The clean air and fresh smells of the jungle helped to spur us on, despite our horrendous state. But eventually, exhaustion caught up with us, and we started to slow down to a snail’s pace. The deep laceration across my chest was still oozing blood, my tattered shirt was completely caked in the stuff. Fluttershy soon came to realise just how severe the injury was, along with how pale I was looking, and firmly put her hoof down.
“Alright, this is far enough. I need to see to Callum’s wounds.”
Nobody needed telling twice, not even Twilight was opposed to being given an order; we all collapsed into the undergrowth, and it dawned on me just how dizzy and cold I felt. Fluttershy went into her bag and started retrieving a whole plethora of supplies, including a suture kit.
“This is going to hurt…” she spoke softly.
“I think, uh…” I began, “Based on the past couple weeks, I think I can handle it.”
Just thinking about my torture brought everyone to tears, and I immediately regretted alluding to it. Twilight twitched violently, presumably at the thought of what she had been forced to watch, and took herself off to cry alone. Looking from face to face, I was filled with a sense of sheer dread, as I realised that they might never truly recover from the torment we had all suffered. Thanks to Inigo Montenegro, the girls would return to Equestria traumatised, tarnished, and damaged, forever haunted by the memories of what the seven of us were forced to endure, for the rest of their days…
I took my shirt off and wiped as much blood away as possible, before tossing the ruined garment away; it was barely a functional shirt anymore. Then, with trembling hooves, Fluttershy tried to rinse my chest with some water, before spraying it with a disinfectant. The stinging began immediately, and I gritted my teeth, hissing loudly.
“I’m sorry…” the pegasus whimpered.
“Urgh…” I growled, “Can we perhaps rub some salt into it next? You know, to alleviate the pain from whatever the heck you just sprayed on me?”
Blinking away at her tears, she explained that the spray was a top-of-the-range product from the private royal hospital in Canterlot. Supposedly, it could prevent even the most gnarly of injuries from getting infected, even if they had already been severely exposed to pathogens. Shrugging, I allowed her to continue tending to me, until she at last started preparing the suture kit.
“I um… I’m… I’m not sure I can do this…” she sniffled.
“Hey, it’s alright, you’re okay.” I told her, reaching out to touch her.
“I can close surgical incisions, but nothing like this, I-I can’t do it, I’m sorry!”
Continuing to comfort her, I racked my brains for a solution, and quick enough, one came to me.
“Rarity.”
Wiping her eyes and shambling over to me, Rarity took one look at the situation before her, and knew exactly what I was about to ask.
“Callum, I’m not sure… I have no experience in… You can’t expect me to-”
“I can, and you must.” I interrupted, “Flutters can’t do it, and I can’t either. Now, you’re the best seamstress that’s ever lived, so please, take the kit from Fluttershy, and stitch me up.”
Accepting that she had no choice, Rarity sat down and used her telekinesis to levitate the suturing needle into the air, where she threaded it and brought it to my chest. I then held the fold of loose skin and stretched it over to where it should have been, hissing savagely through my teeth, as just touching it caused it to burn with agony. Silently mouthing a prayer to Princess Celestia, Rarity buried the needle into my flesh and hooked the part I was holding down, driving it through me and looping it around.
“It n-needs to…” Fluttershy began, her teeth chattering, “It needs to go d-deeper than that, or it’ll tear.”
“Oh, I can’t believe I’m doing this…” Rarity murmured.
I held the skin as tightly as possible, grunting and grimacing while the unicorn sewed the deep ruddy cleft back together. Finally letting go, I was beyond pleased to find that it held. Rarity wiped the sweat from her brow and Fluttershy thanked her profusely, before retrieving one of the plentiful bottles of Oozima.
“Let me make it abundantly clear, I’m not sticking my nose in that again.” I announced.
I was able to draw a faint laugh out of Pinkie, Rarity and Applejack, and a pitiful chuckle from Fluttershy. It felt good to add some light to the oppressively dark atmosphere around us, even if it was short-lived. My chest was coated with the thick gel, and then Fluttershy started packing everything away, still sniffling to herself.
“I’ll treat the other wounds later.” she said, “I just wanted to make sure you didn’t bleed out.”
“Oh, how considerate.” I scoffed.
