//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5 - Assistance is required 
// Story: Hail to... MY Horde? 
// by Emo Rainbow 
//------------------------------//

Pinkie Pie stood at the edge of the huddled group of ponies and silently watched over them as they slept. She gripped one of the metal changeling spears tightly in her right hand as a feeling of dread quickly grew inside of her. Ever since Fluttershy and the others had left she’d felt it, but it was only now that she’d realized what her body was telling her.

Her stomach rumbled, her knees quaked, and her ears swiveled from side to side on their own. While she had never felt this strange combination of twitches before, she knew what having several at once meant. A doozy was on its way, and there was no telling when it would strike.

She shifted her eyes from the ponies fast asleep to the only other camp member awake with her, Snake Eyes the medic. He was a light grey earth pony with a scraggly darker grey mane, and one of the few ponies that were already medically trained before coming to their camp. He had been tirelessly working to help the wounded after they fled to the cave, and gave a special amount of attention to their most serious patient.  Beside him, laying against the ground with her head propped up by a filled satchel bag, was a heavily panting and sweating Zecora. While she had seemed stable when they first came to the cave, she quickly got worse after Fluttershy and the others had left. 

"Any luck?" Pinkie asked silently as she crouched on the other side of Zecora. Snake Eyes shook his head and looked down at the zebra nervously. 

"I don't know what else to do," he replied with a tremble in his voice. "Her fever won't go down, and we don't have anything to strengthen her body's defenses," He growled to himself and shook his head. ”Those damn changelings! I feel so… helpless!” Suddenly, Zecora let out a pained grunt, arching her back against the cold floor while squeezing Snake Eyes' hand. Her pained cries lessened after a moment, until she fell once again and returned to her heavy breathing.

Pinkie placed a hand on Zecora's head and grit her teeth as her pinkie sense continued to flare up. "Please don't be what I think it is." She whispered to herself while watching their once proud and valiant leader fight for her very life. They were no stranger to magical wounds inflicted by the changelings, but never before had somepony survived a confrontation with the queen, let alone taken a blast from her head-on. They had no idea what to expect from her injury going forward, but it certainly didn't look good so far.

Pinkie looked down at her friend, her mind and heart racing as she struggled to come to terms with the seemingly inevitable fate that her Pinkie sense suggested. She couldn't let this happen, she wouldn't let this happen. Never before had she successfully thwarted her Pinkie sense, effectively ending it before it could come to be, but today was the day. There was no other choice, but to defy fate itself.

"We need to do something, we can't just wait here," Snake Eyes said with frustration as he stood up and faced the distant cave entrance. Pinkie quickly rushed over and put her arm in front of him, stopping his departure before he could psych himself up any further.

“And just what is it you think you’re going to do?” She asked him skeptically until he forcefully pushed her arm out of the way.

“I don’t know, I’ll… search the forest. Some Alca root might do the trick.” He said with uncertainty evident in his voice.

Pinkie shook her head and gave a huff. “Right, 'cause you’re the best at navigating the Everfree?” She asked sarcastically. Snake Eyes curled inward at the, admittedly true, insult and faced her with rage and fear in his eyes.

“Then what the hell should we do?!” He said in a near shout, still trying to be mindful of the ponies fast asleep nearby.  

Pinkie’s eyes grew soft as she stared at him, waiting for his fear-induced anger to simmer down before answering, then put a hand on his shoulder. “There’s another way we can get help for her, and it’s a heck of a lot less crazy than wandering the forest at night.” Snake Eyes shook his head in confusion until Pinkie turned to look at the other side of the cave. Once his gaze followed, his look of confusion dropped into a look of horror.

Over on the other side of the cave were their saviors, the locust, sitting against the wall opposite to them. They had all stuck together in their little group similar to the ponies, with not a single word being spoken between them in the hours after their king had left with Fluttershy. The only time they ever made their presence apparent was when they'd occasionally cast their fierce glares over them. 

Against the wall were the two pony-like locust, the shorter one with his many-eyed helmet, and the taller one with his glistening and razor-sharp armor. It was hard to tell what the armored one was doing in the darkness of the cave after they had shut off their flashlights, but there wasn’t a single pony who couldn’t see the shorter one glaring at them with his bright spider-esque helmet. Laying at their feet were the tinier locust creatures covered in pitch-black armor, the only visible parts of them were their pale white arms peeking through bits of the metal.

