//------------------------------// // Chapter Nineteen: Crikey! // Story: The Titans' Orb // by Mister Horncastle //------------------------------// In spite of our truly horrendous state, the clean air and fresh smells of the jungle helped to spur us on, but eventually, exhaustion caught up with us, and we slowed down to a snail’s pace. The deep laceration across my chest was still oozing blood, with my tattered shirt being absolutely caked in the stuff. My face had become as pale as a sheet, and although it was hot and humid, I felt cold. Fluttershy soon came to realise just how severe the injury was, and firmly put her hoof down. “This is far enough. I need to see to that wound.” Nobody needed telling twice, and we all collapsed into the undergrowth. From the second we stopped, I felt the true effects of the blood loss, with dizziness taking hold. I found myself dipping in and out of consciousness, and from my perspective, Fluttershy was practically teleporting as she moved around. Taking off her saddleback and sinking her top half into it, she began retrieving a whole plethora of supplies, including a bottle of Oozima, a spray of some sort, and a suture kit. “This is going to hurt…” she spoke softly. “Based on the past couple of weeks, I think I can handle it.” I mumbled, sniffing. Just thinking about my torture brought the poor girls to tears, and I immediately regretted alluding to it. Twilight then violently twitched without warning, presumably at the thought of what she had been made to watch, not to mention what she had been forced to do. She took one look at me, and then picked herself up, stumbling away to be alone behind a nearby tree. The second she was out of eyeshot, we heard her break into an uncontrollable sob. Looking from face to face, I was filled with a sense of sheer dread, as I realised that they might never truly recover from the torment we had all suffered. Thanks to Inigo Montenegro, the girls would return to Equestria traumatised, tarnished, and scarred for life, forever haunted by the memories of what the seven of us had been forced to endure. This may stay with them for the rest of their days, and that fact alone tortured me worse than Inigo ever could… Carefully taking off my shirt, I used the ruined garment to wipe up as much blood as possible, before throwing the damn thing away; with how ripped and filthy it was, I certainly wouldn’t be putting it back on again. And then with trembling hooves, Fluttershy tried to rinse my chest with the water in her canteen, before using the spray on it, which turned out to be a disinfectant. The intense stinging began immediately, and I gritted my teeth, hissing loudly. “I’m so sorry…” the pegasus whimpered. “Urgh…” I growled, “Can we perhaps rub some salt into it next? You know, to alleviate the pain from whatever the heck you just sprayed on me?” Blinking away her tears, she explained that the spray was a top-of-the-range antiseptic from the royal hospital in Canterlot. Supposedly, it could prevent even the most gnarly of injuries from getting infected, even if they had already been exposed to pathogens. It was essentially a more effective form of povidone-iodine, used to treat only the most important of ponies, from members of the Royal Council, to the princesses themselves. Though it stung like hell, I knew I needed it, and allowed her to continue tending to me, until she at last started preparing the suture kit. “I um… I’m… I’m not sure if I can do this…” she sniffled. “Hey, it’s alright, you’re okay.” I told her, reaching out to touch her, “You’ve got this.” Shaking her head and backing away, Fluttershy went into a panic, insisting that she could feasibly close minor tears and incisions, but nothing quite so severe as this. Crying harder, she began apologising profusely, and I knew then and there that she couldn’t do it. {I swear, if I have to sew myself together…} I groaned in thought. Continuing to comfort her, I racked my brains for a solution, and quick enough, one came to me. “Rarity.” Wiping her eyes and shambling over to me, Rarity took one look at the situation before her, and knew exactly what I was about to ask. “Callum, I’m not sure… I have no experience in… You can’t expect me to-” “I can, and you must.” I interrupted, looking at her sternly, “Flutters can’t do it, and I can’t either. You’re the best seamstress that’s ever lived, if anyone around here can do this, it’s you. So please, take the kit from Fluttershy, and