Rogue

by chaos2012

Chapters

The island
The rope
The crossing
The Den
The Way Forward

The island

Rogue

Pre read by Listener

“Come on, this will be fun!”

Braeburn frowned as his cousin pushed him along the wooden dock. “Applejack, ah said ah wanted to come visit ya, not get eaten by a monster!"

Applejack chuckled as she continued to push him from behind, causing his hooves to scrape across the rough flooring.“Come on now, ah want ya to see somethin’ ya never get to see where ya come from.”

“Somethin’ like seein’ a fruit bat rainbow again would be cool. Seeing a bunch of crocodiles isn’t a thing ah dreamt of.”

After learning he had a week of free time, Braeburn had decided to come and visit his family out in Ponyville for a few days. At first it was really relaxing to get away from Appleloosa, but as soon as he was stupid enough to suggest doing something fun. Applejack, with a suggestion from Rainbow Dash, chose to take him on a tour to Hayseed Swamps, to go onto a tour boat, to see the local crocodile population there. Hearing the recommendation was a shock at first, but he didn’t think it would be too bad. Even as their wagon passed through the thick Mangrove Forest he wasn’t too hesitant about doing the tour. Once they arrived at the tour shack, however, the owner had the brilliant idea to scare the fur off the customers by lining the wall with photos.

Photos of crocodiles eating ponies.

Dozens of pictures showed monstrous crocodiles, their massive jaws and dagger like teeth clamped down on a helpless pony. Others showed the effects of surviving a crocodile attack, missing part of their leg, or the leg all together.

One specific picture especially caused a chill to crawl up his spine. A gargantuan croc, at least twenty feet long, was said in the description to have been responsible for the deaths of thirty five ponies, and had become so dangerous that even Princess Celestia ordered the royal guards to go and hunt it down. Once it was finally killed, it was cut opened to see its stomach contents. Spilling out was a mixture of blood and dissolved chunks of flesh from its previous victims. To top it all off, inside of the pile of flesh was the body of a young unicorn mare. She had been swallowed whole. The photograph captured the fear still engraved on the mangled corpse.

Despite the fact that he now wanted to head back to the farm, Applejack wasn’t going to let him miss out on all of the fun. “Brae, y’all better grow a pair if ya want to act like a stallion. Even Applebloom is comin’ along and she ain’t scared!” the orange farm pony exclaimed.

Braeburn turned his neck around and glared down at her, “AJ, ah don’t care if she is just a filly, ah’m not sure if this tour thing is safe.”

“Ah checked with this place before we came here, and they said they have never had a problem before. Ah wouldn’t take Applebloom if it wasn’t-

Applejack stopped and looked around the dock, trying to spot her little sister , “Where is that little rascal anyway?”

“Hey sis!”

Applejack flipped completely around to see her younger sister trotting down the dock from inside the tour shack. Sitting on top of the yellow filly’s head was a tan safari hat that stuck far out to the sides. “What do ya think? Ah look like an adventurer now!” Applebloom happily stated.

Applejack gave a curious look at the hat. “Applebloom, where did ya get the money for that?”

“Rainbow got if for me.”

Suddenly from above, a cyan pegasus landed on the dock next to Applebloom, flicking her rainbow mane out of her face, and standing up straight, Rainbow Dash beamed a wide grin down at the filly. “Yup, and now you are the Daring Do of Ponyville.”

Applejack smiled at seeing what her friend did. “Rainbow, ya didn’t have to get Applebloom anythin’.”

“Are you kidding? We’re going to go see crocs! She has to look the part of an adventurer!” Rainbow said as she playfully rubbed a hoof over the top of Applebloom’s hat, ruffling up the top.

Giggling, Applebloom readjusted her hat and turned to her sister, “Hey sis, can ah go get us our seats?”

“Sure, go on ahead. We’ll catch up once we get yer cousin to move his scared flank.” Applejack said as she smirked back to Braeburn.

Nodding, Applebloom ran down the wooden deck to the boat at the end. Once she was out of earshot Braeburn turned and gave an angry gaze at his tormentor. “Ah swear, if ah get eaten on this thing, ah’m gonna kick yer ass!”

Applebloom walked down the brown dock that stretched out onto the surface of the river. The water here was crystal clear, allowing anypony view of the muddy bottom. She glanced back and forth in the water, trying to spot anything that looked intriguing. Not seeing something of interest, she walked on to her destination.

Nestling on the end of the dock was the boat that was to take them on their tour; a twenty four foot aluminum panga boat. Inside of the center were eight, two seat benches that lined a main pathway in the center that ran from the bow to the back. Set up over the top was a large canopy that stretched from the second row from the front and covered all the way to the back. Set in the back was a single seat behind the steering wheel house.

Sitting in that lone chair to the back was the captain of the boat, a light blue earth pony with a dirty blonde mane. Looking up, he gave a small grin at Applebloom. “So, you want to go see the crocs here, do ya?” He said with a strong neighstralian accent.

“Eeyup, mah sis thought it would be fun to come and see them. Mah names Appleboom.” Applebloom smiled as she stuck out a hoof.

Leaning over the edge, the stallion gave her a shake, “Nice to meet you. I’m Wrangler . Now, why don’t you take a seat and get ready for some fun.”

Nodding, Applebloom looked inside to see only one pony in the very front. After staring at him for a moment, she recognized the stallion. “Hey Caramel, how are ya doin?’

Caramel turned around in his seat when he heard his name, smiling when he saw who it was,”Hey there Applebloom. You are coming on this trip too?”

Mah sis and Rainbow thought it would be fun to take Braeburn on this. Ah’ve never seen crocs before!” she giggled with excitement as she hopped in the boat and took the seat behind him. “So, did anypony come with ya?”

Caramel gave a small shrug. “No, I just thought it would be fun to try this out. I’ve never seen wild crocodiles either.”

“Why did you make me come on this?” a voice said from behind.

Because we have a long way to go to Manehatten, and your mother and I thought we could use a break.” Another voice responded.

“Huh?” Applebloom turned around when she heard the question. What she saw caused her mood to go from happy to horrible; Diamond Tiara was walking down the dock towards the boat. ‘Ya gotta be kiddin’ me.’

The small pink filly was frowning up to her father, Filthy Rich, who was helping a pony Applebloom had never seen before. The mare had a light gray coat and a blonde mane. What Applebloom noticed the most, however, was the way the pony walked; her back legs seemed buckled and weak, causing her to stumble every few steps that she took down the dock. Turning back to Caramel and put her hoof up to her mouth to hide her whisper, “Hey, who’s that pony next to Filthy Rich?”

Looking over Applebloom’s hat, Caramel stared for a second before turning back to her, “That’s Lillyforth, Filthy’s wife.”

Hearing that caused Applebloom’s eyebrow to stretch up, “Wife? Ah never seen her before.”

A slight look of sorrow came across Caramel’s face, “She doesn’t get out too often. See how she walks like that? She has MS.”

“Huh? What’s that?”

“It’s a disease that affects your nervous system. It affects how her body communicates to her muscles, which makes it difficult to move sometimes.”

Hearing that made Applebloom feel so sorry for the poor mare. It sounded horrible for something like that to happen to a pony. Seeing things like this always made her appreciate her own fortunate life.

As the new guests approached the dock, both fillies locked eyes for a moment, causing immediate tension for both of them. Diamond cast a snoody glare at seeing who was going to be on the boat with her. ‘Great, I have to go on a lame tour with a lame blank flank.’ She sneered to herself. Wanting as much distance between Applebloom, she looked up to her dad with puppy dog eyes, “Daddy, can we ride in the back? I like it better back there.”

Filthy smiled down at his daughter. “Sure, sweetheart.”

As they stepped in the side of the boat, Diamond turn forward and stuck her tongue out at Applebloom, who in return glared while putting her hoof under her chin and flicked outward. The moment she did that, a hoof gave her a hard tap on the back of her head. “Oww!” Rubbing the back of her head, she flipped around and glared at Caramel… only to find her sister glaring at her. “Applejack, what did ya do that for?”

“Look here sugarcube, ah know ya don’t get along with Diamond, but ah won’t have mah sister be doing inappropriate things like that gesture y’all just did there.” Applejack retorted.

Applebloom frowned, but decided to hold her tongue anymore and folded her forelegs over her chest. “Fine.”

Grinning, Applejack trotted over to the bench where her sister was. “Good, now scootch over, ah’m sitting next to ya.”

Braeburn stood there as he watched his two cousins take their seat behind Caramel. Once they were down, his eyes floated down to the seat below him, unsure if he wanted to even get in or not. The sudden shove from behind didn’t allow him to make a decision as he tumbled inside and yelped out when he landed face first on the bench. Crawling off the seat, he flipped around to see Rainbow Dash chuckling as she stepped inside after him. “What the hell was that for, Rainbow!?” He snapped.

“At the rate you were going, it would be dark by the time you got inside of the boat.” Rainbow chuckled as she took a seat next to the glaring country pony. “Just relax and enjoy the boat ride.”

Giving a loud snort, Braeburn sat down in the seat next to Rainbow, glaring ahead since he didn’t want to look at her. “Ah can’t believe ah’m goin’ on this thing.”

“Me too, pal.”

Hearing somepony answer his question made Braeburn turn around. He was met with a light yellow earth pony mare with blue mane mixed with a pink highlight. Seeing the upset look on her face brought a small smile to the farm pony’s muzzle. “Not in to crocs like me, ah see?”

Bon Bon nodded, “I wanted to go to Manehatten to go to a museum, but SOMEPONY wanted to go risk her life to see a bunch of crocodiles!” she yelled as she turned back to her mint green unicorn companion, who in turn just chuckled at seeing her friend so upset.

“Bon Bon, I promised that if you did this, we would go to the cooking museum like you wanted. I just thought this would be a nice little thrill for us to try.” Lyra grinned as she hopped in the boat, taking one of the rows to the left. Sitting upright, she put her hoof to her left and tapped the empty seat next to her, coaxing her friend to join her.

Looking at the boat, Bon Bon turned back to the captain with a concerned look on her face. “This thing is safe, right?”

Wrangler chuckled at the look she gave. “Don’t worry ma’m, riding in this thing is as safe as goin’ to the zoo… unless you want to go for a nice dip in the water.”

“No thanks.” Bon Bon quickly hopped in the boat and sat on the seat, keeping as much space between herself and the edge.

Counting the heads in the boat, Wrangler saw that all of the registered guests were on board now. “Alright, now that we are all here, let’s get ready to go. My name’s Wrangler, and I’ll be your guide this wonderful afternoon.” Looking back to the tour shack, he put a hoof up to his lips and let out a loud whistle.

Lillyforth looked back to the captain, curious on what he was doing. “Are you signaling the store we’re leaving?” she asked.

“Yep, and calling our last companion.” Wrangler replied with a big grin.

Everypony on board turned around to see a black and white border collie running down the dock, barking happily as it approached the boat. A mix of dawww’s filled the air as the young dog hopped in and sat down in the back by Wrangler. Reaching down with a hoof, he playfully ruffled the dog’s ears as he spoke up. “Everypony, this here is Teddy, my personal assistant. He will help us find them big crocs we want to find… and he just loves boat rides.”

Braeburn gulped as he heard those words. ‘Big crocs? Why in Equestria would he want to find the big ones? Why can’t he just find baby ones.’

Wrangler turned around in his seat and leaned down to the engine in the back. Grabbing the pull string in his teeth, he yanked upwards, causing the starting cable to whip out. The engine roared to life, churning up the water in the back as the propellers began to spin. Letting the cable go, it sucked back into its hole as he reached over the side and untied the ropes to the dock. A moment later, the boat slowly drifted out away from the wooden platform and into the deeper water of the river. Placing his hoof on the throttle stick, he grinned to the tourists on his boat. “Alright, let’s go find some crocs.”

The tour boat cruised along the glassy water for about thirty minutes without anything special to see. The mangrove forest itself had become denser as they continued further up the river away from the tour shack. After time it was so thick at some riverbanks that the shore itself couldn’t be seen through the thick bundle of tree limbs and trunks. The water itself had also lost its clear tone, becoming more like a light brown color and hiding whatever may be below the surface. Applebloom took note of this by turning around and yelling over the sound of the passing wind. “Hey, mister! How are we supposed to see the crocodiles if ah can’t even see under the water?”

Wrangler pulled back on the throttle, causing the boat to begin cruising to a relaxing putt through the water. “No need to worry about that, little one. Crocodiles like the dirty water so they can hide from something when they are hunting, but if you look right, you can always find them.” He smiled down to the curious filly before turning to the side and spotting a large pocket of floating moss on the surface about thirty feet to the right. “Hey now, looks like we may have our first sighting already.”

All of the ponies looked over to where he was looking at, trying to spot what he was referring to. Diamond Tiara scanned the surface of the water, searching for anything that looked like a crocodile. Seeing nothing, she smirked up at the captain. “I didn’t see anything. There is no animal there.”

Wrangler grinned at the smart mouthed filly. “You look for something that is out in plain sight, but most of the time when looking for these hunters, you must look for something that hides itself.”

Lyra raised an eyebrow when she heard that statement. “Come again?”

“Here, let me show you.” Wrangler turned the boat and headed to the left side of the floating moss. As it approached the green mass, everypony stared intently to the pile and scanned for anything to see. All of a sudden, towards the very center of the moss pit, what seemed to be like a small floating piece of wood slightly moved in the loose pile of fuzzy algae. Then, a single yellow eye slid open, staring directly at the passing ponies.

The bright round orb had a long, slitted pupil in the center of the iris, giving off the same look as a gargantuan dragon. The odd thing about a crocodile eye is that it seemed even colder than a dragon’s; the round eye stares blankly outward, seemingly unfocused on any one thing in particular. The cold gaze peered straight through the souls of everypony on board, causing a chilling feeling to run up their spines.

Applebloom watched in awe as the eye closed up and the head disappeared into the river. “Wow, that is so cool! How did ya know that there was one here?”

Leaning back in his seat, Wrangler looked out ahead of the boat. “Over the years you learn to look for small things that resting crocs like to enjoy. If that croc was in hunting mode, you wouldn’t have been able to spot her.”

Bon Bon gave a questionable look, “Wait, her? How did you know it was a girl?”

“The size of head that we saw was pretty small. Males are generally a lot bigger than the females.” Wrangler turned the steering column so the boat headed off the main river and down a small side stream barely wide enough for the boat to pass through. Low hanging branches brushed against the sides of the hull, causing a small yet irritating screech for a few moments before stopping.