Looking at the utter state of the girls, I knew that everyone had cleanliness on their minds, and suggested that we found a water source. They returned to their hooves, and we all sluggishly made our way deeper into the jungle. At least, we would have done, had I not immediately lost consciousness…
“Mmnnn…” I groaned, rubbing at my eyes.
“Welcome back.” a voice sighed.
Rolling over, I opened my eyes to spot Twilight beside me. Blinking a few times to clear my vision, I asked her what had happened, to which she told me that I had fainted from exhaustion.
“Yeah, I gathered that bit…”
“Now that I have my magic back, I was able to carry you.” she explained, “Well, drag you… Eventually we found a river, and spent a while washing ourselves, and getting our shit together, now we’re just setting up camp.”
Nodding slowly, I sat up to find myself beside Twilight’s tent, the others were loosely scattered around, with Rainbow Dash and Applejack being nowhere to be seen.
“Where’s-”
“Taking a walk.”
Lowering my chin and shaking my head, I found myself on the verge of tears upon thinking about Dashie’s wings. That poor, poor pony, I could only begin to imagine what she was going through. Looking over to the unicorn with glassy eyes, I opened my mouth and pulled a face of utter desperation.
“I’m so sorry…”
Pursing her lips, the mare eventually shrugged.
“It would have been nice if you’d have gotten us out sooner. But, for what it’s worth, I don’t think any of us could have been prepared for that man, not even you. I’m just glad he was brought to justice, I think it’ll be easier for Rainbow Dash in the long-run, to know he’s not still out there somewhere.”
After a pause, she locked eyes with me and furrowed her brow.
“What was it like for you? Killing the monster that tortured you? Getting such, superlative revenge?”
I couldn’t tell if she was mocking me or not. Was she genuinely trying to understand my experience? Or was this building up to be a jab at how I was just a violent creature, and that she had been right all along? Her expression didn't seem smug, or arrogant, and for once, it seemed like she was genuinely trying to connect with me.
“I’ve uh, not taken the time to process it…” I replied, swallowing, “But in the moment, when I stabbed him right in the gut, it felt like I had all the power. And when I saw that look of absolute terror on his face…”
Unable to suppress the truth, I sighed heavily and broke into a wide smirk.
“It felt, really good…”
Twilight studied my face silently for a good while, before eventually giving a small hum. She got to her hooves, and turned away from me.
“Well, good for you.”
“Wait.” I spoke before she could leave.
She turned to look at me once more, and I smiled warmly, the tears finally rolling down my cheeks.
“Thank you for saving my li-”
“Don’t think for one second that I did it because I care.” she uttered sharply, cutting me off, “I did it because the others would never forgive me if I didn’t.”
Whipping around and marching off, Twilight disappeared into the brush, leaving me to puff heavily from the emotional whiplash. Tutting, I got to my feet and decided to help the others with setting up the last of the camp. Upon seeing me up and awake, they came to hug me.
“How are you feeling darling?” asked Rarity.
“Pass.” I muttered, “How about you?”
“Pass.”
Both exhaling from our noses in mild amusement, we pulled grim faces, knowing that the both of us were in a lot of distress below the surface. I thanked Fluttershy for tending to the rest of my injuries while I’d been unconscious, to which she said that I was most welcome. Soon after, Applejack and Dashie made their way back to camp, where the pegasus was escorted into her tent for privacy. Just one look at her wings again sent me into a panic attack, and I found myself beginning to hyperventilate.
“Need a walk.” I blurted out, turning around.
Not giving anyone the opportunity to speak to me, I marched off into the jungle, my breathing getting faster and faster, until I finally broke down. I crumpled down onto my side and proceeded to completely fall apart, sobbing harder than I had ever sobbed before. Clawing at the mud and foliage with my mouth agape, I wailed and spluttered to myself like a dying animal.
The flood gates were open, and all the memories came cascading into my mind…
Inigo’s torture, the pain I had endured, the girls’ heinous captivity, Rainbow’s wings, all the men I had killed; all of it played on repeat inside my head, over and over again. For nearly an hour, I writhed on the ground, crying until I could finally cry no longer; I simply lay there, frozen, with an agonised expression.