She figured their best chance was to ask them for help, rather than roaming the forest blindly waiting to be captured by a changeling or maimed by the forest’s inhabitants. She looked back over to Snake Eyes with a tired smile, trying her best to keep the optimism up in her voice. "Listen, if they were willing to help before, then who's to say they won't do it again?" She argued, much to Snake Eyes' dismay. "We just have to try."

"No way," He fired back almost instantly. "You saw what those things did. They're monsters Pinkie Pie, and we were nothing short of lucky that their master had them on a tight leash!" Snake Eyes pleaded with her, dreading the idea of what could happen.

Pinkie looked at them once more and gulped in apprehension. While she did say that she’d never judge somepony based on how they looked, they were certainly not ponies. She ultimately knew that looks didn’t define a creature and that her best bet was to just suck it up and ask them, but that was easier said than done. Even if the taller one had been the locust that freed her from the cage, she still couldn’t get the image of his gruesome fighting out of her head. She could still picture the shredded changeling remains dripping from his armor even after it had long since been cleaned.

Pinkie Pie shook her head and stared back at the locust with determination. Even if she knew what they could do, that still didn’t stop the facts. Zecora needed help, and she just knew that the locust had the means to do it. “We have to try.” She whispered one last time, both to Snake Eyes, and herself.

“Tell me, how this is any less crazy than going into the forest for a remedy?” Snake Eyes asked.

Pinkie rolled her eyes and smirked at him. “Well, The difference here is that I'm actually good at talking to ponies, while you get lost in the Everfree even when the sun's out." Snake Eyes was about to disagree, but his voice died on delivery once he realized how right she was. “Just trust me. I’ll be there and back in two winks and a shake.” With a small bit of hesitation, Snake Eyes finally gave a nod of agreement and accepted the spear from her. Pinkie then turned towards the locust and started walking.

Her hoofsteps echoed through the cave as she approached them with a confident gait, but that adrenaline-filled grit soon came crashing down as all of them quickly snapped their heads in her direction. She stumbled for a moment from the sudden attention, but after a quick recovery, she resumed her advance, albeit at a much slower pace.

Pinkie stopped a few feet in front of them, prompting the larger locust to cross their arms, and the smaller ones to rise and growl like dogs. She attempted to introduce herself as calmly as she could, but she was interrupted by the smaller locust walking towards her menacingly. She backed away from the beasties, her heart racing, but relief eventually came in the form of the helmeted locust raising his hand for silence. The small creatures looked up at him and stopped growling, lowering themselves to the ground once more as he spoke.

“Why have you come?” He asked in a deep and intimidating voice. Pinkie gulped once more as her legs started quaking, but soon that quaking was accompanied by some stomach growling and ear swiveling. Her body was reminding her why she was there, and she was not going to lose sight of what needed to be done.

With renewed bravery, Pinkie Pie stood up straight and looked down at him. “My name is Pinkie Pie, and I’ve come here to ask for your help.” Both he and his tall companion looked up at her, their armor concealing their expressions exceptionally well, but Pinkie continued to stand confident just as she saw Fluttershy do earlier that day. The image of a brave pony like her friend staring down these creatures filled her with hope, reminding her of what it meant to have no fear.

The locust continued to look at her in silence, before letting out a huff of air. “What a surprise, the vile and incompetent creatures are demanding aid from us.” He responded as he looked off to the side and spat. Pinkie grimaced as his words cut at her, and suddenly she felt an overwhelming urge to kick his ugly yellow teeth in. She may have been all for raising the spirits of her friends, but she was still a warrior. After the day she’d had, she was in no mood to be taking that kind of attitude when they hadn’t even asked for them to help in the first place. She clenched her fists in frustration but ultimately decided to let go of the anger and hold her tongue, instead allowing the insult to glance off of her. Now was not the time to give in to petty anger when Zecora’s life was in jeopardy. 

With a deep breath, Pinkie refocused her train of thought and looked down once more with a sincere expression. “I'm not demanding, I only came to ask. Please, somepony is hurt really bad, and she needs help, or else…” Pinkie’s words got caught in her throat for a moment before she silently forced out the rest of her sentence. “...She might not make it.” 

More silence followed, with neither of the locust responding to her. “I know you’ve already helped us, but we can’t just let her suffer like this. Can’t you please find it in your heart to help? I’ll do anything!” She pleaded, hoping to reach through to their emotions.