“How big do these things get?” Caramel shouted from the front.

A big smile crept across the pilots face. “Just see for yourself ahead.”

When Caramel turned around, his bottom jaw nearly touched the floor. Coming up ahead through the trees was a large cove that spread over half a mile across. Scattered throughout the interior were several islands about forty feet across each. The most noticeable thing though was the inhabitants here. dozens of crocodiles were seen swimming throughout the calm water, their long tails swishing back and forth as their strokes glided them along the surface. On the muddy beaches lay several more of the scaly creatures, basking in the fading light of the sun to get what warmth they could.

Braeburn couldn’t believe his eyes either; seeing so many crocodiles in one place caused a mix of different feelings inside of him. On one hoof, so many predators around him made him extremely nervous. On the other hoof he felt really pissed off that his darn cousin got him on this boat in the first place.

“Alright folks, this is just a little place I like to go to guarantee sightings for these things.” Wrangler turned the boat to pass by another resting crocodile that lay perched on a dead tree that stuck up from the water. “Now what you all are looking at are Eastern Equestrian crocodiles, which are the most common types of crocs in the land. This right here is a small colony of them that make this cove their home.”

Swimming up alongside the left side of the boat was another crocodile about twelve feet long. Rainbow Dash leaned her head over to peer at the light green creature. “Wow, this is so cool! I have never seen these things so close before besides Gummy.”

Braeburn tilted his head to the Pegasus’s comment. “What’s a Gummy?”

“It’s Pinkie Pies alligator.”

Hearing that caused Wrangler to become curious. “Your friend has an alligator for a pet?”

Rainbow turned around to the question. “Yeah, it doesn’t have any teeth though, so it is safe.”

Wrangler chuckled when he heard that. “Oh I see. She has a northwestern Alligator. That is surprising, those are quite rare. They are the only species of crocodilian that doesn’t have any teeth through its life. Even if you found a hatchling of any other species, they would have a mouthful of them sharp buggas.”

Bon Bon was hesitant at first by having a crocodile swim by her, but while scary it was also really thrilling at the same time. She watched as the predator drifted lazily along the surface, before whipping its tail and diving head first under water, causing a splash to come up and connect he face. “Ahh!”

Lyra laughed as she saw her friend fall backward in the boat and into her lap. “What’s wrong? A little water scare you?”

“No! I was scared that it moved so quickly!” Bon Bon snapped as she sat back up in her seat. She did a quick shake to her mane to get out some of the loose water that built up inside. Once she was done, she turned back to the captain. “They can move that fast?”

“Oh, they can move even faster than that.” Wrangler smirked when he saw the terrified look on her face. “Crocs can move up to twenty miles an hour under water without causing a ripple on the surface if they are deep enough. They use that speed for their advantage to sneak up on prey in an instant.”

Driving along further into the cove, Filthy Rich and his wife watched the many creatures swim by the boat, diving under as their boat approached. Lillyforth suddenly chuckled out of nowhere, making Filthy confused. “What’s so funny?” he asked her.

Lillyforth took a breath to compose herself. “I’m sorry, but I just pictured one of these jumping in here and scaring the fur off your back.” Immediately she started giggling again.

Flithy Rich just shook his head at hearing that. “Glad you find amusement in thinking of these things scaring me.”

Diamond Tiara was looking out as well to the side. While against having to go on a boat ride at first, she was surprised to find herself actually enjoying this boat ride so far. To the far left of the boat sat a small island, where a big crocodile was lying on the sand sleeping. “Wow, that one is big!” She yelled out.

Wrangler turned to see what she was talking about. “Yeah, that bloke is pretty good size. I reckon he is about sixteen feet long. He is close to full size.”

Applejack was amazed to hear that. “That thing is gonna get bigger? That darn critter must weigh a ton!”

“Yes. I’ve seen some around eighteen to twenty feet before. There are rumors of some growing up to twenty five or more, but those have never been proven. Despite being smaller, these crocs here are just as dangerous.”

Lyra now became scared hearing that these things could get bigger. “Aren’t you worried about them coming at the boat?”

"Don’t worry, they won’t attack anything bigger than they are. We are perfectly safe in this boat.”

“How big is this boat?” Braeburn questioned.

“Heh heh, big enough. Don’t worry about it.”

After forty more minutes of putting around the cove, Wrangler drove the boat back down the narrow stream and back out onto the main river. Turning back up river, he drove for another five minutes before coming across a spectacle in the water; seven crocodiles were sitting on top of the water with just their heads sticking above the surface. “Here we have another small group of crocodiles resting together in the water.” Wrangler spoke to the group.

Rainbow Dash watched as a few of the heads dove under as the boat approached. “Hey, so do these things always live in groups together like this?”

Wrangler looked at the Pegasus with an almost eager expression. “Actually that is a good question. When they are younger, they do live around other crocodiles. When they grow older however, they become more independent, even aggressive to others. Older, larger male crocs will actually leave to live on their own, keeping to an area of territory for themselves. These kinds of crocodiles are known as rogues.”

“Rogues?”

“Solitary animals. They refuse to let other crocs into their territory.”

Rainbow pictured herself living off alone from all other ponies, keeping to just herself and not letting others near her. Just the thought of something like that made her feel like a jerk. “Why would a crocodile do that?”

“A crocodile doesn’t have compassion like other creatures, ma’m. They only live to hunt and to live on. By staking a territory to itself, it creates a hunting ground for itself free of competition from other predators. Survival of the fittest.” Finishing talking, Wrangler turned the boat and drove towards the center of the river to get a view of the sun.

Once out of the cover of the trees, he looked up and saw the sun not far off the ground. “Alright folks, we have about an hour and a half until dark, so now would be a good time to head back down river to the tour shack. I hope you have all enjoyed the tour today and have plenty of good memories for later.”

Applebloom looked back to him with large frown on her face. “Aww, we have to head back? Ah was havin’ so much fun on this thing.”

“Heh heh, yes, it is time to head back.”

Applejack smiled and patted her sister on the back. “Don’t worry, ah was havin’ a lot of fun too.” She turned to look at her cousin, which caused her to chuckle when she saw him hunched in his seat. “Hey Braeburn, did ya have fun?”

Braeburn turned and glared at her. “Ah am a little happy we are headin’ back now.”

Rainbow laughed and gave Braeburn a friendly slug on the shoulder with her hoof. “Come on, I know you liked it. You just have to relax more.”

“Ah tried relaxin’, ah just can’t!”

While her sister and Rainbow were giving her cousin a hard time about his fear with crocodiles, Applebloom leaned against the side of the boat and looked out. Letting out a long sigh, she just wished they didn’t have to head back since she was having so much fun. Looking out to the trees, she watched as several birds flew up from the canopy in the distance as a-

“Huh?” Applebloom saw a bright red flash shoot up into the sky and suddenly slow down. “What is that?”

Applejack turned to the side of the boat and looked out. “What did ya see?”

“That thing up there.” Applebloom said as she pointed up with her hoof.

All the other ponies, even Diamond Tiara, looked out to the direction Applebloom was pointing to see the object in the sky, causing a mix of questions to start popping out.

“What is that thing?”

“Is it fire?”

“What about a magic shot?”

“Enough!”

All ponies went silent from the shout in the back. Turning around, they all saw Wrangler staring intently up into the sky at the falling red light. “That’s an emergency flare. That means somepony’s in trouble.”

“In trouble?” Lyra asked. “What could have happened?”

“I’m not sure. Could have run out of gas or got stuck in the mud. Perhaps we should go and check it out.”

Filthy Rich stood up from his seat hearing that. “Now hold on there. Our taxi is waiting back at the tour shack. If we are gone too long they may leave.”

“We have a wagon as well sitting back there.” Bon Bon stated.

Lyra turned to her friend and gave a puzzled look. “Bon Bon, what about the pony that is in trouble? We should go and help them.”

Braeburn watched as the flare began to slowly descend lower in the sky, leaving a trail of smoke in its wake. “What about the sunlight? It’s getting dark soon.”

Wrangler stared at the sun for a moment, judging it’s position. “We still have a while before night. The flare only looked a few miles ahead, so it won’t take that long.”

“What about us? What if something happens to us?” Caramel asked.

“Look I know all are concerned with doing this, but it is the right thing to do. If that was us needing help, you would want somepony coming to help you, right?”

“Hey, why don’t I just go and check it out!?” Rainbow said as she stood up, “I could just fly over there and see what is wrong. I could do it in a snap.’’

“No…” Wrangler frowned, “I am responsible for all of you. If you went missing for some reason, I get the trouble end of it. We stick together as a group.”

Lillyflower nodded in agreement to the captain. “It would be best to go and see if they need help.”

Filthy Rich furrowed his brow towards his wife. “Honey, we shouldn’t waste our time with this and-

“Filthy, it is the right thing to do and you know it.” Lilly cut him off.

Watching the flare descend, Wrangler started the boat back up and turned back towards up river.

After twenty minutes of traveling, the tour boat came across a small fork in the river, where a smaller river led off to the right. Wrangler had never been this far north on the river, so he had no idea where the turn led to exactly, but the flare had come from that direction, so he turned and went down the new trail. Moving around the curves of the bend, the small river ended up in another lagoon about six hundred feet long by four hundred feet across. At the very end of the stretch of water sat a single island about eighty feet across.

Looking around, Braeburn searched for any boat that was here; he wanted to find whoever needed help so they could get out of here. ‘come on pony, show yerself. Ah wanna go home.’ He thought to himself.

Rainbow was standing up on the bow of the boat trying to get a better view. As she was looking, she felt something brush up against her side. Turning, she saw Teddy also looking out to the water, his canine eyes focused on the still surface. “You see something boy?” Rainbow asked the dog, who in return gave a small grunt. Turning to the direction Teddy was focused on, Rainbow noticed something sticking up in the water. “Hey, I see something!”

Applejack looked up to her cyan friend. “What is it?”

“I don’t know. Something is floating out there in front of that island.”

“I wanna see!” Applebloom yelled as she prepared to hop off her seat, only to have her sisters’ hoof push her back on.

“Hold on there. Y’all sit right there next to me.” Applejack sternly said.

Wrangler turned the boat and drove forward slowly toward the strange object ahead of them. From where they were it was a light tan and black colored item bobbing up and down on the surface. It was mostly under water, so he had no idea what it was. “What is that thing?”

As the tour boat approached, several gasps came from the guests when they realized what it was in the water; a small boat, perhaps ten feet long, was suspended under water. The bow of the boat sat above the water as the current gently pushed it along. Below the murky water, a massive hole was ripped in the bottom of the small boats hull, signifying why it had sunk.

“Well, I guess we know where the flare came from then.” Caramel bluntly stated as he stared at the broken vessel.

“My gosh, what could have happened to it?” Lillyforth asked.

Filthy Rich shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t know. Maybe he ran into a rock or something.”

Diamond Tiara looked around the cove, noticing the glassy surface. “But daddy, there aren’t any rocks here.”

Wrangler had the same question that Diamond just asked. ‘What the hell caused this boat to sink like that?’ He looked around the stretch of water, looking for anything that could have made a hole like that in the bottom of the boat.

Rainbow scanned the entire clearing several times before grunting in frustration. “Can I Fly now? I would have a better view if I was above and could-”

BOOM!

The force struck the left side of the boat so hard that the entire ponga boat lifted several feet out of the water, causing all of the passengers to scream as they nearly fell out of their seats before they caught themselves. Rainbow, who was standing up however, was thrown sideways and slammed into the thick support pole of the canopy. “AHH!” She screamed out in pain when she felt something crack in her shoulder.

Braeburn jumped off his seat and ran over to the Pegasus’s side. “Rainbow, what happened?”

“My wing. I- I think it’s broken!” Rainbow mumbled through the gasps of pain as she tried to stretch her right wing, which hung limply at her side.

Applebloom nearly fell overboard before her sister reached out and pulled her back up. “Applebloom, are ya alright!?”

“Ah’m fine.” Applebloom shakingly responded.

Filthy Rich looked around frantically for the thing that hit them. “What the hell was that!?”

Bon Bon Reached over and placed her hooves around her friend to help her up who had hit her head on the seat in front of them. “Lyra, are you alright?”

Lyra rubbed the side of her head with her hoof, feeling something warm. Pulling her foreleg away, she saw a small patch of blood on the end of her hoof. “I think I’m alright, i…” she paused when she heard a strange gushing noise coming from below. Looking down, her heart began to race when she saw the water pouring in from the massive crack on the flooring. “Oh shit! We’re sinking!”

Screams of panic erupted from all of the ponies on board as the water began filling up the bottom of the boat. Wrangler quickly revved up the engine and gunned it as fast as he possibly could go. Unfortunately, the water was coming in too fast to be able to make it all the way to shore. Reacting off instinct, he angled the boat to the nearest piece of land possible, this being the island. “Hold on!” he yelled as the sinking ship bashed onto the dirt mound until the bow struck a large rock impeded in the beach. The hard impact through Caramel off of his seat, making him smack down into the water on the floor of the boat.

Wrangler quickly got out of his seat and grabbed the bag to his side. “Everypony, off the boat!”

Scrambling as fast as they could, all of them jumped onto the dirt and away from the water. After a few moments, the back of the boat slowly sank a few more feet into the water until settling down. Being nearly completely submerged, the engine flooded and sputtered out, then turned off completely.

Applejack sat Applebloom on the ground at the base of the hill in the center of the island. “Applebloom, are ya hurt at all?” she put her hooves over different spots in her sister body, trying to feel for anything broken.

Applebloom put her small hooves on her sister’s to stop her checkup. “Ah’m fine, AJ. Ya should check on Rainbow though.”

Applejack turned to her right to see Rainbow sitting by herself with a horrible look on her face. Trotting over she was about to ask what was wrong until she saw the injury on her friend. “Oh my gosh! Rainbow, yer wing!”

From the base of her shoulder, Rainbow Dash’s wing was popped out of its socket, hanging limp to her side. The main bone in the wing base going to her back also seemed broken; the normally straight section was bent sideways in the middle, creating an awkward direction for the hanging limb. Rainbow looked up to her farmer friend, her eyes filled with pain and suffering. “AJ, I can’t fly with this.”

Applejack reached over and nuzzled her friend. “Don’t worry Rainbow. We’re gonna be fine.”

