After a good four to five hours I finally turned in for the night. I had done a lot of thinking during my time standing guard, more on what was in the past than what lay ahead. There were things I had done over this journey, things that had disturbed me, of which I had buried deep into the recesses of my mind. Without much say in it, my brain forced me to unearth such things and dwell on them, such as my initiation with the Blood Family. Vividly remembering it, I started to taste the rancid metallic tang of Rahim’s warm blood on my tongue once again. I immediately felt nauseous and put a hand to my belly. Gritting my teeth, I shook my head and forced the memory away, burying it back down where it belonged.

Once the nausea had passed, I crept into the large tent, where I was able to wake Rommel up without disturbing Applejack or Rarity. He was of course, very disgruntled to be roused from his slumber, but despite his reluctance he picked up his rifle and took watch. Wishing him well, I crawled into Twilight’s tent, and took off my shoes. I watched over the unicorn for a moment before getting comfortable beside her, and much to my relief, she seemed to be sleeping soundly. With a warm smile, I nestled in and put an arm around the unicorn, holding her close to my chest. Remaining asleep but acknowledging that it was me, the mare emitted a calmed hum, and with the collars still around our necks, I could hear her subconscious response to my presence. The words were disjointed and echoey, but they made just enough sense to bring a smile to my face.

Warmth rippled through my soul, and just like that, all the unease from my unwelcome thoughts dissipated. I held her just a little tighter, before drifting into a most resplendent sleep, free of all worldly woes.

Come morning, the sound of a faint clinking woke me, indicating that Rarity was most likely brewing some tea. Feeling a warm breeze on my face, I slowly opened my eyes, only to be greeted by two enormous pupils.

“Sorry!” Twilight apologised, swiftly backing away from me, “I didn’t mean to wake you!”

“Then maybe don’t try to stick your eyeballs into mine!” I growled, blinking rapidly, “What the hell were you doing!?”

“Nothing! I was, uh… s-studying your face!” she said quickly, “You were experiencing REM sleep and I was interested by your eyes! They were moving around under your eyelids like, super fast. I was trying to figure out if you were dreaming or not!”

Laughing awkwardly, Twilight started to blush like a beetroot, and found herself unable to look at me for more than a second or two at a time. Knowing how scientifically inclined she was, along with her tendency to unintentionally cross boundaries, the alibi checked out.

“Yeah, well the next time you want to study me, ask first, alright?” I ordered, glaring at her.

“Honestly Twi…” I went on, “You’re lucky I didn’t bloody-well headbutt you! We’re in a dangerous place and if your purple mug wasn’t so adorably stupid, I might have mistaken you for a raptor!”

With her facial muscles practically spasming from how guilty she was feeling, Twilight began to stutter as badly as Porky Pig as she insisted that she was sorry. Rolling my eyes, I let her off the hook, giving her a playful shove and insisting that I wasn’t mad at her, but to never do that again without any forewarning. She sighed with relief and solemnly obeyed, and then quickly left the tent. With a huff, I allowed my heart rate to slow back down, and then went out to join her in greeting the group. As predicted, Rarity had brewed some tea, and as we all properly woke up together over some brew and breakfast, I decided to read the next section of Sir Rockwell’s journal. After taking a big sip from my tea, I brought out the old-timey voice that everyone had enjoyed yesterday, which had them all grinning with entertainment.

Pausing for a moment to drink my tea before it went cold, Rainbow Dash gave a loud scoff, pointing out Sir Rockwell’s very evident ego. Twilight agreed in partial, but also couldn’t help but revere his dedication to science. For a scholarly man in the Victorian era, with intelligence far beyond his time, the opportunity to visit new worlds and learn from them must have been wholly irresistible. Now enlightened with such profound knowledge from Hawnu Rey’eng, I could only imagine his colleagues seemed no brighter than chimps from his perspective; it would have been hard to remain humble. Changing the subject slightly, Rarity wondered aloud as to why we never came across their ship, the HMS Seraph. For a vessel big enough to carry nearly two-hundred people, it certainly wouldn’t have been hard to miss.

