The sun shone in the distance, signaling the rise of day.
An orange stallion with the physical appearance of a mare spat on the ground attempting to get the sand out of his mouth. The land was blatantly unfamiliar to him as he surveyed his surroundings, to the front of him was a sandy beach being constantly slammed by ocean waves, to his back was a thick tropical forest.
“Hello?” he shouted futilely, little did he know that there was someone with him.
The stallion panicked when he heard a groan of annoyance, turning his head to behold a yellow coat pony obviously a stallion, his mane made a wild slide down the base of his neck striped with black and red, his wings were the same color as his coat; the color didn't really match but the orange pony didn't question it at the time, the question was why he was there.
“Steam Gadget,” the orange one grunted as he faced him. Gadget shot straight up, the orange pony finally noticed that he was wearing sunglasses.
“Dusty Sunrise, what a surprise,” Gadget responded.
Dusty cringed at the use of his last name. “Don’t call me that,” Dusty gritted his teeth. That last name was a lasting reminder of his running away from home.
“Why should I?” Gadget frowned furiously, “You did drag me here, didn’t you?"
Dusty raised an eyebrow at the question; he had thought that Gadget dragged him there. He shook his head.
Gadget scoffed, “I have no reason to believe you, but since you are the only pony for miles by the look of things…” he took off his sunglasses and wiped the sand off of them, “I will trust you for now.” He put his sunglasses back on his face as he trotted off toward the forest.
I better follow him, make sure he doesn't get himself killed, Dusty thought. His mind retorted with a bitter thought, Why should I even look after him? I should just let him die in that forest. Dusty sighed, I guess I'll follow him, he decided and followed Gadget into the forest. It was very thick and hard to walk through; vegetation covered their every path, trees and plants lined up with saw grass and thorns at every turn and Gadget’s complaining didn’t help at all. Dusty noticed a smooth plant with fibers hanging off of it; he smiled as he got an idea.
“Hey, Gadget!” Dusty called.
Gadget turned around with an annoyed look.
“Check this out,” Dusty said as he began tearing at the plant to arm’s length so he could make protective sock-like clothing to protect his hooves from the saw grass. At last he began to wrap the fibers and secure the makeshift socks on his hooves.
Gadget stared at him with annoyance. “I’m not wrapping a random plant on my arms, for all we know they could be poisonous!” Gadget raised his voice obviously getting worked up over nothing.
“I’ll do what I do, and you stay out of my business. If you want to deal with the saw grass, that’s fine!” Dusty returned the favor as he began raising his voice too.
“Fine, but don’t come crying to me if you start getting sick!” Gadget shouted and trotted off, suddenly getting sliced in the arm by saw grass. “I'm bleeding!” he warned as he held a hoof over it to try and stop the bleeding.
“You should have listened to me, Gadget!” Dusty shouted. He slipped off one of the makeshift socks to show that his arms and hooves were just fine.
“Don’t give me any of that crap!” Gadget raised his voice again, “I’m bucking bleeding!”
“That’s what you get for not listening to me!” Dusty replied.
Gadget trotted off but at a slower pace because of his injury.
A howl sounded in the distance.
“Okay, you have to pick up the pace,” Dusty commented.
Gadget took it as offense and swung at him. “I can’t help it if I get injured!” he retorted.
Dusty was annoyed at the outbursts Gadget kept giving him. “There are wolves out there!” Dusty shouted.
“Well let’s just hope they eat you first so I can get away!” Gadget spat on the ground in front of Dusty.
“YOU ARE COMPROMISING OUR BUCKING MISSION!” Dusty shouted all of the sudden, done with the treatment he was getting, “I AM TRYING TO HELP YOU AND YOU THROW IT BACK IN MY FACE!”
“THEN JUST LEAVE ME ALONE IF YOU DON’T WANT ME YELLING AT YOU!” Gadget shouted.
Dusty finally took a swing at Gadget and missed by a few inches and received a blow to the face. Dusty twisted and bucked Gadget so hard with his hind legs that he went flying. Gadget growled as he swung at Dusty again, pushing him into a batch of saw grass, and nearly ruining his entire back. Dusty howled in pain and with a blast from his horn, threw Gadget back into a similar patch.
Dusty suddenly realized an important detail, Why are we fighting? Dusty thought. He managed to slip out of the saw grass but Gadget wasn’t so lucky. Dusty felt sorry for the guy, all the stress must’ve gone to their heads. Gadget continued struggling as the saw grass caught on his coat.
Dusty grabbed a couple of fork shaped sticks and held them with his magic. He returned to the struggling Gadget who hadn’t noticed him and he began pushing back the saw grass and brushing Gadget’s coat to get it out of the saw grass.
