//------------------------------// // Ch. 4- Not afraid of you // Story: The Monster Within // by Uberdeathninja //------------------------------// Luna stared at the human before her, her expression one of shock and disbelief as what she once looked down at as a little boy, now looked down at her as a giant, muscle-bound behemoth. And upon that, to her shock, arose one question that scared her the most: How in Equestria did the man manifest himself in his own head?! However he did it, he was very real in his own head, and could very really kill her, given that he was twice as big as her. How did such a little boy turn into such a colossal monster, Luna wondered? However, as she pondered this question, the human took no aggressive action against her. Instead, he looked down at her sadly, as if apologizing to her for having to see that. Finally, the human turned away from her, and walked to another painting that represented another memory, then beckoned her to follow him. when she arrived in front of the memory, the human made a gesture to watch it. As Luna did, she felt herself get pulled inside, and she found herself in a beat-up, destroyed zoo, right next to the human. He gestured to keep watching, so she did, not understanding why he could not talk. Had he forgotten how? Did he not want to? it was a mystery. However, the scene started soon after she snapped out of her thoughts. A pack of wolves walked by, a teenage human with them; the very same as the one standing next to her, but much younger. The memory-human wore great pelt robes and cargo shorts, and carried a staff with a unicorn skull at the tip, and he seemed to be guiding the wolves to something. After following the group for a while, Luna soon saw what it was: A forest, small but dense. The sign in front of it read "Freedom cave national park". The "real" human stared at the sign somberly for a moment, then motioned Luna to follow the memory-human. They walked for a while, and then the memory-human and his pack stopped at a steep hill in a clearing, a flag with stars and stripes at the top of said hill. on the front of the hill was a gaping cave mouth, the actual cave stretching beyond the afternoon light's reach. "So, this is Freedom Cave, I take it?" Luna asked the human beside her. The human merely nodded somberly, gazing longingly at the flag at the top of the hill. Then, Luna suddenly remembered seeing a worn, tattered, faded flag at the top of the cave she found the human in. "You loved that flag, didn't you?" She asked. Again, the human nodded, not bothering to look at her. Luna realized he could understand her, but did not look at her or speak to her, So it was clear he just didn't want to talk to her. One mystery down, but one still remained: How long had this human been living in that cave, or at all, for that matter? This couldn't have been recent; The Everfree forest took centuries to grow to the size it was today, yet this human didn't look old at all. In fact, she previously guessed that he was only in his twenties. But now, in recent light, this young-looking human has been living in that cave and surviving in this forest for thousands upon thousands of years! Though startled by this fact, Luna did not fear the human, but pitied him. Here this human lived, wronged by ponies and his own people, forced to live among animals for companionship. She wanted to apologize, but could not. After all, what did she do? She had no Idea of this incursion by her own sister. Still, she felt terrible for his fate, and wished she could apologize somehow. However, before she could say anything, The human turned and looked at her, a thousand years of tiredness in his hazel eyes. Then, everything blurred, and Luna found herself back where she cast her spell to put herself in the human's head. He had kicked her out of his head! No ordinary mortal could do that. Then again, this human was far from ordinary, or mortal. Trying to get her thoughts back together, she remembered that the Mane Six were still in the woods, looking for the human. They could wait, however. Celestia had some explaining to do. The human awoke slowly, his mind a bit clouded from his "guest" being in there. Deciding to hunt himself some breakfast, the human got up and began to make his way to the cottage he tended to hunt near. For the life of him, he could not find out who lived there. He saw lights in it, and the local plants and animals were well taken care of, but he'd never seen anyone or anything enter or leave it. Oh well, it was probably not important anyway. Changing into his reptilian form, he made his way to the cottage, but stopped dead when he heard six familiar voices, exactly like the ones he heard yesterday. And lo, as he remembered the six mares and their tenacious pursuit of him, the colossal beast broke out in a sweat, and decided that he would simply rather go without breakfast today than deal with those crazed ponies ever again. Internally facepalming, he tried to go back to his cave, turning his bulk around with a loud sigh, but he instead ended up meeting the six pests face-to-face as he turned, with only one way to run. The mane six had walked for hours through the forest, and soon found Fluttershy's cottage, where they'd rested for the night. Now that it was finally morning, the six opted to continue their search of the behemoth that attacked Celestia, but no sooner had they left the small hut, the six were