“They landed on the north side, right?” said Rommel, “Well, we came from the south-west side.”

This meant that the ship was quite possibly still beached somewhere up there. Eager to find it, we all agreed that upon finding the Orb fragment and returning to the surface, we would give it a look-see before departing. Reading on, we learned that after a night of rest onboard the Seraph, just as we had done in the seaplane, the explorers embarked, leaving behind a small team to make repairs on their vessel. Upon reaching the mountain, several men that had been injured by their rocky arrival were instructed to set up a small temporary base, to tend to their injuries until they were well enough to make the climb.

Reading on, I was faintly amused to find that Edmund had pretty much described our own experience word-for-word. Unlike us however, the expedition had a much easier time getting in, as the root covered only half of the entrance, and curved down to the ground, serving as a natural structure for them to clamber down with minimal effort. Descending into this beautiful new domain, he immediately remarked upon the blueish grass and the giant ferns, followed by heading to the cliff and witnessing the breathtaking view, and of course, the almighty glowing tree. After marvelling at it for some time, he took to naming it in Latin, dubbing it ‘Argentum Arbor’, which translated to ‘silver tree’. Many of his men supposedly protested, demanding an English name for it instead, and much to Rockwell’s annoyance, they began calling it the Moon Tree.

“Ooh, I like that!” Rarity chirped, “It may have less flair, but it certainly captures the moon-like visage!”

“I have to agree” I hummed, “May Edmund’s ghost be irked by those after him, because that big ol’ thing is a motherfuckin’ Moon Tree!”

Rarity’s horn lit up, and I suddenly found myself being repeatedly smacked half-to-death with the ethereal blob that she had conjured.

“What-have-I-told-you-about-your… language!?” she scolded fiercely, continuing to batter me.

“I’m soorrrryy!” I wailed as I was quite literally beaten to the ground.

Everyone else broke into laughter, and Rarity finally relented upon my insistence that I would speak with decorum, and refrain from the use of any swear words.

{Well, only when you’re in earshot at least, bitch…} I thought to myself deviously.

Without missing a beat, Twilight pointed at me and tattled to Rarity, relaying my thoughts to her.

“YOU SNITCH!” I bellowed in disbelief, pointing at Twilight with my mouth agape as the second beating ensued.

Several more ghostly blobs were summoned and descended upon me, smacking and slapping at me without end. Giggling hard enough to warrant sitting down, Twilight and the others watched as I curled into a ball on the ground and begged for mercy.

“Please! I yield, I yield!” I squealed, “I’m just a baby! I’m just a little boy! Spare me, I beg of you!”

At this point, the entire company was belly laughing, and with one last slap to the back of my head, Rarity banished her magical constructs and thrashed me no longer. Wheezing in the dirt, I slowly got to my knees and glared at Twilight.

“That’s Rainbow’s thing.” she teased, sticking her tongue out at me and winking.

Getting to my feet properly and catching my breath, we all slowly calmed down from the incident, still breaking into giggles here and there. Packing up our camp, I left Edmund’s journal with Twilight to continue reading while we put away the tents. We then disembarked, heading straight for the Moon Tree. There was no way that we would be reaching it within the day, so hopefully we would find another safe place to set up camp tonight.

Along the way, Twilight recited what she had read in the journal. With history effectively repeating itself, the expedition was ambushed by the raptors, and most disturbingly, the creatures had mimicked the cries of William Pendergast, the man they had previously dragged away. Edmund was quick to figure out what they were doing, noting that it was all a clever ploy to lure people away in search of him. He instructed the men to band together and open fire on the cries. Losing another two of their pack, the raptors fled, leaving the expedition to regroup and get their bearings, miraculously losing only two men in the attack, named Hubert Montague and Albert Francis.

