Author's Note

Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it.

-Bruce Lee.

A Small Issue

The air was hot, and acrid. Rays of sunlight beamed across my face as I walked up the stairs of Daring's airship. We set out after securing the Alicorn Amulet, which for Daring and her crew was a godsend for being in a crazy jungle for almost a month. Turns out I was not blind when we first arrived in Daring's makeshift camp, as I did see a giant boat. Daring sailed the ship like an expert, barely having her hooves and eyes on the controls as she looked over a map of what I assumed to be the rest of our new place, Equestria.

The ship was called The S.S. Optiquest. It was a soothing mahogany, with two dark air balloons attached by rope and pulleys. No expense was spared as the lower level had all the necessities of a hospital, kitchen and armory underneath. Up top, guard rails spanned around the sides of the ships, the captain's helm on a raised platform by stairs on either side. With two cannons on the front, back and six on the left and right, it made our vessel look rather fierce.

Grass Song and Echo were chatting on the upper level while Blank was talking with Rin, Hanabi, Takiko and Ko down below. I went over and sat down against the nearest railing, thinking about all that happened. Last night was the first time me and Rin slept in this new land, and it was anything but relaxing for me. I kept turning and tossing, not riddled with insomnia per say, but the fact that no matter how the thread was spun, I left. I left Detroit, my city; abandoned. And with my psychotic sister to enact her plans.

That made for a horrible dream turned reality.

Now, I was left with my friends to explore this new place, trying to get home.
But, at what cost? I don't even know if the flow of time is the same here as on Earth. I was screwed even more then when Junko lied to our parents about me being the one who burned down our mom's spice garden when Junko lit a match to get revenge at me. It was because I ratted her out for planning to set off commercial grade explosives at our old school when the administrators refused to put her in the yearbook because she constantly played pranks on the school and me.

My punishment was like my mom's spice garden; up in flames and never to be mentioned again.

I was once again up against the ropes of confusion. But, the bigger issue is and would be that we have no idea on how this world functions or how long we'd be here or the most important thing of all. . .

Does a way back home even seem possible?

''Master,'' Yuu said, pouting as she slowly played in her mud puddle on the deck, splashing my leg. ''When can we go home?''

''I'm sorry, sweetheart,'' I rubbed her head, making her eyes dull over. Yuu's body slumped over to the side as she whimpered. ''I don't have the answer to that question. I know that behind your bubbly attitude; you're scared. Ai, Snow, me and especially you, Yuu-'' I paused, wiping her small tears away, her light pink eyes staring at me. "-I know we're all scared at this new place, but I need you guys to be strong for me, okay? These are times where you have to band together, have confidence, and take that fear and beat it with a stick,'' I smiled as Yuu walked up my leg, laying her head on my stomach.

''B-But!~'' Yuu cried, staining her outfit even more. ''I-I d-don't like being here!~ It's not h-home!~''

''Ai. . .'' Ai agreed. ''I m-miss home!'' Ai stomped her tiny feet on the deck, wiping tears out her eyes. ''I wish that our assailant did not send us here! Ms. Junko is certain to take full advantage of the situation! And we can do nothing about it!''

''Snow,'' Snow sadly chirped.

I exhaled.

''I know, but we have no way of knowing when. Hopefully this lead to 'The Crystal Empire' will be just what we just need to get home," I smiled once again, though it was bittersweet this time around. I was at a loss, and there was not nobody to blame. . .except my she-devil of a sister. And I have every confidence that she is just laughing her ass off, possibly calling this off as 'simply delicious.'

Oh, how the urge to deck myself in the face comes so easily, only to vanish.

''Don't worry, guys.'' I said, gaining their attention. ''I've always tried my best to not let you down, and I promise to do my best to do just that,'' I hummed, relaxing a tad. My entire body was calm, every muscle relaxed. My head was full of soothing thoughts, as the whole ride was steady. The constant faint hissing began to urk me, however.

Wait, hissing?

I raised my eyebrow, and slowly turned around, viewing the blue skies moving by without rest, the clouds near the horizon line. A draft of wind carried a few leaves past my sight. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, at least from what I considered to be normal. It must just be my imagination playing tricks on me.

Or, it would have been, if not for the sudden change in gravity.

"Oof!'' I grunted, the Optiquest rocking to the side as I slid down, tossing Ai, Yuu and Snow out of harm's way as I slammed against the other guard rail, barely managing to latch on with one hand as I flipped over, hanging on by a thread. The skies began to change in color, stormclouds beginning to swallow the peaceful sun. Thunder began to rumble and Daring's ship began repeatedly rocking back and forth, knocking my brain against my skull.

