Out of Her Element (Revised)
For the most part, Equestria was a civilized kingdom. Ponies went about their everyday lives in their respective towns and kept to a relatively normal lifestyle of living in their nearly perfect world. However, as peaceful as Equestria was, danger was no stranger to the kingdom of the ponies, as many a time there have been those that threaten the citizen’s way of life. Nightmare Moon, Discord, Changelings; Equestria did have its fair share of baddies.
There weren’t just dangerous creatures living in this land though. There were also many dangerous areas that ponies always fear to tread, such as the Fire Swamps, and of course the infamous Everfree Forest. Over time though, the Everfree Forest has been known to be explored much more recently ever since the Elements banished the darkness from Nightmare Moon’s heart, and ponies have been known to come in and out more often, and even houses a zebra resident.
That doesn’t excuse the fact however, that the Everfree was still a mysterious and dangerous place. The plants, clouds, and animals still maintained themselves without the aid of anypony, and was living proof that Equestria had some strange places.
In a close second, came the relatively unexplored and uninhabited Windless Woods.
“Uuuugh! This jungle is absolutely DISGUSTING!” Rarity wailed. She was doing the best she could to avoid the mud and leaves on the ground, but found her coat still getting dirty. At least the safari hat she wore on her head kept her mane from being tainted.
“Umm, Rarity? If it isn’t too much trouble, could you please try to be a little quieter? I’m afraid that you might be scaring the animals away.” Fluttershy whispered from in front of her. The stallion that was hacking his way through the leaves with a machete in his hooves grumbled. This jungle didn’t have an actual path to walk on like the Everfree Forest did, so he had to assist the mares in cutting a path through so they could do their exploring.
“That’s really just kind of a nice way of saying ‘Shut yer trap.’ Really, if you don’t like the mud, then why’d you come on this expedition in the first place?” the stallion said. He was a muscular-looking, dark-yellow Earth Pony with big, bushy, eyebrows and a brown mane, which was mostly covered by a safari hat, much like Rarity and Fluttershy. His Cutie-Mark was a pawprint with a magnifying glass seeming to observe it.
Trying to ignore how rudely the stallion worded his quetion, Rarity answered.
“Well for your information Mr. Critter, I wasn’t just going to just have my friend saunter off into uncharted territory without a friend’s support…no matter how…unhygienic these dreadful Windless Woods may be.” Rarity said.
The stallion who Rarity identified as “Critter” looked back at her with a still slightly annoyed look on his face.
“Firstly, it is Professor Critter. Second, when I personally asked Ms. Fluttershy to accompany me on this expedition, I didn’t think I would need to listen to some prissy mare whinin’ the entire way through.” Professor Critter grumbled.
Rarity gave an annoyed huff.
“I am NOT whining! I am complaining!” Rarity shouted.
Fluttershy shoved herself in between the two to keep them from killing each other and trying to keep the peace.
“Now that’s enough, both of you! Professor, try to understand that the jungle is a little out of Rarity’s element, so she isn’t as accustomed to this lifestyle as you are.”
“Oh thank you Flutter-“
“And Rarity, could you please refrain from stressing out the Professor? He doesn’t seem to work very well under pressure, and we all need to be as careful and observant as we can be in a place as uncharted as this.” Fluttershy said.
Both Professor Critter and Rarity gave each other a sharp glare before letting out an annoyed sigh.
“Fine.” They said in unison.
Fluttershy sighed in relief and smiled.
“That’s better. Now Professor, how much do you know about the Windless Woods already?” Fluttershy asked, hoping to gain a little more insight on their location. Fluttershy, being quite the animal expert, had been contacted by Equestria’s Wildlife Institute to accompany Professor Critter on an expedition to explore the Windless Woods. Rarity came along because she figured that such a timid and docile mare probably wouldn’t be safe in an unexplored and possibly treacherous jungle without a friend’s support. Twilight wanted to come, but was denied of the opportunity because of her new duties as a royal, and everypony else had their own responsibilities to attend to.
Although, she wasn’t exactly ecstatic about being surrounded by this much dirt, mud, grime, and whatever else this jungle had to try and ruin her clean, alabaster coat.
