"By the way, what do you think about Swift?" Pinkie's voice echoed.

"...We're feeling perfectly fine, alright?" Gilda replied in an annoyed tone.

"Whew! Finally, I got a chance to take a bath, and sleep on a bed again!" Justin happily stated after a yawn.

Pinkie Pie fainted.

"Pinkie! Are you alright?!" Justin asked concernedly, before rushing up to her.

"Yeah, she's fine. Just had a little too much salt in her drink, that's all." Gilda replied calmly, while placing Pinkie on the table.

"You know she's only eighteen, don't you?" Maud asked Justin.

"Oh... well, I'll be sure to keep an eye on her, so she doesn't do this anymore, then. Thanks for bringing that up." Justin replied.

"I don't think she was drinking, Justin... I think there's something going on between the two of you. As her older sister, I'd like to know what it is." Maud stated.

"...I only view her as a friend... and I view her as that only because she helped us get out of there." Justin replied.

"You've read about Ponies, correct?" Maud asked.

Justin nodded his head and replied, "At least, I've read about Earth Ponies being more stronger, and capable of more manual labor than the Unicorns and Pegasi combined."

"Then... have you read about 'Estrus' Periods?" Maud asked.

Justin looked at her nervously and took a few steps back.

"...What exactly do you have against starting a relationship?..." Maud asked.

"It isn't about me not wanting to start a relationship... it's about a promise I made... long ago." Justin replied, now starting to look and sound annoyed.

"Who did you promise, exactly?" Maud asked.

Justin tried to deny her questions, only to end up snapping.

"I PROMISED RUBY, OKAY?!" He yelled.

"But... she and my sister get along very well, though... what do you mean-" Maud was cut off by Justin.

"I'm not talking about my daughter... I'm talking about my fiance... my daughter's mother."

"What... happened?"

"She died... after giving birth to my daughter."

Ruby hugged Justin.

"Daddy...I don't want you to be sad... or mad." Ruby said.

Justin picked her up and hugged her back. "Hey, Ruby... don't worry, I'm feeling better, now... sorry if I caused a commotion."

Justin looked at Maud, and smiled.

"Thank you, Maud... it's been a while since I could talk about-" before he could finish his sentence, however, the ship started to shake.

Gilded stepped in.

Justin passed Ruby to Gilded.

"Gilded, watch over Ruby! I'm going down to the Maintenance Room to see what Stealth is up to!" Justin stated.

"Be safe, Justin!" Gilded told him.

Justin smirked. "I never am."

Justin climbed through the manhole, and saw the entire area flooded. "Stealth! What's going on down here?!"

"Something hit us from the south, mate! We need to find land, and we need to find it quickly!" Stealth replied.

"Justin! Stealth! We need to abandon ship, now!" Limestone stated.

"What's going on in the radars? Did you find something?" Justin asked.

Limestone nodded. "Yes... and it's something big!"

The group spotted a giant fish-like monster headed their way.

"WE JUST PISSED OFF A BUCKING ANGLER WHALE!" Gilda shouted, as the said monster began charging their way.

As the behemoth of a sea monster charged towards the group, everyone on board looked nervously at the creature's fangs. Then, after looking around the ship, Justin checked his saddlebag, and found his old wooden buckler that was still dented from his plunge into Druathica.

Gilded recognized the expression that he had, and asked, "Justin? I know that look... what's the plan?"

Gilda popped Gilded in the back of the head and replied, "The bucking plan is ta get the buck off the ship!"

Although the crew nodded their heads and were about to head to the lifeboats, Justin dismissed her claim and loudly declared, "All hands on deck! Get to your stations! We can't lose this boat!"

"WHAT?!" Gilda shouted, only for Justin to pull the shield from his belt, lick his thumb, and lift it in the air, not even being phased by her shouting right next to him. "HAVE YA LOST YOUR BUCKING MIND?! THAT THING WILL TEAR THIS SHIP APART!"

In a calm manner, Justin replied, "Yeah, well if we're in a lifeboat, we're even more defenseless. Now, hold this for me, please." As he said that, he passed her a rope that was tied to the side of the ship.

"Daddy... what are you doing?!" Ruby asked in a nervous, yet slightly annoyed tone (having grown familiar with the look he was giving, also), only for Justin to chuckle.

Then, with a mighty swing, Justin threw his shield in the air, aimed directly over the Angler Whale's antenna, and drew his bow. After that, he drew a ghost arrow, shot at the flying shield, turned towards his daughter, and replied with a daring smile, "Fishing!"

As the crew's jaws dropped, Justin quickly ran towards the rails, put his bow back around his arm, and drew both of his longswords from the sheaths that crossed at the back of his belt. Then, as soon as the arrow hit the distant shield, he evaporated in a mist mid-jump, and in the blink of an eye, he was falling on a collision course for the Angler's antenna.