To the side, Bon Bon was trying to calm her friend down. “Lyra, it’s alright, we are going to get out of here.”

Lyra, however, was not even listening to her friends’ pleas. “I can’t believe we are stuck here. We’re going to die. We should have gone back instead of coming here.”

Braeburn came over when he heard the rambling pony going off. “What’s wrong with her?”

Bon Bon shook her head, “She isn’t taking this well.”

Lyra was on her haunches as she started to rock back and forth during her mumbling. “I should have listened to you. We shouldn’t have come here. We should have just gone on to Manehatten. I’m always too stubborn and have to do different things. This is my fault, this is my fault.”

Putting her hooves on her friends shoulders, Bon Bon gave her a shake, “Lyra!” her shout snapped her friend out of her trance, making her look her in the eyes. “This is not your fault. None of this is your fault at all.”

Braeburn turned away from the scene to see Wrangler opening up the bag from the boat. Dumping out from inside were several flashlights, a pack of matches and a bag of lighter fluid. “What is that stuff for?” the farm stallion asked.

Wrangler looked up to him with a face filled with frustration. “It’s going to be dark soon. We have to have a way to see.”

“Dark? What about help? Is anypony gonna come lookin’ for us?”

Wrangler took a deep breath to try and calm himself. “Once they realize we haven’t shown up on time, they will send some to look for us. We are pretty far up river, so it may take a couple hours.”

Filthy Rich stood up from where his wife and daughter were and came up to the two talking. “What was that thing that hit us?”

Stopping what he was doing, he turned and looked up with a stern look on his face. “It was a croc.”

Everypony went silent when they heard him say that. Braeburn gave a confused look his direction. “What? I thought you said a crocodile won’t attack a boat.”

“Remember what I said about rogues? It seems like we have stumbled into one’s territory. Seeing us as a possible threat, it gave us a… a little nudge to scare us.”

“A little nudge!?” Lyra snapped, “That thing nearly flipped our boat. Now we are stuck here. We’re in the middle of nowhere!”

Caramel’s eyes looked around the island. At least one hundred feet of water separated them from the main shoreline. The entire perimeter of the island was about thirty feet of sand and dirt on all sides and in the center raised a single hill about ten feet above the water. He then noticed something odd; there weren’t any plants besides the shrubs and single large tree on the top. Immediately, it all clicked together. “This is a tidal river. This is a damn tidal river!”

“What?” Rainbow looked up to the outburst with a confused look. “What is a tidal river?”

Caramel kicked the ground beneath him “You see how this island is all dirt? The only plants are on top of this mound. That means that is how high the water is going to get. This island is going to be under water!”

Standing up, Wrangler tried to calm the situation. “That is not going to be for hours, alright? Now we just have to calm down and-

“We are on an island which is going to pretty much sink, and you are saying to calm down!? We are miles upriver, and by the time we wait for help, I doubt we will be able to stand on land.”

“He does have a point. We can’t just sit here.” Rainbow added. She looked across the channel to the shore, thinking of anything they could do. “Lyra, can you teleport across the water to the other side?”

Standing up from the dirt, Lyra shook her head. “No, I can only jump about twenty feet. I can’t go farther than that.”

Rainbow grunted at hearing that. ‘Where’s Twilight when you need her?’

“If we can just swim across here, we can probably walk back in a couple of hours.” Caramel suggested.

“What? You can’t go in the water, that’s crazy!” Lillyflower yelled out.

“I’m trying to think of a way to stay alive!”

“That’s enough.” Wrangler snapped, “I’m in charge of this group, and what you are suggesting is-

“Hey do you want to get through this water in the dark!?” Caramel retorted.. He turned away from the others as he trotted down to the water’s edge. “Screw this, I’m going.” He then began to wade into the water.

Reacting, Bon Bon ran down after him. Wading in knee deep, she hopped in front of him, blocking his path. “Caramel, this is crazy! Go back up.”

“Get outta my way, Bon Bon.” Caramel tried to step around her, only to have her splash over to intersect him again. Becoming frustrated, he tried to push her out of his path. “I said move!”

“No, you aren’t thinking clear if you are trying to-

BOOSH!

A massive explosion of water engulfed Bon Bon, startling everypony on shore. Caramel fell backwards out of shock from the sudden burst. As he crawled back up to the beach, he heard a mass of gasps emitted from the throats of the others. Turning back around, he was shocked at what he saw; nothing.

Bon Bon was gone.

Lyra began to panic when she couldn’t see her friend. All that remained in the spot where the mare was moments before was a patch of rippling water. “What happened!? Where is she!?”

“Ah don’t know. She was just there a second ago.” Applejack responded as she pulled Applebloom to her side.

Suddenly, the surface of the water several feet out began to bubble up red. Blood began to spread outward, covering up more area. Then, the end of a massive scaled tail broke the water’s surface in the middle of the blood patch, its dark green scales shining in the sunlight. Swinging sideways, it moved away from the island before disappearing completely under water.

Cries of terror erupted from the two fillies on the beach. All of the others stared in terror to what they just witnessed. Lyra however ran to the edge of the shore, her body trembling. “Bon Bon! Bon Bon!” She flipped around to the others, her eyes leaking tears, “Somepony do something!” She turned to run in after her friend, only to have a pair of hooves grab her. “NO! Let me go!”

Braeburn dug his back hooves into the ground as he yanked her away from the edge. “Lyra, she’s gone! Don’t go in there!”

“No! Bon Bon! Bon Bon!” Lyra continued to pull against him before finally giving up. “Let go of me!” Thrashing out of his grip, she dropped to the ground and wept in her hooves. Her screams echoed in the still air, only broken by Teddy as he continued to bark at the water.

“All of you, stay away from the water!” Wrangler shouted out to all of the others. While trying to keep composed, he knew the situation; they were trapped on a sinking island in the fading light, being stalked by a vicious predator.

The rope

Silence once again took hold of the island after Lyra had finally regained control of herself. Despite not crying anymore, she couldn't stop the images that continued to replay inside of her mind. Sitting off by herself, she stared blankly at the side of the dirt mound in the center, reimagining the event that took place just ten minutes earlier; her lifelong friend grabbed right in front of her very eyes, and she couldn't do anything to help her.

Another tear dripped down her face as she thought about what was going to happen to her; Celestia's sun was still descending on the horizon, now causing the sky to slightly glow with an orange tint. Then, the sound of hoof steps behind her broke her thoughts. Turning around, she saw Braeburn trotting towards her, his face stricken with sorrow. "Hey, how are ya doin'?" he quietly asked.

Lyra wiped away some of the water in her eyes with her hoof. "I'm fine. How... How about you?"

"Could be better." he bluntly replied, perhaps a little more straightforward than necessary at the moment. Luckily for him, she didn't seem to notice it as she turned back around to stare at the hill. Seeing that she wasn’t in the mood to talk at all, Braeburn looked around to the others; Filthy and his family were all huddled together on top of the hill below the tree. Applejack and Applebloom were busily wrapping Rainbow’s injured wing to her side. Caramel was off by himself, pacing back and forth several feet from the water’s edge as he looked across to the land that was so close yet so far away. One member however wasn’t on the island.

Turning to the boat, Braeburn was surprised to see Wrangler inside scrounging around for something. Curious, he trotted over to the side and prepared to step in before something caught his eye. Looking down, he watched as the water’s edge slowly crept up to the side of a hoofprint in the dirt that he left moments before. The water inched closer and closer before spilling over the edge, it quickly filled up the interior of the print before settling down. ‘The tide is already risin’.’ He whispered to himself.

Hopping up onto the bow of the boat, Braeburn looked inside to the blue pony that was flipping through the boxes that were once piled to the back of the boat, that now were scattered throughout the interior as they floated across the water built up on the floor. “What are ya doin’?”

Wrangler turned up to the farm pony with an almost annoyed gaze, “I’m looking for a way to get out of here.”

Caught off guard by the sternness in the ponies voice, he cleared his throat for his next question. “So, how long until help is comin’ fer us?”

“I don’t know.”

“What!?” Braeburn put a hoof over his mouth after he realized how loud he shouted. Turning back to the ponies in the beach, he was glad none were startled by his outburst. Turning back to the captain, he frowned at the blue stallion. “What do ya mean ya don’t know when help is comin’?”

“I told you that I have never been this far up north on the river. None of our tour boats have.” Wrangler snapped back, “This went beyond our normal limits. And even if they did realize we were late, by the time they got a search party together and went up river, it would be hours. And if you haven’t noticed, we don’t have hours.”

Braeburn gritted his teeth together hearing that. “Why didn’t ya tell us earlier that help won’t arrive on time!?”

Face hoofing, Wrangler let out a low grunt. “Because I knew you would react just like you are now. Now why don’t you just calm down, alright?”

“Look Wrangler, ah just saw a pony get eaten by a fuckin’ crocodile. Ah’m a little stressed out right now.”

“What do you want me to do about it? I’m doing my best to figure out something so we-

“Hey, someponies coming!” Rainbow screamed out excitingly.

“What?” Wrangler turned out to the lagoon and couldn’t believe his eyes; a boat was heading down the river towards them.

Sipping on his can of beer, Sharpshooter guided his golden pontoon boat down and around the bends of the small river. Once finished with his can, the brown stallion let out a large belch and tossed the empty can overboard. As he continued down this new stretch of water for him, he eyed the shores for anything that he could kill quickly. Reaching down with his free hoof, he checked the crossbow he had set by his cooler of beers to make sure it was loaded for a quick hit if needed. His eyes then floated over to the two four foot crocs he had sprawled out on the floor below him, their dead corpses bringing a grin to his face.

Poaching was one of the most hated crimes in Equestria because of the mere thought of killing animals for items was so frowned upon. Despite the large outcry against it, there were always ponies who relished the items that were made from the hides of animals; furs from beavers always made comfortable and warm hats, while croc skin that was formed to create styled purses and other knick knacks. Growing up raised by a poaching family guaranteed that Sharpshooter would become one too, which he didn’t mind. As a matter of fact, he enjoyed the thrill of hunting.

As he came around a final bend, Sharpshooter was surprised to find a large lagoon. At the very end of it, a single island sat out in the middle, with a boat up on the shore of it. Gathering up on the beach was a crowd of ponies. The sight made the poaching pony laugh. “Heh heh, must have broken down out here. Sucks for them.”

Then, a cold idea crawled into his mind, and he chose to act on it.

“Look, here he comes!” Rainbow yelled as she pointed a hoof out to the water.

All of the others ran over excitedly next to their broken boat as they all cheered. Wrangler followed Braeburn as hopped onto the beach as well to join the others. From what he could tell, Wrangler saw that the boat approaching was about twelve feet long, quite small, but perhaps just big enough for all of them to squeeze in and get out of here. “I can’t believe our luck right now. A boat traveling down this small stretch.” He happily said.

Applejack reached down and pulled her sister in a warm embrace. “Don’t worry sugarcube. We are almost outta here.”

The boat was rapidly coming towards the shore, but then about twenty feet from shore, it turned sharply to the side and ran parallel to the shore. All of the ponies on the beach were confused with what was happening. “What is he doing?” Filthy questioned.

“Whoops, sorry about that. I missed my landing.” Sharpshooter laughed out loud when he saw the disappointment on their faces. Turning the boat away, he acted like he was leaving now.

Lyra felt her heart sink when she saw the boat turn away from them. “He’s leaving us! HEY! Come back!”

“You idiot! Help us out here!” Caramel yelled.

When Sharpshooter reached about a hundred feet away from the beach, he spun around again and stopped, shutting off his engine. He could hear all of the screams and yells from the stranded group, but he put a hoof to his ear and acted like he couldn’t. “What? I… I can’t hear you! Speak up!”

“Help us!”

“We’re stuck!”

“Please! Get us out of here! There’s a crocodile!”

"Yeah? Cool, I have crocs myself!” reaching down, he picked up the two dead crocodiles and waved them over his head with a grin.

Applebloom stared at the dead creatures hanging from his hooves. “Did he kill those things!?”

Wrangler frowned when he saw that. “He’s a poacher.” Despite hating ponies who chose that line of work, he wasn’t going to let that get in the way of a ride out of here. Cupping his hooves around his mouth, he yelled out to the hunter. “Please, we need a ride out of here. There is a massive crocodile here.”

Laughing at their trouble, Sharpshooter dropped the crocs back to the floor and reached into the cooler pulling out another beer. Closing the lid, he used it as a hoof rest and sat back in his seat. “You know, I’ve had a few drinks, and it isn’t safe to ride with a person who has been drinking and driving. Heh heh. Why don’t you just relax on the beach and enjoy the-

BOOM!

Lyra screamed out as she watched the small boat’s bow launched seven feet out of the water, causing Sharpshooter to be catapulted into the lagoon. She dropped to the ground and threw her hooves over her head. “Oh Faust no.”

Sharpshooter burst through the surface gasping for air. He looked back to see his boat sinking beneath the water, all of his contents floating lazily along the surface. “The hell was that!?” he yelled to himself. Panicking, he kicked his legs as fast as he possibly could towards the beach.

Wrangler watched as the pony began making its way towards them, but something else caught his eye; something below the water’s surface caused a disturbance as it passed by the floating cooler, heading straight for Sharpshooter. “Oh my gosh. Hurry! Swim!”

“Come on, hurry up! It’s coming!” Rainbow yelled out.

Sharpshooter had no idea what they were talking about, but whatever it was it did not sound good. His adrenaline pushed him harder and harder towards the beach as he gasped through the water splashing in his mouth. He was only thirty feet from the beach, believing he was almost to safety… until he felt a massive force clamp down on both of his back legs. Before he could scream out in pain, he was pulled under the surface. Thrashing around, he tried to wriggle out of the vice like grip, but the feeling of what seemed like dozens of knives impeded in his skin kept him tight. After a moment, the force suddenly let go of him, only to have the same thing engulf his chest and body, crushing all of the air out of his body. Losing consciousness, he began to black out as he tried to look at what had grabbed him. All that he could make out through the cloudy water was a bright yellow eye staring right at him, embedding into his mind as the last thing he would ever see before death.

Back on the shore, all of the ponies stared in disbelief at yet another pony disappearing under the water. Minutes passed before any of them finally moved their eyes away from the water, knowing that there was nothing they could do to help.

Luna’s moon now watched over the small island in the lagoon. The white orb’s glow allowed just enough light for the ponies to be able to see good enough to eye the shore that sat ominously across the channel of water separating them from their passage back home.

