Man in the Monster

 Five of the mane 6 head back to Ponyville from Fluttershy's cottage.

 The path they're taking is a beautiful path. It's full of distractions that could easily take somepony from reality and cause them to daydream. All dreams must come to an end, however; especially when reality itself holds so many distractions.

 "So, what did you guys think of Zach?" Rainbow Dash asks the general group.

 All the ponies snap from their daydreaming and process what she just said.

 Pinkie Pie is the first to respond. "I think he's great! It's going to be so much fun having another diamond dog around Ponyville!"

 "Which reminds me..." Twilight starts,"You guys noticed his tail, right?"

 "Oh yes! It was the most dreadful thing I've ever seen!" Rarity responds.

 "Oh, come on, Rarity," Applejack gives Rarity a slight jab in the shoulder,"He seems like a nice stallion. Ah mean, ya can't really judge a pony by how they look."

 "Ick! You got dirt on my coat!"

 "...she's right, Rarity." Twilight says, "Although something -else- is off about him."

 "What, is it because he's so big?" Pinkie waves her arms as an indication of Zach's size.

 "Kind of. You see, it's not uncommon for a male diamond dog to grow a bit exceptionally. It's just that... I think he's still getting bigger."

 All the ponies give Twilight a curious look.

 "Are you sure about that?" Applejack questions.

 "Well, I may be wrong, but he seemed to show characteristics of a near-adolescent diamond dog. His voice was unusually high, at least for a creature of his size, and if you had looked for it, you would have noticed he seemed to be lacking in muscle mass. He's pretty lanky."

 "Really? Because he snapped those chains like nothing!" Pinkie says enthusiastically.

 Twilight gets a foreboding look."I know..."

Rainbow's eyes widen. "So, Twilight, you're saying that Zach may get bigger and stronger than he already is?"

 "Yes. And not only that, but there may be other things we don't know about him."

 "Whaddya mean, Twah?"

 "Did you see the holes he made in the ceiling each time he bumped his head?"

 "He made holes in the ceiling with his head!?" Pinkie exclaims.

 "Yes! And guess what else? They were small holes, about an inch in diameter, both very identical to eachother."

 Rarity looks at Twilight with curiosity. "I don't follow."

 Twilight takes a deep breath. "What I'm saying is, Zach has a horn!"

 Everyone stops walking and stares at Twilight in disbelief.

 Except for Applejack, who gets a dreamy look. But no one else notices.

 "Then how come we didn't see it?" Rainbow asks suspiciously.

Rarity concurs with Twilight. "Darling, he had an awful amount of fur. If he had a very small horn, it could easily be covered up."

 "Exactly. And it could still be growing. Truthfully, I don't even think Zach knows about it."

 Applejack's still a bit skeptical. "So, if Zach has horn, does that mean he can do magic too?"

 Twilight shakes her head. "I don't know. There's a lot we don't know about him. All he gave us was that other-world story. He may be trying to hide something."

 "Like what?"

"I'm not sure. But I do know this: he's definitely not natural."

 Pinkie Pie jumps at this. "What do you mean he's not natural? He came from the forest, after all!"

 "No, that's not what I meant," Twilight explains, "I mean he was artificially made. None of him seems to fit together. A dog with a scorpion tail and a horn? There's no way that could have happened normally."

 Applejack still doesn't believe it. "But manticores are lions with wings and a scorpion tail! How do you explain them?"

 Twilight sighs. "They were artificially made too. But that's beside the point. Even if manticores 'happened' naturally, that doesn't mean Zach did."

A long silence. Then Rainbow speaks what's on everypony's mind. "So what do we do?"

 Twilight thinks about this for a moment. "The way I see it, we have two options."

 Applejack nods. "Go on."

 Twilight continues. "We have to assess whether or not he's a threat. Which means we either take him while he's still physically a child, or befriend him and hope for the best."

 "What do you mean by that?" Pinkie muses.

 Rainbow's expression is solemn. "She means, we either kill him now, or we suck up to him and hope he's nice."

Everyone is struck by the frankness in her words. The silence lasts for a good five minutes.

 "...I don't want to kill my new friend..." Pinkie says sorrowfully.

 Twilight comforts her. "I know. It definitely wouldn't be easy. But so far, he's been pretty mellow. Let's watch him a little longer, and make our decision when he starts changing."

