Diamond Tiara In: Grappling With Gators
Written By: Your Antagonist
I
When I Step Into These Waters, I Will Become The Hunter and You Will Become a Suitcase
As Diamond Tiara tread the cooling waters of the old Ponyville swimming hole, an unsettling sensation bore into the back of her neck. It was like somepony or rather something was watching her as she swam. Feeling uneasy, she whipped around only to find her father along with some other pond patrons frollicking in the shallows.
"Diamond Tiara," the familiar southern voice of her father called out "Why don't you come on back to the shore so we can play with those new water guns I bought for you."
Diamond ignored her father's offer. She just couldn't shake the feeling that something was in this pond with her. Something... something that shouldn't have been here.
Out of the corner of her eyes she saw something that confirmed her suspicions. It looked like a normal waterclogged log at first not unreasonable considering how close the pond was to the forest but then she saw the log do something no ordinary chunk of wood should have been able to do: she saw it blink.
Fearing for the safety of the others in the pond waters, Diamond Tiara screamed at the top of her lungs "Gator! Gator in the water!"
The onlookers in the shallows merely exchanged bemused glances and began to chuckle softly amongst themselves. Needless to say Filthy Rich couldn't hide the crimson from creeping onto his cheeks fast enough. "Uh, Diamond honey," he called out, somewhat embrassed this time, "Why don't y'all come on back now and we'll go get some ice cream or something."
“I'm not joking, get out of the water, NOW!" Diamond cried, but her warnings went unheeded by the bystanders. She glanced back to the log to make sure that the gator hadn't moved since she'd seen it last, but was more than dismayed to find only vacant pond where the creature once floated.
Where was it? Where was it!? Diamond searched the surrounding murk around her body, fearing that the creature would attempt to attack from a blind spot, that it would get the jump on her and put her in a death roll before she could even register what was happening. And then, everything went still. So uncomfortably still.
A blood curdling scream from the shallow end of the pond seized Diamond's attention and she whipped around just in time to see a young stallion come ripping across the lake as though propelled by some unseen torpedo.
As the rest of the beach goers scrambled for the surface, Diamond Tiara's were piqued to the sound of her father screaming bloody murder. "Diamond! Get out of the water now!"
Diamond Tiara evaluated her options. On the one hoof, the gator was so preoccupied with its current prey that it wouldn't bother to stop her from swimming the 20 meters back to shore.
On the other hoof this kind of opportunity only came along once in a life time. Where else was she going to find the perfect purse crafting material in Equestria? Given its size, this gator had clearly immigrated in from a far larger lake in the Everfree forest which was extremely rare.
Diamond Tiara bit the bullet.
Thanks to the rigorous swimming lessons her father had put her through as a foal, she ripped through the water as though it were no more obtrusive than air, allowing her to catch up with the decidedly slower predator in ten seconds flat.
Using her decidedly greater speed and low center of gravity, she slammed into the gator so hard that she knocked the wind out of its lungs, causing it to release the injured pony in its grasp.
With the amount of blood rising up from his injured leg, Diamond Tiara hoped that her rescuee could tread water long enough for her to finish the beast off.
Turning to face her now surfaced and gasping foe, Diamond Tiara locked eyes with her enemy, its cold, beady little gaze already acquiring a new target. Yet despite looking into the face of certain death, Diamond couldn't help but smile.
The gator made the first move and pounced with jaws open wide enough to catch the filly's head with a single bite. Predictable.
Diamond dove under the beast with swiftness and whirled around to see how it would react to the initial evasion. She'd managed to catch sight of the gator just as it made another snapping lunge that came a little too close for comfort. She'd managed to parry it with a swat of her hoof but the gator was quick to recover and went all in for another chomp, catching the filly by the wrist.
A surge of pain shot up through Diamond Tiara's foreleg, forcing a muted scream from her throat as the gator dragged her towards the pond floor. Diamond knew what was coming and she also knew that if she couldn't stop the gator in time, its death roll would tear her apart.
In a fit of desperation, she reached for the top of her head, hoping that her crown hadn't fallen off during the initial encounter and sure as a roundhouse kick dislocates jaws, there it was in all its pointy glory.
Diamond had only just managed to pull it into her grasp when the gator slammed her into the sediment filled bottom of the swimming hole and tried to find its footing. It was now or never.
As violently as she could manage, Diamond Tiara slammed her crown into the gator's eye as hard as she could. And she quickly followed it up with another swing, and another, slugging the hell out of the gator's eye for dear life and just as it seemed her clock was about to run up, she scored a lucky shot pulverizing the beast's eye on the tip.
The monstrous reptile released its grip on the scrappy filly and swam off into the murkiness of the lake allowing Diamond to resurface and fill her lungs with the sweet sweet air of the living.
She immediately seized the injured stallion by his neck and swam her blood deprived brethren back to shore where she was greeted by a mob of concerned ponies who dragged the pair to the safety of the shore.
Her father was quick to force his way through the crowd to reach his sputtering, coughing daughter. "Oh, Diamond I thought I was gonna lose you!" he sobbed as he hugged her tight, but quickly found himself pushed away as Diamond Tiara struggled to stand on her injured leg.
"Daddy, it's still out there," she said in a grudging determined tone.
"Don't worry about that now, Diamond, the royal guard will take care of it, Daddy's just glad you're safe."
"Daddy." Diamond spoke again, her voice stern. "It's still out there, and this isn't over."
She met her father's eyes with a glare befitting a warrior and simply said, "My knife."
"But-"
"My knife. Now.”
Filthy Rich snorted his disapproval but nonetheless obeyed his daughters wishes. With a clap of his hooves, a servant appeared bearing an exceptionally elegant case embroidered with two golden 'G's.
Diamond snatched the case from the servant and carefully popped it open, revealing a sleek black machete with the words "Gator Gutter" emblazoned into the blade.
"Daddy, wait here." She ordered as she stomped towards the lake. "I'll be back with a new luggage set."
The End.