbit. The yellow one however seemed to be the first one to recover, for as she hesitantly opened her eyes, she appeared to immediately relax, even looking as though she got a real kick out of it as she now calmly left the safety of her companions and approached the small creature.

And then she spoke.

...

Or, well, it looked like she was speaking to it, but all Richard could really hear was a collection of soft neighs and whinnies. Maybe she was telling it off or something. Though with those expressions of hers that seemed just a tad too human-ish in Richard's opinion, she was probably giving it a sweet, motherly, "silly-rabbit" kinda talking-to that made the concealed beast humorously huff. And apparently the rabbit somehow heard that as it looked back at him for a moment, seemingly as if it were considering something as Richard simply froze.

'Don't you fucking dare rat me out, you little shit.'

Luckily, or unluckily, the bunny decided to dash off into a nearby bush, leaving the winged yellow horse's side. By herself. Alone. Away from the rest of her friends. Huh.

'Well. I guess it's now or never.'

Slowly, Richard lifted himself onto all fours. Then with one claw in front of the other, he effortlessly emerged from the bushes with but a single rustle. Of course, the other little horses were able to noticed him almost instantly, each looking every bit of shocked and absolutely terrified. Yet as Richard continued his approach. the little yellow horse remained happily oblivious to her friends' vain attempts to warn her.

'Guess this needs a deathclaw's touch.'

Now standing just a few inches behind the little blind horse, Richard let out a low hiss, noting the horse's reaction as she seemed to stiffen slightly before beginning to shiver slightly. Adding on to his apparent act to wordlessly make his presence known, Richard purposely huffed through his nose, sending a small gust of wind to blow the horse's pink hair forward. By that point, the little pony was now shaking up a storm as she ever so slowly turned her head. And oh damn.

Maybe it was the deathclaw in him. But damn it all if seeing this little horse absolutely terrified of him didn't make her look just a bit more cute. Course, the five of these little horse things were all cute in their own ways, but the little bird horse in front of him, straight-up adorable. So adorable in fact that it even made Richard bare his teeth just a bit more in a sort of demonic grin that may or may not have made the yellow one's fur go just a few shades paler.

Small jokes aside, Richard still needed to figure out what he wanted to do with these horses. At this point, eating them was obviously out of the question. Too damn cute. Maybe he could try leading them back to his castle? From his point of view, these little horses probably couldn't survive a night in these woods, much less without any apparent way to defend themselves, though maybe the horned ones were safer in that regard. Maybe he could escort them out of the woods? It was possible that they may have gotten separated from their parents and or owners. Though Richard had yet to actually find the exit out of this massive forest. Well thoughts aside, maybe it was best to start with a friendly greeting first. Couldn't hurt to try, right?

Coming out of his thoughts, Richard looked down at the little horse, who had yet to make a move at all, save for continuing to shake with fear. Lowering his head so that he was somewhat eye to eye with the little thing, he tried to put on his best winning smile before he gave the coolest hiss he could muster.

"Sup."

For probably the first time in her life, Fluttershy was left absolutely speechless, terrified, and confused all at the same time. Here was the creature she and her friends had been looking for, the mystery monster of the Everfree, its toothy maw lingering just inches from her face, hissing a simple hello and yet, she didn't know how to respond. In all her years of dealing with, caring for, and conversing with animals of nearly all shapes and sizes, she had yet to ever encounter a creature that possessed such a imposing physique, terrifying aura and relaxed tone all in one. She was baffled to say the least.

"H-Hello th-th-there." She responded, trying to meet the creature's eyes and instead focusing on its exposed teeth. "Ni-Nice to m-me-meet you."

The creature tilted its head at her, but gave a casual growl nonetheless. What was growled however left the mare's cheeks to quickly grow bright red.

"I'm cu-cu-cute?" The massive lizard actually nodded its head, repeating what had been previously said. "Oh my. Um, th-thank you."

Feeling her nerves starting to calm down, Fluttershy tried to offer a small smile at the creature, who in turn reached out to her with its claws. And despite the suddenness of the action, of which caused her to flinch, she was surprised at the creature's gentleness as it lightly patted her on the head, all the while offering a low growl that assured her that its intentions bore no ill will.

With that being growled, along with the pets and occasional ear scritching that the creature gave, what little remnants of doubt were quickly swept away as the pegasus cooed and giggled at the creature's acts of friendliness. So much so that for just a single moment, Fluttershy wouldn't have believed that this creature was the same one who had slain those manticores. So after one last pat on the head, she nodded.

"Oh I just knew it. She said, smiling up at the creature who simply tiled its head at her. "You were just being misunderstood. You never really wanted to hurt anypony, now did you?"

Withdrawing its claws, the creature watched as the mare stepped back from it and turned to address her friends, who as she could see, were left completely blown away by this new development. Fluttershy merely giggled.

