Blank, looks like we might have issues...though now we know why Zecora had that powder on her last time, it was supposed to be spread on the water to keep that...rock-gator? Boulder-dile?...Name aside, you could sure use some of that right about now. Lets focus on what we remember from "Creature Feature" magazine we used to..ahem...borrow from that busted vender when we were bored...or in need of a pillow.

Alligators/Crocodiles prefer to hunt in water, but are surprisingly swift on land. Their jaws have the crushing force to get through Royal Guard armor, and they often consume anything that disturbs their territory.

Quick assessment time!

So, you find yourself facing yet another monster of the Everfree that you've no idea the abilities of. While it appears to be just some overgrown crocodile with rocky protrusions, this IS the Everfree we're talking about, so there's no way it's that simple. Everything here has some kind of strange ability that you would never think of, like the cockatrice and it's stone gaze, or even the plantimal you left caged next to Zecora, and it's unnatural existence that should never have been. This crocodile-like creature before clearly has some hidden ability that you need to be wary of, if your past experiences in the Everfree are anything to go by.

Now, that covered, let's see what we can do here. Perhaps the first thing that needs to be considered is the reason it happened in the first place. That being the amulet currently under the monster's tongue. In order to obtain it, we're going to probably have to deal with this monster, because another opportunity to regain control of this powerful artifact may not present itself to you. And worse yet, it may come back to haunt you if you don't obtain it now. That sort of thing happens all the time to Vampony Lords right? some silly pony using items from your past to try and overthrow your rule. Well, you can't let that happen with this item, no sir! You'll just have to defeat this monster, or at least, regain control over it again.

You have come across another creature of the Everfree. This is obviously a test by the Everfree so you can prove your worth as its master.

"...your occasional acquaintance, Mister Brain." Well, well. We DO have one of those. Perhaps you should have tried using it BEFORE now, hmm? Actually, you know what? Giant stone-crocodile rising out of polluted mire, probably wants to eat you. Now would be a GREAT time to get more acquainted with Mister Brain.

Just to re-enforce the echo chamber, the cROCKodile must die. You've already been given plenty of options on that, so I'll focus more on the aftermath.

The rock-crocodile thing glowered.

You stared.

The rock-crocodile thing growled out with a low grinding 'grrroookkkk' sound.

You gulped.

Shit. Shitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshit! Double-bucking, mother-rutting, Nightmare-damning, bloody-bitch-burning SHIT!!!

What the buck? What in the ACTUAL BUCK was that thing!? Seriously Everfree? Seriously!? Did making damn chicken-lizard things with red glowing eyes and regenerating wood-wolves with poison sap for blood get boring!? Did it really need to make a crocodile MADE OUT OF ROCK!?!? REALLY!?

And that wasn't it, oh no, there was no way you were that bucking lucky, this was the bucking Everfree that enjoyed BUCKING with you every damn chance it got! This thing wouldn't JUST be a predator capable of chomping through metal like it was tissue-paper and gobbling you up like a damn pony-sized-hayburger! It'd have some kind of freaky powers, like shooting rocks out of it's mouth, turning invisible, growing nine times it's size, or shooting bucking LASER BEAMS FROM IT'S EYES!!! Buck it you didn't know, this was the Nightmare-bucking Everfree! BUCK!!!

You realized that perhaps freaking out wasn't the best thing you could do, that this might be the time to step up, use your brain, and overcome what was clearly an obstacle put in place by the Everfree against which you needed to prove your worth. But buck that. You never asked to become a Vampony Prince and if this was what the Everfree asked for then buck it you were DONE, you'd pull back and move to a nice place in Saddle Arabia, or The Crystal Empire, or somewhere, someplace where there was no vegetation, far from the Everfree, just so that you'd never have to see this Nightmare-damned monstrosity AGAIN!!!

There's also Zecora bound next to the tree and the Plantimal you left caged next to her, probably screeching it's heads of right about now. But more importantly, your trench coat is next to them as well, We need to do everything in our power to make sure it's not ruined. Blood is so hard to get out of... umm... whatever fabric is used in awesome vampony trench coats.

Of course that just leaves how to defeat this monster now. The easiest option might be to cut Zecora free. She clearly knew about the monster and probably knows a thing or two about handling it. but if we cut her free immediately, she would certainly take exception to your intention of possessing the Amulet. Come to think of it, Trixie probably would two, but her decision making is so glaringly flawed that it's nearly killed her several times, now being one of them! You're confident that swaying her from wanting the Amulet for herself will be an easier task then convincing Zecora to let you keep it.

Of course, Trixie may be able to help in that regard with her magic. But it's still a giant crocodile with freaking BOULDERS that would quickly turn you into paste from one wrong move.

Quick blank, we must slay this beast and save your mares. And trench coat.

Anyway. Quick analysis of current situation. Zecora, shaman supreme who has been near demanding you breed with her, out of action for at least the next 30 seconds. Trixie, insanely jealous, bit wet for you, recovering next 30 seconds. Cragodile, able to reach and consume you in the next 30 seconds, heavily armoured externally with electrical, thermal and mechanical insulation.

"Skkrrreeeeee!"

The noise, as faint as it was, drew your attention from the crocodile rock thing over towards the planimal. And next to said planimal, Zecora, who was still struggling with gritted teeth against the bindings that Trixie had put her in. Namely her own blankets... that had to be really annoying. She was probably more than a little pissed, plus desperate to get loose and deal with the currently dire situation. You could cut her free you supposed... Considering the circumstances she'd probably forgive you for the destruction of her blankies. And she might be able to help you against this crazy crocodile rock-monster thing... Well, actually, she'd just take you away from it probably. And then she'd make sure Trixie was secured, and then she'd get all of you out and away from the crocodile rock monster thing. And you weren't exactly opposed to that, but would she stop for valuables? ... No... No she'd probably leave them behind, the amulet, Rarity's saddlebags, your Trenchcoat! Why, you couldn't even THINK of departing without two out of three of those items!

