The ocean currents are battering me. It hurts. My lungs are burning up. I can’t breathe. I’m slowly falling unconscious. I can barely see. I barely manage to swim to the surface and take a deep breath before I’m submerged again. I probably have another half minute before I have to avoid the wreckage and take a breath again, but in the meantime, I might as well think on how I ended up here.

A few minutes back, I was on the ship. Fighting for my life and the lives of others, taking down a massive construct made of gears, flesh, and machine. The bombs went off as I was on it. We both fell into the water. I was crushed, but alive as we sunk. The agonizing pain echoed through my body, but I struggled against the powerful currents to take some air in from the surface. I barely had enough time before I was dragged down by the ruined construct. I kicked and fought back, but it was was useless as the machine overpowered me. Dragging me down across the ocean floor. The icy water nipped at my exposed and torn flesh and I barely stopped myself from screaming. The two of us crashed against a ridge and the machine finally fell. I bashed the bastard over and over until the eye burst in a pop of blood and fluids. Both of them flowed around me and were matted into my mane. I was more than slightly grossed out, but the heavy body of the construct forced a piece of the ridge to break off, causing me to fly off again into the ocean. The ocean was disturbingly violent today as I was tossed and thrashed and hurled every which way. My poor battered body was barely standing up against the onslaught. I felt like I was going to pass out soon and that’s where I am now.

Time passed. Somehow, I managed to stay alive. I reached out and barely caught a hold of a rock and hauled myself on to the shore. I hobbled over to a large rock and leaned on it. Happy to finally be able to catch my breath and rest. I was horribly injured and lucky to be alive as I checked my body. Excluding the nausea, bruises, cuts, skinned flesh, gouges, lacerations, and broken or shattered bones, I was fine. Actually, let me rephrase that. I was ALIVE. That was better than the alternatives though not as good as it could be. I held my bleeding leg. It was difficult to say in which direction I had been blown off in though judging by the midnight stars, I went South. Far, far south. As if to make matters worse, the weather was turning for the worse. So to speak, the shit was really going to hit the fans soon and I was right at the center of it. I scowled. I would have to find cover soon. I turned to the left and began crawling, using my right foreleg to help. It was a bit tough considering the rocky terrain, but I managed to get along. I groaned in severe pain as gravel, dirt and some thorns got in my wounds. I’d have to nitpick all of it out later. I got to the cave and settled into a small rocky little hole. It would be a chilly night when the storm came. And I still didn’t know if there were any ponies or wild animals around here. For all I knew, I could just be a sitting lunch out here. I picked off a small berry branch from my side. I sniffed the berries and took a bite. It wasn’t much, but would suffice for not eating for two days. I rested and took big, careful breaths. It was going to a be a long night.

A few hours have passed since I awoke. I used the time to patch up my wounds using wet leaves and grass. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling, but I had to live with it. As long as it helped me, I would be fine. I took out a leaf and lathered it in some plant juice from another leaf. The juice hurt really bad when pressed on my wounds, but it helped me enough to prevent the wound from developing those yellow gross sores. I relaxed and drank some water from my my leaf. I relaxed and took a breath to see how cold it was outside. I could see my breath so it was probably fairly cold this morning. I was too sore to felt it fortunately. I tightened all my makeshift bandages and left the cove. I stumbled across the sand as I walked. I imagine I looked horrendous. Torn up, mangled body. Red, bloodshot eyes. Patches of my mane and hair and tail missing. I was probably zombeish. I turned my head and spat out a globule of blood. “Gross.” I muttered. I hated the taste despite getting nearly used to it. I stumbled across the rocky beach. The tide was going up quite high. It was bashing against my hooves. It was almost peaceful if it still wasn’t for the light rainfall which kept battering into my ears. I twitched my ears again. I walked further on to the land. The ground had some plants and grass. A bit...Lively. I smiled faintly at that. It was a good sign. I continued on my journey, passed through some old arches, and walked over the ruins of ancient buildings. This place was possibly populated at some point. I wandered up a hill and crouched at the top of it as I slinked forward and watched out. To my astonishment and surprise, I saw ponies down there. Working, living, adventuring in their little town...It reminded me of home. I considered going down there, but was hesitant. Who knows how they could react to me. A stranger. But, then again, risks were to be taken. I went on down.

