Stranded

Chapters

Isolated
Uncharted Waters
Sail Out to the Deep
Family Sticks Together
Bear Another Burden
Everything Happens for a Reason
Survival of the Fittest
Epilogue
Introduction

Isolated

Chapter One: Isolated

To say it was busy was an understatement.

The terminal was packed with hundreds upon hundreds of ponies, each trotting towards their flight or to family members with smiles on their faces. The sight of loved ones leaving through the doors brought a smile to my face as I turned my attention back to the list of flight numbers.

As I did, I scratched the side of my stomach where my one of my former brands had been. I glanced over to Brave and eyed each part of her body where she had her fur burned with each new rank from Chrysalis’ gang of misfits. It took several magical treatments to dye and grow our coats back to normal, but it was nice to have a full magenta coat again, even if it was itchy at times. Brave on the other hoof, her brands had been very noticeable, but eventually the brands faded completely and her color returned. It reminded me how lucky we had been not to receive the rune engravings along our horns. Some markings could never be fixed.

Braved spotted me eyeing her and her expression went flat. “You know, you might not like brands,” she muttered, running her hoof across a rough patch of fur. “But that doesn’t mean you had to force me to get rid of mine.”

“In case you hadn’t noticed, we don’t normally wear clothes to conceal them,” I calmly retorted.

“That sounds rather problematic,” I heard somepony say, catching my attention and ending the sour topic.

My eyes casually drifted from Brave to the ponies watching the television in the corner of the waiting room.

“Even with authorities still on the search for the stallion, nopony has been able to find even a trace of the cannibal’s presence anywhere in Equestria.”

As my thoughts and fears dispersed hearing the news bulletin, I reminded myself it was constant threats like these we were leaving behind.

My hind legs stretched out from my seat while I looked back at my sister. She turned a page in her magazine, Hot Rod Outlaws. “What’re you reading, Brave?”

Brave Day flipped to the cover, depicting a group of classic Corvettes, and engulfed the magazine with a sheath of blue magic, letting it roll up until it slid comfortably in her backpack. “An article on my favorite car, the Vette C5.” A loud yawn escaped her mouth while she stretched. When she turned back to me, she looked worried. “You sure you want to do this with me of all ponies?”

“Stop looking so blue,” I jokingly ordered, pointing out the color of her coat. Brave scoffed at my remark. She never did like that joke. “We are family, Brave, family sticks together. There’s no mare I would rather start a new life with than with you.” A small smile tugged at the corner of her muzzle.

Once our flight was called, it took us a flat second to grab our bags and get in line. I lightly bounced on my hoof tips eagerly inching forward as the gate agent checked each pony’s ticket one by one.

In my excitement, I leaned closer to Brave, whispering, “You know what my favorite story is?”

Brave Day shrugged. “An article covering a Vette Stingray,” she suggested as our tickets were checked.

The gate agent pony smiled, then let us walk towards the plane as I shook my head. “Try again.” Brave shrugged, but kept thinking. We stepped from the hall onto the plane, passing by the flight attendants and their fake smiles. Finding our seats, Brave took another shot in the dark, suggesting another car story, but I shook my head and chuckled. “This one isn’t about Vettes...or cars.”

We took our seats, leaving our bags in front of us, as the plane began to fill with other passengers. The pilot’s voice echoed inside the cabin, but neither I nor Brave paid the slightest attention.

She shook her head at me. “Alright, I give, what is it?”

I leaned back, recalling what my mother had told me when she was around. “This filly wasn’t the healthiest. On her birthday of all days, she should have died. In fact, the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck should have done it. Somehow, she lived.” Brave looked at me with interest in her eyes. “She was even several days early. You could say that everything was stacked against her from the start.” I paused with a smile. “I remember Mom calling you brave. You were so brave on that day. That is why they named you Brave Day.”

“You’re embarrassing me,” Brave said turning her head to the window.

I chuckled to myself. “I was a foal when it happened. Most of the details are hazy, but there are little bits here and there I still remember.”

Before we knew it the plane began to lift off the ground. We had missed the entire takeoff procedure, not that we were complaining. The sooner we got up into the air the sooner we landed.

The ponies around us were distracted, either by the music players or movies on the small screens, to notice what was going on around them. With that in mind, I reached my hoof into my bag, retrieving something heavy. My hind leg nudged Brave who looked at me with a questioning glance. “I got you a gift,” I said quietly, motioning for her to keep her voice down.

Brave took the gift in her hoof, slowly unwrapping it unveiling a sheath with an adjustable strap, which concealed the real gift. Both of us made sure nopony was paying attention, double checking before Brave pulled a combat knife out. Her jaw slowly lowered at the craftsmanship. The blade was curved, heavy, with blue lettering engraved along the metal spelling her name out. She flipped it over to see my name engraved on the other side in magenta lettering.

Just like us. Even our manes reflected the other, though when it came to descriptions, I’d say “muscular” than “heavy.”

“Starry, it’s beautiful, but how did you get it through security?” she whispered to me.

I dead panned. “Magical wrapping paper.”

We laughed.

Brave rewrapped the knife and placed it in her bag when suddenly the plane violently shook. I pushed by Brave and gazed out the window. Black smoke jetted out into the white cloudy sky as we passed through a dense gathering of birds. Shrapnel flew off from the wing causing the plane to violently jerk. I fell backwards, landing between my seat and Brave’s. When she turned to me, her face had lost some of her color.

I could feel my heart sink deeper into my chest. “Oh crap,” we said in unison.

Uncharted Waters

Chapter Two: Uncharted Waters

Coughs escaped my mouth in quick succession until I violently spit the water out on the sand below me. Everything around me spun. The insides of my head bumped back and forth like a game of Ping Pong.

I fell on my back, taking in deep breathes, listening to the sound of crashing waves around me. Water swam through my mane like an aquatic brush, sending shivers down my spine. My breathing slowly returned to normal as the adrenaline coursing in my veins slowly dispersed throughout the rest of my body.

Attempting to stand up, I found myself tangled up within the parachute. It took me a few minutes, but after enough wiggling I managed to pry myself free from its binding.

Brave Day lay next to me, beaten thoroughly and out of breath, passed out on the sand like she was sunbathing. My hoof splashed water over her face.

She twitched.

A groan escaped her as she slowly pushed herself up, rolling on her back in time to see the fin from the plane sinking down into the deep depths of the ocean. We sat there for several long minutes just staring.

I began to recall some of what happened. We managed to grab the parachutes that appeared from under the seats just as the plane violently shook again. I pushed several pegasi over, letting Brave go for the door that had a passenger safety spell. I tried finding the flight attendant to dispel it but a violent eruption around the cabin deactivated it to our luck. Brave pushed open the door then, for some reason, she froze. Those final moments were almost a blur, but I can vaguely recall wrapping my hooves around Brave as I tackled her out the plane.

All those other ponies though...if it wasn’t for already having other pony’s blood on my hooves, my heart would have broken for them as I didn’t see anypony else escape. Celestia, thank you, for allowing me and my sister to live, I thought to myself.

Standing up on all fours, I helped Brave Day up, noticing that she was still processing what was going on. Her hoof smacked the side of her face as her eyes widened alarmingly fast. “What the hell are we going to do?” She screamed out at the ocean, “Where the hell are we!”

The screaming continued for another few minutes, each sentence slowly bringing my hoof to my face. She kept rambling, and rambling on, and rambling, and rambling. Brave faced me in time for me to slap her. “Shut up!” I shouted at the top of my lungs. “You’re acting like this is the first time we’ve ever been in this situation. Did you forget those summers with grandpa!” I shouted as each of those miserable memories flooded my head to the point I tore my gaze to the ocean. “Now stop acting like a scared filly, I thought you were supposed to be a big bad gangster,” I scoffed pointing my hoof out at the crashing waves.

My eyes locked on the area where the plane had gone down at. Our only chance of finding some supplies was stuck at the bottom and the sun was slowly beginning to set. Maybe three hours at most. “Brave, swim out there with me. With any luck the water won’t be too deep, but I’ll need you to conjure up an air bubble.”

I mentally began crossing off each thing we needed to stay aware of. Aside from sharks coming into the area, all we had to avoid were the currents and rip tides. It should take only a few minutes before certain species of shark began poking around the wreckage site. We needed to move fast.

“You can’t do that, you don’t even know how deep it is,” Brave reminded me with more than a little concern behind her words.

One look behind me revealed a large mountain separating us from the other side of the island. Each direction seemed like an endless walk leaving us with little options to choose from. “I’ve already made up my mind, now just listen and do as I say.” I slowly tied my blue mane up into a bun, using a small band to keep it in place as not to snag on anything while in the wreckage.

We galloped into the water, finding ourselves right above the plane in just a few minutes. I took another glance over at the land, hoping that the walk around the mountain wasn’t as long as it looked from shore. It looked longer somehow.

My gaze drifted to the water. Below, I could spy the plane resting between several large boulders. “If I had to guess, I’d say that’s about...a really deep dive.” I paused for a moment, taking the sight in.

“I can make you an air bubble, but there ain’t a chance that it will withstand that.” She exchanged glances between me and the plane.

I reminded myself that we weren’t the most talented unicorns this side of…wherever we were. “Time to see if those swimming skills are as good as they used to be.”

Engulfing her horn in a magical aura, Brave slowly conjured a pink bubble around me with water passing through it leaving me more than a little uneasy. My hoof waved through the pink. “Starry, make sure you stay within the bubble while it’s going down.” I nodded in response then began to descend into the depths below.

Instincts told me to hold my breath, silly as it was, and I did. I wasn’t going to chance being taken by surprise by an unstable bubble. Using telekinesis to slowly make my descent, I let out a breath and took in some fresh air to my relief. At least one thing was going right today. Every few seconds I checked for sharks that may have been scoping the crash site out. So far, nothing, which was how I liked it.

Cracks began to form slowly around the entire bubble, eventually spider-webbing together. I took a swift look at the plane, pulling in all the air my lungs had the capacity to take in. I didn’t dare open my mouth again as the pink magic began to drift off into the water slowly fading away.