And focusing on her now while you had a crocodile rock thing to fight would just get her drawn into the danger, and you didn't want that! After all the shit that'd already happened, the last thing you wanted was to inconvenience your zebra more! It was for the best that she be completely incapable of actually moving and defending herself while there was a life-threatening monster on the lose!

"O-oh Celestia, oh sweet Celestia, why, why do these things always happen to Trixie!?" Came the sounds of a very familiar mare who was most CERTAINLY going to get a stern talking to later. But for the moment, she was, quite rightly, consumed with fear for her life, and thus didn't need you rubbing it in... yet. You looked back to Trixie, still on the ground in front of you laying on her back, shaking and trembling, staring at the crocodile rock monster thing with wide tear-filled eyes, and green-tinged water all over her fur and mane, dirt mixing in all along her back and some loose leaves stuck to her coat. She was... pathetic, really. As usual, as she stared at her imminent doom, heart in the grip of a logical and entirely rational fear...

Above all, STAY CALM. Panic is the enemy more than any dangerous creature. Panic leads to rushed judgement, rushed judgement to mistakes, mistakes to injury, and injury to...you get where I'm going.

Good luck,

Nomad

You looked back up to the crocodile rock monster a thoughtful look to your eyes this time, as the wheels turned in your head and you began to actually think on the situation. Your emotions stepped back for a moment and your logical engines and friend Mister Brain started to take the helm. And while they did so, began to extrapolate upon a simple truth... that cowardice had a cost. If you ran, if you turned tail, then you'd lose it all... your mares who you had spent so much time whispering to and guiding, the trenchcoat you'd waited so long for, the amulet which you needed to keep out of the hooves of those who would misuse it... everything. This was a conflict you HAD to fight out if you wanted to keep what was yours. You needed to meet the Everfree's challenge, and battle this creature, defeat it, DESTROY it. And to do so, you needed to be calm, collected, and cool.

You took a deep breath in, then breathed out slowly, keeping your eyes trained on the cROCKodile's, meeting it's glare with a calm gaze of your own. You slowly stretched your neck, to the right, then to the left, then down, then up... Then you met the crocodile-rock monster thing's eyes again as you rolled your shoulders back, then forwards, getting thoroughly calmed and limbered with the movements... The crocodile rock monster made another low menacing 'Gggrrroooookkkkkk' sound.

You looked down to Trixie.

"Trixie." You spoke, your voice strong and authoritative, which was a little surprising to you because you totally hadn't felt that way just a few moments ago. Trixie snapped her teary wide-eyed gaze back to you, confusion, fear, and desperation all mixed into her orbs in one massive batch of inadequacy.

"Over there. Now." You spoke, jerking your head towards the tree with Zecora still struggling against her bindings, your planimal, and the saddle bags with the trenchcoat. Trixie simply nodded mutely, for once apparently having nothing to say, all grand proclamations or indignant protestations eaten up by her fear. She sprung up to her hooves and BOLTED for the tree, leaving her cloak and hat behind on the bank as you looked to the crocodile rock monster. The crocodile rock monster thing looked after Trixie for a moment, watching her with it's eyes, before looking back to you, meeting your eyes with its own glare once more.

Calmly you brought your right forehoof up into the air and-

SCHLINK!-ink-ink-ink...

Your blade SHOT out, making it's own echo as it did so. The sword was black and sharp and long... longer than it had been previously, actually. Blue mist was pooling around it as you held it up, more than there usually was, and seemed to even pour off your hoof and down your right foreleg, wrapping your fur in dark blue mists. You raised your right eyebrow as you glanced at your own blade. Your sword seemed to have gone through some upgrades while you were unconscious, kind of like your fangs. Frankly it was kind of creepy how much shit seemed to happen while you were asleep. But you ignored the general unease at your nocturnal developments for a moment and looked back to the crocodile rock monster, as your rods SWUNG up from your back to stand erect, humming slightly as they did so. You rolled your head to the right, then back to the left again, then looked the crocodile in the eyes.

It glowered.

You smirked.

It slowly opened it's mouth, just enough to run it's grey stone tongue over it's lips and teeth.

You nodded.

"Well... thank you for waiting. Now let's get to it, shall we?" you asked, feeling fairly polite actually as the monster, as terrifying as it was, HAD been polite enough to give you time to mentally prep yourself. Very sporting really. But that time was at an end, and with your query finished the crocodile rock creature let out a loud roaring 'GGGRRROOOOKKKKK' sound, and charged.

Well, this could be a problem. I can only think of a few options that could work.

1. If there's any leftover charge from the storm, lightning might work.

I suggest you zapp the water and go for the enviro-kill. It should at least stun it then go for the guts, destroy the weak belly to ensure victory.

2. Reptiles are sensitive to vibration, try hitting your rods with youre sword.

3. Try to attack a "soft spot" with your sword, such as the underbelly or inside of the mouth.

Of course you could do what you've always done in this situation. Just charge in and flail your sword around and make lots of noise. That seemed to have worked well all of your other "fights".

Light it on Fire, make it burn and scream until it can no longer. Then let it die but not a second before it stops. It will be in agony for the rest of its time on this planet.

- A giant flying bean, who enslaved his world.

1. In the likely event that that massive beast trys to eat you, nothing quite says bad touch to a fleshbeast like a flamethrower down the throat, and unlike it's stony outside I'm sure it's inside isn't quite as fireproof. *evil laugh*

2. In the event you are about to be swallowed whole use your sword to stop its jaws from crushing you and repeat step one, and while your there grab the amulet and get more power.

You weren't prepared for how FAST it was. Yes you already knew that crocodiles actually moved fairly fast on land due to some 'ahem' liberated reading material. But DAMN. It was practically on you before you even considered your first move. As it came upon you, you also noted that there was a sort of... 'screaming' in your ears that wasn't screaming, a spike of warning that seemed to just move straight into your brain. It was really weird, and a little LATE as you didn't have time to really use it before the crocodile rock monster RAMMED right into you.

