Terrors of the Wild
A few miles near the camp, a black Lamborghini parks in the green grass. The driver and passenger doors have with two opposite thunderbolts of a light blue color. Stepping out is a woman of a dark orchid skin color and hair of a moderate rose that is well-kept save for a small mohawk in the middle. Her face bore a scar on her right eye and a scrape that hasn't healed much. As she walks towards a maintenance worker, another door opens and with the squeaking on the suspension. Her partner was an obese, gray-blue man with silver hair, steps out, holding two donuts in one hand.
“Can I help you?” Merriam Cooper asks before being presented with a badge.
“Tempest Shadow, EPA Division Six.” Tempest withdraws her badge, “My partner and I are here to check reconstruction.”
“I didn’t know the EPA monitors reconstruction.”
“Look,” Grubber points a powdered donut at the man, “just don’t question us and we don’t bother you.”
A moment for the construction worker with his mouth agape before the tall woman interjects.
“Forgive him,” Tempest glares at her overweight associate, “he’s not himself when he’s hungry.”
Cooper leads the two to the work site: a busted electric tower bent in two ways. If that wasn’t enough, a weird, viscous goo covers it. Tempest turns her head to the right, two of the gigantic mantis’ laid aside; one sliced in half. The construction worker leads them to the center of the construction, where the man who saw the ordeal last night silently sits as his mind takes.
“He’s been like this since we’ve arrived. Something about, uh, uh…” Cooper turns to Willis, “Well, tell them, O'Brien.”
The man lifts his head but keeps his eyes on the ground.
“It looked like a giant… Hairy man…” Willis finally answers. Tempest turns to Grubber and nods at him. The overweight man turns around and hobbles to where they parked; he pauses, dropping his donut.
“Tempest!” Grubber immediately came running back to Tempest, pointing behind him, “You won’t believe-!”
Like a child to his mother, Grubber pulls Tempest to where they parked. Though she doesn’t panic, her expression told otherwise. The car was on it’s back, the hood all scrunched up.
Elsewhere, life continues normally. And such is no exception for Camp Everfree. The campers happily strolled about the site. Some participated in activities such as rock climbing. So far, only Derpy and Sandalwood took the opportunity to take a sailboat at the lake. There wasn’t any wind, and the wall-eyed teen made little difference despite her efforts.
“Hey, I know you don't want to,” Sunset spoke to Twilight as they walked around the lake, “but I really think we need to figure out what's going on with your magic.”
“But that's just it!” Sci-Twi refused, taking a few steps back “I don’t want to know! Not like last time!”
As their conversation continued, Photo Finish photographed Lyra and Bon Bon in frightening poses. Behind her, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Flash tried their hand in a tug-o-war match against Bulk Biceps. Already the odds favor the heavily muscled man.
“No!” Photo Finish raises her hand, “You must show more fear! You see something big approaching you!” Unbeknownst to her, a butterfly passes her and lands on Bulk’s chin, “You have no chance of escape, you are petrified with fear! Now, scream darling! Scream!!!!”
When the insect reached his nose and looked at him in the eye, Bulk Biceps let out a blood-curdling scream that got everyone's attention. The scream dies down, but the soft echo continues like a gunshot. The massive hulk looked at his peers give out a hearty laugh and some applause before a deafening, primal roar rocks the forest. At the same time, some strange force pushed the sailboat at frightening speed and smashed part of the dock.
Even from where Tempest Shadow and Grubber, it's heard like a speeding fire truck.
At the reconstruction site, Merriam slowly turned his head at Tempest asking, “What exactly are we dealing with?”
“Something big, Mr. Cooper.” Tempest looks inside the car and pulls out the only thing intact: a shotgun, “Is there anywhere I can find a telephone?”
Cooper points in the one direction where she could; it’s a journey, but it’s worth the trouble.
“What happened?” Rainbow asked as she helped Derpy back to shore.
"Are you okay?” Sunset asks as well, lending Sandalwood her hand.
“Yeah. It was so weird.” The Eco-Kid rubs his arms, “We were stuck in a middle of the lake with no wind, then all of a sudden, bam! The wind picked up, and we were pushed right into the dock.”
An unnatural phenomenon in the forest, such an idea made Pinkie gasp, “You don't think it was the spirit, do you?!”
“No,” Twilight mutters to herself before walking away from the group, “it was me.”
“Here,” Sunset motions for Applejack to lift the canoe, “Let’s get this out of-”
Shifting her weight caused a floorboard to break, driving Sunset’s foot, shoe and all, into the water. Luna lifts another plank, tears off a chunk, and inspects it. Years of being soaked in water and termites have done the job. She shakes her head.
“This is a safety hazard.” She remarks, “I suggest we close down the dock for the remainder of the camp.”
“Oh, man!” Rainbow complained, along with many of her classmates.