Swimming to the desired depth, I moved in front of the door, carefully poking my head inside for fear of a shark possibly jetting out from it. Thankfully, nothing more than a few minnows came my way. I entered the cabin, inspecting every nook and cranny I could visibly make out. Inside, bodies floated up to the top of the cabin. Each one had a twisted expression of fear on their faces. All I could think of was that the safety enchantment malfunctioned, letting us out, but kept everypony else in, from the explosion. The poor souls that had survived the crash had been trapped inside as the water came flooding in.

With the last of the pink bubble drifting away, I took one last breath. A burning sensation slowly began filling my lungs. I began swimming around, noticing all of the luggage floating about, but there wasn’t time for me to scavenge anything. Swimming over to the cockpit, I passed an emergency cabinet. Attempting to pull it open, I found it was locked. “Kind of stupid considering I might be able to use whatever’s inside now,” I thought to myself.

Swimming into the cockpit, I carefully went up into an air pocket that remained trapped inside. Sweet air graced my lungs reminding me that air was limited here. The pilot’s dead bodies floated past me with a keyring attached to one of their belt loops. I grabbed the keyring before swimming back to the emergency cabinet.

I tried each key one by one, noting I was beginning to feel the burning sensation. If there was anything that could give me a longer breath of a fresh air, I needed it to be somewhere in the plane. Frustrated, I smacked the wall as hard as I could, feeling the burning intensify like it was electricity coursing through me. I tried another key and to my surprise it unlocked the cabinet. I pulled it open and there floated an oxygen mask connected to a tank. I smiled, then remembered I was drowning. Frantically grabbing the mask I twisted the knob on the tank and the oxygen began to vent. Creating an air pocket in it first, I strapped it on and took in a long breath, praising both Alicorns for the sweet relief. The exhale was a little labored as I doubted this was the intended purpose of the equipment.

With more than enough time on the tanks gauge to search, I got to work rummaging through every little thing I could. In my search, I came across a container holding packaged nuts, as well as a twenty-four pack of small water bottles and a flip lighter that someone had managed to slip past security. I also took the addition oxygen mask and tank from the cabinet.

All of these went inside of a small bag I had taken that nopony would be needing anymore. The last thing I found was locked. A large chest which, because of its locked nature, held my curiosity like a cat playing with its own swishing tail hidden under a couch.

The contents of the chest was what drew me to it, because it was sitting on the floor instead of floating. I attempted to lift it through telekinesis but whatever was inside held it down firmly for me to lift. “I’ll just have to come back for it later,” I told myself checking the tank as it neared going empty.

Levitating the package of water bottles with me, I slowly swam out the door. Beginning my ascension to the surface, I couldn’t make out Brave Day’s body. My eyes darted around, being on the alert for any sharks. Without knowing where we were, I had to assume the most badass of sharks lived around the area.

I slung my body across the sand, the loot and gear weighing me down immensely, as I took in the sight before me. Between some palm trees were two beautiful hammocks made out of ripped parachute. Above that was a small pony-made roof that was constructed out of leafs.

Checking the oxygen tank, it was empty. I squirmed out from the gear, letting it rest near a tree. Brave sat near a fire while she slowly carved arrows for a makeshift bow with her custom knife. The fire cracked.

Brave spared a glance my way with the smallest hint of a smile. “You know, I honestly thought you might not make it back,” she said with a chuckle. “Glad to see your back with supplies.” Her hoof gently patted the sand.

I plopped down next to her, letting the fire warm me. The band holding my hair slowly slid out allowing my mane to fall free as I ran a hoof to untangle it. “Remember when you said your favorite story was when I was born,” Brave stated from across the fire. “You know what mine is?”

I shook my head.

A smile slowly stretched across her face. “Remember that Corvette we had that was almost nothing but carbon fiber?” Brave chuckled in response to my fast nod. That car was definitely special. “I remember. We needed that car because Chrysalis wanted two of the fastest bucking racers our side of the Badlands.”

The memories came flashing back like they had happened yesterday. It was almost unbelievable that it had been some years ago. “Yeah, I remember,” I said opening the packaged nuts that had somehow remained dry despite being submerged. “Your car was too damaged and mine had the axle ripped clean off.”

“You can always count on some old goat buying something they know nothing about. Would have been a shame to leave it behind. If he was a racer, I’d of dragged his ass to settle it.” Brave trailed off. I only recall the lights coming on as we sped off with the frame on our trailer. With carbon fiber being so lightweight it makes for perfect drag racing material. “Then we dropped that three hundred fifty cubic inch big block inside with two stages of nitrous and let that thing soar. Good thing that last race was a drag race.” Brave’s gaze moved to me. “You drove like you were on a mission. Coolest thing I ever saw you do.”

“I just remember it couldn’t turn worth beans,” I said laughing right after. We sat there staring into the fire for what felt like hours as the sun finally disappeared. I let out a yawn, feeling my heavy eyelids begin to fall.

Sail Out to the Deep

Chapter 3: Sail Out to the Deep

I opened my eyes to sight of large leafs built into a canopy above my head as crashing waves drew my attention to the ocean. It took me a moment to take in the surroundings before finding myself inside of the hammock. “If it wasn’t for being stuck here, I’d swear we were on vacation,” I said. Somehow, despite the knowledge of being stuck here, as I lay back against my hammock, a smile stretched along my face.

Brave gently swung next to me, using her hoof to lightly push against the tree to keep her moving. “Do you have a worst memory of me?” she questioned out of the blue.

“No…well.” We had shot ponies in cold blood, stolen from ponies that didn’t deserve it, and many other things so finding a bad memory was a bit more difficult than I thought. “Yeah, that time you nearly ran me over with your first car.” It was an accident. Somehow that made me chuckle. “Why, do you have a bad memory of me?”

Dead silence fell between us, then she said softly, “Just one. You remember that time I pissed off that mare, the leader of that group distributing Poison Blue?”

I nodded. I could vaguely recall getting a phone call from a pissy little bitch high off of illegal narcotics, then…nothing more than death. She was a tough pissy bitch. Was.

Brave nudged me gaining my attention. “That time she struck me in the back of the head and tied me up in that rundown apartment building. You busted down the front door, climbing each floor until you reached mine, slaughtering every one of her gang members.”

That night came flooding back. I turned away, my dead gaze staring out towards the wreckage. The cold logic pushed to the forefront. “I had to be sure they didn’t come after us again,” I said flatly.

“Starry, I saw you ram one pony’s throat into a shard of glass then throw them out the window with a chain wrapped around their neck.” I tried to speak up, but Brave cut me off. “She was already dead. Not to mention you set fire to the entire apartment complex after they died.”

I turned back to Brave who never once took her gaze away from me. I remember fighting for not just my life, but hers as well. I would use any means necessary to make sure my sister remained in one piece.

Brave had a slight smile for some reason. “You looked like some sort of secret agent, wearing that vest with all those weapons around you. You looked cool, but you didn’t even look like my sister. I was scared…for you.”

I closed my eyes. Taking a deep breath, I snorted it out. It was time to end this sour conversation. Opening my eyes I focused on the wreckage. I got up from my hammock. “I should dive down for more supplies.”

Brave pointed out towards the plane while she opened a bottle of water with her mouth. “I saw a few dorsal fins while you were sleeping, pretty sure some sharks are stalking us,” she joked. I slowly began putting the extra “scuba gear” on, quadruple noting the sharks that were making this dive problematic as she asked, “Float you out there?”

I nodded as I finished strapping everything on. Turning to Brave, I could see she was looking worried. “Float me out then down some. I’ll take it from there.” She attempted to argue, but I cut her off. “Don’t forget, everything in there is right for the taking.” That managed to put a smile on Brave’s face.

Conjuring a bubble around me, my sister carefully floated me out to where the plane had crashed. I kept my eyes glued to the crash site, which wasn’t too hard as the water was moderately clear. My hoof motioned for Brave to start lowering me. As the bubble descended down, I kept watch for sharks. I spotted several of them swimming around as I got deep enough to take control of the bubble.

“Oh shit!” I shouted as a fin bumped the side of the bubble making it ripple. A bull shark roughly my size swam away sending a shiver down my spine. The beating in my chest became noticeable to the point I had to take a deep breath to calm down as the rippling got worse. Slowly, I began twisting the knob on the oxygen tank just before the air bubble popped. I was now on the clock.

By the time I got to the entrance my heart began pounding again. Once I was sure the coast was clear, I moved inside, triple checking as I went making sure nothing was abnormal. The chest was still sitting on the floor. “It’s the predator you can’t see that gets you, Starry,” I said to myself. Every few seconds I looked around checking for any signs of a shark mistaking me for food.

Feeling the front of it carefully, I noticed a lock and mentally groaned. Letting the lock fall back into place, I started looking around for the key, which could have been anywhere. That was if it was still on the plane. My oxygen tank sat at a seventy percent full and was lowering.

In my search I stumbled across a jagged hunting knife that looked sharp enough to punch a hole through my tank. Using a small rope close by, I tied the knife to my hind leg. “Maybe I could use something heavy against the knife to pry the lock off,” I thought to myself. I decided against it as that only ever worked in cheap movies.

My gaze moved up to the ceiling where I could see a packaged raft. “Wait, if I had one more of those, I might be able to float the chest to the surface,” I told myself, recalling from my previous venture that my telekinesis wasn’t nearly strong enough to bring it up.

Suddenly, my body violently hit the wall as my head slammed against the storage cabinets making my head spin around a few times. I shook it off in time to turn away from a bull sharks butcher knife like teeth. Bubbles jetted out from the back of my oxygen tank, which had thankfully taken the blunt force of the attack. Pushing against the wall, I managed to float up my knife in time to drag it across the shark’s dorsal fin.

I telekinetically threw open a few of the cabinets, letting whatever was inside float out in front of the shark to obscure its path if even for a moment. My tank emptied out forcing me to hold my breath as I ditched the facemask just before reaching the cockpit.

Using every bit of force that I could, my magic engulfed the entire door, slowly pulling it shut as the shark rammed the side of it. A large bulge from the attack was left behind. “Shit,” I managed to say between breaths. Looking around a bit, I managed to find an emergency kit strapped to the wall with another raft package. All I had to do was set up the last raft, pull the strings, and let the rafts carry the chest up.