The blow from the cROCKodile's fortunately closed snout sent you tumbling back a couple feet through the dirt and hurt like a bitch, but served as a great call to BUCKING FOCUS. You snapped your eyes to the creature as you got quickly to your feet, fortunately nothing seeming to have actually broke from the ram, and watched as it started rapidly moving towards you again, glowering eyes ready for a kill. More reacting than thinking, you twitched the muscle in your back that made your rods shoot out any built up electricity they happened to possess.

Nothing. Whatever juice your wings had had from the storm last night was now long used up. No zappy zappy of any kind, unless a storm just started out of the blue, and did you really think you were going to be that lucky? But your rods had another use, one that you'd wielded to great effect before, and would probably be even more useful to you now with your sword apparently more echoey than it had previously been. Your rods already up and your sword out, it was easy enough to throw your sword back as the cROCKodile made it's way quickly towards you and-

CCCCCLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

BUCK THAT WAS LOUD!!! LOUD LOUD LOUD LOUD LOUD!!! You winced yourself, your ears ringing from the noise. You'd known it would be louder than before but... BUCK... And shit if that didn't still make your back muscles ache, again, maybe worse than before... Buck... you were pretty sure you were deaf now, for the moment at least. The good new was though that the cROCKodile didn't seem to have taken it too well either. It stood still for a moment, blinking rapidly... Then it shook. Actually shook, vibrated, with little pebbles popping off of it's back as it did so, visibly shaking for several moments, before rapidly throwing it's head side to side, and refocusing upon you with narrowed eyes, making a snarling face. It seemed to growl at you more, though you couldn't actually, um, hear anymore, so you weren't exactly sure. But it was definitely giving off a 'I'm going to bucking eat you alive you cocky little shit' vibe as it stared at you with eyes filled with predatory rage. Buck... buck it looked like it had recovered faster than you... And you'd DEFINITELY pissed it off. And much sooner than you would have rathered, it SPED towards you again, going for what looked like the same ramming technique as before.

You had no intention of being caught by the same attack twice, so you jumped to the right as quick as you could. That seemed to work as the crocodile rock monster stopped dead in it's tracks right where you'd been, but then seemed to SPIN it's body and-

WHAM!

"Ooof!"

... and you met the business end of a whirling solid rock tail attached to a solid rock reptile. Once again you found yourself flying multiple feet across the dirt, your rods closing back down impulsively as you went tumbling, before coming to a stop, breathing hard with a heavy ache in your side and dirt and grass all over your coat.

"Agh buck, buck that's annoying 'cough'." You said, feeling the need to audibly declare your discomfort, before shakily getting back to your hooves again. And again, the sharp 'WARNING', burrowed through your ears and into your brain, causing you to snap your gaze to the cROCKodile as it charged forward towards you, already on the move, this time with it's jaw wide... You could see a lot of things when that monster opened it's mouth. A grey craggy tongue, numerous teeth all sharp and carnivorous, the box containing the amulet underneath aforementioned tongue, your rapidly approaching death... a lot of things.

But, you figured that instead of sight-seeing, your talents would probably be best spent in finding a way to remove that rapidly approaching death maw as a threat. So, admittedly somewhat panicked at the creature barreling straight towards you, ringing still in your ears and kind of making you dizzy, you quickly dug your hooves into the grass, brought your right forehoof up and-

SHICK-ick-ick-ick! ... That echo was probably going to get annoying. But the effect of the blade cutting through the cROCKodile's tongue and upper jaw most certainly wasn't. And with that cutting you had managed to 'catch' the reptilian monster's upper-snout with your blade, the tip piercing up through the soft... well, soft-er roof of the creature's opened maw. The monstrous rock-reptile's eyes widened, then narrowed in a choked 'g-grok!' that seemed to spit out some green water around it's tongue and onto your fur, as well as your face and blade. Not at all gross of course, you were just FINE with an abomination of nature puking it's green-water blood up on you. And on an unrelated note, you got goose bumps and shivered in revulsion with your blade jabbing up through it's mouth, your face curled up into an expression of disgust. However in the process of this weird liquid spitting, and your unrelated body responses, it also managed to dislodge the box from underneath it's tongue, a coating of green water carrying it out and 'PLOP'-ing it onto the grass between you and the rock reptile, down on it's lid.

You lifted your right eyebrow as the box came out, then looked back up to the wide gaping maw. As you did so, you wondered if this creature was all rock, or if inside, it might have had some squishy parts? Like, did it have actual organs instead of just rock? After all it needed to like, eat, shit, and maybe even rut right? Couldn't do that with rocky bits... probably. Or maybe it didn't need to do any of that shit. Maybe it was just a freaky construct thing like the Timberwolf things. But if there WAS some way to damage it, it probably would be on the inside. Too bad you didn't have some sort of way to take advantage of this open mouth to directly attack it's... insides... right down it's wide open gullet... ...

You blinked. A light bulb went on over your head. And your mouth stretched into a wide grin, as your eyes glinted with pyromaniacal genius. You had just had the BEST. BUCKING. IDEA. EVER... And you were understandably quite giddy about it, as your speech would reveal.

"Yeah, I know, my orthodontia techniques aren't quite as refined as you'd like." You spoke, feeling strangely playful and joking, chuckling a bit before shaking your head and looking back down the cROCKodile's maw.

"Well, let's see how you feel about my cleaning and hygiene policies!" You stated brightly, not entirely sure where this particular dental theme was coming from, but it didn't bucking matter because you had awesome flamey things to do! You lowered your head down horn-first towards the monster's open mouth, adjusted slightly to point to the left of your own blade and-

FWWWOOOSSSHHH!!!