“At least the fishies are eating well.” Fluttershy complimented, though no one else seemed to care much.
“Oh, I'm sure it won't have to be for the remainder of camp.” Trying to keep a happy face on things, Gloriosa swings her arms in confidence “Just needs to be patched up a bit.” The floorboard gives away again to the applied weight of her right foot, not very convincing to her charges, “I've got this!”
Applejack rubs her lower lip before her faced beamed, followed by snapping her fingers, “Or maybe we do! Building a new one could be our camp gift. Sure, it would benefit us, but a nice new dock would benefit future campers, too.”
The idea reaching their heads, the students started cheering.
“I don't know.” Timbered spoke with uncertainty, “It's an awful lot of work. I wouldn't want you guys to miss out on doing other fun camp stuff because you're so busy building a dock for future campers.”
“I hear what you're saying, Timber,” Rainbow Dash wraps her arm around Timber, “but we're Canterlot Wondercolts. We've got a reputation to uphold! And there was no way we're gonna leave this place without contributing the most awesome camp gift ever!” She walks over to Applejack and stands next to her, “I'm with AJ. Building a new dock is definitely it!” Rainbow flips her head to everyone else, “What do you guys think?”
Everyone present cheers their heads off, all the more voices to approve of their worthwhile sacrifice. The two sibling camp managers looked at each other and walked away from the rotting dock.
“Looks like it's settled, then.” Gloriosa whispered.
“Looks like it.” Her brother replies quietly, but still a bit loud for Sunset to hear in earshot.
“That's some tension, am I right Twi-” In the confusion after the deafening howl, Sunset now realized that Twilight is missing. As the rest of her classmates conjured up ideas on their camp gift, Sunset walks over to her assigned tent. In the shade of the tent, Spike slept like an angel. Perhaps too much so as his body twitched and legs in a running motion.
“Spike?” Sunset whispered, reaching over and flipping the dog’s ear with her finger.
“So many squirrels…” He mutters and whines in his sleep.
“Spike?” Sunset whispers a little louder, shaking him a little.
“Huh, oh, ah!” Spike’s eyes shot open before he reactively jumps out of his bed. He looks around before stamping his paw, “Oh. Aw, man! I was having the best dream. Wait.” He looks the other way again, wagging his tail, “That dream could be a reality!”
“Before” - Sunset catches him and sits him down on her lap - “you run off to chase squirrels, do you have any idea where Twilight could be? I really need to talk to her.”
“What happened?” Spike draws his floppy ears back, “Did she do that lifting things off the ground thing again?”
“That's just it. I don't know if it was her.” Sunset looks outside for a moment, then looks at the arsenal she brought, “But if it was, we need to deal with it head-on.”
Spike understands quite well but feels uncomfortable at the same time. He licks his lips, then jumps off Sunset’s lap and sniffs the ground. As he steps out of their tent, the scent becomes stronger, and so the dog sniffs more rapidly as he picks up the pace.
Deep in the forest, Twilight sat in a secluded glade. Silent, it's the perfect environment to reflect on her well-being. She looks at the pond; at first, she views herself. But the strangest thing happens. Her reflection stretched the corners of her mouth into a crooked smile.
“Always a part of you…” She spoke in a creepy sing-song tone, with a chuckle to match.
“No, no!” Twilight slaps the water before covering her face. She looks at the water again, nothing out of the ordinary this time, “Keep it together. Deep breaths. You are not a monster.”
She sits up again, puts her hand to her chest, drawing it in tune with a deep breath. For once in a few times in her life, her mind’s been cleared. Then, she feels pressure on her shoulder and gets her panicked. She spins around and punches the assailant. The person in question was Timber Spruce, his back turned and groaning like mad. Twilight looked at her knuckles; the purple skin now stained with a little red.
“Timber?” Before he turns around, Twilight hides her hands behind her back with an uneasy chuckle, “What are you doing here?
“Uh…” Timber releases his nose for a moment, mouths the D-word, before looking at Twilight, “Looking for you.” He sits down keeping his head forward, “What are you doing out here?”
“Oh,” Twilight shuffles her feet, “I just went on a nature walk and got a little lost.”
“Well, if you wanted to come back.” While keeping his nose pointed down Timber motions her to look behind them. The first big tree they see has an arrow pointing to the left carved into its bark. Regaining his balance, Timber unintentionally places his hand on Twilights. She draws it back and looks away, hiding her blush.
“So…” Twilight breaks the silence, “I take it you come here often?”
“Yeah,” Timber gags a little after lifting his head back by mistake, “I'm kind of an expert at these woods. I've lived here my whole life.”
Twilight looks at Timber once more, curiosity filling her head, “That must have been nice.” She compliments, “Growing up at a camp.”
