Insula Errata - Part II - Lost Legends [Closed]

[Ciraxis]

Swift and Dunder were at the island forest for a whole hour now. At least unicorn presumed that much time has passed. Despite two suns and the moon of the sky, the forest that duo found themselves in was very dark. It also seemed....old, ancient even. The tree that surrounded now certainly 'seen' much. And Squall had a feeling that most of it wasn't sunshine and rainbows.

"I never seen such trees...." Swift commented, looking on the huge plant. '"Much of this flora are alien to me. Dunder I been in whole of Equestria, Aquelia and half of Unyasi but my eyes lay sight on such species for the first time. Some are still are familiar..." swordstallion glanced at mango tree "While others I seen....as fossils in the Museum of Natural History." he continued before pausing.

"This place is strange....well aside of astronomical impossibility that is." he added while turning to his friend.

"Anyway, we gone for long enough. Let's just check past this woodlet for now and go back, picking up some fruits that are eatable. We have enough problems as it is. No need for...." unicorn kept talking as he and Dunder walked past some more trees.

"......stone road in the state of heavy disrepair. What. Swift said flatly. Noblepony walked closer to get a better look.

"Civilization. Or at least one used to be here. The stone are broken, covered in moss or both. he judged before pausing.

"...Why I am suddenly almost completely sure that we will come across some desolated ruins? Urggghhh..." Squall groaned about how clitche the things started to appear.

"Either way, let's go back. Others probably are worried sick and I am will not lie, I am getting concerned how are they too. Not to mention that they need to hear about this discovery"

[PyroBlaze]

Pyro sat around on the beach. There was nothing for him to do anymore, he was just waiting for the other two to come back, or for something to happen. He sighed to himself, staring down at his hooves. He didn't know any of these ponies, but he didn't feel like he should try to strike up any conversations.

This situation made him feel utterly useless. Thanks to the island, he had no magic, and he had almost no knowledge of dealing with survival situations. He had never been in a situation like this one, after all. He looked at the knife he had been given, examining it. It was his only manner of protecting the others, he should probably practice using it a bit.

He stood up and moved off by himself to practice. He drew on what knowledge he had about armed fighting, using the knife to fight off pretend enemies. He knew the problem with fighting pretend enemies was that you controlled them, so you decided what kind of moves they would do. It was better than nothing though, and it allowed him to get more used to using the knife.

After he had finished his little training session, he put the knife away and moved back to where he had been before. He sat down again, deciding to let others approach him if they wanted to talk.

[Dunder]

Dunder stood there, a little in awe of the giant and foreign feats of biology in front of him. He walked along with Swift, but his mind was focusing on how magical this place was. But as Swift offered to return, it snapped Dunder back. "What? We can't go back now, we haven't found anything. We need some fruit, or news on a new place to set up our camps for now. We can't return empty hooved!" Dunder protested, slowly as he made his way towards the ruins, "Or maybe we could try to find some answers in there..." He said, setting his gaze on the destroyed stone and remnants of architecture. "If this place is Cliche, then we should find something important in there." Dunder commented.

As he made way to the ruins, he kicked one of the stones. He crouched down low and examined it. It was stone brick held together with limestone mortar. "Hmmm. What could this mean?" Dunder decided to play detective later, "Hey! Let's just give it a quick once-over and then we can go look for a fresh water source." Dunder said, and before Swift could reply, Dunder was already deeper inside of the ruins

[tacobob]

The red coated Pegasus pony slowly woke from a dreamless nap. "nize...", she grunted as she slowly got back onto her hooves. She felt HORRIBLE, but for the first time since she had washed up on this strange island, her mind felt like it was her own. She grimaced as the bright light of the sun, (or was it the moon?) bared down into her eyes along with an horrible headache which filled her brain. Considering all the carousing she done the previous night, there had to be some form of punishment for all the fun, beyond watching her very favorite stallion sip tea. She glanced down at the leg that was the cause of all her problems and noted that it was both bandaged and no longer leaking any fluids. Surely her beloved had bravely sucked the very poison from her wounds before carefully applying the dressing. She made a mental note to return the kindness to Swift once things had settled down and the two were alone together.

Along with the aching in her noggin', Fire Walker's throat was incredibly dry. After glancing around at the trees, she spotted one that had a few coconuts prime for a bucking. While she still felt rather weak and woozy, the mare was not about to play the helpless and useless card. There were other ponies there that were hurting and she had already caused enough problems for the little group she was in. After gathering as much strength as she could muster, the Pegasus pony slammed both of her blacklegs into the slim tree, causing it to shake. After a few more kicks, one of the coconuts fell from the tree, which she quickly caught on sturdy back. Realizing she wasn't the only pony on the beach, she made sure to kick a few more down.

After finding a nice rock, she was able to split open the fuzzy shell to collect some of it's 'milk' which she quickly drank up. Once her thirst was temporary sated, she cleared her throat and tried a few words, 'She sells seashes...sea...She sells seashells at the seaside.", after another clearing, she turned to the others, "Well, that was interesting. Hope I didn't cause too much of a bother.", she smiled at the few that were currently resting on the beach. "I do apologize for how I behaved Miss Presteza. Went a little crazy for a bit.", she rolled one of her coconuts towards the mare, "A little nuts I guess. Where are the others?", she smiled at Quillhart and silently pondered if this little 'adventure' they were apparently on would toss more than a few ideas in his head for the next big book of his. Poor Pyro was looking a little on the depressed side, Muggo was napping, and that strange pony. The one she had been talking to before she had her little bit of drama. Was he real, or was he a figment of her imagination?