Much to my surprise, they didn’t seem surprised by me. Rather, they accepted me. I asked around a bit and steadily learned more about them. Everyone here was at some point Exiled. The oldest had been here for 8 years, two of them out of the original 18, and the youngest had been here for 2 months only. They were the same people from the construct boat. They were the lucky few who had escaped. I asked them what happened and they told me. The trip was supposedly peaceful at first, but then they hit a reef. Got stranded there for two days. On the night of the second day, one of them was outside taking in some fresh air when she saw a small boat dock next to theirs. She saw three armored ponies go underwater and do something there. They resurfaced an hour later. She didn’t tell anyone this. Over the next three days, ponies began disappearing one by one. At first it was seemingly random, but as it continued they began growing suspicions that something was picking them off. On the 6th day, the Constructs attacked. They were primitive and weak back then, but their numbers were big enough to take down most of the ponies on the ship. The remaining 20 that survived the initial attack had a choice. Run or stay and fight. At first, several made the choice to stay. One of the ponies was a former blacksmith and he made a weapon from the clockwork parts. It was a bit like a crossbow, but it shot round metal balls at high speeds. At first the weapons were useful, but then the bigger constructs came. They were too tough and strong enough now to resist the weapons. The remaining 14 decided to run with the limited weapons that they managed to salvage. The mare who told me the story handed me a clockwork weapon. The ponies called it a “revolver” because the revolving cylinder mechanism. 3 iron balls, high recoil, good power. Very useful for hunting, but they had to conserve them as the weapons wore out with time or they ran out of ammo. I chat with her a bit afterwards. Her name was Starlight. Quite the bright pony and very cute in my opinion. She gladly lent me a journal so I could write down what has been happening so far though the ink was a bit hard to get as the squid was very stubborn. I’m currently writing with a quill, it is a bit difficult to handle, but I can do it. I look at the sundial. It’s getting closer to the 3/4th mark. I realize it must have been very early when I went to this settlement. So, I decided to put down my journal and go exploring.

After a bit of persuading, the leader sent me to the forest with Starlight and a stallion named Colt, the blacksmith. Cold gave the two of us a gun. I got a single shot revolver, Starlight got the double-barrel, and Colt got a 6-cylinder revolver. I stared at his revolver for a bit. He noticed my look and chuckled lightly. “I call it the Colt .44, a very powerful gun and probably the best one I ever made.” he said with a smile. He took out a bullet and showed it to me. It was made of a shinier metal and more cone shaped than spherical like most of the bullets. “I based it on a steam gun that one of the early constructs had.”

I nodded in surprise. I didn’t know that the constructs even had these kind of weapons. The closest thing I saw to a ranged weapon was a crossbow. I turned toward the forest and walked on. The island was slowly warming up with the faint sun. It was more pleasant than harsh rain and cold from the cloud cover as I was accustomed to on the boat. I craned my head up to the sky. “Sun’s coming up. Gettin’ warmer.” I noted.

Colt nodded. “Yep. Judging by that tone, I bet you haven’t seen the sun in a while kiddo.”

I shook my head. “Not that often. There was usually a storm or just a very cold sun. It wasn’t great.” I said. I suddenly realized that in a few days, it would be precisely 1 months since I left Equestria. I was saddened by that fact. It was kind of tough knowing that I left everyone behind.

Starshine noticed my sad look and gently put a hoof around my shoulder. “Don’t worry, it’ll be fine. Everything will be just fine.” she said reassuringly. It helped me a bit.

Colt looked out to the shore and gave a low whistle. “Holy Tartarus…” he muttered as he motioned for us to follow and we went to the right. I felt my blood run cold as I saw the remains of the Clockwork Queen. Colt examined the wreck. “It’d dead…” he murmured. He checked the metal. “Interesting. It looks like bronze, but it’s stronger. Magically enchanted.” he said in a low tone. “If I could convert this to a gun or ammo….” his face deadpanned. “Those plans could work…” he said. “Alright, you two go hunting. I’ll stay here and salvage this armor. Starlight nodded and set out towards the woods. I followed here after a moment of hesitation. We soon reached the woods and kept moving. Starlight grabbed some berries and grass. “It gets hard to survive on this stuff sometimes so we have to eat meat.” she said. “You fine with that?” she asked.