The locust raised his hand while remaining seated. "Enough!" He interrupted harshly, silencing the mare. "Our king commanded... and so it shall be," He then pointed to the armored locust and back to Pinkie Pie. "Krogg! Deal with this." Krogg gave a long groan of understanding, before rising to his feet and approaching her.

She could do nothing but stare in awe as the behemoth towered over her by at least another foot, his expression and body completely covered in razor sharp armor that was just as menacing as the moment she first saw him. "Take me to the injured one." He said in a raspy, yet very deep, voice. It was reminiscent of a pony who shouted a lot and lost their voice, only to keep shouting some more instead of recovering. It sent a shiver down her spine.

Krogg looked down at the pink pony, and once again praised his King's forethought. He had seemed so adamant in his orders to protect the prisoners, especially this pink one, but Krogg hadn't the foggiest clue as to why. The king then went on to explain that it was because she was likely to be the leader in the absence of the yellow one, and once again he had been proven right. Despite this though, he could see that she wasn't nearly as capable as the other who had bravely, or foolishly in his opinion, stood before him and Verus. 

Pinkie finally shook off her shock and regained her focus, taking a step back from the locust and nodding. "Alright... thank you. Follow me and... keep your distance. Okay?" Much to her relief, Krogg nodded and silently followed after her as she led him back to Zecora. Pinkie expected him to make a huge ruckus the closer they got to the others, but she quickly realized that his footsteps were no louder than her own hooves. For some reason, even under all of that heavy armor, he moved like he was a ghost.

They silently returned to Snake Eyes and Zecora, with Krogg waiting a few feet back as Pinkie approached. “I’m glad you’re okay,” Snake Eyes whispered as he stared at the menacing figure in the distance. "Is it... going to help?" He asked while tightly gripping the spear in his hand. 

Pinkie noticed his anxiousness and quickly stepped in front of him. "Yes, he is. So don't worry." Snake Eyes nodded, but still gripped the spear like he was ready to use it.

"Are you sure?" He asked. "I don't see any tools on him. All I see is sharp armor and," He gulped for a moment as he looked at the only portion of his face not covered in armor. "razor teeth."

Pinkie too looked back at Krogg and briefly started to question his lack of tools, but ultimately dropped it. She still felt confident that this was their only real option, and if her Pinkie sense wasn't already occupied with freaking her the hell out, she was sure she'd get fluttering eyelids and a crinkly nose. It was the tell tale sign that somepony good was on their way. "I'm sure he'll help. I can feel it." 

Snake Eyes needed no further convincing, since any time Pinkie said she could 'feel it' there was no point in questioning it. He quickly breathed a sigh of relief and backed up as Pinkie turned to call Krogg over. "Yipe!" She yelped as she turned to see the locust looming behind her silently. 

"Is this the injured one?" He said while staring at Snake Eyes intently. 

Pinkie quickly stepped back and gave him a fake smile. "N-no, not him. It's her actually." She pointed at Zecora, and like a robot who's primary directive was to heal, Krogg automatically trudged towards her. Pinkie could tell by his body language that he meant no harm at the moment, but he carried himself in such a naturally menacing way that even his help seemed intimidating.

Krogg knelt beside Zecora and inspected her, quickly realizing that she was the other pony the king had explicitly ordered them to protect at all costs. This one was different from the others, mainly due to the high likelihood that she possessed information of the utmost value to their king. He had said 'at all costs' which meant that anything less than the best when preserving her life would likely land him into an early grave. Letting her die was absolutely out of the question. 

Pinkie and Snake Eyes watched with bated breath as Krogg reached out his hand and hovered it directly over her ab wound with his palm facing down. He slowly started to hum and chant beside her, and as he did the razor-sharp armor on his back started wiggling from left to right as if it were a snake being entranced by the melodic tones of his voice.

They watched in awe as he worked his strange magic, then kept a close eye on Zecora’s body for any possible changes. They weren't sure what he was trying to do, but it seemed like he was satisfied with whatever it happened to be as he abruptly ended his chant and stood back up. Without a word, he turned towards the wall and placed his hand against it, then continued to growl in the same manner as before.

“What in the world is he doing?” Snake Eyes whispered to Pinkie Pie, but the only thing she could do was shrug. 