stitch me up.” Accepting that she had no choice, Rarity sat down and used her telekinesis to levitate the suturing needle into the air, where she threaded it and brought it to my chest. “Just imagine I’m one of those pretty dresses of yours, in need of some mending” I grumbled, smirking faintly. “I’m afraid you’re not quite so pretty at the moment.” she huffed back. “Well, care to help fix that?” Clenching her jaw and nodding, Rarity was ready. I held the fold of loose skin and stretched it over to where it should have been, hissing savagely through my teeth, as just touching it caused it to burn with agony. Silently mouthing a prayer to Princess Celestia, Rarity buried the curved needle into my flesh and hooked the part I was holding down, driving it through and looping it around. With her teeth chattering, Fluttershy oversaw the procedure, and told the unicorn that the needle needed to go deeper than that, or the skin would tear. “Oh, I can’t believe I’m doing this…” Rarity murmured. I held the skin as tightly as possible, grunting and grimacing while the unicorn sewed the deep ruddy cleft back together. Finally letting go, I was pleased beyond belief to find that it held. Rarity wiped the sweat from her brow and backed away, where Fluttershy proceeded to thank her copiously for doing the job. Now much calmer, the yellow pegasus took over, retrieving the bottle of Oozima and bringing it over to me. “Let me make it abundantly clear, I’m not sticking my nose in that again.” I announced. I was able to draw a few pitiful laughs out of some of them, and it felt good to add some light to the oppressively dark atmosphere around us, even if it was short-lived. Fluttershy then got to work, lathering the healing gel all over the injury, ensuring it was generously coated. After that, she wrapped my upper body with bandages, which with Rarity’s help, were bound so tightly that it prevented me from breathing all the way in. “Isn’t this a bit overkill?” I wheezed, “Why so tight?” Fluttershy then explained that with the extensiveness of the injury, there would be a lot of swelling beneath the skin. The tight bandages served as something of a compression vest, preventing such swelling from occurring. The alternative would be to have a drain sticking out of me, which left me nearly gagging at the thought of fluid constantly leaking out of me. It went without saying, I much preferred the bandages. “I’ll treat your other wounds properly once we’ve set up camp.” said Fluttershy, still sniffling slightly, “I just wanted to make sure you didn’t bleed out.” “Oh, how considerate.” I scoffed. Looking at the utter state of the girls, I knew that everyone had cleanliness on their minds; the poor things were filthy. I suggested that we found a water source and erected our camp close by, which they all agreed to. Applejack helped Rainbow Dash to her hooves, and Twilight returned from her solitude. I was the last to get up, and despite the wound now having been closed, I felt colder and dizzier than ever. To help with the load, Fluttershy squeezed my rucksack into the non-medical section of her saddlebag, and then we set off, sluggishly making our way deeper into the jungle. At least, we would have done, had I not immediately lost consciousness… “Mmnnn…” I groaned, rubbing my eyes. “Welcome back.” a voice sighed. Rolling over, I opened my eyes to find Twilight sitting beside me. Blinking a few times to clear my vision, I asked her what had happened, to which she told me that I had fainted. “Yeah, I gathered that bit…” “Now that I have my magic back, I was able to carry you.” she explained, “Well, drag you… We found a river not that long ago, and have spent a while washing ourselves and getting our shit together. Now we’re just setting up camp.” Nodding slowly, I sat up to find myself beside Twilight’s tent, the others were loosely scattered around, with Rainbow Dash and Applejack being nowhere to be seen. “Where’s-” “Taking a walk.” she cut me off bluntly, knowing what I was about to ask. Lowering my chin and shaking my head, I found myself on the verge of tears just thinking about Dashie’s wings. That poor, poor pony, I could only begin to imagine what she was going through. Looking at the lilac unicorn with glassy eyes, I opened my mouth and pulled a face of utter desperation. “I’m so sorry…” Pursing her lips, the mare took a big breath in through her nose, and then she shrugged. “It would have been nice if you’d have