A surge of pain ran through my leg. I looked down to find blood seeping into the water. “Shit, shit, shit!” In my panic I hit the back of my head against the wall. Taking in a few deep breaths to calm myself, I reminded myself to thank the Alicorns that this air pocket was still here, even if it was smaller than last time. “My blood’s going to attract every shark in no time.”

I turned my attention to the wall. Focusing on one specific area, I cast a spell against the surface allowing me to see through it. Thankfully, working on cars had an advantage when it came to using transparency spells to see what was wrong with an engine. I could make out a large gaping hole in the cabin where the turbine had been attached. “It must have fallen off last night,” I spoke to nopony. The spell faded away.

I took a look at my empty tank. It would be a struggle to get out of here, but I had confidence in myself that I could do this. Going back down into the water, I conjured up an air bubble around my head while keeping my empty tank positioned in front of my body. Using what other magic I could muster up, I telekinetically threw the door open as the bull shark came bolting towards me.

With a quick nug of my telekinesis, I moved just enough out of the way as I shoved the empty tank right into its butcher knife teeth.

Without wasting time, I pushed past the shark as it thrashed about with the tank in its mouth. Luckily, the beast swam into the cockpit leaving me about my business. Everything around me shook. My air bubble rippled all around making my heart race. A violent shake made me tear my gaze from the chest to the window. Everything outside blurred together before the structure lurched to a stop over the deep blue, sending my heart sinking into the furthest pits of my chest.

Pressed for time, I frantically began swimming to the chest. I wrapped the strings on the rafts around the handles before giving one good pull. The first raft exploded out, leading the chest out the hole. I turned in time to see the shark swimming out from the cockpit.

Swimming to the packaged raft, I wrapped my hoof around the handle as the shark closed in. I floated my knife up before violently shoving it into the shark’s eye, forcing it to turn into the rows of seats. The plane shook again. Pulling the cord with all my strength, I held on tightly as the raft popped open, lifting me out from the plane. I kept my eyes glued to it as the hunk of metal fell into a gaping trench below.

I arrived back up to the surface, having already scrambled into the safety of a raft within a few seconds. My heart pounded faster than that time I narrowly beat that souped-up performance car, going one-eighty in my old school Stingray. That very memory brought a smile to my face.

Taking a peek over the edge, I could see the chest still tied to the rafts. “I can’t believe that actually worked,” I wheezed. My hoof brushed up against my injured leg making me cringe in pain. That tooth had cut deeper than I had originally thought.

I felt around for my knife, but found that it was no longer with me. “Must have left it in that shark,” I thought to myself.

It didn’t take long for Brave to bring me back to shore. Once I had my four hooves firmly planted on the sand, I got to work trying to find something to bandage my leg.

“You look jacked up,” Brave stated as she ripped a long strip from our leftover parachutes. She wrapped it around my leg a few times before tying it firmly in place.

“You should see the shark,” I said chuckling.

“Sounds like I missed the party…” Brave said trailing off as our gazes fell on the ocean. Something about the crashing waves left us both speechless for a few minutes. “I remember our fillyhood dream was to own two nice houses on the beach.” A smile spread across my face hearing that. As I opened up my mouth to speak, Brave cut me off. “Reminds me of that time you told me you wanted to be a magician. What was your stage name again?”

I rolled my eyes, refusing to answer. Brave kept staring at me with a smug grin on her face. Letting out a defeated sigh, I said to her, “Starry the Magnificent.” My sister burst into a laughing fit making me look away.

“I remember your best trick was creating an illusion of yourself. It distracted the audience while we pickpocketed all their bits,” Brave sat down while I recalled my fillyhood swindles. I was a thief then, but stopped all of that when I took that first Stingray for a joyride, which coincidently was the one I kept. “Stupid name, but you were kinda good.”

I got up, walking over to the water with Brave. Then, my hoof splashed water along Brave’s face. “My name was great and you know it!” I said as Brave shook her wet mane around then threw water back into my laughing face. “You wanna go!”

“Bring it on, sis!” Brave shouted at me with a smile while she tackled me into the water as we both laughed through every tumble. It wasn’t until we saw a dorsal fin pop up that we scrambled back to the sand, being reminded there were still sharks in the area.

Family Sticks Together

Chapter Four: Family Sticks Together

One good spell that morning was all it took to blow the pathetic lock right back into the ocean. “Wish I had known how easy that would have been yesterday,” I said to my sister who was finishing up a makeshift bow to go along with several arrows. I reached my hoofs inside to pull out a rather large pump. Carefully inspecting it, it read on the side: Solar Pump, let Celestia’s sunlight power your day. It apparently could also cleanse water with an added magical rune, which it so happen to have.

“This could be useful if we can find a stream,” I thought to myself.

Slow scrapes from Brave’s knife caught my attention. My gaze fell on the custom made bow that had been forged from strong bamboo. The craftsmanship was beautiful and no doubt had taken my sister a good deal of time to create. “This is for you,” she said with a smile. “I’m a better shot with a pistol, so you and your unparalleled bow skills can have that.”

I hovered the bow close to my eyes, carefully eyeing it for any indications of weakness. I found none to my surprise. Carefully pulling back the string, I leaned my face away making sure it wouldn’t break right into my eyes. “It’s fantastic. Reminds me of that time I used the crossbow to headshot that snake through those bushes!” Both my sister and I busted out laughing.

“That was so crazy! You jumped over the edge of that small cliff and nailed that son of bitch!” Brave slapped the sand next to her while she levitated me the arrows and bamboo quiver to go with it. They too were noticeably well made.

I set the quiver down along with the bow before looking back into the chest. Inside, I also found a flare gun with three shots next to an enchantment that was used to make the chest unbearably heavy to anypony that did not possess the key. I remembered running into these kinds of chest back in the Badlands. The trick was to have something that wasn’t a pony to move them. They always managed to piss me off one way or another. “I’m going to hold on to this,” I stated as I pulled out the holster that accompanied the gun. What sat next to the holster caught my attention immediately.

Reaching my hoof down back in, I pulled out a semi-automatic pistol with a six bullet clip, fully loaded. A huge smile stretched across Brave’s face. “That’s mine.” My sister’s enthusiasm for guns was more than enough of a reason for me to move it her direction. As she reached for it, I pulled it back. “What the hell, Starry?”

I spoke sternly, “This is for emergencies only, you hear me.” Brave rolled her eyes as she reached inside the chest to grab the holster. Once it was tied around her leg tightly, she snatched the gun away. “Remember, we don’t know if there are any hostile ponies in the area. So use that wisely.”

Brave scoffed as she levitated up a crossbow from behind a tree. “I got it,” she hissed.

I didn’t like that, but I didn’t say anything about it. After all, Brave always had a problem with authority. Then again, so did I, at least when I was on the wrong side of the law.

A loud clap of thunder shook me to my core. I looked over at Brave seeing she was looking slightly shocked too. “Where the hell did that...” I trailed off looking at the sky which had become dark very quickly. “Storms coming in.”

“Thanks, Captain Obvious,” my sister mumbled jokingly. Her hooves pulled out a small radio from the chest, which sadly wasn’t the type to contact anypony. After she fiddled with it for a moment she managed to find a signal with some rather cheery music playing, which Brave turned off right away. “Ugh, Starry you can have this.” The rest of the chest was filled with a stash of those packaged nuts from our flight.

I stashed the equipment back inside the chest, making sure to close it in case the weather got a little out of hoof. Staring at the pump for a few minutes gave me an interesting idea. “What if we hooked that up to a pipe system and led it back this way? Should filter out the salt. I bet there are a lot more bamboo trees around here for us to make pipes out of.”

“Let’s get started then,” my sister said as she geared up as another clap of thunder crashed in the distance.

“On second thought, let’s look for better shelter first.”

*** ***

We took a dirt path that lead us further up the mountain, but the further we walked into the forest the taller the trees got. Eventually, every tree top canopied over us so that only a few rays of light shone through. I had quietly begun questioning myself if we had taken a wrong turn somewhere, which was beginning to annoy me.

A boulder obscured our path along with the view of anything that might be hiding behind it. While I was climbing on top of it, my sister went around, passing me. “Hey,” she called up to me while I jumped down. “I’m going to take the lead now, besides you’re better at long range.”

I pushed her back gently, taking the lead again. “No,” I retorted firmly. “I need you to back me up. That’s how we’ve always done this.” Brave tried to argue, but I cut her off. “End of discussion, Brave.”

“No, not end of discussion. Ever since we got here you’ve been taking charge. Let me take over for a change, because honestly, I think you’re starting to feel a bit stressed.” My sister placed a hoof on my shoulder, but I shrugged it off. Walking ahead of me, she faced my gaze only for a brief moment while I walked ahead again.

“Do as I say,” I commanded firmly.

Brave stepped in front of my path, stopping me dead in my tracks. “Do as you say?” she questioned angrily. “We ain’t little fillies any more and this isn’t the Badlands. You can shove that over-protectiveness back where it came from.”

I let out a quiet sigh, trying to keep a level head about this. It was becoming obvious to me that she wasn’t going to let me avoid this, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t try. “Drop it, we need to find some shelter before that storm gets here,” I said while reasoning we had a hoofful of hours before the rain hit.

“You’re doing it again!” Brave shouted making her horn spark up a little. I questioned that last sentence which only seemed to push my sister’s anger even further. “Don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about. You’re always treating me like some filly, then when I try to bring it up you just dismiss it!”

I had to admit to myself that I had always taken the lead when it was just me and my sister. Usually, this was because of Brave’s brash nature getting us into trouble. At least with me, I could think through the situation better before resorting to the trigger. “Well, maybe if you didn’t go in guns blazing every time we had to get things done, I wouldn’t have to take over so often,” I spat back, sounding more irritated than I had meant to.

Brave took a step back. From here, she began looking more and more like a ticking time bomb. “That has nothing to do with this and you know it! You don’t trust me enough,” she retorted with her horn wrapping itself in a small sheath of magic. “Yes, I prefer to use guns over words, but sometimes you have no choice! Starry, you slaughtered how many ponies that night?”