“I was wondering something as well Professor. Why is this place called a wood when it is clearly a jungle?” Rarity asked.
Professor Critter slashed his way through a few more vines before answering.
“It’s really just a nickname. Kinda like your Everfree Forest, the laws of nature are kinda screwed up around here. Rumour has it that no matter what the weather team of the surrounding town does, no wind blows around here. Nopony knows why, but it seems to just refuse to let wind through.” He explained.
“Well…That ‘s unusual. But the rain still comes in just fine?” Rarity asked.
“The weather is about eleven kinds of screwy in this place. Rain comes in just fine, but no dice with the wind apparently.”
“And…any knowledge on the animals? Are they any more-“ Fluttershy gulped “-Docile than the Everfree’s?” she asked.
“I can’t guarantee that Ms. Fluttershy. This is uncharted jungle we’re dealing with here. Who knows what’s-HOLD IT!” Professor put his hoof to his side to stop the two mares from advancing any further.
“What?! What is it?!” Fluttershy whispered a little loudly.
Professor Critter looked into the air and flared his nostrils, taking in a big whiff.
“Do you two smell that?” he asked. Both mare slightly sniffed the air, which prompted Rarity to cringe in disgust.
“Euegggh! What is that dreadful odor?!” Rarity cried.
Fluttershy, while she also found the smell disgusting, seemed to be more afraid of it than disgusted.
“R-Rarity…t-that’s…” she stuttered.
“That smell…it’s Manticore manure.” Professor Critter said.
“W-What?!” Rarity exclaimed.
“You know, dung. Poop. Feces. Sh-“
“I know what it is!”
Professor Critter looked down at Rarity’s hooves and his eyes widened for a moment before returning to their normal size and he chuckled a little.
“Then I suppose you should be able to recognize when you’re hoof-deep in the stuff then?” Professor Critter asked with a slight smirk.
Almost the second that sentence left his mouth, Rarity looked down at her hooves and her eyes widened in horror. She had indeed found that she had stepped in a big pile of manticore feces. So, she did what would come naturally to her in a situation like this.
“Ewewewewewewewew!” Rarity exclaimed as she hopped out of the offending substance and started waving her forelegs away from her. She quickly opened her saddlebags with her magic and levitated a package of wet wipes and started to furiously wipe away at her soiled hooves.
When she noticed that Critter had a hoof glued to his mouth and was trying not to snicker, it didn’t help her mood.
“This is NOT funny! Do you have any idea how long this will take to get out?! Honestly, for a professor, you are SO immature!” She practically screamed.
“Um no. I’m pretty sure this is-“ Critter was stopped by Fluttershy nudging his shoulder and giving him a stern glare.
“…Nevermind.” Critter grumbled with an angry-looking pout. He then bent his neck down to observe the manticore feces.
“Don’t get that close to it! That is simply revolting!” Rarity shouted.
“Sorry if my job isn’t glamorous enough for you, princess.” Critter said sarcastically as he continued to look at it, to which Rarity gave another angry huff and pushed her mane out of her face.
“Well Professor?” Fluttershy asked nicely.
Critter brought his head back up.
“It’s still fresh. Bastard could still be around here somewhere.” He said with a sort of grim look on his face.
Both Fluttershy and Rarity’s eyes widened.
“Y-You mean it could be w-watching us?” Rarity asked.
“It’s possible, but try to relax for five measly minutes please. These things may have claws and teeth, but we have numbers and a big-ass knife. I think we’ll live.” Critter said.
“Oh, you’re not going to hurt it are you?” Fluttershy asked with a concerned look.
“Not unless I have to. I’m a stallion of science, not a poacher.” Critter said with a hoof to his chest.
Rarity wasn’t fairing very well at the thought of one of those savage beasts hanging around the corner, possibly sizing all three of them up to see who would look the tastiest. She was already not liking how unclean this jungle was, and knowing now that there were manticores here wasn’t calming her down.
“W-Well, I for one think we should move as fast as possible. If there is a manticore around here somewhere, then it wouldn’t make much sense to stick around-“ Rarity was starting to get so wrapped up in her nervous state that she didn’t notice what was crawling its way up her shoulder. Both Critter and Fluttershy stared at what appeared to be a spider the size of a hockey puck sitting next to her head.
