“Holy sh—!” I jerk back but slip, flailing my hooves in the air and accidentally hitting Reykan’s lunging form. “Oof!” I land on the muddy ground on my side, splashing mud everywhere. I quickly lift my head up and look at Reykan as I try to calm my fast-beating heart. “R-Reykan, what the hell?!”
He quickly gets back on his paws, mud covering most of his side as he glares at me with a smile. “You came out! So you’re done talking to Twilight pony!” And then he lunges at me once again.
God damn it! I should have stood up! Thinking quickly, I swipe my hoof on the muddy ground in front of me, throwing a wave of mud towards the yelping panther cub.
“Gah—!” Reykan yelps in surprise, mud covering his face.
I quickly get back on my four hooves as my eyes lock on Reykan who’s two or so hooves away from me, hissing through his fanged teeth as he tries to wipe the mud out of his eyes with his muddy paws. Yeah, good plan, kid.
“Reykan,” I say through my rapid breaths, ignoring his turning ears. “I still need to get the items Twilight needs! You know that—whoa!”
“Grraaawrr!” with his eyes covered with mud, he still lunges at me with great accuracy, probably relying on his hearing now.
I yelp and shuffle back in time to avoid his fanged jaws from biting my hooves. “Holy shit! Are you serious?!” I ask as I make some distance between us.
He quickly jumps forward, but I slap him with a muddy hoof, throwing him back with a wave of mud. He slides on the mud and struggles to get up, his body covered with more mud.
“Stop it, Rey!” I yell, ignoring a brown figure who just came out from the tree’s dark hollow. “I seriously do not want to hurt you!”
“You promised, Jay!” he shouts back, turning so he can blindly face me with a confident grin, ears moving. “I kept my promise! Why shouldn’t you?”
“What’s going on here?” Sienna asks, blinking at the two of us.
I ignore her. “But I never—”
“You said not to eat you!” Reykan cuts me off as he readies himself to run towards me again. “You said not to until you see Twilight pony! I didn’t eat you! I kept my promise! So now that you’re out and done talking to her, I can now eat you as you promised!”
I don’t like where this is going.
“Rrraaawrrr—!” aaand he dashes towards me.
“Eep!” Sienna suddenly eeps, as if she’s the one getting attacked, before quickly returning inside the tree.
My heart is racing, and my brain is telling me to get away. I shake my head, furrow my brows and swing a hoof upwards like a hoofed uppercut, hitting the cub under his chin and throwing his lunging form over my head. And then mud flies to my face and eyes! Gah! It stings!
“Whoa—oof!” he lands behind me with a muddy splash.
I quickly wipe the mud off of my eyes with the clean parts of my hoof. “I never promised anything to you, Reykan,” I say as I turn around to face him.
Reykan growls as he gets back up on his four paws and quickly dashes towards me, his paws striking the muddy ground, creating a series of miniature muddy eruption.
I grit my teeth and prepare my hoof to swing again, waiting for him to jump at me, but instead of jumping at me, he continues his quick dash and tackles my hooves, catching me off-guard. Wincing from the pain, I move back as I lift a hoof to pound on him, but then he jumps at me, his clawed paws stabbing my shoulders and his fanged jaws biting my neck!
“Gaaah—!” I shout in pain as I try to shake him off. With that not working, human instincts suddenly kick in, making me lift both my hooves up to grab him— Aaand I collapse on the mud with Reykan. “Grrrk—!”
Lying on his back, Reykan thrashes his hind paws in the air. I hiss in pain, my vision going blurry as I try to think of a way to save my freaking self while trying to not let the pain and panic consume me.
Damn it, damn it...! Calm down! I-I...I'm going to die, aren’t I? No! No! I...I-I can think of somethi— Will it work? Fucking hell how should I know and I freaking don't care!
Hissing in pain, I close my blurry and teary eyes, quickly extend my hooves and drag them on the ground towards my painful neck like a bulldozer, dragging some mud to bury my painful neck and Reykan’s maw. I continue my futile attempts of ‘drowning’ him, trying my damnedest to ignore the thought that I’m about to kill someone, but as the seconds fly by and as I feel myself losing my consciousness, ‘screw it!’ I shout in my head. It’s either kill of be killed in this stupid alternate Equestria! But the stupid kid’s fanged bite is still as strong and painful as ever. As a few more seconds fly by, my hope and my strength is starting to slip from me until I feel Reykan loosens his bite on my neck. He kicks and thrash his paws wildly in an attempt to get his head out of the mud as his fangs free my neck, and I quickly take the opportunity to pull my head out, Reykan quickly inhaling through his open mouth only for the mud to cover it.
Reykan’s stuck, his head and body buried under the mud, his paws sticking out from the mound of mud, thrashing wildly. I feel my neck throb in pain as I feel thick and warm liquid gush out from my wound. I am breathing fast and deep, my heart beating like mad, and my wavering gaze on Reykan’s flailing paws.
I... Am I just going to watch Reykan like this? I should... No! I should get away! The damn kid was trying to kill me just now!
