"A-Are you sure that he's in there?"

Caw

"Oh. O-Okay then. Thank you for the directions, Mister Crow."

With a nod of its head, the aforementioned Mister Crow gave the pegasus his last parting words before flying off to his friends, leaving the butter-colored mare alone to sigh to herself before nervously looking off towards her apparent destination.

The castle of the two sisters. A place that even in the bright, early morning sun seemed to radiate a aura of absolute danger and darkness. To bad Fluttershy was a big girl though, because big girls didn't get scared of things like scary old castles or stories about scary old castles, or even dangerous creatures living in scary old castles.

Yup, she was a big girl.

She was a big girl.

She was a big-

Okay maybe big girls can be scared once in a while too. Maybe she just needed to think things through at home and come back when she was a bigger girl. Yeah, maybe that was for the-

"No!" She suddenly said, stomping her hoof lightly. "I'm a big girl. I can do this." She then began to cutely pace. "Right now, there's a creature in there that's being misunderstood and I'm the only one who can show the girls that its not just some mindless monster. I can do this. I. Can. Do this."

Turning back to face the looming castle ahead of her, Fluttershy once again sighed before steeling her nerves and, with as much courage as she could muster at that given moment, made her way over the bridge and to the castle's great wooden doors beyond.

Badass stirred from his sleep as the light of the morning sun crept over his closed eyes. Opening them, he gave a small squeaking yawn as he stood up from the gloriously soft mattresses below him and stretched. A few popped joints later and he was now fully awake and just raring to start the day.

GROWL

Or well, he was at least.

Looking over his shoulder, the little lizard stared up at his larger friend, tail curled around himself as he snore-growled the day away. And while the orange gecko could relate with the bigger reptilian that sleeping on such wonderfully soft surfaces was a luxury in itself, it was still unhealthy to stay asleep for too long lest he waste away the whole day.

So being the good friend that he was, Badass approached the sleeping giant. And with a nuzzle to his snout and a chirping him good morning, the little lizard happily awaited his friend to wake up. Sadly he would have to wait a little longer seeing as the big guy emitted a low growl before turning over in defiance of the morning's call.

"Ugh. Mmm. Five more minutes D, today's my day off."

Tilting his head in confusion, Badass wondered what his friend meant by that before shaking his head and attempting to wake him once again. And again was the little lizard rudely ignored as the mighty lizard before him continued to stay in dreamland.

Huffing a tiny puff of black smoke, the orange gecko finally sighed as he conceded to the giant lizard's apparent request to remain asleep. And seeing as the big guy was his best, and only, friend, Badass let the lizard have his rest as he hopped off the pile of cloud-colored slabs before darting down a pillar and across the carpeted floor before then coming to a stop just before the room's front doors.

Turning around, Badass gave his sleeping friend one last glance before he squeezed his way through the gap in the doors and proceeded at a leisurely pace down the hallway.

At that given moment, several things were on the little gecko's mind as he walked along the stone floors and around the many piles of dusty ruble. What should he eat? Where should he explore next in the castle? How long was it really going to be until his friend finally woke up? So many questions, yet very few answers for them. What a conundrum to start the little lizard's day as he entered the castle's main foyer.

Taking a look around said foyer, the little lizard let his eyes wander as he briefly thought back to yesterday, or more specifically, to the events that had transpired that day.

He remembered when his friend introduced him to those amazingly soft slabs. Remembered his friend telling him that he was going out and that he shouldn't worry for him. "Relax," he had said. So that's what he did, he relaxed. And by relaxed, he slept for about an hour or so before waking up, his friend nowhere to be seen. He remembered how that made him a bit sad, but after thinking that the big one was just staying out later than expected, the lizard should still relax, so he thought he'd kill time by exploring some parts of the castle, and he did. He explored such places as those rooms where his friend found the comfy slabs, the dusty room with all the smaller slabs with white leaves in them, that big room with the long wooden slab in the middle, and the room next to that one with all the strange shiny things and rocks that clanged when they fell on the floor. And after he had had his fair share of exploration for the day, he returned to the slab room hoping to see his friend back.

But that was sadly not the case as he was still nowhere to be seen. And as the bright ball in the sky was steadily lowering, the little lizard remembered getting more and more anxious. So much so that he was almost about to head out and search for him. But luckily, his friend did return before it really got dark. And sure the little lizard was happy when his friend finally came back, but the state he had returned in, of which was significantly different to the one he had left in previously, left him rather rustled.

