Far Neigh

Chapters

Prologue
Chapter One: Takeoff
Chapter Two: Skyfall
Chapter Three: Exploration
Chapter Four: Rude awakening
ACT I - Arrival

Prologue

FarNeigh

Harmony.

The connection of the right elements, the co-operation between them, creates harmony. Over 500 years have passed since the last time the Elements of Harmony have been used and sealed away in the Tree of Harmony, inside the Everfree Forest. Twilight Sparkle and her friends used them to beat Nightmare Moon and Discord, saving Equestria, and fulfilling their purpose.

But the Elements didn't sleep inside the tree. They were waiting. Waiting to find their new bearers and to be used again. The chain of events that united Princess Twilight and her friends, leading them find their destiny is often called Fate. And the same way Twilight couldn't hide from it, neither could Bolo, as he started a new chain of events and his own Fate began catching up to him as well.
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Music played loudly as we entered the club. I recognized the song and smiled, this was going to be a good night. We gave our overcoats to the checkroom receptionist and I followed my friends down the hallway into the main area where a giant crowd of ponies greeted us, swinging limbs high and bouncing their heads to the tunes

The main area was a big room with stairs leading to the lounge areas on each of its sides. The dancefloor shone brightly giving the room a glowing center while colourful lights moved around the entire room, lighting up the floor and walls at random and completing the atmosphere.

"Let's get some drinks first", I barely heard Silver shout over the music.

I nodded and saw my other four friends do the same, so we started moving to the left side of the main area.

I had to stay focused not to lose them since the crowd was getting tighter the deeper we moved in, and in this kind of light show not even the bright silver coat of my brother can be distinguished from the other club visitors. Ponies talked and laughed all around me, but the music made it impossible to understand full words.

We reached the stairs and started climbing up to the left lounge area. I looked to my right and got a better view of the dance area. The crowd danced relentlessly and from up here it looked like a giant mess of spilled colour on a painting. It was hard to even make out single ponies since the crowd kept shifting, only the bystanders who were sipping their drinks or talking to one another could be seen well enough.

I followed my older brother to one of the free sitting corners where a couch, cushions and a small glass table were awaiting us. I noticed that the music was more quiet up here, but one could still see the main area through a big light blue toned window if he wanted to.

"Make yourself comfortable guys," Silver said with a wide smile "the first rounds on me".

"Just try to not spill them over me this time," Smoky added with a chuckle and threw himself on one of the cushions.

"Aw, shut up smoky, it happened once, once!" Silver replied, stuck his tounge out and made his way to the bar, the rest of us sat down in the meantime.

"So Bolo", Sunny asked me as she placed herself on the cushion next to me "you talked about a plan of yours earlier?"

"Yea it's actually more of a proposition you see", now or never Bolo, you can't hide it forever.

"Don't you think our life is kinda...dull?" I said and leaned back into a comfortable position, trying my best to sound convincing.

"What do you mean with dull? I'm happy the way it is," Violet spoke up with a confused expression on her face.

"Come on, you know exactly what I mean, It's the same shit every day, and once we stop studying it will be even more monotone. We study, play Hoofball, work, go out on week-ends and that's it!"

I looked at each one of them. They just had to understand.

"We are young and should have some action before we get too old for it, I don't want to look back to my youth one day seeing nothing but boring routine".

"Well, we uh-still have our hobbies that are exiting, right? I mean, you make those cool tricks with your knives and Trigger is in the Gun club an-" Sunny said in her usual shy voice before I interrupted her

"But that's what it is, just a hobby Sunny, there is no thrill, no action, no spice!" I waved my right foreleg around to make my point clear, "I want to make something that is exiting, full of action and dangerous!".

As soon as I said those words the expressions of my friends changed. Smoky looked intrigued, Violet now had an even more worried look on her face, while Trigger Happy stared at me through dreamy eyes. My little brother has always been attracted by dangerous things and I knew I had him convinced the moment I started talking about this idea. All I heard from Sunny was a quiet "oh my" and a look full of fear stared back at me.

No words were spoked for a whole minute. Yea, nailed it Bolo.

It was Silver's arrival which broke the silence, "Allright Gentlecolts and Gentlemares, here are the drinks" he said cheerfully while putting down the tablet with the colourful liquids. Silver knew the standard orders of all of us. Which again showed my point about our lives being a routine.

I levitated the Applejack Daniels long drink over to me and grabbed it with an hoof. "What are ya'll talking about?" Silver asked before grabbing his own drink, a Martini, with his mouth and sitting down on the last free cushion. This seemed to bring all but Sunny to cheer up or at least get those mixed expressions out of the way.

"Silver, you do think that our lives have become kind of dull too, right?" I asked my big brother in a pleading tone. I knew he did since he usually complained about it too when we had a private discussion about it. He stared at me for several seconds not sure how to respond in front of our friends.

"Kinda, I mean-" he started, only to get interrupted by Violet

"Not you too Silver, what is wrong with you three? Can't you just appreciate what we have here" she said expanding her forelegs to her sides, "there's gonna be plenty of action soon enough in our lives, and now I don't want to hear another word about it, do you understand? We came here to have a good time, not to argue about how we could get ourselves killed". Yea, she liked, to play the chef.

Violet looked at Me, Silver and Trigger with her usual "I'm serious about this" stare. Silver quickly became uncomfortable and didn't want to argue with his marefriend, so he just waved off with a simple "Yeah, you're right, we don't need more action".

Dammit. And once again the marefriend wins, it's the same thing with Silver, every single time.

"pfsh, yea, my lives exiting enough," Trigger tried to reply in a dismissive tone, but couldn't hide his abashed look. I knew how much this hurt him, but I really couldn't blame him in that situation.

I noticed that they were all looking at me. Fuck. Well, I definitely wouldn't do this alone so there was only one choice left.

"Okay, you win Violet, no exiting adventure and action for us", I said in the most sarcastic tone i could offer..

Violet rolled her eyes, but smiled and was looking relieved.

"Now, let's have a great night!" I finished, a bit disappointed about the turn of the conversation, but happy that we could move on to the fun part of the night.

"Cheers you danger loving bastards!" Smoky grinned wide, and was the first to levitate his drink for the toast.

The music changed, drinks were held and levitated high with a collective smile and soon the conversations began to take a "normal" turn after we all toasted. We talked about Trigger finishing his Pilots license and winning the junior sharpshooter competition in Canterlot.

Sunny told us about her newest experiences in the hospital. She worked part-time as a nurse and it fit her perfectly. She always had a very strong caring hoof and was definitely the kindest pony I knew.

Silver and I had a discussion about the Hoofball season, and why I didn't apply as team captain. I told him that I was not ready to take that responsibility often enough now, but he never let go of it.

Violet kept on babbling about fashion again and we all just tried to ignore it as always, but this mare always gets what she wants, so even fashion was a discussed topic. How does she do that all the time? I just look her in the eyes and suddenly find myself unable to say "no".

Smoky basically only informed us about his new batch of homegrown and that it is "really good fucking stuff".

Laughs were shared, jokes were made and drinks kept coming while the club filled more and more. Soon enough the words began to be slurred and the intensity of the discussions increased.

"No man, I swear, this stuff will blow. your. mind!" Smoky said while creeping very close to silver and tapping his forehead with a hoof for each of the last three words.

Silver laughed and pushed him away.

"Okay okay I got it smoky that really sounds like good stuff".

Smoky has always been a bit crazy and downright random, but we liked him for that and he really knew how to cheer someone up with a stupid joke on dark days.

After some more time, the alcohol level arrived at a point where sitting around and talking about stuff wasn't enough anymore. It was time to get this party started.

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"Wild Pegasus shots for everypony!" I shouted as I came back from the bar and arrived at the sitting corner, but no one responded me. I focused and saw two unicorn stallions and a pegasus mare staring back at me with an utterly confused expression.

"Oh, uh...wrong table hehe", I smiled sheepishly and quickly made my way to the right corner of the room.

The bar was situated in the Middle of the lounge area and one of four corners can be really confusing to find, okay? The blue neon tubes running along the walls didn’t help my orientation either.

I found our sitting corner and was greeted cheerfully. We made a toast and drank down the shots in one go, by now even Sunny looked exited and way more confident than usual. Oh, the wonders of alcohol.

“So what about some da-” I tried to suggest after putting down the shotglass

"Okay, it's time to fucking daaaance!" Smoky suddenly jumped up and made his way to the main area in a black blur.

"Hell yea! let's go Bolo," Trigger called out exitingly and dragged me along with his right foreleg.

This must have looked ridiculous, but at least this way none of us fell flat on his face on the way... again. Sunny, Silver and Violet followed us and soon the dancefloor had six more ponies dancing on it.

The music changed once again and I couldn't stop myself from dancing in middle of the crowd. The Dj stood at his mixing equipment on a big tribune in front of the moving audience and pumped his forelegs to the beat. He was a white Unicorn stallion with a spiked bright green mane, behind him an enormous screen showed flashy images which rocked to the tunes.

We danced on, our bodies guided by the music, furs of all colours brushed against each other, sweat was exchanged and the crowd seemed wild as ever. We were young, we had no worries, but what our grades may be or if we would be successful in our jobs one day.

It was a good life, but it lacked something. I should have been happy, but I wasn’t. As I danced, the idea of adrenaline rushing through my veins, being exposed to danger and having an adventure to talk about someday crept into my thoughts once again.

After a good while of dancing, I had to go to the restroom. I made my way down the entrance hallway, went through the door (of course after checking it was the one for stallions. I do not want to experience what happened once when I entered the wrong door again) and finished my business.

I checked myself in the big mirror and restyled my brown mane, all the sweat had messed it up pretty hard. My eyes fell on the blue neon lamps on top of the mirror and on the mounted speakers on each its sides, broadcasting the music at a much quieter volume than in the rest of the building.

"So, you want to have an adventure, huh?" a grey Stallion in a black jacket suddenly said directly next to me.

"Wha-me?" I replied a bit startled and turned to face him, noticing that forming full sentences or focusing on talking at all was already extremely difficult.

"Yes, you and your friends. I heard your talking in the lounge and now don't get me wrong, I am not a pony who likes to eavesdrop, but from what I heard you guys could really use a good adventure". He was looking at me with a cocky grin, and the way he said, "adventure" should have intrigued me enough to think about my next words. But unfortunatly I was completely wasted and thinking was not my strong point in that state.

"Hell yes, but mah friendz won't go becuz they are scaaared or something", I replied while trying to focus on my words.

"Don't worry my friend, I will give you a proposition they won’t be able to decline" he chuckled and his grin didn't fade for one second.

"Here, take those, they are Tickets for a flight to the Western Equestrian seas. It's easy, you meet up with the pilot at the Manehattan airfield tomorrow at 5 pm, you fly with the plane, jump out with a parachute, land on the Island and have a good time. There are plenty of places to check in and a boat will bring you back in two weeks".

If I were still in the condition to think clearly I would have noticed how absurd this offer was, but it was hard not to completely be absorbed by his smooth voice. Each word sounded like butter in my ears at this point.

I wanted to insist and tell him that tomorrow was a bit short timed, but he kept talking, grabbed me with his left foreleg and pointed the other one holding the cards towards the ceiling

"Just imagine it, a tropical island, full of things to explore, friendly natives that will fulfill all your wishes and more potential for an adventure then anywhere else".

I couldn't understand my luck. Here it was, right in front of me, the solution to my dull and monotone life, at least for two weeks.

"tis does sound really gud, but I dun have a lot of money an-"

"Oh, don't think about the money, they are free! Ponies hold together, don't they? And I can't stand to watch you and your friends being stuck in this never ending routine".

He led go of me and held the six tickets in front of me once again, his grin now as wide as it could possibly go. "So, what do you say? An Adventure? Or a decision you will regret for the rest of your life?"

