...
......
...........
Ah
My, my head...
Wh-What happened?
"Twilight..."
Ugh, what's that noise?
"Twilight..."
That sounds like Rainbow! But what could she want?
"Twilight! Wake up!"
Twilight's eyes shot open with surprise and she immediately started coughing up saltwater. Rainbow sighed with relief and stumbled back from the lavender unicorn, giving her space to catch her breath. Twilight finally recovered and regained some air. The intense heat was beating down on her and her fur was soaked with saltwater. She looked over to see Rainbow's mane and fur in the same condition. It was frightening at first, but she had eventually calmed herself down from the recent trauma. She tried using a dry spell, but to no avail was able to perform it.
That's odd. Why can't I perform a simple dry spell?
Twilight turned her attention to her pegasus companion and nearly panicked.
"R-Rainbow! Where are your w-w-wings?!" Rainbow looked to her sides and discovered that her wings were indeed gone. She panicked too but as soon as she looked at Twilight, her eyes went wide.
"Um, Twilight. Where's your horn?!" Twilight moved a hoof to where her horn would be and found that it was gone as well. Twilight's eyes went wide and she started to hyperventilate. Rainbow knew what was coming and put her hooves to her ears.
Twilight let out an ear piercing shriek which reverberated throughout the island. Rainbow's ears rung from the menacing sound plaguing her ears. Rainbow removed her hooves after and they were ringing, she picked up on the distressed words of the unicorn.
"Oh, nononononononono this cannot be happening!"
"You're telling me! How in the hay am I supposed to join the Wonderbolts if I can't FLY?!"
"How am I suppose to be Celestia's student if I can't perform MAGIC?! Oh this is not good! T-There has to be an explanation for this!" Twilight tried to fish through her memory for something that made sense about their predicament.
"DISCORD! I bet he did this!" Rainbow looked at Twilight like she was crazy.
"How? I thought he was reformed?!"
"Yes he was reformed, but that doesn't mean he won't stop messing with us! Remember when he took away our attributes when we were trying to recover the elements?"
"Oh yeah! You're right! I bet he did do this! If I had my wings right now I could fly to Canterlot and give him a good kick in the face!" Twilight looked at Rainbow with a slightly confused look.
"Uh, Rainbow, how are you going to get to Canterlot if we don't even know where in Equestria we are!"
"Oh." Twilight looked out at the water crashing up on the beach.
"Well, if anything we're on a coastline, which means we should be connected to the mainland."
"So...what does that mean?" Twilight rolled her eyes.
"It means that we should be able to get back home." Twilight quickly looked around and surveyed the area.
There was a densely forested area behind them, more sand to their left and right, and an ocean in front of them. Rainbow was standing a few feet away from the pony. She looked around as well and noticed two imprints on the sand, one where Twilight had been and one where she had washed up. Suddenly she heard a rustling form the undergrowth behind her. She quickly spun around and faced the plants, seeing a shadow move swiftly from it's spot in the bush.
"Who's there?" She shouted.
"C'mon out coward! Show yourself!" There was no response other than the sea breeze making the shrubs dance.
"We can either do this the easy way or the hard way!" This time there was a response but not the one she wanted.
"Rainbow! Why are you shouting? You know what, I don't want to know just try to tone it down a bit." Rainbow looked at Twilight, then the shrub, then Twilight, then the shrub.
"Alright, we'll do this the hard way." Rainbow started walking towards the shadowy figure hidden in the brush, then went into a trot.
She came up to the shrub and dove into it. The bush was thicker than she thought and it sent her tumbling forward. She kept going until she hit her head on a root. The pain surged through her head and receded slowly. Rainbow rubbed her head in an attempt to ease the pain some more.
"Ow. My head." More rustling was heard and Rainbow jumped to her hooves.
"W-Who's there?! Show yourself! C'mon I ain't scared of you!" Rainbow put up her hooves and punched the air a couple times to emphasize her point.