"See girls, our lizard friend here doesn't want to hurt us. He was just a little misunderstood, that's all." Looking up at the creature, Fluttershy smiled as it seemed to go in for another pet. "In fact, I think the only thing that Mister Lizard wants are more frie-eep!"

Before she could finish what she was going to say, Fluttershy was surprised when she was suddenly engulfed in a purple aura of magic and quite literally yanked through the air, away from her new friend mind you, before being all but dropped beside her other friends, who then formed a semi-circle that effectively separated her from the creature.

"Twilight? Why did you have to-"

"Fluttershy are you okay?" Did that thing hurt you?"

Blinking, Fluttershy was confused beyond belief why Rainbow Dash would ask that, especially when it was so out of the blue.

"W-What? Yes, I'm fine but why did-" She was suddenly cut off by Twilight who, much to the mare's shock, had her horn pointed at the creature.

"Why?!" The unicorn all but yelled. "Oh! Oh, I'll tell you why, Fluttershy. Because that monster almost killed you!"

Absolutely baffled by her friend's accusation, the pegasus was about to give the mare a piece of her mind when she happened to glace back at the creature and all but froze in horror.

The creature, whom she had been happily standing beside just moments ago was now staring at the ground with a unreadable expression. It stood upright, its torso twisted slightly as its right claw was hovering above the ground in a mid-swinging pose all the way across to its left side. And if that sight wasn't incriminating enough, Flutters nearly went white when she saw that in place of where she had previously stood was a massive set of slash marks several inches deep in the dirt. Marks which, as she slowly followed them with her eyes, started from her previous spot, ran parallel in front of the creature, and ended upwards across the bark of a nearby tree, which then promptly split in half before the upper half fell onto the forest floor with a loud crash.

"See Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed "That could've been you just now!"

"But, But it, I-I thought-"

"Rainbow Dash is right Fluttershy." Twilight interrupted, her eyes squinting at the creature who was just now realizing what had happened and looked up at the girls with apparent confusion. "Luckily though, I noticed its right claw twitch and was able to grab you right before it stood up." She then gulped. "But if I was just a second too late." She quickly shook her head, before lowering her eyes on the creature, her horn beginning to charge up all the while.

"Pinkie Pie! Take Fluttershy and get ready to run. Applejack. Rainbow Dash. Get ready to run too."

While Pinkie Pie silently nodded, Applejack was a bit more vocal with her response.

"Now you wait just a darn minute sugarcube! We are not leaving you alone with this monster!

Rainbow Dash was, as always, quick to voice her opinion as well.

"Yeah Twilight! Let's take down this overgrown lizard together!"

The unicorn however, shook her head.

"No! We don't know anything about this creature. If it was intelligent enough to trick us like that, who knows what else it can do. No, the safest thing to do right now is run. I'll distract it while you girls run to Ponyville.

"But Twilight-"

"No, Rainbow Dash! We cannot afford to lead this thing back to Ponyville. So just get ready to run!"

Before any of the other girls could continue voicing their concerns, the creature suddenly moved, its arm raising towards the girls as it growled.

And that's when all hell broke loose.

Rearing on her hind hooves, Twilight fired off a bolt of pure magic which, upon striking the creature's snout, erupted in a blinding flash of light. This in turn caused the creature to roar, more so in surprise rather than pain as the unicorn turned to her friends.

"RUN!"

Richard was at a complete loss for what had just happened. So much so, that he had to take a moment to replay the events that had just occurred over in his head.

In the beginning, things had been going well for the most part. For after stepping out of the bush and introducing himself to the little bird horse, the little thing actually spoke back. Though with the soft and slight stuttering neigh it gave, Richard could only assume that it was either also introducing herself to him or was probably pleading for its life. Either way, that shit was cute and Richard had made sure to say it so.

"Damn, your cute."

This apparently got a reaction out of the horse as it actually blushed. How it somehow understood him or how it was able to blush with fur was anyone's guess, but Richard wasn't complaining. He nodded to himself.

"Yup. Fucking adorable."

Looking down at the little thing as it offered the most innocent smile he had ever seen, Richard couldn't help but feel a slight pain in his heart.

'Daww, now that deserves a pet.'

True to his thought, Richard reached for the creature's head and despite its flinching at his actions, the horse gradually eased into his claws as he offered pets and ear scritches.

"There we go. Don't worry, I won't hurt you."

After one last pet, the little horse nodded and began to neigh at him, though whatever was said fell on deaf ears as Richard watched the thing go off on some sort of joyful rant.

'Man I wish I knew what the hell you were saying.'

Following her soft, unintelligible words, the little horse turned to look over at her friends who, to Richard's amusement, were left absolutely stunned by their friend's first contact with big bad him. She then began to speak to them as Richard simply listened on, but after a moment or so his attention had wandered over to her back.

'That fur. Those wings. I wonder how soft they are?'