gotten us out sooner. But, for what it’s worth, I don’t think any of us could have been prepared for that man, not even you. I’m just glad he was brought to justice, I think it’ll be easier for Rainbow Dash in the long-run, to know he’s not still out there somewhere.” After a pause, she locked eyes with me and furrowed her brow. “What was it like for you? Killing the monster that tortured you? Getting such… superlative revenge?” I couldn’t tell if she was mocking me or not. Was she genuinely trying to understand my experience? Or was this building up to be a jab at how I was just a violent creature, and that she had been right all along? Her expression didn’t seem smug, or arrogant, and for once, it seemed like she was genuinely trying to connect with me. Perhaps, after being made to hurt me, she wanted to make things right? “I’ve uh, not taken the time to process it…” I replied, swallowing, “But in the moment, when I stabbed him in the gut, it felt like I had all the power. And when I saw that look of absolute terror on his face…” Unable to suppress the truth, I sighed heavily at the memory and broke into a wide smirk. “It felt… really good.” Twilight studied my face silently for a good while, and I presumed that she was judging me for my confession. “Look, you can think of me as you like.” I went on, “I’m just telling you what it felt like.” Blinking slowly, Twilight responded with a small hum, followed by a calm, almost friendly reply. “Good for you.” She got to her hooves and turned away from me, but before she could leave, I begged for her to wait. Inhaling deeply, she turned around to look at me once more. With tears rolling down my cheeks, I smiled at her warmly, and swallowed. “Thank you for saving my li-” “Don’t think for one second that I did it because I care about you.” she uttered sharply, cutting me off, “I did it because the others would never forgive me if I didn’t.” Whipping around and marching off, Twilight disappeared into the brush, leaving me to puff heavily from the emotional whiplash. So much for wanting to make things right between us… I couldn’t for the life of me understand; if she still held contempt for me after all this, then why had she asked me about killing Inigo? Why had she spoken to me at all? Why had she even been sitting with me whilst I was unconscious? Not knowing how to comprehend it, I tutted and got to my feet. Heading over to where the others were setting up camp, I made my presence known to them. It was a comfort to see them all so much cleaner, Rarity actually looked white again. Overjoyed to see me back on my feet, they all emitted sighs of relief and came over to hug me. “How are you feeling darling?” asked Rarity. “Pass.” I muttered, “How about you?” “Pass.” We exhaled from our noses in mild amusement, before our faces both sunk grimly. We both knew just how much distress dwelled beneath the surface of one another. Gulping, I changed the subject, thanking Fluttershy for tending to my other injuries while I had been out. She said that I was most welcome, and then I heard a noise. Glancing just beyond her, I spotted Applejack and Rainbow Dash making their way back to camp, where the pegasus was quickly escorted into her tent for privacy. Just one look at her wings was enough to break me, and I found myself going into an anxiety attack. “I… I need a walk.” I blurted out, turning around. Not giving anyone the opportunity to speak to me, I marched off into the jungle, my breathing getting faster and faster, until I finally broke down. I crumpled down to my knees and proceeded to completely fall apart, sobbing harder than I had ever sobbed before. Swaying onto one side, I clawed at the mud and foliage with my mouth agape, where I wailed and spluttered to myself like a dying animal. The flood gates were open, and all the memories came cascading into my mind… Inigo’s torture, the pain I had suffered, the girls’ heinous captivity, Rainbow’s wings, all the men I had killed; all of it played on repeat inside my head, over and over again. For what felt like hours, I writhed on the ground, crying until I could finally cry no longer. Drained of all energy, I simply lay there frozen with an agonised expression on my face. The sky was just beginning to darken when I heard a rustling close by. Rarity emerged, alone, and sighed heavily upon witnessing the state of me. “Oh, darling.” Nudging me up to a sitting position, she plonked herself beside me and wrapped her forelegs