“Yeah, though it has its downsides.” Such an odd reply made Twilight raise her brow, “When I was younger, I wished we'd sell this place so we could live in a town like normal people.”
“Really?”
Timber looks around in suspicion before motioning her to lean in and whispers, “When I was ten, I really wanted to hang out at the mall.”
They giggle for a while. All the matter being, Spike’s constant sniffing lead both him and Sunset to them. The red-head lifts up Spike and keeps their distance by hiding from a large bush.
“I've never told that to anyone. You must be special.” Twilight blushes at this fact, closing her eyes as Timber brings his hand towards her face, “And not just because you have a tree branch in your hair.”
Twilight winces as a small twig is pulled out from her hair, “Ugh. How long has that been in there?”
“Not long.” Timber tosses the branch, then looks at Twilight again, “Just the whole time we were talking.”
“Well,” Twilight chuckled, “why didn't you say something?”
Seeing the healthy conversation unfurl, Sunset curls up a smile and turns to the little dog.
“I guess we can help Twilight deal with the magic stuff a little later.” Sunset puts the dog down and the two begin retracing their steps. Spike looks in the general direction of his owner. For what it’s worth, having someone to talk might boost up her spirits after what happened on the island. After making a turn, something catches her eye; deep in the forest, Sunset notices a strange, red glow. One part of her mind is saying it might just be the heat getting to her, another is saying to trust her gut instinct and get to the bottom of things.
“Excuse me,” Sunset yelped before turning around. She stood before Tempest Shadow, Grubber standing next to her, “But I’ve been told there is a campsite nearby.”
“Y-yes. Right this way.” Perhaps it was Tempest’s intimidating features or not, Sunset leads the two in the direction of the camp. She takes a few glances at their unusual insignia. “So… You two appear to be more than just simple cops.”
“Division Six.” Grubber sputtered before drinking some soda, “Our business deals with matters that wouldn’t matter to the public.”
“You mean like…” Sunset raises a brow, “Social security.”
“Child,” Tempest gets her escort’s attention, “let’s say that every once in a while, things happen that just can't be rationalized in a conventional way. People want to know that their government has a response. We are that response.”
When they reach the clearing, the first face they see is Gloriosa Daisy. Sunset, all the while, notices the campers already starting with the dock.
“Hi!” Even in the face of this stranger, she keeps a cheery face, “How can I help you today?”
“Tempest Shadow, EPA Division Six.” Tempest introduced herself again, showing her badge, “Our car broke down a while back, and we wondering if we could use your telephone?”
“Sure! Just follow me!” Still keeping her smile, Gloriosa turns around when her eye catches Sunset raising her hand.
“Uhm, Gloriosa, maybe I should-”
“I got this!” She interrupts before continuing her walk, “Please, follow me!”
Even Tempest and Grubber became uncomfortable at this “good service.” Still, the two follow her, while Sunset makes her way to the docks. Fluttershy and a few classmates built a rather crude fish food dispenser. All the while, Pinkie Pie lined up the floorboards of the runway. Applejack, knee-deep in water, hammers one end of the board. Before she steps out to shore, she notices Rainbow Dash already hammering the other end.
“Huh, nice hammer.” AJ places her head on her arms, “Where did you get it?”
“Uh, duh.” Rainbow scoffed, nudging her big toe on the toolbox.
“Hah, that's cool.” She lifts her hammer, “I made mine.”
“Ugh.” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes before her eyes spotted Sunset and SPike walking to them, “Well, look what the cat dragged in?”
Rarity noticed a few scratches and dirt stains on both.
“Sunset, Spike, darlings!” Rarity chided, “Where have you two been? Or for that matter, where’s Twilight?”
The dog and the equid in apes clothing exchanged glances before the latter answered, “We just checked up on her. She’s in good hands.”
“You mean Timber Spruce’ hands?” Pinkie cooed before everyone guffawed.
“So,” Rarity pulls up a blueprint of her runway, “what do you think of my plans for the runway?”
Sunset tries to think of an answer, but seeing Luna walk by had her raise a finger, “Let... me get back to you on that.”
As she jogs over to Luna, Rainbow Dash leans over to AJ.
“Guess she found it ridiculous too.” She whispers, getting a foul stare from the fashionista.
Luna stopped her paces and looked at the sundial. Thoughts churned in the vice principal’s head as she looked at the forest. She closes her eyes. In the recesses of her mind, she recalls that fateful day of being attacked by the mountain lion and the sudden arrival of her gigantic-.
“Vice Principal Luna?” Sunset interrupts Luna’s train of thought and gets her to turn around.
“Just having… Fond memories…” Luna answers before clearing her throat, “Is there something wrong?”
“Nothing, really.” Sunset scrapes the grass with her shoe, “That story you told last night… Was it true?”