A temporary camp was erected and Sir Rockwell began to study the deceased raptors, quickly declaring them living dinosaurs. He named them ‘Astutus Venatorsaurus’, adhering to the scientific tradition of naming fauna with Greek and Latin words. It essentially translated to ‘cunning hunter lizard’, which given the employment of mimicry in their hunting tactics, was a perfectly fitting name. However, it was also quite the mouthful, and so at Twilight’s suggestion, we altered the name to Astutosaur, informally calling them ‘astutes’ for short.

“Oh for fu-uh-dge sake…” I caught myself, grinning sheepishly as Rarity shot me a glance.

Rolling our eyes at Rainbow’s remark, of which Pinkie had found exceedingly funny, we pressed on. Ahead of us was a patch of woodland, and with a great deal of anxiety, we entered. Keeping our heads on a swivel, we didn’t come across much aside from some awfully large dragonflies, and some crab-like creatures that scuttled away whenever we came close to them.

Ignoring the continued mockery of the name, I said that they seemed the type of creature to hold a grudge, and so yes, they would almost certainly follow us.

“In fact,” I went on, “I wouldn’t be surprised if they were watching us right now.”

“Can you uh, not, say that please?” Twilight ordered, staring all around fearfully.

Stifling a grin, I dipped my head in acknowledgement. Continuing to trudge along, we came across a small clearing, and I reflected in thought to Twilight how things seemed almost peaceful here, until we heard a ruckus up ahead, causing us all to come to a halt.

Focusing on the commotion ahead, it sounded like a fight was going on between two large creatures. There was a low roar of some sort, followed by a tree being violently shaken. We tried to pinpoint where the incident was actually taking place, but before we could ever witness what was going on, the forest fell silent once again.

Full of apprehension, we continued, veering off to the right and leaving the clearing. We kept hidden along the treeline and made an effort to avoid whatever had just occurred. We thought that we were clear of the potential danger, only for Rarity to make a most harrowing observation.

Looking to where she was pointing, I saw it too. One of the trees had been heavily splattered with blood, as though a body had been thrown against it with tremendous force. Gulping, I came forward to investigate, and just beyond the tree came the answer. Lying motionless in a mangled heap, was some sort of dinosaur. Best likened to the Moschops, the plump animal was bigger than myself, and was coated in thick orangey scales, wet with blood. It was lying on its side, and was riddled with claw marks and puncture wounds.

“No.” I replied, pointing to the size and depth of the punctures, “Something much bigger did this.”

Placing a hand onto the creature’s body, I found that it was still warm, meaning that it had only recently died, and whatever had killed it was most likely still around. Turning to look at the others, I said it was time to leave, only to find them all looking up above me, their eyes wide with terror.

It was above me.
Hearing the rustle of leaves, I instinctively dived forward and spun around just as the claws came down. Landing on my back, I looked up to see a gigantic insect, sporting a mixture of brown and mustard colours. Both its head and grasping claws were similar in appearance to that of a praying mantis, but its body was far wider and with only one segment, making it somewhat like a tree-dwelling spider crab. Dropping down from the trees, it began to skitter towards me, and Rommel was quick to start shooting. Still on my back, I too began to open fire, causing the insectoid monstrosity to stumble back as bullet after bullet smacked into its thick chitinous body. Although deterred initially, it made a second attempt to grab me, but soon after made its retreat as a bullet caught one of its stalky black eyes. Scrambling away, it returned to the trees and made a hasty retreat. Branches snapped loudly in the distance, and just like that, it was gone. With a loud huff of relief, I got to my feet, and the girls all rushed over to fuss over me.

After freeing my arm from Pinkie’s clutches, I gave him a thumbs up, and after catching my breath we started to make a move. Only, we would have, if not for the sound of more branches snapping, and an almighty thudding that could be felt through the forest floor.