Gadget looked at him and spat. “What, now you’re going to eat me?” he raised his voice again. Dusty didn’t respond as he got Gadget’s coat out of the last bunch of saw grass. “Oh…” Gadget looked at Dusty in disbelief, “T-thanks…” he managed to force out as it was hard to be nice to an enemy.
Dusty understood the situation of having to be polite to your enemy. “Look, we are stuck on this island together; we might as well learn to get along.” Dusty held out a hoof, “Can we start over?” he asked, feeling good for trying to make amends to his long-time enemy.
Gadget hesitantly shook Dusty’s hoof. “I’ll take you up on that offer,” Gadget gave a forced smile.
“Good, now come on, I saw a good place to make camp.” Dusty led Gadget to a clearing in the forest and took a comb-like stick off the ground. He began brushing the back of Gadget’s coat as there was still saw grass hooked on his back.
Gadget gave him an embarrassed look when he noticed what Dusty was doing, “Hey, you did enough; you got hit badly by that saw grass.” Gadget took the stick from Dusty’s hoof and dropped it on the ground and took a piece of moss that Dusty identified as sphagnum moss. Gadget turned it over on to the green side and wiped the blood off of Dusty; he was surprised when he saw how much he was bleeding. “Just to say thanks for getting me out of that saw grass,” Gadget sternly said.
Dusty chuckled, “I don’t role that way, I’m not a mare.”
Gadget stared at Dusty after he had said that and smirked. “Well, you look like one,” Gadget chuckled, and Dusty did too.
Gadget didn’t seem so bad when Dusty got to know him, “Let’s get camp made.”
Dusty and Gadget bundled things up and used their minimal knowledge to attempt and build a shelter similar to that of a wickiup in the ancient pony times. Dusty pulled off tree bark from a dead tree hoping to use as insulation.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Gadget stopped Dusty, “What are you doing with that?”
Dusty raised an eyebrow, “I was going to cover the gaps on the shelter with this.” Dusty motioned at the tree bark.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Gadget raised an eyebrow, “I don’t think that would help our situation, I think we are doing alright with the moss as insulation.” He motioned at the moss that covered most of the gaps on the shelter.
“You make a good point, but its better safe than sorry,” Dusty replied as he covered the rest of the gaps with tree bark which Gadget put moss on top of that.
“Better safe than sorry,” Gadget mimicked.
Dusty groaned as he sat inside the dimly lit wickiup. Dusty began thinking about what was in store for the two ponies in the future. In the midst of his thinking, a menacing cackle filled the air.
“Jeez, I know it feels good to make process, but cackling?” Gadget asked.
Dusty raised an eyebrow. “That wasn’t me,” Dusty replied.
Suddenly intense laughter filled the air as a figure appeared in the entrance of the wickiup.
“Discord!” the two ponies shouted in unison.
Discord was wearing sunglasses with a bag of popcorn, laughing all the while. “Oh, you ponies are hilarious!” Discord broke out into another fit of laughter. "Watching you two beat each other up like that, priceless!” his expression turned from absolute glee to annoyance, “Though seeing you two be nice to each other makes me want to vomit,” he commented.
“What do you want, Discord?” Gadget asked.
“Better question is; how did you get out of your imprisonment?” Dusty replied.
“All in due time little foals, for now…” Discord snapped his fingers and disappeared, and in his spot was a note that Dusty didn't bother picking up. Discord was gone, but his voice was still heard, “You better make a fire before nightfall!” followed by more cackling.
Dusty looked at Gadget, and Gadget at him. “Something tells me we should listen to him for once,” Gadget cringed.
Dusty nodded and piled sticks and dead grass in the middle of their wickiup. With a spark of his horn, Dusty was able to light a fire which warmed up the wickiup exponentially. “I forgot how cold it is…” Dusty stretched.
Gadget nodded and yawned, “I don’t know about you, but I’m going to get some sleep.” Gadget flopped on his side, snoring softly.
Dusty released a puff of air and soon dozed off under the warmth of the fire.
Author's Note
This story takes place in an island similar to Tierra del Fuego, Tierra del Fuego is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan, where all sorts of plant life grow, such as Usnea moss (Old man's beard) and Chickweed, to fungi such as Indian Bread.
Tierra Del Fuego is also littered with peat bogs, one wrong step and you could potentially sink up to your neck, and die.
NOTE: Teti is inspired by the survivalist Joe Teti on the T.V. show Dual Survival
Celestia was taking a walk in the royal gardens.