Seeing this one person ask about her story got the Vice Principal to raise a brow, “Yes, when I was far younger.”
“Do you…” Sunset turned her head away, but kept her eyes on Luna, “Where exactly?”
Luna cocks her head, keeping her lips pursed before looking at the sundial again and walks to her left to the forest. Though uneasy, Sunset still follows Luna to the forest.
Twilight and Timber finish laughing before the latter touched his nostrils. Though the blood flow has slowed, the harsh smell of metal has proven a bit much for him and so he stands up.
“You really should get that patched up.” Twilight chuckles.
“Yeah,” Timber shook his head with a snort, “think you’ll be okay on your own?”
Twilight nods, giving the camp manager the notion to stand up and follow the trail he carved on the tree. She looks ahead now; a smile still on her face from the lovely conversation she had with Timber. She stands up, stretches her legs and walks to her right.
“You’re the first person who has an interest in my story…” Said Luna as she continues walking, “Tell, me, why is that?”
“Well…” Sunset ponders: if where she was is any indication, putting this answer lightly isn't easy, “You want to know where I’ve been in the past few months?”
At the clearing, Luna stops and turns around, “Singapore, correct?”
Sunset paused, “Close, but where I went,”
The two enter the clearing, walking around the rotting log after all these years. The stop and look down.
“Let’s just say,” Before the two of them was a footprint as big as them, partly covered with grass, “monsters existed.”
Twilight was in the middle of humming a happy tune when her ears pick up a distressed call. She rushes the source of the sound: a fawn is underneath a massive tree. She tries pushing the fallen plant, but to no obvious avail. She looks at her hand and, with a nervous expression etched on her face, brings it forward. An aura surrounds her hand followed by another aura surrounding the tree. Raising the hand higher causes the tree to move as well. The trapped animal began squirming, slowly but surely getting out. But when she used more of her magic, Twilight hears a suspicious laugh and looks to her left. Midnight Sparkle was at it again, as she reaches for her kinder doppelganger's hand. She pulls her hand back, canceling the magic and keeping the animal trapped. Panicked, Twilight approaches the tree again and tries to push it.
“Come on!” She groans, hardly budging the tree, “Come on!”
She's not strong as AJ, but using all the strength she can muster somehow caused the tree to start moving. It happened so fast that she lost her footing and collapsed. Now free, the young animal, apparently the size of a thoroughbred horse, would have trampled Twilight had she not rolled over. She looks forward; the tree isn’t there. Twilight raises a brow when a crash sounds to her right. When a cloud moves aside, horror builds up inside the ace-student; she was in a colossal shadow… the shadow of a titan.
A cry of terror echoes the country. Sunset and Luna turn away from their inspection: further away still, every camper halted construction and looked.
“Twilight!” Shouted Sunset
“Twilight?” Timber Spruce questioned as he stepped out of his cabin.
“Twilight!” The Rainbooms screamed, dropping their equipment and running to the sound. Applejack had to pull off the trousers before she can keep up with the others.
Sunset rushed through the forest as well. By the time they arrived where the scream was, no one was there. Only a displaced tree, and several footprints at least two and a half times the one Sunset just saw.
“There’s a monster in the forest!” Rarity screams
Fluttershy takes a closer look, “this looks like a primate’s, a gorilla perhaps.”
“Wasn’t there a gigantic gorilla at the island?” Applejack asks of Sunset.
“Yeah,” Sunset points at the footprint, “but Kiko wasn’t that big.”
Out of nowhere, Pinkie Pie comes into view wearing a Sherlock Holmes
“I only know one creature that could leave a footprint like that…” Pinkie Pie paused for dramatic effect. Too long, as Sunset motions her hand around, “The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.”
The entire group groaned, shaking their heads at the ridiculous possibility of a giant, sugary being as the problem… yet. Fluttershy inspects the track again before hearing some chattering.
“I know, it’s quite a-” Fluttershy squeaked at the squirrel, “Did you just talk?” The rodent chatters a little, “But I don’t speak squirrel.”
“Are you talking to that squirrel?” Rainbow questioned with a raised brow.
“I don’t know.” Fluttershy points at the squirrel, “I understand him, but…”
“Oh, oh! Let me try! Let me try!” Pinkie Pie approaches the squirrel, and clears her squirrel, “Squeak squeaken squeakity squeak.”
“Now you’re talking to that squirrel?” Rarity questioned while Pinkie Pie continued her false dialect, much to the squirrel’s annoyance.
“Let’s not worry about that now.” Sunset intervened, approaching Fluttershy, “You think you could ask where Twilight is?”
“Or we could follow the trail?” Spike offers, standing in another footprint in a series of footprints walking through a trail of smashed trees. With a shiver, the group follows the trail. It’s like what happened on the island, another journey into the unknown.