I stared at the Tickets for a while, but deep down I already knew which option I would take. I quickly levitated the Tickets into my shirt pocket and was about to look up to the mysterious stallion again when I noticed that he was gone.

"oh uh...thanks?" I said to no one in particular and tried to process what just happened. The sound of a bursting door snapped me out of my thoughts.

"Hey bro, what are you doin' in here so long? You fell asleep again?" Trigger said as he stumbled into the room,

"C'mon, the others are buyin' moar drinkz and I know yu dun' wanna be left out".

I regained my composure and smiled "Yea, thiz night is far from beeing over".

We chuckled and made our way back to the left lounge area. I had no idea how to tell my friends that a random pony just gave me tickets for a trip that could finally bring some colour into our lives, but I decided to tell them tomorrow. I had doubts that any of them would understand it in their current state.
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Hours later it was beginning to get really late and we were quite exhausted from all the dancing so we decided to leave. We got our overcoats back and went out on the street in front of the club. The fresh air got a satisfying sigh from all of us and we said goodbye to each other before parting our ways.

Sunny decided to sleep at Smoky`s for the night, she was in no state to fly right now. Violet gave Silver a kiss and walked into the direction of her apartment. Silver then joined me and Trigger and we started our way back home, singing songs loudly through the streets on the way and fooling around. We kept those shenanigans going for a good while, but got interrupted rather loudly after a few blocks

"For Celestias sake, shut the fuck up, some ponies are trying to sleep here!" an old Earth pony stallion with bloodshot eyes shouted at us through an open window. We looked at each other and burst out into laughter, but increased our pace and stopped the singing.

We arrived at our house fairly quick and it only took Silver two minutes to open the lock with his key today, a new record.

Our house was a small concrete two story building and the only way to afford it was to live with each other. I was always close to my brothers, so this didn't bother me a single bit and I doubted that they had a problem with it either.

The only thing that could be seen as a problem is the fact that a household of three guys could not be described as the most organized one. Junk was omnipresent in every room and I don't even dare to describe the kitchen area. It was not pretty, trust me.

Silver switched on the lights and we moved to the upper floor which consisted of three rooms, all used as bedrooms, one for each of us. Silver had the biggest room, but he was always the one who made the most mess, so it was obvious that he would get it when we moved in.

“Nite Silver, nite Trigger,” I said and opened the left door in the hallway.

Silver waved goodbye, went into his own room and closed the door.

“Hey Bolo. Sorry for letting you down in the club man. I should have defended your idea,” Trigger spoke up before I could step completely into my room.

“I wanna have an Adventure too one day and I hope you know that. It was just-”

“Hey, Trigger", I interrupted him "no worries. I know that you do, and our Adventure is closer than you think, trust me. Now get some sleep”.

I gave him a pat on the back and he started moving down the hallway with a smile on his face.

I heard a quiet “Thanks Bolo” and shortly after his door closed.

I moved farther into my room and closed the door with a quick kick of one hind leg. My brothers and I didn’t have much money, hell, we could barely afford that small house, therefore our rooms were not really decorated in a fancy manner, except if dirty clothes and junk count.

My room consisted of a simple wooden closet, a bed and a desk with my computer. A lava lamp stood on my nightstand and lighted up entire room in colorful tones. The entire left side was devoted to my knife collection. Machetes hung on the wall and a wooden cabinet was filled with smaller knives of all sorts.

It was not only a cool hobby, but the tricks I learned as my collection grew also helped me in my ongoing career as cook. Besides, it also makes an awesome thing to show when you are in a bar. I cut myself quite often before I got the hang of it, but hey, what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger, right?

I made my way to the bed and threw myself on it to think about the events of the night. Why would some random pony give me Tickets to a Adventure trip, directly after we talked about it?

Should I just throw them away? No. I definitely wanted to do this. This was too much of an opportunity to just throw away. Sunny could need some action in her life, Smoky would go with us anyway and I would find a way to push Violet in the right direction, somehow.

No. This was an once in a lifetime opportunity and when life throws something as awesome as this at me, then I have to hold firm and do what I think is the best.

With these thoughts I went into a deep sleep.

Author's Note

Here is the prologue, I hope I didnt cut it too short. Don't worry if there is a lot of info missing, the characters will open up step by step and I want to give you, the reader, much freedom for interpretation, especially at the start of the story.

Feedback is always wished for and if you find a disturbing grammatical error feel free to PM me so I can fix it asap.

Big thanks to Craine for helping me out at the start of this. If it weren't for him, a giant clustered wall of error riddled and nonsensual text would have awaited you in this chapter and probably the entire story.

Chapter One: Takeoff

Author's Note

Okay, It took one month for this chapter, and I want to use the Author's Notes to tell you why. If you are not interested in my excuses feel free to just skip to the story. Feedback is, as always, wished for.

So it was a busy month for me. School is being a pain in the arse with exams and presentations, and I had to set priorities. When I finally had time two weeks ago, I caught a nasty virus and was bound to bed for over a week, together with the afterglow of the headache, finishing the chapter became a no-go. In addition, I had a lot of plotholes and little things to fill as I revisited the story, and the Thumbnail also had to be finished.

But now I am happy that I can finally release this chapter and move on to the REAL story. I tried to make things more interesting in this chapter, since I felt that the Prologue was too "dry", so, enjoy and let me know what you liked and didn't like!

Chapter One: Takeoff

FarNeigh

I ran for my life. The jungle stretched for miles, an endless bubble of trees and herbs surrounding me, making even the blue sky barely visible. Branches cracked on every step and plants brushed against my coat as I raced further. Only one direction seemed not to be blocked: straight ahead. I kept fleeing, not even knowing who my predators were or why I was here in the first place.

"You cannot run forever Bolo. Just give up", a dark, sinister voice boomed out of every direction.

Sweat trickled down my forehead and fear started to spread in my mind, sending shivers down my spine. What was this place? How did I end here? My thoughts got interrupted.

"It's over Bolo".

A black shadow sprang out of the green, directly into my path. It had the shade of a Wolf, with a coat that looked like it was bathed in black fire. It stared directly into my eyes, grinning and showing the sharp, dangerous, fangs. Salvia hung out of it's deep black mouth and red eyes stared into mine, full of hunger. It Seemed that "Bolo" was on the menu today.

To stop would mean to die and oh boy, did I want to stop, but something, a force, kept me moving. I sprinted towards the beast, machete floating next to me, ready to fight. Wait, where did that machete come from? It didn't matter. I needed to concentrate. Bring it on, monster!

I lunged at the black beast mid sprint, my weapon floating right above me, ready to stab my opponent. The beast seemed to be unimpressed, widening its's grin, not moving a single bit. I closed my eyes and waited for the moment I thought I would collide with it, hoping for the scream of agony and the sound of ripping flesh.

But I didn't collide with anything, and landed directly on my face loosing grip on the machete, sending it flying wide, into the never ending sea of green plants. The monster had disappeared. What was going on here?

I turned around, colours started to fade, my vision formed a tunnel.

"Is this all you got Bolo? Is this how a great warrior looks like? Pathetic".

My vision faded more and more. My world was black and white now, except of one colour, red. I looked around me and noticed that I was laying in a pool of blood, it was everywhere!

I wanted to stand up, move, escape from this hell, but I couldn't. I was locked in place and all I did was stare down the path I came from, where two very familiar red eyes started creeping closer to me.

"What is it Bolo? Feeling tired? Good. Then stay put and finally die!"

The pair of eyes never stopped moving. My world consisted of nothing but darkness and this beast, hungry, mouth hung open once again, ready to make the killing blow.

I closed my eyes, tears started to roll down my cheeks. I was going to die, by this monster, and I didn't even know where I was. Why was this happening? Where were my friends? I would never see them again. It didn't matter, I was done for. I lay down completely and prepared for the end.

I doubted that being ripped to pieces was an enjoyable death, but hey, there was worse.

Something caught my attention. A single glimpse of light could be seen, even through closed eyelids. I opened my eyes and turned my head to the direction of it.

Silver! It was Silver and Trigger and Sunny and-! They were all here!

A cone of light shone down on them, in middle of an ocean of blood and darkness. I felt my heart skipping a beat.

A chill spread over my body, and a quick glance confirmed that the monster was still moving towards me with hungry eyes. Only a few feet left between us. It sure was taking its time enjoying this.

"Silver! help me!" I cried out, desperately.

Silver did not move at first, but looked at me with a smile on his face, as did my other friends. Without a word he reached into a bush behind him and pulled out my machete. He threw it towards me and it landed directly next to my body, now shining in a bright light that seemed to have no exterior source.

"You can do it Bolo" Silver said in a calming voice.

"We are always here for you", Trigger Happy added.

"Yeah!" Smoky shouted from behind Sunny, "I don't like the other guys anyway, it would seriously suck without you!" He grinned like an idiot, but shrunk back quickly after Violet shot him a deadly look.

Tears of fear started to be replaced by tears of joy. My friends were here. I was not alone. I could do this!
Not wasting any time on channeling magic, I extended my right foreleg and quickly grabbed the shining machete. The Beast noticed my movement and increased its pace.

Yea, it's not so funny when the pray has a chance to fight, isn't it?

The dark form leaped at me, mouth wide open and forelegs pointed in my direction.

"You are weak, Bolo, weak! Just fucking die already!"

The leap was exactly what I was hoping for. I pointed the machete with the tip towards the sky, ready to stab anything coming from above. The Beast saw this and its expression turned to fear, but the jump was made and there was no way it could stop the inevitable.

I did not close my eyes this time. They were locked on the now pleading counterparts of my enemy. With a satisfying crunch the machete pierced the upper half of the beast, where the heart was. The face of the monster turned into a pained grimace as its chest connected with my blade. A deafening growl of agony echoed through an endless space, before the cry started to get quieter and quieter until it finally died down. I could feel a last breath from the monster lying on top of me and it went limb.

"You are mad, Bolo. Mad. You can't run forever, and you won't! You little fuck! YOU WON'T!", the voice boomed one last time and a loud thunder resonated in every direction.

The Beast, still weighting down on me, began to dissolve into black pieces. Colours came back into my vision and the wildlife around me blossomed again, now containing colourful flowers and birds, singing on the trees, while light shone through gaps in the wall of tree crowns. I watched the scene in front of me in awe, completely stunned by its beauty.

Warmth spread over my body and I stood up, facing my friends.

"We are always here for you, always!" Silver said, still smiling

"Thank you guys, thank you so much!"

"Oh, and in case you didn't notice", Smoky spoke up, "it's a friggin' dream, so get your flank out of the bed!"

Tears of joy streamed down my face as I chuckled. My vision faded once again into an endless white space and I woke up.
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BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

My alarm rang like a bomb siren in my head, I was drenched in sweat. Not even caring to open my eyes, I simply smashed on my nightstand until I hit the "Off" button on top of the clock.

Ahh, much better. I stayed like this for some minutes until the throbbing in my head seceded enough for me to open my eyes. I opened them ever so slowly and was greeted with the bright rays of Celestias sunlight shining through my window. My clock showed that it was 9 am. There was no way I would get back to sleep with the sun and this headache, so I sat up and tried to clear my thoughts.

"oooh, I will never drink again".

After finally managing to get out of the bed and putting a fresh shirt on, I moved down the stairs, still a bit wobbly on my legs. How much did we drink last night? It didnt seem like that much, but this hangover surely had achieved a spot on my top ten list.

I cut the corner to the kitchen area and saw my older brother standing at the kitchen counter as I entered.

"Here is my drinking star, had a good sleep?" Silver shouted with a devious grin after I took my place.

"Silver. Please. Just...okay?" I tried to form a sentence, but only single words croaked out of my mouth. "Can, can I just have a coffee and a box of painkillers, please?"