I gulped and nodded. “What kind of meat?” I asked weakly.

“Deer, fish, bird, even rats when stuff gets rough.” she replied. “Though it usually only comes to that during the harsh winters.” she said. “We expect for that to happen this year in a few weeks.”

I nodded. I wasn’t looking forward to that, but if we had to…

She salvaged some more plants and berries and we head home. It was seemingly going to be a nice day.

“So, I don’t think you told me your name” she said carefully.

I shrugged. My name didn’t matter anymore as I learned with time. My name was just a part of my old identity. A young colt from the slums who loved reading. But things changed. I became different. I killed to survive, I was near death more than a few times, and I was no longer afraid. Once again, I decided to lie. To make a new name for myself. “Dusk.” I said quietly. Just like the time of the day when i was born, and the time when I always was able to seemingly take charge.

She nodded. “It seems fitting for you.” she said. “Dusk and Starlight...We sure as hell make a good team” she joked.

I laughed. It did seem like a coincidence, but a fun one. “Agreed. So, I’m curious. Do you see any Clockworks around here judging by the guns you made?”

She nodded grimly. “Yeah, one or two ragged ones come by every month. We usually manage to take them out, but sometimes they take down a guard or a villager.” I shuddered at that. It was creepy to think they still survived out there. Maybe this Queen wasn’t the only one…

Starlight led us back to the village. I was a bit weak from hunger. I hadn’t eaten very well in two days. Starlight noticed this and gave me some wheat we harvested. I ate it ravenously. “Oh Aurora, that is tasty!” I exclaimed.

She chuckled at that. “Alright, let’s get back and put this in storage. We’ll need every little bit before the crops are ready to be harvested.”

I nodded and looked out to the west side of the village. I saw several small gardens growing with a variety of fruit and food. It looked very tasty. Mouth-watering tasty.

We soon reached the village. Colt was at work with his new armor while attempting to break it down so he could smelt it. Shinedown, the eldest, was writing in a book. Most of the foals were around playing. I smiled faintly at the sight. It was quite nice. “Hey Starlight? I think I’m going to go to my hut to rest.”

She nodded. “Alright, I’ll see when you wake up.”

I wearily trotted, and half stumbled, my way to the hut and collapsed on my hay bed. It was only 10/12 full on the sundial in the morning, but I was very tired. I yawned and went to sleep.

When I finally awoke, it was dark outside. I walked outside slowly and sat by the small ridge by the end of the beach. A mare known as Minty Fresh was there. She watched out toward the ocean. “Pretty view huh?”

I looked out there. It was stormy, the ocean was rumbly, and I saw a huge fish eat a bigger one. “...Ummm...Yeeeaaahhhhh...Suuuureee…” I said slowly. Starlight joined us and sat by my right side.

She giggled lightly. “Yeah, Minty can be a bit odd, but she’s very nice.” she whispered. I smiled faintly and nodded.

“So I’ve got a question, how far away are we from the crashed ship?” I asked

She thought for a bit. “Quite a bit. The rapids on the other side of the ship are wicked. We’re about 3 days away”

My eyes popped out in surprise. “Say whaaaaaa-!? But...But...How!? I barely floated away!” I said in an incredulous tone.

She shrugged. “I wouldn’t ask. These oceans are mysterious and lots of weird things occur. It all depends on what route you take. But don’t fret, your friends will eventually get here” she said reassuringly in a kind tone.

I nodded with a smile. “Thanks Starlight. I guess I might as well enjoy myself huh?”

She looked out and started a song. Minty Fresh joined in and so did I.

Author's Note

The last chapter for this year apart from the special I will be publishing on the 18th. I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I did writing it.

Notes: This chapter further progresses how far behind Equestria is in terms of industrial advancement and how the civilizations of the far South have already created partially-sentient Clockwork machines and have managed to even create primitive clockwork guns! These details will play a larger part much later on. For clarification, Aurora is the name of Celestia and Luna's mother and despite her madness, is still revered as a Goddess and Queen.