Somewhere far away from Camp Everfree is an old house. Grandiose is design, and tall and raised as a Gothic church, only one so well paid could afford it. Indeed, one such does have that money, but he wasn’t Filthy. Hell, the famous business person would make his buildings more grandiose than that. Inside, trophies of his enemies adorn the wall, as well as a small case of batches including the dual lightning symbol of “Division Six.”
“Damn it, Tempest,” Grumbled a middle-aged man of phthalo grey with azure gray hair over the phone, “you called me when you shouldn’t for this?”
“You don’t understand, sir” Tempest replied at the other side from Camp Everefree’s telephone. All the while, Grubber helped himself to the fridge. “It smashed our car.”
“And you saw this happen?” Asked the man from the other end of the line.
“Grubber did, but-”
“So,” The commander interrupted her, “you don’t have evidence?”
“I have another witness-”
“A witness with a concussion.” He interrupts her again.
“Commander,” Tempest’ nerve started breaking as she balls up her fist, “he saw it tear down a power station.”
“What did?” A pause before the Commander responds, “Tell me again, Tempest. And this time, listen to yourself.”
“A giant, hairy man.” Tempest rubs her face as she hears commanding officer guffaws at the very thought, “Sir, please. I have a feeling about this one.”
“That's lovely, Tempest. Really, it is.” The commander takes a breather, “But let me try to explain how this works: If you told me you'd found, say... um, a giant footprint, I might send over an expert to make a plaster cast of it. Hell, you get me a photograph of this thing and I could probably get some troops over there! But you tell me you've got a feeling.”
“If you want evidence, that’s fine.” Tempest takes a deep breath and looks outside, “I’ll get you evidence.”
“Sounds fine…” The last words from her commanding officer before hanging up.
It’s a half hour later, and the search takes the Rainbooms over to the bank of a large river. Tired, and sweating like pigs, the group sit down to take a breather. Applejack fills up her canteen. Rarity took out a spare bottle of nail polish and delicately applied it.
“You do know we’re in the middle of the woods, right?” Rainbow grumbled.
“Still, deary.” Rarity responded, continuing the application, “Never hurts to look your best anywhere, anytime…” She looks up at the befuddled look of Rainbow Dash, “... What?”
“I swore I saw something...” Rainbow Dash muttered as she squints ahead of Rarity.
“Hey, Everybody!” Applejack called out to her friends, pointing ahead further down the river bank. A figure was waving frantically. With a pair of balloon binoculars, Pinkie stretches her grin across her face at a familiar face.
“Twilight!” Pinkie shouts out before running along the shore, the others following close behind. Rainbow Dash started running before she runs so fast she rushes past Twilight, leaving a streak of rainbows.
“Did Rainbow Dash just-” Twilight questions when Sunset gripped her shoulders.
“What happened, Twilight?” Sunset asked, “What took you?”
“Well, uh…” Before Twilight could even answer, a sharp cracking sound is heard in behind the Rainbooms. Birds of all kinds fly out in great numbers that they could blot out the sun. The cracking sound gave way to splashing. Appearing in the river was a true marvel: a brown mountain gorilla of forty-five meters in height, walking like a man. The girls stood in shock and awe at the sight of this great beast. The gorilla stops, and turns around, revealing some nasty wounds. The girls cower as the beast approaches them, hiding behind a rock.
“A monster, here?” Sunset peaked up from the hiding hole, “This is extraordinary!”
“Oh, yes,” Rarity adds, “Ooo, ahh, then there comes the running and screaming.”
“Fluttershy,” Sunset turns over to Fluttershy, “think you could talk to him like you did the squirrel?”
Talking to a miniature animal is one thing, a towering behemoth is another. As the caregiver shudders at the thought, an idea sparks within Pinkie Pie.
“I know,” Pinkie Pie reaches into her pocket and pulls out a floatation device, “I could give him a Pinkie Pie Welcome!”
“Pinkie, wait!” Sunset stammers too late. The pink party planner hops into the river and starts paddling towards the gorilla as he takes a drink. Before Pinkie could take out her tiny confetti cannon, a giant claw burst out the surface.
A giant crawfish emerges from the water, letting a terrible shriek. With a slap from its big claw, the crustacean sends Pinkie to the depths
“Pinkie!” They all shout out.
“All right, Mr. Krabs!” Applejack grabs the nearest boulder with little effort and tosses it at the crawfish. Angered, the arthropod raises its claw again and smacks it at the water. Rarity instinctively raises her arms and prepares for the worst. When she opens her eyes, she finds flattened diamonds arranged like a shield kept them dry.
Placing both claws together, the crustacean advances towards the girls. Before it reaches the shore, it’s pulled away. The gorilla pulls his enemy to deeper water before swinging the beast over his head. Belly exposed, the gorilla pounds the crustacean repeatedly.