"Everything for you, you Master of the Longdrinks, King of the Sambuca shots, Element of-"

"Silver! For Celestias sake, I beg you. My head feels like somebody is having a rave party in there, the entire contents of my stomach are screaming to get out, and I had the weirdest dream of my life. So please, just make me a coffee and bring me the painkillers".

We always did this to each other. What is more amusing than teasing the next best pony with a giant hangover? Of course we never took it serious, it was just for fun after all, and it's ones fault for drinking too much anyway, but today was different. This dream I had, and the pain of a thousand suns in my head made it impossible to think straight and I simply was not in the mood for this.

The dream.

It felt so real, I never experienced something like this. I could still feel the overflow of emotions in my body, next to a lot of other, rather unpleasant things.

"Wow, last night must have really messed you up, a coffee and painkillers coming right up".

Silver looked a bit concerned now, and stopped the teasing, I was glad that he understood when to stop. Finally some good news.

"tnks", came my muffled response as I laid face down on the table, head between my forelegs.

Now was the time to recover, and to think about that damn dream that I couldn't get out of my head. Who was this dark voice shouting at me? Why did it feel so real? How did I-

"Bolo! Here you are, I was already wondering if you would ever come out of your room", Trigger Happy shouted cheerfully as he walked through the doorway. How in the world are these guys pulling off such an energy after that night?

"I tell ya, as long as you are alive, the whiskey industry won't go bankrupt, that's for sure!"

I was in hell.

"trger, plz", was all I could groan from between my forelegs as my head began to innerly explode again.

"haha, that bad?"

"Yep, little Bolo here really pushed himself last night", Silver said as he sat down on the opposite side of the table and shoved a mug of wonderful dark coffee and a glass of water with a dissipating painkiller tablet to me. I tried to levitate the glass, but once again pain shot through my head, as if my horn turned 180 degrees and was about to drill its way into my brain.

I decided to simply grab it with a hoof and the water went down with one go, as soon as the tablet completely dissolved.

"Welp," Trigger said and patted me on my back "I guess you're getting too old, was nice hanging out with ya, really good times", he chuckled and winked at me on his way to the doorway.

"But if you two would excuse me, I'm goint to practice and shoot some stuff, so I will see you two in three hours".

He was out of the room before I even could respond.

"Did, did he just call me OLD?" I asked Silver with an baffled look

"I hope not. If you are old, what am I?".

that brought a little laugh out of me. Ow, okay, resting, not laughing, I got it, brain.

The rest of the morning went over smoothly. I drank three cups of coffee, the painkillers kicked in after a while and one cold shower later I felt a lot better.

It was Sunday, which meant I had nothing to do, and I was really glad for it since it finally gave me time to think about the last night in peace. Sitting at my computer I tried to remind myself of the events. We drank a lot, danced a lot, Smoky got slapped by a mare he tried to hit on again. Pretty standard night.

My thoughts kept recapping little pieces of the last night when it hit me like a lightning bolt.

"The tickets. The mysterious stallion. five pm!" I cried out and a quick glance on my watch gave me a good reason to panic. It was three pm! If this entire ticket thing was not part of the wierd dream I had, then I was in a bit of a hurry.

"Fuckfuckfuckfuck".

I ran around my room, throwing clothes around and opening every drawer in the room, searching for my shirt from last night, devastating the floor even more in the process..

As I finally found the shirt, I immediately checked the pocket for the tickets, and took them out. Fortunately I seemed to not have lost them on the way home.

Good, Tickets check. Now comes the hard part. How do I convince 5 ponies to go with me on an adventure trip far away from home by jumping from a plane, which is leaving in less than two hours?

I looked at the tickets in my hoof and went through the offer again. Two weeks of action, on a tropical island, for free. This was insane. Why would anyone just throw around tickets for such a trip in a nightclub? Why us?

So many questions, but the biggest of them all was yet to even be asked. Would I even really try to go on this trip?

It was true that I wanted some action, but this seemed a bit too dangerous and risky, even for me.
Of course I wanted to give the other guys a chance to experience a real adventure and some time out of the city, but what if something would happen to them? or if one decided to just not come with me, would I go with only a part of my friends? or even alone?

University wouldn't start for another month, and Sunny was on vacation, nothing was holding us back. I just had to be convincing, really convincing.

The time kept ticking, a decision had to be made.

I turned off my computer, put the tickets in my shirt pocket and went downstairs again. My destination was the living area, where I could already see Silver and Trigger, returned from his shooting practice, laying on the big couch, watching TV.

I approached them and prepared for the next hours which would be able to change our lives.

"Hey guys. So, about that adventure we talked last night..."

________________________________________________________________________________

"I still can't believe you convinced me to do this", Silver said as we ran through the streets of Manehatten.

"Come on Silver, don't be so grumpy, it'll be fun!" Trigger answered for me, a bit out of breath.

The moment Silver finally agreed on coming with us we started to pack. I made sure to grab the most vital things I, and I hoped the others would have enough brain to do the same. Our destination was Violets house now, but calling a taxi would have taken too long so we had to run, and that was not easy with all these saddlebags. At least I and Trigger had our magic to make it a bit easier, poor Silver.

"I really hope it will be worth it, Violet is going to kill me for even asking her".

"Aw, come on Silver", my own breath was slowly running out too, levitating while running is not an easy task, "It's time you finally do what you like, she will have enough time to command you around once we are there".

"Yea, be the stallion in the relationship for once", Trigger added with a smirk

"You think that she is? and I am? and- oh, it is on!" Silver said and doubled his speed.

We had him exactly where we wanted to. Luckily Silver didn't care to turn around or he would have seen mine and Trigger's grinning faces of victory.

We arrived at Violets house fairly sweated and gasping for air, and it took us a minute to regain our ability to speak before we knocked on the door.

"yes, hello?" Violet said opening the door, "oh no, what are you doing this time?" She seemed to have noticed our saddlebags and offroad clothes and already looked pissed.

"Violet, baby! you uh- remember that idea of us having a bit more action in our lives, right?"

"What are you doing?"

"Well, you see, I gave it a bit more thought, and then Bolo had this great thing just ready to go and-"

"What. Are. You. Doing?", once again, the stare of a million deaths aimed directly into Silvers eyes.

I could see he was beginning to get really uncomfortable with this, and it looked like he was going to back out again, but he held his composure and retorted the stare into the eyes of his marefriend

"Pack your stuff Violet, we are going on holidays!"

________________________________________________________________________________

We only had one hour left when we arrived at Smokys place. Violet kept talking about paying Silver back and that this will have consequences on the way, but that's just the way she worked. I was sure she would realize how awesome this idea was once we arrived.

I rang the doorbell and waited for Smoky to arrive. Doubts were already forming inside my head. What if he wasn't even there? What if Sunny flew home already? there was no way we could get to her in time.

An opening door interrupted my thoughts.

"Hey guys, what's u-", he stared blankly at us and our packed belongings

"Isn't it a bit early for camping?"

"No camping. Is Sunny still here?" I asked in a harsh tone. We were really running out of time here.

"Uh yea, but what is this?"

"We're goin' on vacation, jungle, action, go pack we meet here in ten minutes, plane leaves in less than an hour, no time, ran long to reach you in time".

All this running really worked me out, It was hard to speak full sentences without gasping for air, and it didn't seem like the others were better off. Except Silver, but he has always been strongest of us three anyway.
.
He looked at me for several seconds, I could see the gears grinding in his head by looking at his face alone. Had I been too direct? I was about to snap him out of it when he regained his composure,

"You know, you could've just used the phone, right? To tell me?".

The phone. I didn't once consider the damn phone.

Now it was our turn to look at each other.

Did Smoky just outsmart us? SMOKY? Violet in particular looked as if she just wanted to dissapear in a black hole out of emberassment and her blush was clearly showing. But no time for this, we could bemoan this incident later, and since no one of us wanted to deal with Smoky and his now quickly growing grin of absolute victory, only one thing was left to do.

"Smartass", we said in unison and went inside.

His place was a mess, and when even I consider something as a mess, than it really, really was. The entire interior looked like the home of Discords messy twin brother, no scratch that, it looked like Discords messy little brothers cubbyhole, the sight was amazing and disgusting at the same time.

Violet nearly fainted from the view alone, fortunately I and my brothers were used to his place, so we only grimaced once. Nothing in existence should be possible to habituate to such a mess. Nothing except Smoky apparently.

He immediately began to pack with the aid of Silver and Trigger, while I and Violet went into the guestroom. I nearly tripped on a definitely used bong on my way, but we reached it unharmed. Smokys mess was already an adventure in itself, we could just try to stay here for two weeks.

Nah, that was too dangerous, no one except Smoky himself would survive that.

Entering the room I immediately noticed something different. It was clean!

The entire floor was clear of objects, the walls were without stains and even the window curtains looked like they have been washed for once. My jaw dropped to the ground. Sunny did all this?

"S-Sunny?"

"oh, hey", came a muffled tone from the inside of a big wooden wardrobe.

Sunny stepped out of it and checked the interior again before closing it.

"Alright, finally finished, you wouldn't believe the shock I had after waking up in here! I've been cleaning since I woke up".

I slept in this room often enough to think that actually cleaning it could only be done by Alicorn magic. I checked Sunnys flank to make sure that her cutie mark didn't change, and indeed, the bright sun with a smiling face was still at the same spot on her light-yellow coat.

"Don't be so surprised, I just couldn't stand this mess. So, what's up? Are you going on a camping trip?"

I was about to explain everything, but could stop myself in time. There was no way I would convince Sunny the same way as the others. She has always been a rather shy pony and I knew that traveling was definitely not on her list of hobbies. A careful approach was necessary.

"Actually, yes! We're going camping!"

I could see Violets glance from the corner of my eye, but I just gave her the "just play along" eyes.

"And you will come with us".

As soon as I finished the sentence Sunnys eyes shrunk to pinpricks, but I just smiled. I knew what to do.

________________________________________________________________________________

Twenty minutes left.

The airport was pretty far away, so we decided to take a cab, there was no way we could have reached it in time running. The plan was to meet up with sunny at the parking lot, she would pack her stuff on our drive. I always envied Pegasi, they save so much money with their wings.

The traffic was dense, and time was running out as we drove through the busy streets. The designer boutiques and nobel restaurants looked busy as always. I could see Violet staring after each shop we passed, she was a proud city pony, and I couldn't blame her for already missing the world she was used to, but hey, some time out of city would do her good.

We arrived at the Airport with five minutes left on the clock. Sunny already stood near the giant glass clad entrance building, waving at us. It was a alien sight seeing such a cute Pony in this kind of outfit, but she seemed calm, which was definitely not the case when I slowly told her everything about the trip back at Smokys place. Big Planes were landing and taking off around us, I even saw some Airpony 800's!

There was no time to admire the scenery though.

"okay, listen up",

I played last night back over and over, but couldn't find any info on how to find the pilot or our flight in any way, so there was only one option left

"We have less than five minutes left to get to a information counter, ask for our flight, find it and get it in time. Good? Good. Let's go".

We ran through the big glass entrance doors and across the entry hall. Everywhere ponies looked at us, and I couldn't really blame them, six ponies dressed up for a Jungle trip running through a crowd of suited up business ponies.

"Uh, can I help you?" the unicorn receptionist mare addressed us, clearly confused.

"Yes, we have a flight to catch, it's really important. The departure is in two minutes, five pm. to the Western seas".

"Okay, let me see...ah yes, here it is, there is a flight taking off on the old runway number nine, but-"

I couldn't hear any more of her words, since I was already running towards the Gate area, with my friends following close behind. One minute, we could still do this.

I cut the corner at runway number nine and nearly tripped. Goddess this was a long hallway, I doubted that we were even near the main complex anymore.