The sky was just beginning to darken, when I heard a rustling close by. Rarity emerged, alone, and sighed heavily upon witnessing the state of me.
“Oh, Callum…”
Nudging me up to a sitting position, she plonked herself beside me and wrapped her forelegs around me, holding me tightly as I wheezed pathetically. She held me for a good while, before she finally spoke.
“This is all, very messed up, isn’t it dear?”
Sniffing, I looked to her and lightly broke into more tears, to which she hushed gently to me and rested her chin on the top of my head, pressing my cheek into her neck.
“I didn’t know this was going to happen!” I spluttered, “I didn’t know!”
“I know darling, I know.”
“I’ve killed people… I’m a murderer…” I breathed, shaking all over, “I didn’t stop to think about what I was doing, I… I… I just… I just did it!”
Burying my face into the mare, I cried harder. Continuing to hush into my ear, Rarity soothed me gently as I completely broke apart for a second time, before breaking apart herself. We cried together for a good while, before she finally gathered herself and cleared her throat, forcing me to make eye contact with her.
“You listen to me, sir.” she began, sniffing, “We’ve done some things, you and I. Things that we needed to do. Things that, if we hadn't done, we wouldn’t be here right now. Isn’t that right, dear?”
Through her sniffling, shaky tone, I could tell that she was also trying to come to terms with what she had done. I needed to get a grip, this wasn’t all about me, there were six incredibly vulnerable ponies here, all of whom were reeling from this too. Gulping loudly and nodding, I told Rarity that she was right, and that it wasn’t just Twilight who had saved my life today.
“Vladimir was about to kill me.” I said, clearing my throat, “It was either him, or me.”
Putting my arms around the mare properly and hugging her back, I thanked her for choosing me. She continued to sniffle and cough lightly.
“I understand now, more than ever.”
“Understand what?” I asked.
“How you felt, when we first came to this place, when you saved us from that man, when you…”
Trailing off, she gave her head a quick shake, before continuing.
“I know now what you felt, and I want you to know. You are not a bad person, Callum. You’re our protector, and you are our guide. And I say this from the bottom of my heart, you will always, be my friend.”
I broke into yet another wave of tears, but it was different this time. I was now crying with relief, overwhelmed by Rarity’s kind, loving, accepting words. They helped me find peace, at least, for now. We hugged each other tightly, before deciding to return to camp, now calmer, and stronger.
We returned to find Applejack had started cooking dinner, and needless to say, we were all eagerly waiting for her to dish up, our mouths salivating. According to Pinkie, the only thing Inigo had fed them from day to day was a single apple each, along with a slice of bread.
{No wonder they all look thinner…} I thought to myself.
While we waited for dinner to cook, Twilight ordered me to check if my phone still worked and to find our location. Nodding, I retrieved the device and opened the map, to find out just where we had been taken.
“Goodness me… They took us all that way?” Rarity gasped.
“Looks like we’ve found our silver lining.” I hummed.
If there was anything to thank Inigo for, it was the location of his compound; we were now a great many miles further north. We had been transported over half the distance to the Orb fragment, and could now easily reach it within a week.
“Alright team, let’s all eat up, sleep hard, and get ourselves moving tomorrow. We’ve got ourselves a Titans’ Orb to find!” I declared, smirking.
“Here here!” Rarity cheered.
The others were faintly lifted in spirits, and we tucked into a delicious, hearty meal, before turning in for the night. Returning to our original sleeping arrangements, I nestled down next to Fluttershy, where we quickly latched onto each other like never before, beyond thankful to have each other back as sleeping buddies.
Four days went by, and as we trudged on through the humid wilderness, we all slowly began to piece ourselves back together. Pinkie was already back to her happy, bouncy self, and Rainbow Dash had even made a few inappropriate comments, which in light of recent events, was very much welcomed. Her wings had been tightly wrapped with bandages, and had been slathered with Oozima; we didn’t know how well the stuff would work in growing back her feathers, but the faint inkling of hope had allowed her to soldier on.
“Hey Twilight, can I ask you something?” I began, walking beside the unicorn.
“You just did.”
“Har har.”
“What is it?”
Scratching my chin, I asked ponderously as to how Pinkie Pie did it.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, just look at her.” I tutted, shrugging, “She’s the youngest, and most innocent of the lot of you, and yet she’s happily bouncing around like the past two weeks didn’t even happen!”