Caramel sat on the shoreline as he watched the gentle current slowly push the water ever so further up the dirt. Since they had crashed, the water had removed eight feet of beach from all sides, making their small refuge that much smaller. He cursed himself for ever thinking coming here was a good idea. Now he was stuck here because they just had to go and search for a flare to a dead pony. He then noticed something floating towards the shore that caught his eye. “What the?”

The two small croc corpses that were in the boat from earlier bobbed up and down in the water as they were pushed up the dirt and lay still on the beach. Coming in behind them was a small white cooler as it lazily drifted along the surface before it settling on the dirt just several feet to his right. Curious, Caramel trotted over to it, but stopped just a foot from the water’s edge. He shot his eyes back and forth in the water, checking for anything that could be the Rogue croc. Seeing no disturbances, he shot his mouth forward, gripping the handle and pulling the cooler out. Sitting down on the dirt, he flipped open the lid to find several beers inside. A small smirk spread across his face, "I can at least enjoy myself a little bit."

Looking over to the boat, he noticed that Wrangler had hopped out of it and was trotting over to the small fire that Applejack Had started. Over the captain’s neck hung several long bundles of rope as he signaled all of the others to come over. Sticking the cooler against the side of the hill, Caramel trotted over to the rest of the ponies.

Once all of the group besides Lillyflower and the two fillies were in the circle, Wrangler spoke up. "Alright, I know a way we can get across."

Caramel shook his head at hearing that, "Hey, we just saw a boat flip and it..." he stopped himself when he saw the others glaring at his negativity. Not wanting to look like a fool, he took a deep breath to clear his head. "Ok, how are you are getting across without getting in the water?"

"I am getting in the water."

Gasps escaped all of the adults listening in on that. Rainbow thought he was being sarcastic, but the look in his eyes told her that he was being completely serious. "What!? That is crazy, you can't swim with that thing out there!" Rainbow yelled out.

Putting his hoof up to calm everypony down, Wrangler then pointed to the water to his right. "I'll swim across, real quietly with rope, then put a loop around that tall tree on the far side. Once it's on, you can tie it tight to the tree on top of this island. We can pull it so it gets suspended a few meters above the water, then we climb across."

Filthy Rich actually thought it was a good idea, but there was a problem; Lillyforth couldn't do it. "What about my wife? She won't be able to cross."

"She's going to have to somehow." Wrangler sternly responded.

Filthy turned around to see his wife sitting on the dirt to the side with the two younger ones. He knew that no matter how much she could try, climbing across would be impossible. He turned back to the circle, his mind racing on what to do. "alright, uh... What if you got across really fast, and then left to go get help?"

Wrangler chuckled at hearing that, "By the time I got back, this island is not going to be here. You would be swimming anyway. You don't want to be doing that when that thing comes back."

"What makes you so sure it's coming back?"

"Look around you, champ... We are still in its territory and it doesn’t like it. Now that it has tagged us that thing will keep coming and-

"Wait a sec, what?" Applejack interjected, "Tagged us? What in tarnation does that mean?"

"It tagged us as a food supply. That is why it keeps attacking..." wrangler looked around to all of their shocked expressions. "It's like giving a dog a bone. It will just keep going until it's gone."

"So, this is like that croc in that photo back in the store?" Braeburn questioned, "Ya know, where it ate like thirty ponies?"

"You didn't read the full story on that thing. That crocodile was living right along a small town, and those killings were done over a three month period as standard meals. This thing will come after us even if it isn’t hungry. Once grabbing us, it will take us back to the place it stores its kills and..." Wrangler closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, "It will have a den or a burrow that it goes to. Somewhere it can get back quickly if need be."

“Oh sweet Celestia.” Filthy cursed to himself as he put a hoof to his forehead.

“I’m just saying now is the best time because it’s probably still busy with its last victim, alright?”

All of the other ponies nodded in agreement despite this being perhaps the craziest thing they ever heard of anypony doing.

Lillyflower sat quietly on the ground as she stared at her daughter and Applebloom. Neither of the fillies had spoken to each other most of the night. In fact, she noticed that they even avoided eye contact, keeping their backs turned and staring out away from the island. Deciding to break the awkward silence, she tried to strike up a conversation. “So, your name is Applebloom, right?”

Applebloom looked up to the mare. “Y-yeah. That’s mah name.”

“You go to school with my daughter?”

Applebloom glanced over to Diamond, who was also staring back at her. Normally the pink filly would never look her direction without casting a glare. Now, she was almost giving off a pleading image of silence. Figuring that Diamond’s mother didn’t know what tension was between them, she decided to keep it that way. “eeyup. We have been in the same class a while now.”

Lillyflower gave a kind smile. “Perhaps after we get out of here you too can hang out more often. I believe you two would make wonderful friends.”

Before either filly could respond, Filthy came up to them. “Hey there.” He paused for a moment as he prepared to give the news. “We… we are going to climb across the water on a rope.”

Diamond’s eyes went wide as she glanced up to her mom, who was equally shocked. Swallowing, she tried to encourage her restricted mother. “D-don’t worry. You can make it, mom.”

“Of course I can. I had you didn’t I?” Lillyflower playfully responded, trying to hide the shakiness in her voice. Forcing herself up off the ground, she began to take wobbly steps down the small hill to the beach to get out of the way of the orange mare making her way up to the tree.

Carrying one of the ropes, Applejack trotted up the embankment to the top of the mound. Tying a section into an open knot, she threw it over one of the low hanging branches and caught the end. Once in her hoof, she wrapped it around the base a few times before wrapping around itself and tied it tight. She pulled the rope a few times to test its strength. "Alright, ah got it." she yelled as she tossed the rest down to Braeburn.

Grabbing his own rope, Braeburn tied the two ends together to create a longer rope. He did the same to the third rope, creating the distance needed to reach the other side. Setting the large bundle on the ground, he created a noose on the very end and held it out to Wrangler. "Carry this over and the slack will follow ya. Good luck."

Wrangler slipped the noose around his neck and stepped down towards the water. He stared at the dark water that was so still it gave off a perfect reflection of the bright moon. His heart rammed inside of his chest as he swallowed the lump that built up inside of his throat. Now that he was actually about to swim, he was unsure about his bright idea. Despite his fear, he knew that he had to do something to get them off the island. "Alright, let's do this." he told himself.

Flashlight in mouth, Wrangler slowly put his hoof in the warm water, and carefully placed it down to the muddy bedding. He slowly continued to step further and further out, hardly making a ripple on the surface. After a few more feet, he lost traction with the ground and was floating on the surface. Taking as shallow breaths as possible, he slowly kicked his legs, pushing himself away from the safety of the island.

Rainbow stared intently at what was perhaps the bravest pony she had ever met. She could pull off the toughest attitude possible, but she knew that going into the water like this was something she couldn't bring herself to do. Wrangler on the other hoof was risking his own life to try and get all of them off of the island. She gave a smile of gratitude to what this pony was risking for all of them.

Using their flashlights, Braeburn and Caramel scanned the water all around looking for any kind of movement. Swishing back and forth, the beams of lights lit up the water, illuminating the bank across from them.

Braeburn turned back to light up Wrangler, who was about halfway across now. The country pony was surprised and equally impressed at how silently this tour guide was able to move in the water. Hardly a ripple was traveling out from the blue pony as he slowly treaded on the surface.

After another minute, Wrangler felt his hooves connect with the mud beneath him. As soon as he could, he burst out of the water and ran up the shore. Crashing through the reeds, he hopped behind the tree to give something to stand between him and the water. Slipping the rope off of him, he took the end and tossed it over the branch above him. As it fell to him, he began to pull the slack between the two branches. Tug after tug, the rope began to lift up out of the water. Once pulled to height, it was suspended eight feet above the surface. Taking the slack, Wrangler wrapped the rest of it around the base and knotted it over itself. Once tight, he spit the flashlight into his hoof and waved it to the island to signal them to go.

Applejack let out a sigh. "Alright, who wants to go first?"

Lyra looked around to the others who were all hesitant at attempting the climb across. Looking up, she swallowed before talking. "Can I go first? I... I just want to go home."

Applejack stared at the unicorn for a moment before nodding and signaled her to come up. Lyra obliged and trotted up the embankment to the base of the tree where Applejack was crouched down on the ground. “Here ya go, ah’ll give ya a boost up.” She generously offered.

Lyra took several shaky breaths before stepping onto Applejack’s back, giving her an easier reach to the rope. Wrapping her front hooves around the makeshift bridge, she hoisted herself up and wrapped her back legs criss-cross to hold most of her weight. However, as her weight caused the rope to slightly dip, Lyra gasped and nearly lost her grip before catching herself.

"Don't worry, sugarcube, y'all alright. Ya can do this." Applejack reassured her.

Taking a deep breath, Lyra closed her eyes and hung for a moment to calm her mind. Reopening her eyelids, she looked across the water to where Wrangler was waiting for her. Using all of her willpower, she began shifting her hooves along the rope, pulling herself away from the island.

Caramel stood up on his hind legs and gripped onto the rope to try and steady it from shaking too much. He looked out at Lyra who slowly trekked her way over the water. She was now about ten feet out from the beach, dangling just meters above the eerie dark lagoon. 'Come on, this can work. We can get off of this stupid island.’

“Doing good, Lyra, keep it up.” Rainbow cheered on from the beach.

Wrangler grinned to himself as the unicorn made her way towards him. The rope was holding steady, perhaps a little wobbly, but was much better than taking the risk like he did earlier. He felt like they actually had a chance to get out of here alive now.

Lyra continued to slowly crawl further out over the water, her white streaked tail dangling below her. She was now almost forty feet from the island, and still had another seventy to go. Turning her neck around, her golden eyes looked down to the black water below, afraid of what was possibly eagerly waiting for her to slip and fall down to it. Her mind began to play tricks on her, imagining a massive mouth bursting through the water to latch down over her body and ripping her off of her perch. She then thought of Bon Bon, fearing that she was going to end up like her friend. A loud whimper escaped her throat as her legs began to tremble. Now terrified, she pulled herself up and wrapped her elbows over the rope, freezing on the spot.

Seeing Lyra freeze caused confusion among the others. “What’s she doin’?” Applebloom asked.

“Is she stuck?” Rainbow questioned.

Braeburn frowned; he could see with his light Lyra trembling as she hung there knowing exactly why she stopped. “She’s scared. Ah don’t know if she can go any further.”

“She has to get going, what about us!?” Filthy exclaimed.

“Lyra come on, ya have to move!” Applejack yelled out across the water. Instead of moving, the response she got was crying.

Tears dripped down Lyra’s face as she hung helplessly over the water. She could hear the pleas and yelling from the island, but she couldn’t act on the demands. No matter how hard she tried to move at all, her body wasn’t listening to what she told it to do. Fear had overcome every sense that she had, locking her like a stiff doll.

Filthy Rich began to grunt to himself. He couldn’t believe this one pony was holding all of them up. Their lives were at stake and the mare had to block the one way off the water prison. Angered, Filthy bent down and pushed his daughter up the hill. "Come on, we're going."

Lillyflower watched confused as her husband began trotting up towards the tree. "Filthy, what are you doing?"

Braeburn looked over as Filthy Rich positioned himself below the rope. Concerned, he trotted up to his side and put a hoof on the ponies shoulder, "Hey now, ya can't go yet, Lyra hasn't made it across and-

Filthy turned around and swatted the hoof off of him. "Don't you touch me!" his face was twisted with hatred and fury, "Don't you fucking come anywhere near me!"

Diamond Tiara cowered down to the ground, horrified by the way her father was acting; never once in her life had she seen him snap like this before. The tone in his voice sent shivers down her spine. "Daddy, please stop!" she pleaded.

Too enraged, Filthy ignored his daughters words as he reached down and picked her up and lifted her to the rope. Out of reaction, Diamond gripped the rope and held on. Looking to his side, he saw Rainbow coming at him. Turning his backside towards her, he positioned himself to buck out if she attempted to come any closer. "I said stay away from me! Me and my daughter are going across! I'm not going to let that stupid unicorn risk my family’s safety!"

"Filthy, ya can't do that! The rope won't hold three ponies!" Braeburn exclaimed. His words went unheard as he watched the furious earth pony reach up and grab onto the dangling rope and hoist himself up. As soon as the added weight pulled down, Caramel felt the line pull tighter away from him, causing him to strain to hold it steady. His back hooves scraped across the dirt as he was pulled slightly out away from his position due to the weight.

Diamond was terrified by what was happening; hanging upside down under the rope scared her already, but her angered father was actually more intimidating at that moment. Seeing him crawling after her on the rope, she only did what she thought was best. Crawling forward, she pulled herself outward away from the island, quickly followed by her dad.

Wrangler panicked as he watched from across the water the turmoil that grew out of control. The rope on his side began pulling tighter and tighter from so much weight. The knot on the top above him that connected two of the ropes began to slowly slip out of itself. "No you stupid idiot, get off the rope!" he shouted across the water. He then looked to Lyra who was still stuck in her same spot. "Lyra you have to go no- shit!" he fumbled as he lost his grip on the flashlight. As he bent down to pick it up, however, he froze when he heard a branch snap behind him.

The blood pumping through wranglers veins turned as cold as ice when he heard the rumble of a growl at behind him. His lungs felt too shocked to be able to move on their own anymore as his heart beat faster than ever before. Turning his neck, his eyes were met with a giant mouth bursting through the bushes and clamping down on his head. The hit was so fast that he didn't even have the time to register what happened to him except for a force of pressure crushing his skull. Blackness then overtook his mind... Or what was left of it.

Rainbow jumped up and tried to help Caramel hold the rope tight, but it still wasn’t enough. They could both feel the knots straining under the three ponies as they dangled above the water. “It’s not gonna hold much longer! They have to get off it!” Rainbow yelled.

Filthy Rich and Diamond Tiara were now stuck behind Lyra, who still hadn’t moved from her spot. Filthy snorted out of frustration that he was pinned because this mare had to get cold hooves. “For Faust sake, move!” he screamed out.

Lyra continued to whimper as she hung there, still too afraid to go any further. “I can’t go!” she cried out.

“Shoot, we gotta somehow get her off!” Braeburn began panicking as he thought of what to do. “Wrangler, she’s freaked out. Try to talk to her and get her movin’!”

