Thanks to KTKomedy2813 and kiddi for reviewing!
It was morning in Ponyville and the oddest thing had happened last night. A mysterious flying object had landed in the Everfree Forest and in the morning, the Apple family had discovered giant bite marks in their farming equipment.
One pony had claimed to see the thing that had landed in the Everfree Forest and that pony had been none other than Zecora, who had described it, saying, "It was a giant metal monster with two legs and glowing eyes. I tell no lies."
Most everyone had not taken Zecora seriously, but the few who did were ponies that had also claimed to see the 'monster' when they were in the Everfree Forest late at night.
All this was being discussed by the Mane Six, who were gathered at Sugarcube Corner, having tea and goodies.
"So, what exactly are these ponies going to do about this monster?" asked Rarity.
"Well, I heard they were going to set a trap for it out in the Everfree Forest tonight," Rainbow Dash said.
"Yeah, that's right," Applejack said. "They're gonna get a big strong net and lay out some metal objects for it. Once it grabs the objects, it's as good as trapped!"
"Ooh, if it works, I'll set up a victory party tomorrow!" said Pinkie Pie.
"Well, I hope they don't catch it," said Fluttershy. Seeing everyone giving her a confused look, she clarified, "What I mean is it doesn't seem right to do something like that to it. Trap it like an innocent animal. It didn't do anything wrong." Noticing Applejack giving her a glare, Fluttershy added, "Aside from eating your family's work equipment, of course."
That night, after Fluttershy had fed her animal friends and put them to bed, Angel started to act strange.
"Angel, what's wrong?" asked Fluttershy, as Angel then hid behind her legs.
And then she heard it. There were loud pounding footsteps and they were coming from outside. She immediately headed to the door, opened it, and looked outside. There wasn't anything outside, but then she glanced at the chicken coop and saw the roof was missing and the chickens were outside, running around in a panic. After calming the chickens down and sending them back into the coop, using the Stare when some refused to go in, she was about to go back into her house when she almost tripped over something. To her surprise, it was the roof of the chicken coop and there was a giant bite taken out of it.
She then noticed something else. There were giant footprints leading away from the chicken coop and into the Everfree Forest. Curiosity won out over fear as she ventured in, following the footprints. As she made her way in, she noticed several wrecked trees bending at different angles or otherwise knocked over.
Easy, Fluttershy, she thought. You've made it through this place before and you can do it again.
But then, her mind ran down an unnecessary line of thought: Except it was Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Elizabeak you were looking for and a cockatrice you protected them from, not a giant two-legged metal monster with glowing eyes that could possibly exist.
She shook her head and said, "There's no such thing as a giant metal monster." But then she started to get nervous, as she said, "Or is there?"
An animal noise startled her and she flinched. Her heart started to pound and she considered turning back, but then her mind started to play tricks on her. It seemed like the wrecked trees were blocking the way she had gone in. With a nervous gulp, she continued following the footprints through the forest.
Suddenly, a gust of wind blew some dead leaves at her and she flinched and braced herself. Once it was over, she nervously continued through, until a howl distracted her and she immediately walked faster, only to yelp in terror when she saw a ghost with glowing eyes.
"Ghost!" She shrieked and jumped back, hiding behind a rock.
She peeked out, but saw it was only a tree and two fireflies flew out of the hollow. She sighed in relief.
Her relief was short-lived as she heard a voice croak, "Fluttershy," again and again, making her freeze up in terror.
Her common sense was screaming for her to turn back and go home, but she continued through, not even noticing that the giant footprints had gone in another direction.
She started panicking as she imagined a few trees looking like monsters. As she began to quicken her pace and pass a tree, the wind moved a branch shaped like a hand and Fluttershy yelped in terror as the branch touched her back and she shot up into the air, gasping as she got caught up in some spider webs and a bat flew at her, squeaking, "Beware, beware!"
She landed in a clearing and looked around, seeing a bunch of metal items on the ground nearby. It was the trap for the giant metal monster. Then she heard a rustling sound from a nearby bush. Was the metal monster here? Taking a deep breath, she nervously approached the bush and parted it and quickly jumped back and covered her head, as something flew at her. Uncovering her head, she saw it was only a couple of crows flying off into the night.
She started to giggle in relief. Then she started laughing hysterically.
She stopped laughing and said, "Well, that's a relief. For a minute there, I thought that giant metal monster was going to—"
But then she stopped when she heard the sound of loud pounding footsteps again. And they were coming in her direction. She turned and saw a giant figure with glowing eyes marching over.
"The monster!" She shrieked, before she turned and ran away, trying to outrun the monster.
However, she tripped and quickly covered her head, waiting to be squashed to a pulp by the monster's foot. She heard something land in front of her and uncovered her head to see the metal foot in front of her moving away towards the trap.
