The Depths of Discovery

by Seamserb

Chapter 2 - SPAV Ride

One of the Enclave's greatest inventions is the SPAV (Self Propelled Armored Vehicle) line.

While not being anywhere near the levels of the most advanced creations of the Magus Clade, Terminus Guild, or ESPECIALLY the Cybernautics, the SPAV has three main benefits over the latter. They’re reliable, cheap to produce, and most importantly, are TRUE machines, working solely off of their mechanical parts and physics, and not requiring ANY magic input to use or operate.

This advantage gives the Enclave the ability to quickly, safely, and easily transport things and ponies between any and all of their Compounds, and their few trading partners, although this isn’t ignoring the SPAV’s created solely for battle.

What could spears and swords do against such a large machine?

In her whole life, Twilight has only personally seen a few come or leave the Compound – the one she remembers the most is the one that brought her there as a filly. Despite not being very interested in machines or the like, she always gets giddy when she sees one, respecting them as a pinnacle and epitome of what knowledge can do.

She never thought she’d see the interior of one, let alone be one that was in motion. But here she is doing both right now. Unfortunately, the experience is being shared with two armed soldiers and a violent prisoner.

Sitting in her seat, she’s barely able to hold herself together — but this time not because of giddiness.

Twilight and the prisoner sit across at either wall of the SPAV, their natural view forward being the other. A soldier sits next to both of them.

Getting a closer view of the prisoner right in front of her, she can see that they certainly have the frame befitting of an earthen, looking even larger and bulkier than Golden Harvest. Twilight could not even imagine what would happen if they managed to get ahold of her.

The distance between the two is plenty to be safe, but Twilight still feels like they're right up in her face due to their grim stare.

Twilight can’t help but stare back, looking into the prisoner's surprisingly clear, emerald eyes — the most visible part of her face with the muzzle and all.

If Twilight was looking at only her face, she might have been fooled into thinking they were a real pony. But Twilight knows better. They're a Hovel, those dirty and savage earthen marauders infesting Compound Charlie's Pocket.

The hovel raises an eyebrow.

“See somethin' you like?” she asks, jokingly.

The soldiers share a glance with each other then go back to looking straight.

Twilight tries her hardest to look away. She’s never been best at talking with people she doesn’t know, especially not this violent fiend.

The Hovel huffs.

“I overheard back at that big metal place’ about how you were one of them… ‘pathfinders’? You sure don’t look it… you look more like you’d be eaten alive out here.”

The soldiers know they should probably have done something, but they can't help but agree a little with the sentiment.

The Hovel uses her head to gesture to one of the side-windows.

Twilight peeks out, seeing the convoy traveling along a rocky trail. A cliff edge lies next to them, along with a large slanted wall on the opposite end. The whole formation is like a giant staircase, going continuously downward on in one direction and upwards in the other. There's also a small amount of foliage and bushes around.

Compound Charlie glows in the visible distance, being rather out of place with the cavernous surroundings. They’re close enough to be in sight, but FAR beyond what could reasonably be described as ‘protected’.

At best, they’re in range for reinforcements if something goes awry and they have time to react.

There's a pause as they just continue their bumpy ride.

The prisoner yawns, pulling her head back as far as her restraints can manage.

“Honestly, them bringin' you out here was bad. You look easily victimable.”

Twilight has enough. She can't stand for that, both the diss to herself, and also that terrible grammar.

“Ok, first of all, ‘victamable’ isn’t a real word. Second of all, I’m here to provide information and document this expedition. Do you even know what words things mean, Hovel?” Twilight says, annoyed.

The prisoner puts her hooves in the air as far as her restraints allow her, pretending to be afraid.

“Ohhhhh. You're here to document. Cool – And by the way, I have a name you know. Jack. Not 'Hovel'. I don't know why everypony calls me 'Hovel'..” She says.

“Quiet down, Hovel!”, the soldier next to her exclaims.

Jack gestures her head over towards him and waggles her eyebrows twice.

Twilight is about to respond, but suddenly the SPAV comes to a stop jostling her a little.

One of the soldiers immediately gets to their feet. “What’s wrong?” He exclaims towards the front.

The driver turns back. “There’s some obstruction in front of us… it’s like a… giant bush?” The co-driver begins to talk on the radio.

There’s some noises outside, both from the nearby soldiers, and of something rustling in front of them. Even Jack is looking towards the front, or as much as she can manage.