around me, holding me tightly as I wheezed pathetically. She held me for a good while, before she finally spoke. “This is all… very messed up, isn’t it dear?” Sniffing, I looked at her and lightly broke into more tears, to which she hushed gently to me and rested her chin on the top of my head, pressing my cheek into her neck. “I didn’t know any of this was going to happen!” I spluttered, “I didn’t know!” “I know darling, I know.” Stroking the back of my head with her foreleg, Rarity tried to settle me down. “I killed people…” I breathed, shaking all over, “I’m a murderer… I didn’t stop to think about what I was doing, I… I… I just… I just did it!” Burying my face into the mare, I cried harder. Continuing to hush into my ear, the unicorn soothed me gently as I completely broke apart for a second time, before it became too much for her to bear. Breaking apart as well, we both cried together for a good while, before she finally gathered herself and cleared her throat, forcing me to make eye contact with her. “You listen to me, sir.” she began, sniffing loudly, “We’ve done some things, you and I. Things that we needed to do. Things that, if we hadn’t done, we wouldn’t be here right now. Isn’t that right, dear?” Through her shaky, grief-ridden tone, I could tell that she was also trying to come to terms with what she had done as well. I needed to get a bloody grip, this wasn’t all about me; there were six incredibly vulnerable ponies here, all of whom were reeling from this too. Gulping loudly and nodding, I told Rarity that she was right, and that it wasn’t just Twilight who had saved my life today. “Vladimir was about to kill me.” I said, clearing my throat, “It was either him, or me.” Putting my arms around the mare properly and hugging her back, I thanked her for choosing me. She continued to sniffle and cough lightly. “I understand now.” “Understand what?” I asked. “How you felt when we first came to this place. When that man saw us at the material site and tried to attack us. When you saved us from him, when you…” Trailing off, she gave her head a quick shake, before continuing. “I understand now what you felt, and I’m sorry for the way we thought of you when it happened. Now, more than ever, I understand the true meaning of duty, and what it means when unpleasant things must be done. You are not a bad person, Callum. Not for that accident, and not for the eyes you’ve shut today.” “You… You promise?” I gulped. “I promise, darling. You’re our protector, and you are our guide, and I say this from the very bottom of my heart… you are my friend.” Set off by that last part, I broke into yet another wave of tears. But it was different this time; I was now crying with relief, overwhelmed by Rarity’s kind, loving, accepting words. They helped me find peace, at least, for now they did. We hugged each other tightly, before I was finally ready to return to camp with her, now infinitely calmer in mind, and stronger in spirit. We returned to find Applejack had started cooking dinner, and needless to say, we were all eagerly waiting for her to dish up, our mouths salivating. According to Pinkie, the only thing Inigo had fed them from day to day was a guava each and a slice of bread. Inigo had been purposefully underfeeding them in the hopes of evoking information from them personally, to cut me out as the middleman. {No wonder they all look thinner…} I thought to myself. Somehow finding even more hatred in my heart for the man I had killed, I found a part of me hoping that despite all the things I had learned about dimensions and magic, that there was still a hell beneath us. I wanted Inigo to burn for what he had done to them, I wanted him to burn forever. Moving on to brighter things, I checked my phone while we waited for dinner. Thankfully it had been unaltered and still functional; I supposed that Inigo wanted my things left untouched while he figured out who I really was. Opening the map, I endeavoured to find out where we had been taken. “Goodness me… they took us all that way?” Rarity gasped, looking over my shoulder. “Looks like we’ve found our silver lining.” I muttered. If there was anything to thank the Bogeyman of Brazil for, it was the location of his compound. We were now a great many miles further north, with the Orb now only being a little over a week away. Though we would have covered the distance ourselves had we not been caught in that favela, we were at least thankful to have not been set