The Not So Deadly Deathclaw

It was a quiet, peaceful day in the quaint little town of Ponyville. The sky was a semi-cloudless blue, with temperatures that allowed the many of the town's residents to spend their day out and about. Of course with weather that practically screamed cliche perfection, it wouldn't be an odd sight to see foals and fillies running about and playing while their parents relaxed on the nearest bench or under the closest tree.

Yes it seemed like today was just one of those days where anypony who wasn't anypony would definitely utilize this opportune day for any and all manners of relaxation and recreation.

Well, all excluding six certain mares currently sitting in Ponyville's very own Sugarcube Corner. Yes, while seemingly everypony was out enjoying the rays of the sun and the joys of an actually peaceful day in one of Equestria's more active settlements, the main six were busying themselves with an issue of the highest priority. It was an issue that required all of them to be present for, personal duties and jobs temporarily set aside. An issue that only they could tackle. An issue that oozed controversy and absolutely demanded discussion. That is...if any of the six girls present would actually say something to begin with. For over the course of maybe a solid ten minutes of silence, save for the occasional light cough or awkwardly long sip of drink. Of course none of them wanted to continue this communal silence, but then again, none of them could really summon up the will to speak first and instead just waited for somepony else to go first. And thankfully, somepony finally did.

"Weelllll..." Twilight said rather awkwardly, instantly grabbing everypony's attention. "How are you girls doing?" She attempted a smile, one which quickly faltered when her question was answered only by a collection of mumbled or halfhearted replies before silence once again took over. This manner of response didn't help to quell the atmosphere and she sighed as a result.

All things considered, today probably wouldn't be any different from the other days if Twilight were to wager. It had been well over several weeks or so since the "incident" and the girls had yet to really talk much about the events that transpired that day. How many days ago and yet it was still so fresh in their minds.

The blood. The chasing. The monster.

Twilight shivered in her recollection.

Luckily though, things had more or less returned to relative normality. In fact, looking from each of the girls, Twilight had found that almost all of them had eased back into their normal lives one way or another, albeit with some slight alterations.

For instance...

Ever since their encounter with the creature, It had been heard that Applejack had been putting in more effort in her work down on the farm. And by more effort, that meant that she was actually waking up even more earlier than before, like before the sun even thought of rising level of early. And in addition to waking up even before the roosters did, she was also shouldering a larger majority of the daily workload, bucking more trees, pulling wagons, and taking on a number of other chores that would've been done by her brother or little sister. But despite their best efforts to convince her otherwise, she would always hit them with the "I just wanna do a little extra work? What's wrong with that?" bit in return. Yeah, okay.

After waking up, seeing the creature, and hearing what had happened during her time under, Rarity had since then chosen to confine herself in her home and workplace, Carousel Boutique. Word around the local rumor mill was that she had been apparently struck with the need to create and in doing so, had taken on numerous orders from clients both in Ponyville as well as Canterlot, and as such, would rarely be seen out of her store if only for grocery shopping and the occasional visit to the town's local spa.

Rainbow Dash had decided that ever since she saw the strength and utter brutality of the beast, that she would need to get stronger. And in a real shocker of a move, she had decided on spending less time on napping and more time on training. And so from early morning to late evening, she would be out and about. Whether it was flying circles above Ponyville or hitting Ponyville's gym, Rainbow Dash spent hours on end building up her strength, lengthening her endurance, and straining her flight speed to the point that some would even say that they had been woken up by the sound of a whistle or boom, but only spot a thin rainbow-colored contrail in the sky when they went out to investigate. But if one were lucky enough to catch the mare when she was taking a break and ask what she was training for, they'd probably be given a boasting "I'm just increasing my level of overall awesomeness," or a vague "Its to protect my friends." How humble.

Ever since the her meeting with monster, Pinkie had taken it upon herself to...well...be Pinkie. Honestly, the rest of the girls didn't really know what she did but after doing it for a week, she was seemingly back to her former, joyful self who always served her customers with a smile and spread joy wherever she could. And while there was the occasional moment where she would choose walking over hopping or when she happily shook her head at the extra offering of cake slice, those moments were still few and far in between.

You could say that the same could also be said for Fluttershy as well. Nopony really knew what she was doing, well besides caring for her animals that is. However, if you were to believe the outgoing mare or wondering colt, you'd hear that she had been sometimes seen going into the Everfree Forest, but then again you'd also know that the mare was just passing a glace or that the colt may have had one too many extra servings of ice cream. Still, that is rather odd. Oh well.