As it grew closer and closer, the vibrations grew stronger and stronger, and it didn’t take a genius for us to know that we needed to hide; something was coming, something big…
The pegasi spread their wings and shot up into the treetops, with Pinkie springing up to join them. Rommel spotted a hollow log, and took no time at all in sprinting over to crawl inside. The rest of us rushed over to a deep hole beneath a tree that had been partially uprooted. Without a moment to consider what might be inside, we all squeezed in and went as far back as possible. Pressing up against each other, we trembled anxiously as the steps grew heavy enough to shake us. And then, it stopped. Keeping as low as possible, we peered out, and heard the rumbling breath from a very heavy set of lungs. Whatever this thing was, it was enormous.

{Callum, Callum there’s something crawling on my back!} Twilight thought to me urgently.

{I think we’ve got something a little bigger outside to worry about.} I told her, still looking out from our hiding place.

{Callum please, it’s crawling up to my neck, and I’m trying very hard not to freak out!}

Rolling over as quietly as possible, I reached over her shoulder and recoiled in shock upon laying my hand on a giant centipede. Twilight opened her mouth to scream, and there was nothing else I could do but grab her muzzle to clamp her mouth shut. Applejack very thankfully saw the centipede and knocked it off. Letting go of her mouth, I apologised to Twilight telepathically and she simply nodded her head in understanding. I then rolled back over, and almost let off a scream of my own, as I came face to face with a row of sharp crooked teeth.

Gulping, I realised that I was looking straight at the mouth of whatever was outside, which was currently sniffing around our hiding place, and had picked up our scent. Frozen like terrified statues, we stared with wide eyes at the teeth as it nuzzled around the uprooted tree.

Also shaking, I slowly took a breath in through my nose as I told her that the ‘big scary lizard’ from my vision wasn’t the Astutosaurs, this was the big scary lizard…
With each tooth being almost as big as myself, this creature was easily the same size as Elephant’s Tusk back in Chernobyl, if not bigger. It exhaled through its nose, and we all recoiled at the hot gust of wind that blew across us. We had no idea what to do, guns sure as hell weren’t going to do anything to something of this size, at least not Rommel’s guns; a well-placed hit from the Piercing Shot Rifle would certainly do something, but at the risk of missing, or just pissing it off, we continued to cower in fear. And then, from attacker to saviour, the crab-like mantis creature returned, most likely to scavenge the Moschops it had killed. With two heavy thuds, the larger predator turned around and spotted it, and didn’t hesitate for a second before rushing forward. The mantis fled for a second time, but unlike us, the monstrous dinosaur wasn’t against chasing it down. With a roar, it belted after the insect, demolishing trees in its wake as though they were made from papier-mâché.

We scrambled out of our hiding place, as did the others, dropping down from the trees and rushing towards us.

“Holy shit, did you see that thing!?” Rainbow Dash blurted out, putting her hooves to her muzzle in disbelief, “It was bigger than the frickin’ seaplane!”

“I saw its fucking teeth, that’s for sure…” I croaked, my face now pale as a sheet.

“How about we discuss the size of it after we get away from here?” Twilight bleated.

Nobody argued with that. Forgetting the Moon Tree entirely, we ran in the opposite direction to the thuds, still accompanied by the sound of distant trees getting smashed to bits. After a good thirty-or-so minutes of running, we finally broke free from the forest, emerging into a long grass meadow. Far beyond that were some plains, along with a rocky cliff on the left-hand side. Still shaken up, we refused to stop, and continued trudging through. The grass came up to my thorax, with Twilight complaining about it tickling her neck.

With a chuckle, I apologised once again for grabbing her mouth so aggressively, which was when Applejack strode up between the two of us and smirked deviously.

“PPFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFTTTT!!!” Twilight exclaimed melodramatically, turning bright red and refusing to look at me, “Uh, that’s… that’s like… Rainbow Dash’s thing, not mine!”