As they watched, something collides with Sunset, toppling her to the ground. Rainbow blushes a little before looking at the gorilla beating the daylights out of the crayfish before the latter sinks into the deep.
“Who’s the monkey?” Rainbow asks.
“Nevermind that,” Sunset sits up and points at a spot in the lake, “get Pinkie Pie out of here!”
Rainbow Dash dove into the river and paddled as fast as she could towards Pinkie Pie. The gorilla inspects the churning water before the crayfish pulls him under water. Rainbow Dash get's pushed back to shore by the incoming wave. She tries again, swimming far ahead before diving under. Rainbow felt the pressure get to her before grabbing Pinkie and swam to the surface.
Deeper the still, the battle of primeval proportions continues. The crayfish has the home advantage; holding the gorilla by the leg, it’s a matter of time before his victory. The gorilla grabs a rock and smacks the crayfish hard on the carapace enough times that it loses its grip on him. Still, the mammal had enough time to take a quick breath before the gigantic claw smacked him silly. The gorilla gets into focus, biting the smaller left pincer and holding the larger right one with both his hands.
Having pulled Pinkie back to shore, Rainbow Dash applied CPR enough times to have her friend vomit water.
“You okay?” Rainbow asks, to which Pinkie Pie nods before putting her thumb in her mouth, blows on it and regains the puffiness of her hair.
“I knew we shouldn’t have played Jumanji.” She answers before collapsing.
The water churns again as the gorilla pulls the crayfish over to shallower waters, both claws in hand and tooth.
“Let’s get out of here.” Spike whimpers, ears drawn back and tail touching his belly.
“And miss the monster match?” Rainbow rebuked, before sitting down “Come on! This is great!”
“Let’s go!” Applejack picks up Pinkie Pie and joins them in their daring escape. Rainbow takes a look at the two beasts wrestling; hard as it was, she joins the others.
The gorilla continued pulling his head back and forth on its smaller pincer. The crayfish screeched before the appendage tore clean off. The mammal now twisted the bigger pincer before it too came off. The arthropod screeches before turning tail and floating away. The gorilla spits out the smaller pincer and lets out a roar, then amusingly claps the larger claw. He turns over to his right, briefly spotting the band of technicolor girls and their dog. With a snort, the gorilla walks in the opposite direction, carrying the large claw for a snack.
Around the same time, Tempest and Grubber photograph the trail. They pause when the echo of the roar is heard and hide behind a standing tree when they hear the bushes rustle. Tempest peaks to her right, seeing the Rainbooms far away from camp, raising a scarred eyebrow when looking the other way.
It’s not long for the Rainbooms to return to camp. Some of their classmates question their roughed up saviors, especially about Pinkie Pie and an odd smell coming from Twilight. Sunset notices the pressure and turns to Applejack.
“Applejack, why don’t you take the others to the cafeteria,” Sunset asks of her, “Twilight and I are gonna get some towels.”
“Uhm, yeah.” Twilight bit her lip as she joins Sunset on their walk over to the storage closet. Just when she does, she gets pulled inside and the door swiftly behind her.
“Do you understand what is happening right now?” Sunset blasted.
“Yeah, we got an ape the size of a building!” Twilight emphasized, stretching her arms across to make a point.”
“Not just that,” Sunset pokes at Twilight, “You're not the only one with a new kind of magic! This is great!”
“No, it's not!” Twilight pushed Sunset away, “We could’ve could have really hurt each other! Why is this happening? I don't—”
Suddenly, the door swings open, startling the two as they see eye to eye with Gloriosa. Suspecting something odd, the camp manager clears her throat.
“Anything I can do for you?”
“Uh,” Twilight shifts her eyes at Sunset before answering, “A few of us just fell into the lake and...”
“Oh, no!” Gloriosa storms the storage room, grabbing as many towels as she could, “You’re gonna need warm towels, dry clothes, oh,” she boils up a pot of hot cocoa, “and a hot cocoa!” Sunset and Twilight gave Gloriosa a worried look. “I've got this!”
Suddenly, they hear another faint scream.
“Fluttershy?” Sunset and Twilight call out before grabbing the supplies and rushed to the cafeteria.
“What happened?!”
“I don't know.” Fluttershy coughed, “We were just decorating cookies and—”
Pinkie pops up from underneath also covered in smoke, adding, “And I was all, "You need more sprinkles! And you need more sprinkles!"
“So, Sunset flicks her finger at the two, “standard Pinkie Pie stuff.”
“I was just tossing sprinkles to Fluttershy,” She repeats the same action; a few seconds they start glowing, “when all of a sudden they glowed pink and-!”
Followed by another explosion, creating a mess all over the place.
“Just like that, only earlier!” She finishes before reaching for another bag of sprinkles.