"I don't know, why are you asking me?" Pinkie responded with a bit of sarcasm. "If you're curious, you should try him."

"Sorry," Snake Eyes replied with a lot of sarcasm. "I thought you were the one who was good at talking to ponies."

"Wiseguy, huh?" Pinkie looked off to Krogg and whistled, successfully getting his attention. Once his eyes were on them, Snake Eyes immediately froze in place, questioning whether or not Pinkie was only slightly, or completely crazy. "What uhhh... whatcha doin?" She asked with a smile.

Krogg tilted his head for a moment, unamused by her sudden interruption, then turned back towards the wall while muttering a soft answer. "Helping."

Pinkie nudged Snake Eyes' arm and whispered to him. "He says he's hel-"

"I know what he said Pinkie Pie!" He interrupted with a sharp hiss, eliciting a muffled giggle from the mare.

Krogg ignored their annoying voices and focused on the wall as he contemplated his next move. He had felt the striped pony's life force quickly dwindling, as a strange entity wormed its way through her body. There would be no way to fix it with anything short of a link of his own, effectively overwriting whatever magic had stricken her. He would need a very specific healing shout to complete that process, but if he wanted that to work he'd need to find a way to bypass the biological barriers between both bipeds, that being locust and pony.

There was no way of doing that without their scientists and splicing equipment, well, no way except one. He glanced down at the injured striped pony for a moment, then suddenly looked away in what he was ashamed to admit was fear. Was he truly willing to go that far? Even as the words 'at all costs' echoed in his mind, the thought of linking her made his stomach churn. Could he truly share that privilege with a creature such as this without his king's explicit permission?

Krogg shivered as he imagined the many ways his king would make him suffer for even thinking of such a blasphemous action. He was a high shaman for the trinity of worms for hollow's sake, and he dared to contemplate an act as heinous as that? Krogg spent a minute or two internally berating himself for his thoughts, until he came to a worrying realization. Without any alternative options, there was only one thing left for him to do. Even if it costed his life, this pony was the key to something so grand that even the king himself would want such a vile creature to be protected. In the face of knowledge worthy of captivating his all knowing mind, Krogg's life was but a small price to pay.

With newfound resolve, and acceptance of his fate, he pushed his fingers into the wall and started chanting faster, calling upon his link to the worms within. After about a minute of sustained humming and growling, a large worm about as thick as a cigar tunneled out of the rock and into his palm where it began to thrash around violently. It wasn't as big as the ones he was used to, but it would have to suffice for his purposes.

Krogg turned to face the others and gripped the worm tightly, constricting its movement to nothing more than a slight twitch. He began to growl once more, increasing the volume ever so slightly as he tampered with the invertebrate's biology.

Pinkie and Snake Eyes watched with both awe, and confusion, as the worm in Krogg's hand changed before their very eyes. At first, it looked like an oversized earthworm, but as Krogg growled it began to harden like a rock and shrivel up, if only slightly. In the end, it flashed a bright yellow hue as his process had been completed. It looked like he was holding a living rock in his hands that only moved slightly from left to right.

Krogg started panting as he finished the ritual but looked down with pride at the newly made proto-Rockworm. It wasn't too bad, considering it was his first try. "Finished." He said while proudly displaying his creation.

Pinkie looked at the worm, then up to him, and forced another smile. "Yeah… that's great," there was a moment of awkward silence as they all stood still, waiting for something to happen. "Uhh… how does this help exactly?"

Krogg grunted, failing to hide his displeasure at what was about to happen, and knelt beside Zecora once again. "Open her mouth."

Pinkie shook her head and stuck a finger in her ear to clear it out because there was no way she'd heard him correctly the first time. Meanwhile, Snake Eyes just leaned forward in disbelief.

"You… you mind repeating that?" The medic asked skeptically.

"Open. Her. Mouth." Krogg repeated forcefully. "How else will the worm get in?"

"Heh, you're fucking with us, right?" Snake Eyes said with a scoff as he pointed to the kantus skeptically. His hopeful smirk soon fell though as Krogg silently stared at him in response.

"Alright! Back up, rewind, brrrzzzt," Pinkie quickly interjected while mimicking the sound of a tape recorder. "One more time, just in case I missed it… how is this… weird rock, worm, thing supposed to help again?" She asked frantically.