“Yeah Applejack, that’s my thing!” Dashie chipped in, agreeing with Twilight, “I have human dibs!”

Laughing at the terribly amusing, (albeit rather objectifying) notion of someone having ‘dibs’ on me, I cuffed the back of AJ’s hat, causing it to fall over her eyes. Pushing it back into its rightful place, the farm pony watched me with an expression that was more investigative than it was cheeky, as though she were trying to gauge me for something in particular. Unable to find whatever she was looking for, she whipped me in the side of the hip with her tail, and then strutted forward with swagger, proud of herself for creating such unease amongst us. Charging off after her, Twilight went to scold her, clearly upset by the banter. It was then that from behind me, I heard the exact sound the unicorn had just made…

“Why did you just copy the sound Twilight made?” I asked, tilting my head on one side.

It didn’t take me a second… Raising my rifle, I brought the barrel dangerously close to being pointed at Rainbow Dash, who froze on the spot.

Closing one eye, I looked down the sight, and clocked the faintest tinge of dark blue amongst the already bluish grass. Just before I pulled the trigger, I made sure the group knew what was about to happen.

Bang. With a squeeze of the trigger, I sent a bullet whistling past Rainbow Dash and straight into the raptor that lurked no more than a metre away from her. It sprang upwards and I put another round into it, sending it limping off into the grass to bleed out somewhere, squealing as it did so. More of them appeared, and before we knew it, we were completely encircled by the pack, screeching and hissing as if to taunt us; they had been following us this entire time. Banding together, we readied ourselves for battle, with Rarity withdrawing her rifle to aid us. Switching to the Piercing Shot mode on the scope, she was able to scan the grass for raptors and point out where they were hiding, and we couldn’t have been more thankful that she had.

“Not to alarm anyone, but there are a lot of them!” she informed us, before taking a shot.

With a weighty boom, the rifle sent a bullet into the long grass with unfathomable velocity. The unfortunate raptor on the receiving end was dead before it had even hit the dirt. Leaving Rarity to pick off the ambushers, Rommel and I focused more on defending the others, dropping any Astutosaur that dared to make an attack. We didn’t bother counting, but between the three of us, we easily killed fifteen-or-so, with only a couple being able to get close. One of them went for Applejack, only for her to buck the creature hard enough to send it into the air, shattering the bones in its upper torso and literally stopping its heart on the spot. Amidst the chaos, poor Pinkie and Fluttershy just sat there with their hooves over their ears, overstimulated and overwhelmed by the violence and gunfire.

We finally thinned out their numbers enough to warrant them backing off, but it wasn’t us that sent them fleeing, it was the blood-chilling roar that came from the woodland. Ignoring us immediately, the astutes emitted a series of screeches and chirps, before scattering, zipping away so fast that they had practically teleported. And then once again, we heard it…

Looking over at the forest, we watched as the trees shook more and more violently, until from them burst a gargantuan monstrosity; a creature so tremendously large that it dwarfed all land-dwelling life in both size, and magnificence. This was what had almost found us earlier, this was what Rainbow Dash had seen. Despite being far bigger than any fossil records, there was no doubt in my mind about what the creature before us was…

Coated in thick ash grey scales, with even thicker jet black plates across its back and head, the beast was a very clear upgrade from its tyrannical progenitor, and not just in size. The creature’s forelimbs, though small, were far more functional than that of the T. rex, possessing three multi-jointed fingers, easily capable of grasping. Its tail was thick and bulky, most likely to compensate for the weight of its massive head. And even at a distance, the creature’s muscles could be seen bulging across its scaly body, swelling so intensely that they seemed to be on the very brink of splitting the monster’s hide open from within. Devoid of any feathers, it very much aligned with the traditional visage of a dinosaur; the closest thing it had to plumage were rows of flaccid black spines that ran along from the top of its head to the tip of its tail.