“-And I don’t think that ending up as lunch for one of those creatures would do my coat any favors…why are you two looking at me like that?” Rarity asked with a raised eyebrow.
“R-Rarity, keep perfectly still. D-Don’t make any sudden movements.” Fluttershy stuttered.
Rarity stood as stiff as a board. Even though she did what she was told, she could obviously tell that something was wrong. Her eyes slowly shifted to her shoulder, where she saw the huge, eight-eyed bug arachnid staring back at her with a tilted head.
So, she did the understandable thing given her current dilemma.
She straightened up…
Took in a deep breath…
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!” Rarity screamed as she wildly flailed her hooves in the air, throwing the spider to the ground and scurried off into the foliage, leaving the mare to remain terrified and blindly gallop at breakneck speeds deeper into the jungle in fright, ignoring the leaves and vines that scratched at her on her way through..
“Wait Rarity! It’s too dangerous to go by yourself!” Fluttershy yelled after her friend.
“Argh damn it! She’s going to get herself killed at this rate! We’re going to need to go after her!” Critter said, cutting through the vines and leaves at a much quicker pace than before…
Rarity didn’t have the slightest clue where she was going. She just got so freaked out by that titan of a spider sitting on her shoulder. Could she really be blamed for reacting in the way she did though? This jungle was unexplored before today, so for all she knew, that could be some sort of new species of poisonous spider.
Not to mention that thing’s disgusting eight eyes and legs.
“Uggggggh. Absolutely revolting” Rarity said to herself as she shivered. She stopped to catch her breath for a moment. She looked behind her to see if her friend was anywhere near her.
Nothing but trees.
The leaves overhead blocked out most of the sun, which made the forest floor quite dark, which didn’t pose well for the white unicorn.
“Oh what was I thinking, running off like that?...No, scratch that. Why in the wide world of Equess did I ever step hoof into this dreadful jungle?!” Rarity yelled to herself. This was without a doubt the worst possible thing right now. She was in an uncharted jungle, had galloped away from her friend and the Professor, and had no idea where she had gone or how deep into the Windless Woods she had gone.
This did not look good at all.
Rarity sighed in annoyance.
“Well, perhaps I should just stay here and wait for them to come and find me. It’ll be easier for them if I don’t move, and I don’t even know which direction to g-“ Rarity stopped for a moment when she looked up into the distance and spotted some kind of brown blot high up in one of the trees. She squinted her eyes to see if she could tell what it was. From the looks of it, it was some sort of crude structure built in the canopy.
“…There’s shelter here?! I thought this place was uninhabited.” Rarity yelled to herself. She shook her head. “Now Rarity, never question good fortune. Structure means intelligent life. Perhaps whoever lives there can help me find Fluttershy.” Rarity said as she quickly galloped to the tree trunk.
When she finally made it there, she saw that there was some sort of makeshift elevator at the bottom, operated by a pulley system. Rarity inspected it for a moment and saw that the wood looked rather crude and would probably give her a ton of splinters should she step on it. Being precocious, she levitated a rather elegant-looking blanket out of her saddlebags and covered the platform with it before she stepped onto it. She looked at the rope that led up to the treehouse next to the platform. Rarity continuously pulled on the rope, which raised the platform up a little. She kept pulling on the rope, which eventually led to the near-top of the trees where the structure resided.
Rarity hadn’t realized how high up she was until she looked up and all of a sudden started to feel a little nauseous.
“Oh dear…this really doesn’t look safe.” She said before stepping onto the treehouse’s porch and quickly walking into the house so she didn’t have to look at the forest floor any longer than she needed to.
“Umm…excuse me? Is anypony home?” Rarity asked. As she looked around the corner into the treehouse. She received no answer.
The structure appeared to be in quite a wreck. There was a bed pushed off to its side with dirty sheets hanging off of it, there were ripped curtains on the glassless windows, and there was trash all over the floor.
Normally, Rarity would have considered a place in this condition an atrocity, but something seemed…wrong.