[Tiktaalik]

Well. That was close. Figment felt more than a bit disappointed with himself for loosing his cool--even though there was plenty of reason to... Especially with the looming threat of his disguise failing on him. He'd already had to adjust his 'bandages' to cover a bit more of the black and chitinous parts of himself that were slowly creeping up his limbs. Surely, these ponies weren't so dense they wouldn't notice after a while. At least the one giving him trouble was away. If they came back unharmed, he'd know it was safe, and could escape when the time came. He just hoped there was something to feed off of there... Perhaps he should try and 'stock up' while he had the chance. With his magic on the fritz, he couldn't force it, though. Which he normally wouldn't mind, but this was a desperate situation.

There was no sense in sitting around doubting himself, however. He looked back towards the remaining ponies to see the red one moving around again--doing well enough to get herself something to eat, even... He might as well make the most of whatever mingling time he had remaining. He trotted over, donning his usual cheery expression at her recovery. And still keeping up his mock limp. "Hey, you're back! You okay? It looks like it..! I was worried for a while... I hear sea things can have nasty bites.", he said, seeming as concerned as he could manage.

[Quillhart]

The brown stallion could still taste the venom in his mouth. The venom itself was, of course, washed out but the the scent remained and filled his mouth with a sour and bitter taste. Quillhart glanced up at the red mare as he noticed how she began to move. His effort to stand up and help her was way too slow, the mare was up and running before he even managed to get up from his flank. Instead, Quilly remained sitting next to Presteza and watched Fire buck down some coconuts from the tree. Something inside him said that Fire was fine and didn't need his caring, something else said that she still was too sick to be doing hard work in such an early state. He pressed the hoofs against his face, sighed deeply before he laid down with a laud groan. "I swear, this island will take all of my sanity. Take it and play catch with it, before it'll devour it with garlic bread and coconut milk." Quilly grumbled from underneath his hoofs.

That's when it hit him, if he remained like this or if his situation grow worse; he wouldn't be able to remember what happened on the island! The stallion would have to keep a record of some sort, just to be sure. Without giving himself a moment to hesitate, did he walk over the beach to find a piece of tree. A small shout of joy escaped his throat when he found a drifting plank, just by the shore side. The tree was still thick and it would fill its purpose perfectly once it dried. The brown coated earth pony left the plank by the fire and realized that there already was a pile of dried planks next to it. He sighed at his own stupidity and took a fitting plank before he pulled out his knife, took a seat next to Pressy and began to scribble some symbols. It was a foreign language which he had learned on one of his adventures. Though honestly, his writing was a lot better than his speaking in that sector. They had symbols which represented each word, instead of letters. It was a lot harder language to learn since they didn't have much in common with the English language but it didn't take as much space when it was put on the paper, or in this case, plank.

In translation; he began to write:

"Day 1/ May 21"

"Dear journal." Since a journal is a whole lot cooler than a diary.

"Our ship got wrecked and we are now stuck on this forsaken island far away from Equestria. It's something strange about it but I really can't put my hoof on what it is. Well, apart from the obvious of course. What about the fact that we seem to have two moons up? Yeah, I know, crazy isn't it? I also have to mention that we all seem to lack our inborn capabilities..The wings can't fly, the horns won't glimmer, and even we humble earth ponies seem to have lost out strength. The group look calm though, no one seem to have many deficits apart from what I mentioned above and we have gotten a camp up and rolling pretty quick. Pressy is on the island too. I didn't even know she was on the ship! Things have gotten a bit complicated... I know that I still have feelings for her since we met at the gala and I know for a fact that she shouldn't be here. Don't take me wrong, I'm glad she's with me but I'd rather see her safely at home eating her pizza with her parents while they gaze into the fireplace in a warm house. I could admittedly say that she must have gotten more beautiful since we last met, if that's even possible. I want to protect her from the evil things on this island but she seem to be resistant. I... I can't tell why, but she appears annoyed by my presence... It must be because of all the drama I did when we found her. I even made Swift roar up at that occasion when I pushed Fire Walker. Swift is a good stallion, he's usually very calm and I've never seen him angry before so I really must have slipped up.

It's just that... I want Pressy to be safe. Pressy doesn't want me to make her safe. The group as whole wants the group to be safe. I think It would hardly matter what happened to me, myself. Something has cursed me ever since I swallowed the first gulp of this ocean. Something I haven't seen or recognized with any of my companions. I hear a voice... Even as I write this. It's telling me what to add, what to erase, that the whole thing of writing a journal is dangerous. That I should just throw this away and never lift it up again. Am I going crazy? Is this just the last thoughts of a crazy stallion before he goes completely mad?! I should speak to my friends but I don't dare to, they'll see me as a bomb about to go off and that would certainly take my sanity. It's a curse. I'm cursed with this stupid head, with its stupid thoughts and the stupid voice in my head! Was I too smart for the island so they took my intelligence away from me? No, no, that can't be true, the stallion, I think his name is Scrollwork, he's smarter than five of me and his not a wreck like me. I'm simply going mad. That must be it. Madness all the way to death, because a mad pony can't stay alive, not for long.

Fire walker got bitten by something I can't remember the name of. She's alright now anyways. I had to suck the venom out of her leg and bind the wound. A yucky business that, I still have the leftover taste in my mouth. Ugh.

Swift and Dunder has gone on a scavenge, they should be back soon, it's getting dark. If it ever gets dark on this island, that is. Anyways, I should go now, I need some time to hide this away from him and the group. I don't think anyone of them would be able to understand these symbols but you never know with Swift, Scrollwork or anypony. They got a brain behind the forehead.