further back. “Alright team, let’s all eat up, sleep hard, and get ourselves moving tomorrow.” I declared with a wide grin, “We’ve got ourselves a Titans’ Orb to find!” “Hear hear!” Rarity cheered. The others were faintly lifted in spirits, and we tucked into a delicious, hearty meal, before turning in for the night. Returning to our original sleeping arrangements, I nestled down next to Fluttershy, where we quickly latched onto each other like never before, beyond thankful to have each other back as sleeping buddies. Five days went by, and as we trudged on through the humid wilderness, we all slowly began to piece ourselves back together. Pinkie Pie was already back to her squeaky, happy, bouncy self, and with non-stop support from all of us, Rainbow Dash was slowly beginning to come back to us as well. She had even made a few ‘that’s what she said’ jokes, which in light of recent events, were very much welcomed. Her wings had been tightly wrapped with bandages, and had been slathered with a generous amount of Oozima. None of us knew if the stuff would even help in growing back her feathers, but the faint inkling of hope had allowed her to soldier on. “Hey Twilight, can I ask you something?” I began, walking beside the unicorn. “You just did.” “Har har.” “What is it?” Scratching my jaw, I asked ponderously as to how Pinkie Pie did it. “What do you mean?” “Well, just look at her.” I tutted, shrugging, “She’s the youngest, and most innocent of the lot of you, and yet she’s happily bouncing around like the past few weeks didn’t even happen!” Twilight smirked, and rolled her eyes as she continued to walk with me. “If I had a bit for every time Pinkie’s abnormalities baffled somepony, I could buy myself my own castle.” Huffing with amusement, she explained that Pinkie Pie had a condition called ‘dissociative amnesia’, in which she would quite simply forget traumatic or unpleasant events. The memories were still there, granted, but they would be altered. “Altered how?” I quizzed. “The best way I can explain it, is that instead of remembering bad events as though they’ve happened to her directly, she remembers them like they were in a storybook or something.” “Huh, fascinating…” “Quite.” Twilight said blankly, walking away from me. Looking over to the happy pink pony, I stared in amazement as she sprang along from friend to friend with glee, giggling away with a great smile as she tried, and succeeded, to boost morale. It was here in this moment that I realised just how important she was to this group. This was why she had come on this mission; in the darkest of moments, Pinkie Pie was the light. As we kept moving through the rainforest, I gradually found that I was able to take in the beauty of the luscious world around me once more. Pinkie’s laughter restored my sense of humanity and wonder, and I looked all around to gaze at nature’s brilliance. Glancing upwards, the leaves above glowed a vibrant green, flashing and glittering at the edges where the sunlight pierced the thick roof of the jungle. As for below, the mossy underfoot was so soft that I was tempted to take my socks and shoes off, and the birdsong and buzzing of insects all around became less of a nuisance, and more of a symphony. “It’s truly breathtaking, this place, isn’t it?” I sighed dreamily. “Stop that.” Dashie grumbled beside me. “Stop what?” “Being so frickin’ gay.” Caught off-guard, I snorted with amusement, and asked how I was being ‘gay’ exactly. Coming her mane back with a hoof, she began to mockingly impersonate me, in the sassiest voice that she could physically accomplish. “Look at the pretty trees everywhere, they’re so beautiful! Ooh, these flowers are so thought-provoking! Gee, look at that night sky, isn’t it so graceful?” Applejack and Pinkie laughed at the impression, and with this being the first time Rainbow was back to her normal old self, I chose to let her milk it. “Okay, firstly… rude. And secondly, basking in nature’s beauty isn’t strictly ga-” “See, you’re doing it again! ‘Basking in nature’s beauty’, seriously, who talks like that? It’s like you’re choosing the gayest possible way to say stuff!” “How is it gay?” I squawked, throwing my hands into the air. “It’s just the words you choose to say, dude.” “You know what? Fine. I’ll go and bask in the embrace of nature’s splendour elsewhere.” Slowing my pace and veering off to the left, I let Rainbow Dash take the bait, doing everything in my power not to break into a