Twilight smirked, and rolled her eyes as she continued to walk with me.
“If I had a bit for every time Pinkie’s abnormalities baffled somepony, I could buy my own castle.”
Huffing with amusement, she explained that Pinkie Pie had a condition called ‘dissociative amnesia’, in which she would quite simply, forget traumatic or unpleasant events. The memories were still there, granted, but they would be altered.
“Altered how?” I quizzed.
“The best way I can explain it, is that instead of remembering bad events as though they happened to her directly, she remembers them like they were in a storybook or something.”
“Huh, fascinating…”
“Quite.” Twilight said blankly, walking away from me.
Looking over to the happy pink pony, I stared in amazement as she sprang along from friend to friend with glee, donning a great smile, while trying, and succeeding, to boost morale. It was here that I realised just how important she was to this group; in the darkest of moments, she was their light.
As we kept moving through the rainforest, I gradually found that I was able to take in the beauty of the luscious world around me once more. I looked all around to gaze at nature’s brilliance; the vast greenery, the birdsong and buzzing of insects, the sheer height of the trees, the blankets of moss, the list went on. Even the girls themselves, I noticed seemed more colourful, but I couldn't tell if that was down to me gradually recovering from the trauma, or whether it was just because they had recently washed themselves.
“It’s truly mesmerising, this place, isn’t it?” I sighed.
“Stop it.” Dashie grumbled beside me.
“Stop what?”
“Being so fricking gay.”
“How am I being gay exactly?”
Coming her mane back with a hoof, she began to mockingly impersonate me, in the sassiest voice that she could physically accomplish.
“Ooh, look at the night sky, it’s so graceful… Look at the trees, they’re so wonderful… The world around me is such a beautiful place to be!”
“Okay, enjoying the beauty of nature is not-”
“See? You’re doing it again! ‘Enjoying the beauty of nature!’ That’s such a gay thing to say!”
“How is it gay?” I squawked, throwing my hands into the air.
“It’s just the words you choose to say, dude.”
“You know what? Fine then, I’ll go and bask in nature’s splendour elsewhere.”
Slowing my pace substantially, I let Rainbow Dash take the bait.
“Oh, so now you’re going to walk off and give me the silent treatment? Like a teenage filly would? That’s pretty gay dude!” she sang out tauntingly, trotting ahead.
Smirking to myself, I knew that she was only bantering, and it would be interactions like this that would help her in her journey back to a normal life, even if she were to never fly again…
“Um, y’all? We’ve got a problem!” Applejack called from the front of the group.
We caught up with the farm pony to see what the matter was, and we very quickly found out; water, and a lot of it… The area ahead of us was nothing but a thick marsh, the water was cloudy and green, making it impossible to see what was beneath, and by the looks of things, there was no solid ground for quite a while.
“What do we do?” Fluttershy asked.
“I’ll waterproof our bags, and we keep going.” Twilight suggested, her horn lighting up.
“I am not wading through that muck!” Rarity gasped.
“Well, you kind of have to.” I chuckled.
“Well, I kind of will not.”
Rolling her eyes, Twilight said that she could set up a Pullie-Portal, in which Rarity could be teleported to us upon reaching dry ground. Sticking her chin upward, the white unicorn gave a loud ‘hmph’, now satisfied with the plan. Fluttershy and Pinkie also opted to stay behind, leaving the rest of us to wade through the swamp ahead.
“Hey at least this way, there’s no need to waterproof the bags.” I pointed out, “These three can carry them all through the Pullie-Portal.”
“What he said.” Twilight muttered.
The unicorn took off her saddlebag and launched it to Pinkie, who caught it with a giggle.
“Can’t you like, waterproof us?” asked Rainbow Dash.
Shaking her head, Twilight explained that the spell wasn’t very compatible with living creatures, and had the potential to expunge all the liquid from her body, or at the very least, cause her fur to fall out.
“Right, scratch that then.” Dashie chuckled nervously.
I took my rucksack off and passed it to Rarity, being sure to unclip Vladimir’s knife and attach it to my waistband, just in case. Twilight then cast the Pullie-Portals, which was when she suddenly stumbled back and almost fell over.