From across the water, no response came back. Applejack stared at the far tree, now afraid something else went wrong. “Wrangler?” She yelled out. Once again no voice answered back. She saw his flashlight sitting in the reeds, pointed down to the water. Next to the beam of light she saw the massive tail of a crocodile slipping into the water, causing her heart to skip a beat. “Oh no! MOVE! MOVE!” Her yells were useless as the next instant, the knot across the water popped, causing the three ponies on the rope to fall into the dark water.

Lillyforth put a hoof to her mouth to stifle the scream that tried to escape her throat. Tears immediately filled her eyes of fear seeing her family in the water defenseless from the monster that hunted them. Forcing herself to stand up, she hobbled down the shore towards the water's edge. "Somepony help them!"

None of the others ran in, however. They were all too afraid for their own lives to enter the water. All they could do was stand at the water’s edge and pray to Celestia that they could swim fast enough.

Thrashing in the water, Lyra was screaming out in terror. Turning around, she began to kick with everything she had back towards the island. Filthy reached over and wrapped a hoof around his panicking daughter and through her up on his back. Spitting out a mouthful of water, he pumped his legs with every ounce of strength that he had after the green mare.

All of the ponies on the beach yelled at the top of their lungs out of panic to their comrades.

"Come on! Swim!" Applebloom screamed.

"Go! Swim faster!" Rainbow yelled.

Hooves flailing, Lyra swam like she never had before, churning up water like crazy. Her heart felt like it was going to burst at the rate it was beating due to exhaustion and fear. Despite the pain in her chest, she continued faster, pushing her body to its limits. After a few more strokes, she felt the ground beneath her hooves. Bursting out of the river, she charged up the beach and collapsed in the dirt curled up into a tight ball. Her body shook uncontrollably as her breaths came in rapid gasps.

Filthy Rich made it up onto the dirt as well and dropped down, his belly splashing down on the edge of the surf. Diamond jumped off her dad and ran into her mother's embrace, visible tears streaming down her face through the soaked fur on her cheeks. Lillyforth rocked gently with her daughter curled up in her forearms, ignoring the water that dropped off the pink filly and soaked her own coat.

Lifting his head off the ground, Filthy Looked around to the ponies all around him. Their own eyes were filled with sorrow for his daughter and Lyra, but when they turned their focus onto him, he felt their anger and hatred. Their glares sent a wave of guilt through him as he realized what he had just done; his impatience just caused their hope of getting off of the island to crumble down and sink.

Shutting his eyes, he let his chin fall to the mud. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." He began to sniffle as his emotions built up. "Please forgive-

The water exploded behind Filthy as the enormous crocodile launched out of the river. The giant mouth clamped down on the stallion's right foreleg, cracking the bones there instantly. Filthy screamed in agony as the mouth opened up and closed back down, causing him the flail helplessly. Then, the beast flipped its head backwards with so much force Filthy flew through the air thirty feet into the center of the lagoon, his leg still dangling out of the crocs mouth.

Screams of terror escaped all of the ponies on shore to what they just witnessed. Diamond Tiara and Lillyflower cried out as they watched their husband and father mangled like a helpless animal. Teddy continued to bark ferociously at the creature that didn’t even turn its head towards the annoying dog. Braeburn could have sworn he felt his chin hit the dirt below him as he stared dumbfounded to the sheer size of the crocodile on the beach.

The beasts head alone was over five feet long, it's huge jaws snapping open and swallowing the flopping limb down its gullet. The long and sturdy body was built like a train, thicker than any buffalo he had seen back in Appleloosa. Even laying on its pale and scaly belly, the top of the ridged back was near eye level to him. Not even half of the tail was out of the water yet, and it still dwarfed any croc that the group had seen earlier that day. It was a true monster for anypony to behold in their time of life.

Out in the water, Filthy Rich whined in pain as he bobbed on the surface like a top, his body in shock from the loss of blood. The rogue turned its Giant head to the water, eying the target in its mind. Using its short but powerful legs, it pulled itself in a tight turn back towards the water, the clawed feet pushing through the mud. As it turned, its enormous tail swung back towards the group, catching Applejack by surprise as it smacked her through the air like a doll into the side of the mound. When she fell to the ground, she cried out in pain as she landed on her front left ankle wrong, causing it to buckle under her.

“Applejack!” Applebloom screamed out as she ran to her sisters side. As she helped her older sibling up, she felt the fur on the back of her neck stand up when the ear splitting sound of Filthy Rich echoed in the air. turning, the young filly gasped in horror as she watched the monstrous jaws enclosed themselves over the thrashing stallion in the water. Just as fast as the beast appeared, it vanished under the water, dragging Filthy Rich down with it.

Crying once again filled the still clearing as Lillyflower cradled her trembling filly in her hooves, mourning the loss of their family member.

The crossing

The water continued to creep its way up the shoreline, taking away more precious space from the trapped ponies. An hour after the vanishing of the Rogue, only ten feet of beach remained on the piece of land, constricting the movement of the terrified tourists.

Applejack sat alone on the side of the hill, holding her sprained ankle as she stared out with a blank expression to the water. The feeling of a hoof touching her shoulder caused her to jump up in shock. Turning, she looked at her cousin who had a concerned look in his eyes. “Br- Braeburn, what’s wrong?”

“Ah was gonna’ ask ya the same. How are ya holdin up?” Braeburn walked over and took a seat on the dirt next to her.

Applejack turned her head away. “Lyra is doin’ fine. Lillyflower and Diamond are off by the tree. And-”

“AJ, ah asked how you were doin’.” Before he could react, Braeburn felt his cousin throw herself onto him, embracing him in a tight hug. “AJ, what are ya-“

“Ah’m so sorry Brae! This is all my fault!” Applejack released a torrent of tears that soaked her older cousins shoulder. “Ah thought it would be fun to take ya to somethin’ fun, but now we are trapped in this place. Ah was a fool!”

Wrapping a hoof around her side, Braeburn tried to calm her down. “AJ, it isn’t yer fault.”

“Yeah it is! Ah had the stupid idea of wantin’ ya to do somethin’ different, and now ah got mah little sister stuck here to die with us!”

Hearing that made Braeburn grip her tightly. “Listen to me AJ, we are not gonna die. We are gonna get out of here.” Applejack continued to weep onto her cousin, releasing the emotions that had built up inside of her. Despite listening to what he said, she still couldn’t get rid of the feeling that she caused the trouble that they were in.

After he was finally able to stop her crying, Braeburn walked off back towards the water. He knew he had to figure something out, and something fast. Grabbing a flashlight in his mouth, he trotted towards the boat, which now was twelve feet out in the water. Glancing around the water surface, he tried to see if the hunter was anywhere near. Taking a deep breath, he slowly stepped into the water as quietly as he could, trying not to cause a ripple on the glassy water top. Step after step, he made his way out to the bow of the boat and quickly hopped onto it.

Releasing a sigh of relief, he flicked on the switch, lighting up the interior of the vessel. The back half of the boat was completely submerged, with only the top of the seats sticking above the water. Only three crates remained in the front of the boat, held on by ropes keeping them in place. Flicking off the lids to the one on the left, he found four life jackets lying on top of another. Not sure of what to do with them, he left them inside as he flicked open the second one.

The box was completely empty besides the rope that was attached to something. Using his hoof, he moved the bundle out of the way. Underneath was a four pronged anchor about a foot and a half long. Seeing nothing of use with that either, he closed the lid to it and opened up the third. The box had a mix of smaller miscellaneous items including a box of nails, and a bundle of wrap that was meant for injuries. Off to the corner of it was a small line of fishing string with a large triple pronged fish hook. Braeburn chuckled to himself seeing that, ‘Heh, too bad ah couldn’t just catch the thing and-

Something clicked inside of his mind at that. Going back to the second box, he stared at the anchor, an idea forming inside of his mind at perhaps the craziest thing he had ever thought of. Grabbing the anchor and rope, he then went and pulled out the life jackets, laying them across his back to carry them out. Having found the only things of use, he made his way off the boat and walked back through the water to the shoreline.

Carrying the items up, Braeburn hopped off the boat and made his way over to where Lyra, AppleJack and Rainbow were sitting. Slipping the lifejackets off, he spit the anchor out of his mouth and let it fall to the ground with a thud. The others all looked at him with confusion. “What is that for?” Rainbow asked.

“We are dealin’ with an animal, right?” Braeburn asked, “In the end of the day, it is still just a big stupid animal. So, ah was thinkin’ we could maybe set a trap for this thing for it to hook onto this piece, hold it for just a little bit for us to swim across the other side.”

“You mean like bait it so it bites the anchor?” Lyra lifted an eyebrow to the idea. “How will it even bite it? We don’t have any bait to use?”

“Ah’m not sure, but ah just think we can tie a lifejacket to the rope so the hook will stay just under the surface.” Braeburn turned to see Lillyflower making her way over as she listened to the conversation.

Lyra looked out to the water with a concerned look in her eye. “But… we don’t have any-”

“Look, ah know we don’t have bait!” Braeburn took a breath to lower his voice. “Ah’m just sayin’ if we can somehow hook the damn thing on here, we might actually have a chance.”

“So, is that the bright idea?”

The small group turned to see Caramel trotting towards them, holding a beer in his hoof as he lifted it up to his muzzle. Taking a big gulp, he wiped off the small trail on his chin as he grinned at Braeburn. “I see your idea. You want to go fishing. Heh heh. Let me be the one here to tell you that you are just a fucking genius.”

The country stallion glared at the sarcasm thrown into the statement. “Just shut up Caramel, alright? Ah am tryin’ to think of somethin’.”

“You know, I’m sorry I seem to be like the dark cloud here, alright?” Caramel responded with an angered tone, “But we are stuck here. There is a creature out in that water, and it is hunting us. I mean, why is it still after us?” He then turned his attention to the quiet mares staring at him. “You all saw that croc. It’s big. I mean, it’s like a… a fucking train with teeth, and numb nuts right here wants to hold it with that little bit of dental floss!”

Braeburn stomped forward to stare down the negative pony. “Ah said shut up! Look, judgin’ by the tide, we only got probably a half hour before we are under water. This is our last chance to do something or we are going to be done for.”

Rainbow nodded in agreement. “I’m with you on this. Lyra is right though, we don’t have any bait.”

The group sat in silence as they had no idea of what to do now. Then, the whining of Teddy caught the immediate attention of Lillyflower. Shifting her head, her eyes stared with a stern look in her eyes as she saw a possible way off the island. “What about that thing?”

Caramel looked over to the dog as well, causing a big smile to spread across his face. “Yeah, that is a good idea!”

“What!? Ya can’t use the dog as bait.” Applejack yelled out, “That is just wrong!”

“Yes we can.” Lillyflower stated. “It is a dog, and we can use it to get out.”

“Ah said that is wrong! We can try to find somethin’ else.”

Lillyflower glared at the farm pony mare. “I have had to fight my way through these last several years in my life to give my daughter a wonderful life. I have had to make many sacrifices through my times just to continue on. Now, I will not sit here on this island if we have a chance to get off and have just one more day of living on just because you aren’t willing to do something beyond normal.”

The group sat quietly to the sudden tension that formed between the two mares. Caramel stared at them, swirling the beer in his hoof. Suddenly, he looked down to his beer. “Wait a minute.”

Caramel ran off to the other side of the island away from the others, bringing more confusion to all of them. After a moment, Caramel trotted back, holding the small crocodiles that washed up on shore from earlier. Lifting them above his head, he grinned, “You said you needed bait, here you go.”

The skewered crocs and the anchor made a loud splash as they were thrown out into the water. tied eight feet from the anchor was one of the life jackets, acting as a bobber to the giant sized fishhook as it floated. Grabbing the rest of the rope, Braeburn wrapped the slack around a boulder that sat against the side of the embankment. Once it was snuggly wrapped, he let it go and stared out to the water. “Well, let’s see if this will work.”

Caramel stood by the country pony, lighting up the bait with his light. “Hope your idea pulls through.” He turned to walk away before stopping. “Listen, I’m sorry for what I said earlier Braeburn. I was just freaking out.”

A small grin spread across Braeburns muzzle. “No worries, ah think we are all feelin’ a little stressed.”

“That is no excuse for how I acted earlier to you. I.. I just don’t want to die here.” Caramel hung his head low as he walked on.

Off on the top of the island, Diamond Tiara sat alone on the dirt next to the base of the tree. The horrid images of her father eaten alive in front of her plagued her mind, replaying over and over. No matter what she tried to do, they wouldn’t go away. Then, she began imagining the same thing happening to herself, being helpless and at the mercy of a monster. Feeling a presence behind her she tried to wipe her tears away before turning around to see Applebloom standing there. “Wh-what do you want?” the pink filly asked between sniffles.

Applebloom trotted over and sat right next to the crying Diamond. “Ah wanted to come make sure ya were alright.”

Diamond frowned and turned away, “Why do you care. I know you don’t even like me.”

“Ah may have some hard feelings inside, but that is not gonna stop me from caring about a pony that is hurting.” Applebloom reached over and put a hoof around Diamond’s shoulder. She could feel Diamond fidget and resist at first, but eventually let her foreleg rest on her. “Ah know what it feels like to hurt.”

Looking over, Diamond saw Applebloom’s eyes, filled with her own pain and sadness. “What do you mean? You never lost any family.”

“Actually, ah did. Mah parents died when ah was really little. Ah don’t remember them like Applejack did, so ah am not gonna try and compare that way. Ah do know what it is like to feel alone. All these years, ah would look around to the other fillies in school meeting their mom or dad. Ah would see the happiness when they got together and played in the park. After time, ah began to feel a pain in mah chest.”

“What do you mean a pain?” Diamond questioned.

A tear rolled down Appleblooms face as she continued, “Ah knew ah would never have a mom or a dad, and ah tried to just live how ah was. No matter what ah did though, ah always felt a loneliness inside, since ah could never know what it would feel like to have a parent.” She stopped to wipe away several tears that rolled down her face. “Now though, ah realize that even without a mom or a dad, ah have mah sister, mah brother and mah granny looking out for me. I also have friends to bring me happiness every day.”

Diamond watched as Applebloom gazed up to her with glossy eyes and a smile, realizing what she meant. “Y-you want to be friends? Even after everything that I have ever said to you in the past? All those times that I teased you?”

