In the Footsteps of a Giant

Without turning around Twilight began to swim away from whatever horror was behind her. It was more like thrashing violently than swimming, but in her panicked state it was the best she could muster. The giant being tilted its head as it calmly observed the purple pony struggle. After a few seconds, it reached out a massive arm and wrapped it under the unicorns foreleg and pulled her in. Twilight couldn't be sure if it was when she felt something wrap under her right foreleg or when she saw the strange hand come across her chest and grab her left shoulder, but at some point she started screaming until she passed out.

Lyra kept her gaze firmly planted on the floor as a livid Bon-Bon paced in front of her.

"One minute! I can't leave you alone for one minute before you end up in some kind of mess!"

"Bon-Bon, I'm sorry, it-" Lyra cut off as Bon-Bon gave her 'the look'.

Sighing, the earth pony relaxed and shook her head. "Just tell me this doesn't have to do with that 'human' nonsense..." Lyra avoided her gaze. "Of course it does. At least this time the mess is confined to your room. Look, just clean it up, we can go to the market this afternoon, instead."

"I'm sorry, I really am! I didn't mean for this to happen."

"I know Lyra, it just gets hard, sometimes. I'll forgive you though, but only if you buy me some ice cream." Bon-Bon smiled and winked as she turned to leave.

"You've got yourself a deal!" Lyra visibly brightened now that she was forgiven.

A trashed room, Twilights book missing, and worst of all an upset Bon-Bon; could this situation get any worse? Letting out an exasperated huff, Lyra set to work cleaning her mess. As she scrubbed the chalk outline off the floor, she thought of ways to avoid Twilight for the next few days, and what excuses she could use once they did inevitably meet.

Meanwhile, in the Ponyville library, a frantic dragon was searching for his missing friend.

Dreams of water plagued her unconscious mind. Standing on a boat, slowly rocking with the waves, a tropical shoreline in the distance; laying back in an inter-tube, floating down a lazy river with her friends; caught in a rope... no, the arms of a sea monster! Gasping in terror, Twilights eyes shot open. It wasn't a dream, the sea monster was real! She turned her head to face her doom. Ugh... and what an ugly face it was! No snout to speak of, small round ears coming out of the side of its head instead of the top. Did it have some disease? It didn't have any fur! Eww! It was like some kind of hairless diamond dog, but uglier. A pointed nose, short scruffy beard, small narrow eyes, eyes that were now looking at her.

'Okay, don't panic, it hasn't killed you yet, and it kept you from drowning, maybe there's hope after all.' Calming herself with these thoughts, Twilight began to take in her surroundings. Namely, water. Water was everywhere, the whole world was water, some kind of sea water to be exact. The monster began to rhythmically extend and retract its arm and kick its legs. -Ah, it was swimming.- At the crest of the next swell, she saw what it was swimming for. In the far, far distance, almost on the horizon, was some land. Cliffs rising out of the sea, and beyond them a large mountain loomed. Unfortunately, that land had to be several miles away, she couldn't swim that far! 'Okay, panic now?' Twilight caught the monsters eyes, and peered into them. There was no fear, no sadness, no overconfidence, just a calm determination. 'It... really believes it can make it... we can make it!'

This was most certainly the most beautiful giant Twilight Sparkle had ever seen! Its smooth, almost hairless skin, its cute round ears, the dashing scruff on its face. Not to mention the stately, pointy nose and handsomely refined eyes! (And the ability to swim for miles with a passenger in tow didn't hurt.) The goliath noticed the purple thing finally relaxing, and in a quick practiced motion, lifted her behind its head. Twilight's fore-hooves now rested on either side of the giant's head as the rest of her lay on its back. Fearing to budge after this sudden unexpected movement, the mare froze where she was placed for at least a minute. The behemoth, meanwhile, had changed its technique, it was now swimming on its stomach in a pull and stretch motion. This required it to put its head underwater, however, and it soon became clear they were headed off course. Deciding to try something, Twilight pushed on one shoulder and pulled on the other, in response, the monster moved in the direction she had wanted, and was now swimming for the land once more.