grin and give the game away as she sang out tauntingly. “Oh, so now you’re going to walk off and give me the silent treatment? Just like a little teenage filly would? That’s pretty freaking gay, dude!” She trotted off to leave me to my ‘basking’, and I finally let out the giggles with Rarity at my side. We both knew it was just a bout of banter, and it would be interactions like this that would help Rainbow in her long journey back to something resembling a normal life, even if she were to never fly again… “Um, y’all? We’ve got a problem!” Applejack called from the front of the group. We caught up with the farm pony to see what the matter was. As it happened, the matter was water, and a lot of it… The area up ahead of us was that of a thick marsh, consisting of lily pads, twisting shrubs, and cloudy green water, making it impossible to see what was beneath. It went on as far as we could see, indicating that there wouldn’t be any solid ground for quite a while. “What do we do?” Fluttershy asked. “We keep going.” Twilight instructed, “I’ll waterproof the bags, along with Callum’s bandages.” “I am not wading through that muck!” Rarity gasped. “Well, you kind of have to.” I chuckled. “Well, I kind of will not.” Rolling her eyes, Twilight said that she could press on with me, and anyone else brave enough to enter the water. Then, upon reaching dry ground, she would open a portal, allowing those left behind to step through. We were all quick to agree to the plan, with Rarity raising her chin and giving a loud ‘hmph’, now satisfied. Fluttershy and Pinkie opted to stay back with her, while Applejack and Rainbow Dash were fine with pressing on through the swamp. I was tempted to suggest that Fluttershy flew up and scouted ahead, but with Rainbow’s good mood being dangerously unstable, we effectively treated her as an earth pony for the time being, out of respect for Dashie’s mental health. “Hey at least this way, there’s no need to waterproof the bags.” I pointed out, “This lot can carry them all through when you open the portal.” “That’s fair.” Twilight hummed. The unicorn took off her saddlebag and tossed it to Pinkie, who caught it with a giggle. “Can’t you like, waterproof us?” asked Rainbow Dash. Shaking her head, Twilight explained that the spell wasn’t very compatible with living creatures, as it had the potential to expunge all the liquid from one’s body, or at the very least, cause a pony to lose all their fur. “Right, scratch that then.” Dashie chuckled nervously. I took my rucksack off and passed it to Rarity, being sure to unclip Vladimir’s knife and attach it to my waistband, just in case. Twilight then set up something called a portal node, which upon being linked up to a secondary node, would open up a portal for a few minutes. She then cast the waterproofing spell onto my bandages, along with the ones on Rainbow’s wings. Making sure we didn’t dwell on that, I led her over to the edge of the water with Applejack, who gave out a thoughtful hum. “How deep do you think it is?” “Find out for us!” Suddenly, Rainbow Dash shot forward and shoved Applejack, causing her to fall in. The farm pony let out an almighty yelp before sploshing into the murky abyss. She was completely submerged for a moment, until her head finally rose to the surface. “You asshole, Rainbow Dash! Gosh darn it!” “So, how deep is it?” Rainbow cackled wildly. “Get your ass in this here water, right now…” Still laughing, Dashie hopped in, with the waterproofing spell keeping her featherless wings nice and dry, especially when paired with the hydrophobic nature of Oozima after it had solidified. I entered the water next, and was surprised at how warm the water was. Properly sliding down, I found that it came up to my sternum. As for the ponies, the water rose to their necks, which none of them were all too pleased about. After a moment’s hesitation, Twilight also lowered herself into the water, at which point Rarity had the absolute cheek to ask how it was. “Want to come in and find out?” I clapped back at her. “Happy watching.” she uttered in response, taking a few steps away from us. I looked at Rainbow and Applejack, and then to Twilight, who nodded affirmingly at me. “Right, let’s move.” I ordered. We began wading through the stagnant water, all of us repelled by its scent. However, for as repugnant as the swamp was, it was nothing compared to the filth-swathed hellhole we had recently escaped from. “I swear, if this shit dyes my