She took a few steps forward, the floorboards creaking under her hooves before she heard the sound of glass breaking under them. She quickly backed away in surprise and looked to the floor to see what she had stepped on.
On the floor was a framed picture of a family of ponies. One was a very beautiful pink Pegasus mare with a purple mane and a warm, sophisticated-looking smile. Her companion was a light brown unicorn stallion with a ginger mane and was wearing glasses and a bowtie. The last was an infant Pegasus colt with a color-scheme similar to the stallion, both in mane and in coat, and had a pacifier in his mouth. Something that really drew her in about the young colt was his curious pair of blue eyes, which were also possessed by the mare.
Rarity did a double take on the picture as she looked at it. She definitely recognized those faces from several of the “Canterlot Today” magazines she had in her boutique, she was sure of it.
“Wait a minute…this is…this is Flashbang and Big Bucks.” Rarity said to herself. She’d heard quite a lot about these two. They came from a very rich family due to the family’s specialty in buying out many smaller companies, and lived in Canterlot for a majority of their life. Unfortunately, they decided to go on an air-boat cruise a few years ago and were never heard from again after that.
Rarity looked around at the treehouse around her.
“So…this is what happened to them?” Rarity asked. She picked the picture up in her hooves and continued to look around the treehouse. In the process, she saw something else on the floor under a desk. She moved the desk out of the way and saw that there was a tape recorder with several tapes littering the floor around it.
“Maybe this could shed some light on things.” Rarity said as she levitated the tape recorder to her face. She picked up one of the tapes and put it inside, afterwards pressing the play button. What followed was what sounded like static and a voice.
“This is the audio journal of Big Bucks. I’m afraid that while on our air-boat, we had quite the misfortune fall upon myself and my family. We were heading out on a cruise around Equestria, and while I am not entirely sure what caused it, the ship caught fire. We were forced to crash land in this remote jungle, and we’re currently looking for any other survivors. I don’t really feel that I should be entirely worried though. Surely somepony will notice how long we’ve been gone and come looking for us.”
Another voice chimed in on the tape, a female voice with a hint of an accent.
“Honey, I just got done looking over the crash site…it…it’s not looking good.”
“Urgh…so we might be the only ponies here?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised. Have you actually looked at this place? Almost nothing but plants.”
“I don’t think I’d say they’re the only things here hon’. We haven’t been here very long and…neither of us really know much about the jungle.”
“…I feel that you’re trying to imply something here.”
“Well…I’m just saying that this place may be very dangerous for you.”
“Oh I KNOW you’re not saying what I think you’re saying! You don’t think I can take care of myself, do you?!”
“W-What? No of course not! It’s just…I don’t want you or the baby to get hurt.”
Rarity heard the female voice sigh.
“…I know darling. I suppose it’s only natural for you to be stressed out over this. This is new territory for both of us. But…we’ve made it this far, so there’s no use in slacking off now right?”
“No, there’s not. Moping about this won’t get us anywh-“
“Waaaaaaah!”
“He sounds hungry.”
“I’ll handle it.”
The sounds of hoofsteps were heard for a few seconds before the stallion’s voice was heard again.
“…Looks like this’ll need to wait for another time. I’ll keep these going so I can shed some light on what happened if somepony ever finds us.”
The tape ended with a click, and Rarity looked a little discouraged.
“That poor stallion. He had quite a reason to be afraid. Having his wife and foal with him too.” Rarity said. She picked up the next tape and played it.
“So, it’s been about four months or so since the crash. We’ve looted the crash site for a few necessities and built a shelter up in the trees so that anything in the jungle can’t get to us. Finding food around here isn’t much of a problem; there’s fruit everywhere. But…we’ve noticed some pretty strange things about this place…there’s no wind…anywhere. We’ve managed to keep the rain off of us for the most part, thanks to my wife. Can’t risk our foal getting a cold can we hon’?”
“No. This jungle’ll have to go through me if it wants my baby, and I’ll be damned to Tartarus before I let that happen!”
“I pity the beast that crosses your path.”
“Speaking of which…have you noticed the tracks near the bottom of the tree lately?”
“Wait, what?”
Sounds of shuffling were heard due to which Rarity could only assume was Big Bucks looking down.