utterly terrified at what they were soon looking at. After looking in the Forest for two days, they finally found what they were looking for but a few minutes away from Fluttershy's own hut. Or, rather, it found them. However, the giant, spiny reptile wasn't exactly what they expected; it actually looked just as surprised as them. However, the colossal reptile soon regained its composure before they could, and it leaped at them, clearing the ten-foot distance between it and the six mares in a single bound, and then, it did the unexpected: It jumped over them, bounding and running deeper into the forest. "After it!" Shouted Twilight, eager to finally catch the monster. So, the six gave chase to the monster, but were surprised to see that they didn't need to run very far, seeing as it didn't go far either. In fact, it seemed to be waiting for them as they reached it at the mouth of what Twilight assumed was its lair; a massive, skull-adorned, maw-like cave in the side of a large hill, a single, tattered flag atop the hill itself, flapping softly in the wind. However, the six ignored the oddly serene picture behind their target, and focused entirely on the beast's capture, pumped and ready to end this chase once and for all. "Stop in the name of Celestia, monster!" Demanded Twilight. But as Twilight yelled at it, the creature simply tilted its head in response, then yawned loudly and rudely, causing Twilight to quickly become mildly agitated. Was this thing mocking her? "Alright, ugly, get ready for a beat-down!" Shouted Rainbow Dash, sensing her friend's distress, and eager to avenge her nerves. "That's right, ya varmint! I'm gonna make some nice saddles outa yer hide!" Taunted AppleJack as well. However, not at all intimidated by the duo, the bored-looking beast then flashed its many sharp teeth at the six, opened its great, red maw, and finally roared, nay, BELLOWED, loosing a sound that personified the fury of the wild and its destructive power in one loud, earth-shaking sound, causing the Mane Six to fall over from the sheer force of its mighty roar. However, this only made Rainbow Dash and Applejack more determined to beat this thing, whatever it was, despite the fact that this thing was literally eight times their combined size, and ten times their mass. "So you're loud, huh? Let's see how loud you cry for your mommy!" Taunted Rainbow Dash as the monster stopped roaring. However, Twilight and the others, save Applejack, felt rather intimidated by the colossal beast before them, and ever the voice of reason, Twilight gave one look at the growling, glaring reptile before them, and attempted to convince her friends not to fight it. "Uh, Rainbow, I wouldn't taunt it if I were you..." warned Twilight. However, her warning came too late, for no sooner had the words left her mouth, the giant, reptilian abomination charged the group, bellowing in anger as it thundered toward them, head down in a charge. Unable to avoid it in time, Rainbow was hit first, and she consequently flew through two trees as the beast hit her like a train, and she finally landed headfirst in the third, sticking into it like an arrow. Then, the beast growled hungrily, and soon turned its wrath toward Applejack, who was undeterred by its recent display of strength, and was right next to the beast, ready to kick its legs until they broke. "Come on, you walkin' handbag, show me what you got!" Applejack taunted in turn, and as if to politely oblige her request, the beast slammed its giant, thick tail down on her like a hammer, burying Applejack up to her neck and dazing her as she was driven into the ground like a railroad spike But, though dazed, the orange pony was not even deterred in the slightest, and despite her situation, she gave one last taunt. "Eh, try t-that again, you lilly-livered son of a..." Was all she got out before the irate monster hit her again, burying her all the way this time, leaving her hat to stay on the surface like the back of a nail. The remaining four were stunned by this gross display of oppressive strength, even Pinkie pie had stopped bouncing. This thing was way too fast for it's size, and was way too strong to take. However, this did not daunt the six, who seemed to favor zeal over logic, and eager to avenge the two they lost, the Mane Six got into combative stances, and challenged the giant monster. "He can't take all four of us at once! Get him, girls!" Shouted Twilight, and the remaining four mares charged it. Needless to say, unfortunately, the entire battle lasted only five seconds before everyone but Twilight was incapacitated. "Ugh... Its... t-too... strong..." moaned Twilight, as she tried to pick herself up after getting headbutted into a tree. However, the creature then picked up Twilight in a massive paw before she could stand up again, ignoring her struggles and pleas as he dragged her to Celestia-knows-where. "Where are you taking me!? Put me down!" Demanded a helpless Twilight as she kicked and thrashed against the beast's grip. Suddenly, they finally arrived in the deepest part of the cave, and with great impact and horror, a terrible thought finally dawned on Twilight causing her jaw to drop, and she began to sweat, as the thing glared at her, teeth bared, and growl particularly threatening. Then, finally, after but a moment's pause, Twilight finally spoke her realization to the heavens: "Oh, sweet Celestia, this thing's going to EAT me!!!"