Chapter 76 - Rules of Nature
The cool morning winds soothed Rainbow Dash’s form as she flew with all due haste, determined to beat Thrum’s challenge in, as she would prove with her actions, ten minutes flat.
The pegasus flew as high as possible to avoid detection, draping a forelimb across the impenetrable dome-shaped barrier that capped the entire Ark, her eyes resting on it in fascination:
She recalled Granny Pithecus telling them how apes throughout the entire island had tried to explore the sky and sea in the past thoroughly—including some of the island’s more sentient beasts capable of flight.
Naturally, all efforts were thwarted by the stitched-together series of hexagons Rainbow’s hoof slid across, often being incredibly fatal as flyers crashed into the barrier with grotesque results and ships sank upon impact, leaving the crew at the mercy of the terrors out at sea.
Soon, and for the betterment and protection of those who became too curious, it became common knowledge among the masses to simply not bother with the very world that kept them all in.
In hindsight, this made Rainbow slightly thankful for Discord’s meddling… she would’ve hated finding out about Equus’s barrier the literal hard way. Speaking of, she made a mental note to apologize to the Overseer—if she ever saw him again.
Thanks to HLN-A and Spirit’s updates, they knew that Megan Williams was responsible for nudging Discord’s actions, which, by extension, affected their own. But then came the reasoning for this action: the confinement of Edmund Rockwell’s creation: the Corrupted Master Controller.
Sadly, that was the latest update they had received… They didn’t even know if the battle on Equus had been resolved yet.
The pegasus was suddenly drawn out of her self-thoughts as she approached the Green Obelisk, eyes scanning the structure from its highest precipice before traveling downward.
However, as Rainbow’s magenta eyes rested upon the Obelisk’s base, consisting of an indent into the earth with stone spires circling the earthly breach and a central platform, she narrowed her brows in concentration. It was faint at first, but as she got closer and closer, the pegasus made out clear signs of hardy structures being holstered within protective walls of conjoined stone and wood.
It was all too clear: the presence of another tribe.
The cyan flyer made a mental note to bring it up with her fellow tribe members upon her eventual return to Sanctuary. And while she inertly seemed interested, she was no fool. This island was filled with other tribes, and although she got lucky with the Traveling Merchants, who’s to say that this tribe would be as open-minded?
There was no ‘Herbert’ or ‘Shirley’ to vouch for her this time, and there was a particular challenge she refused to lose even if she did. Thus, Rainbow shifts her gaze forth and continues her flight with a thrust of her wings.
And as she honed in on the Redwood Biome, a thought occurred to her psyche:
-Ok. If I heard everything from yesterday correctly, this Gideon dude is a part of the same tribe that Twilight went to visit. Heh, time to see what an ‘Alpha Tribe’ is all about!- 
After a quick glance into her implant, Rainbow beamed a determined smile as she began to descend, passing over another Swamp Biome that kissed the edges of the redwood forestation ahead.
Although, in truth, she probably shouldn’t have boasted about completing the task in ‘ten minutes flat.’ It’s already been seven minutes since her departure from the Outpost, and although she was indeed fast, she knew she was nowhere near as fast as she could be back on Equus.
Eh, at least she still had a lot of time left as far as Thrum’s thirty-minute rule was concerned. She shook those thoughts away with a chuckle and unhesitantly plunged into the redwoods.
……….
Immediately upon entry, Rainbow’s ears became bombarded by the pure sounds of nature. Bird-like calls echoed across the redwood treetops, which practically blocked out the sun with their leaves with only semblances of the sun’s rays creeping through, while land-based entities stomped across the forest floor.
As she flawlessly maneuvered around redwood obstacles, the pegasus’s gaze went downward for a moment as she observed the bountiful wildlife. Paraceratheriums traveled in herds with other herbivorous entities mixed into the gathering.
A pair of elk-like entities currently had their antlers locked together in what Rainbow recognized as a competition for mates, a herd of females—Cows, Rainbow believed the term for female elks was, watching the spectacle from nearby.
Her time spent with Fluttershy since fillyhood certainly had its perks.
Suddenly, her ears picked up something particular, causing her to float in place as she surveyed her surroundings. She couldn’t quite put a hoof on it, but it sounded like a griffon was scaling a tree…? That was the best way she could describe the sound, something she had become accustomed to during her time with Gilda.
Seeing nothing in her vicinity, Rainbow simply shrugs it off. After all, there were creatures below her that could’ve caused the sound. Actually, she only now spotted a nearby, small species of Raptor that scaled a tree by flapping its wings and digging its talons into the bark, chasing after some larger variety of dragonflies.