fur green…” Applejack chuckled. “What, you mean you don’t want to come out looking like Granny Smith’s asshole?” I teased. We all broke into laughter, with Rainbow Dash cackling louder than the rest of us. It warmed our hearts to hear it, and it seemed that even if her lack of flight was life-altering for her, it wouldn’t be life-ending. “Please, never mention my granny’s privates again.” the farm pony droned, shuddering. “No promises.” I teased, sloshing along beside her. About five to ten minutes later, we saw a large bank ahead, and beyond it, more rainforest. “Huzzah!” I cheered. “About time.” Twilight grunted. I took point alongside Applejack, which was when I noticed something up ahead and stopped. “Hold up.” “What’s the matter?” she asked, also stopping. I gestured to the object ahead, and the farm pony squinted her eyes to inspect it. It was dark, and a greenish brown in colour, and appeared to be covered in bark-like ridges. Applejack began to chuckle and pointed out that it was just a log, and that it wasn’t going to bite me. “I’m pretty sure it will, AJ.” I said shakily, “Look…” After another careful inspection, the mare was at last able to spot the small, shiny beads at the front end of the ‘log’, revealing that it was no log at all. It was a crocodile. “Shit…” we murmured at the same time. “What’s going on?” Twilight demanded. “We need to go the long way around, there’s a crocodile over there.” “What!?” Terrified immediately, the unicorn tried to run back and lost her balance in the water. “Twilight, stop!” “Stop? You want me to stop? There’s a crocodile in here with us!” Flailing around in a panic, she fell over and almost went fully under. Realising that she needed to be controlled, I reached over and took her upper foreleg, pulling her towards me and keeping her steady. “If you keep dicking around like you are now, it’ll know you’re here, now stop fucking moving!” Freezing up and staring at me, Twilight gulped and nodded. I let her go, and commanded everyone to bunch up and follow me. I waded further to the left, arcing away from the croc and being sure to give the predator a wide berth. After making some headway, I slowed down and instructed Applejack to take the lead, so that I could move to the rear of the group; if the creature was to attack us, I would rather it went for me, and not them. Looking back, I was horrified to see that the crocodile had disappeared. With a loud gulp of my own, I frantically looked around for the scaly bastard, until I at last spotted ripples in the water. It was comforting at least to know where the creature was, but far less comforting to note that the ripples were moving towards us… “Pick up the pace.” “Why?” asked Rainbow. “It knows we’re here.” Upon hearing this, Twilight shrieked. “Picking up the pace!” Overtaking Applejack, the unicorn frantically splashed her way forward. I looked back to see the ripples were now bigger, coming towards us at speed. “Oh cock…” I muttered glumly. Shouting for the girls to run, they chased after Twilight as fast as they could, myself included. They reached the land first, clambering up onto the bank and turning around to look at me. I then reached the bank too, and just as I was about to lift myself up, the girls all let out a unified scream. The next forty seconds then became one of the most intense experiences of my life. From behind me came a great splash as the crocodile burst forward. A horrific pain then shot into my right leg as it snatched me in its jaws. I could feel each individual crooked tooth as the animal’s mouth locked around my thigh like a gigantic barbed mousetrap. I was tugged backwards and inhaled as deeply as humanly possible, knowing that it may well be my last breath. As I was pulled down beneath the surface, my leg was almost shattered as the creature started to perform its infamous death roll. Latching onto the beast’s head and tucking my body in, I allowed myself to go with the roll in order to spare the limb from ripping apart, scrambling for Vladimir’s knife all the while. Gripping the handle, I withdrew the blade and made multiple attempts to stab at the creature, desperately clenching my jaw to the point of almost cracking my teeth. Still rolling over and over, my fifth stab finally found its mark. I brought the blade down and it sank into the predator’s eye, to which it released my leg and violently thrashed around in agonised shock. Maintaining my grip, I forced the knife deeper until