“Ah think we can work those out.” Applebloom cheerfully said, bringing a smile to both her and Diamond. Leaning forward, both fillies embraced each other in a tight hug, happy for the first time the entire night as they created the bond of friendship. Lillyflower smiled at seeing her daughter embracing the other filly. Turning away, she nearly walked right into Rainbow.

“Hey, uh…” Rainbow turned her gaze away for a moment to make sure she said the right thing. “I’m sorry about what happened to Filthy Rich. I… I couldn’t imagine not being able to say goodbye to someone I loved.”

Lillyflower wiped a tear out of her eye. “No, you shouldn’t worry about me.”

“Well, here…” the cyan Pegasus reached around and pulled the life jacket she was carrying and held it out, “You can put this on and it will help you float.”

“I can’t swim.” The gray mare felt more tears begin to form in her eyes.

“Don’t worry, I’ll help you get across and-

“Just stop!” Lillyflower now had tears rolling down her face as she looked at the Pegasus, “Please don’t make this harder than it already is. I’m not going to risk anypony’s life for myself.”

Walking closer, Rainbow put a hoof under Lillyflowers chin and lifted it up so she could look in her eyes. “Put this on or you will be risking your life. I’m not going to leave you here on this island.”

Braeburn sat still by the rock as he watched the lifejacket floating out in the water. For ten minutes the bait had been sitting there and the rogue had not even touched it. He was beginning to have doubts about his plan, realizing they were running out of time. On the dirt below him, the water was now only six feet from the hill in the center, giving hardly enough room for the ponies to walk around the perimeter without straying too close to the edge.

To his side Applejack walked over, hobbling on her three good legs to keep the weight off her sprain. He gave her a disappointed look before turning his attention back to the bait. “Ah’m not sure mah bright idea was so bright after all.”

Lifting her Stetson up out of her sight, Applejack gazed out to the still life-jacket on the water, hardly causing a ripple on the surface. That’s when she realized the problem. “Brae, the bait is too still.”

What?” he gave her a confused look.

“The bait, it ain’t movin’. It can probably sense movement in the water, and with the bait not movin’, it may not be able to tell that it is there. It we stir it up, we might be able to draw it over.”

Seeing that is was worth a try, Braeburn put some of the rope in his hoof and gave it a small tug. Out in the water, the lifejacket bobbed down into the water, causing a small wave to spread out from it. After several moments, he gave another small shake to the rope, stirring up the water more. “Hope this does work. We don’t have much more time left before we are swimming no matter what.”

“Ah hope it does too, Brae. If this does work, then ah will say for the rest of mah life that y’all are the smartest pony that ah know.”

Braeburn chuckled at the comment. “Sayin’ ah’m the smartest ever is quite the statement, when ya have yer library friend who can read a book in like, five seconds.” Looking back, his smile disappeared when he saw the saddened look on his cousin’s face. “AJ, what’s wrong?”

Looking down at the ground, Applejack turned around to look at her sister on the other side of the island with the others. “Brae, ah need ya to promise me somethin’.”

“What is it?”

“Ah need ya to promise me that you will look after Applebloom if somethin’ happens to me.”

Braeburn let go of the rope and stood up. “AJ, don’t talk like that. We are all gonna get out of here.”

“Ah need to hear ya promise me. Ah can’t tell what is gonna happen, but ah want to know that she will have somepony lookin’ out for her so she can get home safe.”

“Ah said don’t say anything like that. We are gonna all be-”

SNAP!

The sound of the rope being yanked tight startled both farm ponies, causing both of them to jump back. They turned to see the rope being pulled out, and the lifejacket out in the water swirling around in a mix of splashing water before getting pulled completely under. Teddy barked furiously at the unseen creature, running back and forth along the shore in front of the swirling water.Then, the sound of something thumping caught the stallions attention. The rock that the rope was tied to was beginning to be lifted off the side of the hill, shaking back and forth with the tugs of the rope. Braeburn realized that the rock itself was going to be pulled into the water.

Running up to the rock, Braeburn threw himself against the dark mass, pushing it back towards the center of the island with everything he had. Digging his hooves into the dirt, he shoved his shoulder into the hard surface to keep the trap intact. “Applejack, go! This isn’t gonna hold!”

Reacting on instinct, Applejack sprinted to the other side of the island as fast as she could. The others were already waiting by the water when they saw her charging their way. “Go, it took the bait, we have to go now!” she yelled out.

Not wasting anytime, Lyra and Caramel ran and jumped into the water, swimming as fast as they could to the forest across the river. Inside of the mint green mares’ heart, she felt the icy grip of fear take hold of her, reimagining the event that took place just earlier that night. She couldn’t stop the thought of the crocodile coming through the darkness, clamping down on her and pulling her into the abyss. That however didn’t stop her from swimming. She pushed herself harder than she thought she could ever swim before

Grabbing one of the two remaining life jackets, Applebloom ran towards the water’s edge. “Diamond, come on!” Diamond Tiara ran up to the other filly and told hold of half of the lifejacket. While too big for either of the two to wear on their own, the floating vest worked as a good raft for both of them to use to float their front halves on. Jumping into the water, both young fillies began kicking with their back legs like crazy, pushing them through the dark river.

Rainbow leaned over to Lillyflower and wrapped her good wing around the pony. “ ‘Alright, just hold on as tight as you can. I’ll do the swimming.” Lillyflower gave a nod before Rainbow plunged into the water, pulling the mare along with her. As soon as they touched the water, Rainbow felt herself dip under the surface, pushed down by the support she was offering.

On the shore, Applejack knew she couldn’t swim with her ankle injured like that. Looking over, she saw a final life preserver in the dirt. Seeing that as her best chance, she quickly picked it up and slipped it on. While getting the back part on easy, the front was giving her trouble since she could only work with one hoof. “Come on ya stupid thing, work with me!” she yelled out in frustration. After a second, she finally clicked the front parts together and prepared to jump in the water. Before she did, however, she remembered a single pony. “Brae…”

Braeburn struggled to keep his legs from buckling over from the force being exerted against himself. Despite the use of his entire body weight and his strong legs pushing with everything he had inside, the rock still continued to lift off the side of the hill. His hooves scraped across the dirt, pulling him closer to the water before he slammed forward again, pushing the rock back onto the island interior. His shoulder ached from the hard boulder being slammed into him, but he refused to give up to give the creature its chance to get away. His family was swimming in the water, and he would do whatever it took to protect them.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw to his shock Applejack still standing on the shore watching him. “Applejack, get outta here!”

Applejack felt frozen as she saw her cousin struggle against the rock. “Ah can’t leave ya alone on the island Brae!”

“Applejack go! Now!” Braeburn grunted in pain as the rock pushed out once again, shoving him back a foot before he charged forward and pushed it back a few inches. “It’s not gonna hold, ya have to go while ya still can. GO!”

Shutting her mouth, Applejack turned around and ran to the water, jumping out and plunging into the dark river. While the life jacket did help her float, she was still having trouble swimming since moving her injured leg was useless.

Out in the front, Caramel made it up the river bank and jumped onto the muddy bank filled with reeds. Shaking himself dry, he turned around and helped pull Lyra out of the water, dragging her out by her hoof until she fell down in the dirt, panting for breath from her ordeal. The two sat quiet for a moment before turning back to see the younger fillies approaching the shore on the small life vest. “Come on, you’re almost there!” Lyra yelled out to them.

Applebloom and Diamond tried to continue kicking, but their small legs were growing tired from the long swim. They were now only twelve feet from shore, but then, Applebloom felt the back of her leg suddenly lock up in a massive cramp, causing a scream of pain to escape her mouth. Unable to keep up, her hooves slipped off the life jacket and she began to sink under the surface. Diamond’s eyes went wide in terror as she watched her new friend go under the flowing water. “Applebloom!” she yelled out.

Leaping backwards, the pink filly wrapped her hooves around her yellow companion to try and bring her up, but the weight of Applebloom began to pull her under as well. Panicking, she tried to kick harder and harder, yet it was still in vain. Suddenly, a strange feeling wrapped around her body and began to pull her back up. The next moment, both her and Applebloom were lifted out of the surface and carried over to the bank by Caramel. Both fillies began coughing erratically to remove the water that had invaded their mouths, catching wonderful breaths of fresh air. Diamond stood up, noticing a green glow disappear from around her. “What happened?”

The glow around Lyra’s horn diminished as she walked over to the young ones. “You are lucky you were so close to the shore. Any further out and I wouldn’t have been able to grab you.”
Diamond gave a wide smile to the unicorn before hearing splashes behind her. Turning around, she felt her heart flutter as her mother and Rainbow made it to the shore. “Mom!” Sprinting down, she jumped through the air and wrapped her hooves around her mother, allowing the tears of happiness to come out of her eyes. “I knew you could get across!”

Lillyflower nuzzled her daughter affectionately, her own tears dripping off her face. “I would have never made it if it wasn’t for her.” She turned her gaze down to the pony beside her.

Rainbow crawled up out of the water, her breaths coming in raspy pants. Every muscle in her body ached from the swim that she just did while dragging the other mare in tow behind. While Lillyflower’s vest did keep her afloat the whole time, she was pretty much dead weight in the water for Rainbow to pull while already having to swim just herself. The only thing that allowed the Pegasus to cross the entire way with the burdening pony was due to her athletic build and endurance. Despite how tired she was, she wasn’t angry; seeing the happiness for the two ponies embracing each other was worth the trouble she just experienced. “I’m glad you both made it across and-

“Applejack!” Applebloom screamed out.

All the ponies on the beach looked out to the water to see Applejack swimming towards them, still in the middle of the crossing. Her movement was very slow as she tried to make her way with only three of her legs to pull her along. Rainbow stood up in the dirt and stared out to her struggling friend. “AJ come on!”

Applejack panted as she continued to try to make her way across. Spitting out water, she stuck her head out of the water to yell out to them. “Go on! Get outta here! Me and Brae will catch up.”

“No, AJ!” Applebloom cried out.

Rainbow stomped her hoof down in the shallow water in stubbornness. “No way AJ, I’m not leaving here without you!”

“Rainbow, go! Get everypony out of here and away from the water! We’ll catch up with ya, ah promise.”

Rainbow sat staring out with a broken look on her face. “But, AJ…”

“Rainbow, get mah sister outta here!” Applejacks voice now gave off a stern and aggressive tone, ordering her friend away.

The injured Pegasus shut her eyes to clench in the tears of fear before turning around and pushing a resisting Applebloom through the reeds. Trotting off quickly, the others followed in suite as they vanished into the darkness of the forest.

Braeburn continued to struggle against the stone bracing as the croc pulled harder. Turning his head, he saw that all the others were now into the forest besides Applejack. Smiling to himself, he realized this was his chance to get out of here, knowing the rock would still give him a small window of time to get to Applejack and help her swim the final stretch to the shore. Waiting for the moment for the rock to be pushed back against the hill, he took his weight off the rock and Sprinted. “This is it, we can make it! We can…”

The sound of the rope falling slack rang inside of his ears. Skidding to a stop, he looked back to see the rope hanging down on the ground from the rock and out into the water, where the life jacket popped up through the surface. Confused, he ran back to the rope and began pulling. Strange enough, there was not resistance of any form. “What in the world?” as he lifted the end out of the water, his heart dropped into his chest. The anchors’ prongs were bent completely straight, no longer hooked. Most importantly, there was no crocodile on the end of it.

And his cousin was still in the water.

Dropping the trap, he ran as fast as he could on the beach to the side where the others went across. Stopping at the water’s edge, he saw Applejack was now forty feet from the other side. “Applejack, it’s loose! It got loose! Swim!”

Applejack couldn’t hear her cousin’s warning; splashes and rapid breathing were drowning out all other sounds. Despite not hearing him, she was already swimming with everything she had. Her heart was beating so fast she was worried that she was going to pass out at any moment. “Come on, AJ, y’all can do this!” she yelled at herself.

Teddy began barking along the shoreline, catching Braeburns attention. Looking to the left, he watched a disturbance in the water rushing under the surface towards his helpless cousin. His pupils dilated in panic when he realized what was happening. “APPLEJACK!” He charged forward into the water, ignoring his own safety as he swam towards her. Teddy barked several times before jumping in after the final pony.

Swimming frantically, Applejack was now only twenty feet from shore, nearing the beach with a glimmer of hope. She gave a grin through her pants as she saw how close she was… until the sudden force struck her from the side. Screaming out, she felt herself yanked underwater, locked inside of the jaws of the crocodile as it bit down around her chest. The force of the bite felt like being crushed down between the rock and the ground, forcing out all the air in her chest. Before she realized it, the croc went into a deathroll, spinning frantically under the surface to weaken its prey before taking her to the depths.

Braeburn kicked as hard as he could, but by the time he reached the spot where Applejack disappeared, there was just him treading on the surface of the water. “Applejack!” he called out, trying to listen for a response. After a moment, he swam to the shoreline, stepping onto the land before turning back around to face the water. Teddy followed him out, shaking himself to rid the water from his fur. Braeburn stared out to the still water, looking for anything that could be his cousin. “Applejack!” All of the sudden, her stetson hat floated up to the surface, illuminated by the moonlight as it gently floated towards the now silent country pony on the shoreline.

Braeburn felt a wave of powerful feelings rushing over his body as he gazed down to the hat that floated to his hooves. Picking it up, he felt tears forming in his eyes, knowing that his cousin was gone and he did nothing to help her while she was attacked. Dropping to his knees, he cried out into the night, only comforted by a dog and the hat of his departed family member.

The Den

The late night breeze rustled the tree tops all across the forest canopy.

Down below the branches, Braeburn, a single pony, trekked onward through the night, only accompanied by the young dog walking by his side. Braeburn had already cried out all the tears that he had back by the water, yet after an hour of silently staring at the river, he realized there was nothing more he could do to help. Getting up from his crumbled position, he had chosen to make his way after the group of ponies that had already fled away from the water.

As he walked, however, the pain inside of his chest had not disappeared. In fact, it felt as if it had gotten worse. He had left his own hat back at the shoreline to wear his fallen family member’s piece of clothing. Braeburn stopped in his tracks, bringing a curious whine from Teddy. Reaching up, the saddened stallion slipped off the Stetson and stared down at it with pain in his gaze. His closest cousin Applejack was taken down into the depths of the river by a cold blooded monster while he was helpless to do anything to save her life. His little escape plan had left her defenseless in the water with no pony to help her while he was on the shore. He blamed himself for not leaving the rock earlier to give him a chance to go and help her swim across to the opposing shoreline.