“Heh. Looks like a tiny Vanellope,” She comedically compared before continuing with her flight.
But had she just turned her gaze up, and towards the treeline, she might’ve noticed a patch of orange, brown fur hidden amongst the foliage.
……….
Rainbow continued onward and toward the heart of the forest. As per Thrum’s information during their talks, the Tribe of Maimuta’s authoritarian domain rested upon a mountaintop akin to Canterlot.
During her flight, she spots a family of uniquely large bears scaling a tree to reach an equally impressive-sized beehive. Granted, they could never match an Ursa Minor, let alone a Major, in size, but they were undoubtedly the largest bears Rainbow had ever seen that wasn’t made of constellations or had the body parts of a bee/wasp/hornet mixed in.
Rainbow then laughs joyfully as she barrel-rolls around another redwood pillar and-
A ravenous beast's sudden, pouncing, and feline presence sent a wave of shock and fear throughout Rainbow’s form.
She cried out as the gargantuan feline tackled her mid-flight and dragged her downward with powerful forelimbs, snarling at her while the duo freefalls to the forest floor. An explosion of pain cracks across Rainbow’s back as she’s slammed into the earth by the beast’s might, her wings splayed out on either side as she coughs up blood from the impact.
The feline swiftly rests a single paw with rendering claws upon Rainbow’s stomach region, effectively pinning her down. The pegasus is still too stunned by the sudden turn of events to resist; her magenta eyes long widened in fear, and her heart rate skyrockets.
The beast inhales greedily with closed eyes. “Ahhhh!” It exhaled with a deep, gruff, male voice, eyes opening to reveal yellow/orange orbs dilated in bliss. “Mawlchu just loves the smell of fear in the morning.”
Rainbow’s implant injects information into her psyche, which, in turn, displays an appropriate form of identification for the beast towering over her via the pegasus’s HUD:
Wild Male Thylacoleo - Lvl 150
“Hola… senorita.”
Mawlchu lifts his paw from Rainbow’s form, but before he can speak a word from his flesh-tearing, buck-toothed maw, the equine shoots onto her hooves in one fluid motion and begins to retreat.
Rainbow couldn’t even describe her actions, and her body simply moved on autopilot. Twilight had always stated that ponies still had that ‘flight-over-fight’ instinct engraved into them as they evolved as a species of prey.
Despite how far they’ve come as a society, those instincts would never truly leave them, and Mawlchu kicked Rainbow’s into overdrive.
“That’s it, run!”
Rainbow didn’t want to look back as she ran; she couldn’t!
“Make this more fun for Mawlchu!”
The pegasus ran through greenery and trampled over shrubs, her breaths scorching her lungs as the adrenaline she currently felt numbed the pain from her forced landing.
“You’ll be glad to know that Mawlchu hasn’t had his breakfast yet!”
As she ran through a log and emerged from the other side, she could hear Mawlchu’s powerful form leaping from behind her. And as she chanced a glance over her right shoulder, she immediately regretted it…
Her ears didn’t lie; Mawlchu growled and roared as he leaped from tree to tree with incredible finesse, his muscles flexing in powering his form. Rainbow gasped—how in the hay could something that big move so Luna damned fast?!
“Yes, yes! Fulfill nature’s design, Equus! I, the hunter, and you, the agile prey!”
Mawlchu’s voice echoed from all around her. She knew that he was behind her, leaping from the treetops. And yet, his voice practically encompassed everything around her.
“This is the true way of life!”
Rainbow lept over a fallen log that had obscured her path, panting and sweating as her wings were folded to either side. If she were thinking rationally, she should’ve taken flight in an effort to escape. But her mind was simply too clouded by the need to run.
Besides, judging by the sounds encroaching on her rear… she didn’t doubt that Mawlchu could just pounce on her once again.
“This is the rules of nature!”
The pegasus ran and ran for all that she was worth, her boastfulness as an athlete being put to the test. Nearby entities fled from the hunting scenario, too, and a selfish side of Rainbow honestly hoped for Mawlchu to turn his attention to them.
“I’ve never seen an Equus like you before, chiquita! Pity that I’m only interested in seeing how you taste!”
As if fate had heard Rainbow’s selfish desire, it slapped her across the face in mockery. Mawlchu made it known that he was clearly fixated on her. There were certainly other prey items available nearby, yet he chose her.