Raising a claw, he looked over at the little horse who, after speaking to her friends, paused for a moment to regard him. But seeing as how she only smiled and wasn't outright objecting to Richard's actions, he simply thought that he had her permission and went in for the pet.

And that was the moment when several things all happened at once.

In the blink of an eye, Richard's eyes in this case, he was suddenly up on his hind claws. He was staring at the ground. His body was in a weird ass pose. And the little yellow horse was gone.

'What...just happened?'

Blinking, Richard's stared dumbfounded at the dirt and what was most definitely his claw marks slashing across his path. There also seemed to come a loud crashing noise from somewhere else but that was ignored as his attention shifted upwards to the noises of loud and somewhat frantic whinnying.

To say Richard was confused was one hell of an understatement.

Just a second ago, the little yellow horse who had been standing in front of him was now laying behind the other four horses, her expression was something of a mix between shock and betrayal while the others adorned looks of surprise and anger. The purple one was especially pissed as she squinted at him with a blazing fire in her eyes and the horn atop her head pointed at him. And what's more.

'Is-Is that thing glowing?'

It apparently was, and was continuing to glow ever-brighter as the purple one spoke to the others. At her neighing words, the pink one had nodded while the orange and blue one seemed to be in disagreement. The purple one however wasn't having it as she replied with a bit more bite in her neighing,

Seeing as shit had suddenly went from zero to a hundred real fucking fast for no fucking reason, Richard, in as vain of an attempt as it had seemed, tried to calm the horses down.

"Uhm. Could you girls maybe calm do-"

As Richard took a step forward, his arms raised in a placating gesture, the purple one reacted almost instantly. Rearing on her hind legs, the purple horse whipped her head about, her horn flashing for a moment before she shot. yes actually shot, a bolt of something at him, and before Richard could even form a coherent anything, the bolt hit him square in the snout. And then it exploded.

"AHHH! THE FUCK!?!?" Richard roared as he was effectively flashbanged by the purple horse. Sure he didn't feel any physical pain but fuck if his eyes and ears weren't beyond fucked up. And as he growled his distaste for being rendered partially deaf and blind at the same fucking time, he could just barely make out the muffled noise of his attacker and the other horses over the ringing.

Once the ringing in his ears had died to a low dull and Richard could actually see passed the dots dancing in his vision, Richard soon found himself alone as the little horses had already beaten a hasty retreat.

Richard was pissed.

"Ohhhh, I see how it is!" He growled lowly, his vision slowly reddening all the while. "Can't handle your friend having all the pets so you throw the fucking sun at me and run off?"

Falling onto all fours, It took Richard only a moment to sniff around before he suddenly looked up and smiled toothily.

"Found you."

"Eh! Oh! Let me down Applejack!"

Ignoring the other unicorn thrown across her back, Applejack continued to dig her hooves into the dirt as she galloped alongside her other friends, with Pinkie Pie to her left carrying a teary-eyed Fluttershy while Rainbow Dash flew on her right, keeping a eye out for the monster.

"Didn't you hear me Applejack?! I said I was going to distract it so why did you grab me!?

Hopping over a log, the mare grunted.

"Because I wasn't going to let you stay behind with that thing is what."

"But if we lead it to Ponyville then-!"

"Then we'll deal with it then and there together! Like hay I was actually going to just let you fight it off alone!"

"But-!"

"But nothing Twilight!" The farm pony huffed as the trio continued to dart around a tree after tree. "You said it yourself that that thing was dangerous and that we shouldn't go acting all scatter-brained. Honestly Twilight, I expected you of all ponies would've come up with a better plan that wasn't downright idiotic."

Twilight's eyes widened at that.

"Wha-, but Applejack-"

"She is kinda right, Twilight." Rainbow Dash said as she glanced at the stuttering mare. "I mean sure, I would've done the same thing but right now all that matters is all of us getting out of these woods." At the mare's continuously failing attempts to refute her, the pegasus added. "Plus, if Applejack didn't grab you, you'd probably be torn to shreds by now." The unicorn quickly shut up at that while Dash chuckled ."But it was kinda awesome when you blinded that thing. I mean, didn't you hear it? Heh, I bet that thing totally wasn't expecting that!"

Before Twilight could say anything regarding that, Pinkie Pie suddenly giggled, and when Twilight looked over her shoulder at her, the pink mare almost seemed like her usual self.

"Dashie's right! Did you see the look on Mister Lizard's face, Twilight? You were all like boommm, fllasshhh, eeeeeeee. Hehehe. And Mister Lizard was all like-

ROOOARRRRRR!

"Hehe, yeah, kinda like that!"

Turning their heads around, Twilight's fear came to fruition as she and the other girls watched with horror as the monster came barreling into view, Its front claws tearing chunks out of the dirt as it closed in on them.

"See?! This is what I was afraid of happening!" Twilight yelled alarmingly. "We'll lead that thing to Ponyville for sure!"