“Urggh, shit…Flashbang, we’re going to need to stay on our hooves. From what I can tell, whatever left those things has claws, and in this place that can only mean one thing.”
“…Carnivore.”
“Exactly.”
The tape ended with another click.
Rarity was starting to get a little disturbed by these audio logs. She almost hesitated to listen to the third, and final one.
Nevertheless, she popped the tape in and played it anyway.
“Things haven’t gotten much better for us around here in terms of safety. We’ve been here for about nine months or so now, and nopony’s found us yet. Regardless, we’ve been trudging along and we’re just happy we have each other’s company. Our foal’s getting to be quite a strong little one. I just hope that we’ll be able to get him back home and away from this awful jungle…We’re starting to wonder if we’ll be able to ever go back to Canterlot, back to how things used to be. When everything’s not trying to eat you at every corner. An-Urgh hang on…Flashbang honey, what’s that so-AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!”
“RAAAAAARGH!
What followed after sounded like some inpony beast roaring a deathly roar, Big Bucks and Flashbang screaming, and the sound of their young foal crying.
The tape ended after a few moments of static.
Rarity was at a loss for words.
“My goodness…that’s…that’s horrible.” Rarity said to herself. She suddenly felt very uncomfortable standing in the same room as those ponies were when they were presumably killed. It made her heart even heavier to think that if the parents didn’t live, then it wasn’t very likely the foal made it either. She looked to the mangled bed in the corner of the room that had bloodstains all over it. Looking at it made her sick to her stomach.
Unfortunately, she was so busy looking at the bloodstains that she didn’t notice the scorpion tail hanging from the ceiling. It was only when she heard a slight growl that she looked up and saw the terror staring back down at her. Clinging to the beams in the ceiling was a very, very skinny and hungry-looking manticore, clearly not the same species found in the Everfree Forest as this one appeared to have bigger wings, but it had the same menacing look about it all the while.
Rarity screamed and made a bolt for the door when the beast pounced behind her and tried to swipe at her.
“Raaaaargh!” it roared.
“AAAAAAAAAAAH!” Rarity wailed as she ran outside and jumped onto the blanket-covered platform, propelling it downward to the forest floor, and landing hard with a loud SMACK!
The manticore wasn’t about to let its target escape and it glided to the ground with its wings and landed right behind Rarity, swiping at her again, this time managing to rip her saddlebags, making all her things fall on the ground.
“Hey! These were hoof-stitched you brute!” Rarity yelled at the beast. The manticore didn’t let up and continued to advance toward the mare, prompting her to nervously back away. She had seen just what this species’ Everfree cousins could do, and she was terrified to think of what this thing would do to her.
“Umm…I take that back. Y-You aren’t a brute. Y-You’re a real…nice…kitty?” Rarity said, hoping to appease the creature.
The manticore didn’t pay it any mind though, and raised his paw up to strike at Rarity again. Rarity flinched and was almost certain that she was going to die right at that moment…
“RAAAAAAARGH!”
Rarity heard another roar not unlike the manticore’s come from high up in the nearby trees. It appeared to distract the beast from Rarity, and it looked up in the roar’s direction. Rarity looked up too and gasped at the figure she saw holding onto a branch with a wing.
Hanging there was a colt, not that much older than Rarity’s sister. He had a dirty, brown coat and a big mop of messy, ginger hair on his head, which matched the color of his tail as well, and appeared to be very, very angry.
“Grrrrrr….” The colt snarled at the manticore as he slid his way down the tree trunk with his wings hanging onto each side, and landed on the ground. The colt crouched into a fighting position, with his wings flared to make himself look bigger, and his head low to the ground.
The manticore ignored Rarity in favor of the colt challenging him, and also got into a fighting stance. The two slowly circled each other, looking like one could strike down the other at any given moment.
Rarity was about to tell the colt to run for his life, to get away as far as he possibly could from the monster, but looked at him again.
She still had the picture from the treehouse with her and she took a second look at the infant in the picture and this colt.
Then she did it again.
And again…
The resemblance was undeniable.
“…Oh my goodness…” Rarity whispered to herself.
Yeah, I know the chapter is a little heavy on the drama, but it'll get funnier and this colt will show some more personality in the next chapter...