“That night was situational!” I yelled back at her as my hoof punched the dirt. My instincts told me to hit her as hard as I could, but I refrained from it. “They would have killed you. I was left with no choice, Brave, where as you pull the trigger whenever you see fit without thinking of repercussions!” I paused, carefully thinking about the phone call I had received from that junkie. “Which, may I remind you, is the precise reason you got strapped to that chair, with a stupid Magic Trick ring on your horn, in the first place.”

“Shut up!” Brave screamed, blistering fury blazing in her eyes, as her pistol levitated up at me. My eyes slowly fell to the barrel. “Just because I do things a little differently than you doesn’t mean you can take charge all the damn time!”

I opened my mouth to speak, but Brave cut me off.

“No, you listen to me, Starry Night, or so help me I will pull this trigger and give you a reason not to trust me,” she quietly mumbled to me, as I fixed my gaze on her. Brave paused.

In that moment, I could recall playing chicken with Brave when we were fillies. We always settled things that way, but it always ended the same way, with my heart racing a hundred eighty miles an hour.

Brave let out a deep breath. Once she was done taking a breather, her attention became focused solely on me. “All I want you to do is show me a little—”

“Brave,” I warned cautiously as my eyes locked on to the long slithering body that we had been oblivious to for who knows how long.

“No, don’t ‘Brave’ me! We are having this discussion now!” my sister shouted at me, forcing me to take a defensive step back. Our eyes met and I looked away to whatever was behind her. She paused for a moment then turned slowly to see what I was looking at.

I telekinetically pulled my sister back towards me as the creature lunged forward, trying to constrict where Brave had previously been. “Take the shot!” I yelled at her in a state of panic.

Without any time to think, I pulled her all the way back to me, aiming my sights on a shack not to far away and began to tow her.

Pushing me away, Brave reached for something in her backpack. “It was never loaded,” Brave shouted with a hint of panic.

“Never loaded! What the hell were you thinking!” I screamed back at her as the python whipped its tail, swiping Brave into a tree making her drop the clip and gun. Its eyes were focused on me now as it hissed. Levitating out my bow with three arrows, I drew them back, then let them fly with two successfully impaling its body. The snake recoiled but the attack only seemed to anger it further.

“I was just trying to freak you out! You don’t ever trust me so I figured I’d give you a real reason not to!” Brave retorted back while fumbling for the clip. As she reached for the gun, the snake attacked, smacking her into the tree again.

I groaned, taking a jump back as the snake got within striking distance. Continuing to move just outside of its range, I could feel my back hoof hit the moss covered metal of the shack as the python followed moving past Brave. “In the middle of a forest? Don’t you ever think things through? Having a conversation like this now was a bad idea!” A loud crack went off making me dive past a window. I rolled just as the snake brushed up against the side of the shack trying to bind me.

Another loud crack went off. “You won’t ever let us have the talk!” Brave shouted back as her bullet punctured the window above me.

The snake stopped its advances then looked at Brave. With a brief moment of freedom, I drew back another arrow. Taking a few steps back, my hoof broke a branch behind me. The snake's attention returned to me, but only for a moment as its gaze went briefly to the broken window. I looked at what was next to the open door and cursed at myself. “Damn it, we walked right over to its nest!”

As the snake turned its focus back to me, I fired my arrow with a successful hit. The creature shook it off as I dove to the side. It turned and lunged. I dove again. As I began to dive once more I realized I was trapped inside a large circle that snake had lured me into. My horn lit up, creating an illusion of myself in the spot I dove from as the snake constricted, causing the illusion to evaporate with a “poof.” .

“Do you trust me?” Brave asked as she aimed the pistol at the snake.

“Now is not the time Brave!” I shouted back at her as I drew back three more arrows. With each passing second the snake slowly attempted to surround me again. It was becoming apparent to me that the adrenaline pumping through my veins might not be enough to save me this time.

“Oh I think now is the perfect time,” Brave retorted as she fired an arrow from her crossbow into the snake's body. It hissed loudly, tearing its gaze from me to Brave. “I’ve got this.”

The snake knocked me to the ground, going straight for my sister. I rolled back onto all fours, my bow armed with three more arrows. Each arrow flew through the air, but the snake’s agile movements only allowed me to get one successful shot. “Over here! I said, over here!” I shouted at the snake. It knocked Brave over, preparing to kill.

I drew back another arrow this time letting it fly right into the side of its neck. The creature recoiled, allowing Brave to scamper away. “Yeah, come get some. Next time it’ll be right between the eyes,” I muttered coldly as I drew an arrow back while it turned to me, returning its attention fully on me now.

Releasing the arrow, it lunged forward, twisting around the projectile and swept me off my hooves, as my magic imploded letting my weapon drop. I landed on top of its body, letting out a cough as it prepared to coil around my body. Frantically trying to roll off its back, I found that I couldn’t move. Instead, we were both trapped inside of two magic fields.

I looked over at my sister to see she was doing everything she could to keep the creature from mangling me. Every ounce of her magic skill was poured onto us, barely keeping us apart as her horn sparked, the strain looking almost too unbearable as she moved over to us. In Brave’s mouth was her pistol.

A loud crack screamed from the barrel. The snake’s body dropped like a stone in water as I was set down gently. It didn’t take long before Brave flung the dead snake, along with its eggs, back into the dense portion of the woods. “I really hate the woods,” I wheezed.

Then it dawned on me that Brave had used three bullets from that gun, which we needed for emergencies. It took a moment before my lungs could handle the anger I wanted to voice. “I thought I told you to save that for emergencies!” my voice echoed around the woods.

Brave slid the pistol into her holster, but only took her gaze away from me to roll her eyes. “You could be a little more thankful that I saved your life, maybe try ‘oh, thanks Brave for saving my life, it was either it or me,’ geez.” Once she was finished, my sister took a look at my bow, but returned it once she was sure there were no signs of damage.

Bear Another Burden

Chapter Five: Bear another Burden

Surprisingly enough the water tower was in a less dense portion of woods. No more snakes to be found and I was damn glad there weren’t any. However that didn’t stop me from looking up from my sister’s craftsman skills to check for any unwanted visitors. Thankfully nothing seemed to bother us.

I moved myself underneath the water tower as it began to rain. As the old saying goes, when it rains it pours. Thunder practically shook Brave from the top of the tower. She landed next to me then took shelter as it began to hail. “This weather is insane,” I muttered as a flash of lightning went off in the distance. “Listen, Brave, I’m sorry about the way I treat you. I forget that you aren’t a little filly sometimes.”

Brave let out a long sigh. Obviously, she wasn’t very excited to talk about this either, but we needed to. It took me a moment to realize she didn’t plan on saying anything back.

The tower shook a bit more as water from the waterfall behind us slapped the top rather hard. “You know that if something ever happened to you and I couldn’t do anything to help, I don’t think I could live with myself, sis.” I couldn’t imagine what I would do if I lost her knowing I could have done something to help her. I looked away from Brave, “Look, just so we’re on the same page. It was either it or me.”

After an excruciating couple of seconds I glanced at my sister's direction.

My sister smiled at me and shook her head before turning away. I smiled back. “Hey,” she nudged me hard enough that I looked at her. “I love you too.”

*** ***

Two days later and a change of plans later, we finished our pipe system and it was running great. Upon discovering the watertower, we both decided not to chance the possibility of a defective rune and made the extra effort for the “safer” water. As much as it was tempting to use the shack as our new shelter, I didn’t want to wake up in an vengeful snake’s belly should it return.

I had been playing with the radio every night trying to find a decent station to listen to...until it broke. So each day was partially spent either hunting for supplies, looking for safer shelter, or kicking back. That was until our pipe system suddenly stopped working, which meant we had to travel back to the tower.

Brave cracked her neck to the side slowly letting out a groan of relief. Rolling her head a few times she managed to stretch it out. “Hey, so the other day when I was fishing in the morning I heard some gunshots going off somewhere on the mountain,” my sister stated with what sounded like a hint of worry. “Haven’t heard anything since.”

“Maybe we should start moving inland a bit, see if there aren’t any towns nearby now that we’re finally set up enough to live off the land,” I reasoned back. A branch snapped in the distance making me draw back an arrow. After our encounter with the snake, I never let my guard down while we were even near the woods. A squirrel jump from one branch to the next while I put the arrow back in my quiver.

Taking a glance at Brave, I found that she was unloading her crossbow. Something about us both pulling out our weapons at the same time made me chuckle. We continued walking until the tower came into view. Our walk came to a screeching halt when we saw what had happened to our pipe system.

Part of the system had been knocked down from where the water was supposed to be feeding into it. The pump lying on the ground seemed to be functional, but that was about as good as our news got. “Oh crap,” I mumbled to my sister. From the look on my sister's face I could tell she wasn’t sure how to handle this either.

Somehow, the hulking grizzly bear had managed to climb all the way up the tower to the tank, and in the process, knocked the pump out from the opening in the tank’s side, Shingles from atop the tower came crashing down around the grizzly while its paw thrashed about inside the tank. Whatever had the bear’s attention was clearly pissing the thing off as its growls became louder, making my heart sink. I had fought off several bears in the past. Smaller ones, by myself. Brave had been too young at the time and gratefully never had to deal with one until now. Still, I hadn’t walked away from those encounters without several character marks along my body. I had been lucky to walk away with my life. Thankful I had enough wits to outsmart each bear. This time shouldn’t be any different.

Brave yanked me behind several trees, making me follower her up a small path leading to a tree by a ledge that overlooked the top of the tower. The wind blew past us while I held my hoof up to check the direction as it was best to stay downwind of the beast. If it caught wind of us there was no doubt it would follow us back to camp, especially with how agitated it was already.

“Listen,” Brave whispered, “I’ll draw its attention while you take the high ground and do some long range shooting with that bow.”

I peered around the tree, seeing part of the roof break off before it came crashing down against one of the tower’s legs, my heart began to race with the plan running through my mind. “No,” I said sternly. “I’ll be the distraction. You’ve got the gun so make every shot count, you understand me, and if that doesn’t kill it then we only have these bows.” There wasn’t a hint of fear in my voice. Adrenaline pumped through my veins putting me on edge.

“I can do this, Starry, we’ve been over this!” she quietly raged at me. The wind brushed past us again as a low rumble of thunder went by. We were still downwind, for now. “You need to trust me.”