Today was one of the days where she finally had time to herself and didn’t have to deal with the troubles of every pony. Something was off about the garden Celestia had soon realized in her walk, so instinctively she went to the statue that held the criminal known as Discord; along the way the royal guards scrambled to her side as she whistled them over.
The garden was beautiful in itself, lined with bush-mazes and assortments of flowers that even Fluttershy probably couldn't name. Stone pillars and other columns also appeared in the garden to add to its gallant beauty. Celestia—in her opinion—thought that the garden was the greatest thing about Canterlot, especially when the children from the school teacher in Ponyville, Ms. Cheerilee, would take the little fillies on field trips to Celestia's beloved garden and she would watch as the kids would marvel at the sight of the garden instead of ruining it like most other kids.
Celestia sighed blissfully but remembered her goal and picked up her pace. Walking for about five minutes, Celestia began to have second thoughts about having such a big garden, but it was her choice and she would deal with it. She finally found the area that housed the imprisoned Discord.
The statue was gone!
The guards gasped in unison and Celestia began barking orders at the royal guard, “Send a search party out to find Discord, but do not approach him, you will return to me as soon as you can.” Celestia took a breath, “Bring my sister Princess Luna to me at once, and finally,” Celestia made a motion with her hoof, “I want you to warn every pony in Equestria to stay indoors,” she finished.
The guards saluted and galloped off to carry out her orders.
Celestia couldn't stop panicking at the scene before her. Discord had escaped which Celestia had expected, but she didn't know it would be now. Her thinking was cut off short as her sister, Princess Luna, rushed out to join her in the garden.
“What do we do, sis?” Luna asked in a worried tone.
Celestia realized that the guards must have told her what had transpired. “I don’t know…” Celestia admitted. She only knew one pony that would be able to help them and she still wasn’t so sure about it. “We must go to Ponyville; Twilight will know what to do.”
Luna nodded and the two—using their magic—teleported to Ponyville and rushed towards Twilight’s abode, the library.
Twilight sat lazily on her bed reading a book about mythical legends. Most of the stuff proved to be true but some seemed very far-fetched, like the story about Discord abducting two ponies and forcing them to try and survive together on an island off the coast of Equestria. It was said that the island was worse than the Everfree Forest times five, which made Twilight shudder but she continued to read through the story as it was entertaining as much as it was horrifying.
A knock came from the door followed by Spike shouting, “I’ll get it!”
Twilight sighed and tossed her book back in the bookcase in which she found it and she instinctively got up after she heard the door opening. As she walked down stairs she saw the two princesses, Celestia and Luna.
“Twilight, we need your help,” Luna immediately began.
“Discord has escaped,” Celestia followed.
"What?!" Twilight shouted. She couldn’t believe her ears. Discord had escaped and was no doubt running amok in Equestria tormenting little foals. For a moment her mind couldn't function correctly then suddenly she remembered the book she was reading and rushed up stairs.
The book had mentioned an island named "Discord's Terrace" where Discord would drop two unlucky ponies—presumably ones who had a background of hating each other—and have them try and survive together and usually result in failure.
She began hastily ripping books out of the bookcase looking for the book, scanning each cover for about a split second until she finally found it. She was about to give the book a great big hug as she was so relieved she could actually find it, but pressing matters were at hand so she grabbed the book and galloped back down the stairs and showed the page to the princesses.
"I know that island…” Celestia gasped.
Luna stepped back a bit, “You don’t think…”
Celestia turned to Luna and began whispering in her ear, Luna drew back.
“If this is true, then we must make haste!” Luna shouted, the fear affecting her voice.
“I’ll go get the others,” Twilight said enthusiastically and rushed toward the door but Celestia tugged at her tail stopping her dead in her tracks.
“No, we will do this ourselves,” Celestia motioned at herself and Luna.
Twilight stared at them in disbelief, “But…” Twilight was about to complain when Celestia shushed her.
“You must understand, Twilight, this is something Luna and I must take care of by ourselves,” Celestia looked pained.
Twilight finally gave up trying to argue and watched as the two teleported leaving a small flume of dust where they had stood.
Twilight paced around the living room digging grooves into the floor's grooves.
"Come on, Twilight," Spike said, "You've been pacing for so long, you've started digging a hole in the library."
"I just can't sit around while Discord is out there, Spike!" Twilight almost impaled Spike with her horn, her eyes were bloodshot and her mane began sticking in all directions.
"I know that, but you can't keep walking in circles," Spike replied.
Twilight took it as motivation to go to that island with her friends, "You're right Spike!" Twilight regained her previous appearance.
Spike stared at her in regret. "I am?" he asked as if he were one of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
“I will not sit idly by while Discord threatens the world.” Twilight decided as she rushed with the Elements of Harmony in tow to gather her friends for another quest.
