***Talion Ragnarok.***

So here I am, standing on balcony overlooking the main deck as the deckhands did their thing with a fishing pole off to the side, cast into the calm waters. Griffons, nightwalkers, diamond dog, and pony alike are working together in a harmony you wouldn’t likely see in hardly any other place in Equestria. It’s a weird story considering how they all ended up here on this ship, and even more weird how I had ended up as a nightwalker. A weird story, one that’s worth telling.

Okay, where to start?

Back when Luna was Nightmare Moon she made this race of walking, bipedal rats called nightwalkers. Lucky for them, even though they were of Nightmare Moon’s creations, they still had their free will. When Nightmare was beaten they did the smart thing and ran, but sadly they didn’t get too far until the ponies gathered them up and stuck them on some ships with a plan to dump them in the middle of nowhere.

That's when they all got ship wrecked on the Island of Endless Storms. According to Mag, short for Maggable, the second nightwalker I met (the first one I met I robbed after he tried to mug me) everyone was trapped on the island thanks to three towers and... well, long story short? We destroyed the three towers and left the island with a fleet of nine ships, loaded with supplies and everyone we could bring that wanted to go. But not before I was roped into marrying a girl by the name of Hel.

Hel is a mus-elf. What nightwalkers are to rats, mus-elf are to mice. Smaller, and more agile Cuter too. Now the typical mus-elf appearance is that of brown, or black fur with matching peepers, but Hel has an appearance similar to that of an albino mouse with white fur and red eyes. To her people though, such appearances are looked down upon, ridiculed as being cursed. Asshats...

My marriage to her was thanks to her dad, a Mus-elf king, and a nightwalker Keeplord (the islands version of a feudal lord) by the name of Vash. This was done to keep the peace between the two races. Through the adventure, friendships were gained, I lost a real good friend by the name of Eron, a musk ox minotaur that I met after he knocked me out back in a place I was later told was Death Peeks. (I asked why it’s spelled Death Peeks and not Death Peaks, and was told that at the time the nightwalkers couldn't spell very well, and that it was never changed because they say it’s aptly named, that death “peeks” at you from the sharp rocks at the bottom of the mountains below. Not that I could complain about what it’s called, I’m just now learning how to write the language myself.)

I digress. We had a great friendship until we lost him in a battle against a changeling king. But that’s a story for another time.

Anyway, back on track... we’re in what some ponies believe to be the southern hemisphere. As soon as they got a good look at the stars at night, they said they knew where we were. When I asked how they knew, the wannabe pirates got defensive and told me they were going off the stories of their ancestors. I think some of my skepticism leaked into my voice. At any rate, I’m just hoping we make it to dry land before we run out of food and water.

You know, believing things would get easier after leaving that island was probably just wishful thinking. The upside is at least everyone seems to know what they were doing. The downside is that we only have enough food for about two months from what I heard. Everyone at the time thought there was enough food to last us the journey, but after three weeks at sea and not seeing land you can guess why this makes some worry.

The good news is that the fisherfolk are catching a lot of fish, most of them skate! As soon as I saw this, I yelled at the nightwalkers bringing it up to be careful. I told them about the poison spine on the base of their tails, and how being stabbed by one of them would be like getting a scalding hot iron stuck in your rectum. After we killed them and cut off their tail I all but begged them to let me cook one.

The crew loved it. Who knew some butter, salt, pepper and garlic... or what I think is garlic, would make them eat it up like there was no tomorrow? I had brought some in for Hel, who was holed up in our stateroom with seasickness, a condition shared by more than a few of the crew, and probably half the fleet of nine ships as well. Of what she could eat, she said it was good, though her sickness made it hard to keep any more than a few bites of it down.

Lily and I, Hel’s bodyguards, took turns keeping Hel company. Lily was a mus-elf ninja we acquired along the way after some sour nobles of the Mouse King’s court decided to try and have their way with us and turned her loose after us in an attempt to assassinate me to throw the region back out of balance. It didn’t work, and since Lily was destined to be Hel’s bodyguard and Hel convinced her not to kill me, we were now accompanied by the assassin turned bodyguard from then on.