"You should be, you should be, you should be..."
Rainbow took a step back towards the shrub. Fear began creeping into her mind, the mysterious creature was toying with her. Like a predator and his prey, waiting for the perfect time to strike! Rainbow shifted around wildly, her hooves taking her back the way she came without even knowing it. Her hind leg made contact with her escape route. The shadowy figure leaped from one tree to the next with such speed it was unbelievable! The leaves were being shed from the canopy above.
"Rainbow? Rainbow Dash!" The cyan mare in question looked back at Twilight who was searching the beach head for her missing friend.
In mere seconds the figure leaped down in front of Dash scaring the crap out of her.
"AH!"
Rainbow jumped and fell back into the bush and back onto the beach, the sudden appearance and hastily backed away from the plant. She turned around quickly and jumped to her hooves and galloped towards Twilight.
"Rainbow! There you-" She couldn't say anymore because Rainbow had tackled her and was breathing rapidly.
"Twi! Creature! Woods! Shouldn't-" Twilight pushed Rainbow off and got to her hooves, wiping herself down.
"Rainbow! Calm down, now what is this about a creature in the woods?" Rainbow managed to grab a hold of herself and explained what had happened.
"Well while you were looking around I saw something in the woods over there." She pointed to the area with her hoof. "There was some creature leaping from tree to tree, like it was hunting me. It said I shouldn't be afraid..." Twilight didn't know whether or not to believe her.
"Look, I don't have time for one of your pranks Rainbow. I-"
"But this isn't a prank! I really saw it!"
"If you say so." Rainbow sighed in frustration.Why wouldn't Twilight believe her? She thought it was a joke! Rainbow decided to just forget the whole incident and move on with things.
"Well considering we don't know where we are I suggest we walk along the beach until we find civilization." She looked up at the sun in the sky. "Or maybe we should just camp out here for tonight." Rainbow had blanked on everything except the last sentence.
"Uh, Twi, are you sure that's a good idea?" She did not want to camp out here with whatever she had encountered in the forested area behind her.
"Unless you want to travel in the dark, yes." Rainbow gulped.
"Ya know what, Twi, camping out doesn't sound like such a bad idea after all!"
"Well I'm glad you agree, Rainbow! Well first things first. We need to make a list of all the essentials we'll need to make camp! Soooo let's see here." Twilight looked around for something to construct a list but couldn't find anything.
"Hmmm, aha! This will work." Twilight trotted over to a broken branch that was small enough for her to lift by herself.
"Ok so-" she started writing in the sand "-We'll need a fire, food, and water. Rainbow, why don't you get the food and I'll get the fire going?"
"Ok, I guess." Rainbow looked around for some sort of food source on the beach. She was not going back into that forest anytime soon.
Her eyes managed to pick out a tree with brown things hanging from them. Rainbow walked over to them, the sandy cushion beneath her hooves scorching hot. Rainbow looked up the tree and saw that the brown things were hairy and had 3 indents on the surface Funny, they looked like coconuts. Wait, they were coconuts! But didn't coconuts typically grow on islands?
"Crap." Rainbow started to race back to Twilight but forgot something.
Rainbow turned around and ran up to the tree and gave it a good ol' buck. 3 coconuts rained down from the branches and dodged the incoming fire. The hairy fruit plopped down on the sand one by one making a little sand splash. She picked one up in her hoof and raced back over to Twilight. The mare was gathering branches for the fire when she heard Rainbow run up behind her.
"Rainbow? How did you find food so fast?" Rainbow took in a breath.
"Well, there's a tree over there that has 'em but that's not important right now. Twi, where do coconuts usually grow?"
"Well they typical grow on palm trees in tropical enviornments with high rainfall and-"
"In equestrian egghead."
"Islands and tropical places, why?"
Rainbow dropped the brown fruit right in front of her. At first Twilight was confused as to what it was. Then she got a better look and laughed.