He looked upset and smelled like death, this the little lizard remembered clearly. He was also strangely quiet, aside from a few hisses and a growl, and had wanted to go to bed straight away. Finding this strange and somewhat suspicious, the little lizard had asked what had happened. And his response?

"Nothing, Badass. Just had a...a bit of trouble finding food, that's all."

And without another word, the giant lizard had left his tiny companion for the comfort of the slabs, confused by the bipedal reptilian's distant attitude and worried for his overall wellbeing.

Knock Knock

Blinking away his thoughts, Badass's head turned sharply to the large wooden doors on the other end of the room, swearing that he had heard something. Still staring at them, he raised a brow as the sound repeated itself, this time a little louder than the first.

Now certain that something was trying to get in, he slowly approached the entrance, before instantly jumping back as one of the doors slowly creaked open.

"H-Hello?"

Fluttershy hesitantly peeked her uncovered eye around the edge of the large wooden door, scanning the empty space beyond for anything that may've posed a danger to her. But after seeing nothing of the sort, she sighed in relief before slowly opened the door even more, pausing once to flinch at just how loud the door was being with its creaking before she fully opened it and stepped cautiously passed the threshold.

"M-Mister lizard? Are you in here?" Fluttershy asked, her ears twitching and turning as she listened for even the slightest hint of a response, but after a few moments of silence and bated breathe, the pegasus sighed when she heard nothing of the sort.

Looking around the entrance hall, Fluttershy briefly wondered where she should start her search first before she simply chose from one of the several hallways at random and proceeded down it. Unbeknownst to the mare however, was that as she began her search of the castle's interior for its newest resident, she had failed to notice the castle's other newest occupant observing her from the shadows up above.

From his shadowy spot on the ceiling, Badass narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the creature who had intruded into his and his new friend's territory, wondering what or who she was referring to when she had called out that name earlier. Did she know his friend as well? Or was she...was she hunting him perhaps?

Hmm. Well in any case, this sudden intrusion was a potential danger, that Badass knew. And if he was going to repay his friend for introducing him to those soft slabs, tailing a potential threat, gathering information, and then informing his friend about said threat with said gathered information was something that the little lizard knew was just up his alley.

And so after a moment of waiting for the creature to move further into the castle, Badass quickly dashed down the wall and towards the direction that she went. And when he had caught up with the creature, he made sure to remain in the shadows or behind some rubble at a significant distance, close enough to hear and see her actions, but far enough to where he could remain relatively undetected the entire time. When she moved, he moved. When she went to search a room, he waited, and when she left, so did he.

And for minutes did this one-sided game of hide and watch proceed before Badass finally came to the conclusion that this creature wasn't really a threat at all. She just wasn't. She wasn't being threatening in her searching, nor did she appear physically threatening even in the slightest. Helpless and meek sure, but to Badass, the polar opposite of dangerous.

Sighing to himself, the little lizard felt that he had seen enough and was now in a bit of a bind on how to proceed. Should he go and wake up his friend? Or should he reveal his presence to her? Well, she was still an oddity, so maybe it was best if he got his friend first, and then came back for introductions. Yeah, that was probably his best bet.

So with that in mind, Badass cast one last glance at the creature before turning to make his exit. But wouldn't you know it that as he was just about to leave, he heard a sudden gasp from behind.

"Gasp, oh my. An orange gecko!"

Freezing, dread filled the little gecko as he slowly turned his head to see the creature's abnormally large eyes fixated on his features.

"While I've seen many kinds of lizards before, I've only ever read about orange geckos in books." She happily exclaimed before crouching down low. "Hi there little lizard friend. My name's Fluttershy. What's yours?"

Blinking, the little lizard was at loss for words as he was put on the spot. Here was this creature, whom he had never seen before, waiting patiently for him to give her his name, just after he had gotten done spying on her.

...Well she didn't know that he was spying her now did she? And she didn't have to know that anytime soon. So, seeing as he was in the clear, Badass decided to feign innocence as he wagged his little tail and offered her his name.

"O-Oh?" She said, strangely wavering on the exoticness of his name. "Bad-As. Did I say it right?" The little gecko, happy to her that this Fluttershy could actually understand him, smiled and nodded. "Oh! Good. Um." She seemed to hesitate before continuing. "Co-Could you tell me how you got that name? If you don't mind that is."