Twilight perks up. She quickly gets to her feet and runs to the cabin. The soldier next to her doesn’t react in time to wrangle her back to her seat.

Looking out the front window, her eyes widen.

“Moss Crawlers!” She says.

“You know what these things are?” the driver asks. The soldier behind Twilight was about to tackle her, but stopped after the inquiry.

Twilight nods. She turns back to one of the side doors of the SPAV, trying to open it, clearly struggling.

The soldier next to her raises an eyebrow and easily turns the handwheel for her, the door opening with a hiss. Jack rolls her eyes.

Twilight, a little embarrassed, quickly exits.

Outside, the cool, natural air hits Twilight. It's an unfamiliar but pleasant feeling. There’s some soldiers moving about, with most of them congregating around the CO in the distance, all of them standing in front of the obstruction.

Twilight quickly walks up to the CO, ignoring surprised soldiers trying to stop her.

She taps on the CO’s shoulder, making him turn around. His eyes nearly come out of his head as he looks at her.

“Wha— Miss Twilight! You aren’t supposed to be outside of the SPAV right now! Someone get her back insi—”

“Wait! I know how to deal with the Moss Crawler’s up ahead. I wrote a few of my papers about them. I probably know them better than you all know each other.”

The CO pauses mid-command, a bit curious as to where this is going. The other soldiers are looking at her as well now. Twilight wasn’t expecting to be the center of attention, but continues, gesturing towards the green rustling mass ahead.

“This behavior is known as ‘balling’. They do this when they’re running low on body temperature, and need to warm themselves and each other up.”

He raises an eyebrow. “How long do they usually do this?”

“Until the temperature of their surroundings increases, or if they’re disturbed by external stimuli.” She says.

He listens closely to that last part. “External stimuli… someone get to the Driver, tell him full speed ah—”

“What?! No! You can’t run them over!” Twilight exclaims, shocked.

The CO glares at her slightly. “And why is that?”

Twilight feels a bit red as she’s put on the spot.

“Uhm… their leaves… will muck up the tracks. They’ll get inside the cogs and stuff and it’ll just be a big mess…” lying through her teeth.

The SPAV could totally run them over, but that would be so needlessly cruel.

The CO rubs his chin. He doesn’t look fully convinced, but doesn’t have any other source of information about it. Twilight continues.

“Alright… without doing… that. The best way to dislodge them from the path would probably be with some beets, their favorite foods. I don't know what type of rations you guys have, but maybe—”

The CO suddenly pulls out his flintlock and fires into the group of Moss Crawlers. There's unified screeches as they scatter and flee the scene into various crevices and cracks around the area. Once the dust settles, a few of them lie on the ground, completely destroyed.

Twilight nearly screams from the suddenness of the shot. “Why would you do that?!” She says, both angry at the surprise but also the act itself.

“It made them go away. Problem solved. Now, back inside the SPAV, please.” He says, glancing at her.

Some soldiers ‘assist’ Twilight back to her seat, before re-sealing the SPAV. She looks around, still in shock.

The soldier next to Jack is asleep.

She then glances over to the driver and co-driver.

“Man, I’m just saying, I’d TOTALLY beat a Hovel in a hoof-fight. Those malnourished freaks don’t stand a chance.” Jack squints slightly from her seat.

None of them even care.

Twilight just sits quietly, feeling defeated.

So much for providing information.

---

The ride continues smoothly, or at least as smooth as a tracked vehicle can be over a rocky trail.

Twilight frowns. She’s starting to feel less as a member of the ‘expedition’, and more like a prisoner. She couldn’t even go to the bathroom without a soldier standing outside the door.

She’s attempted to make small-talk with the soldiers, but they seem disinterested at best, and annoyed at worst. She simply can’t relate to them about anything besides them all being a part of the Enclave, but their jobs are so different that they might as well be entirely unrelated at all.

Why couldn’t they have sent a second Aspirant with her? Oh right, the rest blew up.

Not seeing many other options, Twilight decides to get something worthwhile out of this.

She slowly looks over at the Hovel. It wouldn’t hurt to learn more about the bogey-pony’s in her life. As the saying goes, ‘know thine enemy.’

Twilight clears her throat. The two soldier’s eyes move over to her slightly.

“I’d like to… do a little ‘interview’ with the prisoner if that’s alright? Strictly in the name of gathering information, of course.”