She then watched as it picked up a piece of metal lying outside of the trap and began eating it with her flinching each time he bit the metal. Once it was finished with that piece of metal, it then moved closer and reached toward another piece of metal, one which was unfortunately in the trap, as Fluttershy's eyes widened in horror, realizing what was about to happen next.
As it grabbed the piece of metal, it triggered the trap, causing the net to wrap around it and trap it with the metal pieces. It screamed and started thrashing about. Its scream sent chills up Fluttershy's spine, as she trembled and covered her ears. Immediately, she turned and ran away. But then she stopped and hesitated, hearing those awful screams from afar, and remembered her words to the Mane Six about the trap the ponies were setting up for the monster. Quickly heading back to where the trapped monster was, she began scanning the tree the net was in for the rope.
Once she spotted the rope, she then muttered, "Don't worry, big guy. I'll get you out of there."
With that said, she flew over and cut the rope with her teeth. After that was done, she flinched as she heard a crashing sound, before turning to see that the monster had fallen with the net and the lights in its eyes were out.
Fluttershy stared curiously at the giant metal monster before she silently flew up to examine it closely. Picking up a small rock, she tossed it at it and quickly ducked down. When it didn't move, she climbed up onto it and gazed curiously into its open mouth, before dropping a small rock into it and looking slightly fascinated at the echoes from within as it dropped inside.
Suddenly, a light shone behind her and she turned, only to yelp in terror when she saw the light was coming from the monster's eyes, before her wings immediately folded to her side and she fell down, landing on her back looking the way she had when she, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie, Applejack, and Rarity had gone to get rid of the napping dragon that had nearly caused Ponyville to get enshrouded in smoke for a hundred years. As the creature got up, Fluttershy immediately ran away, panicking when she heard loud pounding footsteps.
C'mon, wings! Fly, fly! She thought, trying to get her wings to unfold.
No sooner did they start flapping, she immediately flew at a speed so fast that it would've put the Sonic Rainboom to shame. Suddenly, she bumped into someone and they both landed on the ground.
"Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy exclaimed when she saw who it was she bumped into.
"Fluttershy?" said Rainbow Dash. "What are you doing out here?"
"I-I saw it!" Fluttershy said. "The-The giant metal monster Zecora was talking about! It's right behind—" She turned to point behind her, only to look surprised when she saw nothing. "It's gone." She turned back and noticed Dash giving her a skeptical look and Fluttershy said, "It was right behind me, I swear!"
Dash sighed and shook her head, saying, "Fluttershy, you were just seeing things. C'mon, let's get you home."
"Okay," Fluttershy said with a sigh.
She glanced back one last time before flying off to her home with Dash. Once they had parted ways at her house, Fluttershy walked to the door, but stopped, having the feeling that something was watching her, and looked back at the Everfree Forest. As she did, she could've sworn she saw the giant metal creature towering above the treetops staring at her and tilting its head curiously. Fluttershy stared for a while longer before going into her house.
The giant watched as the small yellow four-legged creature with wings glanced back at him near a small little place that almost resembled the surrounding area he was in. He had been trapped in those ropes, unable to move, after eating some of the metal that had been laid out on the ground that had triggered what seemed to be a trap. And then he had caught a glimpse of a small yellow creature flying over, heard the snapping of a rope, and dropped to the ground, getting knocked out.
Seconds later, he had come around to discover the small yellow creature on his face, before it squeaked in terror, its wings folded to its side and had dropped to the ground, recovering to get up and run away. It had then started flying away before it bumped into something and fell over. Once it had recovered, he saw that it had had bumped into another small four-legged creature with wings, but this one was blue and had multi-colored fur on its head and tail.
He heard the yellow creature call the blue creature 'Rainbow Dash' and then heard the Rainbow Dash call the yellow creature 'Fluttershy' and ask what it was doing out here.
The Fluttershy started babbling about a giant metal monster and then he realized it was talking about him and hid as it pointed its hoof in his direction only to look surprised when it saw nothing before turning back to the Rainbow Dash to find it looking skeptical, before saying it had probably just been seeing things before it said, "Let's get you home."
The Fluttershy began to do so, before looking back again and then flying off with the Rainbow Dash. He then watched as the Rainbow Dash left after the Fluttershy was safely at the little place, before watching as the Fluttershy walked up to a hole, which lit up, before it paused and looked back, seeing him. He tilted his head curiously as he watched it stare at him for a while before turning away and going through the lit-up hole, which faded away.
These four-legged creatures were intriguing. Some of them were normal (except for the white and black four-legged creature he had encountered a while ago), while others had horns on their heads and others had wings on their backs, like the Fluttershy and the Rainbow Dash.
Heading back to where the trap had been laid out, he picked up a part of the ropes. The Fluttershy had saved its life. He wanted to see it again and he hoped it would come here again.