Keep my secrets safe, Quillhart"

​

Quillhart lowered the plank and read through his work. He didn't know why he had written 'keep my secrets safe' but he felt like he didn't want to change it. If somepony find the plank and managed to read the symbols; they might just listen to him. Unlikely but possible. Quillhart gazed up at the ponies around him. Would he really want to risk that they'd find the plank? He sighed deeply and threw the heavy piece of wood into the fire. No he wouldn't. Quilly would never want that to happen. He'd rather forget about the whole adventure.

As the flames devoured the wood in the fire; there was one thing the stallion didn't know. The plank was soaked on the inside and the water within would keep the flames from doing anything more than put soot on the back of the plank. It would still remain intact and readable when the fire died the morning after. If there was anyone with the knowledge to do so.

[Snowshoe]

Muggo' Ale was asleep. What else was there to do on a beautiful island under the sun in the middle of nowhere? Rescue wasn't coming any time soon, plus Dunder and Swift had gone inland for the time being. He wanted to recover his strength, figuring that the reason he'd felt so weak was just the shock of the water, and the long swim to shore. If he was going to go through with his plan he'd need to get his energy and strength back. And so, underneath a great palm tree, Muggo' napped, his bakersboy cap pulled low over his eyes.

He heard the sound of wood splintering and cracking, and the sound of hooves on a tree. He opened an eye and looked over to see Fire Walker acquiring, then breaking open, a coconut. He got up and stretched, tipping his cap back and trotting over to the mare.

"Ya coulda asked one o' us, stead'a tryin' an' maybe hurtin' yerself, b'y." He watched Quillhart carving onto a piece of wood for a moment, then looked over at Fire Walker again. "Ya feelin' right? Took a nasty bite ya. I'd found a medical kit an' we got ya fixed up, but still gave Swifty a right fright." He looked at the camp, and in particular, a wooden lifeboat that he'd found, currently useless as a boat thanks to a giant hole in the underside.

"Figure it's about time we put a roof over our heads, aye?" he said, trotting to the boat and slipping his own knife out of the sheath. Clutching it between his teeth he started to work on the boat, pulling the carefully embedded nails out one by one. It was a slow process, as he had to dig most of the nails out, but he wanted to make sure the iron bits were still intact. That job done, he started to disassemble the ruined boat, piece by piece, until he had a nice pile of wood there on the beach. The earth pony was strained by the effort, something unusual for the stallion: despite his age he was always full of energy. He sat on the sand and Muggo' sheathed his knife again. He took his cap off and wiped his forehead with a hoof. "Ooh, b'y. Heavy boat, that."

[Ciraxis]

Hey! Let's just give it a quick once-over and then we can go look for a fresh water source." Dunder said, and before Swift could reply, Dunder was already deeper inside of the ruins

"Oh for the love of....!" started, but followed his friend. Dunder always was such hothead.

"You know, it reminds me about our little trip to Itaily. When you gone ahead first and that psycho with zig-zag tattoos on his face and double-sword ambushed us, and we had to duel him to the death, and when alchemy laboratory we was EXPLODED. Seriously Dunder, don't make habit of that. Then again, it's already to la--laaa--laaaate? swordpony unicorn tried to remind his buddy about earlier incident but the sight that appeared before them both rendered him speechless. The ruins that surrounded them now was....crystals. Not unlike those from Crystal Empire. And judging from their layout buildings their were part of were huge...probably size of skyscrapers.

Both of them stood utterly speechless for the moment.

"You know Dunder..." Swift started "I am so surprised that I am apparently came full circle. Otherwise my jaw would drop so hard it would pierce planet crust. Can we go now? Or would you rather wait for some Sombra wannabe to show up and ambush just the two of us?" noblepony said, and just as his words passed through, a rustle...no a loud groan from the forest behind them. Both ponies turned around to see huge creature in the distance, moving between trees but obscured by shadows. It seemed to not notice, or at least not care about two stallions presence. Judging from the distance it was much larger then Unyasi elephant, but smaller then the dragon.

".....I think it enough findings for one scounting trip." Squall snarked, watching passing animal carefully.

[Dunder]

"Pssscht.... That zig-zag-tatted freak was an easy fight, those two swords only slowed him down. Though, don't take that as me being ungrateful, I would rather have had the longsword for that fight instead of the rapier and dagger an good thing you were there too. And that laboratory was rigged to explode, and.... you should be grateful that I took most of the blast instead of you, all those shards that got stuck in my wings and chest could have easy been in your face and eyes." The pegasus retorted to the unicorn.

When his eye caught glimpse of the massive amount of crystal, his heart skipped a beat. There was so much, and it was not too surprising. A small island with untapped natural resources because something was obviously up with no magic, flying, and twice the amount of sun. But what broke him out of it was Swift's still incessant whining, "We won't get ambushed, I'm almost certain nothing lives here. Anyway, what do you want to do? Get some other ponies to clear this place out some other time? Those other ponies could get hurt, killed, or get us hurt or killed..." Dunder protested, "But if you reallllly want us to go, then we can go." He huffed.

[Pretzelparty]

Well things sure did escalate quickly. Presteza could only watch the events earlier from where she sat, her injured limb preventing her from doing anything to help. It seemed the others had it under control though. Quillhart had managed to suck the poison out of Fire walker's wound and so far things seemed to have calmed down. Everypony seemed to be relaxing for now with fire resting after her ordeal with whatever bit her. Looking back Presteza was probably lucky she didn't run into anything like that when she arrived on the island... a pinch on the nose be an ornery crab was nowhere as bad as a venomous bite. Soon Fire was up and about again, after practicing speaking for a bit she came over.