Jack glances over, raising an eyebrow.

One of the soldiers speaks up. “What for? Trust me missy, we drilled everything we could out of that Hovel. Doubt you’d be able to get anything else useful.”

“Not everything…” Jack says with a smirk. The soldiers quickly turn to her. They’re about to say something, when Jack cuts them off.

“I wouldn’t mind doing a bit more talkin’. But only to her.” She says, staring at Twilight.

The soldiers are about to radio in the CO, when Jack cuts them off again.

“If you call em’ then I wont say a peep at all.” She says.

The soldiers share a look with each other, then at Jack, then back to Twilight. She’s giving them a wide eyed stare and flicking her neck and eyes away towards one of the back compartments. She mouths ‘do it’.

They know they shouldn’t be doing this, but this could be an opportunity. Reluctantly, they stand up and go towards the back of the SPAV, entering a room and closing the door behind them. Jack follows them closely as they do so.

Once they’re gone, the two stare at each other. Jack smiles.

“Now what question could be so important that you’d make those dogs get out?” She asks.

“Questions, actually. Not question.” Twilight responds.

Jack chuckles. “Go ahead, Pathfinder.” She’s a bit impressed with the courage.

Twilight unlatches her satchel and fumbles for a quill, ink, and paper, She accidentally spills some over her jacket, eyes going wide.

“Ack—”

Jack frowns.

There goes the impressment.

After getting herself in order, Twilight readjusts her sitting position real quick, feeling ready.

“So… Jack, was it?” She says, grimacing a bit. It feels wrong to address a Hovel by a name, but
studies show that people are more amenable if you address them as respectfully and properly as possible – and she’s gonna need as much amenity as she can manage here.

“Mhm.”

“I just need to ask… why do your people do the things you do?”

Jack squints.

“ ‘my people?’ “ she asks, with a tinge of annoyance.

“Yes. The Hovel. You—”

Jack cuts her off.

“I said’ earlier. We ain’t the ‘hovel’ you guys keep talkin' about. My people are the ‘Anuui’. If you want any more answers, call us that.” Jack says, leaning back a little.

Twilight frowns.

“Okaay… the 'Annui'. Why does the 'Annui' do the things they do to the Enclave?” she inquires.

Jack’s expression doesn’t change one bit. “You’re gonna need to be a bit more specific. We do a lot of different things to different people.”

“Like kill them? Just a week ago, a Enclave convoy in this area was set upon by marauders and scalped. What did they do to deserve that?”

“Nope. Wasn’t us. That was the Scalpers.” Jack replies.

Twilight blinks.

“Okay… what about last month, when a soldier was lured away from a Compound and had his legs smashed open? That poor mare is still in rehab right now…”

“Still nope. That was the Bonecrushers.” Jack replies, even more nonchalant than the last time.

Twilight is starting to see a pattern.

“Then what DO you guys do? Please enlighten me.” Twilight says, starting to get a bit frustrated.

“We definitely’ don’t just go around bashin’ people's heads open or something like you think. Why would we get into conflicts for no reason? Maybe it's cause’... we’re defending ourselves from a group who attacked us first?”

Twilight looks shocked, but not due to any empathetic revelation.

“That’s a lie. The Enclave never harms people when there’s no reason to do so. That’s completely illogical!” She says.

Jack can’t help but laugh. “Then why do they beat me? Do you think I got all of these bruises from tripping over rocks? You’ve seen it with your own eyes.”

“You mean when you headbutt that soldier doing his job? No, I don’t believe I've seen any unjustified punishments so far.” Twilight says, squinting.

“If someone's job was to kill your family, would you not try to fight back once they tried to ‘do their job’?” Jack asks, mockingly.

“That’s a completely irrational hypothetical. I’m not gonna bother answering that.” She says, crossing her arms.

“I don’t know what either of those words mean, but I’m gonna assume’ you don’t wanna’ answer cause you know that's the situation i'm in.” Jack responds, yawning.

Twilight leans forward. “The only situation you’re in is being a rightful prisoner of war after you did something deserving of this.” She says, gritting her teeth.

Jack glares back at her. “You really have no idea of what goes on out here, do you? Outside of your cushy ‘compounds’... We fight just to make it to the next day… fight people like you who destroy our homes, kill our families, and ruin our lives… the fact that’ y’all can't even tell us apart tells me all I need to know about you disgusting—”

The soldiers suddenly burst out of the back room, with angry expressions. Jack and Twilight glance over, a bit surprised.