“Oookaay.” Sunset takes the sprinkles away, “Why don't you lay off touching stuff for a while?”
“This is awesome!” Rainbow Dash screamed, “Being at camp has given us all new magical abilities!”
“Yeah!” Pinkie adds, “Fluttershy can talk to animals, I have explosive sprinkles!”
“I lifted a massive boulder like a skipping stone.” Applejack also adds.
“And I made a diamondy thing appear out of nowhere, which normally I'd be excited about.” Rarity spins her hand around, “and then it disappeared.”
“We’re all superheroes just like we always had!” Rainbow pounds her fists together.
“Not all of us.” Sunset objects, “I haven't gotten any powers, but Twilight—” She notices Twilight pursing her lips, “... well, she hasn't, either.”
Excitable as it was, it still made Applejack sigh in defeat.
“So much for my theory that leavin' CHS would mean leavin' any new magic business behind.” She mumbles.
“Or the monster monkey business.” Sunset adds, “Their size, magic powers without having to Pony Up. Something at the camp must be making this happen.”
“Um,” Fluttershy chirps, among the several birds perched on her arms, “Gaea Everfree?”
Just after saying that, door slams open once again. Fluttershy and Rarity scream at the strange, scary silhouette before them.
“Hi, everyone!” The figure tilted around, it’s Gloriosa Daisy holding more towels, “I was looking for you! Here, I brought you some more towels and dry clothes. Uh, what happened in here?
“We're kinda trying to figure that out.” Answers Sunset, giving an uneasy look to her friends.
“Well,” Gloriosa places the stack on the counter before grabbing a spritz bottle and paper towels, “don't worry about it. I got this!”
“Gloriosa,” The camp manager turns around, finding Sandalwood at the door, “I kicked my beanbag into the lake!”
“I'll get you another one!” Gloriosa chips with a twitch in her eye. Not a moment too late, Derpy pokes her head underneath Sandalwood’s armpit, holding a small bow.
“And I'm all out of arrows!” She adds.
“Say no more!” Gloriosa answers, hand stretched nobly, “New arrows coming right up!”
“There you are!” Timber Spruce exclaimed, pushing Sandal and Derpy aside before whispering in Gloriosa’s ear, “Tempest wants to ask a few questions. Do you want me to handle it?”
“Absolutely not!” Gloriosa rebuked, still hushed.
“Uh,” Sunset reached for Gloriosa, “are you sure you don’t need.”
Gloriosa catches Sunset’s hand, turns her head and, with a crooked smile, answers, “I've got this!”
Hearing a scream, Sunset pulls away from Daisy and turns to Fluttershy.
“Enough with the screaming!”
Puzzled, Fluttershy points to herself, “I didn't scream.”
“For once.” Rainbow mutters.
“Nobody did, darling.” Rarity added.
Sunset rubbed her chin; if it wasn’t her friends, then what? But not a moment after too soon, the P.A. buzzes.
“Attention, campers!” Principal Celestia announced, “Anyone who's interested in making floating paper lanterns, please meet us by the picnic tables.”
“I don't know about the rest of y'all,” Applejack stretches herself around, popping a few joints, “but I've been looking forward to coming here for a month. Maybe we forget about these “upstarts" for a bit and just try to focus on enjoying our time at camp?”
“I was oh,” Rarity pulls out her sketchbook, “so excited about designs I've come up with for the camp fashion show.”
“And I've barely gotten to whoop anybody in tetherball.” Rainbow complains, pounding her fist to her hand.
“I think we should try to figure it out.” Sunset thinks deeply about the problems at hand, but, defeated, finished with, “But if letting it go for now is what the rest of you want…”
Except for Twilight, everyone chattered and nodded in agreement; no more magic and monster business for now.
As the sun settles beyond the tree line, the campers take their time decorating paper lanterns. Many are simple, some are extraordinary, and one...
“Um, Pinkie Pie,” Rarity asked indeed, “what are you doing?”
“Putting marshmallows in my lantern.” Pinkie places another marshmallow on her lantern, “Then when we light them, mine will be beautiful and delicious!”
Yet, in this gentle activity of arts of crafts, one sheep is on another picnic table away from the flock. Twilight delicately glued stars on her blue paper lantern.
“Hey, Twilight,” Spike jumps up and sits next to her, “why aren't you with everyone else?”
His master takes a deep breath, “I’m scared…”
“About the monsters in the forest?” Spiked questioned, cocking his head.
“Well, that too.” Twilight looks up at the sky, “Sunset said something at camp this to happen. I think it's Midnight Sparkle. She's still part of me, I can feel it even when we left the island. And I think her magic is infecting my friends.”
The puppy places a paw on Twilight, “What are we gonna do?”
“I don't know what I can do.”
“Okay, everyone!” Twilight turns to Gloriosa motioning everyone to stand up, “It's time to watch your lanterns fly!”