“Are you okay Twilight?” Pinkie asked.
“I think so…” the unicorn groaned, “My magic might be back, but something’s not right with it.”
“Perhaps you’re still recovering from your blueout?” Rarity suggested.
“Hm, possibly.”
“Yeah, maybe don’t cast any more spells for a bit after the Pullie-Portals?” I piped up.
Shrugging, Twilight reluctantly agreed, and we went over to the edge of the water together. Applejack came along beside us too, humming thoughtfully.
“How deep do you think it is?”
“Find out for us!”
Suddenly, Rainbow Dash zoomed forward and shoved Applejack, causing her to fall in. The farm pony let out an almighty yelp before sploshing into the murky abyss. She was completely submerged for a moment, until her head finally rose to the surface.
“You asshole, Rainbow Dash!”
“So, how deep is it?” Rainbow inquired, cackling wildly to herself.
“Get your ass in this here water, right now…”
Still laughing, the pegasus hopped in, with the hydrophobic nature of the Oozima keeping her wings nice and dry. I entered the water next, and was surprised at how warm the water was; I had been expecting much colder. Properly sliding down, I found that it came up to my sternum. As for the ponies, the water rose to their necks. After a moment’s hesitation, Twilight also lowered herself into the water, at which point Rarity had the absolute cheek to ask how it was.
“Want to find out?” I clapped back.
“Happy watching.” she uttered in response, taking a few steps back.
I looked to Rainbow and Applejack, and then to Twilight, who nodded at me.
“Right, let’s move.” I ordered.
We began wading through the stagnant water, all of us repelled by its scent. But one only needed to think about where we had been, to be contented with our current position.
“I swear, if this shit dyes my fur green…” Applejack chuckled.
“What, you don’t want to come out looking like Granny Smith’s asshole?” I teased.
We all broke into laughter, Twilight included.
“Please, never mention my granny’s privates again.” the farm pony tutted.
“No promises.” I teased.
About five to ten minutes later, we saw a large bank ahead, and beyond it, more rainforest.
“Huzzah!” I cheered.
“About damn time.” Twilight grunted.
I took point alongside Applejack, which was when I noticed something up ahead and stopped.
“Hold up.”
“What’s the matter?” she asked, also stopping.
I gestured to the object ahead, and the farm pony squinted her eyes to inspect it. It was dark and a greenish brown in colour, and appeared to be covered in bark-like ridges. Applejack began to chuckle and pointed out that it was just a log, and that it wasn’t going to bite me.
“I’m pretty sure it will AJ, look…” I said shakily.
After another careful inspection, the mare was at last able to spot the small, shiny beads.
The eyes, of a crocodile.
“Shit…” we murmured at the same time.
“What’s going on?” Twilight demanded.
“We need to go the long way around, there’s a crocodile over there.”
“What!?”
The mare tried to run back and lost her balance in the water.
“Twilight, stop!”
“Stop? You want me to stop? There’s a damn crocodile in here with us!”
She consistently fell over as she flailed around desperately, to which I seized her by the upper foreleg and yanked her towards me, keeping her steady.
“If you keep dicking around like you are now, it’ll know you’re here, now stop fucking moving!”
Freezing up and staring at me, Twilight gulped and nodded.
“Everyone bunch up, and follow me.” I commanded.
I headed further across the swamp, away from the croc and towards the dry land in a large curve, being sure to give the predator a wide berth. After making some headway, I slowed down and instructed Applejack to take the lead, so that I could take the rear of the group; if the creature was to attack us, I would rather it went for me, and not them.
Looking back, I was horrified to see that the crocodile had disappeared. Frantically looking around for the scaly bastard, I at last spotted ripples in the water. It was comforting at least to know where the creature was, but far less comforting to note that the ripples, were moving towards us…
“Pick up the pace.”
“Why?” asked Rainbow.
“It knows we’re here.”
Upon hearing this, Twilight shrieked.
“Picking up the pace!”
Overtaking Applejack, the unicorn frantically splashed her way forward. I looked back to see the ripples were bigger, now coming towards us at speed.
“Oh cock…” I muttered glumly.