"Not if we can't shake him off first!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, and before Twilight or any of the other girls could ask how, she suddenly darted off, leaving the others to continue running for their lives.

"Now just where the hay is she going off to?" Applejack asked, to which Twilight, Fluttershy or Pinkie couldn't say. Not like they could however as there came another roar from their pursuer, prompting the two earth ponies to put in that extra leg work.

"I don't know, but she's right. we have to try and lose this thing fast." Twilight said before she turned her head back to the creature, who seemed to mostly focus on her rather than any of the others, and maybe that's exactly what she needed right now.

Charging up her horn, Twilight fired off a bolt of pure magic at the creature, watching as it glanced harmlessly of the creature's hide but nodding nonetheless as it still brought the desired effect.

Blinking back pinkish-purple sparks, the creature growled angrily before letting out a ferocious roar. Or it tried to before it was immediately interrupted by another bolt, followed by another, and then another, and several more, and soon a dozen more after that.

Words probably couldn't give justice to the copious levels of pissed off that the creature was experiencing as Twilight continued to fire off shot after shot of magic as quickly as she could. So pissed in fact that as Applejack and Pinkie darted around trees or hopped over fallen logs, the creature would simply smash right through them, sending shards of woods or entire tree trunks flying as its only priority seemed to be catching the purple menace in front of it.

"Applejack, do you see any large rocks nearby?" Twilight asked over the sounds of magic blasts and roaring.

"No, I don't think so. Wait. Yeah I do, on the left in front of us."

Pausing in her creature suppression, she glanced ahead to where Applejack had said the rock was and smirked at the sight of it beyond the trees.

"Excellent! Head straight towards it now."

"What? Why?"

"I got an idea. A great one, so just trust me!"

Reluctant to go along with such an idea, Applejack still nodded as she made for the rock while Pinkie Pie kept pace alongside her. The creature, ever more pushed over the edge by Twilight's actions, also picked up the pace, gradually closing in with each clawful of dirt. There had even been several instances where it would manage to grab a large chunk of wood from some the obliterated trees before launching it at its fleeing targets, but due to Twilight's early warnings, Applejack and Pinkie were able to evade each attack.

Pretty soon, the large boulder had come into view and it would only be a matter of moments before it sealed their doom. For Twilight however, seeing the rock coming ever closer filled her with hope as she ceased her constant firing in favor of charging up for a single spell. And as she charged her horn, she glanced from the creature to the rock, gauging the distance, solving mental calculations and simply hoping to Celestia that this little stunt worked.

"Twilight, what do I do?" Applejack asked as the rock got steadily closer.

"Keep going." The unicorn said, closing her eyes as she tweaked and finalized the spell.

"Twilight?"

"Keep going and get ready to turn right when I say. Pinkie, you'll go left."

"You got it!" Pinkie nodded.

"Twilight!"

Opening her eyes, Twilight fired off her spell, sending the bolt of charged light straight at the creature's face. Seeing ahead of the unicorn's plan however, the creature made ready to dodge her attack, when it was caught completely off guard as the bolt suddenly curved upwards as soon as it was fired, effectively making the creature roar out bullshit as it was, for the second time that day, blinded and deafened.

"Turn Now!"

And by her command, Pinkie and Applejack turned in their designated directions, coming to a skidding halt not a moment later as the sounds of roaring beast, followed by cracking rock, filled the air.

Give or take a few seconds later of blinking away the spots and waiting for the ringing to cease and the girls were slow to turn and gasp at their hoofwork. For between the four staring girls, laid the massive body of the unconscious creature, its head lay slumped, eyes closed and tongue lying limp at the side of its maw. What's more, a large crack was also visible across the rock's surface, which on second thought, actually seemed to be split in two because of the creature's cranial collision with it.

"Golly! That actually worked!"

"It did! And all it took was a little alteration of the spell."

Looking down at the creature's body, the girls couldn't help but feel a deep sense of relief, though that relief was short-lived as the creature gave a low, pained growl, causing the, to step back.

"It won't stay like that for long." Twilight said, looking over the creature's sorry state.

"You're right. We need to trap this critter somewhere. But how?" Applejack asked, rubbing a hoof under her chin. "And just where the hay is Rainbow Dash?"

"Right here!" The pegasus said as she landed behind the girls.

Turning to her, Twilight made to get off Applejack's back before she addressed her.

"Rainbow Dash! Where were you?"

"Easy Twilight. I was just finishing up on my little surprise for the monster." She replied before she looked over at the creature in question and whistled. "But it looks like you girls already took care of it. Awesome."

The unicorn however, sighed.

"No, its just knocked out. it'll probably wake up in a few minutes so we should definitely hurry out of this forest."

"Sure, we could do that. Ooorrrrr, we could do things my way and not have to worry about lizard-face ever again."

Raising a brow at her friend's smugness, the unicorn was almost afraid to ask.

"What do you mean?"