As soon as he reached the Angler, he quickly pierced both of his swords into the stem below the light, while the force of his landing caused the antenna to lean towards its back... much to it's displeasure.

With a loud hiss, it stopped moving towards the ship, and began flailing about, in an attempt to get the human off of it. Regardless of its strength, however, Justin still managed to keep his balance on it, while using his swords to climb higher up.

Debating on his next course of action, Justin looked up, and saw that it would take too long for him to reach it through climbing. So, once the creature's flailing lessened in strength, he quickly lifted his feet to the center of the blades, and kicked the blades out, sending him flying backwards. Then, as quickly as he could, he placed his right sword between his teeth, flipped his left sword reverse-grip style, drew his bow, and shot a ghost arrow upwards, sending him even higher up the creature.

After landing once more, he had to close his eyes to keep the light of the creature's antenna from blinding him. Then he put his bow back around his shoulder, drew his right sword again, and started stabbing at the antenna, which again caused it to flail about. This time, however, it managed to sling Justin in the air, while it rotated into the water, and went deeper, leaving Justin flying in the air.

"DADDY!" Ruby shouted, only for Gilded to spread his wings.

"I'M FINE! DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!" Justin shouted to Gilded, which caused him to stop his attempted rescue.

Before he could even ask why, he noticed the water below Justin started to glow. Then, in the blink of an eye, the colossal Angler Whale leaped out of the water, and had its mouth open, ready to swallow Justin whole, much to the crew's shock.

Instinctively, Justin threw one of his swords in the air, and shot an arrow at it, while the Angler Whale drew ominously closer to him. Then, as soon as he was within reach, it enclosed him inside it with one gulp, and a massive snap of the fangs, which only made Ruby's eyes widen in fear.

"DADDY!" She screamed, only for Gilded to block her from trying to jump in and rescue him.

Suddenly, the Angler Whale turned towards the crew, and opened its mouth in a loud hissing roar, while unknown to it, a human falling from far in the sky was diving below, sword-first, and aimed for its scalp.

"NEXT STOP: THE SUSHI BAR!" Justin shouted, which made the crew and the Angler Whale turn their heads towards the source of the yell.

As soon as the Angler turned to face him, however, it was too late. From inside its forehead, Justin took a deep plunge, and sent both of them in the water with a huge splash.

Then, the two of them remained underwater.

Things remained silent, until five minutes have passed. Ruby looked over the rails, and began to panic, until Gilded quickly removed his shoulder pads, dropped his weapons, and jumped onto the rails. "That's it, I'm going in!"

As soon as he said that, however, he was blown off the rails by a gust of wind, which was the result of the Angler Whale rising back up to the surface level. Then, it slowly started moving towards them, which only made the crew gasp, and step back from the rails. Gilded quickly put his armor back on, and held his spear up in a defensive stance.

Then, the unexpected happened. The Angler Whale turned around, revealing a surprisingly cheerful human standing on its back with his staff glowing a green aura.

"Alright, Gilda! I need that rope, please!" Justin called from the back of the creature, as it slowly backed closer to the ship.

Gilda stood there silently, and slack-jawed, until she pointed at the Angler. "What... the buck... did you just do?"

With a shrug, Justin replied, "Eh, just killed it, and used Nature Magic to re-animate it to do what we want. Now, we have a faster way of transportation!" Then he pointed at the Angler's antenna. "I'll tie the rope to it's antenna, and maybe add a couple more to the sides of it for extra stability. Then, we can get to Atlantis in no time!"

Gilded chuckled, and then walked up to his sister and friend. "Good thinking, Justin!" Then he patted him on the back... but then, popped him in the back of the head.

"OW! What the Hell, Gilded?!" Justin complained, only to get popped in the back of the head by Gilda, as well. "OW!"

Then Ruby walked up to him, and tugged on his arm. "Oh, please! Not you too!" *POP* "OUCH! RUBY?!"

Suddenly, Ruby stopped herself from popping him a second time, sniffed her hand, and gagged. "Eww, gross! Daddy, you smell funny!" She said while pinching her nose with her hand she didn't pop him with.

When Gilda and Gilded noticed the smell also, they backed away from him. "Ugh! Justin!"

With a shrug, Justin chuckled nervously. "What? I was inside the belly of a fish for five minutes! Don't think something like that would smell like freakin' roses and daisies!"

That statement caused Ruby to tilt her head in confusion. "By the way, how did you stay underwater for so long?"

"Simple!" Justin stated, before pointing at his sapphire ring. "I used Water Magic to make my lungs emulate gills while I was in there."