Breathtaking as it was to look at, such a taken breath could very well be our last, for upon laying eyes on us, it began to charge. I screamed for everyone to run, and we bolted, running in the opposite direction as fast as our legs could carry us. We cleared the meadow and reached the grassy flats, and upon looking back for a split second, I realised that it was gaining on us. Despite the reptile’s unbelievable size, it was covering ground faster than we were. Outrunning it very quickly proved to be an impossibility, and with my heart practically in my mouth, I frantically tried to think of something. As it gained on us, our group broke apart, with the pegasi both taking to the air. Still in pain from her leg injury, Twilight began to fall behind, and in a desperate bid to keep her safe, I ran to the left and then whipped around to start shooting. As predicted, gunfire was completely ineffective, with the creature barely taking notice as the rounds bounced right off. The sound of the gun itself however, was far more capable of getting its attention. Turning to the left, it stampeded straight towards me, and without knowing what else to do, I emptied the rest of the magazine into its head, hoping to hit one of its eyes. Failing in this endeavour, I pulled out Vitra ‘Aku and stared the predator down. Breathing in and out heavily, I stared in absolute terror as the crooked teeth and widening jaws grew closer and closer, and I feared that my death would come with them.

Directly into the back of the creature’s head, Rarity had just placed a bullet from her rifle, and unlike my carbine, it had pierced the skin. Coming to a stop just as it was about to devour me, it turned its head and spotted the others, knowing one of them was the culprit. It had certainly felt the sting, but by no means was the beast injured; as I had feared, all Rarity had done was piss it off. It lowered its head and roared, before breaking into another charge, spinning around and catching me with its massive tail in the process. I was flung across the plains and towards the cliff, where I came clattering to a halt not too far from the edge. Dazed and in pain, I looked over at the others to find the beast now after Applejack, with Rommel essentially copying me, trying to obtain its ire by way of shooting at it.

With a pained growl, I got to my feet and saw her a few dozen metres away, limping towards me. Looking past her, I saw Rommel now running for his life after successfully becoming the new target. Rarity then took another shot, and just as before, it abandoned its former chase to go for her instead.

Shaking my head, I broke from the daze and rapidly came up with a game plan. Running to the cliff, I looked down and saw a cascading river far below. Jumping from here would be fatal without question, even if I hit the water. However, if I were able to get the dinosaur’s attention again, then perhaps I could use Vitra ‘Aku to lower myself down? I could very simply stab into the cliff-face and use the sword as a glorified climbing spike, gradually descending to a point where it couldn’t get me. With how unstoppable this creature was, I saw no other option.

{Get everyone back to the tall grass so they can hide! Get to the forest if you can!} I instructed, {I’m going to lure it back here and then climb down the cliff!}

Too afraid to question the order, or come up with anything better, she screamed my orders over to Rarity and Rainbow Dash, of whom were the only ones close enough to hear her. Returning to the air, Dashie made her way to the others to relay the message. Twilight then took off, limping back to the long grass with Fluttershy at her side. Utilising her illusory magic, Rarity conjured a smoke cloud around the dinosaur’s head, temporarily blinding it. It didn’t last long, but it was enough for her to deploy a stationary copy of herself and then make herself scarce. The smoke dissipated, and without hesitation the beast lunged forward to bite down into the illusion, taking up a chunk of dirt in the process and swallowing it, believing it to contain the unicorn. I tried to spot the others, but to my dread, Applejack and Pinkie had completely disappeared, with Rommel practically being a speck in the distance. Buying us some time, Rainbow Dash flew circles around the dinosaur, keeping just out of reach as it continually lunged and snapped at her with its maw. Retrieving my rifle, I swapped to the other magazine and took aim.

Bang! Bang! Two bullets struck the beast’s neck and shoulder, and that was all it took. Whipping around to face me, it ignored Rainbow Dash and came stomping towards me. Shooting twice more just to ensure it was fixed on me, I turned and ran to the cliff.