Rather than outright tell them though, the mare simply turned and headed off into the woods, stopping only to motion her friends to follow before leaving.

Looking to one another, the girls seemed hesitant. But after hearing the creature give off another low growl, they could do nothing but follow along.

For how long Richard had been out for, he did not know. When he woke up however, it was likely that he had been out for maybe a few minutes at least, seeing as the splitting headache he was feeling was still somewhat fresh.

"Fuuuuccck."

Groaning loudly and slow to rise, Richard rubbed at his sore snout as his brain eased off of its pain high. Blinking his eyes open, he found himself alone once again, aside from one cleaved boulder of course.

"That damn purple horse." Richard swore as he lifted himself off the forest floor. "That's the second fucking time she blinded me."

Standing up, Richard gave the air an experimental sniff, and after finding out that his nose surprisingly wasn't broken, he sighed in relief before returning to his search. And in no time in all, the scent of perfume and several others, of which most notably smelled of candy, apples, and fresh paper, wafted passed Richard's eyes, directing him somewhere off to his left.

"Run all you want, Purple. I'm still going to make you pay for all that shit you pulled one way or another."

And with that being growled, Richard headed back into the trees, hoping against all else that he wouldn't keep a certain purple horse and her friends waiting.

And luckily, for him that is, he did have to. For not long after continuing his pursuit of the little horses did Richard not only manage to catch up to them, but also find them stuck in the most problematic of pickles.

There they stood, all three of them. The orange, blue, and yellow ones that is. The other three? Well, lets just say that they were a bit tied up at the moment, and by tied up, they were actually tangled up in a mess of black and green vines. And as Richard looked on, any semblance of anger or announce that he had, especially for the purple one, was dashed away in an instant at the sight of her dangling helplessly in the air, looking equally parts pissed and embarrassed as she uselessly flailed her little hooves, all the while her friends tried and failed to get her down. The pink one seemingly giggling up a storm as she swayed upside down in the vines' grasp while the white one lay wrapped in the green ropes like a swaddled newborn also made Richard grin toothily as he slowly emerged from the trees.

"Well, well, well." Richard hissed smugly, gaining the immediate attention of all but one of the six horses as she was still unconscious. "Even in another world, Karma's still a bitch."

At the sight of his approach, the purple one began to struggle ever-harder, neighing frantically as the orange and blue ones took up defensive stances while the yellow one simply stood from the sidelines, looking between him and her friends as anxiousness betrayed her frantic features.

Taking a step forward, Richard growled.

"Honestly? I was not expecting to spend the rest of my day today chasing after six little-ass horses. "

He took another step, crunching some leaves under foot.

"I had also never even considered the possibility that just one of you could give me more crap in a hour than what I've already had to deal with up until this point."

And another step. crunching even more leaves.

"But congratulations!" Richard roared happily, unnerving the ponies present. "You all managed to make today just as amusing as it was irritating. Except you Yellow, you're cool." Seeing the little horse blush at that, Richard chuckled wholeheartedly before he quickly stopped.

"You, though." he hissed, squinting at the purple horse who flinched as she met his gaze. "You and I still got beef to settle."

At the utterance of the word, there suddenly came a loud growl from Richard's stomach and after Looking down, an idea suddenly came to mind. And as he slowly looked back up, It was very likely that the five horses, the purple one especially, knew just exactly what he was getting at.

"But that's okay now." Richard growled softly, idly running his snake-like tongue along the side of his gleaming teeth, an action which caused even the braver two of the six to visibly falter. Taking another step forward, he growled.

"Cause now?" Richard said. "Heh. Now, I think I know just how you can pay me ba-"

creak

"Huh?"

Looking down in confusion, it took Richard only a moment to realize his mistake. That of which was failing to notice the significantly large abundance of leaves on the forest floor, of which seemed to be centered specifically in one spot, that spot being where Richard was currently standing over.

Slowly looking up, Richard's mistake was further confirmed when he spotted the universally-recognizable expression of a shit-eating grin plastered across the blue one's face. Fuck.

"...Oh you little shi-IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTT!"

Following a loud series of snaps and cracks, Richard soon found himself at the mercilessness of gravity as he was sent plummeting down a pit some seventy to eighty feet deep. Several seconds of roaring terror later, followed by a resounding boom shortly after, Richard now found himself groaning below the surface.

"Ow."

Laying on his back, Richard stared up at the hole he had just previously fallen through, his eyes squinting at the sunlight that beamed down on him and, more importantly, to the several heads that peered over the edge at him, though with their distant neighs and expressions obscured by the light, he could only assume that they were most likely checking to see if he was dead. Which surprisingly, he wasn't. Somehow.

"Fucking little horses." Richard groaned, slowly lifting himself back up. "Tricking me like that."

Now standing upright, he looked over his surroundings, and after seeing nothing but dirt and darkness, he sighed as he looked back up to the hole.