Nodding his head again, Badass took a few moments to quickly tell her of his encounter with his large friend, how he was tested and passed, and that he was given the name as a reward. He also made sure to include the meaning behind the name as well, filling the little lizard with a bit of pride as he finished his tale and awaited the creature's reaction.

However, where Badass had thought that he would see a look of amazement or wonder plastered across her features, there were instead traces of shock, worry, and disbelief dancing in her eyes.

"Oh my." She said before brandishing a somewhat forced smile. "Your friend. H-He wouldn't happen to be really tall, have two big horns, a long tail, and wake on two claws, would he?"

Tilting his head at her surprisingly, and rather suspiciously might he add, accurate description of his friend, the little lizard nodded, and the one named Fluttershy elicited a sort of hushed cheer in return.

"Woo-hoo." She yelled softly, before looking at the gecko with pleading eyes. "Then if you do, could you also tell me where he might be? That is if it's okay with you."

Seeing that this Fluttershy seemed very anxious to meet his friend, and the look she was giving him was evidence of that, the little lizard felt as though he just couldn't refuse her. So with a sigh, the little lizard conceded, nodding his head as he told her that he not only knew where his friend was, but that he could lead her their too. And after seeing her do another quiet cheer, Fluttershy let the little lizard lead the way as they both headed off in the direction of the destination.

Several minutes of walking and talking later and the duo now found themselves standing before the large wooden doors of the castle's throne room.

"He's in there, Bad-As?" Fluttershy asked as she turned to the little lizard beside her who nodded. "Okay. thank you so much for the help. I can take care of myself from here on."

And she would. At least, that's what she believed. All she really knew was that there was a creature just beyond those doors who needed help. Who needed kindness. Who needed to have their voice heard and their misunderstandings cleared. And as the bearer of the element of kindness, Fluttershy was going to do just that.

At least, that was supposed to be the case until her little guide stopped her just as she was about to open the door. Confused by this, the mare kindly inquired the gecko for a reason, and he hastily obliged, informing her of the possibility that the big lizard in question was likely still asleep and that it would be for the best if he would be the one to go in first. Course, when the mare tilted her head at that, the lizard was quick to expand on his plan, reasoning that since it was her friends who were to blame for upsetting him, as he had been told by her on their walk to the throne room, seeing her appear before him so soon and unexpected would only prove to make things more complicated, hence the idea for him to go in first and make sure their friend was in a good enough mood to accept visitors.

Hearing all of this, and after taking a moment to mull the main points over, Fluttershy found the lizard's idea to be both reasonable and beneficial to her efforts and happily agreed with him. And after he smiled and nodded in kind, he turned and darted into the room through the opening in the doors. This opening, which was no more than a few inches wide, was not left unnoticed by Fluttershy as she looked from side to side before slowly approaching the doors and leaning in, hoping to see if Bad-As's plan came through.

Peering into the large room, Fluttershy was just able to see her little friend make it to the other end of the room before turning sharply and heading straight up a nearby pillar and disappearing somewhere above and behind the thrones of the two sisters.

A few moments then proceeded in silence before she could just make out the sounds of her little friend conversing with somepony else, and judging from the deeper tone of growling and hissing being elicited, it wasn't hard to guess just who he was talking to.

Then, after all the conversating was apparently done with, the little lizard left his friend and returned to the mare's side, giving her the good news that his friend was ready for her and that she could now go in.

With a nod and a smile, Fluttershy thanked the little gecko again before turning to the door and readying herself for the meeting ahead.

"Sigh. Alright. Here goes nothing. You can do this Fluttershy." She said to herself before, with one last breathe, she opened the door and headed inside.

"Well I'll be damned." Richard quietly hissed as the yellow horse from the other day entered the large room. "She really did come alone."

Course despite his words the other day, Richard still found himself utterly perplexed by the yellow one's...innocence? Bravery? Well whatever it was, it certainly was worthy of praise. And that's exactly what Richard was going to do as he slowly withdrew from his hiding spot and stopped just before the edge of the balcony.