“I am,” I spat back. “I’m trusting you with my life, Brave, because I know how dangerous these things are and you haven’t faced one head on like I have. Make every shot counter, you hear me.”

Brave nodded reluctantly. “Fine, but if you get hurt, don’t say I didn’t offer,” she said softly.

I jogged back down to the tower, where the trees could obscure the bear's vision, then drew an arrow back. Letting it rip through the air, I almost landed a well-placed shot in the bear’s back as the wind changed, sending the arrow off course and bringing my sister's scent with it.

The bear looked up, searching, then started climbing. Its claws sunk into the nearby tree with similar claw marks, that continued upward right up to where my sister was loading her crossbow. Brave went to point both the gun and the crossbow as the bear pulled itself up faster than she could get to the ledge. Its claws swung out, forcing Brave to dive right over the ledge, but as she did so, an arrow levitated straight up into the bear’s eye, but not far enough to kill it.

My sister came crashing down on top of the water tower’s weak roof, making just her spot collapse from underneath her. Water came splashing up over the rim with a fish that had been lucky enough not to have been eaten by the bear. Loud roars of agony mixed with anger caught my attention as the bear climbed back down from the tree with a partially broken arrow sticking out from its eye. Brave’s crossbow had landed next to one of the tower’s legs, but the gun was nowhere to be found.

I scrambled up to the ledge as fast as I could, keeping tabs on the bear as it climbed back onto a now rickety tower with its claws swinging down into the tank. Brave had now become the metaphorical fish in a barrel with the bear serving as the gun. Without any hesitation, I jumped from the ledge, ditching my bow to the ground where the crossbow lay, allowing myself to land on the bears back.

I lodged an arrow into the bear’s back holding onto the arrow with my teeth as I tried to sense the arrow in the bear’s eye. Once I found it I tried to push it in further but the beast reached up behind itself, pulling me forward then ramming my body right through the roof as I unintentionally pulled the arrow out of its eye. The entire structure shook as I hit the water inside with a loud splat. I groaned out in pain, trying to move to one side of the tank where the bear wasn’t clawing at us.

Brave kept her gun levitated up then took a shot as the bear moved away. Her breathing rate had picked up as had mine. We looked at one another, carefully listening for the sounds of growling. My hope was that the beast has gotten tired of picking on stubborn prey. That was until its head came crashing through part of the roofing, its teeth being shoved almost directly in my face.

Taking a quick shot, Brave landed a direct hit in the bear’s shoulder making it thrash into the side of the tank. A loud snap came from outside as the world around us began to shake until it inevitably tipped over. Water slushed around us, throwing us into the wall as the structure broke apart with us spilling out.

The gun, which had conveniently fallen underneath some debris, was what we needed right now. Brave threw the wood and metal into the stream next to us, desperately searching for it. When she found it, she knocked it her way as she rolled towards it. Levitating the firearm up, she took a shot in the bear’s direction.

My eyes began searching for one of the weapons while the bear continued to move. With three shots wasted, I spotted the crossbow and levitated it over to me, rolling back onto all fours at the same time. I fired a single shot that sunk right into the bear’s stomach. It shrugged it off then charged at me, swinging its large arm right into me. I hit a low hanging tree branch that broke upon impact, knocking the wind out of me. From out of nowhere the bear stood above me bringing its claw up to strike.

Then, out of nowhere, Brave Day jumped onto the bear, ramming her knife as many times as she could into any weak point she found.

The bear cried out in pain, ripping Brave from its back before slamming her against the ground. It swung its claws at my sister as she dove away, but she wasn’t fast enough. Fur tore from her body like it was wrapping paper, each claw leaving behind a mark as Brave hit the ground without a movement afterward. Her knife lay next to me.

Screaming at the top of my lungs with fury I didn’t even know I had, my horn flared up,levitating the knife right into the bear’s good eye. The knife repeated to slam itself into the beast until I gave it the hardest buck to the face I could. Once I was sure the bear was dead, I turned to my sister. “Brave Day,” I shrieked in horror.

Everything Happens for a Reason

Chapter Six: Everything Happens for a Reason

The number of storms passing over the island, back to back, made gathering medicinal herbs so difficult I almost started to pull hair from my mane. Not that there were many recognizable herbs I noticed in the first place. Without being able to reach our campsite in time, a storm had ripped through the island sending everything we had worked on right back to the ocean. Thankfully, I had tied down the chest, as well as made sure to pack it with enough bottled water and food to last a few more days if needed. Unfortunately, everything else had been washed away, along with most of the medication that could have helped my sister.

Brave had broken out into a fever, which was determined to stick around no matter how many remedies I used, because of this I had lost track of time, and I was running low on options I could choose from to help her.

Outside the cave that I had stumbled upon in my search for herbs, now our new home, another storm continued to thrash about. I kept a small fire going, every so often poking it then checking on my sister every couple minutes like clockwork. Eventually, the wind began to die down, little by little. Soon I’d be able to go back out.

Checking our supplies again, I found that our salvaged medical provisions were nearly gone. The herbs might not have done anything for her, but the fever reducing meds were. Without hesitation I left a cool makeshift rag over Brave’s head before gearing up. Lucky for me the storm had become nothing more than a light drizzle. “Don’t go anywhere,” I commanded to a sleeping Brave. I galloped to the cave entrance then looked back at her. “I’m serious. You need to humor your big sister this time.”

*** ***

The clouds disappeared during my walk to find a town, or at the very least an abandoned boat house, or maybe even somepony willing to offer me a hoof. After all, my sister said she heard gunshots. Not to mention the shack and water tower. At this point I would have settled for anything. It was at that moment I arrived near a small pony-made fire pit with several…what I assumed…were fish guts cooking above the flames.

A stallion poked some of the burning wood with a stick making the fire crackle. He looked up at me, but didn’t seem to flinch at the sight of my weapons. I would have thought that the gun would have made him flinch a little, even without knowing there weren’t any bullets left.

“Care to take a seat?” he asked with a tone so soothing it was more than a bit unsettling. “Soothing Tone, nice to meet you, miss.”

I hesitated for a moment. In all this time being out here neither me nor my sister had seen any other pony on the island. This stallion didn’t strike me as threatening, at least not as threatening as what I had previously seen since arriving here, but I felt—odd. “Starry Night,” I stated while calmly taking a seat on a log. I set my stuff down next to me, making sure to keep part of my attention on the bag.

Thunder rumbled above us making me look up. The sky was still clear. As I noted this, my stomach growled. My eyes wandered back to the fish guts cooking on the fire.

Soothing pointed a hoof towards the fish. “Take some,” he offered. “I’ve got more than I need.”

My hoof wrapped around the stick and before I knew it I was ripping a chunk of whatever-it-was without even thinking. It tasted…not right. This didn’t stop me from eating though. “Funniest tasting fish I’ve ever had,” I commented while letting my eyes wander around a bit.

Soothing poked the fire a bit more making it crackle a few times. His gaze fell on me, “It’s not from around here.” That much was certain, but I didn’t ask too many questions about it, my stomach didn’t care. We locked gazes for a moment. “Where did you learn what fish taste like, not many ponies I run into have an interest in it?”

For a hiker, notably out in the middle of nowhere, he asked very few questions. Something about the way he talked though, no matter how soothing it was, didn’t sit right with me. It left a bad taste in my mouth, but I started to think that might have been the fish. “My grandfather, he used to take my sister and me out hunting in the Everfree,” I stated bluntly. My eyes wandered down to his cutie mark, which depicted a pony skull.

The stallion kept his gaze on me, never once blinking, just staring. I didn’t blame him, after all I did have several weapons strapped to me. “The weapons, what are they for?” he asked curiously. “You from that town out near the edge of the mountain?”

My eyes went down to the gun, crossbow, and bow I had strapped to my backpack. After thinking about the makeshift weapons, I had to admit that your everyday hiker from what sounded like a nearby town probably didn’t bring these along. “No, I’m not. I live in the forest and from time to time I’ll make some extra weapons to keep me safe.” I had to be careful of what I said. My grandfather always said to never trust anyone but your own kin while out in the wilderness. “Can you point me towards the town? My sister needs some medicine.”

It didn’t take him long to explain where it was. Sadly, it would take me several hours on hoof to reach it without cutting through the forest. If it got me the help I needed then I’d risk leaving Brave on her own. I stood, dusting myself off. “Thanks. Keep yourself safe, you hear.”

“You sure you don’t want me to take you in my truck? My cabin isn’t far from here,” he offered me kindly, yet his words sent shivers up my spine. There wasn’t a part of me that wanted to stay around him any longer than I had to.

I had to think about his offer though. If it meant getting me closer to civilization sooner than it could be worth it, but after spending just a few minutes near this stallion I didn’t want to take a chance. I didn’t have a reason not to trust him, but I had learned that if a pony didn’t give me a reason to trust them that alone was reason enough not to. “No thanks, I’ll take the long way,” I said with a nod to reassure him I was fine.

He called out to me making me stop in my tracks as a low rumble of thunder went by. “Be careful out there, Starry. Crazy ponies live out here on this mountain, I fought off one the other day,” he warned with caution in his voice. “All kinds of crazies you can run into,” he mumbled as his gaze fell back onto the fire.

*** ***

Gray clouds filled the sky again, making me assume that this would be the norm if we stayed here, which I was not okay with. Each branch I stepped onto broke, causing my ear to twitch in a vain attempt to detect if there was a threat nearby. My senses were heightened to the point even the littlest sound set me on edge.

A small garage came into view, looking like it had seen better days compared to the town not far away from it, but then again it all looked like shit. The garage in particular had enough hail damage going through the structure I was surprised it hadn’t fallen apart.

My hooves picked up the pace, my mind racing with thoughts about medicine. As I got within a few pony lengths of the open garage door, I stopped. The sound of music, which hadn’t been echoing from inside before, gained my full undivided attention. I drew my bow, pulling an arrow back.

Peering inside, I could see a…a cherry red Corvette C5. Screwed up bumpers and fenders alike lay behind it with rust covering so much of it the original colors couldn’t be seen. My mouth slowly opened at the sight of seeing how much work had gone into rebuilding the car, I had only ever seen this kind of work done on an old school Stingray.

Thunder rolled again.