"Clever girls, I'll give them that. But how the hell did they manage to dig a hole this fucking de-"

Before Richard could finish what he was trying to say, there came a noise of shifting rock from somewhere nearby. Looking around, it took Richard a moment before his eyes could properly adjust to the change in lightning, but when they did, he found that dirt walls surrounded him on three sides while what looked to be the entrance of a cave made up the last one. Glancing down at his feet also revealed some rather large, black vines or roots, of which seemed to snake-out from the deeper darkness beyond, prompting Richard to peer into the dark depths while simultaneously failing to notice the vines at his feet slowly slither up said feet before beginning to coil around them.

"What the he-EEEL?!?!"

In an instant, Richard was on the ground. Looking back, his eyes widened as he spotted one of the large vines wrapped securely around his foot. They then widened even further when the vine suddenly went taught and he was soon being quite literally dragged into the darkness. And despite his claws digging into the dirt as he tried to crawl away, they did little to impede the vine's unnatural strength. Quite adamant on not wanting to know what was trying its damnedest to capture him, Richard roared as he raised one of his claws and swiped at the vine, being almost shocked at how easily the vine was cut in two despite what had just happened before he became very shocked at the appearance of several more vines that quickly find themselves latched onto both of Richard's arms, legs, and one of his horns. There was a following brief moment of silence as Richard stared at them.

"...Oh shi-IIIIIIIIITTTTTTTT!"

For several moments, nopony present said anything. For in those several moments, the girls simply stared down the hole in which the creature had luckily fallen through. And after hearing it hit the ground, followed later by its encounter with the other monster below, the ponies present now listened with bated breath as both creatures fought. Though to the girls, the confrontation remained invisible to the eye as the girls could only hear the heated exchange of roars as anything else was shrouded in darkness. Give or a take several seconds more of unseen fighting and, rather sooner than expected, it had suddenly become very quiet.

"...Did...did we get it?" Rainbow Dash asked, to which none of the other girls immediately responded to. "I-I mean isn't it obvious that we did. I uh...I just wanted to know if you girls knew is all."

After several more seconds of intense listening, Twilight took a step back from the hole.

"I...think we did Rainbow." She said, turning to the pegasus. "I really think we did!"

At that proclamation, the rest of the girls seemed to physically relax.

"We I'll be!" Applejack said, raising her hat in wonder. "Heh. We sure showed that critter, now didn't we Twilight?"

"I guess we did. But Rainbow Dash....how in Equestria did you know that there was an Everfree Flytrap down there?"

The pegasus suddenly got real nervous from that question.

"Oh. Well...I kinda found out about it when I was watching over the CMC that one time. Hehe."

Applejack suddenly became very interested.

"That one time?" She asked, raising a suspicious brow at her rainbow-maned friend, who chuckled nervously in response.

"Yeeaah. When the girls wanted to earn their botanist cutie-marks." Dash explained, though that seemed to do little to ease the farm pony's ever-hardening features. "Oh come on! If I didn't find it when I did, then we'd all probably be monster chow by now! Doesn't that count for something?!"

Applejack stared at her for a second more before she sighed.

"Well, I guess it kinda does." She looked back up at Rainbow Dash, smiling. "If it weren't for you Dash, we'd probably be in a heap of trouble by now, so thanks a lot." Her features suddenly became a tad darker. "Though that doesn't mean that Applebloom won't be in mess a trouble when I get back home."

"Speaking of going home." Twilight said, gaining the attention of the others. "Why don't we do just that?"

Looking amongst one another, the girls all nodded and following in step with Twilight, continued on towards Ponyville. Well, most of them anyway.

"You okay Fluttershy?" Pinkie Pie asked as stood beside pegasus who continued to stare into the hole.

"I am, it's just..."

"Mister Lizard?"

The pegasus nodded.

"Di-Did we really have to trick him like that? "

The pink mare looked her friend square in her sad eyes, the possibility of losing what could've been another friend weighing on her just as much as it likely did on the pegasus.

"He did try to hurt you Fluttershy." Pinkie said, turning around to follow the others. "Even though it kinda looked like he didn't want to."

The pegasus sadly lowered her head at that, ears splaying back before they raised at what her friend had just said.

"Wait, Pinkie. What did you sa-"

"Come on Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash suddenly yelled. "We gotta get back to Ponyville before it gets too late!"

"O-Okay!"

Sparing one last glance back at the hole, the pegasus shook her head before turning around and quickly galloping off after her friends.

Following the mare's hasty retreat to regroup with the other girls, a deep sense of relief seemed to sweep across the forest proper soon after. Birds returned to their nesting spots, small animals left their hiding places, predators went about their ways as usual and the general atmosphere of the Forest appeared to improve rather significantly. Truly, did it seem that, to some degree, normality had returned to the Everfree Forest once again.

...

...

For a few seconds at least.