''Jamir!'' Grass Song rushed over to me, Echo following. She reached a hoof out and I met her in the middle with my hand, though I brushed up against it as I missed and the concept of time seemingly slowed down to where I felt my heartbeat across every inch of my being.

I felt weightlessness in the air, hands erratically flailing about. The wind against my face forced my eyes to close as I felt a thud against my back, the feeling akin to my entire spinal cord breaking. I wheezed and fought to turn over, The Life Drive blaring like a siren. I was prepared to get up with haste and see the individual or individuals who would-

"Ahhhhhhh, turn that Tartarus-forksaken alarm off!"

"My ears are screaming!~"

"The noise is too much, it is!"

Fuck, my ears!~

I had counted myself lucky.

You see, The Life Drive has a built-in feature to alert the user when its Fairies are out of range when not synced{which is how they were able to roam freely without being captured) to their pocket dimensions. Any further apart then. . .about 500 feet, and the Life Drive sounds and the Fairies are almost instantly teleported back in.

I fought the pain coursing through my entire body, looking up to see further inhabitants of Equestria, but I felt a twinge of being punked at the mere sight of their clothes. I mean, they look like, oh, what's the word. . .hmm. . .douchebags. It was more so of a weebooish feeling, you know? Imagine. . .well, whatever you would see a weeaboo wearing, and you basically got what I laid my eyes upon.

Paying the slew of lights blinking in and out of my sight, I came face to face with four individuals, equine in shape that thrashed and turned around on the deck of what I guess to be their ship. Shaking my head to get a better view, I was immediately met with a equine with a dark gray coat, a charcoal black scarf around their neck that looked to be constricting the life of the wearer as an end was being pulled to choke the poor sap by their leg.

''What the?'' I whispered, crawling back, gritting my teeth as I looked down to see a giant sized bite mark on my pants, spying a bit of blood dripping from the tear in the fabric.

The unknown guest shook back and forth, managing to free themselves from scarf suicide, their short, dark blue mane whipping around to reveal a more broad and narrow face, a small amount of peach fuzz covering his chin, and a white headband with the name Fall in dark red letters, all leading me to deduce a male as his dark blue eyes widened upon seeing me.

. . .

“Uh. . .” I started, paying complete attention. “. . .Hi?”

“Heathen!” the male shouted, pointing a hoof at me. “Die!” he charged forward blindly, his eyes closed and teeth gritted.

“Aww, the hell with this!” I thought, my body aching and tensing as I rose up, bending my legs low to the ground, checking The Life Drive to hear that-

“Life Drive Sync function re-established. . .Safety disengaged, Life Drive ready for use. . .” the Life Drive's Artificial Intelligence sounded inside my head as the color orange flashed twice 3 times, my hand extended, with my first two fingers outward to guide my attack.

“Ai, t-telekinetic push!” I commanded and gritted my teeth from falling, the stallion stopping short to look confused as Ai appeared in a flash of pink energy.

“What the?-”

“Ai, Master!” Ai smiled, copying the same gesture. A massive thrum sounded, pushing the poor sap into his comrades with a massive thud that rocked the small ship back. I sighed for a mere second before a massive screech cut me off. Looking for the source, I spied a massive tropical parrot, flapping its wings erratically, the red, yellow and blue plumage highlighting the deep blue eyes.

It was a majestic bird, but it was making too much noise.

“Uh, Yuu, could you fix the noise?!” I yelled, clamping my ears together.

“Yes, sir!” Yuu saluted, her fingers laced with with purple mist as she drew an imaginary speaker with a x over it before snapping her tiny fingers and instantly silencing the bird, though it still made the motions.

“What was that all about?” I kept wary, looking at the pile of unconscious bodies.

“Maybe Polly really wanted a cracker!~” Grass Song yelled from above, apparently seeing the whole event, Rin, Blank and Echo staring too.

. . .Not the time for jokes. Or is it?. . .

“Jamir!” Rin jumped down, landing gracefully like a cat before accidentally tripping and falling on top of me, causing me to groan. “Are you hurt anywhere?” she patted around my body, checking.

Ha, it's funny how she worries about me like a little puppy. I would say that out loud, but I'm not trying to get slapped with the force of a small car.

“Besides this small bite mark and killing thousand or maybe millions of cells, I'm fine. But Rin?” I smiled, devising a plan.

“Yes?”

I cupped her face gently in one hand, the other pushing some of her hair out of the way, Rin blushing like a rose and sweating bullets as her body shivered with anticipation.