I put my bow away once I saw that the source of the music was a radio positioned by a large toolbox. Outside the dust tinted window, a flash of lightning went by while thunder shook the entire building...at least I passed it off as thunder once I realized the engine couldn't have made that sound without being on. “One island shouldn’t have this many storms,” I complained to nopony. I turned the radio off.

“Well what do you expect when this island has its own tropical subclimate,” said an unfamiliar voice that made me crouch down into an attack position with my bow still drawn. Searching for the speaker, my eyes locked with the floating barrel of a pistol pointed at my head. “The weather here is so unpredictable that even the pegasi can’t control it, kind of like the Everfree forest in Equestria.” The gun jestered upward and I didn’t argue. Holding the gun in a yellow levitation field, with gamboge colored eyes that matched, was a gray coated unicorn mare that now had me backed into a corner. “Put the bow down,” she ordered with an icy tone. Her gun barrel motioned for me to set it down on the counter.

I did just that. Then, I attempted to levitate my own gun, but felt something jab the back of my head. Slowly turning around, I saw the twin barrels belonging to a sawed off shotgun. I set all my weapons down on the counter along with my bag then backed away. It was only when I faced my attacker did I see that the pistol was a fifty caliber with a laser sight pointed right where my heart was.

“Are you a survivor from the plane crash,” I asked trying not to panic. This was the first time in a long time I had been jumped like this, like an animal, by another pony. Not to mention she hadn’t made a single sound until it was too late.

“Not important, but what is important is that you’re not a threat,” she said giving me a good look over, then letting out a sigh of relief. Every weapon that was pointed at me floated back up into the hiding places they came from, which were noticeably not the only ones she had lying around. “Sorry for the scare, I thought you were that stallion running around on the island, hunting who knows what fell out of that plane.”

My heart rate, which was beating rather fast, finally had slowed down. There was one thing I had to admit though, Soothing Tone was right, there definitely were crazy ponies on the island. Not that this mare was one, for some odd reason. I actually felt safe around her, which was more than likely due to her not blowing my head off.

She poked her head over the engine bay, inspecting the work that had gone into getting the corvette running again. A few hums escaped her muzzle while she silently stared down at what I was beginning to assume was her work. “Pass me that wrench, would you,” she asked pointing at the wrench sitting right by my weapons. “Were you on that plane? I thought I saw something drop out of it, but I was busy avoiding a bear.”

My hoof reached out to the tool, then moved it over to her. “So what’s your name?” I asked as I slowly began moving to my weapons.

“Not Important,” she muttered.

Low cranks from the wrench made my ear twitch a little. I ignored my weapons and walked over taking a look at the engine. It was beautiful. V8 with a centrifugal supercharger boasting at least four hundred horsepower. “It looks good, but what’s with the roll cage and tire setup,” I questioned noticing that each of those added a lot more weight to a car that would be better with less. Not that they didn’t look good on the car, just rather odd.

Not Important looked up at me, then at the car. Without so much as a word, she continued going about a few checks to make sure it was working properly. “This island used to be host to dozens of off road races. Ponies and griffons alike would come out here just to catch a glimpse of the insanity,” she said with the hint of a smile on her face. “But this place is home to its own insane weather, so naturally a storm became so violent it ripped every settlement right off the island and everypony just up and deserted it. Still is actually and makes for the perfect hiding place.”

“Wait, what do you mean this place is deserted?” I asked in a panic. Normally, I wouldn’t believe a pony I just met, let alone talking to them this much, but this mare didn’t give off a feeling of discomfort. “I just talked with a stallion and he said this place had medicine.”

Leaving the wrench on top of the engine, Not Important took a piece of paper and a pencil in her levitation field. It took her only a moment to make a crude drawing of a pony skull. “Was this his cutie mark,” she asked bluntly while I nodded. “This belongs to Soothing Tone, if you haven’t heard of him, he’s a cannibal that escaped from prison a few months ago. I guess he choose the right spot to hide out from the authorities.”

My heart slowly began to sink into depths that would make even the ocean curse at me. I didn’t cover my tracks, I led him right to my home. A cannibal nonetheless.

I got up, bolting into a panicked charge out the garage door without saying a word to the mare, who had unknowingly helped me figure out that my sister was in danger.

Tree branches broke from underneath me, one after another, leaving large scratches along my hooves until one inevitably left a fore oof bloodied up. Wind howled around me like a timber wolf stalking its prey. Each time it whipped past me my mane was sent into a frenzy around me.

Eventually, I ran into the cave, calling out my sister’s name over and over again until I came to where she was supposed to be sleeping. My heart violently ripped in two. She was defenseless. Easy prey to a hunter. “Brave Day!” I called out at the top of my lungs.

Survival of the Fittest

Chapter Seven: Survival of the Fittest

A makeshift rag was wrapped tightly around my hoof as I stepped back into the garage where I had left my stuff. Rage coursed through my veins so quickly that I could feel my blood boiling over with adrenaline soaked vengeance. Upon entering the room, I found Not Important still working on the car without a care in the world. “I’m taking my weapons back,” I spoke firmly and without question.

“Care to tell me what’s wrong?” Not Important asked with some concern written on her face as I started holstering my weapons on my body.

Part of me wanted to go into detail, but I didn’t have the time. For every second that passed I knew that it was a wasted moment that could be spent finding Brave Day, as well as hanging that stallion from a tree with his own balls shoved in his throat. “My sister was foalnapped,” I spat at her, only to catch myself after the fact. Taking a brief moment to calm myself, I focused on my bow, examining it for any signs of damage. As my mind straightened itself, I sat the bow on the table and explained everything.

With a low sigh, Not Important levitated my makeshift weapons from their holsters and tossed them in the trashcan while she listened. I tried to stop her, clutching to the bow as best I could, but she gave me such a stern stare that I let go and backed off.

Still staring at me, she opened one of the cabinets with her magic and levitated out a shotgun. For a moment, I was worried she was going to blow my head off, until she opened more cabinets and pulled out rifles, shotguns, and pistols of all kinds. “If you’re going to go after a hostile cannibal, you’re going to need more than toothpicks and a fishing line,” she muttered coldly, without a hint of remorse in her voice. As the weapons were set along the counter, each with a small clip of ammo, my jaw dropped. The Badlands was known to have deadly weapons, but deadly didn’t even come close to what I was seeing. “Take this one, it’s one of my favorites.” Not Important moved a fifty caliber pistol over to me then levitated a long sleek bow. Her bow made mine look like a store bought piece of crap a foal received on their birthday. “I don’t have any arrows to go with it, but that thing will stop a bear in its tracks, with what you got, and think twice before charging again.”

I took the bow from her, pulling back the string a few times before truly giving it a good pull. Feeling the tension tug on my hoof, I let the string go and watched the bow jerk from the force. It was beautiful, almost as if it had been crafted by Princess Luna herself with Celestia blessing the very string that connected each end together. To shoot such a weapon had been one of the very few dreams to become a reality for me.

The sudden realization that a complete stranger was helping me out washed over me. “Say, why are you helping me out anyway? You don’t even know me,” I stated with every ounce of remaining logic, as my mind clinged to the image of me ripping out the cannibal’s balls and feeding them to him.

There was a slight smile tugging at the edge of her muzzle, but it was replaced with a calmer expression when she sighed. “What can I say, when I see a pony struggling with hardships, I can’t help but offer my hoof to them. No matter who they are or where they come from.”

We both looked out the window as a flash of lightning struck something off in the distance. We shared a long moment of silence together as I geared up, holstering the fifty caliber pistol as good as it would fit. I held onto the bow for a moment longer before strapping it to my side. It began to sprinkle against the window, each droplet sending out a loud “rap,” as I strapped another holster to my body for the sawed-off double barrel shotgun.

Not Important stared out the garage tossing up a pair of keys in her levitation field. “There’s going to be one hell of a storm tonight,” she muttered almost to herself.

“You can say that again,” I said to her while getting ready to put my tracking skills to work. I had used these skills to hunt ponies a few times, but the most memorable event was when Brave had tried to run away from home. It didn’t take long to find her attempting to break into a car at a poorly secured impound lot.

Her magic slowly brought the keys to her hoof, then Not Important gave them to me. I paused for a moment, thinking that this was some kind of joke. She smiled at me then pointed at the road just outside the window. “Follow that road. You’ll find Soothing’s cabin just off a branching path not too far from here near a hunting goods store. Can’t miss it.”

There weren’t any words I could use to describe how grateful I was. This pony was my savior sent by Celestia herself, at least, that’s what I was going to tell myself. “Thanks. What are you going to do?”

Silence fell on the mare again. Each of the weapons that I hadn’t taken from her were levitated back into their holsters before they were all strapped around Not Important. “The weather should clear up soon, hopefully. I can use my boat to get in touch with the local law enforcement on the other islands a few miles out, I know a pony that owes me a favor so that shouldn’t be a problem. We’ll get you the rescue you need then you can get on with your life.” A frown formed on her face, but her calm expression returned shortly after. Before I could ask another question, she galloped off.

I turned back to the Corvette with a smile on my face. It was as beautiful as the bow hanging on my side. The only thing that could have made this moment better was if it were that classic Stingray I took for a joy ride. I pulled the door open, checking out the roll cage, which I noted could take massive punishment from a roll, maybe even take a large truck dropping on top of it and still be usable. After all, an off road vehicle was supposed to be put through hell and expected to keep on going. “Let’s ride,” I said as the engine started up with a whine.

*** ***

Turing the engine off, I heard a timber wolf howl overtop the screaming wind. I couldn’t tell how close it was, but for its sake it better not have been close. I stepped out of the corvette, feeling the rain sprinkle down on me with an icy cold touch as my hoof felt each holster making sure everything was strapped tightly to me. Each step I took towards the front door sounded like thunder in its own right.

When I stood before the door, my heart beating strong, I gave it a swift knock. No answer. I knocked again, harder this time. Still no answer.

The doorknob jiggled as I tried to open it, but the door wouldn’t open. “Alright, fine, have it your way.” I slid into my transparency spell, viewing each lock’s mechanism. Focusing as best I could, I telekinetically began twisting each lock until each one let out a gentle clicking sound. It didn’t take long for me to show myself in.