In a somewhat dramatic and quite frankly familiar manner, a large, outstretched, clawed hand suddenly burst from the lip of the pit before it found purchase on the soil topside. Another set of claws then followed shortly after, and a horned head, a massive torso, a set of large clawed feet, and a long swaying tail shortly after that.

With its feet once again above ground, the creature slowly took stock of its surroundings, noting what was present and what most certainly was not.

Sniffing at the air, the creature turned its head to the left before, without a word, headed off.

Pushing passed one last bit of leaves, Twilight sighed with relief as she was the first to exit the Everfree Forest and embrace the openness of the rolling green plains beyond. She was then joined by Rainbow Dash, followed shortly thereafter by Applejack with rarity still on her back, Pinkie Pie, and after a moment later, Fluttershy.

Having successfully braved the dangers of the Everfree, as well as having apparently defeated one of the most dangerous creatures that Twilight had ever encountered thus far, she was just glad that all her friends had managed to make it out seemingly unscathed, however impossible of an outcome that may have seemed.

"Well girls, we did it, we made it out!" She cheered.

"Heh heh, yeah." Rainbow Dash said, walking up beside her. "We sure showed that monster too! Now no creature will think twice about messing with us!"

"Honestly I'm just glad that we're done with all that." Applejack said, before her ears suddenly perked up at the sounds of a familiar groaning noise. "Well shoot. Look who's finally awake."

Rarity, choosing now of all times to wake up, groggily rose her head to meet the eyes of her friends. Blinking, she looked from one smile to another, raising a brow as her mind was slow to catch up.

"Wha-, darlings?" Rarity asked. "What...happened? Where are we? And...why are you carrying me, Applejack?" The farm pony in turn simply shook her head before smirking at her passenger.

"Its a long story, Rares. We'll tell you when we get back to Ponyville."

"We should definitely head to Sugarcube Corner then! I tell ya, all that running and flying got me hungry as heck." Rainbow Dash said, stretching out like some winged cat.

At the utterance of two very important words, PInkie Pie suddenly bounced into view, a renewed look of joy on her face.

"Oh oh! we should totally go to Sugarcube Corner! That'll raise everpony's spirits right up for sure!"

Having confirmed their destination, Rainbow and Pinkie began to have a little Q & A session regarding various available
confectioneries back at the bakery.

Applejack meanwhile, was helping Rarity stand on her own, and after having confirmed that she could in fact walk on her own, they joined the other two as the four of them made for Ponyville. Watching all this, Twilight sighed once again in relief that things had turned out well enough for the lot of them, almost all of them mind you. Turning to Fluttershy, Twilight sadly saw the mare staring off into the Everfree, a distant look on her face as she approached the mare.

"Fluttershy? Do you want to come with us to Ponyville?" She asked, to which the pegasus, after a moment of thought, shook her head.

"Sorry Twilight, you and the girls go on ahead though. I need to get back home to my animal friends before they get too worried."

Blinking at her friend, Twilight was momentarily stunned by her friend's willingness to part from the group despite what had happened just minutes ago. But after some thought, she smiled nonetheless as she nodded at her.

"Sure Fluttershy. You stay safe, okay?"

The pegasus smiled in kind.

"I will Twilight, tell the girls I said goodbye."

"Will do!"

Nodding theirs heads to eachother one last time, Twilight and Fluttershy turned and went their separate ways, the unicorn heading off to join the rest of her friends while the pegasus heading home before abruptly stopping.

"Hey Twilight, isn't Flutters coming along?" Rainbow Dash asked, to which Twilight shook her head.

"She wanted to head home instead, but she wanted to tell you girls she said goodbye."

"Well shoot, can't really blame the girl. It's probably for the better that she be alone with her animals anyway." Applejack said.

"G-Girls."

"I guess you're right, Applejack." Rainbow Dash said, before suddenly turning to Pinkie Pie. "Say Pinkie, do you think you could whip up something for Fluttershy when we get back to town so I can give it to her later?"

Pinkie Pony gasped.

"That's a great idea Dashie! I'll have to make the bestest, tastiest, scrumptilious treat for her."

"Hehe yeah. Oh! and speaking of treats, you still got any of those cider-dipped cupcakes left?"

"Hmm, I think we still have a few left, I'll have to see when we get back."

"Awesome."

"Girls."

"I do have a sudden hankering for an apple crisp."

"I can make one as soon as we get there."

"I think tea will be enough for me darling, must keep my figure and all that."

"Sure thing!"

"Hey Pinkie, it wouldn't be any trouble if you could make something for Spike as well, I wanna give him something when I get back to the library."

"Not a problem, Twilight!"

"Girls!"

"Fluttershy? What's wro-

Hiiiisssss

"Well now, this is all certainly new." Richard hissed, to which the five little horses ahead of the yellow one stopped immediately at. "Course, Now I know that there's actually an end to this damn forest."