Flame. Glorious blue flame SHOT out of your horn and straight into the crocodile monster's maw in a glorious spiraling tunnel of fiery death! You... weren't entirely sure WHY the flame was blue, but buck it, it was glorious and burning and another 'G-grok!' of pain and discomfort came from the cROCKodile as you shot your magic straight into its insides, bucking up whatever was in there.

The cROCKodile did NOT look to be enjoying itself much to your delight. In fact, between the sword lodged up into it's mouth and the fire spouting into it's gullet, and the rocky reptile's very evident pain and discomfort to both, you were now very confident in your abilities to actually HURT this bucking thing! But there was something in it's eyes as you torched it's gullet. A glint of cunning, a predatory gleam that made you somewhat nervous. You began to be worried just as that WARNING sound/feeling-thing struck into your brain and-

CRUNCH

Your blade jutted up even further through the top of the cROCKodile's snout. But it seemed to be okay with that as it lunged forward and CHOMPED down on your foreleg in it's mouth, teeth and jaw crushing muscle and bone even as your flames wrapped around it's snout and burned your own foreleg, singeing the stone but obviously causing no real issues for the monster while it bit at your flesh.

"AAAAGGGHHHH!!!!" You screamed, and in no way was ashamed of doing said screaming. With your right foreleg caught between it's pincer jaws, you could FEEL the bones breaking, the muscles ripping, the flesh tearing, and the blood spilling. It felt like it was going to rip your foreleg clean off! But...

4. Last resort, deliberately injure yourself and get your blood into it's mouth, remeber what happened to the Planimal head.

But your blood was spilling... and while you weren't in the mind to consider the tactical reality of such, the cROCKodile apparently was...

'GRACK!' The monster sounded, coughing out hard as it's eyes went wide with pain and surprise. It's mouth fell open, and you quickly pulled your right foreleg back scraping it over the teeth and leaving bits of your flesh and more of your blood in it's jaws. Your right foreleg was COMPLETELY mangled, burnt around the knee, bit and ripped and torn down from that, the bottom half of your foreleg being comparatively untouched but hanging limp from the damage to the rest of the limb. Needless to say, it hurt like a mother-bucking bitch.

"AH! AH BUCK! BUCKING DAMN IT! BUCK!" You shouted as you staggered back, not really buying into the 'needless to say' thing and very much wishing to share your pain with the entirety of the audibly aware world.

The crocodile monster for it's part staggered back as well, coughing hard with brutal 'GRACK!' noises, spitting out green liquid, puking up your blood it looked like. But your damn Nightmare-bucking head was spinning and you were dizzy and queasy and wanted to puke yourself. The pain was horrific, worse than the Timberwolves claws, worse than the Planimal bite to, or the fall you took when you first discovered the poison joke. Buck, this might have been the worst yet, you couldn't even try to set your right forehoof down without searing pain going through your whole damn body. Not exactly the most impressive state you'd ever been in.

Cringing from the pain with your eyes tearing up, you dismissed your sword from the forehoof in a burst of blue mist, unable to even LIFT the damn thing much less fight with it with your leg in such a wreck. As bad as this bucking was though, you were still something of a lucky son of a bitch-whore. Your healing was kicking in and you could already see your hoof starting to pull itself back together, the flesh knitting, bone resetting, tendons reconnecting... Still, it wouldn't be fast enough to get you back into a fight with the crocodile monster, and your maneuverability, the only damn thing you had over it, was completely shot. You were in a bad bucking way.

Next is your surroundings. The most obvious thing here is the lake, polluted by some unknown substance you suspect is from the strange shrubs growing out around the lake, turning it green. Clearly it isn't acidic in nature or harmful as Trixie has just emerged from said lake, and seems to be fine, at least physically, but that doesn't mean it isn't effecting her. The fearful look in her eyes when she spotted and spoke to you may be a hint as to one of it's effects, but that could also just be because of the imminent danger present. However, it still struck you as something odd that you couldn't immediately place.

But lets not forget about the tiny, caged plantimal. You brought it here for some reason and Clearly as it is now, it'd be of no use. But maybe there's some way to change that? Perhaps the lake water? What if the monster used to just be a normal crocodile before making this clearing it's home? It may explain it's size today, and looking more closely at the shrubs growing around the lake, maybe they aren't really what's causing the coloration of the water. You remember reading something about how plants grow towards sunlight in dark places to help their survivability, hell, you've seen a similar thing to that underneath the dumpsters in the alleyways sometimes. Perhaps that's what's happening here? The shrubs grow towards the pond to increase their survivability? If that's the case, maybe if you toss the Plantimal into the water it'll have some kind of effect on it? It clearly affected both the plants around the clearing and the creature before you. You've also decided the Plantimal can be described as both these things, It's its name for crying out loud! So maybe the water will have a double effect on it and distract the monster long enough for you to find a way to procure the amulet from the monster's mouth.

Also make use of the Planimal you brought it along for a reason.

3. Use the planimal, you can control him with music! Release your animal minion into the water. If it can boost the side of the crocodile then it can certainly boost the size of the planimal.

Planimal, minaturised due to Zecoras potions, narked and ready to go in an easily thrown into mineral rich feeding water within the next 5 seconds.

Throw Planimal into water, as close past Cragodile as possible, drag Trixie and Zecora round the tree the opposite side of saddlebags.

You looked to the cROCKodile again, and saw it hacking and coughing still, eyes wide and green liquid starting to leak from them. Perhaps you wouldn't need to keep this fight going. Perhaps whatever was in your blood would finish this thing off... and perhaps it wouldn't. This was the bucking Everfree, all bets were off. You couldn't afford to try and wager on the damn thing choking up on your bucking blood!