After seeing the fisherfolk go at it, I decided to trying my hand at fishing in an attempt to relax, but I think most of the crew aren’t used to the sea being this calm. It’s putting some of them on edge.

“Errrr, When do we ‘burp’ ... reach land?”
That is Buggy. A black fur, yellow eyed nightwalker who we met back on the Island. He was originally our guide throughout our adventure, but stuck with us even after old Mag paid him. For the most part, the only thing on his mind is gold, but failing that he falls back onto survival of the fittest. And yes, he is currently one of the lucky few who are currently emptying their stomach overboard.

Now about Mag, he’s an ornery old nightwalker. He likes to complain a lot, but don't let his age fool you. Lucky for me he isn’t getting sea sick, he’s scary when he’s mad. It doesn’t help that he’s one of the few who know how to use magic. Well, he told me there were others, But he was the only one who would put up with me.

“Having trouble on the open sea?” I ask looking down at my line. All I had to fish with was line of string, a hook, and a small dead fish on the end.

“How can, urp... Can you stand it? All this open water? I never should have left the island.” Buggy replies as he leanes on the railing. I shake my head at him as I see the small float made of wood bob in the water.

“Just go with the flow and not think too much about it. Just relax, think of this as lying on a beach. Hot sand, soft breeze, lovely nightwalker lady coming to serve you drinks.” I said. It seems to have an effect for a moment, until he covers his mouth and runs to the other side of the ship. “Guess not?” I said before I get a tug on the line.

“Oh yeah, Come to daddy!” I said as I pull on the line, wrapping it around the bit of wood it was attached to. Bloody hell this fish is strong, it feels like it could pull my arm off! “A little help here!?” I call out as I’m almost taken off the side of the ship before being pulled back by several nightwalkers.

We are all pulling now. Good lord! I hope I didn’t nab a shark, that the last thing I wanted to catch. I don’t like the idea of eating something that could eat me. We all take one last pull and what falls onto the deck is... Huh? What am I looking at? Is that a crab? A crab, with long legs like a spider and a small body. I just blink dumbly at it, as the crew are quick to get it off the hook and get it ready for lunch.

“So much for getting some Cod.” I say to myself as I put the fishing gear away. I pass it back to the rat I got it from and thank him for letting me use it. I was going to go see how old Mag was doing, but that's when I heard seagulls.

Wait, seagulls?

I blink and look up. “Well I’ll be damned,” I say.
There are seagulls flying over the ship, the first ones I’ve seen after leaving the island. “Seagulls!” I yell before scrambling up the decks. I see most of the crew are confused by my outburst, but right now I’m never more thankful for all of those animal documentaries I watched as a kid before dying and being sent here.

I arrive at the bridge, out of breath and gasping for air. “Captain, Seagulls...” I pant out. The captain is a griffon. He has a peg leg of all things and some kind of snake hanging from his neck.

“Aye, I see them. What of it?” He asks. I’m busy catching my breath back as I hold up my hand, asking him to wait a moment.

“Seagulls live close to land. They come out to sea to feed, then nest on land.” I explain. He looks at me as if determining if what I’m saying is true or not. “What I’m trying to say is, we’re getting closer to seeing land soon.”

The griffon looks up at the sea birds before looking back down at me. To me, it looks like the gulls are flying... “What’s that way?” I ask the griffon captain, indicating the direction the seagulls came from. How he smirks with a beak I will never know.

“East.” The Captain says as he pulls on the wheel. Turning the ship east, I look back behind us as the other ships follow. “So east is where we will go.” He sounds all too happy, I smile and leave him to it. He then starts to sing a pirate's life...
‘Oh what the hell.’
I can’t help but join in.

I’m back in our stateroom now, with me by her side helping her sleep. I have a book open, trying to brush up on my Equestrian. The only downside is that the language looks one part Elementary School scribbles and another part demonic ritual. I have a scrapbook open next to it to help translate. Progress is slow going, but at least now I have sort of a handle on it.