Looking amongst her five friends, Twilight sighed with relative ease as she considered how things could've turned out. But she knew better. Her friends were strong, resilient, and the very embodiment of the elements of harmony. They had faced hardships before and this monster was no different.

Or was it?

Shaking her head, she tried to banish the thought, but oh how it seemed to constantly plague the corners of her mind.
This monster. This entity that, as far as she could tell, was an enigma that baffled her scientific prowess to no end. Just think about it. A mysterious creature of unknown origin, with an unspecified level of intelligence and strength, suddenly reveals itself to the girls. Its physique, traits, habits and overall character were all, up until this point, nonexistent. And because of that detail, Twilight was constantly met with questions with little else to answer them. Where did this creature come from? Is it actually native to the Everfree? Is it some sort of sub-species of dragon, reptilian, or a category all its own? How dangerous is it? Has it's appearance ever been recorded before? Did the princesses know of it?

Questions, questions, and even more questions were all that Twilight thought about. And considering that she couldn't answer them herself, she needed to do something about that. and something about that, she did. And then some.

Twilight. Oh boy, Twilight. See the thing is, that ever since that day, she had turned her library upside down thrice, had almost completely supplemented coffee for water, had a total of eight hours worth of sleep over the course of each passing week, and had occasionally forgotten that healthy mares still needed to use the bathroom as she vigorously combed through book after book pertaining to even the slightest of detail regarding Mister lizard. No book was left unopened, no page unturned, and no title dismissed no matter how outlandish or unrelated it may have seemed. Encyclopedias, autobiographies, memoirs, survival guides, stories fictional and nonfictional, anything and everything that featured, included, or maybe even mentioned a lizard or reptilic creature of any sort was grabbed, read, and promptly thrown aside.

Shaking her head once again, Twilight returned to the task at hoof, in which she was trying to start some genuine conversation between her and her fri-

"So Twilight." Rainbow Dash suddenly asked, drawing everypony's attention. "What are we going to do about the monster?"

Twilight's train of thought was violently derailed and sent into a blazing inferno when all eyes fell on the pegasus before they slowly turned to the unicorn in question. Of all the things to start the conversation with, that's what Rainbow wanted to talk about? Actually in all honesty, Twilight should've known that would've been brought up sooner or later. But at this moment, all she was drawing was blanks.

"Wha-wha-"

"Really Dash?" Applejack asked, looking at the pegasus. "Of all the things you wanted to talk about?"

"Well I just wanted to know!" The mare said, growing defensive. "It's been how many days since we saw that thing and after all that time, we still haven't said what we were going to do about it."

"Honestly, Rainbow." Sighing, Applejack then turned to Twilight. "But she does have a point sugarcube, what are we going to do about that critter?"

Twilight looked from the farm pony to the flyer, quickly trying to formulate a proper response.

"We-Well we could, um-"

"Well I for one think we should just forget about that brute of a beast!" Rarity suddenly said, causing the others to look at her. "In fact, some of us were trying to do that before a certain somepony had to bring it up!"

Rainbow Dash scoffed.

"OH sure Rarity! Why don't we just forget about the giant lizard monster!?" She said, sarcasm oozing off of her every word. "It's not like its literally living just outside of Ponyville or anything!"

"Be that as it may Rainbow Dash!" The white unicorn said. "As long as we don't go back into that accursed forest, we don't have to worry about it coming back out, right?"

"Are you kidding me, Rarity!" Rainbow exclaimed, nearly flying out of her seat. "That's probably what that thing wants you to think! We leave it alone for a while, and the before we know it, BAM! It's already eaten everything in the Everfree and decides to make a meal out of everypony in Ponyville!"

"I think you're thinking a bit too much there Dash." Applejack said, raising a brow at the mare flying to conclusions. The mare only slammed a hoof on the table, causing the girls' drinks to ripple.

"Am I Applejack?" Rainbow said, turning to her friend while raising a accusatory brow. "Or am I the only one thinking at all?" She suddenly glanced at Fluttershy before hesitantly continuing. "I-I almost saw a friend of mine get hurt! Like hay am I going to let that happen to anypony else!"

She looked around at the other mares present before her eyes fell on somepony in particular.