“Have I ever told you. . .how beautiful you look?” I cooed in her ear, blowing lightly, causing her hands to tear out small chunks of the ship's deck. “Like a diamond in the rust.”

“MMMMPPPH!” Rin swallowed a gallon of spit, her head literally steaming as she shifted back and forth quickly. She looked ready to explode, but like I expected-

“NOOOOO!~” Rin shook her head back and forth, resigning to leap back up to The Optiquest in a one huge jump, mostly likely going below deck to overload. I. . .can’t keep a straight face when it comes to teasing her. I almost want to make a comedy skit out of it because she falls for it every time, not to say I don't get backlash in some form.

“Master, good one!” Ai held her sides as she chuckled, kicking her tiny feet in the air from on top of my head as I got up. “HAHAHAHA!~”

“Wait, sir,” Yuu stopped playing with a mud puddle she suddenly created out of nowhere. “Why did she leave like that?”

“It's a little more complex than you think," I chuckled, yawning a little. “But we should see about these guys,” I pointed to the fallen Equines as I went to inspect the rest of the ship and it's design. First thing I noticed was the lack of a sail to give the ship speed. Peering over the side, I saw a trio of large oars coming out of the ship's port and starboard side, decorated with circular grooves, and I questioned if you could use gigantic oars to soar in the skies. Next, was the presence of a intimidation factor in the form of a giant metal blade protruding from the base of the ship’s front. The whole ship was moderate sized, not spacing out the Optiquest, but enough to where there is space to walk.

I looked over at our ‘guests’ to see that they still were in a pile, most likely knocked out from the frequency of the Life Drive’s sound which is tuned to be within a certain distance outside of myself without causing my ears to bleed.

‘’Sir, should we prepare the perpetrators for questioning?’’ Ai asked, her eyes lit up green, her telekinesis already to so much as blow them off the ship and to their deaths at so much of a blink of my eye.

‘’I second that!’’ Yuu pumped her fist in the air, a few sparks of purple electricity sparking around her hair. ‘’Nobody hurts my Master and is allowed to get away with it!’’

I chuckled, but narrowed my eyes. This would not go unpunished.

‘’Yep, and I think I know who exactly who to play the part of interrogator,’’ I smiled, walking over to get answers.

5 minutes later. . .

SPLASH!

‘’Acck!’’

‘’Fuck!’’

Nooooo!~’’

‘’Oh, it got into my mouth!~’’

Our guests had awoken. Well, mostly thanks to Yuu slinging a huge bucketfull of mud at them, against her best wishes, with some asking from me. Me, Rin, and the rest of The Nameless Crew stood in front of our attackers as they stirred, their blurry, bloodshot, and panicking eyes set on me first, of all people. . .or ponies in this case.

‘’It’s him!’’ a pony cried out in a female voice, wearing what looked to be a oversized black and red poncho. Her bright red mane and tail could be closely resembled to a Jheri Curl with a long grey streak hanging down in front of her face. Her coat was a deep red, like blood as her hooves were decorated with four huge rings. I can all but practically feel the fear in her dull grey eyes.

‘’Hey, stop struggling!’’ the stallion with the scarf complained, thrashing back and forth equally as frantic to get her to stop. ‘’We get nowhere by messing this up anymore than we already did, besides maybe, oh I don’t know; our lives taken if you don’t stop!’’

‘’Speak for yourself,’’ a another male spoke up, only he was much more calm about the situation from what I could see. He wore a auburn set of armour, mostly with the design of engraved scales, stripes and flames, positioned at parts to where he wouldn’t hinder his movement. He had a helmet shaped exactly like a tiger’s head, with teeth. A double-edged sword hung at one side while a very small 4-shot pistol was on the other side.

Patches of his brown coat could be seen as he shifted to try and get the ropes out of the free spaces in his armour. His mane was a bit different from the rest. It was in two tight braids that hung loosely down the his back as his tail was folded up like paper. ‘’I have shamed myself by allowing myself to be caught off guard,’’ the male clicked his tongue,closing his brown eyes slowly before slumping in his chair.

‘’Hey, where’s your resolve, guys?’’ another female asked shocked. She was the one who I would say was the most normal looking, well, I wouldn’t know what would pass for normal in this world, but I am reserving judgement until all the facts are present. Her getup was like that of a person who was more a person, or pony in this case who I would call an environmental person. Her entire getup had to be inspired by the forest, lest I be wrong.