"Well... just please don't do something like that again, Daddy!" Ruby complained with teary eyes.

With a sigh, Justin lowered to her level, and replied, "Don't worry, Ruby. If I ever do anything, it's with good purpose... to protect you, and the rest of our 'family'. Okay?"

Ruby nodded her head, and reached her arms out to give Justin a hug... but before she even got close to him, she stopped in place and deadpanned, as her jaw dropped out of disgust. "Ugh! Not until you get a bath, Daddy!" Then she pointed at the main entrance, while Justin chuckled and nodded his head.

"Alright, already! I'm going!" He said with a chuckle. Then, once he stepped into the room, he noticed Pinkie Pie was right there headed towards the doorway. "Hey, Pinkie!"

She froze in place, and started to turn red at the close proximity that she and Justin were standing in. Then she nervously replied, "H-hi! Um... d-did I... miss anything?"

Justin shrugged his shoulders and continued to move onward towards the bathroom. "Yeah, I caught an Angler Whale, and need to go take a bath now."

At the mentioning of the word "bath", Pinkie's nose spewed a small stream of blood. Then, in a wavy tone, she stuttered, "J-Just... tin... b... baa... bath...?" Then she passed out again, while Justin was already out of the room, and headed towards his destination.

When he stepped out of the bathroom, he had his clothes drying in the drier, after having his clothes wash while he was bathing. So, he had to wear a towel over a pair of long undergarments that he had tailored for such occasions... not that anyone from the group had minded him being shirtless before, anyways. He wore the towel over the long-johns for extra consideration of the group's comfort, and his privacy.

As soon as he made it to the main room again, he noticed Pinkie on the floor, and gasped. "Pinkie! Are you alright?!"

When he leaned down to help her up, she slowly opened her eyes, and nodded her head. "Y-yeah, I'm o-" Before she could finish her sentence, the first thing she noticed was Justin's chest... his bare chest.

His chest was naturally hairy, but scattered across it were clearly visible healed wounds that appeared to span across his entire body. On his chest, several scratch marks that appeared to have come from Timberwolves crossed over other scars in several different directions. On the side of his stomach, the scar that he got from Stonefist was healed, but still visible. Near where his right kidney was, a round mark where he was impaled was visible, but also healed. Across his back, though... there were huge gashes the size of a Manticore's claws that stretched from over his shoulders, all the way down to his midsection.

Despite the fact that he was bare-chested, Pinkie gasped and asked, "Oh my gosh! What in the world happened to you?!"

After looking at her confusedly, Justin followed her eyes, and noticed that her eyes were locked onto his wounds. "Oh, these? Don't worry, they're old flesh wounds."

"OLD FLESH WOUNDS?! JUSTIN! THESE ARE FROM TIMBERWOLVES!" Suddenly, her eyes noticed the marks that started on his shoulders. Quickly, she crawled around him, and gasped when she saw the ten claw marks that lowered to his back. "Oh my gosh! Are... are those what I think they are?!"

With a sigh, Justin nodded his head. "From a Manticore? Yeah."

"I... had no idea!" Pinkie stated, before crawling in front of Justin again. At this point, the two of them were seated on the floor cross-legged. "H-how did you get clawed by a Manticore?!"

Justin turned to the main door and replied, "It was about to pounce on Ruby... so I jumped between them, and took the hit. It's thanks to Gilded that the wounds aren't any worse than they are now."

At once, Pinkie looked saddened. "Wow... you would get clawed by a Manticore just to keep her safe, wouldn't you?"

Justin nodded his head without looking her way. "And more, if necessary. Heck, I even caught the Angler Whale out there for all of our safety!"

Pinkie gasped at that statement, which made Justin turn her way again. "Wait, wait, wait-wait! Did you just say... Angler Whale?!"

Again, Justin nodded his head. "Yeah... didn't I tell you that already?" Then the realization hit him. "Oh... I guess you must've passed out at around that time."

Pinkie blushed once more. "Y-yeah... I'm sorry. This whole thing is very new to me! I don't even know how, or where, to begin stopping myself from fainting over my own fan-"

Suddenly, the laundry drier buzzed through the doorway, signaling Justin that his clothes were dry now, and interrupting Pinkie Pie mid-sentence. "Huh. Guess my clothes are done drying, now!"

"C-clothes? Wait, you mean-" It was then that Pinkie noticed that she was next to a man who was only in his underwear... which made her nose bleed out once again, her entire face to turn red, and her eyes to widen at the sudden realization.

Unaware of what was going on with Pinkie, Justin was facing the bathroom door. "Perhaps when I put the rest of my clothes on, I can show you the-" *THUMP* "...Pinkie?"