My shotgun levitated up next to me, going in first to strike fear into whomever was waiting on the other side. Unfortunately, there wasn’t anypony inside waiting for me. Instead I walked into a dimly lit den whose only light source was from a roaring fire.

The decor around me made me want to puke. Ponies should never hunt unless they were forced to, but from the looks of this place, Soothing hunted animals on a regular basis. All around the room were various heads belonging to different animals, some of which were admittedly impressive. I found myself admiring his ability to take down a bug bear as well as a hydra—but—this was for sport, not defense. Each head was hung up like a trophy for the world to see. “You sick bastard,” I muttered coldly to myself.

I was relieved to discover that Brave’s head wasn’t hanging near what resembled various pony skulls. Walking around a bit more, my hoof brushed up against a light switch to a pair of deer antlers that served as a chandelier, allowing me to see every single trophy hanging. The light also made another door and hallway visible in the room.

Passing through the door, I stepped into the next room, and found a rather large fridge positioned next to a small table. Without a second thought, I opened it. Meat piles stacked upon meat piles, each slowly dripping with blood, littered most of the inside, which only served to make a chill run up my spine. Then, I recalled what Soothing had said. “It was…fish…right,” I muttered quietly. When my brain made the connection to what I might have eaten, my hoof knocked the table back as my insides hurled themselves into the closest trashcan I could find.

Once I finished, I walked back into the den noting the place was still empty, but then I noticed another door in the the hallway, just shy of the den. It was easy to miss, but when I opened it, it lead straight down. Before I descended, I noticed a thick padding on the other side of door that was also on the staircase walls. The first thought that came to mind was that I was going down into a freezer and it seemed that way when I went down with large carcasses of cows piled up on top of each other. With a lack of cold air it was clear it didn’t seem the case. I hid next to the carcasses, doing my best not to hurl at their horrendous smell, thankfully, my insides had already been thrown out for the night.

A low screech caught my attention causing my ear to twitch in its direction. Crouching down, I moved behind the large tables that stretched over to a staircase leading up to what I assumed was the kitchen. Every little movement I made felt like a symphony being played for all of Canterlot to hear. It was at this moment that I desperately wished for Not Important’s ability to sneak up on somepony.

“Hmm,” echoed a familiar mad pony’s voice. “Perfect.”

A few of the tables were obscured with cloths hanging from them, which were dark enough to hide behind. I moved under the table, taking cover, while quietly sliding into a transparence spell to see through the cloth. I watched as Soothing set down several large sets of knives near a grinding stone.

“I’ll be back for you,” Soothing cooed to my sister who was tangled up in chains hanging her from the ceiling, causing my heart skipped a beat causing the spell to fade away.

At the heart-stopping sight of my sister hanging there, I almost missed the cannibal walking up the stairs to the kitchen. Once I was sure he was gone, I bolted from under the table, my heart racing faster than any car I had ever driven. “Brave…” I muttered to her. My hoof went right to her forehead, feeling for any signs of a fever. Thankfully, she was no longer burning up, but she was unconscious. Next to her were a few different bottles of medicine. “I guess even a cannibal doesn’t want to take the risk of catching what his prey has.” Hanging from the table was Brave’s combat knife, which I took along with its holster.

My hoof ran along the chains, searching for something I could unlatch, but came up empty hoofed. From what I could tell the chains were locked in place with two padlocks that needed a key. Without having to look around too much, one sat next to the medicine. Placing the shotgun down I switched my focus on the key and shoved it inside one of the locks and turned. With a click the lock sprung open. “Thank Celestia,” I muttered to myself. Levitating the key into the last lock, I noticed the Rune Inhibitor placed around Brave’s horn with its all too familiar magical nulling rune. “Interesting that these damn Magic Tricks seem to find us when we are in trouble,” I muttered as I looked the rune over before removing it.

“Not as interesting as having both you and your sister for dinner,” said the mad cannibal pony himself. His voice sent a large shiver down my spine, but it wasn’t enough to strike fear in me. Fear was dead to me now, the only thing his voice could do at this moment was push my rage further past its boiling point.

I faced him, spotting the pistol pointed right at my head and took a side step in away from Brave as I went to pull the...trigger? The gun followed, moving its aim away from her while I remembered about putting the shotgun next to the medicine. I took note of the table he had put between us to keep a safe distance. We locked eyes as a wicked smile spread across his muzzle. I needed to buy some time. “What kind of a pony eats and hunts another for sport?”

“Wouldn’t you do anything if it meant surviving, after all, that is why your sister is still alive, right?” His voice echoed around the room while I noticed my shotgun pointed mostly in his direction. He kept his eyes on me, never once allowing me to draw another weapon or even take hold of the shotgun. “Wouldn’t you eat another if you had to? Even if it was your sister?”

His words stung me in my heart. I might be a killer, but I wasn’t a cannibal. “I would never kill my sister if it meant surviving. I would die by her side,” I growled at him as I worked on what I needed to do.

A large creepy grin stretched across his bearded muzzle as if someone had told a sick joke that only he understood. His eyes met mine. “You know, I said the same thing about my step brother,” he said softly. Soothing eyed my sister, then me. “We used to do everything together, then one day we fell down a hole while rock climbing. Broke our radios with no other contact to the outside world. Wouldn’t you know it, the hole was so perfect we couldn’t climb out. So we waited,” he muttered coldly with his eyes on my sister. I looked over to the shotgun and tapped it enough to aim in his direction, before he turned his attention back to me. I had my plan.

There was a pause. Soothing just stared out at us. “We waited but no help ever arrived. Then I figured that only one of us would make it out, so I did what anypony would do with a decently sized rock in their possession. I kept my stomach quiet,” his voice echoed around without a hint of sadness. “Eventually, a storm hit, and the hole filled with water letting me float right to some vines I could use to climb up.”

I shook my head in frustration, anger ready to explode from my veins. There wasn’t a single word in the dictionary that could come close to describing the hatred coursing through me. “You turned on your kin, your family!” I yelled at him feeling the adrenaline pump in my veins. “That doesn’t excuse the fact you’ve eaten hundreds of other ponies.”

The smile on his face never faltered. “Awfully quick to judge. How was the fish?”

Soothing squeezed the trigger as I used my magic to flip the table over in front of him. I took hold of the shotgun, engulfing it in the magical field and discharged a round only to have it burst the table apart. His gun clattered to the ground as he scrambled up the stairs to the kitchen. He disappeared before I could finish him off. “Alright,” I said looking at Brave. “Let’s get you down.” Once I unlatched the last lock from the chains, I set her down making sure she hadn’t been shot by mistake.

Relieved to find that she was okay, I scrambled up the stairs after the stallion and burst through the door taking me into the kitchen. A moment later a sharp pain shot through my stomach making me kick at nothing. I looked down to find a knife had been levitated into my side. As I pulled it out, Soothing swung at me from the other side of the door with a butcher’s knife.

I rolled towards the table, avoiding the attack, but felt part of my tail get cut. Ignoring the pain from the wound with all the adrenaline pumping through me, I jumped onto the table, with my shotgun locked onto Soothing. I went to pull the trigger.

Soothing sprawled to the ground, kicking one of the table’s legs so that it collapsed along with the entire table. I fell forward, hitting the ground as my shotgun clattered across the floor. Groaning out in pain, I scrambled back to all fours in time to eat a well-placed kick to my stomach that propelled me right through the door and into the den.

My hoof shot to my side as it finally registered how hard I had been kicked. I let out a cough before spitting some blood on the ground. Rolling back onto all fours, I ducked a punch from the stallion, countering with a successful uppercut to his chin. I swung again, but missed as he took a step back to avoid me. Soothing rose up on one hoof, then kicked me square in the face, knocking me into one of the chairs that slid back until I hit the ground.

I stood up. In another attempt to hit him, I swung a strong right hook, which he caught with one hoof before jabbing my throat. Stumbling back, I levitated out my pistol while I spat more blood out. The sight put a red dot right on his head. Soothing dove into the kitchen, telekinetically closing the door behind him, as I unleashed hell. I pulled the trigger five times letting each shot ring out before the bullets tore the door apart. The gun clattered to the ground once I was sure it had an empty clip.

With two weapons left in my arsenal, I chose the high caliber bow as my next weapon, drawing back a makeshift arrow from my quiver. My hoof knocked the remaining portions of the door open, but there wasn’t a body to be found. Clip-clopping from a set of hooves drew my attention. As I turned, a butcher’s knife lodged itself into my shoulder while I let an arrow rip into the attacker.

Soothing stumbled back with an arrow stuck in his shoulder. His hoof wrapped around it then pulled it out before throwing it in the fire.

I ripped the butcher’s knife from my shoulder, noting that my bow had taken part of the impact serving as a shield. Thankfully, the attack had only done some damage, which meant I could still fight, however, blood still oozed down from my wound. The bow had only a large scratch across it.

With long range no longer an option, I dropped my bow switching it out for my knife. I kept it levitated next to me while Soothing rubbed his head. It was then, I noticed his horn was broken. From the looks of it one of my bullets grazed his horn enough to break it.

I swung my knife at him, but he ducked, delivering two quick powerful jabs to my stomach. I spun around, pushing the edge of the knife with my hoof to put more force behind it. Soothing ducked that too.

He rose up on one hoof, then kicked me once again with his leg. I stumbled back into the wall, knocking a painting down. Pain rose up through my body as I found my knife shoved into my forehoof. I yelled out in pain as I kicked Soothing into the couch while I rolled to the kitchen door. Stumbling, I tried to get up, but felt a buck to my neck that knocked me against the doorframe.

Soothing worked at pulling my shotgun over to us, his hoof was planted firmly down on my neck to keep me still. With what little magic he could actually use with a broken horn, Soothing lifted the shotgun up then aimed it right at my head. “Another trophy for my wall,” he muttered with his creepy smile.

The gun went off.

To our surprise, the barrel of the gun had lifted up at the last second, wrapped in a blue glow of magic. My attention was drawn to the exhausted looking mare standing next to us in between the doorframe. Brave cracked both her hooves. “Let’s kick his ass,” she said coldly before delivering a mean left hook to his jawline.