"I do apologize for how I behaved Miss Presteza. Went a little crazy for a bit.", she rolled one of her coconuts towards the mare, "A little nuts I guess. Where are the others?"

"No problem, Fire! and I think yer Special Somepony went ta explore with Dunder. I'm gonna try ta join 'em later... that is if Quill 'ere will let me." The mare huffed a bit and looked at the stallion beside her who was scratching something onto a piece of wood. Quill was a nice stallion but that look he gave her earlier that looked like he wanted to shout at her for wanting to help out, he seemed a bit different from the last time she'd met him... somehow he seemed more aggresive.

Since Quillhart seemed a bit distracted with his writing, Pressy got to her hooves and went over to get a rock... oddly enough her foreleg felt a lot better. In fact her fore leg felt almost as if it were back to normal, she only ha the faintest pain in it and even that was rapidly fading. Taking the rock in her teeth she dropped it on the coconut and hit it as hard as she could with her hind leg until it split apart,"Thanks fer the food Fire... can ya believe my leg feels a whole lot better already?"

[tacobob]

Fire Walker stopped in her tracks as the ' figment of her imagination' proved to be real. "Er. Thanks. Yeah, we need to be careful where we put our hooves. Some of the nastier things out here like to keep themselves hidden. Sometimes in plain sight." As an commanding officer in the R.E.A she had seen some faked or 'enhanced' injuries by trainees who wanted to skip practice, and his by far was the worst limp she had seen. He was obviously trying to get out of his own responsibilities. While he seemed friendly and rather lazy, there was something about this pony that was starting to bother her. Did she remember seeing him on the ship? What was his deal?

From the corner of her eye, she noticed that Quillhart was busy carving away at some driftwood. At least something good might come from this island in the form if inspiration for the young writer. She smiled as Muggo' came into view, "Thanks.", this wasn't the first, or probably the last time she would thank for stallion for keeping her safe. "I'm well enough to give you a helping hoof." before she helped Muggo', there was one thing she needed to do. The grounded Pegasus pony glanced over at Figment with a frown, "You can stop that now. I know you're just pretending. We're going to need all the help we can to put up some sort of temporary structure.", looking past the odd pony, she noticed two rather study looking trees. "Hmmm."

As the writer did before, Fire Walker snatched up a piece of thin wood, and after sharpening one of the beach rocks, she managed to make a crude knife, which the mare carved a drawing onto the wood with. "I'd like to make something similar to this. Should shield us from the rain and rays of the sun and keep us safe.", she held up her drawing for the others to see. "We should have all the parts in this general area."

The mare smiled as Presteza spoke, "Actually, it might be for the best to stay here until they return. No need for two separate groups to be out there wandering around.", she quickly added, "I need to find something we can tie with..", she couldn't help but feel horrible as she glanced into the girl's eyes. She could only imagine how Silverheart was feeling once he heard his sister had gone missing in a shipwreck! Once those who had managed to get away on lifeboats got back to civilization, she knew they would set up a rescue team right away! Swift Squall's family would probably get a team together using their near endless resources, while her own family would make sure the R.E.A was informed. This caused her to ponder something. As an officer, she was ensorcelled so that if she were ever lost, it would only take a simple spell to detect her location, but this strange place they were in. Would its magic interfere with the tracking spell? Her heart sunk a little lower as she pictured the reactions each of their family members must have gave as they found out that their loved ones were missing. But she needed to make sure they could survive long enough to be rescued.

[PyroBlaze]

Pyro looked up as Fire stood, and watched her carefully. He was looking for signs that she would collapse again, but she seemed fine now, even going so far as to get some coconuts from one of the trees. He looked for more of the coconuts in the trees and eventually found some. He got up from his spot and walked over to the tree, then started bucking it, trying to shake the coconuts down. It didn't take very long for some coconuts to fall. He picked them up and moved all but one of them into a central location, for anypony that wanted one.

He took the other one and went to find a good rock to use. When he found one, he slammed the fruit down on it, eventually splitting the fruit open. He started to consume everything he could from within the fruit as he walked back to the group. He soon finished off one half and started in on the other just as Fire suggested they build shelter. He finished the other half a little bit after Fire had moved off to find something to tie with. He then set out gathering wood for the shelter. He only picked up the boards that looked usable, as they were going to build with them, and placed them in a pile away from the fire, so they wouldn't be mistaken for firewood. He moved any other wood he found into the firewood pile.

[Snowshoe]

From the corner of her eye, she noticed that Quillhart was busy carving away at some driftwood. At least something good might come from this island in the form if inspiration for the young writer. She smiled as Muggo' came into view, "Thanks.", this wasn't the first, or probably the last time she would thank for stallion for keeping her safe. "I'm well enough to give you a helping hoof." before she helped Muggo', there was one thing she needed to do. The grounded Pegasus pony glanced over at Figment with a frown, "You can stop that now. I know you're just pretending. We're going to need all the help we can to put up some sort of temporary structure.", looking past the odd pony, she noticed two rather study looking trees. "Hmmm."

As the writer did before, Fire Walker snatched up a piece of thin wood, and after sharpening one of the beach rocks, he managed to make a crude knife, which she carved a drawing onto the wood with. "I'd like to make something similar to this. Should shield us from the rain and rays of the sun and keep us safe.", she held up her drawing for the others to see. "We should have all the parts in this general area."