“SHUT YOUR MOUTH, RAT!” One soldier shouts. He runs up to Jack and begins to strike her.

Twilight looks shocked at suddenness. How did they even—

Her eyes dart down, and then widen. There's a radio on the floor near Jack. It’s very clearly on.

Those fucking snakes!

After both of them get their beating in, Jack groans in pain. “...See..?” She coughs out, with a weak smile. She’s rewarded with a punch to the gut.

One of the soldiers turns to Twilight. “Don’t listen to this vermin. Everything just said was a clear lie.”

Twilight feels a bit off-put by that seemingly over-the-top reaction. “If it was a lie, then why did you do… all that?” She asks.

The soldier looks at her with bewilderment. “...because it’s a dirty lie? Don’t tell me you actually listened to anything it said.” the Soldier exclaims, sussing her out.

Twilight blinks. “What? I didn't—”

“You better not have. Cooperating with Hovels is a one-way trip to some mandatory ‘education’ lessons.” The other says, glaring at her as well.

Twilight can't believe her ears. “I literally just said I didn't!”

“Good. Keep it that way.”

Twilight face-hooves. Are these guys for real?

Jack coughs some more. The three glance over at her.

“I got somethin’ else…” she says with a groan. Her breathing is slightly ragged.

The soldiers are about to stop her, but she beats them to the (literal) punch.

“The Annui don’t attack people for no reason… but savin’ one of their own is a good enough reason to justify a fight.” she says, with a slight smirk.

After a little bit, the SPAV suddenly lurches to a stop. Twilight almost is lifted off of her seat.

The soldiers pause. “What’s happening up there?!” One yells to the front.

“I don't know! There’s like.. A boulder blocking ahead..?” The driver says.

“We’re gonna need more than a flintlock for this one…” The co-driver says.

There's commotion outside. Twilight hears soldiers talking about how this path was cleared for travel just a day ago.

After some more discussion, there’s suddenly a very audible horn. It sounds close. Very close. Everyone stops talking.

One of the soldiers grits his teeth and immediately begins striking Jack.

“WHAT'S HAPPENING?! WHAT IS GOING ON.” He orders, angrily.

Twilight looks over, but her eyes widen. Jack, who was heaving and coughing mere moments ago, now looks as solid as a wall. She doesn’t even budge from the strikes, simply giving a death glare to the soldier, while tilting her head down slightly.

Twilight feels a cold sweat.

The soldier feels it as well, but shakes it off. He goes to strike her again, but…

CRASH.

One of the front windows of the SPAV breaks. A spear has flown into the cockpit, hitting the driver in the torso. He’s out.

The soldiers and Twilight look to the front with horror. Jack just smirks.

The co-driver shrieks in terror. Flipping a panel, and hitting a button, the SPAV begins to make alert sounds. The interior locks itself down.

“AMBUSH!” he yells.

There’s screams and shouts outside as soldiers attempt to rally themselves, but their voices are drowned out by new hollers and cries.

War cries.

The SPAV begins to get pelted with various projectiles like rocks and spears. They don’t break anything, but the thumping sounds scare the heck out of Twilight. She ducks for cover.

Outside, the scene has erupted into total chaos. Various Annui warriors descend on the group, literally, sliding down the cliffside next to them.

They’re worse armed than the relatively higher tech Enclave soldiers, but they’re physically superior and have sheer numbers.

Twilight hears the sounds of battle outside, the damned screams of the dying, and the vicious ones of the killers.

---

The CO bangs on the doors of the SPAV, demanding to be let inside, trying to open the sealed door.

Annui warriors suddenly surround him, slowly approaching.

He glares at them, pulling out dual flintlocks.

“Come and get it, Hovels.” he says, sickeningly calm.

---

Inside the SPAV, while the soldiers are still in shock, Jack suddenly jumps into the air as far as her restraints can manage.

She’s chained to the floor, but still has some space to maneuver. She rotates her body on its side, thrusting her legs outwards, drop-bucking the guard closet to her. The blow crushes into his helmet, slightly denting it. He goes flying into the wall, landing limply next to Twilight.

Multiple gunshots ring outside the SPAV.

The other soldier, now scared shitless, wields his sword and points it at Jack, who simply sits up and glares back at him.