Exiting the door marked "9" verified my thoughts. We found ourselves quite far away from the main runways, in front of us was just a long dirt runway and a little wooden shack. A sound of glee escaped my mouth when I saw a propeller plane waiting on the runway.

We quickly made our way to the shack and I wasted no time knocking as I entered it. The interior seemed to be a improvised office, with a simple wooden desk and a lot of paperwork randomly stuffed into lockers. A grey unicorn Stallion was sleeping on a chair behind the desk.

I rang the little bell next to a sign that spelt "Safe Flight - Pilot".

Safe Flight huh? I hoped he would live up to that name. The stallion woke up, clearly startled..

"Oh, uh", he cleard his throat before speaking up, "my Name is Safe flight, how can i help you?"

This smooth voice, I recognised it. The grey fur, those green eyes. Had the mysterious pony from last night been a unicorn? I didn't remember, and I had more important things to deal with anyway.

"Hi, My name's Bolo, these are Sunny, Silver, Smoky, Violet and Trigger Happy, we were told to catch a flight at five pm?"

"Oh, so you are the Hoof Island group! Nice to meet you all, but what are you talking about? Five?"

"I was told the plane would leave at five!"

"Nonono, this baby isn't starting for another hour or so".

Another hour. This entire time, we still had an entire hour left.

I dropped to the ground, and heard five bodies doing the same behind me.

Safe Flight leaned over his desk.

"Uh, we can also start in two if you want"

I swore myself to never be punctual again.

One hour later we sat inside the plane, which seemed to be an old modified version of the Neigh-Antonov. It sure seemed to be well preserved for its age, on the outside at least, the interior looked like it had been shot apart several times already, and only the benches on which we sat seemed to have any stability at all.

I had nothing to do and checked my gear for the fourth time now, just to make sure.

Clothes, check. Provisions, check. Passport and money, check. My most trustworthy machete and a bowie knife, just in case, double check. I had everything I needed.

Safe Flight`s voice sounded out of the on board loudspeakers.

"Attention dear passengers here is your captain speaking, we are about to start. The safe exits are to your left and right or any other hole you can find to climb out. In case of an oxygen dropdown nothing will drop from the ceiling, so just hold your breath or something, and if you look under your bench you will find a swimming vest...wait, I forgot those, alright, no swimming vests, but hey we are just trespassing a ocean, it's not like we will encounter any water",

He chuckled. We didn't. Atleast I wasn't only one thinking that his humor really lacked the funny part.

"Anyway, have a comfortable flight and fasten your seatbelts, the ones that are still usable that is".

The engines roared and started to hum, soon we were in the takeoff position and our speed increased. Ironically Sunny looked the most fearful, after all, she was the one with wings. The little "speech" of our pilot didn't seem to have calmed her down either.

We closed in to the end of the runway and soon the tingling sensation of the start ran through my body. I closed my eyes and started daydreaming about the next two weeks. The sun. The beaches. The action!

I didn't regret anything. This was going to be awesome. This was going to be good.

Chapter Two: Skyfall

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter Three: Exploration

FarNeigh

Freedom.

If one word could describe my feelings in the moment after the jump from the plane, it would be freedom. Cold wind rushed through my mane, while the sun warmed me up with its warm rays of blissful light,urther increasing my excitement. Not a single cloud dared to block the sky.

I opened my eyes, and gasped, for I had never before witnessed this kind of beauty. The blue ocean stretched around me, far beyond the horizon and in middle of this beautiful, endless ocean of blue, an island stood, which I was getting closer to by the second.

Jungle stretched for miles, all shades of green greeted my sight, only disrupted by what seemed to be small settlements, impressive ancient ruins and a giant grey mountain cluster, white Snow glistening on top of each.

"Yeeehaaaa", Smoky rushed down next to me, making me stop eye-balling the island.

Looking around me I now saw my friends, also dive bombing towards the island, ready to open their parachutes and get on this adventure with me. The only one without a chute was obviously Sunny, she just glided down with full speed, grinning and visibly happy to be out of that plane. I couldn't blame her.

"This is fucking awesome!" Trigger shouted from my left.

"It's just starting!" I shouted back, hoping he would hear me, "race to the shore, onetwothreego!"

With this I put my body in a straight position downwards and increased speed. My doubts about Trigger hearing me were quickly relinquished when he overtook me with what seemed like light speed. Oh it was on.

Aerodynamic was the key here, and I knew how to use it. Shifting my body in an optimized position I slowly caught up to my little brothers silhouette, before passing him. I took the time to look back up to him and wave my hoof before turning back down and diving towards the now fairly close island.

Details like the light blue colour of the water near the shores, or small islands cluttered all around came to view now. Beautiful bays and bright sand of the shores dominated the outskirts of the main island, ranging from high and rocky to low and sandy. I even saw some waterfalls crushing down into the water.

I didn't want to be at any other place at that moment.

"hey slowpoke"

I turned my head to look up but was greeted with a grinning Trigger rushing past and taking the lead. Shifting every bit of relevance of my body, I gained even more speed, and got closer to him one again. Our friends seemed to take it a bit slower since they were nowhere to be seen.

As I got closer and closer to my brother, I noticed that there was still a solid ground below us, and that we were moving directly at it.

I moved a bit and aimed for the shore.

"Trigger, time to open the chutes!"

He didn't care to turn into my direction, but I still heard him enough to understand what he said.

"Nice ruse bro".

I would lie if convincing him to open his parachute first wasn't atleast a bit of a ruse to win, but my concerns about crashing into the ground were real too. I knew Trigger, and this was exactly why I proceeded to open my parachute and started to glide down. I was sure he would have risked to hit the ground relentlessly to be the winner, and I didn't want to push it.

With the sound of my opening parachute, Trigger turned his head, and he gave me a smug grin before opening his own. We both now glided down towards the glistening shore on a same height level, our expressions matched each other perfectly, we just stared at our destination wide-eyed.

Soon after a sound caught my attention, I looked upwards and saw that the rest of my friends caught up and opened their parachutes while sunny was gliding down with both wings spanned out. I did worry a lot before jumping about us dispersing and getting lost on the way down, landing on different places, but seeing that everybody was here made me quickly forget about these thoughts.

"Let's see if you remember how to land", Trigger called to my right and I saw him preparing for the landing maneuver. I swallowed hard, he was right, I did not remember a lot about landing at all. Jumping down is easy enough, but landing without braking a bone? I shivered from the memories of all my failed attempts in the past.

There was no way i would give him that satisfaction though. The ground was just a few feet away now, I leaned back and prepared for the touchdown. When I felt the sandy surface I shifted back forwards and prepared for the landing roll I learned year ago. Left hoof, right hoof and- in a matter of seconds I was entangled into the parachute threads and stumbled over the shore.

The world was spinning around me and I thought it would never end, luckily a palm tree stopped me with a rather painful collision. I knew I halted but still the world around me spun and it took me a minute to regain all my senses. Finally being able to move and think straight I fumbled myself out of the miserable ball of cloth and threads I came to be.

Of course I knew what would be the first thing to greet me. A grinning Trigger Happy standing in front of me, without even a scratch, in the background the rest of the group landed without problems, Sunny, again, just gliding down softly to the ground. I really wished I was a Pegasus in that moment.

"Trigger. I love you, but if you say one thing I will personally kick you back to Manehattan, you understand that?".

He was really fighting to not give comment, I could see it, but after a few breaths he calmed himself enough to speak without risking to burst out in laughter. He simply turned around and started to walk towards our friends.

"On second thought though...Nice landing bro", with this he began to ran while giggling and laughing like a filly.

"TRIGGEEEER!"

__________________________________________________________________________________

20 minutes later and we were still walking down the shore towards our destination: A little holiday compound. At least this confirmed that Hoof island was as big as it looked, just the shore itself seemed to stretch forever. One time we arrived to some signs signed "Trespassing forbidden" and marked with a red pony skull, we assumed that maybe some deadly animals were at that point and happily used a secondary path to walk around it.

Even if everything seemed deserted and without civilization, the sound of a vehicle could be heard from time to time, and the omnipresent dark smoke clouds raising from all directions reminded us that settlements and pony life was on the island. Sunny was having the best time, looking at the different plants and animals on our path, but I admit that even i felt something magic from this environment, the singing birds and contrast of all colours really gave everywhere we went a unique look.

Half an hour and another "Trespassing forbidden" sign later we arrived at a small compound situated at the edge of the shore, between sand and jungle. It was no five star hotel, but after examining it we concluded that everything was in order. A fireplace for food and warmth, two rather large barracks with beds and cabins, as well as what seemed to be a office or workroom of some sorts in the 2nd floor of both. A garage stood between the two other buildings and a wooden fence that looked like it couldn't even stop a dog from entering, as it was full of holes and broken parts, making it acessible from virtually everywhere, encircled everything.

It was when we almost finished unpacking our belongings around our claimed sleep areas (we settled on using a single barrack, it was easier to organize and to keep warm) we heard Silver giving a shout of joy.

"Guys, guys!", he came running into the room, "you will never believe me what I just found".
He led us into the garage which apparently wasn't locked and made us form up in front of a cloaked pile of equipment, except that it was no equipment at all.

"Voilà!", he tore down the piece of cloak on top and revealed a beautiful and apparently well preserved Jeep Mustang in front of us. It was painted in a light brown colour with a slight military pattern, the back cover was removed and a spare wheel could be found in the designated place at the rear of the vehicle. While the mares in the room just raised an eyebrow or seemed to be happy that we found a way to travel, the jaws of us stallions dropped.

"Didn't they stop building those a hundred years ago? Oh Celestia, this is beautiful, lets make a tour! Let's make a race! Oh man this is awesome!"

"Smoky, contain your orgasm please, we don't even know if its working, but you are right, shes a beautiful lady, isn't she" Silver said, patting the chasis of the vehicle, "we could drive up mountains with this thing, it packs some serious power, how could someone leave it here?"

"Because it's old", Violet said quickly.

"Because its loud", Sunny followed.

"Or maybe because somepony called it beautiful Lady in front of his marefriend?"

A certain pair of eyes was now clearly focused on Silver.

"C'mon Violet, heh, you know how I meant it, I mean, uh-", ah yes, if there was one thing not so Silver about my brother it was his toungue.

"I see", Violet seemed to be unconvinced, "well, lets go Sunny, we will leave our car fetishists alone with their newest object and finish unpacking".

Silver didn't even have time to respond before they left the room.

"pff, mares, right?", Silver asked pleadingly.

"Yea, totally, man, mares, dude...", we all responded.

"Now, who wants to help me in testing if this badboy is still kickin'?"

A collective smile followed his question.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

"IT'S ALIVE! YES!" Smoky gleefully shouted from the driver seat.

After rolling the Jeep out in the open, we tried to make a immediate start, which unfortunately resulted in a loud explosion and a rather big smoke cloud coming out of the engine, but now, two hours later, we finally found the problem and our baby was running as she was supposed to. We even named her: "Explorer I".

"Guys", Silver appeared between me and Trigger and put a foreleg on each of our necks, "I cant believe it, we finally repaired this boneheaded thing. Mhmm, and listen to that sound".

Silver was right, the strong engine was sounding like a beast. And apparently we were not the only ones who at least noticed our new asset.

"I knew these things were loud, but this is insane" Violet shouted from the door frame of our sleeping barrack. "I can barely hear my own thoughts!"

I bet she could.

"It isn't that bad, you're just grumpy because we interrupted "my ladies" nap", I shouted back.

"You have to be kidding me, this is monstrous!"

It wasn't.

"It isn't, now get Sunny and prepare yourselves, were going on a tour".

"Ugh, fine", she waved a dismissive gesture into my direction but I knew she and Sunny would be ready in a bit.