"You're with me, right Pinkie Pie?" She asked, to which the mare in question looked up at her.

"O-Oh well." She suddenly became very fidgety. "Maybe we should just leave Mister Lizard alone?" She looked up to Rainbow, who as expected, didn't seem to like that answer. Neither did she, honestly.

"Oh come on Pinkie Pie!"

"I'm just saying, maybe Rarity's right." The pink pone said, waving her hooves. "I'm sure that Mister Lizard will leave everypony alone if we leave him alone."

"Thank you Pinkie!" The unicorn said before raising her snout at Rainbow Dash. "At least somepony agrees with me. And I'm sure Fluttershy does as well!" She turned to the mare in question. "Right, dear?"

Suddenly on the spot, the pegasus grasped for words.

"Oh well uhm-"

Or she would have before she was interrupted by the one other pegasus in their pony party slamming her hooves one again on the table's surface.

"No fair! Fluttershy! Back me up here." She looked straight into the yellow mare's eyes. "That monster almost hurt you real bad! You of all ponies have to agree with me on this, right?!"

Faint desperation was met with shyness as Fluttershy shifted her attention anywhere but Dash's eyes.

"W-Well, Rarity and Pinkie Pinkie Pie are kinda right." The pegasus hid behind her mane as the others looked on, Rainbow looking to be at a total defeat while Rarity in particular noticed the tone in Fluttershy's voice.

"But what, darling?"

Fidgeting with her pink hair, the mare replied, more quietly then before.

"B-But." She said, peeking out from behind her locks. "While I think it would be good to leave him in peace, I think we should...also...make peace with him?"

...

"WHHHHAAAT?!"

Spike hummed to himself as he tidied up the library. And as books were reshelved and wooden surfaces dusted, the little dragon thought back on how things had progressed during the previous weeks. And by things, he was mostly referring to Twilight and her definite obsession with researching the monster they saw in the woods.

To say she ran herself ragged while she researched was an understatement, so much so that for a certain purple and green baby dragon, the correct and universally-understood term was "Twilight being Twilight." And when Twilight was being herself, Spike knew through years of experience that when she got like that, it was probably for the best to just leave her be. Leaving a nearby plate of salad or daffodil sandwich with the crust cut off was also the best option when it came to ensuring that study pony didn't become starving pony. And while Spike was interested to hear about the creature that the girls found, his questions were either ignored or traded for vague or mumbled details. Luckily though from what he was able to overhear from Twilight's ramblings and the occasional, audible thoughts, included a few pieces of information that the little dragon found interesting.

Firstly, whatever the girls had faced in the Everfree was big, bigger than the girls, or the princesses, or even bigger than most of the creatures in the forest. Not bigger than a hydra or adult dragon of course, but still big enough to pose a significant threat.

Secondly, from what he gathered, it sounded like the creature was some sort of bipedal lizard, maybe even some sort of wingless, land-dragon if what Spike had overheard from Twilight talking to herself that one night had any merit.

Actually come to think of it, Spike had at one point read about such a creature when he was bored that one time.

Apparently such a sub-species of dragon had existed before, but they sadly went extinct a few hundred years ago due to equine expansion and fighting between themselves and other larger creatures like ursa majors, hydras, and even other land-dragons. They could vary in size, being either as small as him, potentially, to being literally as big as mountains. Neat. They were also very temperamental, more so than the average adult dragon actually, and extremely territorial, two factors which, if Spike could guess, likely sped the species towards its inevitable demise.

Or did it?

From what Spike had overheard from Twilight, maybe this creature was actually a land-dragon. Maybe it had been sleeping all this time, considering the lifespan of dragons and the fact that they could sleep for years on end, and only now did it choose to wake up. Though, with that being thought, Spike couldn't help but pause in his cleaning to consider the third thing that he was able to draw from Twilight's ramblings.

It was intelligent. More so than the average land-dragon if what Spike remembered was true. For where your usual land-dragon was more brawn than brain, like by a factor of a lot, this one had not only been able to sneak up on the girls, but had also manged to trick them, though how Spike wasn't sure, and keep up with them despite their attempts to trick and escape from it. It was even able to communicate with them, albeit with more claw-motions than intelligible words, but communication nonetheless. A regular land-dragon was somewhat feral in comparison to their winged counterparts and would've just growled and roared at them and that was that. But not this one. No, there was definitely something different about this one.