“Sorry bout’ your friend.” she says, jokingly.

The soldier leaps at her wildly, sword drawn. Jack manages to position her chains to act as a sort of wire, catching the sword. She wraps it around the sword, pulling it away from him, but he refuses to let go.

Unfortunately, this brings him right into her range.

Using the momentum he has from being pulled forward, Jack bucks off the wall, pushing herself forward. Still being moved forward from the momentum, the Soldier’s head collides with Jack’s shoulder. There’s a sickening crack as he flips onto his back, like he just got shoulder checked by a Timber Bear. His face bleeds profusely.

Quickly pulling his body closer, Jack manages to retrieve keys from his belt. Putting them between her bound hooves, she first gets the chains on her legs, then torso, then the hooves themselves. Finally, she rips off the muzzle without even unlocking it.

She stands up fully, stretching and groaning a little. She pops the shoulder she just used to bash the soldier, with a relieved grunt.

Without being bound by the restraints anymore, she looks even larger than before.

She glances over at Twilight. She’s curdled into a ball on the floor nearby. The unicorn’s eyes widen fearfully.

“Who knew you’d last longer than the Enclave dogs?” She says, smirking.

Twilight just looks frozen.

“Ah well, you won’t outlive em’ for long.” Jack says, sauntering towards her.

The terror Twilight feels would probably be enough to petrify a lesser pony. Unfortunately, she is a lesser pony.

Twilight immediately tries to cast some magic, her horn glowing. Jack pauses and squints, preparing herself for whatever happens.

Nothing.

She’s too nervous. Anything she could cast, even in her best scenario, probably wouldn’t stop this beast anyways.

Jack raises an eyebrow, but continues forward.

Twilight curses under her breath.

“W-wait! What about n-not hurting people for no reason..? What did I do to you?!” She yells.

Jack pauses, putting a hoof to her chin.

“Well… YOU might have done nothing, but the Enclave sure has. And also you’re kinda’ annoying.” She says nonchalantly, continuing to move towards the unicorn.

Twilights can feel her heart sink. She stammers incoherently, trying to think of something, anything. But right now, her mindset of rationality has been replaced with one of pure instinct — Survival.

Her body taking a mind of its own, she snatches the side-dagger of the guard who was drop-bucked next to her. She scrambles backwards, eventually reaching the back of the SPAV.

“STAY BACK!” Twilight shrieks, waving the dagger.

Jack can't help but feel a little entertained.

“Daw… look at you playin’ soldier.” she says, still continuing forward.

Twilight keeps holding up the dagger. Her eyes slowly turn from one of fear to focus, her breathing slowing. She props herself up against the back doors.

The earthen suddenly slows to a stop, seeing this display.

The Annui are no stranger to how animals can react when cornered and afraid… Even the smallest Rock Mite can make you bleed if you push it too far.

Jack thinks to herself. She would definitely win this fight, but...

If little-miss-stabby got a clean hit, that could be the end of her. The Annui aren't exactly known for their riveting healthcare.

As she weighs her options, Twilight suddenly shrieks like a banshee, lunging forward with the dagger.

Jack barely backs off in time, as Twilight falls on her front. Still screaming, the unicorn lunges again. Jack blocks the slash with a cut to her arm, grabbing Twilight’s dagger hoof with her free hoof.

There’s a brief struggle for it. Twilight feels an unholy amount of pressure on her wrist, but she thrashes around like a maniac. Jack gets a hoof in the face, although it seems like the punch hurt Twilight more.

Jack manages to wrest the knife away, and clamp onto Twilight’s throat.

The unicorn puts her hooves on Jack’s arm, but she can’t even budge it. She scratches at it uselessly while choking.

Twilight hears noises outside. Battle cheers and cries. The soldiers are all but gone, nopony but Annui are left.

Jack casually inspects the fresh cut on her arm while choking the life out of Twilight. New scar to add to the collection, she guesses.

Looking back at the slowly-turning-blue Unicorn, she feels a mixture of shock and anger, but also a strange sense of being impressed.

“Didn’t expect ya had it in you, to be honest. But that’s about as good—”

The entire SPAV suddenly lurches to its side. Jack’s eyes widen as she's thrown against the wall. The collision makes her drop Twilight, who also collides with the wall. She gasps for air, coughing and holding her neck. The two lie on the floor in pain.