Holding their lanterns as their home economics colleagues would, everyone stands up and walks towards the lake. Hard as it is, Twilight stood up, delicately lifting her lantern and began her walk to the annual ceremony. Timber was purposely waiting for her while he kept count of his charges.
“Hey, cool lantern!” Timber complemented before holding his lantern to his head, “Mine's my face!”
Such an odd design choice lifts up Twilight’s spirits, but only just. When all he got from her was an uneasy giggle.
“Uh, you okay?” Timber cocks his head, “You don’t seem like… You.”
“Mm-hmm.” Twilight hummed before walking around Timber. She stood beside Lyra and Bon Bon, awaiting the moment to release their creations.
“Ready?” Gloriosa lowers her “And... go!”
Everyone by the lake pushes their lanterns into the air. Like balloons, the lanterns fill the darkening sky. Well, most of them. The marshmallows have made it too heavy for Pinkie Pie’s lantern and fall down.
“Aw! Oh, well! Now I get to eat it!” Wiping away the dust on her failed project, Pinkie pulls out a marshmallow and eats it, “Yep, beautiful and delicious.”
From their temporary stay-in, Grubber was looking from the window, holding a bottle of root beer. He turns over to Tempest, processing her evidence to her laptop.
“Sure we want to do this in front of a bunch of kids?” Grubber takes a sip of his root beer, “Storm Leader’s gonna have a lot to answer for.”
“You don’t know him like I do,” Tempest saves her email as a draft, “When he sees this, he won’t cut and run.”
At the base of a hill, the great gorilla sits on his nest, finishing off the crab claw before tossing the pieces aside. Still not even the least bit filling despite the colossal size. Something catches his eye and gets him to look up. The lanterns joining the stars spark a little memory. When he was smaller (yet still plenty big), a familiar little girl brought a lantern and cast it to the air. Whatever this creature is, going out in public isn’t in his best interests. And so he lays down, curls up and goes to sleep. One good night’s rest before starting the day all over again.
It was a few hours to dawn. Everyone was fast asleep, even the hyperactive Pinkie Pie. But not everyone sleeps like a baby. And this time, it’s not Twilight. Sunset’s face scrunched as she gritted her teeth and tossed around. In her dream, she is a pony again, all the way down to walking on all fours. But in her surroundings made her uneasy. Could this be the Everfree Forest itself? It could explain much. She looks up to the panicked screeching of birds. Barely dodging a small stampede of creatures, she feels the ground shake beneath her. Was it the ape? Sunset squints to the forest ahead of her; no sign of the gorilla, but smoke is swiftly approaching.
She turns tail and runs in the opposite direction. Fast as she was, the unicorn felt the ground shake beneath her like several cannons firing from a galleon. She also suddenly feels the heat; looking to her right, the forest is quickly set ablaze. Sunset looks ahead when a blue flames blast the terrain and send her rolling down a hill. She recovers quickly and continues galloping.
When the flames cut her off again, Sunset turns to a mountain ledge and ascends it as blue fire smothers the ground. Indeed, by the time she reaches the summit, to her horror, the world around her in a sea of blue fire. She slowly steps back until she ran out of the rock to step on. Sunset looks back then jumps back at the rising, spiny being, its back glowing blue. It opens its mouth and lunges at her.
Screaming, Sunset sits up so rapidly she collides her head on something. Or someone… After rubbing her forehead, groaning, she opens one bloodshot eye at Rainbow Dash also rubbing her forehead. Flipping her eye left and right, she sees the other five all crammed in the same tent.
“What are you all doing in our-” - Sunset notices one bunk and one dog bed unoccupied - “Where’s Twilight?”
“We were gonna ask you the same thing, sugar cube.” Answers Applejack.
“Ooooo,” Pinkie Pie started twitching in many places on her body, “I knew my Pinkie Sense was tingling.”
“Okay, okay,” Sunset rubs her temples then looks at her phone, still early in the morning, “we’ll split up and find her before the sun gets too high. But first...”
“What is, Darling?” Rarity holds Sunset’s hands.
“Can you leave the tent so I can get dressed?”
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My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
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Looking good so far.
9025493
Thanks!
9025516
No problem, just don't make Twilight and Timber a couple.
Okay, just a few things:
1. Loved the callback to Ebirah, Horror of the Deep. Since Kong was the focus of the original script, its nice to see him have his fight.
2. Nice job introducing Tempest and Grubber.
3. Loved Sunset's dream of Godzilla. Now I am curious...is he going to be a villian?
9026871
I was going for an Iron Giant vibe with their introduction.
1) It was quite a pleasure being able to write that in.
2) Thanks!
3) I wish not to spoil my hard work and keep things a surprise.
That Mr. Krabs remark sent me into hysterics!