I like being with Hel. It’s nice to talk about things when I was still human. I find it funny how she thinks my old world was strange.

Sadly after a week and a half on our new course, a heavy fog rolls in.

This puts a damper on my mood, I thought we were going to reach land. That when I feel the ship lurch forward. “What the hell?” I ask as Hel wakes up next to me.

“What is it? Have we stopped?” Asks Hel as she gets up. I don't know, but just to be on the safe side I put on my swords, my gauntlets with the hidden blades inside them, my throwing knives, my side dagger, along with another dagger for my boot as backup and a pistol I put in a holster behind my back. I really wish bullets with powder were invented instead of the muskets that we have now. Maybe I can fix that if I can find somone smart enough to make them?

“Stay here and don’t open the door for anyone, unless it me, Lily or one of our friends.” I say before walking out the door and almost run into Lily. “Hey, any idea what going on?” I ask.

“No we seem to have run aground on something.” Lily replies before going into my stateroom. Lovely, there are good odds that we're stuck and the rest of our fleet could crash into us from behind.

As I make my way outside, I notice that the fog still hasn't let up. I could see the torches from the other ships as I hear them drop anchor one by one. I walk over to the side, making sure not to get in anyone's way.

I look over to the side and I still can't see anything at first. I then see what I think is movement in the fog. I pull the pistol out. I didn’t plan on using it, but after everything I've been through I'll be damned if I let whatever's out there get the better me. That's when I think I see-.
“BLOODY HELL!?” I yell, firing my gun at the black shape that flies past my face. Everyone looks at me as I lay there and I look up to see... a crow. It was a stupid crow!

“Relax boy, it just a bird.” Says one of the crew as they laugh before going back to work. I look at the smoking gun and sigh. Maybe guns aren’t my thing. That's when I notice a feather, almost transparent, that floats down and falls next to me. I reach out to grab it, and when I look into my hand it’s gone.

“I must be going crazy.” I say to myself... until I see something green.
Wait, are those trees?
I get up and walk back to the edge of the ship. The fog is slowly parting and what I see makes my jaw drop.
“LAND!” I yell at the top of my lungs. It isn’t long before everyone is yelling it too.

We see before us greenery that surrounds the borders of the half moon inlet’s beach before us, coalescing in trees and undergrowth made of Evergreens and other various flora. A cliff face frames the inlet to the left, about twenty meters high with more Evergreen on top of it.

We made it, we bloody well made it! Dear lord, I could kiss someone for this. But it looks like someone else beat me to that idea first, as I feel a pair of hands turn my head. I then feel lips on my mouth. I blink, surprised at seeing Buggy who was screaming in joy before running off. One thought goes through my mind.
Yark! He kissed me?!
I have nothing against anyone, but Buggy was the last rat I ever want to kiss.

“Alright lads that enough! Chops! Get the rats ready, we’re going ashore!” Yells the captain as the crew cheers. Meanwhile I was going to tell Hel the good news, until I feel someone grab my collar and stop me. I look back to see that it was Mag.

“Come along, Keeplord. You have work to do.” He says before dragging me towards the crews getting ready to head off to the beach. Something tell me I’m not going to enjoy this, at all.

I was dragged along for this “ Important and historic day for the Nightwalkers.” as Mag puts it. I just want to get to work and not faff about with all this. I’m looking at the the lush plants deeper into the forest and want to explore.

“Do you have any words you’d like to say for the records?” Asks a skinny nightwalker with a big book. I have a thought about that.

“Yeah I do. Stop wasting time and help unload the ships.” I say as I walk off. Most of the ships are letting everyone off and unloading our supplies. I know this was just the start. I see a few palm trees, lots of sand and oddly tall grass everywhere. I’m not sure what to make of it. Hell, there’s some mangroves here and there. The first thing we need to do is build shelter, then worry about food and water.

I look back out to sea and see... Another island? I’m not sure. Whatever it is, it’s big. I can see the coastline go down into the horizon.

Okay, we need houses. Where are we going to put them? I eventually find the loggers and builders. I see them standing by, apparently waiting for something. I go up and ask them why, and they say that they’re waiting on the scouting party.