 "Changing?" Rainbow inquires.

 "When he hits puberty."

 "Oh..."

 Zach stares at the ceiling with his legs crossed and his hands behind his head.

 It was good to relax while you still had the chance. You loved the random things you could think about while being alone.

 Like the fact that you had created holes in the ceiling with your head.

 Very peculiar holes at that.

 It was kind of scary considering you were right under Fluttershy's house and could break through her floorboards just by bumping your head.

 On the plus side, you could see what went on up there.

 She sure has a lot of animals. A lot of cute, fuzzy, tasty animals.

 No. You said you wouldn't eat her animals. Besides, if you just wait, she should be back soon. She went to the store to go get meat.

 About an hour ago.

 Ah, you're too impatient. She lives on the outskirts of town, right? It probably takes her an hour just to -get- to the store.

 Which should leave you with an hour-and-a-half to go.

 Maybe just a little bird snack..

 No. You can't. She'll hate you forever.

 Where's the voice of reason in all of this?

 He always has some entertaining remarks.

 Oh. I think I hear Fluttershy.

 -SLAM!-

 Fluttershy doesn't seem like one to slam doors very often. Let's take a look through the makeshift peephole.

 She seems out of breath. She's covering her face. Why is she crying?

 And where the f*ck is my meat?

 You hear a roar and see Fluttershy's door burst open.

 Holy sh*t it's a bear!

 Fluttershy had just gotten to the edge of Ponyville with the meat.

 Raw meat had to be one of the most disgusting things you've ever had the displeasure of carrying in your life.

 But Zach is hungry. You just never know when he might snap and eat all your animals.

 Plus, you really want to please Zach. He just looks so much like him.

 I remember those days...

 You shake off nostalgic memories and keep walking down the trail.

 I wonder if things will be the same with Zach as they were with him?

 In some ways, you hope so. In others...

 Hopefully not.

 Some rustling in the bushes makes you jump. You whip around to see a big black bear sniffing the meat strapped to your back.

 Normally, you wouldn't be scared of bears. You've gotten used to them, and know that as long as you don't do anything that bothers them, they won't bother you. But this one was so close, and seemed hungry.

 "N-no, I'm sorry. This is for Zach."

 The bear tries to grab the meat off your back, but you run.

 Fluttershy, you fool! You can't outrun a bear!

 Gaining sudden courage, you turn around and face your attacker.

 You give him the stare.

 He's too close. There's not enough time for it to work.

 He claws you across the face and you're sent rolling.

 Blood from your face soaks into the ground below.

 The bear is coming over to finish you off.

 You give him your back and he misses you and bites the meat. You unstrap the meat and run, leaving him  to tear up what he hasn't already devoured.

 That should distract him for some time.

 But how much time?

The bear is roaring at Fluttershy. She's backed up into a corner, and has curled into a ball.

 Your options?

A.) Run up the stairs and into her house to face the bear

B.) Do nothing.

 You really don't want to see Fluttershy mauled alive, so you go with A.

 Only problem is, there's not enough time to do that because the basement stairs lead to the side yard. It would take too long to run all the way around the house to her front door.

 You see the wooden floorboard planks bending under the bear's weight.

 You hatch a genius- no, stupid plan to save Fluttershy.

 Stupid as it seems, it might just work.

 You go underneath the bear and begin punching the floorboards.

 Crap. This hurts like heck.

 After three punches, your wrist hurts and your knuckles are starting to bleed.

 But you have to do this.

 You get ready to give the ceiling one last uppercut...

 With all your might, you punch the ceiling so hard it cracks.

 Dammit. All I did was crack it.

 Fluttershy's dead for sure now.

 All of a sudden, you hear another crack, this one a lot louder.

 You jump out of the way as a confused bear crashes through your ceiling.

 Holy crap.

 It actually worked.

 The bear gets up and looks at you.

 Oh f*ck.

 You hadn't thought this through.

 The bear starts walking toward you and growls.

 It stands up on its hind legs and bumps its head on the ceiling.

 That would actually be funny if it weren't for the direness of the situation.

 It gets on all fours and roars.

 You roar too.

 Charge!!

 On all fours, you run at the bear full speed.

 What the f*ck am I doing?

 The bear doesn't have time to react.

 You knock into him, but he holds his ground.