Standing at his hunched height, he peered down at the mare who, after taking a moment to regard her surroundings, looked up and immediately spotted the creature staring down at her with calculating orbs of orange. Then with a single step, Richard walked over the side and fell the short distance before landing on his claws with a loud thud, causing the mare's legs to wobble slightly as he simply rose to his full height and casually approached the now slightly quivering mare.

"You know." Richard hissed, causing the mare's ears to twitch his way. "When I said that only you could come and visit me, you didn't actually have to come here." He stopped in front of her, his head tilted slightly down while hers was straight up.
"Still. I'm curious as to how you actually found me. Unless..." He trailed off, raising a brow as he turned to regard the little gecko standing beside her. "You had something to do with that, Badass?"

Seeing the little lizard shake his head, Richard hummed deeply to himself before their came a squeak from the mare, and after turning to her, he found himself blinking owlishly at her incomprehensible neighing. Still, from the tone in her voice and the motioning in her hooves, it seemed as though she was trying to defend the little lizard. Daw. Now ain't that just the sweetest thing.

And apparently she had been defending him, for as she finished presenting her little case, the lizard beside her wagged his tail happily before darting up Richard's body and stopping atop his head. There he was able to relay to Richard the she had apparently found his location with the help of one "Mister Crow," whoever that was. But snitching birdmen aside, what was more important was-

"Wait a minute, Badass." Richard said, plucking the gecko and transferring him to the palm of his claw. "You can actually understand her?" The lizard nodded, unsure of the reason as to how or why, but glad all the same. And he wasn't the only one.

"Well shit, Badass!" Richard suddenly and enthusiastically roared, causing the pegasus to eep. "That's all you had to say! Shoulda told me that sooner though."

Detecting an incoming pout, the little lizard was quick to apologize, but after a moment, Richard simply shook his head and chuckled.

"It's alright B. Cause now?" He said, looking from the gecko to the mare tilting her head curiously at him. "I've got myself a translator now."

"So then what happened?"

Neigh Whinny

…

"Damn! Talk about a hell of a miracle. Liked the little life lesson at the end too. And what did she call it again, a 'sonic rainboom,' right?"

Nod

"Wow. That's actually pretty cool. Almost makes me forgive her for that stunt she pulled when we first met. Almost."

Seeing the mare's face contort into a cute little scrunch, Richard chuckled deeply as he carefully plucked up a tiny, for him at least, teacup between the tips of his claws and leisurely lapped up the warm liquid within, careful not to spill too much on the red checkered picnic blanket that the two were currently dining over.

What? A towering, blood-thirsty murder-monster can't enjoy his morning in the sun whilst drinking tea and dining on small egg-salad sandwiches? You gonna say that picnics are gay or something? Well, say what you will, but that tea was simply bitching. And the sandwiches too. All of it was perfect, and coming from someone who wasn't really a picky eater even before he became a ravenous reptile, he wasn't lying, and he made his opinion quite clear after she offered him his fifth sandwich in the last ten minutes they had been atop the blanket. She didn't have to say anything either, her blush was welcome enough.

"This was nice." Richard suddenly growled when the mare fully recovered from her blush. "The food, the talking, all of it." He then nodded to the other end of the blanket where a certain little gecko was now happily snoozing atop a half eaten sandwich. "Badass certainly enjoyed it."

Hearing her softly giggle at his joke, Richard turned to warmly regard the mare sitting in front of him once again. After all, with all the secret visits she had been paying him and his friend, Richard still worried if all of this coming and going to the forest was burdening the pegasus, but whenever he would ask, she'd simply smile in return and tell him that she was fine.

Well, she had been visiting them almost everyday for a week now so it must've been fine. But still though...

Pulled away from his worrying, Richard suddenly felt a soft something touch his snout before it disappeared a second later, prompting him to blink and reflexively huff, before looking down at the now-standing pegasus, her raised hoof now rejoining the other three after it had served its boop-related inquiry.

She seemed...upset.

Tilting his head at her in confusion, she shook her head before offering him some kind, unintelligible words and a reassuring smile. Still unsure of what she had said but not wanting to have that frown from earlier resurface, Richard offered a smile of his own, though with his unsureness of the context, it came out as more of a forced snarl. But it apparently worked as the mare nodded once before she stretched, much like a cat would, and began to clean up the blanket.

Once the plates and cups were put away, the blanket was folded up, and the sleeping gecko's sandwich bed was swiftly relocated to Richard's stomach, the pegasus picked up her little picnic basket and, with a wave goodbye to her bipedal beast friend, she headed back home.