"Wait, Twilight!" Spike shouted as Twilight ran out the door, but she didn't stop as she was determined to save the world once again from utter destruction.
“Are you sure this is a good idea, sugar cube?” Applejack asked as they assembled in a circle in the middle of the library.
“I’m positive,” Twilight responded as the ponies slipping on their elements. “To my knowledge, this island is unofficially known as ‘Discord's Terrace’ and is used as a sort of toy box for Discord.”
“Why are we doing this, again?” Rainbow asked.
Twilight glared at the rainbow-mane pony. “There are ponies out there that need our help,” Twilight replied. As every pony got ready, she placed her element atop her head and immediately began casting a spell before any pony could protest. After the spinning fit from the teleportation spell, the six ponies found their selves in a tropical forest lined with vegetation and rampant with predators such as snakes.
A wolf howled in the distance causing Fluttershy to jump back shaking violently. “I…I’m not sure I want to do this…” Fluttershy squeaked.
Pinkie came up behind her and urged her forward, “C’mon, Fluttershy!” Pinkie cheered, “We can do it!”
“If you say so…” Fluttershy hung her head low.
Twilight began leading the way trying to find any sign of Discord.
Dusty got up and stretched as he noticed that the sun was up. Gadget was already up and holding what looked like a bucket over the fire with water boiling inside it.
“Where did you get that?” Dusty asked in a complimentary tone.
Gadget made a waving motion with his free hoof. “I made it out of left over moss and a bunch of tree bark,” Gadget said as he took the bucket and held it out to Dusty. “I already had some, have a drink.”
Dusty took it with enthusiasm and began drinking the warm water; it felt like holy liquid as he realized how thirsty he actually was. Dusty was about to tell Gadget how great he was when a twig snapped in the distance and after a few moments female voices were heard. Dusty began snuffing out the fire in panic.
“What’s wrong?” Gadget asked.
Dusty covered his mouth. “Shh!” he shushed. Dusty had them hide by the entry way to their wickiup, as voices became more apparent. “It must be Discord playing a trick on us…” Dusty whispered.
Gadget nodded in agreement as Dusty began to listen to what they were saying.
“Are you sure we will find any pony out here?” a voice asked.
“I agree with Rainbow Dash, my hooves are getting all muddy!” another with a fancy accent complained.
“Come on girls, we are never going to find any pony if you keep talking,” another said, sounding as if she were the leader.
“Wow! Look at the size of that boulder!” a peppy voice cheered.
Dusty pulled down a flap of moss used as a gate way.
A pink tail pushed through a crack and the pony giggled. “It’s all crackly and stuff!” the pony laughed.
Very funny, Discord! Dusty thought.
Gadget stared at the tail as it suddenly disappeared back outside.
“Come on, Pinkie, we have no time playing with boulders!” the assumed leader had commanded.
“Although, that boulder does look out of place,” the fancy sounding pony said.
“Everything looks out of place to you, Rarity, now come on!” a country accented pony said and soon enough their voices were muffled by the dense forest vegetation, Dusty sighed in relief, Looks like putting moss over the shelter was a good idea. He thought.
“That was very believable, you know…” Gadget pointed out.
“Yeah, but this is Discord we’re talking about,” Dusty replied.
Gadget nodded solemnly. “We could’ve checked it out, at least,” Gadget sighed.
Dusty shook his head and hung up the flap of moss that acted as a door.
“Hello there,” a feminine voice sounded.
Dusty and Gadget turned to see a white pony and behind her a dark blue pony,
“I am—“ the white one was cut off...
“Princess Celestia?!” Dusty bowed immediately. Dusty looked up and saw a pony he recognized greatly. “Luna!” Dusty cheered springing to his feet.
Celestia gave him a death stare, but Luna chuckled, “It is good to see you, Dusty.” Luna frowned, “Though it breaks my heart that you of all ponies were sent here to rot.” She noticed the grotesque injury on Dusty's back. "Oh my, are you okay?" she asked.
“Well, me and Gadget are doing good so far, isn’t that right Gadget?” Dusty turned and saw Gadget on the ground, his chest heaving in and out; it was obvious that he had fainted. Dusty instinctively checked his pulse and saw that it was just fine. Dusty noticed the gash on his arm that had looked pretty deep had stopped bleeding a long time ago; Dusty could tell because of the dried up blood that surrounded the wound.
“Is anyone thirsty?” Dusty slowly asked holding out the bucket that held water. Dusty moved his hoof as he realized he had stepped on the note he thought he had hallucinated yesterday.
"Follow the sun?" Dusty looked at the two princesses who had seemed just as confused as he did.
