Rumble in the Jungle

by Minds Eye

Chapter 5: Delusions of Grandeur

Just like that. Ten seconds flat. The bird was alive, and now it was dead and gone. The world didn't even care.

Rumble lie paralyzed on his branch. His shakes already stopped, but he couldn't take his eyes off the spot. It was his fault. He lost his temper and lashed out at something that was no threat to him. One stupid decision cost the bird its life. The finality of it all was just...unfair!

It could just as easily been him. It should have been him so many times over. The spider had him dead to rights. If one or two more needles hit him when he ran from the first plant monster, he would have been completely helpless. The armored dillo almost killed him more times than Rumble had hooves.

As much as he wanted to think otherwise, it sure wasn't any skills of his that brought him this far. Rumble didn't even draw his sword against his last two attackers. He ran for his life and was lucky enough to find a way out each time. Luck was not going to stay with him forever. If this kept up, he would be as dead as that bird.

No pony even knew he was here. Thunderlane didn't believe he was really coming in the first place. Thunderlane...Thunderlane was trying to help him. Rumble thought he was being a jerk in their shouting match, but Thunderlane just didn't believe his little brother could be this stupid. Rumble was an idiot. He knew that now.

What would he do if Rumble never came back? He promised their parents he would look after Rumble, and he always did. Thunderlane would be crushed. He'd eventually come into the forest to look for him. That thought didn't give Rumble any peace of mind. He had no idea where he was; how was one pony, even his brother, supposed to find him?

Well, Thunderlane probably wouldn't come alone. Flitter and Cloudchaser would help him. The two sisters were always there for the two brothers when they needed a hoof. Rumble remembered how quickly Cloudchaser stepped between him and Thunderlane back at the house. Flitter, the younger sister, was always ready to smile and listen whenever Rumble ranted about being the little brother. The two cared about the brothers. Of course they would follow Thunderlane into the forest.

And what about Scootaloo? Cloudchaser said he was going to make her day, and he ran away from her. He ran away and got attacked by monsters because he couldn't pony up, look the girl he liked in the eye, and tell her how great she was. Happy Birthday, Scootaloo! At least no pony would be cruel enough to tell her she was the reason he died in the forest.

Right?

Rumble forced himself to stand and balance on the narrow branch. He was not going to make any pony pay for his stupidity. It was time to go home. He turned and slowly made his way towards the slender trunk, already looking for another branch to climb up to.

As he noticed before the dillo dragged him down, the trees in this little valley were relatively short. They were also clustered closer together than the area he just fell from. It was curious, but it didn't matter. Rumble wrapped a hoof around an overhead limb and pulled himself up, nearing the top of the tree.

All he had to do was push his way through the foliage and then take wing. It would be a long climb out of the valley and over the rest of the forest, but he was sure he could make it. Then, if he paced himself, he could hit Ponyville without setting a hoof back in this desolate forest. He was almost there. Rumble smiled and stretched out a hoof to pull down the leaves overhead.

"YEAAARGH!"

His quick cry of pain shattered the tranquility around him. Rumble nearly fell of the tree limb in shock and pulled his hoof back. He sat down, cradling it against his chest, to look it over. Three deep scratch marks ran up his leg. He looked back up to the leaves, waiting for whatever hurt him to show itself.

Nothing came down. Not a sound was made. Rumble wasn't in the mood for another fight. Or escape. Or whatever it was he did so far. He dropped down a few branches, giving whatever was above him its space. There was another tree close by, so he would just jump over and try again there.

Another jump, another climb, and Rumble found himself right where he just was. This time, he reared up on his hind legs and balanced himself with a foreleg on the tree trunk. His sword entered the leaves first. Rumble waited. He didn't see, or hear, any movement overhead. He pushed deeper, up to the hilt, until he was sure nothing was attacking his blade. Satisfied, Rumble stepped back onto his three legs and pulled the sword back down.

It stuck in the leaves halfway down. Rumble dropped his head and groaned. Of course it would get stuck. Why would anything be easy? Rumble grabbed his hilt with his other front hoof and pulled. There was absolutely no give.

Rumble was stunned. The branches were too small to be that strong. He tried throwing his entire weight backwards, hoping that the shock force would pry the sword loose. Save for some shaking in the leaves, there was no reaction. Nothing even pulled back against him. Maybe...the angle was wrong? He pushed the sword up straight, and now he was trying to pull it back down after stepping back.