Panting hard, sweat emerging on your coat, more from the pain than from exertion, you found your eyes moving back to the water the creature had emerged from, all green and creepy... It was probably an Everfree power-well or some shit like that, where the Everfree fed it's strength in to bless it's creatures or the like. Or some kind of polluted toxic Everfree mutation thing. Seemed as logical as any other bucking thing that happened/existed/ or was generally present in these damn woods. It'd probably taken a normal crocodile and normal rocks and amped them up, making something freaky and new and combined, like the Planimal had been between that damn flower and those weird chicken-lizard things... ... the Planimal...

You turned your gaze over towards that particular abomination, gnawing at the bars of it's cage. Trixie was cowering near it, Zecora was giving Trixie an extremely agitated look while shouting something at her that, with your ears still kind of ringing, you couldn't hear. You looked back to the planimal in it's bamboo cage, then back to the water, then back to the planimal, then back to the water. And you had a thought. A crazy thought. An utterly strange, positively bonkers, and possibly delusional thought... but buck it. Your leg was bust, you had no lightning, your magic was out from your flame-in-gullet stunt, and there was no bucking way you'd manage to flip that thing over so that you could stab to it's belly in your current state. Not actually sure you could've managed it in your previous state either for that matter. You had very few options available for you to use... so buck it, why not go with the crazy one?

"Trixie!" You shouted. Or at least you thought you shouted. Honestly you could barely hear yourself shout, and you knew that you'd probably not be able to hear anything Trixie said in return. But she looked up, actually wincing a bit as you shouted, so it probably was a shout. Maybe even a louder one than you'd been trying for. But whatever, the important thing was that she could hear you.

"Throw the planimal monster in the water!" You continued shouting, and you could SWEAR, even from this distance, that she just furrowed her brows, let her jaw drop a little, and stared at you in confusion.

"Toss the planimal in the bucking water Trixie!" You shouted, moving your left forehoof up to point towards it, as though she wasn't already aware what creature you were referring to, then over towards the bubbling green water.

"NOW!!!"

That seemed to get her to, if not snap to it, at least convince her to do as told. Trixie seemed to gulp, then look to the Planimal and focus on it as her horn glowed purple. The cage was contained within her purple telekinesis spell, and arose up from the dirt. The planimal started screaming, probably skreeeing in discontent though you couldn't hear it if it was, as it levitated in the air, held aloft by the powers of an emotionally unstable and unpredictable unicorn... ... yeah, yeah you'd probably complain to in it's position. Trixie, turning her eyes to the pond, then promptly just sent it flying over via telekinesis and let it 'PLOP' into the water, the cage sinking with the Planimal inside of it, green water bubbling all around as it made it's descent, before the bubbling slowly stopped, leaving nothing but a few ripples on the surface... ... ... ... ... ... ... And that was it. Nothing happened.

You blinked... Trixie looked to you with her right eyebrow raised... and you shrugged your left shoulder. Well... nopony could kick a hundred.

You looked back to the cROCKodile that looked as though it had finally stopped wretching, though slick green liquid was all over it's face. It looked to you with hatred in it's eyes and let out a 'GGGGRRROOOKKKKK' of great and carnivorous anger.

You gulped.

Well... shi-

'Pop'

Both you and the cROCKodile blinked, then looked over to the water from which the 'pop' sound had emerged. Apparently the crocodile rock monster was as surprised as you, though you were mainly surprised because you could hear again, thank Nightmare's left-tit.

'Pop' sounded again, as a bubble rose to the surface of the water and then let itself die in a burst of air.

'Pop' 'Pop' 'Popopopopopop'

More bubbles, more popping, and pieces of a bamboo cage, floating to the surface.

You only had time to raise your eyebrows slightly before-

SPLASH!

SPLASH!

SPLASH!

'SSSSKKKKKRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!'

... ... ... Well... buck you. It actually worked.

The planimal, that you hated and DESPISED was now a towering three-headed behemoth emerging from the pool, it's heads swaying in the sky, with glaring red eyes, and a malicious grin on each of it's ugly abnormal faces, looking down to you and the cROCKodile with obvious glee apparent in their burning red orbs.

Then eat the croc to buff your defense, we sure need that with our luck.

'Gggrrroookkk...' The growl this time was more one of disbelief, as the cROCKodile looked to the towering planimal with wide eyes. Frankly, you were kind of with the cROCKodile there. What made this bucking thing grow or shrink was really pretty damn weird. But that wasn't exactly something either of you had time to think about. Because an instant later the Planimal had LUNGED down, all three heads descending on the cROCKodile, and PLUCKED it up off of the ground between all three.

Each of their teeth CRUNCHED into the rock, actually breaking through it. Then, in front of your eyes, the Planimal with a series of sickening CRACKS 'ripped' the cROCKodile three ways, tearing it apart. The tail, the snout, and various pieces of rubble, PLOPPED down into the water, as the Planimal lifted up its heads, and then proceeded to 'GULP' the different pieces down, swallowing the rocky hide and innards of the crocodile reptile thing in a few choice bites. And like that, it was gone...

... You couldn't help but get the nagging feeling that you missed some kind of opportunity... you weren't particularly sure what. You were fairly sure your fangs couldn't chop through rock and your stomach couldn't digest it if they could... ... could they? Could IT? And what about the eyes, were those as hard as the rest of the monster's rock body? These were things to consider. AFTER running for your bucking life from the planimal monster that, with it's heads swaying up out of the water, was now turning it's triple-red-eyed gaze onto you, with that familiar malicious grin and ill-intent plastered all over it's smug faces.

Don't forget the box, don't want some enemy to get that.

Point the Second: The amulet itself. As though it wasn't obvious before hand, Trixie has once again proven she cannot be trusted to make decisions (and you should make this fact eminently clear to her). Four thousand bits says the amulet has no corrupting properties what-so-ever and the Illusionist was just deflecting blame. Again.

After you have taken care of the creature you will need to secure the Alicorn Amulet and make sure Trixie is back under your control.