Squinting, Richard watched as the five mares slowly turned as one. And as they faced him, it would be fair to say that they looked as if they'd all seen a ghost. Sadly for them however, the massively sized and massively pissed-off lizard standing just a few feet beyond the treeline was no pussy-ass poltergeist. and he was going to assure them of that.

Taking one step forward, Richard watched with a burning intensity as the little horses all took one step back.

"You little horses thought that you we're all so clever." Richard growled, steadily raising the fear factor as he advanced another step.

"You all thought that after blinding me, TWICE in fact, having me chase you all around this stupid-ass forest, making me run into a damn rock and tricking me into falling down a big-ass hole, that being eaten by an oversized plant was the way I'd go out?" He suddenly roared. "A. FUCKING. PLANT?!"

The little horses scrambled back a bit at that. Good.

"I wasn't reborn in hellfire as the baddest motherfucking lizard on the block just to be done in by some super-weed with teeth!"

He advanced further, stepping into the setting sunlight. It was the first time he had actually been in the open. Out of the forest. The feeling was strangely uncomfortable. But he still had a few things to say.

Looking down at the little yellow one, he saw something in her eyes, but whether that was fear or wonder or just fear, he wasn't sure, but whatever it was, it seemed as though she was actually listening to him. Whatever.

"You lot." He growled, pointing his claw at the five other horses who flinched at the action. "I don't give a flying fuck if any of you can understand me or not, but I'm still going to try and make as clear as I possibly can. So listen up!"

He waved a claw at the forest behind himself.

"That forest." He growled, placing his claw to his chest. "Is mine." He pointed at the forest again. "Everything inside of it." He pointed at himself again. "Is mine." He pointed a claw at all five of the other horses, his claw seeming to linger on the purple one the most out of all of them. "And if I ever see any of you inside of my forest ever again?" He raised a single claw to his neck and made a quick swiping motion across it. "There'll be hell to pay." He then squinted at them, putting on his best death glare as he hissed softly. "Understood?" Of course they understood him, how could they not. He could see the understanding in their eyes, hear their gulps and shaky breathes, even smell their fear, some more so than others. They got the idea.

Having made his point clear, his attention suddenly shifted to the yellow one, his gaze seeming to soften ever-slightly as he approached her. Of course the other horses looked every bit against it, the purple, orange, and blue one especially. But at this point, it should've been understood on both sides by now that if Richard actually wanted to do something, he would most certainly have done it by now, so with much hesitation and uncertainty from the others, he was left undisturbed as he stood before the yellow one. And while he felt the urge to return to the depths of the forest grow ever-greater with each step, he still wanted to say one last thing before he left.

Crouching down, he looked the little yellow horse square in the eyes. Tilting his head slightly, he stared at her for a few moments before he suddenly growled in as hushed a tone as he could.

"You can understand me, can't you?" He simply asked, to which after a brief moment of silence, the little horse slowly nodded. And after another brief moment of silence, Richard hissed happily as he stood back up. "Good. That'll make things easier from now on, now won't it?"

And with that, Richard turned around and heading towards the treeline, but before he did, he suddenly stopped. And after looking over his shoulder, he growled back at the yellow horse.

"Oh, and if your friends still didn't understand me from, just tell them that they're not allowed in this forest anymore. Sound good?" The little horse nodded. "Groovy."

And with that final growl, Richard turned right around and headed back into the forest, his footfalls steadily growing quieter as he went further in.

Heading in the general direction of home, Richard felt the strange feeling from earlier dissipate as well, instead being replaced by a sudden sense of tiredness most likely brought on by a excess amount of physical and emotional exertion coupled with a severe lack of food in belly, a belly which, after a few moments of silent walking, suddenly reemerged to the forefront of Richard's focus with an audible vengeance. He however, merely growled tiredly in return.

"Sorry about all that. Is rotten meat still up for consideration."

Fluttershy lowered her head at that.

Author's Note

Well damn, another chapter breaking the 10k word count? Oh well.

Sorry that this chapter took a bit longer than expected folks. To be honest, this actually wasn't supposed to be the next chapter at all. Buuut after a few of you were being soooo enthusiastic in the comments about a encounter happening right after the previous chapter (you all know who you are) I just had to take it into consideration. And, well, here we are folks. So to those few and potential others, I hope what I delivered was decent enough.

So with that in mind, I also wanna thank the lot of you for reading and commenting, its really helping me stay on this story and and I can't thank you folks enough! And to those just now picking up the story, thank you and hope you like it!

Anyways, I'll try to get the next chapter out a bit sooner, so fret not folks! Or do, whatever suits you.

Again, thanks a bunch for all the support in general. Constructive criticism in the comments is always welcomed, error spotting is also greatly appreciated and maybe some ideas for upcoming chapters may be put under considerable consideration as well. Maybe Richard recruits more little lizards to his flock? Maybe he raids a dragon's cave? Maybe he asserts his dominance over the local hydra population? Who knows.

But all that aside, take care folks! And as always, stay casual.