For lack of a better option, Rumble took a step forward. The wooden sword jerked loose and pushed further into the leaves as he did so. Rumble retook his old position and pulled the sword down cleanly. He stared at it in disbelief. How did that make any...? What?! Rumble put all his frustration in one swing across the canopy. His blow cleared out a small section of leaves, giving him a clear view up.

Thorns. Dozens of thorns hung overhead in a thick, jumbled mess of shoots. Rumble could barely see the sky through them all. That was what caught his sword. Where in Equestria did they come from? He never saw a tree capped off with thorns like this before.

To him, the thorns looked like they were growing on the tree rather than from the tree. Rumble flew a slow circle around the slender trunk, dragging his sword along the leaves. The tip of the blade danced the whole way. The tangle of thorns completely covered the top of the tree.

Rumble's eyes dropped to his scratched hoof. If this tree was covered...so was the other one. He flew the short distance back to his first perch to test his theory. He hoped he was wrong. Rumble would give his left hind leg to be wrong. From his quick glimpse of the valley, every tree looked to be the same height. He didn't want to think about what that meant. Silently begging for some small mercy from the universe, Rumble pulled down the top layer of leaves. Thorns, thorns, and more thorns waited for him.

"No." Rumble stepped back, disbelieving his own eyes. His mind immediately showed him a net of thorns choking the growth of the valley, an unyielding mass that he already discovered his sword couldn't break through. His biggest hope, his failsafe when he entered the forest, was his flight. Now he was trapped under this cloud of pain. He couldn't get through.

"No!" Rumble hovered and lashed out between the trees, finding more thorns stretched between them. Trapped. He was trapped like a rat. There was at least one of those plant things, and Rumble didn't want to know what else waited for him in the crowded undergrowth.

"NO!" Rumble took off in a wild charge, holding his sword up to run it across the canopy. The blade jerked in his hooves as it collided with knot after knot of the sharp barbs. Rumble turned left and pushed himself faster. He turned again, and again, and again. He was trapped.

Rumble's world started to change. He was trapped. The primal fear was...unreal. Was his heart even still beating? Rumble didn't notice it. Rumble didn't notice anything. The sound of his wings beating didn't reach his ears. The slap of leaves against his face didn't faze him. Even the shaking of the sword in his hooves faded from his mind. The sensations his body felt were happening to some pony else.

Stop! Rumble stopped and hovered in midair. He forced himself to swallow several deep gulps of air. Flying around like a silly foal wasn't helping. There had to be a way out. There had to be a way out. He somehow managed to get here in the first place, didn't he? It wasn't exactly his choice, either. That stupid animal jumped off a cliff and...dragged him down!

What an idiot! The way out was right next to him! Rumble turned and dashed back, laughing hysterically at himself. His panic made him forget the obvious escape route. Dust Storm he was not, nor Commander Hurricane. He could probably scratch "Strategic Mastermind" from his list of potential special talents.

It took him a few minutes to find his way back. Rumble had no business being in this forest; he couldn't even find his way around. Rumble laughed at himself again. Fight monsters! Brave dangers! Just a fun filled afternoon in the Everfree Forest! Home never sounded so good.

There it is! The crater left by the armored dillo passed by on his right. Rumble's smile grew the closer he got to it. Branches, leaves, and debris were scattered around it. The path up would be a clear shot. A few more seconds, and he was home free! Rumble whooped and pulled up, ready to soar into the clear blue sky.

Blurry lines crossed his vision of said sky. Rumble slammed on the brakes, stopping just shy of the thorns in front of his face. Impossible! The dillo just crashed through here! Rumble screamed his denial and struck with his sword again. This time, the blow pulled down a few threads of the barricade.

There was still a chance! Rumble pulled his sword down with all he had, stretching the thorny vines as far as he could. It wasn't enough. He couldn't fit through the small window he created. Worse, he felt the vines start pulling against him to reclaim the inches he took.

It was now or never. Rumble braced himself and pushed his head through the only opening he had. The sting from the thorns was unbearable. Inch by grueling inch, he forced his head past them all. More thorns started to dig into his shoulders. Eventually, they bit the joints of his wings. That pain convinced him to stop. He couldn't do it. He needed his wings to fly through. They would get shredded if he kept this up. Where would that leave him?

Rumble punked out. He took the easy way, closing his eyes and wings. His body fell clear of the vines and back into the crater below. He watched as more vines threaded their way around the others to cover his chance of escape. The forest itself was keeping him trapped!

The sting of the thorns was replaced with an even deeper one: Shame. That was his one chance to get out, and he wasn’t tough enough to take it. Rumble curled up under the weight of his failure. The truth couldn’t be more crystal clear. He wasn’t a hero. He wasn’t a legend. He wasn’t a warrior.