"Ain't a thing, b'y," Muggo' said sincerely to Fire Walker. She was his friend, a good friend at that, and he'd make sure that she was well taken care of as a result. He saw the ponies breaking open coconuts, and, with a lack of anything to drink, it seemed like the best option. He found his own coconut, specifically looking for a younger one, lying underneath the tree that Fire had kicked, and brought it back to shore, balanced upon his snout as best he could. Once he arrived he tossed it in the air, grabbed it in his hooves, and brought it crashing down on the rock to crack it. He flopped onto his haunches near the others and looked inside his cracked coconut. Sure enough, it was a younger one, and right inside was the coconut water. He watched Fire Walker draw a sketch of the proposed shelter and he nodded. "I got the broken boat all pulled apart an' ready t'set up," he assured her. After he was done draining the inside of the coconut of the liquid, he put the two halves near the fire in case anypony wanted to eat the coconut rinds inside.

Refreshed and ready to go, he made his way back to the beach and started to drag the items back to shore. He found the trees Fire Walker had considered and put a bench of the boat between them. Then he returned to his coconut and began pulling the fibrous coir off the outer shell. "Somepony gimme a hoof here," Muggo' Ale said. "I need to get this held up an' strung up between the trees," he said, starting to weave the coir into a basic sort of rope.

[Quillhart]

"No problem, Fire! and I think yer Special Somepony went ta explore with Dunder. I'm gonna try ta join 'em later... that is if Quill 'ere will let me." The mare huffed a bit and looked at the stallion beside her who was scratching something onto a piece of wood. Quill was a nice stallion but that look he gave her earlier that looked like he wanted to shout at her for wanting to help out, he seemed a bit different from the last time she'd met him... somehow he seemed more aggresive.

Since Quillhart seemed a bit distracted with his writing, Pressy got to her hooves and went over to get a rock... oddly enough her foreleg felt a lot better. In fact her fore leg felt almost as if it were back to normal, she only ha the faintest pain in it and even that was rapidly fading. Taking the rock in her teeth she dropped it on the coconut and hit it as hard as she could with her hind leg until it split apart,"Thanks fer the food Fire... can ya believe my leg feels a whole lot better already?"

Quillhart had actually heard Pressy's first statement, but he doubted that anything constructive would come out of him which would encourage her to stay away from the forest. Instead -- he kept his mouth shut and laid the responsibility to talk her out of it on Fire Walker. Quilly thought that Fire did a good job, actually. She proved a logical point along with a subtle touch of concern that Quillhart was certain would keep Pressy from entering the forest as long as Swift and Dunder remained there.

"Also; I believe we not-so-tough ponies should stay out from the forest until we know that it's safe." Quillhart studied his hoof and thought of when he had managed to defeat Swift in the element of surprise. "We're not what we used to be."

He picked up a pile of sand with his hoof and watched it pour away from the rounded surface. Things changed. Slowly, grain by grain, did every grit of sand in his hoof pour away from it. Quillhart was firstly losing his sanity, as second went his strength, third was his chivalry, he was certain that the fourth would be Presteza and fifth his friends. A tear evolved in his eye and Quillhart was swift to wipe it away in the manner of having something in the eye. He didn't want his friends to ask about the reasons behind a sudden tear. Quill got up on his unsteady hoofs and sensed the, now familiar, quick draining of his endurance come over him again.

Refreshed and ready to go, he made his way back to the beach and started to drag the items back to shore. He found the trees Fire Walker had considered and put a bench of the boat between them. Then he returned to his coconut and began pulling the fibrous coir off the outer shell. "Somepony gimme a hoof here," Muggo' Ale said. "I need to get this held up an' strung up between the trees," he said, starting to weave the coir into a basic sort of rope.

'

Quillhart stopped in his movement and turned his head towards Muggo. Quill spent a couple of moments trying to comprehend what exactly the heavy-accented pony needed help with. He wanted to have something "held up" but he was obviously making some kind of rope.

"I don't know how to weave. I'll be gathering some palm leaves to cover the roof with instead. I'll help you to hold when I return."

Quillhart took another deep breath and turned himself towards the forest. 'Palm trees, yes, palm trees and palm leaves, that's what I'm supposed to find.' He thought and headed towards the forest. The forest was a bit alien even though it was just the beginning of it. Quillhart was certain that it looked even stranger further in. Quillhart began a slow, methodical progress with clinging to young palms and cut of their leaves with his knife while they bent down. It was a pretty boring and monotonous work but he gathered a fairly large pile of leaves. He suddenly found himself gazing upon a yellow orchid just after he had released himself from a certainly big tree. Quillhart bent down by the flower and ripped it up by its roots. He carefully studied the the flower closer and was just about to take a sniff from it when he heard a suppressed growl from behind. Quill froze solid -- too scared to turn around. It growled again; louder this time. He closed his eyes and sent a silent prayer to the sisters of the sky. It didn't attack, it didn't roar, it just growled once more. Quillhart felt his already unsteady hoofs getting even more unsteady.

The knife! He quickly touched the ground where he laid it before but was stopped by another threatening growl. Quillhart felt his hoof grasp around the leathery shaft of the blade that Swift had given him before he left to explore the woods. He sighed deeply. A relief in the horror. Quill could hear it move behind giving away its position during constant growls. It was approaching. He had to do it. Now!

Quillhart spun around on a bit while he reached out his knife-hoof to sling. He lost his balance as the blade dashed through the air with an impressive speed and struck hard and deep. He looked up to see the knife quivering as it stuck into the tree before him. Quill's heart sank the moment he realized that he had missed. Sweat poured down his forehead and his eyes flew from left to right -- where was the beast? Then it came. A roar sharp as an eagle's, deep as a lion's and intense a dragon's roars combined came from every direction, forcing Quillhart to fall down on his knees. He buried his face in the ground and held his hoofs firmly pressed against his ears. Quill couldn’t keep out the monster’s voice from his ears. Instead it seemed to grow stronger. Quillhart curled up and tried to make himself as small as possible while he shivered; certain that this was the end for Quillhart.