That’s seems like good idea, but with time being of the essence we can’t wait for them to get back. There are going to be hundreds of people wanting to get off of those ships. I explain to them that they need to set up some temporary homes. Something with a roof over our heads and some walls. They agree and started working. I don’t envy them at the moment. The fog that plagued the seas before is now beginning to let up, but until then the air remains hot and muggy. An errant breeze passes by, all too brief, but I'm just happy for the moment of reprieve from the baking atmosphere. It's far too hot out here for my liking.

I see the livestock being unloaded from one of the ship's. There's nothing but chickens and pigs and they seem fine. The pigs are already eating the grass and the chickens are looking for seeds. I find it amusing how the farmers are trying to keep all the animals together.

“Get back here!” Yells a dusty yellow pegasus who is running after some chickens. I blink at this, the main population of this little colony are Nightwalkers and Mus-elf.

Now that I think about it, what is this land even called? Does it even have a name? Ooh, this will be fun! We get to name it! I need tell everyone once everybody gets settled in.

‘Maybe Night-Musland? No... Sounds silly. Ratland? No, thats biased... Candyland? Heh heh, I’d get a kick out of it, they wouldn’t though. Or maybe even worse, they would. I can see it now. Talion, Lord of Candyland... I think I’d shoot myself.’

I'm interrupted from my thoughts when I hear some kind of commotion going on and I sigh. I might as well see what’s going on. By the time I get there I see what looks to be two nightwalker tradesman in a heated argument.

“What going on?” I ask a short, brown furred mus-elf with a hat made out of grass who is watching the scene unfold as well. He looks like a young fisherfolk.

“Those two have been arguing over what our new home should be called.” He replies. A matronly nightwalker next to him nods her head in agreement.
“They’ve been at it ever since we got here.” She says, holding two baby nightwalkers in her arms as three more hold on to her dress. Either they were hers, or she had been volunteered as a babysitter.
The other two are continuing to argue and I cross my arms as I look between them. They continue to yell at each other, ignoring my presence entirely. The argument has long since stopped being a rational debate and has now devolved into name-calling, so I decide to step in.

“Guys... Could you both stop this?” I ask.
What happens next I don't see coming. I guess they are so caught up in their yelling that they aren't thinking straight.

“Shut up!/Back Off!” Is the last thing I hear as I feel two fists impact me square in the jaw and I fall into darkness.

The next thing that I'm aware of is cold water splashing over my face.

“I’m awake!?” I yell as I jolt awake before my brain reminds me of the feeling of my face in pain. By Thor’s hammer, what were their fists made of? Metal? I blink for a bit before seeing Hel and Lily standing over me. “What happened?” I ask getting up with Hel helping me. I take stock of my surroundings, and notice that it's quite a bit more active than before. A sizable crowd had gathered around me and by their expressions they weren’t looking too happy.

I take another look round and spot the two who were arguing earlier, though I notice by their fearful expression, bruised and battered bodies that obviously something had happened while I was out. They’re tied up and surrounded by what looks like nightwalker guards; hauberk chainmail with a waistbelt, and iron vambraces and greaves. To my horror, I see what could only be an execution block off to the side with a burly black nightwalker resting on the handle of a large axe off to the side. This is getting out of hand.

“You got punched in the face by these two.” Said Lily. I looked at the fearful and almost resigned looks of the two nightwalkers.
An official looking nightwalker guard approaches me. His armor seems more ornate than the rest and he maintains an air of leadership from the soldiers. He has black fur and brown eyes with a hardened look about him that screams battle. He has two swords at his side, and a mean scar across his face. I look at him curiously, and he bows to Talerion.

“I am called Chulls, the acting captain of the soldiers here. Lord Vill wished that I come
“How do you want them to be punished?”

“What?” I asked blinking at him, oh right I am the Keeplord now. I forget that from now forward the people will look to me for guidance, so what would normally be an unfortunate brawl just became an attack on the leader of this makeshift kingdom. I’ve heard of some saying that to gain respect one must be brutal to curtail any civil unrest that might come from a weak ruler, but I’m no tyrant, nor did I accept this just for my own gain. I quickly think of a punishment that would suit the circumstances.