Shouting for the girls to run, they chased after Twilight as fast as they could. I too, moved as fast as possible, pushing my toes down at the ground below the water before pushing with all my might, launching myself through the swamp as fast as I could. Twilight was the first to reach land, followed by Applejack and Rainbow Dash; they clambered up onto the bank and turned to face me, at which point they all screamed.
The next forty seconds then became one of the most intense experiences of my life.
There was a great splash from behind me, and a horrific pain shot down my right leg as the crocodile burst forward and snatched me in its jaws. I could feel each individual pointy crooked tooth, as the animal’s mouth locked around my thigh, like a gigantic barbed mousetrap. I was tugged backwards and inhaled as deeply as possible, knowing this might be my last breath. As I was pulled down beneath the surface, my leg was almost shattered as the creature tried to perform its infamous ‘death roll’. Tucking up and latching onto the creature, I went with the roll to spare the limb from ripping apart, scrambling for Vladimir’s knife. I withdrew the saw-toothed blade and made multiple attempts to stab at the beast, clenching my jaw to the point of almost cracking my teeth.
Still rolling over and over, my fifth stab finally made its mark, I brought the blade down and it sank into the predator’s eye. It released my leg and violently thrashed around in agonised shock. Maintaining my grip on the handle, I forced it deeper until the creature shook unnaturally, and its movement ceased altogether.
It happened as quickly as it started, and I was finally able to lift my head above the water to take in an almighty gasp of air. I used my hands to push the hair out of my face and rubbed my eyes to clear them of dirty water, and then looked up to the girls, panting. Amidst the greens and browns of the disturbed swamp water, came billowing clouds of red, which the girls intensely stared at.
“Dude… are… are you alright?” Rainbow stuttered from the bank.
I took another deep breath inwards, before sticking my arms out and breaking into a thick Australian accent, imitating the late Steve Irwin.
“Cor well crikey, she was real feisty little sheila! In really good condition, and strong!”
Too shocked to laugh, everyone continued staring at me as I pranced around in the water, overloaded with adrenaline and euphoria. Soon enough though, the pain in my leg started pulsating and I calmed down, now irked by having even more wounds for Fluttershy to treat. I gritted my teeth and nudged around with my foot to find the croc under the water. I then took a deep breath and plunged back down, seizing the creature and hauling it up to the surface.
“What are you doing?” Rainbow Dash gasped.
Ignoring her, I asked if Twilight could use just a teensy bit of telekinesis to help me lift the creature onto the land. With great reluctance, she agreed, and together we raised it out the water and onto the bank.
“I can’t believe you were able to kill it…”said Applejack, shaking her head.
“Me neither, and I’m the one that did it!” I laughed, clambering up to join them.
I stood proudly above my kill and puffed loudly. That was when Dashie noticed my new injury and gasped. I insisted that it looked worse than it really was, and that I’d have Fluttershy take a look at the bite shortly.
“At least it wasn’t a saltwater croc, those things are massive!” I breathed heavily.
“Wait, they get bigger than this?” exclaimed Rainbow Dash.
“Oh, much bigger…”
Twilight’s horn lit up, and she cast the second half of the Pullie-Portal spells, summoning Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity. There was a white flash, and the others appeared close by, along with all our bags. Immediately, they screamed loudly at the sight of the dead leviathan lizard. Once they had calmed down, Rainbow Dash explained to them what had happened, and I found myself immediately being examined by Fluttershy.
“Ow!” I yelped, “Why must you always poke, my damn wounds Fluttershy?”
“She likes to touch! She likes to touch!” a hoarse voice sounded off.
It sounded muffled, and not like any of the girls. I looked around in bewilderment and the pegasus began to giggle; she then lifted the back of her mane, revealing the source of the voice.
“I found him, while we were waiting for you.”
Perched upon the pegasus’ shoulder, with his head tilted on one side, was a hyacinth macaw parrot. He had bright orange circles around his shiny, obsidian black eyes, and there was a thin yellow wrinkled outline to his stone-grey beak. He looked very well groomed, not a single feather was out of place across his bright cerulean body.
“What a little cutie!” I exclaimed fondly, “Hi there little guy…”
At this, the parrot puffed up his feathers and tilted his head down, as if to frown at me.
“The name’s Blu. Make any cracker jokes, and I’ll peck your eyes out. Quaark!”