"I can heal her," he lifted the rockworm into the air as he spoke. "Without this inside my chant will be worthless. She is not locust, not yet, but with this, she can become close. Only then will I be able to help."

Pinkie and Snake Eyes were at a loss for words. They had to take a moment to wrap their heads around what he was implying. "Are... are you saying she'll..." Snake Eyes couldn't even finish the sentence before looking over to Pinkie Pie and sharing a silent freak out with her. They clearly needed more time to make their decision, but fate seemed fine with rushing things as Zecora's screams answered their question for them.

"AAAAAAHHHHHH!" The zebra screamed bloody murder as her wound began to glow a strange green hue, sizzling her skin in the process. Snake Eyes and Pinkie quickly jumped into action, holding her down as she violently convulsed on the ground.

"Go! Do it now!" Snake Eyes yelled as he held her legs down. Pinkie Pie ran for her mouth and held it open, then helped Krogg guide the worm down her throat as she silently hoped that it didn't go down into her windpipe. Pinkie held her hands over Zecora's mouth to muffle the screams and gurgles, and watched in horror as the bulge in her throat moved down to her stomach at an agonizingly slow pace. 

"What's happening!?" Somepony yelled from behind them. Pinkie looked back to the growing crowd of ponies that had been awakened by Zecora's screams, and saw that some of them had frozen with fear as they watched. That brief pause ended abruptly though as many others rushed over to stop them.

"Please! Stay back! We're trying to help her!" Pinkie Pie shouted, but her voice fell on deaf ears as they rushed forward and attempted to get them off of her. 

Before any of the ponies could get close, Krogg let out a massive ear-piercing shout that caused all of them to fall and clutch their ears in pain. His voice echoed off of the walls, cruising back and forth through all of their minds and keeping them down with extreme prejudice. Even after they had fallen, Krogg continued to shout until the inside of his mouth started to glow with the appropriate bright red-orange light. 

The spines on his armor once again moved in tandem with his shout, and everypony who could see Zecora nearly forgot their pain as they watched her skin shine with the same bright yellow light as the rockworm had before. Her bandages fell as the once burned skin started to heal over in an instant, leaving no trace of the magic that was attempting to overtake it. Finally, after several minutes of sustained shouting, the wounds that had been ailing her vanished entirely. Krogg's job was finished.

Everypony slowly returned to their hooves once the shouting had stopped, with almost all of them rushing to Zecora's side as fast as they could. Pony after pony gasped in disbelief as they saw her now flawless body, returned to peak condition in a matter of seconds. 

Zecora slowly opened her eyes, her advanced senses quickly adjusting to the darkness. Little by little her bearings returned, until she was staring up at everypony she knew looking down at her with a mix of worry, relief, and uncertainty. She reached down to her stomach and gasped when she felt nothing but her smooth skin properly intact.

"I don't understand, I am wound free?" she slowly started lifting herself, only to have Pinkie Pie quickly drop down and offer her hand. "Can somepony explain what has happened to me?" She asked while glancing around, seemingly oblivious to what had transpired in the many hours since they were saved.

Pinkie tried, and failed, to hold back tears as she watched Zecora return from the brink of death. She gave her the brightest smile imaginable, followed by the biggest hug imaginable. "Thank Celestia you're okay." She said with a whimper.

Zecora, while pretty confused, just decided to accept the hug for the moment and comfort her dear friend. As they held that embrace, she looked out onto the crowd of teary-eyed ponies, the relief in their eyes filling her with an indescribable sense of confused joy.

"It's a long story Zecora," Snake Eyes said as she and Pinkie finally broke their hug. "What's the last thing you remember?" 

Zecora and Snake Eyes conducted their catch up session, while many others rejoiced at her unexpected speedy recovery. Pinkie watched on happily as the weight on her shoulders finally dispersed. It had come down to the wire, but the score was Pinkie 1, and Pinkie sense 0.

She attempted to drop back down and help Zecora to her hooves, but before she did she noticed something beyond the crowd slinking away. It was noticeably tall and quite familiar, but for some reason, his massive frame was still going unnoticed by the ponies around her.

Krogg stepped away from the crowd as they rejoiced at his work. With the deed done all he could do now was wait, and pray that his king would be merciful enough to grant him a quick death. He could see Chorsus in the distance staring at him, and he just knew that the spotter had felt it. He wouldn't be able to look any of his brethren in the eyes for as long as he lived. It would be a very difficult few days. 