“Just make them do some hard work and help out for the next five weeks, besides it was an accident. Right?” I ask. The two who hit me look dumbfounded before nodding their heads quickly.

“Besides we have more important things to do than hold grudges. We have enough food to last us another month. We need to find a good place to live, but first we need three things; shelter, food and water. Everyone understand? If we’re going to make a home for ourselves here we need to work together,” I say. The crisis averted, the guards cut the bonds of the two nightwalker captives and are then taken away. I sigh.

“That was very kind of you.” said Hel as she came up beside me. I smiled at that and rubbed my head. Lily gave me dirty looks, guess she still has trouble trusting me. What a drag...

“It only common sense. We can’t afford to be killing each other when we don’t have a roof over our heads, food for our mouths and water for our throats. We’ll have to ration supplies, as well as spare some for a messenger to sail back to the kingdom to relay our location. It may not look like it sometimes, but I do think of the big picture here.” I explain as Lily looks impressed. I’ve played enough empire sims to know that your people are only as strong as their infrastructure, and their belief in what their kingdom stands for.

“I want to turn this place into a coastal city, a trade point from our mainland into the rest of the land. Tolerance is key. Where you’re born, what class, what species... All of that pales in the grand scheme of things and to the success of an empire. I want people to be happy, and it would please me to forge a path to make it so,” I say as I look up to the sunny sky, the fog long since cleared to let in the warmth of day. I feel Hel’s hand take hold of my own and I look back to her.
“It sounds wonderful.” Hel said as she smiled under her hood. Her smile sends a warmth through me, and I can’t help but chuckle a little as the mood takes me. An errant breeze brings my mind back to the weather, and a thought comes to mind.

“We’ll have to see about redesigning everyone clothes. It far too hot to be wearing anything that was made for the cold of the island.” I add. I’m just about to say something else when I hear another commotion...

“Come on, let see what going on this time.” I say walking over to the slowly gathering crowd.
It looks like the scouts came back, and Buggy is with them. I then see something worrying.

“Hel, please stay here with Lily.” I ask of her, and Hel looks confused for a moment before nodding her head. Lily seems to agree with this as I go on ahead. If what I saw was right, one of the scouts is missing an arm. It was only after I get closer that I see another who had lost his leg.

I see the wounded get tended by a few in the crowd and I go up to Buggy. “Bugs, what happened out there?” I ask in concern.

“We got attacked, but I’d like to talk about this somewhere private.” says Buggy. I agree, and we go to get got a hold of Mag, Hel and Lily. By the time we were all together, the shelters were up and the sun had just set.

“Okay explain to me what happened?” I asked. Buggy stepped forward to start the impromptu meeting.

“We found water source a bit inland. An accessible natural reservoir in a bend in a river coming from the mountains behind us. It’s clean, probably using natural springs and melted snow as headwaters. A food source is nearby as well, looks to be several kinds of fruit. We went to cross the river to get some snacks to bring back. We heard a splash but didn’t think ‘nuthin of it,” he explained as he was nursing a mug of rum. “We noticed some of our party was going missing, and next thing we know the water explodes and this big... Scaly thing burst out of the water and bites Lefty’s and Bisben’s limbs off!”

My eyes go wide at this, as everyone else starts talking. It sounded like a crocodile. It would make sense... seafaring, reptilian, and in humid climates. “This thing you saw... Scaly body, big head, eyes and nostrils on the top of it head, four legs and a big body with a powerful tail?” I ask as everyone looks at me.

“Y-yeah... How did you know?” I had thought that crocodiles could still be found back on the island, but seeing as how I never encountered them in our journey it seems that they were a creature never before seen by anyone here without access to the discovery channel. I look at the three newcomers, thinking if whether I should tell them the source of my knowledge, and by extension my origins, or not. Buggy, Maggable, Lily and Hel seem to pick up on my unspoken question. I made a decision.