But then she saw an opportunity dead ahead: a cliff. One that rested at the boundary of the redwoods and served as a potential escape route for the fleeing equine. Yes, if she could just throw herself over the edge, she could-
Another thunderous roar escaped from Mawlchu’s throat as he once again pounced onto the cyan mare, forcing her down onto her stomach, a trail of tears strolling down her cheeks.
Rainbow dug her struggling forelimbs into the ground, trying to pry herself free from Mawlchu’s grasp.
“Shhhh,” The hunter cooed, leaning down. “It’s ok, prey. You’ve done well, but Mawlchu has won this race, and to the victor comes-”
“YEAAAWH!”
“What are- AAAAARRRRGHH!!”
Mawlchu roars out in pain as Rainbow swiftly conjures forth a primitive hatchet from her inventory and drives it into the feline’s side with all the strength she can muster.
As the beast thrashes about and tries to get the weapon out of his side, Rainbow gets up again and hurriedly runs toward the nearby cliff. She spreads her wings apart, determination replacing the fear she once was consumed by and rational thought taking hold of her actions.
She lept into the air and jumped off of-
Mawlchu’s powerful jaws clasped around the back of the equine’s neck, his beaver-like teeth digging into Rainbow’s throat. Blood filled the struggling pegasus’s oral depths, gargling her words as the large feline managed to catch his prey at the very last moment, dangling them over the cliffside.
The hunter jolted his head sideways and loosened his toothy grasp, sending the equine soaring toward a nearby redwood tree and slamming against it harshly. And the last thing Rainbow sees through her nearly unconscious gaze due to blood loss and the puncturing of her throat is Mawlchu’s opened maw.
……….
At that very moment, all remaining members of the Tribe of Harmony received the appropriate message:
Your Tribemate Rainbow Dash - Lvl 21 was killed by a Thylacoleo - Lvl 150!
……….
Having secured himself a kill, Mawlchu looked down upon the lifeless equine in curious thought.
“What an interesting turn of events…”
In truth, he had been stalking her from the very moment she entered this portion of the forest—his territory, to be precise. Her appearance immediately sparked his curiosity, and being such a vibrantly colored individual was a literal breakfast calling for the beast.
But now, it was no longer her appearance that rattled his mind. No, the fact that she called forth weaponry like the apes living further in the redwoods truly dumbfounded him.
The Thyla had always been wary of the apes thanks to their extensive range of weaponry that they could simply call forth out of thin air. He had developed strategies and various techniques to deal with them, even going so far as to learn their traps to flee properly should he ever become… ensnared.
But then there’s this equine… In all of Mawlchu’s years, he had never even conceived the probability that any other lifeform on this island could do what the Gigantos could—'side from the Yetis, but Mawlchu wasn’t foolish enough to challenge them.
He would need to be wary and change his hunting strategy should he ever encounter another Equus like this one. But then again, that’s how he’s survived for so very long.
He was inertly grateful to the equine, for he had gained new knowledge and would adapt accordingly to it. As such, he would honor his current prey the same way he had done for all that came before them, each one teaching him a valuable lesson:
Devour every last shred of her being.
Mawlchu lowers his head and bites into Rainbow’s body before picking it up in his maw with little to no effort. He then dug his claws into the bark of a nearby tree and scales it before vanishing from sight in the overbrush.
It was time to figure out if she tasted like other Equus.
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Well that is fucking terrifying especially if he figures out she can respawn she might just become a favored target.
Fuuuuuck
Also, why do I imagine Mawlchu sounds like Danny Trejo?
Ok, THIS, is fucking horrifying. And it gives us a good glimpse into the mindset of the creatures of The Island, and exactly how they've changed.
Granted, it was touched upon with the Demon King, but Mawlchu has shown us that he freaking LEARNS from his hunts. This only leads me to assume that other carnivore do the exact same thing, and they use that knowledge to effectively kill Survivors.
Can you imagine if that's exactly how it was in-game? That. Is. Terrifying.
Well done, Pomp!
The Spanish accent is unexpected, but it does give him a sort of, "magnificent bastard" quality to him. I like it.
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Hah!
That's definitely a voice I can see Mawl having.
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Thank you very much!
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Thank you!
Best part is that Mawlchu is one of those characters that has actual lore to his mannerisms and speech. Trust me, he doesn't talk like that just for the sake of it, he's got a deep background, as does other beasts of the island.
Well, now it’s personal.
RD must show this cat what ‘Aerial Superiority’ means.
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No prob.
Comma, not a colon.
The word "certainly" would work far better here.
There should be an "H" there.
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Thank you for catching all of these in the chapters as you go through!
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No prob.