He could hear it move around him from every direction, right, left, front, back, above and even below him. He could hear it rip the bark of the trees and shove the ground between the screams, but even though it didn't seem to hurt him, he couldn’t help but to flinch at every sound and noise it produced. Time passed, the monster slowed down its berserk and Quillhart heard it pant in exhaustion. Then there was some sounds of leaves being pulled aside and everything silenced… He didn't dare to move in fright of attracting it to return and complete the work. He opened his eyes and stared into the muddy ground below him. Quill could see droplets of sweat pouring off his head onto the ground, his muscles didn’t bare to lift him any longer and he collapsed completely onto the ground during desperate, shivering breathes for air.

He glanced to his side and noticed that the knife was back in his hoof. Quillhart finally managed to force himself to lift his head and look towards the tree he had hit before. Something looked like it had pulled out the knife roughly enough to rip a whole lot of bark along with it. The ‘thing’ whatever it was, hadn’t tried to kill him for a reason far beyond his imagination.

Quillhart balanced himself up on his hoofs. He felt sicker than a fish in a desert and was close to black out once he got up on his hoofs. The world twirled and swirled before his eyes and he practically threw himself against a tree to maintain balance. Quill moved away and towards the camp as soon as he felt that he could proceed without falling apart.

He made his way through the edge and gazed up to see that the celestial objects had moved themselves more than he’d imagine they’d do. Had he been gone for that long? Maybe Swift and Dunder would be back by now. Hopefully Muggo would have gotten help from another pony.

Quillhart stumbled into the camp on heavy legs and a heavy breath. So tired that he almost tripped the pile of wood that they used for the fire. “We,” He began between the panting, “We’re not alone on this island.” Was his last words before he fell down, rolled over and fell asleep – completely exhausted and satisfied with his work.

[Tiktaalik]

Finally, is happened--Figment's cover was betrayed by his emotions. "Why you..!", he muttered, sounding offended, seething and leering at the red pegasus, entirely out of character. That was a very convincing limp! What did she know?! It didn't take long for him to catch his misstep, though. However, he merely calmed himself, rather than jumping right back into character. He approached her, speaking lowly as to not blabber to the entire group, still as if he was an entirely different pony despite the fact he had the same voice. "I'm in a far worse situation than all of you combined.", he said cryptically, giving her a look. At least he hoped so. It was difficult to tell how convincing he was lately... Though he he was always fearful of being found out, at least this pony seemed reasonable. They all did, for the most part. Maybe they would accept--or at least, tolerate, him.

Or, maybe they'd all turn on him immediately. He'd just have to run in that case. There was no reason for them to waste time chasing him, he hoped... Either way, it wouldn't solve his love problem. He wasn't starving yet, though, so he tried to focus on the present. "Either way, I can still help! I got you guys' back.", he added, suddenly switching back to his cherry 'self', as if nothing odd had happened. He peered around, frowning slightly. They seemed to have everything under control, for the most part... However, he perked up at Muggo's request for help. It sounded simple enough, though he was more accustomed to using magic than his bare hooves... He was fairly clumsy, actually.

"I can do that!", he chimed, trotting over while eying the beginnings of a rope. "...I'll try, anyways. Uhm. What should I do first?" He was both being cautious so as to not mess this up, and making an attempt at being endearing.

However, his attention shifted when he heard the sound of panting and staggering, furring his brown in concern at Quillhart. "Are you o-..!", he started, interrupted by the pony collapsing, seemingly out cold. "...kay." He glanced towards the others, looking both concerned for his well-being, and what he'd said...

[Ciraxis]

"But if you reallllly want us to go, then we can go." He huffed.

"A.....moment." Squall said, trotting towards one piece of the crystal. Unicorn extended his leg and touched it with his leg. The surface was smooth and even edges were sharp, non-jagged.

"Those were buildings...or maybe pieces of one building I think. Not unlike the Crystal Palace." Swift judged. He walked back and looked around.

"This place, this forest...It feels.....old. Old and alien. he whispered. And at the next moment

. A familiar feeling crept through his mind, familiar but different. Swordstallion eyed the surroundings. But at the ground level there were not many bushes, and the the heft amount of leaves at tree branches rendered the unseen.

"Can you feel it Blusty. Somepony...no....something watches us." orange stallion lowered volume of his voice. His jaw clenched, and muscles stiffened. Without word both ponies shifted, now they were standing in such way that there were no blind spots...

But the attack, or any sight of their observer didn't come. Somehow Squall realized that whatever was the presence that watched them, left.

"That...what was these all about?" unicorn asked nopony in particular. A second later Squall spotted a small, broken off piece of crystal. After picking it up and examining it he put it into one of his pockets.

".....We don't know when we will have occasion to come back here with our companions if ever. Maybe one of them knows more about those crystals." he explained. And just as they were leaving...again they were interrupted.

Squall glanced at the puddle. Or more precisely, a quavering water in it. And the moment later earth itself started to shake as well!

Both stallions turned their heads...and immediately after that jumped behind the cover.

The animal stampede flashed through the place they were standing just a moments ago....

But those animals....

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The work over their shelter - for the crew that stayed at beach - was doing fine. Of course not that ponies themselves were fine of course.

Fire just recovered from exotic venom, Presteza leg while better was still hurt, and Quillhart just collapsed. But before anypony could rush to pick him up a thundering sound was heard, and from amongst the trees the wild stampede appeared! Nopony had any chance to avoid it, so unexpected it was!