“I... heard stories from a griffon about these things. But he told me they were nothing but stories.” I don’t like to lie, but would it be better than telling the others who didn’t know I was human. ‘Oh, by the way guys, I’m not really a nightwalker. I’m a mythical being in a nightwalker body that got sent here after I died to be a pawn in a game the gods are playing..’ Yeah, they’re really going to believe that...

“They look real to me.” Buggy quickly adds. “Captain Browns, think we could use one of your cannons to kill it?”

“You’re joking, right lad?” The captain asks incredulously, “Those cannons were salvaged from wrecks. While they could be operational, we don’t even have any ammo, let alone enough gunpowder. They require a mite lot more powder than your run ‘o the mill musket. They’re just for show for now. The best we could do with them currently would be to roll ‘em off a cliff and hope they hit somethin’.” Well, that worrying... that all our cannons are useless.

“We don’t need a cannon, we can trap it.” I say, getting everyone's attention, “From the story I heard, I think I can lead it out of the water. All we have to do is tie its mouth shut, bind it legs and we have it trapped.” Everyone looks at me like I was crazy, and to be truthful on any other day they might have a point.

Chulls, the guard captain speaks up, “Just like any other noble. You would risk the lives of our soldiers with a half-baked plan while sitting back and-”

“Hey, it's possible!” I say, “Seeing as how Buggy said it was the only clean water we’ve found so far, not only that it would be dangerous to let that thing live so close to us, but we’d be contending with it on a regular basis to quench our thirsts.”

“Besides, I won’t ask anyone to risk their lives for my plan, so I will take the role of setting the bait. All I need is a little meat, a big team at the ready, and a lot of help.” I add. After that the guard captain remains silent for a moment with an impassive expression on his face. “Alright, we’ll get some volunteers.” he says with the bow as he and the others begin to leave.

“I’ll get some of me crew. Maybe they can make themselves useful,” said Browns as he walked out. I will never get used to how ponies and griffons walk on all fours.

“So... Buggy, how big was this thing?” I asked, as it only now occurred to me to have asked that first. I get a feeling that tomorrow is going to be a long day.

“Wow, this place is beautiful.” I say out loud. It took us around two hours to get here through muggy heat and rugged undergrowth. We are now standing before the river. It’s at least fifty feet wide and it meanders in a small semi-circle around a small shore of smooth pebbles and sea-shells. There is a cliff on the opposite side with a forest on top of it with many branches overhanging and shading part of the grove. Several small waterfalls trickle off the cliff into the river. It gives off a real tropical feeling. The fruit trees are indeed on the opposite shore just a bit downstream around a bend, where the cliff gives way to the right and the forest gives way on the left a full view of the ocean on the horizon several miles away. The river itself has a deep blue look to it, being more than a couple feet deep, though you could still see the bottom just as clear as day. It’s just as Buggy said, the water looks clean. There’s just one thing bothering me. “Where’s the... Monster?”

“Where do you think? It’s hiding in the water.” Replies Buggy. I sigh at this as I look at all the greenery. I open the bag I had with me and pull out a leg of a pig... I couldn't help but think this is the same one we all had for dinner last night.

“Okay, everyone knows the plan?” I ask, looking back at the large gathering. They all look at me like I’m crazy... Fuck you guys. “Okay here I go... Don’t try this at home.” I add, laughing at the meaning behind it. No one else did. So I slowly make my way down to the edge of the water and wade in a foot or two. The water is cold as balls as it runs past my furred legs. Now, if I remember right, all I have to do was splash the pig leg in the water.

“Here goes nothing.” I say, as I start to splash the leg. I keep an eye and ear out. I don’t feel like dying to this thing, and in hindsight this is a bad idea. I am literally acting like living bait here!

“Let me know if you see the git!” I yell back, and I see someone wave frantically... yay, I’m going to die here! When I look back, I freeze at what I see. It looked like a cross between a crocodile and the size of an elephant. The thing must have been thirty feet long with a head the size of a car!