"And now I officially dub you, Explorer One!",

"No Smoky do-"

It was too late, he had already smashed a bottle of wine against the Jeep before I could even fully turn, the red fluid soaking in on some spots and changing the scent from old to, well, red wine.

We really couldn't do anything except face hoof at this point.

"What? I dubbed it, isn't this how it works?"

I took the job of answering him, through my hoof, still planted on my face.

"Smoky. you only do that with ships. And even then you don't just use our only bottle of wine!"

"Aww, come on, it will bring us luck, you will see!"

"Let's hope it will. For your sake".

Smoky actually dubbing the vehicle made me wonder why no one else does it. I mean sure, the Explorer I seemed to have a decent paint and chasis quality, and It didn't seem to have take any damage from the collision, but maybe one just had to use special bottles for casual cars so they wouldn't get a scratch? We had no more red wine, but at least now I could imagine that luck was on our side, and I was almost sure the others maybe thought the same way. Gotta stay positive, right?

"So, we are heading out or what?" Violet called from my side, with Sunny hovering above us.

With Sunny and Violets arrival nothing held us back to begin. We already had everything we needed on our bodies and decided to go immediately. Of course Violet wore her Military painted Bonnie, but I had to admit that it actually matched with the colour of the jeep and didn't look as out of place as every single other time I saw her wearing it.

This did not help to distract from the rest of Violets appearance, which was definitely way to classy for a trip through the jungle. Her mane was perfectly clean and styled, and her clothes...since when did those labels even make clothes like that?

Silver insisted on Driving, Smoky on sitting in the front row and the mares took the seats in the back, while I and Trigger took the places on the load space. It wasn't the most comfortable place, but there was a great view and enough means to hold on, so it didn't bother me at all.

"Okay", Silver started the engine with a powerful roar, "Let's see what this island has to offer!".

With these words and spinning wheels we drove on to our first exploration tour on Hoof Island.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

It took us only an full hour to get completely and utterly lost. The seemingly endless jungle with its hundreds of dirt roads left us all without a clue of our current position. Thank Celestia Violet found a map inside our sleeping barrack before we started driving or else panic would have been guaranteed.

But even without orientation, the jungle was a sight to behold. Giant trees ranging high to the sky, colourful plants and flowers I never saw before and even some of the wildlife presented itself to us. Majestic four legged creatures, with two horns roamed through the few open field spaces we saw. A Pack of wolves rushed through some bushes close to the road, apparently looking for prey. The most interesting creature that came to view though was a cat like animal, nearly resembling a lion, but with a completely dark fur and predatory eyes. I only caught a glimpse of it, but it looked dangerous and beautiful at the same time.

I didn't know much about animals, so I never knew if any of the creatures I saw also existed back home, but the sheer amount and diversity presented here was amazing.

We drove on the paths in moderate speed, to make sure to not miss anything, and only stopped when Sunny was telling us to.

"STOOOP!" And once again Silver hit the break relentlessly, nearly throwing me and Trigger off the Jeep.

"Sunny, what is it this time?" Silver asked with a annoyed tone in his voice.

Sunny jumped out of the jeep and hovered to a red flower next to the road. As I focused on the flower I noticed the little hummingbird sitting on top of it.

"Guys, this is a Linesis Lodigesia, I thought it was extinct, not a single one lives in Equestria anymore!".

"Boooorin-ungh" Smoky yawned with stretched out forelegs before getting a hoof of Silver in his stomach, cutting off his breath before ending his complain.

Sunny, not showing a reaction to Smokys comment, was still staring at the rest of us with big eyes, really fascinated by this little creature. Unfortunately it was one of those moments when I had absolutely no idea what to say.

"Uh, sweet, good to know", I started.

"Yea, I really like its....colour?" Violet tried before it was Silvers turn.

"Indeed, it's-"

"Oh Celestia, this is AWESOME!" Smoky suddenly shouted while getting out of the vehicle, startling all of us. He did not move to Sunny tough, but quickly trotted to a group of big, blue, flowers with an orange outlining at the edge of the road.

"Guys, do you even know what these are?"

"Uh...", I began but got cut off quickly, I should have known that it was a rhetoric question.

"These are Blue Devils! Oh, this is going to be awesome~", he chanted while stuffing one of his saddlebags full of the blue and orange blossoms, his eyes eying every piece he took, "trust me, this stuff will blow your mind!".

Yep, that's Smoky for you. While Sunny enjoyed the beauty of plants, Smoky worshipped the things you could do out of plants. Heck, neither of us was innocent on that matter, but that pony could make you anything you needed for a party if you gave him enough time and maybe a hint where to find the ingredients.

"Welp", I started, "Since Sunny has her hummingbirds and Smoky has his plants, I call that we make a break, I want to see whats behind that curtain of Bushes and trees".

I jumped off the back of our vehicle and stretched my legs with a long sigh, it really was uncomfortable up there.

"So, Trigger, Silver, want to join me?" I asked while grabbing a backpack from the loading space and strapping it on my back.

"You didn't even had to ask!" Trigger Happy shouted with glee and joined my side.

"Nah, you kids go and play in the jungle, I, uh, I'm gonna see what this Blue devil stuff is all about". Silver answered, visibly awkward due to Violet already beginning to realize what this was leading up to.

I began moving to the tree line with Trigger, but before I even crossed the first bushes Violet shouted at all of us:

"And what am I supposed to do?!"

It was a good question, but I knew the answer. I didn't want to leave Silver to her like this, so I answered.

"Have a snack and find a way back to the compound, sounds fun? Okaybai", I shouted back with a awkward smile and maybe, just maybe, a bit of a mocking tone in my voice. Not wanting to deal with the consequences I just increased my pace and moved further into the green wall, my little brother trotting eagerly at my side.

I could only Imagine Violets pissed off face in that moment. Was I feeling her stare in the back of my head? It sure felt like it, good that I was clever enough not to turn around.

____________________________________________________________________________________

A few minutes later, trigger and I were deep inside the jungle. I kept checking the compass I had strapped to my right foreleg, the last thing I wanted was to be lost in a jungle on my first day here. The rest of my concentration was focused on admiring the world around me, seeing, smelling and hearing the wonders of this island.

Every twig that cracked under our hooves, every animal that hushed through the bushes or flew from a tree, each sound of the birds, not visible in the trees, was just wonderful. Even the exotic smell of the mixed flora was interesting to me. I could see Trigger from the corner of my vision, watching his surroundings with the same awe as myself.

"Dude, this is awesome...I don't know how to thank you enough for this".

As Trigger started to speak I noticed that we didn't say a word since our first steps inside the tree line.

"Thank me?" I said and stopped.

"Yea, it was your idea after all, you bought the tickets-", I could recall most of the things that happened that night at this point and knew very well that I didn't "buy" them, but I decided to stay quiet, I didn't want to imagine how he and the others would react to such a lie, especially Silver, so I just nodded, "-started the whole thing and now you led us here, to this awesome place."

It wasn't often that my little brother got all emotional like this, but I guess the atmosphere of the jungle had a interesting effect on him.

"I didn't want to bring it up with the others, since I'm not sure if all of them are having a blast like I do, but I had to thank you, so again, thanks bro". He extended a hoof to me and I gladly bumped it.

"No problem Trigger, I'm sure the others are having fun too, I know I do."

I gave a little awkward cough and continued.

"Now, lets talk about how the pony known as Trigger Happy got so sentimental all over sudden, man, you nearly brought me to tears!"

Even before the last word escaped my mouth I ran further into the eastern direction, laughing loudly.

"Oh you- come here!!", was all I heard before he rushed after me, now laughing himself too.

Both of our laughter died down quickly though, as we didn't pay attention and stumbled out of the dense jungle into a huge clearing. Except it wasn't a clearing at all, it was a huge stone complex, with huge pillars at the edges of a square area, in the center of it a platform with what seemed like a big stone altar on top of it, stood a bit elevated. There were no roofs of any sort.

"Whoah", was all Trigger said, I for my part was literally speechless.

The Stonework was impressive. Every single pillar and ground tile was engraved and had ornaments. The numerous green tendrils surrounding and growing through the stone only added to the looks.

"Dude, this must be some kind of ancient ruin or something".

Smoky began to take slow steps towards the center of the complex. I wasn't really sure what to do at that moment. Yes, I was here for adventures, but I just had a bad feeling about it. I reluctantly followed him, always keeping my eyes on the surroundings. As we got closer to the center, I also began to make out more of the engravings on the pillars.

They showed all kinds of creatures, ponies, griffons and even what seemed to be a dragon. The pillar closest to me had some kind of, battle, engraved, while another apparently told the story of a dragon, who spit fire into the ocean? I couldn't really follow these things, and I had more important things on my mind at that time anyway.

I swallowed and finally opened my mouth.

"This sure is a interesting place. What do you think they did here?" I said without looking in front of me and ended up bumping into Trigger who had stopped and now was looking directly at the altar, his mouth hung open and his eyes had a slightly horrified look.

"What is i-" I started to say, but as I followed his gaze, I too noticed the bones on top of the Altar and a small shiver overcame my body. These were bones of a pony!

"Bolo, I don't know about you, but this place is giving me the creeps, we should bounce".

I was creeped out as well. Not only because of the bones and what seemed to be blood stains surrounding it, but from the sound of what movement around us.

"Yea, I think Violet should have figured out how to get back by now anyway. So, lets go".

Just as we began moving back from where we came from, the sound of rustling bushes could be heard again, and then I saw them. A pair of red eyes stared at me through the darkness of the dense jungle, then another one, and another, soon I counted four of them lingering there and staring at us, their growls already echoing through the ruins we were standing in.

Trigger obviously had spotted them too, as he was visibly getting nervous and trembled slightly. This was not how I envisioned our first trip out here at all. We should have taken the initiative and just ran back to our truck, as fast as possible. Unfortunately our bodies refused to do that right now, and all I could was was slowly move backwards back to the altar, Trigger was following me with the same moveset.

"B-Bolo?".

"It's gonna be okay Trigger, stay close to me".

Meanwhile the numerous red eyes moved out of the bushes and plants and showed themselves. Five wolves, their height ranging up to my neck and their coats grey as stone, were encircling us. It was the first time I found myself face to face with such a creature, I heard about these and other creatures before, yes, but you do not encounter these kind of animals in a big city, and actually standing in front of five of those beasts, their mouths already salivating from hunger and still eyeing us as the prey we were, was a completely different thing.

They walked in a circular motion around us, and soon me and Trigger found ourselves bumping against the disgusting altar, having no more space to retreat. Instinctively I began unsheathing my machete with my magic, making sure to not make any too drastic movements or use a lot of magic and startle the beasts for an early attack.

There it was, the slightest twitch in the leg of one of the wolves, in a matter of milliseconds it made a leap for me, but I knew what to do.

"Gah!".

I dodged to the side just in time for the wolf to miss me, giving me an opportunity to magically finish unsheathing my machete in the progress. I knew I had no other choice, so I took a swing without regrets, slicing a long wound in the hind leg of the wolf, now laying on the ground, stumbling to get up after the failed attack.

As soon as my blade connected with its flesh, splashing a streak of blood onto my white coat, it cried out a whine, having a immediate effect on its companions. In a single motion the other wolves began rushing towards us, bloodlust in their eyes.

"Bolo!".

I turned my head, and for a split second everything I saw was the hungry mouth of a wolf, followed of said wolf being thrown to the side by a white blur, an instant later Trigger was wrestling the wolf, that was just inches away from biting my face of, on the stone floor.

"Ahh, there are more coming!", he shouted using his fore hooves to keep the fangs of the beast on distance.

I wanted to finish what I had started, and do the killing blow to the wolf I had struck into the leg, who was now laying in a growing puddle of blood, but with two more incoming, I couldn't risk leaving Trigger there. I decided to meet one of the wolves mid way, using my machete to created a shield and block the anticipated leap towards me. With a crunch the grip connected with the jaw of the creature.