With the much scarier element being moments from biting me in half, I took Vitra ‘Aku back out and clambered over the edge, jamming the blade into the rock in front of me. It held, but I still needed to be lower. With several more earth-shaking stomps, the beast was above me, and I yanked out the blade and fell by a good twelve feet before plunging it back in. I emitted a heavy gasp as my drop came to such a sudden stop, and now dangling from the handle of my blade, I had no alternative other than to hold on for dear life. Looking down at me, the monstrosity roared angrily, clawing at the cliff edge and pacing back and forward, trying to find a way to get at me. After what felt like forever, it gave up, but by the time it turned around to seek another target, everyone was gone. Both of the unicorns were hiding in the long grass with Fluttershy. As for Applejack and Pinkie, they were lost even to me! Rommel was now missing as well, of whom I could only guess had gone after them. That left Rainbow Dash, who in a daring act of bravery, took it upon herself to become the monster’s quarry one last time. Taunting it with a handful of expletives, Rainbow led the beast away from here, zooming far to the right of the woodland and disappearing over a marsh. The dino didn’t let up, and over the space of a few minutes, it was far away enough to no longer be considered a threat. By some miracle, the plan had worked, and permitting Rainbow returned, not one of us had become that thing’s next meal. The main issue now was that my hands were beginning to slip…

Informing Twilight that I couldn’t hold on for much longer, she sent Fluttershy gliding over to me as quickly as possible. She found me relatively quickly, and grabbed my body with her forelegs, taking some of my weight and allowing me to get a better grip.

Wheezing her reply, Flutters tried to lift me upwards and back to the top of the cliff. I was able to yank the sword out and move it higher, but something felt wrong. The rock wasn’t sturdy any more, and upon looking up, I realised that it was breaking apart from where the dinosaur had paced around at the top.

Flapping her wings as best as she could, the yellow pegasus did everything in her power to raise me up faster, but to no avail, the cliff’s destruction came sooner. To my absolute dread, a large chunk of rock broke free and began hurtling down towards us.

It was too late, without the time to react, the rock smacked into her. The pegasus didn’t even make a sound as the impact knocked her clean out and sent her plummeting to the river below. I screamed her name and watched hopelessly as she fell down into the churning water. Her loosely splayed wings had slowed her fall, but she was still going to drown if I didn’t get to her in time. Vitra ‘Aku then came loose from the cliff face as it continued to break apart. Reacting immediately, I twisted the blade so that it pointed downward and then thrust it back in, allowing me to slide down with some degree of control as the sword carved a straight line through the rock. Once I was low enough, I released myself from the wall and plunged into the river, where I was immediately pulled under by the current. Needing both hands to fight it, I quickly sheathed Vitra ‘Aku as I swirled around, and then fought to reach the surface. I was able to catch a breath, only to be immediately pulled back under.

{We just saw some of the cliff fall apart, are you okay?} Twilight’s voice rang out in my head.

{Not now!} I snapped back, desperately searching for Fluttershy whilst trying to keep myself alive.

As the river began to widen, the current calmed down, and just up ahead I was able to spot a pink and yellow blob. Swimming over as quickly as possible, I found the pegasus face down in the water, lifelessly drifting along. I grabbed her and quickly made my way to shore, doing my best to keep her head above water. Reaching the bank, I dragged her out and set her down on the grainy wet soil. She lay there motionless, and I quickly put my ear to her chest in search of a heartbeat. It was faint, but it was there, and time was very rapidly running out. Remembering what I had done when Applejack almost drowned at sea, I repeated the same motion. Lifting the pegasus up by her hind legs, I gave her a firm shake, before smacking her down on the ground. Some water spurted from her open mouth, but she otherwise remained unresponsive.

“No… No, don’t you dare!” I barked, “Don’t you fucking die on me!”

Hanging her upside down for a second time, I pushed against the pegasus’ ribs and was able to get more water out. I checked for her heartbeat to find it was even fainter now; she was fading.