He learned his lesson! Why couldn’t he just go home?!

Home. He had a piece of home with him. Thunderlane gave it to him, even after their fight. Rumble sat up and unhooked his thermos. The soup filled his nose with a release of steam the moment he unscrewed the top. Rumble tilted his head back and took a mouthful of the aromatic broth. He caught a few diced veggies on his tongue and bit down on them. He couldn’t tell what they were. The whole concoction tasted and smelled of cheese. And he walked in on Cloudchaser refusing to let Thunderlane add any more! The things she put up with...

Rumble took another drink of soup. The new warmth in his body helped calm his nerves a little bit. He needed that help. He needed any help. His brief look at the valley didn't show him any path out. The only thing he knew was that he was stuck between two cliffs. Rumble didn't even know which way he was facing now, much less which way would get him out from under the thorns.

The smell in the air changed. The cheesy scent turned slightly rancid. Rumble chuckled and capped his thermos again. The forest must not agree with the soup. So what did he do now? It was hard to believe, but he knew things were going to get worse.

The smell grew worse. Rumble huddled in his hole, pressing a hoof against his nose. Bad as it was, the smell wasn’t his biggest problem right now. The sun only had a few more hours in the sky. He needed to find shelter, or a way out, sooner than later.

The smell was now an overpowering stench. Rumble couldn’t take it anymore. Bad enough his own stupidity trapped him in the forest, now he had his own personal noxious cloud hanging over him? He growled in his throat and stood up. He wasn’t sure which way he would go, but anywhere was better than here.

Two burning green eyes paralyzed him. Two leaves set above them provided the only other color Rumble could see in the face looming before him. The blackened wood parted with a snarl, revealing fangs constructed with ugly chunks of wood and stone. Another snarl, from his left this time, grabbed his attention.

The same horrible face was waiting for him when he turned. Two small branches crowned the top of the head. The wooden body, so many times bigger than his own, was supported with four thick legs. One leg stepped down the few inches into the crater, crossing the only pitiful barrier between it and its prey: Him.

This was happening. He could barely wrap his head around that fact. Rumble turned to run. A set of jaws slammed shut in front of his face. Rumble shrieked and jumped back. His body slammed against the front legs of the Timberwolf behind him. The head swung down to look at him. The cruel fangs rested just inches from his head.

The wolf in front stepped down as well. He was joined by two others coming from the sides. Rumble tried to scream for help. All he could manage was a pathetic whimper as he sank to the ground. His breaths weren't even lasting half a second. The entire world was shaking in his eyes.

The fangs above him opened wider. Rumble squeezed his eyes shut and covered them with his hooves. In the blackness, he said goodbye to Thunderlane. He told Cloudchaser that he would miss her. He thanked Flitter for listening to him. He apologized to Scootaloo for not being with her on her birthday. Hot breath blasted the back of his neck.

He could have been eating cake and ice cream right now.

"RAAAAAARRRRRGH!!!"

Rumble's heart stopped. That roar was worse than the spider scream! Shrill yelps rang through his ears. Rumble opened his eyes just in time to catch the backsides of the Timberwolves running away. Every instinct screamed at him to follow, but his terror still remained. Rumble looked up to see this new beast.

The enormous body of an ursa minor towered over him. The green mass was already just feet away from his hole. A pair of fierce red eyes glared down. The lips split apart, spreading around the monster's teeth in...if Rumble didn't know better, he would say the beast was smiling at him. With a second look, Rumble saw tree branches sticking through the glowing green shape of the body. How did that happen? For that matter, how did something this big just show up like that?

Whoosh!

The gigantic bear instantly dissolved into green dust. The cloud flew into Rumble's face. He coughed and sputtered, waving his hoof to disperse the remainder. What was going on?! Where was the monster?!

A shadow walked towards him through the green mist hanging in the air. The figure stepped closer, close enough for Rumble to make out a large cloak, but not much else. Finally, the shadow walked clear of the dust. It raised a hoof to the hood of its cloak.

Rumble watched in shock as the hood fell away. The revealed equine looked down on him with blue eyes set in a face striped in black and white. Zecora! He knew the name, but he never met her before. Rumble didn't care. It was like seeing Princess Celestia herself. This was the kindest face he ever saw in the forest.

The zebra smiled and reached out her hoof to help him off the ground. Rumble jumped into her chest, tackling her to the ground. He buried his face in her cloak and cried. His fear, his pain, it all came out. Zecora wrapped a leg around his shoulders, and her soft laughs mingled with his sobs.