"Hey!" A familiar voice called out to him from behind. He followed it to its source and saw the same pink pony who had sought him out. She no longer stood in fear of him, so for a moment he felt as though she was trying to challenge him, but before he could prepare for combat, she opened her smiling mouth to speak. "Thank you." She said in a voice filled with something Krogg had never been used to hearing, gratitude.

Krogg let go of his pistols in surprise, unsure of how to respond for a second, before quickly recovering and shaking his head. "I do... as my king commands. That is all." He answered, trying his hardest not to let his voice falter out of its normal stoic tone.

Pinkie gave him a warm smile. "Well… okay, but… you saved our lives. You saved Zecora," she began walking towards him, no longer fearing the 'big bad monster' she saw him as before. “You saved me…” She stopped just in front of him, and held out her hand. She acknowledged that a moment like this probably called for a hug, but she figured that jumping on top of razor sharp body armor with her squishy body wasn't the best idea. "Thank you."

Krogg remained silent for a moment and dipped his head downwards in thought as a strange feeling started welling up in his chest. It was hardly even noticable, and faded almost as quickly as it came, but it compelled him to do something he'd never thought he was capable of. "You're… welcome." He forced out while accepting her handshake. He didn't fully understand why he did it, but he was able to quickly rationalize it as building better relationships for the future. He remembered his king speaking of that long ago, he only wished he remembered where. They both fell silent after his acceptance of the gesture, so before any more silence could be shared, Krogg quickly turned away. He fully intended to forget that any of this had ever happened. 

Pinkie continued smiling at her new friend as he turned to leave, appreciating his actions and understanding his apprehension. She'd been around enough battle-hardened ponies to know when someone was confused by genuine appreciation, and she understood that everypony dealt with it in their own way. It seemed that even when they looked so different, they were still just like any pony else.

She gave a final sigh of relief as their conversation came to a close, but it all came crashing down as she felt a familiar twitching in her knees. "No…" she whispered in terror as she placed a hand on top of her rumbling stomach. "No…" she repeated, this time practically begging her pinkie sense to stop before her ears swiveled any further. 

The doozy finally reared its ugly head at the intended time, as the entire cave began to rumble. Once the tremor had ceased, every pony, and locust, looked around with a mix of confusion and fear as the room became filled with bright twinkling lights akin to that of miniature stars.

Pinkie ran back to the ponies as they too watched the lights cautiously, stopping right next to Zecora and Snake Eyes. “What’s going on?” He whispered to no one in particular. 

"I feel it…" Pinkie said as she backed up towards them, never once taking her eyes off of the ominous twinkling stars above them. "A doozy is coming." Several ponies who had heard her hushed voice gasped in shock after she uttered the 'D' word, and quickly spread it to everypony in the huddle.

Zecora reached out towards one of the lights, but before she made contact it suddenly moved towards the back of the cave. Soon, all of the other lights followed suit and converged at the same point. Her eyes widened in fear as she finally realized what was about to happen. "This is no cave, but a den laid before us. One of the Ursa, who's long owned the forest." The air audibly drained from the surrounding ponies as they watched the stars flood to the back of the cave at an alarmingly fast rate.

In a matter of seconds, what must have been over a thousand different stars coalesced into a tornado of light, then expanded into a terrifying blue hide. The Ursa opened it's fearsome eyes and set them on the many intruders before it, ready to take vengeance upon the ones who had rudely interrupted its hibernation.

"We must escape! Before it attacks! Run far away and do not look back!" She shouted to the others as she turned and looked at the distant Ursa with both fear and determination. The ponies quickly rushed for what little items they had, picking them and anypony not fit to run up for the escape. It only took a handful of seconds for them to gather their things, but the Ursa proved to be far quicker than any of them expected despite only just waking up after who knew how long.

It lunged forward with a roar, clearing several feet in an instant and swiping at the group with its massive claws. It failed to do more than elicit screams of terror, but before it could continue advancing it was pelted in the side of the head by a rock. It looked down at Zecora and angrily tried swatting her away, but the Zebra nimbly rolled out of harm's way and retaliated with another distracting rock throw.