Watching her go until her form disappeared passed the tree line, Richard sighed before looked down at the little gecko snoozing softly in his open palm and smiling.

"You sure do love that girl's cooking, eh Badass?"

Cute snoozing gecko noises continue.

"Heh. Yeah. She really can make a mean-ass sandwich, can't she?"

Jokes aside, their was still sincerity in those uncouth growls of his as Richard entered the castle and immediately headed for the throne room. Thinking back on it, he had learned much in the last week or so from Fluttershy. For with Badass's help in translating, not only had he been able to learn her name, but of many things regarding herself, her friends, and the world that Richard now dwelled in.

The Everfree Forest. Ponyville. Equestria. Everything and anything that the pegasus could remember was offered to Richard on a silver platter. From the listing off of numerous species, sentient and non, that called Equestria its home, to daily life and tales of her friends as well as her own. For such a shy girl, she really had a lot to talk about when she was comfortable enough.

But seriously though...

Dragons?

Magic?

A governmental diarchy headed by two ponies, "alicorns" Fluttershy called them, that had the power to, get this, raise and lower the sun and moon?

Like...what?!

Voting? Psh. Who needs that when you have two literal fucking gods in charge of politics for life here in fairytale land. Jesus Christ.

Sure. The two alicorns in charge, uh...Cela and Lunestia? Wonderful leaders, or so Flutters says. Apparently, they're so good at their jobs in fact, that they've been able to not only manage their nation on their own for centuries, as Richard was informed of their insanely long lifespans two days ago, but have also managed to maintain a relative peace both within and outside their borders for decades. Guess you really don't have to worry about rebellions or invasion when your ancestors were responsible for creating the world itself. Nukes? Heh. Who needs those when you can just smite a motherfucker with a star? Or better yet, reduce just about anything and everything the light touches to a burning ash heap.

"Fuck." Richard growled tiredly to himself as he pushed open the doors to the throne room. "For a race of peace-loving herbivores, that's some real metal shit."

Closing the doors behind him with a swish of his tail, Richard walked the length of the room before making a short jump to the second floor above.

There in their secluded sleeping area, Richard then carefully deposited his little friend on the spot where he usually sleeps on the bed of beds before he himself settled down for a short after-meal nap of his own.

And so with an appearance rivaling that of a dog playing dead, Richard closed his eyes and let the warmth of the sun and the food in his gut guide him on down to Laze Town. But just as his eyelids grew heavy and the sandman was at his doorstep, the tired manclaw's final thoughts were not of the food and drinks he had, or of the forest he resided in, or even of the lizard snoozing blissfully beside him. Instead, they all seemed to revolve around a certain little yellow pegasus and her sweet, caring, understanding, innocent, alluring nature.

"Heh. Man Diablo, I wish you were here with me, buddy. Yawn. You woulda liked Badass and Fluttershy. I'm, yawn, sure you...would...have."

"I'm sure I would have liked them as well...master."

Author's Note

Well there you go folks, another chapter. A bit half-assed if you ask me. But hey, updates!

Okay, I'm sorry this chapter took a bit of time to come out. Wanted to get another story stared up before I leave. To where you may ask? Why off to the military of course!

That's right, Imma be a boot camp boy in a week or so, so yeah there's that...

...

Ah shit.

Sigh. Listen folks, I'm real sorry I gotta say this but...because of that, I'll be offline for a few months. Maybe more. Yeah, no more new chapters for now.

I know. I know. Some of you folks really enjoy this story and really I shoulda started this thing up earlier on if I knew it'd get this popular.

But don't any of you damn dare say that this story is already dead. Because since so many of you lads loved it so, I'll be planning on picking it back up later on. When I find time that is. So don't ya'll fret. Because if I'm going to start a story and have receive all the praise it got earlier on, I damn well intend on finishing it. It'll just take...time.

Okay. Sad words aside, I'll definitely try to get one or two more chapters finished before my departure so here's to hoping for that.

Again, real sorry for all that. But there're still plenty more fics on the site, so you all don't have to only wait for mine to return.

And again, thank you folks so much for all the love you've given this story up until this point. I'm real grateful for all of it and its because of that love that I'll definitely be pressed to return to it once I'm able to.

So until that time comes, thank you all so much.

And as always folks, stay casual.