They wanted to eat you. You could see it in their eyes. You could see it in their grins. In the little bits of pebble, dust, and green water in their teeth. And as big as they were right now, they could just lean down, grab you up, and munch you into pony mulch. If fighting the cROCKodile had been hard fighting THIS would be impossible. You gulped. DEEPLY. Then your eyes flickered over to your left.

Laying in the dirt nearby, surprisingly not yet broken, was the box that Zecora had decidedly to tactfully hide beneath a crocodile rock monster's tongue. You looked back to the Planimal. It's three heads licked it's lips. You looked over to Trixie and Zecora, and to your slightly surprise saw that Trixie's horn was glowing. She was now using her magic to undo and untie the blankies that she'd used to wrap Zecora up. You looked back to the box, then to your left forehoof, then back to the planimal. You had a plan. A crazy plan. Like most of your plans seemed to be these days. But it JUST, MIGHT, WORK. Or fail horribly. You'd be able to tell if it did that second one by your violent and painful death.

You breathed in deep, sighed, then gave the planimal a goofy, nervous grin. A-

"Skree-skree-skree-skree" came from the Planimal heads, like a chuckle in response, each of them seeming to want to SAVOR your imminent demise, saliva drooling down from their mouths...

SCHLINK!-ink-ink-ink.

Your left forehoof SHOT out your blade, before you raised it up, and then LUNGED towards the box, SLAMMING the flat of your blade onto the top in a-

THUD!!!-THUD!-Thud-thud-thud-thud

It wasn't exactly your most impressive noise yet. The thud against wood wasn't nearly as impressive as many of the metallic 'Clangs' you'd managed with your sword. But it echoed loud and far and in their typical pattern the heads all seemed to blink, then get these goofy grins on their faces for a moment, waving back and forth in the air, enjoying the noise. That was the only sign you needed.

"Trixie, Zecora, grab the saddle-bags and let's get the buck out of here!" You shouted, Trixie seeming to have already gotten Zecora loose, the blanket now just hanging over Zecora's shoulders. Trixie, in an additional move of responsiveness, used her telekinesis to grab hold of the saddle-bags and lift them up out of the dirt, bringing them levitating up into the air and onto her back as she turned and ran. Interestingly, she seemed to have the presence of mind to levitate her cloak and hat from the bank of the pond and send them floating after her.

You, for your part, dispersed your blade in a 'POOF' of blue smoke, then leaned down and with your teeth, awkwardly picked up the box that was indirectly the cause of all this trouble. You winced a bit as you scraped your teeth against the wood, holding it loosely from it's dirt-covered bottom as you began to limp after Trixie and Zecora. For a moment you wished you'd kept your magic reserves empty for telekinesis... but that fire burst had been bucking awesome. Totally worth the agonizing pain that, honestly, you'd have probably gotten to experience one way or another.

You looked back, frequently, as you moved, to see if the Planimal was shaking off the effects of your audible therapy. But it looked as though it was still under the effects of your... well, calling it music would be giving it too much justice, but whatever you wanted to call it, the planimal was still goofy from your blade's sonic qualities, thank the bucking night. And by the time it started to look as though it was getting aggressive again, you were out, along with Zecora and Trixie, and it couldn't follow, stuck in the pond as it was...

It wasn't until a fair distance later, when you heard a 'SSSSKKKKKRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!' of frustration, now slightly faint, that you pushed yourself up against a tree, back behind the two mares, let the box drop into the dirt, and fell onto your haunches with your back against the tree, eyes closed, breathing hard.

"Buck, buck, buck, buck, buck." You stated, now gritting your teeth as the pain in your right forehoof made itself apparent.

"And triple-bucking buck buck." You continued, just to make sure your point came across.

Once you've dealt with the monster situation, You're going to have to run some damage control on the two mares. Fixing whatever you can and swaying them to your side again. And later sleep talking to them and fixing this whole jealousy thing that's sprung up to avoid this fiasco from happening again. Manipulation can be so tedious sometimes.

Point the First: WHAT THE BUCK DOES TRIXIE THINK SHE IS DOING‽ She kidnapped Zecora, almost got all three of you killed (what, did she not realise you'd come after her as soon as you regained consciousness?), all to get back that stupid amulet she has ALREADY proved incapable of handling.

Point the Fifth: Zecora. This is going to be difficult. First, you need to play-up the fact that it was the mutations that she wanted to get rid of that just saved your collective plots. However, you can't come across as desperate or she'll assume you're being influenced by an external force, which CLEARLY isn't happening. Second, we really need some way to apologise for the crap we've been putting her through. For a hermit, she has a surprising number of friends, and being pissed-off at us will lead to complications in the long one.

4. After you slay the beast reclaim what is yours, get a hold of your minions and sort your mistakes out.

-PYRO THE RED

Eyes closed you didn't see or hear Zecora so much as feel her. A gentle touch on your right forehoof was the evidence of her presence as you opened up your eyes, and saw the Zebra sitting on her haunches next to you, and gingerly lifting the messed up leg as her eyes moved over it. This caused you to wince a bit, but you didn't say anything as she gently examined the injury. You were sure she could see what you could feel, the flesh knitting, the muscles healing, the bone reconnecting. The leg might be healed by the time you got back to her hut if it kept this pace up.

She continued to look it over for a few moments, before bringing her gaze over to you, and looking into her eyes with a calm gaze.

She stated softly, some concern for you apparent in the voice. You blinked, then smirked, giving a nod with a soft chuckle.

"Heheheh, It is yeah, ow... but it'll heal, and that's better than most buckers'd get in my situation... Agh, yeah though, it does hurt like a bitch, bucking ow..." You muttered, before breathing in deep, then out slowly, trying to deal with the pain. After doing that a bit more, you opened your eyes, narrowed them, and turned your decidedly disapproving gaze upon a very nervous Trixie. You look at her, perhaps even glared at her, watching as she stood with Rarity's saddlebags on her back, cloak folded over the strap with her hat plucked on top. The anxious mare shifted her weight from hoof to hoof, looking down to the dirt between them, not meeting your eyes.