“Okay... Do not panic. Just slowly walk back.” I say to myself. As I back away, it slowly swims into the shallows. “And it’s following me."
‘Okay don’t run! If you run it will try and eat you. If you stop moving away it will eat you, if you do anything stupid it will bloody well EAT YOU!’ I frantically think to myself. It’s fucking HUGE!

“I am so dead...” I say to myself. I then throw the leg of meat off to the side to distract it, and it snaps the meat right out of the air. I ran, and it was quickly running after me. “Don’t just sit there like liming's, help!” I cry out as I jump over a fallen tree. The reptilian monster smashes right through it. I would be in awe and impressed if it wasn’t trying to eat me!

That when I hear the gunfire. I looked back at the others who were scattered and hiding behind the undergrowth to the treeline, several large boulders, and on top of the cliff behind the cove. All that seemed to do was piss it off, and it’s attention turned to random members of the team that were closest to it.

“Run!” I yell now following the huge monster. I need to help them, and I desperately try to come up with a plan to distract this thing. Everyone scatters, some only turning back to fire pellet shots or arrows. Some even throw spears as I now run to keep up. Damn, this thing was fast! I try throwing one of my knives at it for a solid hit, only for it to bounce off it’s armor-like scales. I do get it’s attention though, as it once again comes after me.

“Get the ropes!” I shout out as it tries to take a bite out of me, only to snap it jaws with a death grip on a nearby thirty foot tall tree with a thick three foot trunk. With monstrous pressure, it bites down on the tree to snap it in half before letting out a monstrous roar. “I feel like this was a bad idea. How in Thor’s name did you guys escape this thing!” I yell over the sound of the roar and firing muskets as I run over to a fallen tree and hide behind it.

“You think?! We barely made it out alive!” Yells Buggy, who runs over to me. I look back at him to give a snappy comeback, when I see what looks like a small barrel under one arm. With a fuse attached to it... Oh god please don’t tell me.

“Buggy, please tell me that’s not what I think it is?” I ask in a worried tone. I’m really hoping that isn’t some kind of explosive. I don’t think it’s big enough to affect that thing, only to piss it off.

“This is my home brew. Making things that explode is a hobby of mine,” Buggy replies before looking back at the huge croc. A few of our team had sprung into action while it had the tree in it’s mouth and had gotten some ropes over it. That’s when the monster croc decided it didn’t like that, and did a death roll. It’s death roll seemed to be making thing far more dangerous for us as it’s rolling had snagged several of the team that were holding the ropes and flung them around.

“You’re a hunter, a guide, and an alchemist?” I ask, making sure the croc didn’t see us. “If you’re planning on blowing it up, I think you’ll need something bigger.” I add before seeing the monster croc turn it’s head to look this way.

“Run, it knows we’re here!” I yell as I run for it. Buggy is close behind, before the fallen tree we were hiding behind is crushed. Right now I’m running on adrenaline, hope and pure terror.

“This thing must be hundreds of years old to be this big!” I holler as we run. I grab Buggy as we take a sharp left as the croc barrels past us, snapping it’s jaws behind us. “Why did i think this was a good idea?!”

“Just shut up and run!” yells Buggy as we run into downstream to a small outcropping of trees. As I rest on a tree I hear the croc growl. I then heard yelling as everybody else runs into the outcropping beside us. I feel a little envious of the griffons and pegasi who can still fly.

“What do we do!?” yells a panicking pony. I sigh in frustration. No plan survives first contact it seems. I have just enough time to look up and see-

“Everyone go deeper!” I scream as I pull Buggy away from a tree he was resting on. The tree was now crushed between the croc’s jaws before being uprooted and pulled away in one motion. It growls and throws the tree away before walking around the trees. We move back further, only to find a very steep cliff jutting upwards and surrounding us on all sides but one. Our flying comrades can’t get to us due to the canopy above us. We were trapped, and it knows it.