This continued for a few hours, slowly the land drew closer and closer. Twilight was astounded at the giants endurance. Not once had it stopped for a rest, it simply continued on in a slow, steady pace. Now the beach was in sight, the problem with this was there was as much cliff as beach, if they tried to come ashore in an area that was too rocky, they could be dashed to bits. She tapped the colossus three times on the back of its head. It stopped swimming and began to float in place, stroking the water with the flat of its hands. The mare pointed her hoof to what seemed to be the best spot, and the monster nodded its head. Quickly twisting in the water, it repositioned Twilight to her original spot at its front and began to swim on its side once more. This time she didn't resist, she just let her mind focus on the beach, she could now just barely hear the crashing of the waves. As she lay her head against the giants chest to avoid the splashing water, she could also hear its heart; massive, slow, rhythmic; she thought back to a monster anatomy book she had once read, if monsters of similar size were anything to go on his heart would have to be as big as her head!

The crashing surf tossed and turned the pair, but not once did the giants grip falter. Finally crawling the last few hooves, until it was shallow enough for Twilight to walk, the monster collapsed. Laying in the surf, gasping for breath, it slowly rolled onto its back. Turning its head to one side, it vomited up all the seawater it had swallowed on the harrowing journey. 'That's right,' Twilight thought to herself, 'it would have swallowed a lot of water during the swim, and too much seawater can cause nausea and even hallucination!' For a moment, she wondered if the behemoth thought she was a hallucination. Still, her worry got the better of her as she went to its side.

"Hang in there! You're almost to shore, but you're too big for me to move. You have to move yourself, I know you can do it, come on!" Twilight encouraged her saviour.

At the sound of her voice, the monster smiled. It looked at her worried face and lifted a shaking arm to pat her head, as if to say 'Don't worry, I just need a minute.' Ignoring this patronizing gesture for the moment, Twilight remained by its side. True to its implication, after a few minutes, the colossus slowly sat up, then turned and rose to its feet. The unicorns jaw dropped as she stared up at the giant, it- er, he, certainly lived up to the name! Her horn barely reached to the bottom of his knee! His only article of clothing was some kind of form fitting fabric thoughtfully placed around the naughty bits. There was some kind of cutie-mark on his leg, ah, a sea serpent, makes sense. Taking in additional details, Twilight noted the comparison to a hairless diamond dog wasn't completely off the mark. Posture, torso and head were all similar, the legs were where things took a turn for the weird. The hips were obvious enough, the knees were what really threw her, they were so small (comparatively speaking) it was a wonder they could support so much weight. She decided not to delve into the feet, though, she shuddered at the sight of the toes, they looked like some kind of squashed and split hoof.

With the threat of drowning gone, other priorities began to vie for attention. She looked up into the eyes of the giant... now what?

Looking down at the talking purple unicorn, the giant pondered the situation. He had even touched her head to make sure she was real, and she didn't disappear! Maybe she was someones' dog, that had to be it! The seawater was just getting to him, the furry thing in front of him was real, just not purple, or horned. With that sorted out, he decided the next step would be shelter, although not much would be needed, since this appeared to be a tropical climate. He started to walk toward the palm trees, and sure enough, just like a dog, the not-pony followed him. Unlike a dog, it began to talk at him; a strange, squeaky language he couldn't understand. It must be barking, yes that's it; "What is it girl, danger? Are there vicious jungle cats in there?"

He looked at her and smiled, then knelt down to pat her on the head again. That horn, it was definitely there... she pulled back, like she didn't like the implication of  his actions. She.. was she glaring at him? The unicorn sighed, looked him straight in the eyes, lifted a hoof to her chest and said slowly and clearly, "Fa stowah meh Twailaght Spahkuhl." Okay, those were definitely words, and if her actions were any indication, she was referring to herself; Her name maybe? Shrugging, the giant took a shot; He pointed at the purple whatever and deliberately said, "Fa shore-a eh Twiggit Spunker!"

This got quite the reaction; first confusion, then disbelief and finally exasperation passed across Twilights face. Brightening up, she tried again. Pointing a hoof to herself, she said once more "Twai-laght Spah-kuhl!" The giant reacted in something akin to intelligence and recited, pointing at the pony, "Twi-leight Spaw-kel." It wasn't perfect, but it was a start. Smiling, the giant pointed to himself and asked "Thursomehookame... Tim?" Twilight, perhaps a little more on the ball than the obviously exhausted monster, took her own stab at his name, pointing at him she pronounced the last syllable he had spoken. "Tim?" As the giant nodded happily, Twilight smiled, at least they knew what to call each other.