Monster

by Jabazor

Life and Stories

Fluttershy found herself back into the swing of things, somewhat. The world seemed to have gotten a bit brighter again and she was not as tired, nor did she seem in as much pain. Being around the dead fish all the time had truly dimmed her spirits, but, as anypony could tell, she was still not her full self. There seemed to be moments where she looked over her shoulder and moments were her mind wandered off onto other thoughts than the topics of discussions her friends would bring up with her throughout her day. She was always thinking about the monster.

Fluttershy never thought of him as a monster. She'd rather call him a big furry thing. Dash called it a monster without much thought, but if she got the slightest notion that it offended him or Fluttershy, Dash would stop with no argument or questions. Fluttershy obviously longed to see the monster, but Dash was the only one who knew of this. Both were forced to sit there while their other friends worried, and both could not say a word. And Dash was beginning to experience the same feelings, but on a smaller scale than Fluttershy. At least Dash got to see the monster every day for a few minutes, but Fluttershy never did. However, they both longed for the monster's conversations and new-found joy.

When Dash came down to deliver the food, she always had a conversation, which Fluttershy did as well until she was too tired. They both asked questions about older times and they both often gave news to the monster and shared with him the history that they knew. The monster was able to fill in some unknown holes to their history, but only the beginnings of Equestria. Aside from that, he knew nothing else.

The monster learned that Celestia and Luna still ruled, he learned of Discord and Nightmare Moon and Sombra and Chrysalis, of a few of the adventures and worrisome events like both times when Trixie came to town and the time when they cleared the dragon from the cave (which explained the sudden change in mood when one came to the beginning of the cave on the mountain) and the time when Twilight became an alicorn and all sorts of other seemingly crazy tales.

The monster always had good laughs and good times, but rarely bothered to share his own tales, for obvious reasons. In fact, both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy knew that, when they asked of the time period from which he originated, that they would both have a long, sad story, but a thirst for knowledge could end in such sad ways. The satisfaction from learning and knowing may rival that of the sad feeling. Like when one suffers from depression and he or she does not know why but then he or she learns what it is. Surely he or she will be satisfied of their learning, because he or she can now solve their depression, but if the depression is caused by the fact that their dog has cancer or something of that sort, he or she will only be reminded of happy memories that are now bittersweet. Knowledge can be a dangerous tool, and it can often destroy a living being, but whether or not knowing something will always be a good thing is very much so up for debate.

The monster always kept that in my mind when he spoke with the two, but he often didn't care. He was too busy being stuck in a marveled state of the company he was in. Although he didn't care for Rainbow Dash introducing herself as the fastest flyer, he now cared for it in story format. Through Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, he learned that his friend's, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, were friends with royalty, that Twilight was possibly the most powerful unicorn ever known, that the two princesses often visited Ponyville, that the elements of harmony were deeply embedded in the souls of four of Fluttershy's and Rainbow Dash's friends and that Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash had elements of harmony themselves. He was quite filled with joy and laughter at all these tales. The only thing that he didn't understand was why there was still no sign of a king or queen and two princesses were the rulers, but, apparently, nopony had the guts to ask that question. There was some fear of "one-thousand years on the Moon" or something like that.

With so much history and the fact that Luna was still a princess when he threw himself off the cliff, the monster was faced with the fact that he was many years older than one-thousand. But he felt livelier now in his old age than ever before. A certain spring of joy was in his every stop even though he didn't do very much and was forced to hide annoyingly often. The monster, being one of the best at hiding and being quiet that there ever has been, often found himself going closer to Ponyville than Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash had suggested. He hid on the ground as various ponies walked through the trails in the wood and he hid so well that he often kept up with them and heard their talk without any of them even giving off a worried look around their shoulder.

Aside from spying and eating and talking, the monster found himself mostly sitting down. He made sure to always be in hiding when he was sitting around, but he found himself dozing off in various places and trying to make friends with animals, which he had a hard time with. The animals could always smell the fish on his breath and rarely trusted him, that and he was "oh so big" and animals need to be protective of themselves, but a few birds would occasionally land on his shoulder and perhaps a squirrel or two would go ahead and give him a wave, which often surprised him. The animals were actually intelligent and they had attitudes like the ponies he got to know: although initally scared, the animals that bothered to give him their time of day grew fond of him. He was quickly befriending the entire forest, as well as Fluttershy's animals.

Fluttershy's animals were kindest to him, almost as if some her kindness was given to them and they spread it to him. Fluttershy was capable of sneaking past her animals, but Dash was not. Dash was discovered by the animals the second night she delivered food and Fluttershy was forced to talk her animals into accepting the monster, and they gave her demand a chance and came out liking the monster.

As for Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy acknowledged Dash's kindness and often thanked her, but Dash always knew that Fluttershy wished to speak to the monster and get him out to the world somehow. And it was only realistic that he would one day be discovered if he went on living in the woods for years. Whether or not the discovery of the monster would be good or bad was not known, but Fluttershy and Dash placed their bets on the latter. For as good as the society of Ponyville was, it was not welcoming enough to let such a beastly, wretched-looking creature into their vicinity. At least not with immediacy, but with time, however, many good outcomes suddenly became available.

With a little time, care, and persuasion, Dash and Fluttershy knew that the monster could be an accepted part of society. They knew that he could have a name, more friends, and the free life that he truly wished for. But a plan would have to be made, a plan that heavily relied on the willingness of others to accept such a thing into their lives and to trust it. For the meantime, though, the only update with the monster was that he now wanted art supplies for reasons unknown to the ponies. He always said to Rainbow Dash when she delivered the art supplies to him that it was a "surprise." But there was no denying that the smile on his face was contagious and friendly whenever he mentioned the art supplies.

Author's Note:

I feel as if I should add some more with this chapter as well. I'll having everything figured out in the final draft of this story, but, for now, consider this an early build.

Comments

[Rennoc215]

Only two critiques:

Grendel (For I assume that is who this character is based off of) was "Unable" to commune with his human counterparts, because his voice was "abhorrent." That was why he didn't just go off and be merry with the nordic people. Even if the land might be having some strange effect upon him, I still doubt that their conversation would have so easily been "Hi."

The other was that Grendel was practically stapled to his mother. Even if he didn't realize it, he was bound to her, because she was his emotional rock. He could use her to vent, and even if he resented her, she was the only one in his life, To remove a fundamental part of a character, even if it is another character, can be game changing, because do you remember what happened when Grendel dies? His mother goes insane, and begins a slaughter rampage. Without such a key element in his life, I'd expect our "Hero" to be a little more unstable.

Aside from this, though, the story is progressing nicely. Hope to read more of this soon!
Liked and faved.

[Jabazor]

3473527 I didn't really want to make my monster exactly like Grendel. I liked the "wants friends and kindness but can't have them because monster" idea, which I got from Grendel, even though I don't it ever says anything about that in "Beowulf," but, aside from that, there's really no relation in there. I hope that you didn't think that I was trying to do a picture-perfect version of Grendel with my monster, but I can see why you would.

Or maybe I am misunderstanding your comment entirely, which is highly possible, seeing as to how I don't think that I understand what you are trying to say.

[Rennoc215]

3474455

Oh, no, you answered the question perfectly. I could see the serious connections between "Monster" and "Grendel," but I wasn't certain if you were going for an even closer brethren. Thanks for clarifying. I was mostly just noting some character development points.

I hope I hadn't offended, I was just making a few notes. This is your story, and as a reader, I'll be satisfied any way.