"Trixie..." You spoke, still laying back against the tree. Trixie gulped, seeming to shrink beneath the force of your glare.

"Would you like to explain what in the ACTUAL BUCK you were thinking?"

"T-Trixie was... s-she just-" She started to mutter, looking down.

Spoke Zecora pointedly, looking over her right shoulder to level a glare of her own at Trixie. The whole 'kidnapping' thing probably making her feel a little less charitable than usual.

Zecora actually shouted this time... Yeah. Yeah getting dragging into deadly danger would make one a little testy. You sighed and closed your eyes again. Your hoof bucking hurt damnit, though you did enjoy the soft touch of Zecora's own hoof upon it. That physical contact was nice, really pleasant. Made you think of breeding her like a mare in heat. Because of course it did. But anyways, back to the current situation that DIDN'T involve your constant battles against your best friend in the world...

"She's right, ugh buck it, let's not even cover the OBVIOUS danger you put Zecora in, and Rarity, and ME, you did all of that well enough that I'm pretty sure you don't give a buck about how many different ponies you HURT." You spoke, a very acidic tone to your voice as you kind of vented at the mare-

"But what you did would have gotten you killed if I hadn't been there! Like with the cockatrice, or the Diamond Dog! What is this, the THIRD BUCKING TIME I've saved your life!? And buck it if I didn't happen to be a superpony freakazoid then nopony would have been able to help you! Do you get that?! You'd be DEAD!!!" You shouted, clear aggravation in your voice before you winced hard, your hoof throbbing in pain, and took a deep breath in, then breathed out slowly, calming yourself down.

You opened your eyes again after that, blinking a bit, then turning your gaze over to Trixie who was looking down between her hooves. Shaking. Trembling. Coat still wet and partially covered with dirt, and little spots of moisture emerging from her downcast eyes to hit the dirt below.

"I... Trixie... I just..." She didn't finish her thought. Instead, a 'Sniff' interrupted her speech, and a few more drops fell down from her eyes onto the dirt below. Zecora was still looking back to Trixie, her gaze stern, though no longer fierce or apparently angry. Zecora had a HECK of a lot of control over her own emotions, you noted.

You blinked at that, looking to Zecora as she spoke, then looking back to Trixie with your right eyebrow raised. That... stoked your curiosity actually. Zecora, when not irrationally and unreasonably jealous, seemed to have a handle on other ponies emotions. You'd been partially assuming that Trixie was drawn here out of a jealous desire to be your only mare and give you the amulet as proof of her worth, or something. But if she was drawn here by fear... then what was she afraid of? You?

"I... Trixie... Trixie just w-wanted to be 'sniff' somepony..." This declaration only made you raise your right eyebrow further, as Trixie crossed her right foreleg over her left nervously, still looking down, still shaking, still with little droplets of water coming down from her eyes and hitting the dirt below.

"T-Trixie's l-lost... s-so many times... and 'sniff' Trixie's supposed to be great and p-powerful. S-special 'sniff'." She spoke, before taking a shaky gulp, and letting out an equally shaky sigh.

"W-with the amulet Trixie was s-somepony. Somepony 'sniff' powerful, somepony great. Somepony scary but 'sniff' somepony still. A-and now, without it Trixie's just... Trixie's j-just..." Trixie didn't seem to be able to finish the thought. Instead she sniffled more, then her bottom lip quivered and then she just let out a-

"WWWAAAAAAHHHHHHAAAAAAAHHHHAAAAAAAA!!!!" As she broke down sobbing like a little filly. You blinked as she physically collapsed onto the ground and just started bawling her eyes out, just COMPLETELY undone, it looked like.

You... you couldn't really find yourself staying angry at Trixie. Annoyed, oh buck yes, but not angry. Why? Well this example of pathetic wallowing that you were seeing right now was exactly what you expected of her. She really was a rash, foolish little filly when it came down to it. And she needed proper guidance... when she accepted that she'd be happy. And you did want your Trixie to be happy... despite all the agitation you felt, you wanted all of your mares to be happy.

Zecora sighed in tired aggravation, before taking a deep breath in, then out slowly, and moving over towards Trixie.

She spoke calmly, moving up to Trixie and wrapping her forelegs around the mare's shoulders, pulling her close as Trixie, for her part, hugged Zecora back and buried her head in Zecora's shoulder, sobbing into the zebra's fur. Zecora then moved her right forehoof around to stroke Trixie's mane gently, holding the sobbing mare close as she continued to cry.

Spoke Zecora simply, continuing to hold the mare close.

You blinked a bit at that, then smirked. You really didn't understand Zecora sometimes. She was much gentler than you'd be in her situation. Perhaps that was one of the things you liked about her, how very gentle she could be. Oh, and that killer plot. DAMN you'd love to tap that again.

Point the Sixth: Ponyville. Ok, so at SOME point, we're going to go to Ponyville. You still don't have full control of your powers, and your powers have not fully developed yet, so try not to draw to much attention to yourself. One more thing, once you step foot in that town SHE will know. SHE is both the greatest potential threat, and the greatest potential asset. Whatever else you may do, be wary around the cotton-candy Avatar of Madness.

Point the Seventh and Final: Long-Term Projects. Stay alive, keep your mares alive, conquer the Everfree, rebuild and move into the old castle, train, all the other stuff that gets perennially mentioned.

The Archivist.

I was walking on the moon one day, in the merry, merry month of December,

when I looked down, and to my suprise, I saw before my eyes,

Oh, for gogs sake. Talk about letting the situation get away from you. what has it been, Three days and a years worth of physiomorphological and neuromagical screwups? Im suprised Discord hasnt dropped by with popcorn and support banner.

If you manage to actually get back to Zecoras hut intact and with all appendages, Ill then suggest looking through her potions on Fertility, Virility, Desire, and other such income generating compounds, which can be blended with the Planimal and your own Everfree blood sap to boost your pheromone and hormone production to affect subtly, progressively, insinuatingly, and at range. Also, by association.