With everything that had happened, how was he supposed to face the rest of his family now? Granny Smith would have certainly been able to forgive him after time, but how could he go up to Applebloom and tell her that her older sister was never coming home? Everything that had happened in that single day felt like it was going to torment him for every waking moment from then on. Nothing would ever be the same for him, and he was going to have to suffer through it.

Braeburn continued to force his way through the thick forest growth in an attempt to get out of this nightmare he was forced to experience. One thing that did push him on was a promise; the promise he had made Applejack that he would make sure that Applebloom was alright. One to his word, he was determined to find his young cousin and get her out of this place. The only problem for the stallion now though was trying to find the others in the dead of night.

Several times when he thought he was going straight, Braeburn had found himself at the same spot he had passed previously. The darkness mixed in the mass of tangled mangroves were causing him to go in circles over and over. thinking he could still overcome it, he tried to push onward and didn't give up. After several hours however, he realized he was completely lost inside of this dark and gloomy pit.

After what seemed like another hour of useless walking, the sky was beginning to shift lighter until it was a soft blue hue. Braeburn could now at least see where he was going, the faint light illuminating all of his surroundings. As he walked, his hooves splashed through the shallow, knee deep water that covered the entire forest floor in all directions. He grunted in frustration as the muddy water splashed up as his leg struggled through. Teddy was semi hoping to get through the mix until he suddenly stopped and started barking.

Braeburn came to a halt and looked over to the dog by his side. Teddy was staring off to the left, his head high in the air and sniffing, as if something had caught his attention. Curious, Braeburn looked into the trees to the distance, looking for anything that it could have been to cause the dog to tense up. "What is it, boy?"

Teddy suddenly sprinted through the muck, barking loudly as he hopped to the trees. Braeburn's eyes went wide as his one companion took off. "Teddy!" Running after him, he tried to whistle, attempting to call him back but with no avail. He grunted as he tried to keep up. "Get back here ya little shit!"

Following the echoing barks through the trees, Braeburn continued on to try and find the now running dog. While it wasn't even his responsibility to take care of this pet, he did feel that leaving it in the forest on its own was guaranteeing its demise. And being alone in this forest was not something that Braeburn was looking forward to deal with as well. Having a dog with him was something to keep him company in his eerie place.

After five minutes of running, Braeburn passed into a large open area between the trees. The water here was almost to his chest, making it hard for him to move fast. At the end if the clearing was a massive tree sticking up into the sky, and at its base below the trunk, was a tunnel leading underground. "What in the hay?" Braeburn whispered to himself as he stepped towards it. Echoing out of the hole was the bark of Teddy.

Standing at the entrance to the hole, he stared at the design of whatever this was; the width of the opening must have been at least seven feet, the sides of the tunnel entrance held up by some of the tree roots that had grown down. Taking off the Stetson, he sat the hat to the side of the tree for safekeeping in case it slipped while looking in. Once it was down, he returned to the strange opening into the ground and sat at its muddy entrance.

With the increasing light in the sky, Braeburn could see the hole was at least ten feet deep into the earth, the steep slope going down into total darkness. Leaning a bit over the edge, he cautiously lowered his head into the hole. "Teddy! Teddy come on!"

Bark bark bark!

Hearing the dog ignoring him, Braeburn gritted his teeth and leaned down again. "Teddy! Get out here or- ahh!"

Braeburn screamed out as his hooves slipped on the wet mud, forcing his body forward and down the side of the slope. His body slid down the dirty grout and splashed down into the darkness of the pit. After a moment, he tumbled down into a large puddle that filled the bottom below the cave mouth. Spitting out a mouthful of water, he stood up and shook his head to clear his waterlogged ears. Looking around in the narrow tunnel, his eyes took a moment to adjust to the faint light that trickled into the cavern, allowing him to see something floating right by his side.

The brown shape bobbed up and down on the surface, floating along the top of the water towards Braeburn. The farm pony stared in shock when he noticed the torn blue vest on the shape, similar to the same one worn by the brown stallion that was taken by the monstrous crocodile the night before. "F-Filthy?"

Shakingly, he reached a hoof out and nudged the body, causing it to flip over and go belly up. The horrendous sight forced Braeburn to screamed out, jumping back and slamming into the dirt wall behind him. Filthy Riches entire upper body was ripped to shreds, large chunks of flesh hanging off by small pieces of tissue. Several cracked ribs stuck out from his chest, the white bones glistening in the faint light. The worst sight was his face, the entire left half of it crushed, yet still allowing is blank eye to stare outward.

Braeburn felt like he was going to throw up at the horrific image that he beheld, but another feeling was creeping into his mind. Fear started to take over all his senses as he remembered what Wrangler had said about crocodiles storing their kills so that they could return to their hunting. Seeing that Filthy Riches corpse was here signified to the farm pony that he had stumbled upon the worst possible place imaginable.

He was inside of the rogues den.

Braeburn felt like his heart tripled its rate as he sat in the water. Knowing what would happen if he stayed here, he immediately turned to run up the slope to get out, but the sound of Teddy barking caught his attention once again. Flipping around, he stared back at the tunnel that led onto what he assumed was another room. While wanting to just get out before he was discovered, he felt that leaving Teddy down there was abandoning a life, something he wasn't keen on letting happen to him twice.

Forcing himself forward, he walked through the water until he came around the corner. His eyes went wide in surprise when the pathway opened up to a massive underground room at least sixty feet across. Several skylights from above allowed streams of light to come through and illuminate the stone cavern. To his left was a mess of tangled tree roots that came down from the tree above. Running through the center of the room was a pool that nearly covered the entire width, running almost to the other side of the room where a tall stone column rose up to the roof.

And Teddy was standing behind the column.

"Teddy..." Braeburn whispered as loud as possible, "come on boy, lets go!"

Teddy however didn't move. He whined and moved behind the column before returning back to the side of it. Braeburn grunted in frustration. "Teddy! Come on!"

When the dog did not listen once again, Braeburn stomped his hoof in anger. 'What is wrong with that dog? Why is he staying there?' He questioned himself. He looked down to the water that sat beneath him, eying it with caution. Seeing that teddy made it all the way across, he figured the crocodile was not here. Taking a deep breath, he stepped down to the ground by the roots. He trotted over to the side of the pool to the ledge that sat on the edge of the water, making his way with his eyes locked to the dark pool.. While he did assume the rogue was out, he didn't want to take any chances of it sneaking up on him.

After a cautious trek, Braeburn now stood on the end of the room away from the exit. He sighed in relief as he made it, but then growled when he saw the dog still sat by the pillar even with himself there. "Teddy, lets go! Ya don't wanna be here when that thing gets back." He stepped forward to try and coax the dog to come, but when he did he saw something sticking out from behind the stone that caught his eyes immediately.

A straw colored tail with a tie in it.

The blood pressure in Braeburn's body seemingly shot through the roof at the realization of what it was. Sprinting forward, he saw Applejack lying on the ground, her body still as a rock. His breath caught in his throat as he came closer to the corpse of his cousin. Dropping down, he hung over her form and put his hooves on her torn life vest. His eyes became filled with tears as he tried to speak. "Ah'm so sorry AJ. Ah'm sorry." He lowered himself and laid his head on her side."If ah could switch place with ya, ah would right now."

He cried out his emotions inside of that cave, the pain in his heart even greater than it was the night before. Everything that he wished he could have done to save her back then was coming into his guilty conscious, blaming himself that he didn't do more for her while she tried to swim across. His tears rolled down his cheek and fell onto her slowly rising chest and-

"What?"

Lifting his head off of her, he stared at her body to see if he was just imagining to himself. after a moment though, her chest did rise up before going back down. Putting a hoof to her neck, he held it for a few moments before he felt the small pulse. He couldn't believe it; after seeing her get bit and dragged down below the surface, she had not been one to perish in the jaws of the beast.

She was alive.

Braeburn could not believe this. He almost squealed in excitement at discovering that she was still alive. Teddy must have smelt her scent and somehow figured that she was alive, following her smell until he found her here. Braeburn silently thanked the determined dog. As he Looked down at the life vest, he saw that was the massive holes lining all along the entire length of the foam material. Braeburn realized that the crocodile must have seized her on the outside of the life suit, biting down on the soft vest instead of actually crushing her own body. Her need of having to wear the life vest actually saved her life.

Alive was perhaps the only possible thing to be said about her condition though, since the holes in the vest were leaking blood at an alarming rate. While the vest had cushioned the impact of the bite, the enormous teeth still punctured through and pierced her body in multiple locations. Her back right leg was also severely injured with a massive tear trough her thigh. Determined to get her help, Braeburn bent down to pick her up, but was caught off guard as Teddy took off towards the entrance to the tunnel.

Bark! Bark bark! Bark!

Caught off guard by the dogs sudden aggression, Braeburn stood back up and watched the dog run up the exit. "Teddy! Teddy!" He called out but upon deaf ears. The barking continued as Teddy disappeared out of sight, running back towards the mouth of the cave.

Bark bark bar-

SNAP!

Arr! Arr!

The loud snap of something and the immediate yelp from Teddy was followed by an eerie silence that rang through Braeburn's ears. His entire body tensed up as he stared up at the tunnel leading out of the den, trying to see of Teddy was going to come back. Then, the light that streamed down from that pathway was obstructed by a large shadow that began making its way downward. The sound of a large form sliding down into the water patch above sent a cold chill down Braeburn, for he knew what it was.

Quickly scooping up Applejack, he threw her onto his back and ran towards the small batch of tree roots that were jutting out from a portion of the wall to his left. Climbing behind the small mass of plant bedding, he pushed both himself and his cousin as far back Against the wall as he possibly could. His heart pounded in his chest as he stared up at the opening to the den, staring with pure terror for the owner of this burrow. After several more antagonizing moments, he saw it.

The massive head of the rogue came into view, carrying the mangled body of Teddy in its jaws. Sliding effortlessly down the mudbank, the predator quietly entered the large pool beneath itself, submerging everything except the top several inches of itself. Casually swimming along, it came up to the other side of the den, stopping directly in front of the hidden ponies. That however went unnoticed for the beast as it eyed its destination ahead.

Braeburn didn't even want to breath with his nerves this insane. No more than a dozen feet from him was the monster that had been hunting him and the others for the last day and night. What made him even more terrified was really seeing how big this creature was. Now that it wasn't moving so fast, he could see that the crocodile must have been over thirty feet long, even larger than he had figured before. As its head raised up onto the stone ledge beneath the pillar, it's rows of four inch teeth clamped down on the corpse of Teddy, which seemed tiny inside of the gargantuan head.

Snapping open, the rogue clamped down on the body in its mouth, the sickening sound of snapping bones echoing against the walls. The crocodile opened up again and repeated the action several more times before adjusting the body right. Opening up one more time, the rogue completely engulfed the dog, swallowing it whole down its gullet. Finished with its meal, it pushed its clawed feet against the rock bedding beneath itself, pulling its enormous body out of the water and to the back of the stone column. Circling around the four foot wide rock outing, the crocodile now had its tail hanging down from the right side of the rock and its head on the left, staring out to the water before shutting its eyes and going to sleep.

The air itself sat still as the silence overtook the cavern. Braeburn's body trembled with fear as he sat behind the entanglement of roots, the only thing that kept him from being seen. Sweat began pouring down his body, dampening the fur that had almost dried while hiding. His breath came in small raspy intakes while he attempted to remain as inconspicuous as possible. As time slowly ticked by, he finally gathered the nerve to move his head a little forward in order to see out from his spot.

Still idle was the rogue, it's small eyes clamped shut as it was completely still. Judging from how idle it was for this amount of time, Braeburn figured that it must have definitely fallen asleep by now. Looking up, he noted how the light coming from the skylight was getting even brighter, illuminating the cave interior more. His eyes then drifted up to the exit, causing his body to shift in anticipation. To get out, he had to move when he had this small window of opportunity. Applejack would not last much longer unless he was able to get her medical attention: It was now or never to escape.

Taking a deep breath, Braeburn slowly leaned down from his position, pulling Applejack down onto his back and stepping out of hiding. His legs shook as he stared at the sleeping rogue, almost taunting him with getting out of this place. Carefully, he stepped into the water, not making a ripple as lowered himself until he was off of the ledge. Still watching the crocodile, he carefully swam, making sure Applejacks head stayed up above the surface. Being a strong swimmer meant he was able to carry the extra weight, but it did slow him down from getting there at the speed he wanted. Every kick he did caused his heart to beat faster, his mind tormenting him with depictions of being assaulted this instant.

He wasn't thinking of that though the moment his hooves pulled himself out of the water and onto the opposite side of the den. Looking back again, he sighed in content as the croc still slept in its spot. Turning about face, he couldn't help but smile seeing the pathway to escape just in front of him now. But the sudden sound of disturbed water rang against the walls, making him turn around to the thing he had feared the most.

The rogue was gone.

In an instant, the crocodile burst out of the muddy water, jaws wide and ready to kill. Braeburn screamed out in terror as he quickly jumped backwards, barely dodging the massive mouth by only inches while he and his cousin dropped down on the dirt. Crawling off the dirt, Brae heart rate had now skyrocketed as the croc began crawling towards him. Panicking, he reached over and bit down on Applejacks tail, dragging her back and wedging themselves behind the large tree roots that came down. Pushing his cousin all the way to the back, he turned back to the monster coming.

The gargantuan predator came up to the mass of wood that stood in its way from the creatures that were inside of its home. Swinging its massive head like a battering ram, the rogue slammed into the thick roots, cracking several in an instant. Being solid bone, the head of the crocodile could hardly even feel the impact of smashing into the Braeburn stepped back as the only thing that was protecting him and his family. "No! Get outta here!" He screamed out despite knowing it was in vain.

The croc moved back to allow its head to go forward, biting down on the wood and ripping out one of the thick pieces and tossing it out of the way. Braeburn felt his heart racing as he sat helpless as the crocodile continued tearing the small barrier apart. He knew at the rate it was going, only a few minutes were left until it would reach both himself and Applejack. Hyperventilating, he shot his eyes to anything that could help save them. What did catch his eyes was a thick branch that was back by the stone column across the room.

