//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6 
// Story: The Escape 
// by Jimbo 
//------------------------------//

From the corner of her eye, she saw it; something that darted out of sight, dark-on-dark in the background of the forest. Princess Luna lowered her chin, abandoning her study of the stars for the moment, hoping to catch a better glance at whatever it was. A squirrel? No, those had some kind of bioluminescence, they glowed blue as they lept from branch to branch, leaving light-trails behind them. This thing was - there!

As if hearing her mental cry, the unidentified object slowly revealed itself, peering its head shyly out from behind a large trunk. It was a pony - no, a baby pony, a little filly with a star-patterned coat, as if a bit of the sky had been snipped out and dropped down to earth. Tiny wings, bright blue eyes, a shaggy mop of pale, glowing hair; to Luna, she was one of the most beautiful, most delicate foals she had ever seen in her entire life. She was like the night incarnate; a pony who lived in the forest, perhaps?

But before Luna could open her mouth to ask, the little filly opened hers, and as tears filled her large, shining eyes, a single, tearful word slipped out: “Lost.” The word was filled with sorrow and longing, with the music of every tear-soaked love song, with the heartache of every lost child.

Luna’s heart melted, and she nearly stumbled over herself to get closer to the little thing, lowering her head on her long, graceful neck. She was such a small thing, Luna didn’t want to frighten her! “Don’t be afraid, I’ll help you, little one.”

“Who’re ya talkin’ to?” Joe asked, twisting his neck on his shoulders to try and get a better look at Luna.

But just like that, the filly had turned and fled, disappearing into the undergrowth, the glow of her mane rapidly vanishing in the darkness.

“Wait!” Luna called, and took off like a shot after her, exhaustion forgotten.

“Luna!” Joe yelled, but she was gone, his voice an afterthought in the shadowed forest behind her as Luna lept from the path and into the dark, tangled underbrush.

Luna tore through the forest, a mare on a mission, as she followed the fading glow of the child’s mane. Every time she seemed to be losing her, she’d catch a glimpse of something glowing, or hear a tearful sob, and it renewed her desperation. Plants and trees whipped around her at a dizzying speed, whipping against her sides when she wasn’t careful, tripping her up if she didn’t lift her legs high enough. But she made it through, somehow, yet every time she seemed to be getting closer, the filly would vanish again - and no amount of pleading could get her to slow down.

Finally, Luna burst through the trees into a clearing, and as she panted, she tried to catch a glimpse of the filly. There was some grass, trees ringing the area, some gravel leading down into a - oh no.

In the center of a muddy, opaque river, the filly struggled, crying out feebly as her mouth filled with water. She coughed and kicked, but despite her efforts, the little one was slipping under.

“Hold on!” Luna called, and with a mighty leap, she leapt into the river, paddling towards the star-filly. It was especially difficult, as the river seemed to be more mud than water, but she struggled in the thick water mightily, fighting her way to the filly’s side. “Grab on!” she commanded, holding out a foreleg to her.

The filly grabbed a hold of her foreleg tightly, winding both of her own forelegs around her - and abruptly dragged her down.

Luna screamed as the muddy water suddenly closed over her head, and closed her eyes and mouth tightly as water tried to pour into them. What the - the filly was strong! She could feel herself being dragged down, down, down, and despite how she kicked and flailed, she couldn’t bring both herself and the filly back to the surface.

Then, she felt the sharp teeth sink into her flesh.

Her grunt of pain came out as a trio of bubbles, and she fought with a desperate, panicked energy to free herself. The teeth suddenly released her foreleg, and the powerful force dragging her down loosened. She freed herself with one powerful kick, and she swam for the surface, lungs burning. She broke the surface with a gasp, panting desperately as she struggled to remain above the water - it was just so difficult to paddle, with the water so heavy and her pack dragging her down!

A few feet away, the filly’s head popped out of the water, too - and honed in on Luna’s position immediately, paddling closer to her. She didn’t have to struggle for breath; Luna saw that now, in the way she swam so easily, and in the way she didn’t really look like a filly, either. Or even any sort of star-clad; no, she was looking more and more like an adult mare, but a little too long and stretched-out to be any kind of normal pony, with jet-black, oily-looking skin and pupiless white eyes. She slowly swam over to Luna, and the more Luna struggled, the slower she went, seeming to enjoy her panic - the wide, toothy grin was evidence enough of that.

Luna was going to die out here, she knew that now; this  - thing was born for the water, and had lured her out here to drown her. She had no hope of fighting it off - she could barely keep herself afloat, much less fight. Still, she couldn’t give up just yet, so she began to paddle furiously, trying to fight her way to the shore. If she was going to be this monster’s meal, she wasn’t going to make it an easy one.