If you really want evil, try crossing Syphylis with Fertility.

If you really want Evil, consider Fluttershy and The giant Spider.

Now, if you excuse me, I have a special order of ten tons of flour for a Pirate Griffin outpost. Thermobaric flour.

While Zecora seemed to be comforting Trixie, you could just sit back and wallow in pain as your bones knitted and flesh repaired itself, occasionally making creepy little crackling sounds. Still, pretty slow going, at least from the perspective of it'd be a couple hours yet before you were back to optimal condition. And while you were sitting here, in pain, you had time to think about things OTHER than the pain.

For example, the now GIANT BUCKING PLANIMAL MONSTER!!! No way THAT wasn't going to develop into a problem at some later date. A definite obstacle in your path to dominate and control the Everfree at any rate. At least it wasn't anywhere near the old castle where you found Nightmare's legacy and were chosen to become a vampony Prince. Saving grace that. It might be worth trying to get that castle as a place of your own. After all, what cool Vampony Prince didn't have a cool vampony castle?

But speaking of living spaces, your mind turned to your hutmate Zecora and then to her potions and brews. You found yourself curiosly contemplating what she might actually have available. You'd looked through some of her books it was true, but you hadn't really checked to see the full spectrum of concoctions she was able to create. Weird, considering that your body seemed to be partially mutagenic depending on what you ate. Zecora probably had something to help with 'natural stallion enhancement' or something, that'd be doubly effective when used on you! Buck, perfume and a Planimal leaf or something could probably be turned into lust pheromone releasing glands inside of your skin or something. And also spider venom... could do... something... ... related to flies? ... Whatever, the point was, it'd probably be smart to look over Zecora's potions at some point.

And also, think about taking a trip to Ponyville sometime. There'd probably be a WHOLE lot of untapped pussy in that town. Mares with slick gashes just WAITING for a good rutting. Not that you were entirely sure why THAT was the first thing you thought of, but buck it, if you hadn't figured out that you were a pervert by now, you just weren't paying attention to yourself. And there was also... something IMPORTANT in Ponyville, you felt. Some mare? ... Was the ultimate rut of your life waiting in that town or something? How the buck would you know you were a virgin till a couple days ago. Pervert.

Oh my god, I forgot the most important thing, You've finally gotten your trench coat! And it's beautiful. A tear comes to your eye at such majesty. This bit of fabric is going to get you laid, guaranteed, no doubt about it. No mare will be able to resist you with this on. Just imagine, standing in some shadow, wearing this trench coat. And aura of mystery hangs about you as your piercing gaze moves around, attracting every mare in the vicinity. You flash, as Rarity put it, a sophisticated fanged smile their way, causing them to immediately swoon and practically throw themselves at you with lifted tails half lidded eyes full of lust. It will be glorious.

Then finally you can don your trench coat.

Point the Third: The Tailor. Well, well, well... "QUITE sophisticated", "poise and grace", "fine dressers... well mannered". Seems Rare has a thing for old-school nobility. That would be REAL nobility. BLOOD nobility. I DO so love a mare with taste. But if you start speaking with an Uberwald accent I swear you will you will WISH you had just died.

Point the Forth: The Ensemble. [Mr Burn]EXCELLENT[/Mr Burns]. Trench-coat, fedora, (should have gotten sunglasses), magic sword. Hmm, there is a stereotype we're embracing here. For future trench-coats remember, Black - badarse, Brown - detective, Grey - investigative journo, White - evil sorcerer, Mustard Yellow - thing ponykind was not meant to know. ((Llamas for the voice that gets that reference.))

And speaking of mares, rutting, Ponyville, and all of that... MOTHERBUCKING TRENCHCOAT BUCKING EVERFREE BITCHES!!!!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! YES! YES AFTER ALL THAT BUCKING AROUND YOU FINALLY HAD THE SADDLEBAGS, THE TRENCHCOAT THAT YOU'D BEEN FIGHTING FOR!!! BUCK YES!!!

You grinned wide. Wild internal exclamations aside, you FINALLY had the trenchcoat that you had been desiring for SUCH a long time now. Felt like years or some shit.

You looked over towards the saddle-bags that were still on the sobbing Trixie's body and grinned a little wider. The trenchcoat was in there, you knew it, and you wanted to look at it SOOOOOOOOO bad! You wanted to SEE the glory of the Trenchcoat for which you had fought for so long and put it on! But you reigned in that desire. Mainly because... well, you were still covered in dried mud, and now a good deal of blood and burnt fur, your hoof hurt like a mother-bucker and... well, you were a bucking mess. You needed to get cleaned up before you even THOUGHT of putting on that trenchcoat. After all, the lady Rarity would have an absolute FIT if you put her creation on as messy as you were. And you kind of wanted to put it on in front of her... might score once she saw the irresistible sexiness of you in a trenchcoat.

Wait, what was this MIGHT? With that trenchcoat on your body, the mares'd be practically lining up to lift their tails and give you their plots!

All that internal revelry aside however... you needed to decide how to move on from your current situation. There were multiple things to consider. Potential problems, potential opportunities, potential rewards to reap, and the box laying nearby in the dirt, as of yet still unopened, Zecora and Trixie both distracted while it lay nearby... Now was the time to sit, think, and make a few important decisions... and hope that they didn't come back to bite you in the balls.

Author's Notes:

Okay... I hope this chapter is a good one. I'm kind of exhausted at the moment, and it's the first one I've done whole since the hiatus broke, the last one I had a good bit to work off of from my sporadic attempts over the months. So I'm hoping that this one is enjoyable and of good quality... and as I'm tired, I'll likely not update the character Progress Tracker until a good deal later. I fully intend to just relax after I publish this. Anyways... hope this chapter entertains and brings smiles! Please be well everyone, hope I didn't miss anyone.