Provided you guys want another one. 
EDIT: I changed things around in the audio journals so that the dad doesn't sound like such a coward, and I gave the mom a speaking part.
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I take a rare look away from my writing to the new section and find this little dandy.
Keep it going!
I just gotta say it boys will be boys.
This story seems pretty good. I can't wait to see how it progresses. Good luck with future chapters. If you keep the updates coming, I'll favorite this story.
OK, this chapter was awesome. I enjoyed the discussions between Critter and Rarity, especially the feces comment. Lastly, it's interesting that you took some Tarzan references for this story.
you're doing a good job on the spinoff to Tarzan. (I mostly happy because there's no Disney clichéd.) 20 Brownie points for rarity stepping into poop. That was hilarious
Wow that was really fun to read, a nice spinoff from the Tarzan movie/movies. Tarzan is not my favourite thing, but it is definitly a good movie, i like the new movies, and it has a nice opening.
Well i want you to know that i think it was a really good chapter, and nice how he used his wings to hang on the branch, i just think that was a nice detail you thought of. Even if everybody knows that Pegasus ponys have wings, not everyone would have let him use his wings like this i think.
I would like it, if you would make it a long story and please let the romance take a while. I could believe, that the colt maybe would be a bit interessted if he sees something he like, because he would probably don´t even think of a romane if he like to hang out with Sweetibell or which one you choosed for the romance.
Because the colt has this background i somehow think Sweetiebell would fit very well in the role of (Jane?), at the same time i hope you don´t make to much similarities with the movie, that means i hope they go back to poniyville and don´t start to live in the jungle or something like that.^^ I can see how he would play around Fluttershys cottage, or how Diamond Tiara sees him and he get´s angry at her or somethign like that.
PS: And please don´t make him learn everything to fast. I mean i don´t want him to talk like everyone else in chapter 3 already. Let him learn some words for a while, i think you could maybe even do something funny with that.
PSPS: favourite
Nice opening chapter
MORE FOR SHITS SAKE plz
Awesome story! I really like the idea behind it!
What kept the Pegasus from flying for help?
5265880 Being cornered in a really tiny treehouse by a manticore with the door being the only way out, and the fact that the windless woods' manticores seem to have actual use of their wings due to being so light, unlike their Everfree Forest cousins.
The mom would've been killed either way.
5266895 so basically, what you're saying is that their Jaguars. That makes sense.
5268536 Ehhh...kinda. You know how lion's appearance is different based on their gender? The males have giant manes and are huge and lazy, but the females are a lot smaller and quicker and do most of the killing? Kinda think of it like that, except both genders in this case have basically the same build. They're still lion-like, but they all look pretty much the same.
So yeah, pretty much Jaguars.
As soon as I read about the treehouse, I paused. When I read about the picture, I nearly facepalmed. Aaand then the audio logs. Of course it was Tarzan, why wouldn't it be a Tarzan reference?
Points for originality, at least in the sense of what your referencing. This is only the second play on Disney I've seen on here so far, the other being Frozen.
So a story partially based off of Tarzan, but with a definite age difference between the two main protagonists. If that Romance tag implied what I think it means, then we can start making cougar Rarity comments later on
. Just so long as that doesn't make Professor Critter a Clayton expy, I think.
That said, Rarity seems a little bit flanderised in this chapter. I mean, she's been through the Everfree Forest on multiple occasions before, even if it was apparently a little more 'sanitised' with an actual pathway cut through already, and she had to know what she was getting in. Even being a drama queen, her overreactions feel a little forced.
When it comes to the tapes, I feel it's a little bit too forced of narrative convenience, especially with the time spans between tapes. I think it would have worked better if Flashbang and Big Bucks were recording them more for posterity in case they died there and someone eventually found their hideaway. Having a dramatic epiphany right in the middle of recording the second tape and then the monster, manticore or otherwise attack right when they're recording their final one pushes pretty hard on suspension of disbelief. I think it would have worked without that, with Rarity getting an unsettling feeling as she deduces just what happened that they aren't around anymore.
I had to go back and look to see if there was an Anthro tag. There wasn't