Luckily through, the animals dodged the ponies on their own, running between the ponies, and even jumping over unconscious Quill.

But what kind of creatures they were? At first glance they resembled overgrown ostriches. But while indeed they had some feathers, and they posture was mostly the same it was not the case. A long thick tails, and clawed limbs suggested that they weren't birds at all! They seemed...reptilian? That was just silly. Of scaled creatures only dragons could move such swiftly. But whatever they were, those creatures seemed scared. What could terrify eight meters long lizard?

The question answered itself quickly. From the forest, taking down some trees and with a

even larger beast appeared. It's muscular body and nightmarish, fang filled and massive jaws leaved no doubt that it was a predator. This scary reptile run along the stampede for a moment, almost trampling Muggo' and a shelter he was building. The beast attacked quickly - its long fangs sinking into body of smaller animal. Lifting it up into the air, the beat shook it up like an attack dog and then throwed it into the tree line. The ostrich-like creature hit one of the plants, and the sickening crunch was heard. It was obvious that it was dead. The terrifying carnivore then proceeded to take a taste of it's prey but then - since the stampede was long gone - noticed the ponies.

And it reaction...was astonishing. The big, four meter tall beast walked back defensively. It opened it's massive maw and once more gave a taste of it's powerful lungs....but this time roar had an noticeable overtone of fear. Seeing, that ponies were not moving, the predator walked back some more, before lifting it's meal and disappeared into the forest. Only the sound of crashing trees going from farther and farther distance along pool of blood sinking in the sand was left....

[Dunder]

And when Dunder wants to leave, Swift doesn't. The heat or something else was making Dunder feel annoyed at what was going on. Dunder just trotted over, impatiently standing there while Swift was saying that it was probably building material like the crystal empire buildings. That wouldn't be too much of a stretch, lots of something that could organize and build a complex society obviously lived here. But where could all of them be now? For all they knew, it wasn't an island even. And then Swift started to mention the sensation of something or somepony watching them both.

Dunder glanced around casually, the feeling was ever present for Dunder while traversing strange and foreign lands. "It was you freaking out again, you do it all the time." Dunder said flatly and started to trot away. He saw the orange stallion pocket a crystal, which was a good idea, Dunder grabbed one with a wing, one of a different color and placed it in his saddlebag. Now they could go looking for a source of water or food, something more useful to their survival.

Just then, Dunder could feel the ground shiver below the pair, his feathers on his wings stood at attention while the adrenaline coursed through his veins. He turned around, expecting a chimera or manticore, but what he saw triggered his flight reaction. He dove for cover, and hugged the semi-crumbled wall close. The pegasus looked at the passing creatures, none of them were anything he had expected. The Celestia-forsaken creatures looked wicked and alien. But mostly, they were just straight terrifying.

After they passed, Dunder looked at the mass of creatures that were running away now. His heart was still beating rapidly despite the rush of adrenaline. "Do you think they were running away from something?" He asked without looking at the unicorn, but instantly followed up with, "Maybe we should regroup with the others now, this changes everything about our survival."

[PyroBlaze]

Pyro continued gathering wood. He had no idea if they needed it, but better safe than sorry. Besides, if they didn't need it for the shelter, then it was just more firewood for later. He looked over at Muggo' as he asked for help holding something up. The earth pony looked like he was trying to make some kind of rope.

Pyro was going to go help, but then the bandaged pony, who Pyro really wasn't sure about, beat him to it. With a sigh, he went back to collecting wood, seperating them by quality. Why did this island have to make him essentially useless? What had been likely his most, and possibly only, helpful skill on this island had been taken from him. How was he supposed to defend any of these ponies without his magic? Especially since he had no real weapons training, just the sessions he had with himself. He couldn't teach himself something he didn't know, it didn't work. Sure, he could figure out his own moves and stuff, but he had no idea how effective they would be.

His self lamenting was interrupted when one of the other ponies staggered back onto the beach, said they weren't alone, then collapsed. Pyro walked over to the collapsed stallion, planning on protecting him until he regained consciousness. Before long, a large group of reptilian creatures ran at the group, dodging around the ponies. Pyro lowered the knife he had drawn when the creatures appeared, and watched them run by.

And with the roar, the knife was raised again. Pyro saw the large creature, obviously a predator, catch and kill one of the smaller, fleeing creatures. Then the beast turned it's attention on the group, and he tensed, preparing himself for the beast's attack. Strangely, the creature seemed afraid of the group, even though it was much bigger than anypony here. He watched it as it picked up the other creature it had killed and retreated into the forest. When it was gone, Pyro relaxed again.

"What the heck was that? And why did it seem to be afraid of us?" Pyro asked to nopony in particular. He wasn't really expecting an answer, but it didn't hurt to put the questions out there.

[tacobob]

The red mare nodded her head as the stallion spoke and went about lending her friend a hoof. She knew if given the proper amount of time, the dependable earth pony would probably be able to throw together a makeshift pub, and while an Margarita would hit the spot about now, it would probably have to wait. After snatching up some of the line, she made her way towards the end of one of her trees and started to climb. "Has nothing to do with being 'tough', we just can't have too many of us wandering around. Celestia knows what strange creatures are lurking there.", she tried not to look into the odd and very unfathomable sky. Was the same magic that was creating the strange effects above, the same magic that was stopping them from using their own natural magics?