“Come at me, foul river beast!” she screeched, aiming her hind legs at the monster as she paddled. The first few kicks swung wide, but when the third blow landed in the center of the monster’s face, Luna allowed herself a sharp, gasping laugh of relief.

When the monster unhinged its jaw to enclose Luna’s hoof in its mouth, Luna couldn’t stop the shrill, high shriek of terror from escaping.

As its teeth closed around her leg, cutting into her flesh as it began to drag her back down into the river, Luna continued to fight. She dug her hooves into the thick mud of the riverbank, fighting its pull even as she felt herself slipping backwards. She struggled to keep her head above the muddy water, gasping out what she imagined to be her final breaths, trying to mask the small, sobbing cries of panic that rolled over her each time the water got into her mouth. She was a princess, and she would die with some measure of dignity, even out here with no one to see it.

“Hey! Ugly! Get over here, ya smelly old bag a - a - manure!”

It was hard to see now, with the water getting higher and splashing into her face, but for a moment it almost sounded like Joe had found her. There was a loud, heavy splash behind her, and she felt the teeth loosen, just a little bit.

“Yeah! You! Get over here, I got somethin’ you’ll really like, you ugly son of a gun!”

That hideous accent! It had to be Joe, no one else in the forest would talk like that on purpose! Luna’s struggles redoubled in their energy, and as she fought, she felt the teeth tighten for a brief, terrifying moment - then abruptly release, so that the beast could lift its head and examine the new threat.

“Joe! Joe, thou must flee!” Luna screamed, desperately fighting her way to the shore, her body shaking with each muddy, suckling step. Even as Joe taunted the creature, she could see it getting closer and closer to him, moving at a deceptively slow pace.

“Hey, you like snacking on ponies? I think you’ll like these donuts more!” Joe yelled, throwing a donut at the monster’s face. It batted the fried dough away with its snout, but seemed to reconsider it after it licked some stray powdered sugar from its nose. The beast eyed Joe, then darted its head to the side, snarfing down the donut in one quick bite.

“Joe, flee!” Luna called to him, another step dragging her deeper into the muck. Ugh! Every step she took got her closer to the shore, but deeper into the mud! A sharp twinge from her bitten leg drew a surprised, wounded cry from her, driving her to her knees - and nose-deep into the river.

“Here! Take ‘em all!” Joe barked, throwing his bag of donuts into the far end of the river, where it began to sink and float downstream. The monster, now fully distracted, darted away from him, swimming towards the bag of sodden delights.

But that was all that Luna could see before her head disappeared under the water. She held her breath for as long as she could, steeling herself for another attempt at escape, when something grabbed at her mane. Her breath vanished in a cry of pain, and as she tried to fight off the attacker, she felt herself suddenly tugged free of the water, and another sharp tug yanked her free from the mud, despite how it made her follicles scream.

“Hng ‘nn!” Joe grunted, his teeth clamped down on her braid, dragging her back to shore by brute strength alone. He paused once her head was above water, resettled his hooves on the uncertain shore, and gave another mighty yank, tugging her forelegs free. A few more yanks, and she was free of the muck, leaving her panting on the shore.

“Joe - Joe, thou savest me - I cannot - thy bravery -”

“Don’t thank me yet, toots, we’re not out of the woods yet.” he huffed, unbuckling his saddlebags and pack, quickly looking over his belongings before he began to hastily shove as much as he could into the saddlebags, emptying everything else out.

“The beast - Joe, it will surely return, we must - hasten ourselves -” she gasped, struggling to her legs, keeping weight off of her wounded hoof.

“I know, but I gave ‘em somethin’ that’ll slow that scum-sucker down. Nightshade berries’re deadly to ponies, and they’re probably not very tasty for Kelpies, either.” he whuffed, pushing his saddlebag down with a grunt, finally managing to tie it shut. He strapped the bulging bags to his sides, then bent down beside Luna, tugging her up onto his back.

Luna was too surprised to do much but stare at the back of his head in a shocked sort of wonder as he took off at a run - no one yanked and dragged her around, because she was a princess. But as she heard the Kelpie’s angry shrieks echo behind them, she wisely decided that the indignity of a piggy-back ride was worth it, in this instance.

Joe tore through the undergrowth with a desperate speed similar to her own previous gallop. Glowing squirrels and various fauna moved and called around them as they tore through the forest, and large, dark shapes seemed to haunt the edges of Luna’s vision as it blurred, only to vanish when her panicked gaze focused on them.

After a run that was probably much shorter than it felt, Joe and Luna broke through the forest cover, galloping into another wide, empty meadow. Luna thought it was the same meadow at first, before she saw the wide, shallow river running through it. Despite its lack of aerial cover, and lack of cute, glowing creatures scampering through it, Luna couldn’t help but feel relief at the sight. If Luna had to make the choice between facing the Kelpie or fighting Celestia, she was pretty sure she would choose Celestia.