Seeing his only option, Braeburn made his way to the right through the mass of roots, getting to the side of the distracted crocodile. Squeezing out from the wood, he ran past the crocodile as it continued to assault the area towards Applejack, but the large tail swung up and smacked Braeburn like a rag doll into the side wall. Bouncing off the dirt, he tumbled down and splashed into the dark pool, gasping for air after the powerful impact. As he panically thrashed around, the large rogue stopped its attempt when sensing the movement in its water.

Flipping around, the yellow eyes of the cold blooded predator locked onto the pony swimming across the water and crawling out to its usual sleeping spot. Seeing this creature as a threat to its territory, it dug its sharp claws into the ground beneath itself and pushed to slip into the water. Floating along the surface, the rogue slowly came towards Braeburn, which at this point had grabbed the eight foot piece of wood and clutched it under his right foreleg. Gripping it like a spear, the pony stood his ground against the monster. He knew he had pretty much no chance at living through this, but Braeburn was not going to let his cousin be eaten alive while he was still breathing.

"Come on ya fuck! Come on!" He screamed out in anger and adrenaline at the creature.

Without hesitation, the rogue leapt forward and bit down on the end of the wood, breaking off the end two feet as if it was a toothpick. Before Braeburn had time to even act shocked at the event, the croc slit out the piece and lunged forward again, biting on the branch once again. Attempting take out the annoying wood in its way, the rogue tried throwing its head up in the air while holding the branch. Braeburn however refused to let go, and was effortlessly hoisted off the ground as well.

Hooves wrapped around the staff like weapon he had as he was suspended in the air. The croc began shaking him like crazy until it threw him into the wall on the left. His. Body slumped down onto the stone beneath him, feeling like he cracked a rib or two in that impact. His thinking of his injury would have to stop as the croc began crawling up the ground towards him, it throat emoting a deep growl that would rival even the largest of dragons. Forcing himself back up, Braeburn backpedaled his way into a small opening between two large rocks, the area no more than five feet in diameter in all ways.

The rogue tried to go into the opening straight on, but its head was too wide to fit into the small area Braeburn was stuck in. While rolling over, it discovered that its head sideways would be narrow enough to fit into the space. Lifting its body up, the croc dropped down, forcing its snapping jaws into the compressed zone. The farm pony tried to get back, but his escape was cut off by the wall while the top of the rogues head began slamming him into the stone as the deadly jaws snapped open and close. Forced onto his hind legs, Braeburn tried to put his hooves on the snout of the beast and tried shoving it at hard as he could to keep it away from him. His strength however was nothing compared to the thrashing head that battered him over and over.

Body growing numb, Braeburn began bringing his right hoof back and punching the crocodile on the top of its head. His entire leg began losing feeling as he punched the rock hard skull, causing no pain to the rogue whatsoever. When he did one more punch, the rogue suddenly shifted down, and his hoof slipped into the now closing mouth.

"AHHH!"

Screaming out in pain as the teeth pierced his leg just above the hoof, Braeburn felt the croc begin thrashing even harder. His body was whipped around as the rogue attempted to pull back and claim its kill. Braeburn dug his back hooves into the rock below, skidding across the top as it started pulling him out. Using his free hoof to grip his captured foreleg, he tried to pull it out of the crocs mouth. He started pulling harder and harder as saw he was nearly into the open now. Using all the strength he had left, he pulled one more time, followed by a loud pop.

Falling back onto ground, Braeburn realized his hoof had been completely ripped off in his attempt to escape. Blood gushed out of the large opening on his leg, causing his face to go pale at the horrendous sight. After only a moment though, the rogue slipped its head back through to try and grab him once again. Crawling backwards, Braeburn felt a sharp bone lying on the ground beneath him. Seeing a chance, he gripped it in his teeth and stood up on the side of the crocs once again biting head. Spitting it into his one hoof, he slammed it down and buried it into the rogues left eyeball.

The rogue growled out in pain from feeling its eye stabbed completely through. Thrashing about, it wriggled its way out from the small crevice and slipped back into the water. Swimming back to the other side by the tree roots, the crocodile stared at the pony that crawled out of the space it was just inside. It's mind was cautious of this pony now; not only was this creature in its personal territory, but it was actually attempting to hold its ground instead of running away like every other creature in the swamp. It knew it had to kill this threat and clear out its den.

Slumping onto the ground, Braeburn gasped out in pain from the many injuries over his battered body. Nearly every inch of his back and sides were covered in bruises from being smacked into the stone so many times. His breathing had become difficult from the cracked ribs that pushed against his lungs. The worst pain however was from the bloody stump that was left of his right foreleg; blood continued to leak out of it like a running faucet, and the torn flesh made it excruciatingly painful to step on. His mind was becoming hazy from the overload of nerves rushing across his body. But with all of this, he refused to allow his cousin to die.

Even if it meant losing his own life.

Grabbing the rest of the long branch from earlier, he pulled himself until he was below the tall stone column and directly in front of the water. Sitting up, he laid his back against the rock and wedged the end of the wood at the bottom of the rock, sticking out with the sharper end pointed at the rogue. Braeburn glared down at the slowly approaching crocodile, his determination stronger than the stone at his back. "Come on..." He taunted the croc. "Come on ya fuckin' bastard!"

Swinging its massive tail, the rogue launched out of the water, turning its head sideways and engulfing Braeburn and the rock behind him. While he looked down the gullet of the crocodile, Braeburn no longer felt fear in his heart. He almost had a sense of peace as the monstrous mouth encircled him completely. He then smiled as he stared at the tip of his spear heading towards the roof of the crocodiles mouth, knowing his cousin would have a chance at living on.

'Goodbye AJ.' He whispered to himself as the jaws clamped down, teeth digging into the sides of the stone column.

The crocodile's good eye went wide in shock as it felt the branch skewer through its head internally, exiting out the back of its skull behind the eyes. Panicking, the rogue attempted to get back, but its jaws were locked onto the rock from its last attack. Off of pure instinct, the rogue tried biting down over and over to break through the rock holding its teeth, but the stone stayed steady. After several seconds, the injury to the crocs brain was now taking effect, causing the croc to shake as its motor skills began shutting down. Slumping down, the rogue went still with its jaws still locked around the stone column, blood leaking down the end of the branch protruding its head. It's single good eye went blank as its soul left its body, ending the rogues life.

The once chaotic den was now a dead silence as the croc lay still on the rock. It's body slumped down into the water below which started turning a crimson red from the blood leaking from its head. The only sound that was made now was from the labored breathing of Applejack, unaware of the events that both nearly took, and saved her life.

The Way Forward

Pain.

The feeling overwhelmed every cell in Braeburn's mind. His entire body ached down to the bone and causing him to wince as he shifted his weight. His limbs especially were making his mind pulse with pain receptors. His right hoof was a mix of throbbing shock and a dull numbness that was driving him insane. He was confused since he had always heard that when one dies, they go to a world where they will never suffer or hurt again, yet he was feeling everything at this moment.

'Is this Tartarus?' He thought to himself. He remembered everything that had happened; finding Applejack in the den, confronting the rogue, and sitting below the rock while holding his spear. It seemed like it had only been a few seconds after the croc lunged at him that silence had taken hold of everything. Whatever had happened, he was now sitting on the ground, his eyes still clenched shut and afraid to open them up to the horrible world he had been sent to.

Letting his head fall backward, Braeburn gasped out as the back of his head struck hard rock behind him. Leaning back forward, he raised his hoof and rubbed the back of his now sore spot on his head. Deciding to just get whatever fate he was set to endure, he slowly opened his eyes to see-

"Wh-what?"

Braeburn found himself staring down the throat of the rogue, its jaws spread open around himself. At his side, his wooden spear was lodged through the back of the skull of the beast, exiting through the top. He didn't understand how he could still be alive after the rogue had closed its jaws around him, but as he thought to himself, he realized he had never actually feel the jaws close down on him physically. He then remembered what had been behind him.

His head slowly turned around to see the thing that had in fact saved him; the stone column he had seated himself in front of was in the mouth of the crocodile. He saw how when the croc bit down, the stone was wide enough that its jaws had actually been kept wide enough to keep them from ever clamping down on himself. Braeburn couldn't even comprehend the miracle that had occurred for himself. was it fate? Had it been somepony watching over him? Couldn't tell, but now, it didn't matter to him.

He was alive.

Forcing his crippled body off the ground, Braeburn lifted himself up and over the still jaws of the monster before letting his body tumble onto the ground. He sat up and stared at the dead creature for some time before he could even move. Limping away, he made it back to the nearly destroyed tree where his cousin was still unconscious, completely unaware of what had occurred just moments before. Smiling to himself, Braeburn slipped her onto his back and hoisted her off the ground. It was hard for him to walk with his body like this since he could only use three hooves, but he forced past the pain and made his way up.

After several tiring minutes, he had crawled back up and out of the den to the outside. The warm rays of Celestia’s sun were beaming down onto the stallion, almost as if they were feeding his body energy. And at this moment, it felt like it was to him. Leaning his head to the side, he rested it against the wooden base of the tree and sat there, letting the sun warm up his pain filled body. Despite the torment he had dealt with for the last twenty four hours, he felt a small sense of success that crawled through his veins that gave him the drive to push past his own injuries for the one he loved.

Looking to his left, he saw Applejack’s hat that he had set there for his return. Picking it up off the dirt, he placed it on top of his head and began walking again through the water covered ground towards safety.

After what felt like another hour, Braeburn found himself coming to a large clearing on the edge of the forest. Grinning, he picked up his speed and came up over the hill that lay in front of him. Once he got to the top, his smile disappeared to a look of shock and amazement that took he of his face.

Over two dozens royal guards were stationed in the large clearing, walking around and helping the other survivors of the tour. Lyra and Caramel were sitting by a fire that had been made in the center of the group. Lillyflower and Diamond were huddled close under a set up tent to the side. His concern though was he did not see Rainbow Dash or Applebloom anywhere below, but his thoughts were cut off when one of the guards looked up and saw him.

"Hey, there they are! They're alive!"

In an instant, Braeburn was quickly surrounded by several guards as they came up and helped him stand up. "Easy there, we will take her now." One of them said as two others carefully lifted Applejack off of him and carried her back towards camp.

"What’s going on?" Braeburn tried to ask, but the guards ignored his question. While the others attempted to help him down the rest of the way, Braeburn shook them off and continued on down the hill after his cousin. Once at the camp, he saw they were already wrapping her in a tight blanket and placing her in the back of a chariot.

"Applejack..." Braeburn mumbled as she lay there perfectly still.

"Princess, they are right over there." A voice said from behind.

At the word princess, Braeburn felt his heart skip a beat. he turned around to see the incoming royalty, but was caught off guard when a purple mass smashed into him and pushed him into the ground. Before he could say anything, he was brought into a tight embrace by the purple alicorn. "Tw-Twilight, what-

"Oh my gosh Braeburn, I'm so glad you two are okay! Thank you!" Twilight happily cried out as she hugged the shocked stallion. "When we got here I thought it was too late!"

"You came fer us?" Braeburn asked.

Twilight lifted herself off of him and wiped away the few tears in her eyes. "Big Mac came to my house last night and said that you all had not returned from your tour yet and was really worried. I was afraid something bad had happened so I brought guards to come look for you all. After sometime we found the others walking through the woods."

Braeburn's eyes widened. "The others? Ya... Y'all have Applebloom!? Is she alright?"

"Yes, she is fine. Both her and Rainbow are coming and-" Twilight's words stopped in her throat when she saw his torn off hoof. "Oh my gosh, we have to have you treated right away and-

"Ah'm fine right now. Ah need y'all to take care of AJ now." Braeburn stated.

Twilight then quickly trotted over to the chariot and stared down at Applejacks form. A few more tears began to form in her eyes seeing her friend like this. "She is going to be okay, right?" She asked the doctor examining her.

"Well, she has multiple fractures throughout, not to mention she lost a massive amount of blood. I do say though she was brought here just in time." The stallion said with a smile. "It will be sometime, but she should make a full recovery."

Smiling, Twilight turned back to Braeburn and lifted him off the ground. At the same time, Rainbow and Applebloom were running their direction. Using her magic, she lifted a small wrap off the ground and quickly tied it around Braeburn's torn hoof. "I think it would be better if they did not see that right now."

Braeburn chuckled, "Ah think so too."

Sprinting to the scene, Rainbow Dash skidded to a stop in front of Braeburn. Her wing was now tightly wrapped in a thick cast that stuck out to the side as she stood there. "You... You saved Applejack." She quietly whispered.

Applebloom ran up and hopped into the back of the chariot next her sister, her eyes leaking tears at the condition AJ was in. "Applejack, please don't die on me! Hang in there!"

Twilight quickly came up and put her wing over the crying filly. "Don't worry Applebloom, she is going to be fine, Braeburn saved her."

"What happened after you crossed the river?" Rainbow asked, "how did you find Applejack?"

"It's... A long story." Braeburn muttered as he sat back onto the ground, wincing from his broken ribs.

Rainbow came up and pulled him into a warm hug. "Perhaps you can tell me it sometime." She pulled back and gave him a small kiss on the cheek. As he blushed from the small act, Rainbow had a single tear falling down her face. "Thank you for everything Brae."

"Princess, we have to get her moving now..." One of the doctors yelled out suddenly, "We have to get her to the hospital soon so we can repair her injuries properly."

Nodding, Twilight signaled them. "Alright, take her now." She turned back to Braeburn, "you go with them too, you need to be treated as well."

"Alright then." Braeburn and Rainbow quickly ran and jumped into the back of the chariot next to Applebloom. "Thank ya for everything Twilight."

"I would do anything to help my friends." Twilight said with a warm smile, "I'll be to the hospital as soon as I can."

The next moment, the two Pegasi in front of the cart began pulling it forward before taking off to the sky. The cool breeze blew through Braeburn's coat, sending small waves of chill down his skin. It was a relaxing, peaceful sensation that crawled over him that began to ease his tired form. He swayed back and forth before falling to the side, causing Rainbow to panic and catch him, "woah, Braeburn what's wrong!?" She yelled out in panic.

Braeburn however just smiled, "ah'm fine, just a... A little tired that's all." In fact, sleep was the only thing that he wanted at that moment, to just close his eyes and rest for Celestia knows how long. Before he did though, he pulled off the Stetson on his head and laid it across Applejacks chest. Smiling, he went to lay his head down on the wood, but Rainbow propped him up to lay against her side. "You need somepony to keep an eye on you." She said with a small grin.

Chuckling, Braeburn just leaned into her warm coat and closed his eyes, letting his mind find peace.