With an eye twitch, I turn around but stop when I notice Reykan’s paws are slowing down, making me hold my breath.
Oh, shit... I... Am I just...gonna let him die? A child? He’s a predator, sure, but...fuck... But... But... He...tried to kill me. God damn it. I hate making big, life-changing decisions! Gah! S-should I—?
Shit! He’s slowing down... Damn... Damn...!
I hiss as I swipe a chunk of mud out of his muzzle with a hoof, but two clawed paws grab my hoof, making me pull Reykan’s head slightly out of the mud. I hiss from the stabbing pain as I hear Reykan inhale a deep breath before he starts coughing.
“R-Reykan, Reykan!” I pull him out, despite how painful his clawed grip is on my hoof. He lets go of my hoof and slowly tries to sit himself up on the mud as he continues his violent coughing fit.
God, he’s alive... He’ll kill me. He’ll freaking kill me... But damn it, I can’t bring myself to stop him from killing me!
...I can’t bring myself the thought of killing someone...
I didn’t notice until now that I’m already sitting down, my gaze on Reykan’s coughing form, but at the same time, not on him...
I close my eyes, take a deep breath, and sigh... Damn it...
“Ow...” I hear Reykan say in a quiet tone. He coughs a few more times. “...I...guess I’m not strong enough yet...” I reopen my eyes in time to see him sigh. “I’m not strong enough to take down a pony yet...” He then looks at me, his sapphire eyes blinking and his jaw forming a disappointed frown. “You’re bleeding, Jay.”
I...deadpan. “...Gee... I wonder why?” I close my eyes yet again, take a deep breath, and let out a heavy sigh through my muzzle. “I’m...sorry, Rey.” I shake my head before I reopen my eyes to give the panther cub a soft glare. “...But I won’t let you eat me.”
“Not yet, right?” he asks with a smile.
I blink at him.
“Not until I’m big enough and strong enough, right?”
... ... ... “... ... ...” ... ... ...I shrug. “Eh, sure, I guess?”
“Cool!” he says rather cheerfully.
...Here’s to hoping that this won’t bite me in the ass sooner or later. Or in the neck. Whichever gets bitten first in the future... Sigh...
Reykan coughs a couple times. He looks down, glaring at the mud I think. “Ehk... My mouth taste like mud.”
“...At least it’s not sand, right?” I can’t help myself. I take another breath and sigh. “Look, Reykan, I—”
“Hm?” He looks up at me, sapphire eyes blinking.
Why am I apologizing? He’s the one who attacked me. He’s the one who tried to kill me earlier. But damn it. We humans have this stupid thing called ‘conscience’, and mine can literally drive me crazy if I ignore it for too long. Like, really. Meh, it’s a story for another time. I sigh once again. “...I’m sorry.” There, I said it. Why do I still feel heavy? Eh...probably because of the hardening mud weighing me down.
“For what?”
I roll my eyes. Of course Reykan will ask that question to make me say it. “For um...trying to kill you...and stuff...”
He blinks at me. “But all you did was swat me with your hoof.” He chuckles. “I think it was me who was trying to kill you.”
I blink at him. “...I tried to drown you.”
Sapphire eyes blinks at me. Reykan looks around. “...I don’t see any water around.”
I facehoof. I insta-regret it as mud covers a part of my face and an eye.
“Did I do a job though?” he asks with a curious smile as I shake my head to rid of the mud on my face. He winces all too suddenly. “Well, I didn’t get to kill and eat you, but I did good, right?”
... ... ... “... ... ...yes?”
“Cool!” He blinks. His eyes twinkle as it widens. “I have an idea!”
My ears droop. “No.”
“You should let me practice!” he says with a wide smile.
“...Please tell me you’re joking.”
He blinks, his smile fading. “...No, I’m not.” He shakes his head. “Why would I be? I mean, I need more practice if I wanna take down a pony, right?”
What the hell—? Is this how predators’ line of thinking goes? Use their potential prey as their test subjects?
“Please?”
Oh, no. No. No! Not the puppy-dog eyes plus the lower pouty lip combo!
“Pleeeaaase?”
Damn it! He added twinkling stars in his eyes, too! Argh...! “Fiiine...” I’m going to regret this, I swear.
“Yes!” He tries to jump, but all he manages to do is throw his upper body up in the air while his other half is still kinda stuck in the mud. “Whoa—oof!” His back lands on the muddy ground, splashing mud around and on me. “...I’m starting to hate mud,” he says, glaring at the sky.
“But no biting,” I say with a glare.
“Mmkay,” he replies with a big grin. “...Can you help me out of this?”
“If I say no, what will you do?”
“I’ll bite during practice.”
“Helping you now.”
I hear voices coming out from the not-library tree as I pull Reykan out of the mud.
“—and he’s going to kill him!” that’s Sienna’s voice.
“Sienna,” that’s Twilight’s voice. Her voice sounds so clear, maybe because she’s already outside. “I don’t think Reykan’s attacking Jay. I mean, look at them—oh my gosh, Jay! You’re bleeding!”
Yesh... I noticed. I glare at Reykan who’s giving me a sheepish smile.