"Sigh, now I really want to see this guy for myself." Spike said sadly, picking up a nearby broom and proceeding to sweep away. "Hmm. Maybe if I ask Twilight again, she'll let me-"

Spike suddenly stopped in his sweeping as a small shiver ran up his purple-scaled back, lasting for only a second before it disappeared as suddenly as it appeared. Blinking, Spike looked to the library's door.

"Yeesh, Twilight must've heard something real crazy just now."

For a few moments the little dragon stood, broom still in claws as he wondered what had become of a certain purple unicorn before he simply shrugged and returned to his sweeping.

"Whelp, I guess I'll hear about it when she gets back."

Once the slight ringing in her ears had dyed away, Fluttershy slowly opened her eyes to the sight of all five of her friends staring at her with varying degrees of shocked, aghast, and bafflement plastered across all their colorful snoots. Of course they were going to react like that, it was only natural. Though with how far to the floor some of their jaws were, Fluttershy could tell that she wasn't going to hear the end of any of this anytime soon. A moment of silence hung in the air before Rainbow was the first to recover.

"Are you serious Fluttershy?!" She said, now snoot to snoot with the pegasus as she hovered over the table. "Please tell me if this is a joke, cause this isn't funny!"

"Rainbow is right deary." Rarity said, fanning herself with a hoof as she felt another faint coming. "Surely you're just joking...right?"

"W-Well, I-" The pegasus tried to speak before she was suddenly interrupted.

Applejack! Is she joking?" Twilight suddenly asked, to which all eyes fell on the farm pony.

"I can't believe I'm saying this." Applejack said, looking incredulously at the pegasus in question. "But you're really telling the truth here, huh Flutters?"

She simply nodded.

"Oh come on!" Rainbow exclaimed, before she turned to the yellow mare. Placing her hooves on the mare's shoulders, Rainbow stared into Fluttershy's eyes, as if looking for an answer to the many questions that were currently pinballing around in her head.

"Fluttershy! Why would you say something like that?!" When the mare failed to immediately respond, the rainbow-maned mare pressed her attack. "You of all ponies shouldn't be saying that. You were the one who almost got hurt by the monster. You saw it for yourself that that thing tricked you, that it chased us out of the Everfree, You saw how dangerous it was and yet you're still trying to be friends with it?! Heck! Its almost as if...as if..."

Rainbow Dash suddenly blinked, all her previous energy seemingly gone in a flash as she stared into the pegasus's eyes with almost a look of comprehension. She then squinted at her.

"As if you already have." Rainbow slowly said, and as the pegasus tried and failed to come up with a proper response, the blue pegasus could already see the answer in her eyes. As plain as fucking day.

With renewed vigor, Rainbow jumped away from the mare back to her side of the table, pointing an accusatory hoof at her.

"You've been going back to the Everfree to visit that, that thing, haven't you?!" She said, to which a ring of gasps filled the room. And as five sets of eyes fell on the pegasus, she could do nothing but silently nod. More gasps shortly followed.

"Fluttershy." Twilight said, looking at the mare with a sense of shock and awe. "How long?"

The pegasus sniffled a bit before she responded.

"A-...Almost every day."

Gasping noises intensify, Rarity faints, and Twilight puts the final pieces of the puzzle together.

"You've been visiting that creature in the Everfree." Fluttershy nods. "Alone." She nods again. "For weeks ever since we last saw it?" And again she nods.

A sigh was heard. Hooves were loudly thrown onto the table. And a slight eep was uttered as two snoots were forcibly booped against one another.

The rest of the girls, excluding one passed out unicorn, stared wide-eyed at Twilight's and Fluttershy's display of sudden closeness. Well, more so at Twilight as she stared deeply and somewhat wildly into the pegasus's eyes.

"Tell. Us. Everything." She said, each word emphasized by an added inch of smooshing snoots together.

With personal space promptly invaded and conquered, Fluttershy could do nothing but look to her friends for help, and only find expressions similar to that of dear Twilight's, that of which being intensely interested, awaiting, and curious as all hell.

Sighing to herself, Fluttershy knew now that there was no use hiding anything anymore, and with a glance to her friends, who all of which were at the literal edges of their seats, she looked to Twilight who just floated out a quill and a notepad, and began her tale.

"It all started the day after the creature went back into the woods."