Jack gets to her feet first. Instead of finishing off the fallen Unicorn, she rushes to one of the side windows

“HEY! WHAT ARE Y'ALL IDIOTS DOIN?!” she yells, banging on the nearby sealed door.

Twilight, still in a daze from being strangled and thrown against a metal wall, barely can make out the voices.

"They're sealed! We can't open em’!” one voice says.

“The ground is startin’' to collapse under the wagon!" another chimes in.

Jack tries to twist the handwheel on the door with all her strength, but they don't budge. She curses under her breath.

Twilight comes to her senses, and looks outside the window opposite to Jack’s. Her eyes widen, seeing nothing but the darkness below. The SPAV is falling off the edge.

She scampers for the dagger, grabbing it once more. She can’t believe she’s about to do this.

Twilight lunges with the dagger towards Jack. Jack turns around, and doesn’t react in time…

Instead of going for Jack, Twilight instead plunges her dagger into pipes near the door. Steam suddenly begins to spray out. Jack has no idea what this means, but assumes the unicorn did it for a reason.

She suddenly feels the handwheel beginning to give way. The sealing mechanism is breaking apart.

Twilight nearly leaps onto it, pulling in the direction to open it. Jack looks bewildered.

“OPEN IT!” Twilight shouts.

The two give it their all. Twilight peeks out the window, seeing multiple Annui trying to stop the SPAV from falling. One particular giant red stallion looks like he’s about to burst from the effort.

Just as they’re making progress, the SPAV lurches hard once more. Twilight is thrown aside, as Jack continues to hold onto the handwheel, but can’t get the leverage to twist it anymore.

"NO! NONONO!!!!” Jack yells.

She knows it's a lost cause. But she won’t go out without taking a Enclave dog with her. She glares at Twilight like a demon.

Twilight barely has time to look back at her, before the Annui leaps at her, dagger in hoof and screeching. Twilight screams in terror.

At that moment, the cliffside gives way.

The Annui scatter from the edge, as the entire SPAV falls into the abyss.

“NO!” The red stallion yells.

Mid-leap, Jack’s eyes widen as she is suddenly accelerated rapidly into the wall, this time landing straight on her face. She’s out cold.

Twilight screams as she plummets into the darkness below, alone.

Author's Note:

Criticism, advice, and feedback would be GREATLY appreciated. Please beat me up about anything.

Also please beat me up if you see any typo's, errors, or excessive repeats of phrases/words.

Everything may be subject to change.

Comments

[Santiaguo1]

The Enclave has denoted these individuals, regardless of their specific faction or even actions as Hovel, and tried to deponyize them as much as possible.

I think this comes up as a little brunt. By how Jack is treated the entire chapter, this can be inferred.

The hovel huffs.

The hovel gestures with her head to a window of the SPAV. Twilight peeks out, seeing the convoy traveling along a rocky trail. There's a cliff next to them, along with a large slanted wall on the opposite end. The whole formation is like a giant staircase, going downwards on one side. There's a few foliage and bushes spread out around them.

Getting a closer view of the prisoner right in front of her. She certainly has the frame befitting of an earthen, looking even larger and bulkier than Golden Harvest. Twilight can’t imagine what could happen if the hovel laid hands on her.

Capitalization.

Twilight is about to respond, when suddenly the SPAV comes to a stop. One of the soldiers doesn’t waste time standing up. “What’s wrong?” He exclaims to the front.

I don't know much about grammar, but I think the time here is incorrect. Like it should be "Twilight was about to respond.", if I'm right.

Twilight perks up. She quickly gets to her feet and runs to the cabin. The soldier next to her doesn’t react in time to wrangle her back to her seat.

Now, I don't really mind this, but it rustles a lot of people's jimmies if you don't use 'horse language'. By that I mean, using "Get to her hooves" instead of "get to her feet."

“Motherf—”

The SPAW begins to get pelted with various projectiles like rocks and spears. They don’t break anything, but the sounds scare the shit out of Twilight. She ducks for cover.

Swearing feels so out of character for Twilight, even in bad events. Even in other parts of the story, swearing really isn't needed as most of the time it doesn't really fit the narrator and the vibe of the story.

Twilight’s entire mindset of intellectualism and rationality has been replaced with one of pure.. instinct. Survival.

This scene keeps jumping between Twilight's perspective and Jack's perspective. While I think that you can jump perspectives between scenes just fine, maybe you should stick to one in one scene, as it is a little jarring.