 You two are actually about the same size, but the bear is a lot stronger and heavier than you.

 You keep his biting face away from yours by pushing on his shoulders.

 Sh*t. What now?

 The bear picks up his claw and swipes it across your face.

 The momentary pain causes you to let go of the bear's shoulders. He pummels you backwards, and land on your back with the bear on top of you.

 It roars and doesn't hesitate to clamp down on your face with jaws of fury.

 Oh god. I can feel my skull bending. I think it's going to break.

 Everything is red.

 Fluttershy watches in horror as the bear clamps down on Zach's face.

 He's going to die! He's going to die!

 Do something Fluttershy! Be brave for once!

 But you can't. All you do is sit there and sob while Zach squirms underneath the horrible beast.

 It's all my fault.

 If I hadn't brought him back here-

 Suddenly, the bear yelps.

 It lets go of Zach's face. In Zach's mouth is... A tongue??

 Ohmygoodness he bit off the bear's tongue!

 Zach seizes the opportunity and kicks his way out of the bear's grasp.

 Once again, all its attention is on Zach.

 Zach is on all fours. The two circle eachother, each looking for a chance to strike, with the bear being more wary this time.

 You can see the blood all over each of their faces. You wince upon seeing Zach's bite marks. You're surprised he isn't screaming in pain right now.

 The bear lunges. Zach springs over him, barely missing a collision with the ceiling, and landing backwards on the bear's back.

 The beast roars and tries bucking Zach off. Zach only holds on tighter and lifts up his tail.

 Here it comes.

 Zach inserts his stinger into the bear's neck, right below the head.

 The bear continues bucking, but is slowing down.

 Suddenly, it stops, and falls flat on its face.

 Zach is sprawled out and is shivering on top of the monster. Upon seeing that his opponent is down, he flips around and sits on the bear's back, looking at the half-inch wide hole he made. He sticks a finger into it, and slices open the bear's neck. Violently, he begins ripping out flesh and organs.

 You finally find your voice. "Zach..."

 He whips around and stares at you menacingly.

 His eyes are a piercing red. Blood soaks his fur. He gives off a stare that paralyzes you and makes you choke.

 You wouldn't be surprised if he has hypnotic powers.

 His eyes suddenly soften, and fade into a dark blue. His facial features hold a pained look. "Fluttershy?"

 He screams and grasps his head. You jump down and flutter to him with your wings.

 You hug him with all the strength you can muster. He soon stops screaming and looks at you.

 You can tell he's still in pain, but is refraining from shrieking in your ear.

 You cry and whisper words that you could never mean more than now.

 "Thank you..."

 Fluttershy is crying on me right now.

 I have no recollection of the time between being bit in the face and waking up holding bloody meat and staring at Fluttershy.

 My head hurts. My everything hurts.

 But that doesn't matter now. I'm being hugged by a crying Fluttershy, while standing on top of a dead bear.

 I guess I'm just thankful we're both okay.

 She whispers two words that pierce the innermost layer of your soul.

 "Thank you."

 You take your bloody arms and wrap them around Fluttershy.

 Wow. I've been here almost two days, and I've already destroyed part of a house and am covered in blood and tears.

 Sounds like home.

 I mean, my old home.

 Five minutes later Fluttershy looks up at you.

 You've been stroking her mane. You've accidentally smeared blood all over her, and don't like the idea of covering her in more blood than necessary, but it seems to comfort her.

 Besides, it helps to keep your mind off this intense pain.

 When you look at her face, you spot three parallel cuts on her cheek.

 That part of her face is covered with wet, sticky blood.

 At least it's clotting. She'll be fine.

 But you don't really know if -you- will be.

 You can hear your heartbeat. Blood is getting in your eyes.

 "Fluttershy..."

 She opens her mouth to speak, but is choking on emotion. She clears her throat and croaks out a "Yes?"

 "I think I need to lie down..."

 You carry her over to the foot of your bed and set her down there. You then sit down beside her and stroke her mane.

 "Goodnight, Fluttershy."

 Your eyes roll up into your head and you fall unconscious.

 He just passed out.

 He may be dying.

 You climb atop him and begin crying.

 How many more will die because of you?

 No. Not this time.

 You contemplate going for help.

 No. That will take too long.

 You're going to have to take things into your own hooves this time.