Author's Note

Gettin' some help from AJ for the cragadile wrastle. And yes... I couldn't think of another name for the big ole dile so I picked Brent.

Cragadile Wrestling

Applejack had volunteered for this one as well. Normally, she would bring a much larger audience for her yearly “Cragadile Wrastle”. This time was a bit different. This time she was supposed to lose. On purpose. It left a sour taste in her mouth, giving up her record like that. Twilight had assured her that she wouldn’t be giving up her record though. With no other witnesses, nopony else would know.

The two mares walked into the swamp near Froggy Bottom Bog and looked around. Cragadiles tended to hang out around here, submerged into the mud or basking in the sparse sunlight that peeked through the trees. They spotted a few but they were far too small to tango with.

Hours passed, the sun continuing its trek across the skies while the two mares waited. Twilight sat on an upraised root just high enough to be a comfortable seat while Applejack paced back and forth in front of the swamp. She had to remain alert in case a cragadile big enough came into view.

Growing bored with waiting, Twilight stared a game of twenty questions.

“Is it somepony we know?”

“Nope.”

“Is it somepony we’ve heard about?”

“Nope.”

“Is it a pony at all?”

“Nope.”

“Is it… an apple tree?”

“Yep.”

“Is it… Bloomberg?”

“Nope.”

Their game was interrupted as a large splash echoed towards them. They both looked up as a ripple washed over one of the nearer cragadiles. It looked like a wake, like something was swimming towards them. Twilight quickly scrambled up onto the tree she was sitting on while Applejack stood still in the water. If it was a big cragadile, the plan was simple.

Applejack would wrestle it for a bit. Twilight would describe how sometimes Earth Ponies do this sort of thing.

Applejack would then push it off and Twilight would explain why it needed to get up to speed.

If things went to plan, it would come rushing at Applejack with its maw open. Applejack would then throw her hat to Twilight and, rather than diving out of the way like she normally would, she would dive into the maw of the cragadile.

The wake got bigger as it approached them, and AJ watched as the spines came into view. “Tall spines. Big Brent,” Twilight hadn’t realized Applejack had named the big gators. As the big cragadile got close, Applejack spread her arms wide and moved to the side. The cragadile’s jaws missed her side by inches and she wrapped her forelegs around the muzzle.

“I’ll make it quick,” Twilight said as she pulled out the camera. Turning it on, she panned it around to Applejack and the dile. “As we can see here, cragadiles can range in size. The little ones at the back, apparently waiting for scraps, and the big one Applejack is wrestling with. Locally known as Big Brent, he’s the biggest cragadile I’ve ever seen. Applejack has full control over the situation. Even being on her hind legs the way she is, with the grip she has on Big Brent’s mouth, he won’t be able to open his jaws to get free.

“Any library will contain copies of older bestiaries and books on animal biology where you can learn that all of a cragadile’s strength lies in closing those massive jaws, not opening them. Right now, though he is fighting, Big Brent is at Applejack’s mercy,” Twilight said, and Applejack then pushed Big Brent off. The big cragadile slid a little way before snarling and turning to swim away. The two ponies watched for a moment before he turned back after a gaining a fair distance.

Just as they’d discussed, Applejack removed her hat and threw it to Twilight. Twilight caught it and managed to refocus the camera just as Big Brent leapt out of the water like a speeding train. Applejack jumped and curled into a tight ball as he sped at her, maw wide open. He clearly hadn’t expected it as the mare he’d just been wrestling with wound up at the back of his throat.

The big cragadile choked for a moment as Twilight’s magic lifted him out of the mud so she could watch the progress. “Most cragadiles only eat things smaller than they are, or things they can get flat on their broad tongues. For the purposes of the documentary, we can’t let that happen or Big Brent would chew poor Applejack. Hovering as he is while caught in my magic, he is able to swallow her better.”

Twilight blinked as her contact linked to Applejack’s, the mare straightening out so she could look ahead of her. “Here, we can see the flap of flesh alligators and cragadiles both have to keep water from getting into their stomachs or lungs. Through a special link between my contact and Applejack’s contact, I can see what she sees. In a moment… there it is,” Twilight said as the flap of skin opened, and Big Brent tipped his head back. Applejack slid easily into the big croc’s throat and Twilight watched both perspectives.

The bulge that formed in his throat was slow moving and looked to be somewhat painful. Even a big cragadile like Brent wasn’t that much bigger than a fully grown pony. Twilight kept her commentary to a minimum as Brent swallowed. Every swallow pushed Applejack further and further into his throat until she was eventually squeezed into the stomach. Twilight kept the camera focused as Applejack looked around.

“In the cragadiles spacious stomach, it’s quite easy for even a pony the size of Applejack to move around. Not by much, as it is still inside a large, powerful predator. From the inside, cragadiles are rather vulnerable to many things a pony could do to them. Kicks, magic, thrashing, anything could cause harm to a cragadiles fragile insides. On the outside, a cragadile’s flesh is much like the stones they live among. Thick, tough and sharp.

“Many assumptions had been made until today that cragadiles even had sharp stones in their stomachs to assist with grinding up prey that didn’t go down as easily as Applejack did,” Twilight said and turned the camera off. “Applejack, you need to kick hard towards me so I can see his belly move when you want to be let out!” Twilight shouted and half of her vision bobbed. She hadn’t cut both cameras. It was disorienting to say the least.

Keeping Big Brent floating in the air, Twilight took as many notes on his physical structure as she could. His claws, his spines, his tail, his teeth and even his nose spike were documented. Most cragadiles didn’t get this big and stay near ponies. She wasn’t sure how, but many of them migrated to the much larger swamps further east before reaching this size. Big Brent had stayed as the largest cragadile in Froggy Bottom Bog for some time.

A sharp kick to the side of her head jolted her out of her observations. Applejack. She’d nearly forgotten. Adding a layer of overglow to her horn, Twilight teleported her friend out of Big Brent’s stomach before using her magic to toss him farther into the swamp. The loud splash of his landing was sign enough that she’d aimed well. Giving Applejack her hat back, the two of them teleported back to Ponyville. Some editing would need to be done, but now they had information on the soft, squishy insides of a large cragadile.