The only things that kept me from utterly loosing my mind in despair and disgust at this whole turn of events was the adrenaline rushing through my veins, and my little brother, which I had to protect.

The entire complex we were fighting in was now filled with our groans of fighting and the whining and growling of the canine creatures taking blows and cuts from me and Trigger.

I was just about to turn to the next wolf, already charging my direction, when I heard it.

BLAM

A loud bang resonated, followed by a loud whine and a body hitting the floor. Everything went silent after that, even the wolf I was about to fight with stopped in its track. I quickly looked in the direction of the bang and saw Trigger standing in front of the limp body of a wolf, a smoking gun was floating next to him, encased by his orange magic aura.

For the longest time we both looked around us, waiting for a reaction from the pack, now reduced to three, one of them wounded. After what felt like the longest time, one of the wolves let out a loud growl into the air, and with this they retreated and dispersed back into the tree line, one of them limping and whining, but apparently afraid enough to ignore its pain and going as fast as possible.

Seconds later we were alone again, one of the wolves laying on the stone floor, its head showed a bullet hole and a large puddle of blood was forming around it, dripping down the little stairs leading to the elevated altar. For a while all we could do was pant, then I regained enough breath to speak again.

"You...you packed your gun?!"

He was still under shock, but could answer.

"Yea, you never know", he shot a glimpse at the dead wolf, "what you may run into when you travel, right?".

All the tension of the past minutes faded, and I sat on my haunches to calm myself. My coat was full of blood stains, I had taken a good amount of scratches and even a bite in the shoulder, having left marks which were still slightly bleeding. Trigger got away much better, his shirt and backpack were torn up like mine, but he seemed to have avoided any damage at all and was storing away his gun inside his backpack.

"Yes, right...thanks Trigger, I think you just saved us both", with a weak chuckle I added, "and here I was thinking I had to protect you".

"Oh, don't be like that bro", he said moving to me, "you're just getting...old".

For a second I couldn't react at all, but soon ended up in a small laughter, and Trigger joined me shortly after.

"We should really go back, I do not want those wolves to get their friends and come back, I'll clean myself up on the way".

"What are we saying about the clothes and the...wound?", he pointed at my shoulder.

It did hurt, now that the adrenaline was fading, but it wasn't something I could not live with.

"We just fell down somewhere, I hurt my shoulder, we will cover it. Now come on, you hit that one, but lets not push our luck".

I began moving back into the western direction, and heard a small "hey! Whatcha mean with luck?!" before Trigger trotted after me, back to our vehicle.

If only we had known that another set of eyes had been watching us for a long time already.
________________________________________________________________________________

After twenty minutes of walking, cleaning, and thinking about better excuses for our appearance, we finally reached the road where our vehicle was parked on. We quickly spotted the rest of our friends. Smoky was giving Sunny and Silver some prayer about exotic plants, still sitting on his haunches next to his beloved "blue devil", while Violet sat in the Jeep, just looking utterly bored and annoyed.

"Hey guys, we are back!", I said, waving a foreleg and everybody moved to us or got back into the car.

"Ugh, finally, I just want to get ba- what in Celestias name happened to you?!", Violet said in a shocked tone as she saw my bandaged shoulder and our torn clothes.

"Ah, that, its just some scratches, we, uh, fell from a little cliff, yea".

"mhmmmm, riiiight", Violet looked at us with suspicious eyes, Silver too, "well, since you kiddos are finished playing in the dirt, can we go back to the compound please?".

"Thats probably the best idea, I'm getting hungry", I looked up to the sky real quick, "and I also think sunset can't be too far away anymore".

We took our places in the Jeep again, this time I really wasn't happy about the loading space, it was going to be a painful ride with my wounds on this uncomfortable place. Silver shot me a last suspicious look, before starting the engine with a roar again, and moving back the way we drove along go get here. Violet sat on the front passenger seat, holding the map and giving him directions. From my place I could see a red route marked on the map from my place, leading from a position on the eastern side of the island, our current position apparently, back to the shore south where our compound had to be.

The ride back went relatively calm. I fought against the pain in my shoulder on the loading space, but was still able to admire the environment a bit more. The wolf attack did not set back my mood by a single bit. It was dangerous, it was stupid, it was my fault, but in a twisted, even insane way, its exactly why I came here for!

Only the fact that I put my brother in danger nagged at me. I would kick myself forever if anything happened to my friends on here. It would be entirely my fault.

An hour later and we arrived back at the compound, parked the Explorer inside the garage and prepared for the evening. The sunset was slowly kicking in, and we needed a fire to cook our provisions and warm us up, the evening breeze was colder than I had expected.

"what about you prepare everything and me and Bolo here go and find some wood for the fire?", Silver didn't wait for an answer, "Sounds good? Okay lets go!"

with this he dragged me along to the beginning of the jungle, a bit away from the buildings. As we arrived he didn't say a word and began picking up dry branches and twigs from the ground. I did the same with my magic, unsure what to say, waiting for him to relieve me form this awkward situation. He finally started speaking.

"Bolo, you know why I took you here", he said with a stern tone and a emotionless expression on is face, picking up another twig and putting it in the saddlebag on his right, "what happened earlier?"

It was one of those discussions. Silver always took it really serious when we lied to him, he outright hated it. He also had this ability to know exactly when we had something to hide, it didn't matter how hard we tried, if he wanted to know the truth about something, he would find a way to make me and Trigger spill the beans. Fighting it was senseless.

"Okay, I wasn't exactly telling the truth earlier", I reluctantly answered and added a twig to my ow floating collection of lumber next to me, "is that what you want to hear? There was a little accident, some wolves attacked us, no biggie, I had everything under contro-oaaahl!" I shrieked out the last words because Silver thought it was a good idea to touch my shoulder bandage, ever so slightly.

"No biggie, huh?", he said with a cooked eyebrow. Smartass.

"So what, one bit me, its not that big of a deal. Look", I said and looked him into his face, "I lied. Yes. I know how much you hate when I do this, but it happened and I didn't want to freak out any of you, especially Sunny, you know her. Accidents happen Silver, you know I would do anything to protect Trigger, and you also know that I am old enough to take care of myself".

"Yes, I know know that", he said, his voice getting a bit softer, "but sometimes I worry that things like these will end up killing you", he added with a sigh. "Come on, we got plenty of lumber for a nice fire, lets get back and let this day come to an end".

I started trotting into the the direction of the compound when he blocked me with one foreleg".

"We cool?" he asked with a smile.

"Of course Silver, you know you don't have to ask this, now lets go, I'm really getting hungry, and I bet you can't wait to taste some of that stuff Smoky took as well", I answered and we began moving back. After arriving at the compound, we set up the campfire at its designated spot, using the wood me and Silver gathered. We quickly managed to get a big fire going and wasted no time cooking some of our rations.

The food mostly consisted of corncobs on sticks and other grilled vegetables. Together with some hay as addition, it tasted really good. We sat in a circle around the campfire, telling stories and enjoying the atmosphere. The crackling fire, the cold breeze fighting against the warmth of the flames. It was a wonderful time, even Sunny was relaxed and quite playful. It was a peaceful and quiet time, well, except of Smoky, who was really blazed out and shouldn't have smoked two joints alone. I myself had to admit, he did not lie about this "blue devil" stuff, it was awesome.

"No, dude, I tell you. What if, I move to that town, uh, Ponyville, and like, get some friends and maybe Celestia will make me an Alicorn! Like Princess Twilight!"

"Smoky, you are an earth pony, you realize that, right? And you really want to be a princess?" Sunny asked with a confused, but somehow still cute expression.

"Earth pony, schmerth schmony. Shes Celestia, she can do everything, also, being a princess would be badass, okay? Ouh, maybe I will even let you guys be my humble servants when I get my own castle". He couldn't resist to look at each of us with that smug grin of his.

"humble servants heh?" Violet asked with a mocking tone.

"Do not fear my violet, I will treat you honorably! After you clean my room that is, or cook me something, or- AH".

Yep. A good box to the shoulder always helps, Violet got it right.

"Okay, okay, no servants, geez. Why do you always have to be like that. Come on Silver, say it, she has this dominant side, you see it too, right?"

Silver first reacted with a giggle, like everybody else, but even in this condition he feared Violets wrath, so he quickly switched to a obviously faked dismissive stance and a roll of his eyes.

The evening turned into night and we soon found ourselves quite exhausted and tired. The rough flight, the skydiving and that little encounter in the jungle really wore me out. I decided to call it a night.

"Okay guys, I think we should hit the hay, tomorrow is a completely new day to explore", I said, standing up and stretching myself a bit.

Everybody agreed, or at least did not disagree, and we began walking towards our sleeping barrack in silence, well, most of us did.

"Can we go on top of that mountain tomorrow? It looked so nice, or better, we go hunting, I would love to have a Tiger or something on top of my bed, or even beterer! We -"

"Smoky! For Celestias sake, please, go to bed and be quiet now, or trust me you will regret this mental torture you are putting me through harder than you can imagine!" Violet said in a stern tone and cold eyes.

Smoky raised a hoof and tried to open his mouth, but decided against it and began to quickly trot towards the two story building with everybody else.

"Dominaaaant", he whispered as he passed by me and entered the building first.

Before I entered myself I could hear Violet snickering and talking to Silver.

"Told ya I could get him to be quiet, even in this condition".

"What would be we be without you, my love".

I internally smiled and went inside, with the two lovers and Sunny following shortly after. Soon everybody was in their beds, either trying to sleep, reading a book or already snoring loudly. I, for my part, laid there with closed eyes, my thoughts wandering off into the events of the day, and dreams about things that would come. I was happy, my friends seemed happy, and it was only the beginning.

Somebody killed the lights, and I let out a long, satisfied sigh before drifting off to sleep.

Author's Note

[Insert blatant excuse for taking so long here]

Chapter Four: Rude awakening

FarNeigh

"Bolo! Bolo!?"

My ears perked up, and my eyes shot open. Gunshots could be heard in the distance.

Blam Blam Blam

Somebody was shooting a rifle from somewhere, and I was pretty sure it was not Trigger, since he stood next to my bed shaking me violently.

"Damn, Bolo! Get up! Some ponies are here, they-", he was on the edge of hyperventilating, and looked at me through fearful eyes, "they have guns and- dude we need to get out of here!!"

I was completely awake in a split second and had to process everything for a bit before lifting my head and answering.

"Wha- Trigger, Who is "they", and where are the others?" I said and tried not to get nervous myself but failed miserably.

"I-I, they are upstairs, except Silver, he- he said he wanted to check something in the garage and left before we heard the gunshots!"

The first thought that shot into my head was the most obvious one. This had to be another dream. Another stupid nightmare trying to ruin my sleep, but it felt different, too real. Fear started to build inside me. I quickly jumped out of the bed and ran to the locker in which I deposited my stuff. My shoulder burned in pain, but I could not let myself be slowed down by a little bite, not right now.

"Trigger, quick, we need to get out of here. Take the others from upstairs and bring them here, I will get Silver," I said while I got my jacket, my machete and a knife, "we meet outside in two minutes, you still have your gun right?".

"Y-yea, but I could never-"

"Trigger, I can't force you, but I tell you that you will have to defend yourself if they try to get you or the others, you understand that?"

"Yes, I do", he gulped loudly before levitating his handgun out of a holster on his side that I didn't notice before. Even in his magic grasp the weapon was visibly shaking. "I-I will protect them Bolo".

"Good, now go get them, and remember", I was already at the door and shouted the last words in his general direction, "two minutes!"

With these words I opened the door and ran outside before even looking around, all I had in mind was to get to that damn garage.