“We need a way to kill this thing. If only we could get it jaws trapped shut...” I grumble to myself, frantically thinking of how to salvage the situation before we lose someone. Another tree was removed and it’s now nearly twenty feet away, with only a small number of trees left before it can get to us. I’m thinking if we all ran at once the likeliness of it getting us all is low, but I shudder at the thought of even one of us not going home to our families, and continue to think of a way to get us all out of this alive.

“Buggy, how much of a boom can that thing make?” I ask as he looks like he is about to light it then stops.

“Enough to turn a small house into a fireball.” He replies. Not enough, I shake my head at that, before looking at everyone else. There were ten of us and six had guns with powder left.

“Everyone, give Buggy your gunpowder.” I say as they looked at me dumbly, before another tree is pulled out. “NOW” I yell. They all quickly dump what they have at Buggy’s feet. “How much time do you need to turn all this into a bomb?”

“With all this and my brew? A few minutes,” he replies as I look back at the huge monster of a croc. It gives a growl as it’s teeth are wrapped around another tree, pulling on it to get at it’s prey.

“You got two. And that me being generous, I don’t think I’ll live that long.” I took a deep breath and waited for the croc to grab another tree before making my move. I ran right past it head so it could see me. I looked back as it now turned to go after me. What I couldn’t figure out was why it would go this far just to kill us? From what I remember from all the shows, after the first attack they go back in the water to wait for more food.

I draw one of my swords as I see it gaining on me. Time for something crazy, I think as I turned around to face it. I really hate using magic. “Fulgur!” I yell, pointing my hand at it. I feel the surge of lightning pass through my arm before hitting it. I was never more happy that Thor gave me a clue for this spell as I am in this moment. My arm feels numb after that. I hear the croc roar in pain before I run up and try and stab into it’s foot... I don’t get very far. The tip of the sword is all I manage to stab into it.

“Crap!” I yell before pulling my sword free and running for the water. Wait, shit! I slide to a stop as my feet fall into the water. I turn back to see the damage my attack did. It looks like I left a angry burn mark across it snout, but other than leaving it a scar I didn’t damage the damn thing. It almost looks like it was waiting for me. I gulp hard as I pull my other sword out.

I’m waiting for an attack, waiting for it to lung for me. But it just sat there... why? That’s when I hear a strange sound. I blink as I looked down at the source of the sound and in front of me I see a baby croc crawling out of the sand.
‘Well, that explains it,’ I thought.
That’s why it’s been so aggressive and kept attacking us. It’s protecting it nest... That I'm now standing next to...

It gives a growl as it slowly walks forward. I look between the nest and the mother. I take slow side steps, keeping the nest between me and the large croc. Once she sees more of her babies crawling out and calling for her she seems more interested in seeing to her babies than trying to kill me.

“Okay... Mamma croc, I have no intrest in harming your babies. But I hope you understand we kind of need the water you’re using as your home.” I have no idea why I'm talking to it. The croc looks at me before she starts to dig her little ones free and picks them up into her mouth. “As far as we know, this is the only place we can find drinking water. So if it’s not too much trouble, could you take your family somewhere else please?”

I’m still backing away. I continue to look back at the mother as she gets the last hatchling in her mouth and looks at me. She is just staring at me, and I have no idea how long this lasts before she lets out a growl and starts to walk away.

I just watch dumbfounded as she walks away, before collapsing on my rear end. I’m panting from the adrenaline rush as I sit in the water.

I then hear everyone yelling as they run out of what was moments ago a deathtrap, only to look confused when the monster croc is gone. I just look at Buggy as he walks over to me. “What happened?” He asks, looking as confused as I felt.

“She was just protecting her nest, once the eggs hatched she picked them up and left.” I explain as I sit in the cool water. I sigh as I let myself fall back into the water, not caring about how cold it still is running through my fur. I let my head go under water for a moment before coming back up and laughing. “I just thought of a name for this land. Shadow Haven.” Buggy looks at me and laughs.

“Let’s see what the others think of that name,” he said holding his hand out to me. I smile and take it as he helps me up. We are now heading back with fresh water, with one less problem to worry about, and a hundred more to go. Now our next worry is food.

Author's Note

Edited by Kaig3n Give him a thumbs up ^^