the creature gave an unnatural jolt, followed by its movement ceasing altogether. It happened as quickly as it started, and I was finally able to lift my head above the water to take in an almighty gasp of air. Panting wildly, I used my hands to push my hair out of my face and then rubbed my eyes to clear them of dirty water. Now able to see, I looked up to the girls, who were all staring intensely at me. Their eyes then drifted to the greens and browns of the disturbed swamp water, upon a cloud of crimson billowing to the surface. “Dude… are… are you alright?” Rainbow stuttered from the bank. Coasting on the rush of what had just happened, paired with a tinge of lingering madness from Inigo’s torture, I responded by sticking my arms out and breaking into a thick Australian accent, imitating the late Steve Irwin. “Cor well crikey, she was a real feisty little Sheila! In really good condition too, and strong!” Too shocked to laugh, everyone continued staring at me as I pranced around in the water, overloaded from head to toe with adrenaline and euphoria. Soon enough though, the pain in my leg returned and I calmed down, now irked by having even more wounds for Fluttershy to tend to. However, before getting out of the water, a thought crossed my mind. I then nudged around with my foot to find the croc and then took a deep breath. Plunging back into the stagnant drink, I seized the limp creature and hauled it up to the surface. “What are you doing?” Rainbow Dash gasped. Ignoring her, I asked if Twilight could use just a teensy bit of telekinesis to help me lift the creature onto the land. Though reluctant, she was also curious as to why, and so together we raised it out of the water and onto the bank. “I can’t believe you were able to kill it.” said Applejack, shaking her head. “Me neither, and I’m the one that killed it!” I laughed, clambering up to join them. Still out of breath, I stood before the felled leviathan and looked down at it with a sense of pride. That was when Dashie noticed my new injury and pointed it out, but after the wound Rarity had stitched up just the other day, I was hardly concerned about it. With some Oozima, I would be right as rain, and so I promised her that I was fine. “At least it wasn’t a saltwater croc, those things are massive!” I puffed heavily. “Wait, they get bigger than this?” exclaimed Rainbow Dash. “Oh, much bigger.” “Damn…” Not dallying any longer, Twilight established the second portal node, and then activated it. With a flash, a swirling gateway appeared, and although it was blurry and distorted, I could just about make out the outlines of Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity. They stepped through with haste, where they immediately began screaming loudly at the sight of the dead crocodile. Rainbow Dash was quick to explain what had happened, which was when Twilight stumbled back and fell onto her bottom. “Twi! Are you okay?” asked Applejack, rushing to her side. “I think so…” the unicorn groaned, getting back up, “I may have my magic back, but something’s not right with it. I just got a huge wave of dizziness from opening that portal, as though I was about to blue out again…” That had all of us rife with unease. Clearing my throat, I suggested she didn’t use any more spells until we reached the Orb shard, and with a degree of annoyance, she agreed. A sharp pain then shot through my leg again, and I whipped around to find Fluttershy examining the bite. “Ow!” I yelped, “Gently please!” I then heard a voice close by, mimicking what I had said. “Rarrk! Gently please! Gently please!” The voice sounded muffled, and not like any of the girls. With absolute bewilderment, I looked around, which was when Fluttershy began to giggle. She then lifted a portion of her mane, revealing the source of the voice. “I found him while we were waiting for you.” Perched upon the pegasus’ shoulder, with its head tilted on one side, was a hyacinth macaw parrot. He had bright orange circles around his shiny, obsidian black eyes, and there was a thin yellow wrinkled outline to his stone-grey beak. He looked to be very well groomed, for not a single feather was out of place across his bright cerulean body. “Oh my god, what a little cutie!” I exclaimed fondly, “Hi there little guy…” At this, the parrot puffed up his feathers and tilted his head down, as if to frown at me. And then, he spoke. “The name’s Blu. Quaark! Make any cracker jokes, and I’ll peck your eyes out!”