Her hair was all in shambles, basically the equivalent a major-ass bedhead. The second thing I had noticed was her garbs. It was the whole forest, and then some. From vines, to Roses, Dandelions, to freaking Venus Fly Traps, to Pitcher Plants, and the like. Next was her eyes. They. . .were two different color; green and purple, which was about as interesting as the rest of them, yet I felt something else while having the chance to see exactly what was the exact reason behind them attacking.

“Start speaking,” I narrowed my eyes as Daring spoke at the same time. I looked at her as she looked at me. I motioned for her to continue.

“Who are you? And don’t say a ragtag group of explorers. Because if you are, then how are you this far into the sticks?”

The male with the scarf smacked his lips, seeming to not be affected by the glare Daring was giving him. I would check his surroundings again if I were him. Seeing that nobody spoke, Daring began to circle around the group, frowning and giving them a stern eye.

“Still not gonna talk, huh?” Daring smiled, coming face to face with the leader. “I got ways of making you talk; so what do you pick? The easy way or the Daring way?"

What was the Daring-

"Hey, you stupid mare, you're crazy!" Daring smirked as she brought out a giant block of salt?! Or was it sugar? "You trying to kill us?"

"Well, not really?" Grass Song brought a medical kit out. "It wouldn't do that, but that amount of sugar would wreak havoc on your body. Daring's way of things often lead to a lot of medical work right away."

"Isn't that a little extreme?" Rin asked, taking the time to pick up the block. "What about the easy way?"

Blank flew over Rin, taking the block back and handing it to Daring. I had a feeling that this was the-

"Either way is the Daring way. It makes us no difference. We've done this for years, and it gets results. So start talking!" Blank hovered over the group menacingly.

"Fine, fine!" the male with scarf relented awful easily. "We're poachers! But we're not very good at it. We heard about this place from this one guy who said there could be some rare animals for the taking. When we saw your ship leaving, we. . .well, I panicked."

Seriously? Poachers? I'm no animal wrangler, but I think even the least harmful thing would give these guys a run for their money. But, on as a side note, this was delaying us finding a way home, and every second here is one more that my pyschopath of a sister has to do whatever she wants.

"Ai! Poaching is immoral. Why you want to capture poor, defenseless, creatures?" Ai floated over, folding her tiny arms.

"What the heck is that?" the armoured pony inquired, straining to turn his head. "Think we could sell it?"

Snatching Ai out of the air and putting her on my head, I began to fume at the thought of them suggesting that. That is a bad thing to do to get me angry.

"You're not selling my family, pal," I walked over and took hold of his head, forcing him to look into my eyes. "But you all can do is tell me your names and why we shouldn't throw you out into the jungle to be eaten, understand?" I flicked in his eye, causing him to hiss in pain, and blindly try to chomp down on my finger.

"Well, what do we do?" the pony with the walking habitat asked. The male with the scarf sighed, seeming to let out years of dissapointment and lies. He looked at us with tired eyes, but he seemed to make his mind up.

"My name is Fan Crey, the leader of this little group."

"Alici Rave," the mare with the rings spoke with her head low. "The voice."

"Log Envi, the chill person of the group. Well, most of the time."

"You cannot be suggesting that I tell these weirdos my name, do you?" Fan clicked his tongue at the last male. "Don't we have morals?"

"Just do it, it's not we have any room to do anything else." Fan said. "Who knows, maybe we can find something else to do once we get out of this."

Grunting, he relented. "Lance Way. The fighter of the team. And what do you guys want with us?"

He had a point; what did we want with them? I mean they are poachers, and maybe not even good ones, and It's not we can be cops in a foreign land.

I looked to Blank as she shrugged and spoke; "Your move, Boss."

"Let em' go, we don't have time for a problem like this, I'll ler you off with a little warning and a piece of advice; try something else than this, and should we have to see you again, then I really will-" Daring broke off a chunk of the block. "-have to go the Daring way."

"Really?" Log asked, bewildered. "Just like that?"

"Just like that," Blank said for Daring. She then bared her fangs. "But given I have a pretty good sense of smell, I can always track you down if I feel you're near. So stay away and we should be golden."

Wow, so much for an interrogation.

"So we're going to the Crystal Empire, now, right?" Rin aided Echo in untying the four.

"Yep!" Grass Song smiled, putting her kit back. "And I didn't have to do any operations!"

"But, that easily? What if they come-"

Daring walked over to me, standing on her hind legs to drape a hoof around my waist. "Never look a gift horse in the mouth, it's bad luck. We probably got set back maybe an hour, but if we can get the lead out, I'm sure we can get there in time for the crepe vendors to open."

You know, I didn't want to argue for once. This just. . .happened.