Before the beast could rear up for another attack, a series of loud explosions echoed throughout the cave as Krogg fired his gorgon pistols at its head from the other side. It didn't seem to do any permanent damage, but it had succeeded in drawing the bear's attention and anger away from Zecora. In the end, that was the only goal. 

The Ursa switched its ire to the annoying locust and charged at him, but Krogg managed to roll out of the way as it slammed headfirst into the cave wall. Despite what his heavy armor suggested, he was still more than capable of diving and rolling as if he were wearing nothing but clothes made of paper.

While he focused on drawing the Ursa's attention, Chorsus ran past Zecora and shouted orders to the wretches. "Kraz, Gets, follow them and take them to the king!" The two armored wretches bolted out of the cave entrance, and as soon as they had left, Chorsus then turned and snarled at Zecora, his face now even angrier than it had been before.

He continued to silently glare at her, conflicted over what to say or do, until a loud echoing bang of metal drew their attention. As they turned, they caught the worrying sight of Krogg being launched out of the entrance and into the trees outside, cutting a few of them down from the sheer speed and force of his body. The Ursa let out a triumphant roar after disposing of one of the intruders and made a beeline for the last two in its sights. Chorsus and Zecora bolted for the exit and dove out of the way as the bear charged, going well past them and deep into the forest beyond the cave.

Zecora quickly hopped to her hooves and ran in the direction that the others had gone, but as she looked back she stopped. Chorsus remained still while watching the torn trees in front of the cave, not even bothering to lift himself off of the ground. "What are you doing? What stays your feet? We must keep on moving or else we're dead meat!"

Chorsus stared at the trees, the absolute darkness of the forest beyond filling him with a sense of dread. He reached up and placed his fist against his chest piece as the world around him slowed to a crawl. "Brother…" he whispered solemnly.

Zecora rushed over and grabbed him by the arm, yanking on him with all of her might until he returned to his senses and pulled himself up. "I am sorry for this, but we cannot take chances. We must take our leave before the Ursa advances!" She pleaded while taking several steps backward. Whether he came with her or not, she was going to make a run for it.

Chorsus grit his teeth in anger, but in the end, he had to agree with the striped pony. Locust never crumbled under the pressure, no matter the situation, and no matter the loss. That was one of the main reasons why they were the superior species. Whatever was on his mind could wait until after they were clear of the beast.

He and Zecora ran for the bushes as fast as they could, the loud thumping and subsequent roars of the Ursa in the distance doing wonders in speeding up their escape. They continued through the dark forest, with Zecora leading the way as she followed the faint hoof tracks through the dirt. She knew that they weren't too far from the others, and that they could catch up with just a little more time, but that all changed when the sounds of the Ursa's thundering footsteps grew closer to their location.

She immediately stopped while holding out her arm, stopping Chorsus beside her. Zecora frantically scanned the ground for a solution, the footsteps acting as an ominous timer for her critical thinking, and eventually settled on the tried and true method for concealment. She dug her hands into the mud below them and started lathering her body as quickly as she could.

Chorsus watched as she plastered her pristine striped skin with mud, and quickly caught on to what she was doing before following suit. The ground rumbled with every step as the Ursa approached, slowing it's walk down to a prowl as it searched for their scent. Chorsus and Zecora dove into a nearby bush as it neared their location, and held their breaths as it broke through the foliage and frantically sniffed the surroundings.

He looked down at the Boltok gripped in his bulky hands, and suppressed a tremble. The feeling of the bush grazing against his arms was becoming increasingly unbearable for whatever reason, and suddenly, a newfound weight began to bear down on his senses. He looked back at the Ursa as it continued searching, and focused on taking shallow breaths while hoping that it would lose interest.

"Is that… what I think it is?" The voice echoed in his head. He twitched in surprise as the king's influence suddenly made itself apparent in his mind, but something about it was off. Usually, the communion would be quite painful, and almost nothing else could be done but accept the king's orders and influence until it had ceased. Some spotters were even left crippled once the communion had finished if they didn't have a strong enough will to handle it. This time though... he had trouble describing it. It felt warm, and… gentle, as opposed to rough and invasive. He almost couldn't believe it was the same voice speaking to him.

That might have been the reason as to why he spoke so loud without even thinking. "My king?" He asked in disbelief, before immediately coming to regret his decision. The Ursa growled and looked in their direction, it's urge to hunt being revitalized by a newfound visual on its prey.

It had spotted them once again, and they needed to move.