Blam Blam Blam

The shots sounded closer by the minute, and I saw a few bullets hitting the second floor of the unused barrack. I had to act fast. I ran to my right, directly towards the little building between the barracks, and nearly kicked in the door due to the force with which I opened it. It turned out to be a bad idea, since only by sheer luck Silver missed his swing and I was not laying on the floor with a smashed head.

"Blo?" he said with a surprised look and spat out the wrench he had in his mouth. "Bolo what are you doing here?!", he shoved me to the side and leaned against the wall, peeking out out of the little slit of the door frame, "You have to hide, don't you hear the gunshots?!"

"Silver, no time! We can't hide, we need to go, I already told the others, we need to hurry"

I grabbed him with a hoof to make my message clear, but of course he had something to argue. Even with armed ponies closing in.

"Bolo, we can't just go out there, dont you hea-"

"Silver, don't argue, why do you think they are shooting like idiots? Nobody can be that stupid, they want us to hole up, to hide, or to loose our shit and run around like rabbits! We have to get out here through the jungle, fast and quiet, I mean, just look at this place, do you think we can hide in here? Or fight them?"

He was clearly unconvinced, but by the look on his face he thought about my words, and he stopped resisting, giving me a small nod and running out into the open with me. Out of the garage, the shots sounded even closer and the sound of wood being torn to splinter followed each seventh echo, they would be here within the next minute.

I ran into the direction of our building, and saw Trigger standing in the doorframe, the gun still enveloped in his white magic aura. I did not even stop and ran straight for the tree line on the northern end of the compound, unfortunately some muzzle flashes already lightened up the jungle, but they seemed to be bunched up on the right side of the dirtroad leading into it. This was our only chance.

"Trigger, lets go go go!" I said and kept running. A short glimpse behind me confirmed that Sunny, Violet and Smoky were all right, and now followed us as well. I did not look long enough to make out details, but I was certain that Sunny was not in a good condition and would loose composure any moment.

"We need to-" I got cut off by a harsh and deep voice of a stallion shouting from behind us, which led to a series of other shouts coming from nearly every direction.

"They are fucking running, get 'em!" surprisingly the voice came from above, and another quick glimpse made me see that it was, in fact, a Pegasus hovering over the compound, and opening fire in small bursts from an assault rifle he used with both hooves.

Some shots hit dangerously close to the ground around us, making Sunny whimper, and Violet let out a shriek when a bullet hit the ground next to her. Fortunately it seemed like hovering in one place and shooting was not the most accurate option. I heard more rifles shooting behind us, and I was sure that the pegasus would get one of us sooner or later, no matter how inaccurate he was.

I was then that I saw Trigger clenching his eyes shut while running, and turning his gun in the direction of the flying attacker, giving off a few shots.

"Shit, they got guns, they got guns!", he screamed, and his own fire ended. Without the Pegasus pinning us down, we were able to reach the tree line unharmed and ran through the bushes and leaves in a random direction, but away from the compound. Trigger did not stop shooting into the same direction until a small click indicated that the magazine was empty. Tears had formed in his eyes.

We were not out of danger at all. Shots could still be heard, and tracers hit the trees around us, too close for my taste. We were in the jungle tough. Our chance of getting out of here increased by a tenfold, now we just had to find a place to hide-

"AAAH"

I got interrupted in my thoughts, when I heard Violet scream in agony. She stumbled and fell into the dirt, still screaming, and holding her hindleg with both hooves. We immediately stopped, and I immediately saw the gaping wound in her leg, bleeding onto the dirt and grass underneath.

Sunny only gasped, clearly horrified, while Smoky and Trigger looked worried and kept scanning every direction, afraid of whoever was hunting us right now, all while tracers still flew through the air. Trigger was breathing like a madpony, I never saw him this nervous before.

"We need to get out of here and hide, I will take Violet!", Silver said while already picking her up and positioned her on his back.

"Silver, she is bleeding badly, we need to treat her, take care of the wound!" Sunny interrupted hastily while hovering on top of Violet and looking at the bleeding injury.

Silver glanced at the bleeding mare on his back and answered firmly, "We will take care of that later, shes a strong girl, she will handle it", and began to move.

As Sunny passed by me with flapping wings it finally hit me.

"Sunny! Your wings!" I shouted with more glee that was appropriate for our current situation and everybody halted.

"What? What's wrong with my wings?! Did they shoot me?" She said hastily and hovered on the spot trying to examine her own wings.

"No, Sunny, you can fly! You can scout ahead or even get help!"

"I- scouting ahead? Alone? Bole, I uhh, do not think this is a good idea at all"

They were slowly loosing us, since the shots and shouts of our hunters sounded more and more dispersed, some still too close to feel comfortable though.

"Sunny, you can fly over the tree crowns and search for some kind of village or hideout, we are running out of time here, it's probably our only option for surviving longer than 10 minutes with that mob chasing us"

She still looked less than convinced.

"We all depend on you". All eyes were now on Sunny, who was glancing at each one of us and stopping at Violet, who was breathing heavily on Silvers back. Her eyes closed and she took a deep breath.

"I'll do it", she said exhaling, but not looking less worried.

The tension decreased, and I was the first to speak up.

"Thank you Sunny. We all know it's a lot to ask for...just be careful, okay?"

"I'll try".

With this she began to hover up and gave us a last nod before flying through the tree crowns and out of our view.

I let out a sigh, "Let's move".

We continued trotting as fast as we could, wich was not a lot considering Silver still had Violet on his back. By now the shots completely faded. I was Relieved but still cautious, we were in middle of a jungle after all, and I doubted that wolves were the only predators roaming around.

We kept walking into the direction we thought was the best, until a loud scream combined with a shriek suddenly echoed through the area. In a matter of seconds two blurs crashed through the trees above us and hit the ground only a few steps away from me. As I dared to look, shock rippled through my body. Sunny was laying face down on the jungle ground and a Pegasus armed with a assault rifle stood on top of her, looking at us through angry eyes.

He was a Green stallion with a brown mane and clothed in a patchwork armor showing a handgun, a knife and some equipment I never have seen before. A red piece of cloth was wrapped around his muzzle, more could also be seen wrapping up some parts of his armor and forelegs. The Rifle was aiming straight at me.

"Nobody move!" he shouted and cooked his rifle, shooting a glance to the rest of my friends, apparently to make sure nobody would run away. "Onyx, Quill, get your asses down here! I got them!" he seemed to be talking into some kind of radio on his chest. "You stay calm, if I see any magic or a sudden movement, it will get much, much worse than-" The bastard glimpsed at Sunny with a smirk "-this, understood?"

Nobody cared to answer of course. Everything we could do was to stand there, and not make any sudden movements. I had my horn, and my knife, but one mistake and either me or one of my friends would pay the price, and I was not ready to risk that. I looked at Sunny, and saw her chest raising from the ground, unsteady but her still breathing was the only thing I was concerned with anyway.

After a few seconds of almost silence, with heavy breathing, trembling and a gun being swung around, the rustling of leaves indicated the arrival of the reinforcements for our captor.

"Daaamn, you messed that one up pretty bad", a dark blue Pegasus stallion said with a nod towards Sunny as he descended towards us, his rifle already aiming in our direction. He had a similar makeshift armor and gun, but instead of his muzzle, he wore the red cloth as a bandana around his dark grey mane.

"Doesn't matter", the green pegasus answered, still standing on top of Sunny with one hoof, and giving her limb body a symbolic nudge with one of his hindlegs, "he wants the warrior, not the rest".

"You fucking idiot!", the third of them shouted in a feminine voice. The mare hovered near Silver, who still had the bleeding Violet on his back. "He wants them all you moron. Alive! Fuck!" She said in an angry tone, facing Silver, "...you! Get that mare on your back patched up, Ill take care of the Pegasus".

She tossed a bandage to Silver, who was already putting Violet down on the ground and started treating the still bleeding wound immediately. Violets eyes were lifeless and I couldn't see her breathing. A mix of angst and anger overcame me at the idea of her dying like that. And it was all my own fault.

"So what? we are going to help them? Onyx, are you nuts?" Our initial captor cried out as he got pushed away by the mare. The mare whos names seemed to be Onyx got a hold of Sunny and checked for a pulse and vital signs before answering.

"IM nuts? Do you have any idea what Kiapolo is going to do to us if we let even one of them die? More so, what he will do to YOU if he finds out you fucking killed one of them? He will cut your dick off and feed it to you before you have the chance to bleed out!"

The stallion now seemed a bit more thoughtful, apparently Onyxs words had truth behind them. That Kiapolo did not sound like somebody I would like to piss off.

"You are lucky, she is in a bad condition, but if you don't fuck it up somehow she will survive. I can't say the same about your balls though". She seemed dead serious. And it scared me.

"Yea man, you know how he is," the dark blue stallion spoke up in a casual voice, but still pointing his rifle on Silver and Violet, "and he did say to not kill them after all".

"Aw, shut up Quill. Just keep watching them while I get the others, and make sure they are unarmed!" was the harsh answer, but a nervous undertone was clearly heard. With this the Green Pegasus moved towards the side and mumbled something about their mothers, before turning his attention to the radio. I couldn't understand what he said into it due to the distance while Quill searched us for weapons.

He found Trigger's empty handgun easily and Silver was unarmed. As he scanned my body up close, and told me to throw the machete in front of me on the ground, I could have sliced him open right there and now, but in any case things would get messy, so I had no other choice but to comply, separating myself from my trusty tool, but keeping the knife I had hidden in my vest. The stallion was too careful to search me up close, at least not without any cover or backup.

I heard the rustling of leaves and a glance confirmed that Smoky was slowly getting closer to me, moving inch by inch on his haunches. The armed Pegasi were too busy with arguing, treating Sunny and watching over Silver to notice it.

"Bolo, dude," Smoky started whispering once he was close enough, "we have to get out of here man. We can't just sit here and let them take us with them you feel me?. I-I don't know about you, but I really would like to avoid a meeting with this Kiapolo guy!"

"How are we supposed to pull that off? They have rifles!" I said through clenched teeth. Smoky was out of his mind, I saw no way of doing anything but wait at that moment. Smoky though had his own ways of forcing an action, he just ignored what I said.

"Listen, I create an distraction, you get that blue fucker, I hope Silver will realize what to do by then".

"You hope?!"

"Sounds like a plan? Good, now wait for my Signal and be ready".

Did I even have a choice?

"Oi! Ya green son of a mule" Smoky shouted from my right, "too bad you are not allowed to kill me, because you look so damn fucking ugly, I would love a bullet in my head just to stop having to look at you!"

The green pony reacted immediately by taking fast steps towards him. If his goal was to anger him, he succeeded.

"Oh really?! ... Keep watching them, I got this one!" he now stood above Smoky, who was still sitting there with a awkward grin. got a knife out of a front sheathe on his vest and began playing with it in front of Smoky.

"Yea, really. I would rather get my brain carved out to forget your damn face than having to live with it for the rest of my life!"

The green stallion's eyes twitched a little and he moved the knife to Smoky's throat, speaking through clenched teeth "Watch your tongue you fuck, or I swear I will cut it out, and then you wont even have the ability to tell it was me anymore, allright!?"

The dance of insults and threats between the two continued and I took the opportunity to get a glimpse at Silver who was finished treating violet's leg and looked back at me, with an unsure expression. The mare was still busy checking on Sunny, apparently it really was important that we survived, for now. It was a serious advantage. The only thing that kept me from acting was that damn last stallion watching out for-"

"You little bastard!" The green stallion shouted suddenly and with a loud smack I heard the impact and a second later Smoky's body hitting the floor. "I will fucking kill you you hear me! Like I care what Kiapolo is going to do to me! I will kill you!"

He was almost wrestling with Smoky now, giving him punches and it looked like he would just slice his throat any moment.