“Oh god… Oh god no…” I whimpered, rolling her onto her back and straddling her.

Telling me immediately where to place my hands, Twilight guided me as I locked my fingers and pushed firmly against her chest. I went for thirty compressions, before putting my mouth to hers and plugging her nose with my fingers. Blowing a lungful of air into her, I sat back up and continued the compressions. As I continued, I spotted a small amount of blood, leaking out from somewhere under her mane and trickling down onto her forehead. That rock had hit her hard. I couldn’t focus on that now; head injury or not, there was no helping her if I couldn’t get her to breathe again.

“Come on Fluttershy, come on…” I begged, pushing more and more desperately into her chest.

Thirty compressions, mouth-to-mouth, breathe… Thirty compressions, mouth-to-mouth, breathe…
Nothing…

{Callum… Callum please tell me what’s happening!} begged Twilight, fearing the worst.

{She won’t wake up, Twi!} I shouted, bursting into tears, {She won’t wake!}

I didn’t give up, I couldn’t give up…
Giving her another thirty intense compressions, I accidentally cracked one of her ribs, but if I could save her, then such an injury was ultimately worth the pain it would cause her. With another lungful of air, Fluttershy’s body convulsed, causing me to gasp loudly. Not hesitating, I gave her another thirty pumps, followed by another breath, which was when her eyes suddenly shot open. Coiling forward, the mare proceeded to spew almost a pint of river water directly into my face, before rolling over onto her side and producing even more. Falling backwards onto my bottom and sobbing pathetically, I was unable to speak, I just watched as the poor thing continued to cough and splutter, writhing and retching on the muddy sand, shocked, confused, and hurting.

{Oh god… She’s alive…} I cried to Twilight, {She’s alive, Twi… She’s going to be okay…}

Somewhere back up at the top of the cliff, Twilight broke into tears as well, thanking me profusely and repeating again and again that I had saved her. Clambering to my feet, I stumbled towards the pegasus, and once she was done bringing up water, I put my arms around her and cradled her.

“You’re okay… You’re okay…” I wept, “Oh god, thank fuck, you’re okay…”

Still crying, I pulled back to look at her and told her exactly what had happened, including the fact she had literally just died for a moment. With wide eyes, she took in the information, before asking where the others were. Shaking my head, I explained how we had been carried a long way downstream; there was no telling how far away we were from them. She offered to fly back up if we followed the river back, a suggestion that I turned down.

I caught her, and just as she started to pass out, I promised to her that I would keep her safe. Murmuring incomprehensibly, she blacked out, and I gently lay her down.

{Not that I can see.} she informed me, still brimming with emotion, {Once we find Rainbow Dash, I’ll send her to look for you.}

{Alright.} I replied, {Until then, just get as far away as you can from here, if that thing shows up again, you won’t stand a chance. You need to find somewhere safe to set up camp. Rarity can protect you with the Piercing Shot. I’ll find somewhere to dig in down here while Fluttershy recovers.}

Sighing, I told her that we could only hope and pray that Rommel had found them, and would keep them safe. Reluctantly acknowledging the facts, she wished me luck in finding somewhere safe to get situated, and I wished her the same. Looking around, I decided that the base of the cliff we had fallen from was probably the safest option. The water was too rough for river-dwelling fauna, and would serve as a natural barrier from one side. Scooping up the soggy little bundle, I put one weary foot in front of the other, wholly overwhelmed by the utter chaos that had just occurred. But I couldn’t think of myself right now, my sole focus had to be protecting Fluttershy, and trusting in the others to take care of themselves.

As I pressed on, all I could think of was how close I had been to not saving the limp pegasus in my arms; had I found her in that river just a minute or two later, right now I would be carrying her corpse…

The Titans' Orb: Breaking Dawn

by Mister Horncastle

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Apocalypse Incarnate