"What's so funny? If these grow on islands doesn't that mean we're on an island?"
"Rainbow, I didn't say just islands. I said tropical places too. We might also be on the mainland." Rainbow looked down at the fruit near her feet.
"Oh..."
"Is this all you could find?" Rainbow looked around the beachhead again and nodded.
Twilight sighed. "I guess it'll have to do for now. What else do we need?"
"I have no idea."
The pair looked up at the sky for a sense of the time. The sun was already off towards the horizon, the light temporarily blinding the two ponies. Their fur had dried some but was still slightly damp and the two were not aware of it until now. Twilight put a hoof to her forehead to block some of the light out.
"Wow, Time really flew by didn't it? I guess now would be a good time to start making camp."
"Agreed."
Rainbow helped Twilight assort the firewood into one big pile. They all clattered together as they were stacked one by one. Twilight had found some stones near the bushes and formed a circle around the wood. Rainbow was fiddling around with the coconuts trying to crack the hard shell. She tried punching it, squeezing it, hitting it against a tree. She glanced down at the fire pit and smiled. She snagged a rock from the circle and started beating the coconut with it. Twilight sat down across from Rainbow and just enjoyed the sun. The blue colors were starting to turn into shades of orange, the colors blending together. Most of the clouds were gone or were scattered apart from each other. The waves came washing up onto the shore calmly and without much sound. The only sound available was the sound of a stone on a shell. Twilight looked out to sea and saw the water sparkle from the radiant rays of the sun.
This is amazing! This, this, this....
She couldn't even come up with a word to describe how beautiful it looked. The scenery was absolutely magnificent, but Twilight was shaken from her admiring when Rainbow suddenly cried out.
"Hey! I got it!" Twilight glanced back at Rainbow and revealed that she had indeed broken the shell of the coconut.
The milky liquid swished around in the makeshift bowl and Rainbow gave a prideful smile.
"I got our water, kinda."
Rainbow put her lips to the rough surface of the shell and tilted it slightly so the substance would reach her lips. She took a sip and pulled back immediately. Twilight looked confused for a moment.
"What's wrong?" Rainbow smacked her lips and evaluated the taste.
"It's sweet! Too sweet!" Twilight giggled.
"Here you try!"
"No thanks, Rainbow."
"C'mon! Ya' know you want to..."
"Hmmmm." Twilight thought about it for a whole two seconds before going in.
"Fine, give it here." Rainbow passed the bowl over to Twilight and she put it to her lips for a taste.
The milk hit her tongue and the sweet taste of the fruit enveloped her taste buds and sent shock waves to her nerves. It tasted amazing! Twilight swallowed and that's when the aftertaste started setting in. It was the kind of taste that made you go 'bleh' and want to spit it out. Twilight shivered from the feeling of the taste of the drink. Rainbow's look sent the message 'What do you think?' in an instant.
"You're right, Dash. It's sweet at first then it has a kinda bitter aftertaste."
"See! I told you! No give it here." That spurred confusion into Twilight's mind.
"Why?! I thought you said it was too sweet for your liking?"
"So? It's still pretty good." Twilight smiled and passed the bowl over to Rainbow.
The cyan mare took a drink and savored the sweet taste. Twilight looked back out towards the sea again. It was still as magnificent as she had left it, the water was still sparkling and still looked just as beautiful. Twilight wished she had a camera, this was truly a sight to behold. The sun slowly but surely continued it's descent and the sky's color kept changing. As the two sat there however, there was something watching them in the bushes behind them.
A shadowy figure pushed aside the leaves with it's hooves and watched the ponies silently. It was joined by another in an instant.
"Seen anything?" The figure looked at his companion.
"Nothing serious, just some more outsiders."
"Well what should we do?"
"You go and tell Swift. Let the rest of them know what's happened. I'm going to stay here for a bit."
"And do what?"
"Observe these, outsiders."