"Whoa, Whoa watch it Cloud!" Quill to speak up, but it didnt seem like the green stallion cared. "Cloud! Cloud jumper!" He lowered his rifle and began a quick trot towards the two fighting ponies. Even though it couldn't be considered a fight really, it seemed to one sided for that. As he arrived the pair, he flung the rifle on his back and tried to get Cloud Jumper away from Smoky, who now bled out of his nose and seemed bruised on multiple parts of his body. By Celestia, what did Smoky say to him?

The first minute of this entire happening I could do nothing but watch in horror, before I remembered that, as sick and stupid as it seemed, this had to be Smoky's plan. The Mare treating Sunny was too busy to react to the fighting stallions, and both other captors were in said fight. The perfect opportunity. Smoky, as battered up as he was, still took the force to keep it up.

"C-Cloud Jumper? Mor-More like Cloud...Humper, am I right?"

I had to admit, that one made me chuckle for a second.

"Aaaaaah! No, let me kill him before the others arrive! We will say it was an accident, aaargh!" The display, as violent as it was, still looked comedic. Like a school fight, Cloud Jumper tried to grasp and kick for Smoky while Quill held him tight, struggling to keep his comrade contained.

At this point I gave up on the idea of saving everyone just like that. In retroperspect, it was kinda foolish of me thinking I could lead us out in this jungle without expecting for them to reach us. Hard times are fought with hard actions, so I stood up, slowly enough to not immediately attract attention, gave Silver a nod, and ran.

I didn't care if Silver even saw the nod, or if the armed ponies were following me. Hell, I wouldn't have cared for a bullet in my back at this point, I just needed to escape, get a clear head, and then find out a way how to solve all this. As much as it hurt to leave my brothers and everybody else behind, I wasn't going to just let this chance slip.

Branches snapped under my hooves, and twigs slashed at every part of my body as I rushed through the thick flora of the jungle without even knowing which direction I went, only focusing on running and not tripping. I can't tell how long I ran before my muscles hurt too much, and inhaling became too hard, forcing me to make a pause near one of the hundred of giant trees suurrounding me. I panted heavily and sweat ran over my face, my only concern being where to go next.

At least it was my only concern, before I heard a twig snap close to me. Of course they followed me, why did I even think they wouldn't? I stopped my breaths and tried to calm down faster, using my nose to take quick inhales. For a while nothing happened, and everything I could do was to press myself against the tree and trying to see who or what was out there.

Leaves rustled, soft steps came closer. I had my knife drawn, not wanting to use magic because I was sure it would give my position away. Exhaling silently I prepared to lunge at whatever was out there, but I didn't have the chance. Before I could do my first move, something grabbed me from behind, pressed me to the ground and a hoof covered my muzzle. I did my bet to struggle against the grasp, but it was strong, a strength that I remembered. I stopped the struggle and looked up, to see the Silver's eyes stare right back into mine.

"Shhh, they are close".

I nodded into his hoof, and he retracted it, looking around and scanning the area. After a while of just standing there, he finally gave me a small nudge and he moved off me, still getting a glimpse at every corner.

"You made it out? Where's Trigger?"

"I don't know. I doubt he even moved. I hope you have a reason and a plan for all this, it was foolish to just run away from the group".

"A plan, not directly. But it is better than having no option at all. And I do not count being captured in any way as an option!"

"Bolo we are in the middle of a jungle, how the hell do you plan on-" he wasn't able to finish his sentence, since the rustling above us caught our attention. I think both of us knew it was not a good idea to stand still and look up to see what it actually was, yet we did exactly that, and payd the price dearly when a shout brought us back into our grave situation.

"There they are!"

Damn.

We wasted no more time and began running, but this time I knew somebody was behind and following me, trying to chase me down, and It felt daunting. The only upside was Silver who was now running with me. Not being alone helped me to stay sane and not loose it entirely under all the pressure and stress that has been continuously thrown at me all day.

The voice that shouted didn't seem to be any of the three captors I left behind when I chose to run, but the lack of gunfire either meant that we encountered somebody who knows what happens to him if he kills us, or that we already lost him. I wasn't going to stop and check.

As we kept running, I felt a deep headache forming under my skull. I didn't know if it was from the exhaustion, dehydration or if I had a migraine from all the stress, but each step made it worse, and soon every movement felt like a jackhammer pounding in my brain. My vision began to blacken and I was drenched in sweat, yet I couldn't quite stop myself from running.

"Bolo!"

Silver... I turned my head, the jungle now just seemed to be one black corridor, with one direction to go. Silver was still running behind me with a worried expression, but for the first time I saw the armored earth pony who gave chase to us. His black mane...his wide grin, made even more intimidating by the trench knife between his teeth, sparked something in my memories, but I couldn't quite remember it. For a second a jolt of pain rippled through my head, and I actually had to concentrate and close my eyes not to fall or stagger by my own, even though by now it all just felt like my body was moving on autopilot.

When I reopened my eyes, a Black wolf was giving chase to us. I felt like I was dreaming again. Was this all just a sick dream? Was I still in my bed, sleeping? Waiting for Trigger to wake me up for breakfast?

No, this...this couldn't be a dream. Unfortunately, this revelation made the fact that I saw a giant Black wolf chasing us not a tad easier to swallow. I had no idea what to do, and my head was killing me, making me loose focus and I could feel how my energy was being sucked out of my body. Since I wasn't sure if i was hallucinating or on the verge of passing out I forced a decision.

"Silver, you have to stop"

"Wha- Why? What are you doing?"

"Just stop!"

After giving the command, I wasted no more time and made halt in my tracks, leaving breaking marks in the dirt under my hooves, which felt worn out and tired. Silver saw my move and stopped too, I could clearly see his confusion. Fortunately for me, the chasing beat did not expect this sudden change and kept running. I wasn't going to wait for it to leap at me. Not this time. I just started a sprint with the last forces I could muster, and rushed towards it with a wicked grin. Every fiber of my brain hurt as I eveloped the knife hidden in my vest in my magical grasp and ran towards the the predator.

"Bolo, what the hell are you doing!?"

I couldn't blame him for shouting at me, I knew that I was crazy for doing this, but this craziness felt right...too right. Only seconds after, me and the wolf collided, and I made sure to stay away from it's dangerous muzzle. The initial impact was painful due to the hide of the wolf being harder than I expected, and we both stumbled to the ground. I should have used my horn to stab at it, but it was too late. We fought on the ground, kicking and struggling, his muzzle swinging at me, while I tried to hold my knife in my magical grasp.

The wolf's forelegs kept fighting against my weapon, and we rolled in the dirt, giving stomach blows with our knees and trying to hurt the other as much as possible. My anger rose, and a wild bloodlust came over me. A thrill, exactly like in the dream, when I rammed the machete deep into the beasts stomach. With a surge of power, I made a horizontal stab with my knife and finally hit the beast under me directly in the throat.

I didn't feel a rush of winning yet, so I pulled my weapon out, and rammed it into its throat again, and again, and again. The initial sound of flesh being torn apart, and the gurgling sound of the thing under me trying to breathe, got cut off by the fourth time my knife connected and I stopped.

Only then did I notice that I was panting hard, and bleeding on several spots of my body. I blinked once, and my vision returned, leaving me open to the shock of the scenery. Underneath me laid a stallion in a makeshift armor, his black hair was fixed with a red piece of cloth, but I saw much more red on him. Blood, it was everywhere. My vision cleared bit by bit, and as I regained full focus all I could do was raise my forehooves and stare at them.

They were bruised and drenched in blood.

Even the immense amount of adrenaline rushing through my veins could not help to make me panic, and an overwhelming feeling of guilt hit me like a lighting when I looked closely at the body under me. I nearly beheaded him. His head was only connected to his body by the rear part of his neck and blood was pouring out of the gashing wound I left behind, dribbling on the ground, forming an enormous pool of liquid around us.

Silver stayed quiet, and I could only imagine the shock on his face right now. The entire situation got worse when the adrenaline high wore off, and left me behind with a sore, hurting, body and the sudden realization that I did this. I killed a pony and stabbed his throat multiple times and his lifeless blue eyes are staring right back at me. A strange feeling of fear rose deep in my body, and I could no longer hold the bloody weapon I used to kill the stallion, letting it fall down in the dirt.

"Bolo? You okay?"

I knew Silver wouldn't take this as serious as I did. He has seen his share of dying. I was sure his shock was purely from the fact that I just killed a pony in front of him like an animal.

"Bolo, I know how you feel, okay? Trust me. But we have to go, we can't stay here"

I slowly stood up, not caring to take the knife with me, and took small steps towards my brother. I was out of breath and even though I doubted the cuts I received were fatal, the pain kept on hitting me and reminding me of them.

"Yes...Yes, let's go", I tried to muster some normal tone, but failed miserably. Silver took the lead and we moved off into a direction I didn't know. In that situation Silver could have taken the way back and I wouldn't have noticed it. I glimpsed back a last time, looking at my kill. The lifeless form of the stallion and the puddle of blood.

"He attacked us didn't he? He wanted to capture us, take us somewhere. I had the right to kill him, right?" I stammered, trying to justify my actions somehow. But I knew that the display I showed was in no way simple self defence and I was ashamed of it.

"Yes, it was. Look, I know it is hard right now, but you have to focus somehow. The first thing we need to do is find shelter and get your wounds fixed up"

I nodded and tried to follow his advise and think clearly. The pain that followed after each single step and the emotional overflow of feelings did not help at all though.

We kept walking. I lost track of time long ago and just tried to keep my mind together until I heard the shout.

"Don't move!"

These two words did it. My mind crumbled and the despair took over. I was tired, so endlessly tired. I didn't want to run, I didn't want to fight anymore. All I could do was accept my fate. "Atleast I tried" was what I kept telling myself. The limit was reached.

"Stay there, don't turn around!"

Oddly enough I anticipated exactly what happened next. First I heard a small shifting of the weapon that probably still aimed at us, followed by a mumble and a answer with static in the background, confirming that whoever stood behind us, was calling reinforcements.

I took a deep breath and decided that I might as well look around myself a last time in freedom. The jungle was still as beautiful as before. The birds singing, the leaves rustling in the wind, and just that giant wall of green that green that greeted me wherever I looked. It was glorious, and the sound of water hitting the ground only added to its magnificient-

Water?

Indeed, the sound of a waterfall splashing its content down could be heard clearly, and closely. I realized that we must have ended on some kind of ledge on top of a sea. Maybe something was giving me a last chance after all?

"Stay nice and put, soon there will be nothing to worry about anymore", I don't know if it was his voice that dripped death, or the laugh that followed that made me shiver, but I knew that staying like this was not an option.

My exhausted mind raced and tried to work out anything better than what my initial idea was, but everything ended up the same way. I looked to Silver on my right, he wanted to give me confidence with a firm look, but I knew better. He was out of ideas, and I would not let him risk the same thing I was going to.

We were two ponies, this meant that if one were to go, there was no way our captor would just leave the other behind. I had to act fast.

What happened next could only be described as dumb. Plain and simple stupidness and risk. In front of me stood a line of rather tall bushes, and it was from that direction the sound of the waterfall seemed to come. I had only this chance. In a single motion I leaped towards the bushes, jumping through them and burning my last bit of energy.

The last thing I heard were the shouts of my brother and a curse from my captor. I didn't care for either at that point though, as I flew downwards, my vision blurry. Water was everywhere around me, and I didn't need to look to know that under me a sea was present. As I let my body be dragged down by gravitation and simply hoped to not hit one of the hundred rocks that usually lay in those seas, or at least for a painless death in case I did.

I felt the impact and blacked out.

Author's Note

As always, feel free to give criticism!

ACT I - Arrival

"In another moment down went Alice after it,

never once considering how in the world she was to get out again."