"And don't say that.", the mare managed to tie up one end of Muggo's newly created rope, and then toss the reaming end towards the other tree, where it caught on a branch. "You're the same pony you were back on the ship. Clever, handsome and strong-willed! You can handle publishers and deadlines, so crazy magic and creeping critters are no match for you.". As she slowly made her way down from the tree, she overhead Figment as he asked what he could do. "Gather up strong branches. I put down the measurements on my dawning near Mister Muggo'. Make sure they're about that length and are not too met or too dry. Oh dear."

She spotted the pooped pony as he took a nap in the sand. Knowing he would be better suited under the shade, she made her way towards her friend only to hear the roar and the strange ostrich-like creatures. Not knowing what they would do, she quickly made her way even quicker to Quill, where she stood over the stallion, whatever dared to hurt her friend would have to deal with one Canterlot's finest! Thankfully, the large predator was wise enough to seek less helpless prey. The mare cringed a little as the creature sunk its teeth down into the ostrich-thing. "Predators don't survive by attacking and eating everything they see. They survive by attacking the prey that don't fight back."

Once Quillhart was placed under shade, the mare returned to her hut-making duties. She tried to keep up a brave face, but after seeing that strange monster, she started to worry about Swift and Dunder. Would they encounter such creatures during their trek? And how long should they let them wander?

[Pretzelparty]

The mare smiled as Presteza spoke, "Actually, it might be for the best to stay here until they return. No need for two separate groups to be out there wandering around.", she quickly added, "I need to find something we can tie with.."

"Also; I believe we not-so-tough ponies should stay out from the forest until we know that it's safe." Quillhart studied his hoof and thought of when he had managed to defeat Swift in the element of surprise. "We're not what we used to be."

Presteza looked down and sighed, "I guess yer right... still, it stinks not bein' able ta do anythin'. I hate jus' sittin' around." She said, once again holding the split coconut in her hooves and sipping some of the milky fluid from it. The mare let smiled contentedly as she let the cool, sweet taste washed down and cooled her partially parched throat. Letting out a frustrated sounding huff the mare stood back up and said, "Well... I'm gonna go gather some more coconuts. If we're gonna be here for a while we might as well get somethin' we can eat." Soon the mare galloped off in search of the stated food.

Even though she had resolved to act as if nothing was wrong but even she was getting worried. She usually didn't worry too much about her magic... but her magic was a big part of how she did her artwork. Besides the worries about her artistic career she couldn't help but think what her family was doing right now... and if they would be panicking as much as she thought they would if her monthly letter didn't arrive on time. She was sure that all of her family would move a million mountains in an attempt to find her but with how strange this place was she was worried they might not have any luck at all.

"N-no... I can't start thinkin' like that..." she muttered to herself before getting back to her hooves and going over to another coconut tree and delivering another incredibly powerful kick to it's base and sending a couple more come plummeting down. Pushing her small group of gathered coconuts together in a bundle she kicked all of them towards the rest of the group slowly, until the small specks in the distance became larger... and then she heard the roar.

Deciding to temporarily forsake her coconuts, Presteza broke into a gallop and headed back to only see Quillhart looking completely winded, with Fire Walker standing over him as some creature dragged an ostrich like thing into the forest, "Quill! Are you alright?! Wot the hay was that?!"

Quillhart stumbled into the camp on heavy legs and a heavy breath. So tired that he almost tripped the pile of wood that they used for the fire. “We,” He began between the panting, “We’re not alone on this island.” Was his last words before he fell down, rolled over and fell asleep – completely exhausted and satisfied with his work.

Looking to fire she couldn't help but notice that Fire was looking very worried, it didn't take much to figure out what it was that was bothering her. She'd noticed some of the sweet gestures and looks between the green unicorn named Swift and Fire and could figure out their relationship pretty easily. Walking over to the R.E.A pony she placed a hoof on her shoulder, "Don't worry, Fire. I'm sure they'll be back soon. Besides that special pony o' yers seems almost as strong as my dad, if anythin' happens he can take of of it don't ya think?"

[Tiktaalik]

Figment waited anxiously for Fire Walker to call him out, or question him about his last statements. However, it never came. Perhaps because she was distracted--he wouldn't complain, whatever the case. A small part of him would have been relieved to get his inevitable cover-blowing over with already... Though, the likely violent response he expected was less of a relief, and enough to keep him maintaining it for as long as he could manage. Which would work batter if he could find some task to do to blend in a bit better...

Before he could find something to busy himself with, he was interrupted by--well, something. It sounded like what he assumed a dragon would sound like. Whatever all of the commotion was, it certainly startled him--he couldn't face any kind of danger in his state! He took a few cautious steps backwards before he even saw anything--and froze for a moment in bewilderment when he did. Where those...dragons of some kind? He'd never seen one in person, but he had a feeling that the answer was 'no'. "...You've got to be kidding..!", he blurted in exasperation; and in a very un-Honey Smiles-like tone, mostly to himself. Whatever they were, he wanted nothing to do with them.

Before even taking a moment to assess how much of a threat they were or weren't, he ditched out on the ponies and bolted towards a nearby palm tree, climbing up it with what could be considered an unnatural aptitude. He practically just ran straight up the thing, as if his hooves were clingy or something. He perched himself at the top, peering down fearfully until the danger seemed to have passed. it was then he realized that he wasn't exactly doing himself any favors looking like a huge flake. Quickly, he pried a coconut from the tree. "...Woah! I've never seen anything like that..!", he commented, chucking nervously, before waving the fruit a bit. "Uhm. I'll just get us some more of these, though..!" His acting was becoming so strained an unnatural that it nearly pained him to hear it coming from his own mouth. But...how exactly was he supposed to deal with all of this chaos at once? He'd reached the end of his contingency plans long ago.