I got up, slamming a quick two punch combo to his stomach. Soothing stumbled, letting the gun clatter to the ground, while he scooped up Brave’s knife. He swung at me, but Brave blocked the attack then used an uppercut against his muzzle. With her horn lit up, my sister telekinetically took the knife from the cannibal, leaving him defenseless.

I slammed another two punch combo into Soothing’s rib cage as he went after Brave. When he went for me, Brave intercepted the attack before countering. My sister swung at him again, but missed, this time Soothing kicked me against the wall while arrows fell out of my quiver.

Brave swung a punch, but missed as the stallion kicked her the same way he had kicked me. Once he was sure Brave was done for a moment, he levitated up my bow along with an arrow, then let it fly right into my shoulder. I stumbled back into the wall feeling lucky that Brave had tackled him just before the arrow was shot, otherwise it would have been a headshot.

Blood dripped down from where the arrow hung. My breathing rate began to slow as my vision started to blur and the stab to my stomach became overwhelming. I could only watch while my sister continued to fight Soothing Tone one on one. To my fortune, she was holding her own, in fact she was doing better than that, she was kicking his ass.

All I could make out now was Brave Day bringing her knife across Soothing’s face, leaving a nasty scar along his muzzle. Then all I could see was darkness.

*** ***

When I opened my eyes, wires had been draped over my body. I didn’t have a clue how they got there, nor the safety restraints holding me to the stretcher, but I was thankful for the oxygen they supplied to my battered body. I ran my right hoof, thankfully free of anything reading my vitals, over my body feeling several bandages covering my wounds.

I turned to the sight of Brave Day staring off at something next to the helicopter we were in. Low beeps escaped from a machine next to me, which started to annoy me, but I didn’t say anything about it.

Brave looked down at me with a tired smile as her hoof gently cleaned the blade of her knife until it was no longer coated in dried blood. She tossed the rag down. “Looks like it was my turn to take care of you this time,” she said with a chuckle. “You doing okay?”

My voice didn’t want to speak. I, along with the rest of my body, didn’t want to do anything at the moment. With what strength I could muster up, I gave her a nod with a small smile.

Something caught Brave’s attention and she began to leave, not before bumping my shoulder which made me wince. “Don’t get too comfortable,” she said with a wink then left the helicopter to talk to a pony in a police uniform. It was time to go.

“You can do this,” I incomprehensibly muttered to myself quietly. Pain shot throughout my body as I rose up from the stretcher. The wave of nausea passed, then I went to carefully pulling off the wires and IV attached to me. As I stepped outside, I took a look around spotting all the cops and the keys to the Corvette on top of one of the machines. Without hesitating, I took them and placed them inside one of the holsters that had been removed before strapping the holster to my leg. Looking around again, I took in the sight of the house that we had fought valiantly in, well, that my sister fought bravely in. All I could recall was getting my ass kicked around by a more experienced hunter.

Getting Brave’s attention, she quickly trotted over. “Took you long enough,” she said as we began to walk away from the chopper. “There’s pigs everywhere.”

As we tried to leave a cop pulled us to the side. Brave began to curse but as the cop got closer I noticed she wasn’t wearing a badge, which I found odd.

“You two should feel proud of yourselves,” said a familiar voice. I tried to get a look under the mares cap, but she pulled it down keeping her eyes covered. “I hear the Chief of Police in Canterlot wants to speak with you both about something important. You might want to hang around,” she said then tipped her hat.

The mare started to walk off, but I wouldn’t let her go that easily, so I tugged her forehoof enough that I guided her to the Corvette, leaving some space between Brave and us. “So what’s with the getup, Not Important?” I asked with my worn voice as the mare in question raised her cap up just enough for me to see her eyes. She was surprised, but not unhappy.

Not Important’s eyes scanned around with mine to make sure the cops were all doing their own thing. Most of them were too busy questioning Soothing Tone, who was strapped down to a chair, to notice us. “Let’s just say, I’m not a cop anymore, and it would be best that I leave before somepony notices I’ve been in the area.” She got ready to walk off, but stopped. “You did well, by the way. I took my stuff back, which, do you have any idea how difficult that was with all these cops around?”

I chuckled with a nod. Oh, I knew about taking things back from cops, I understood where she was coming from. “Thanks for the weapons, listen if there’s anything I can ever do for you feel free to ask,” I said earnestly. “So…what’s your story.”

Without taking a chance, Not Important looked around again, almost like clockwork, to ensure we were still alone. It was then that I could see her pistol strapped closely to her. “If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me, plus I’d have to kill you or least bribe you to stay quiet,” was all she said before I blinked. When I opened my eyes, she was gone. I noticed somepony else ditching the cop outfit for something else a moment later, but when I went to pursue Brave nabbed me and began to pull me away.

That was the strangest pony I had ever met, but I’d be damned if I was going to let something stop me from helping her if she needed it. I owed her a lot for preparing me for what was one of the toughest fights I had ever been in. “Brave, this is for you.” Reaching into my holster, I pulled out the keys and gave them to my sister. No words could describe the look on my sister's face when she found out I had given her the car of her dreams.

*** ***

The cops had stopped us in our escape attempt and once they found out who we were, and being in the state I was in, as well as Brave looking exhausted from the fight, we were in no place to fight back. They had kept us separate at the hospital until the doctors were sure we were fit to be questioned by the police. Once we were, the cops asked a series of questions, most of which involved the plane crash, and how we had survived on the island for as long as we had. Brave told them everything, I wasn’t in the mood to give them the information, which eventually got a salvage crew out to where our plane had sunk.

There was a bright side though, because we led the cops to Soothing Tone, and that Brave didn’t kill the stallion, we were set free with a pardon, but given a warning to stay out of any more trouble. We were reminded that pardons weren’t easy to obtain and that if we went back to our old ways we would certainly be thrown in Tartarus.

I stood outside the hospital alone, taking off the last of my bandages before throwing them right into the trash. Brave have bolted the moment they had set her free. I on the other hoof had to stay until my stomach had fully healed. I didn’t feel like talking to them just as much as the cops so I might have kept myself in longer than I had to. My only problem now was finding a ride to Canterlot. “Well, I guess I’m taking the train,” I spoke to nopony just as a red Corvette drove around the corner, coming to a stop right in front of me.

The window rolled down to reveal my sister in the driver seat. I bent down and looked inside. The roll cage was still inside, but the exterior was modified so that her Corvette now resembled a street car rather than an off road vehicle. We made eye contact. “What the hell are you waiting for. Get in!” she yelled at me while revving the engine.

I climbed inside the vehicle, unsure of why she was picking me up. “I thought you...how’d you know I was getting out today?”

“Just because I wasn’t there doesn’t mean I can’t pick up a phone. Besides, I needed to get this bad boy ready to pick you up in.”

I chuckled for a moment then became serious. “You do realize they offered us a job interview right. To work with the police force?” I questioned her very carefully.

Brave rolled her eyes, obviously not wanting to take the interview. With a sigh, she shook her head. “Look, I’m never going to be a pig, but this is what you want and it’s a long way to Canterlot,” she said full of enthusiasm. “Humor me, please, now let’s get you there.”

I smiled at her. “I love you, little sis.”

“Love you too big sister best friend for life,” Brave said while nudging me.

Epilogue

Canterlot was beautiful, then again, I’d probably say that about any place that was outside of that Celestia-awful island and the eyesore that still was the Badlands. Even in the midday sun it was like the city had a stunning glow to it that breathed a different type of picture than the places I had been to.

Before arriving at the castle, my sister and I had the opportunity to stop by The Tasty Treat, which we both agreed had been a fantastic detour. Even though the food was a bit different than what we were used to, we both agreed it tasted great.

Once she was sure I was okay, Brave Day dropped me off at the castle and left me to my business to pursue wherever her desires took her, which I had hoped would lead to employment somewhere nearby so I could visit.

Each step echoed inside of the castle as I followed the directions the secretary had given me, but I felt about as sure of my location as I would be in the Canterlot hedge maze. Admittedly, I had found this an odd place to be as the police department, but the directions had redirected me here for my interview, so who was I to question the logic.

As I searched for the right room, my gaze fell upon expertly woven tapestry that I felt I couldn’t truly appreciate due to having little to no knowledge on how to make them. I did, however, appreciate the cost of each one, but I had to tell the former criminal in me to shut up.

I looked at the map floating next to me, which indicated my interview was in the room right ahead of me, but to my confusion there wasn’t anypony around. “This is it...right?” I questioned out loud to no pony with my voice echoing slightly. I figured there would be more cops around. Shrugging, I went ahead and slowly poked my head through the door. Inside, sitting behind a desk with a glowing mane that seemed to defy the laws of physics, was a mare typing at her computer. She never once looked up at me. “Hello, I’m looking for the police chief,” I asked unsure if I was even in the right room.

The mare looked up at me, motioning for me to sit. As I did, she stopped typing then put a stack of paperwork inside her desk, which I noted had mine and my sister’s names and images plastered on it. “Greetings, Miss Starry Night, it is a pleasure to meet with you. I am Police Chief Luna, but please, just call me Luna,” she said softly.

It took me a minute to recognize who was sitting in front of me. When it registered I was awestruck. My jaw wanted to drop, but I wouldn’t let it. “Princess...it...it’s an honor,” was the only sensible words I could mutter.

“Please, calm yourself. I’ve already made up my mind as to whether or not I will hire you...it seems we are missing your sister.” she said changing subjects, without even giving away any hint of her decision. I shrugged my shoulders. “I see. Well, everypony must make their own decisions. Such as you have. So—tell me about yourself.”

Somehow, the softness of her voice put my nerves at ease, at least as calm as they could be when one was sitting directly across from the Princess of the Night. I cleared my throat. “All of it?” I questioned slowly. Princess Luna simple nodded, seemingly happy to listen. “Where do I even begin?”

There was a smile tugging at the end of Luna’s otherwise calm expression. “Where does any story start? At the beginning.” That made use both laugh. “If your are worried about not having enough time, I cleared my other obligations for today just to hear this. Now, go right ahead and tell me your full story,”

I traced back everything that had happened prior to meeting Luna. The Cannibal. The island. The plane crash. Chrysalis. “It all started in the Badlands, where me and my sister heard that there was a series of races to look for the fastest ponies our side of the country.” As I said this, I smiled. That was where it began and at this point in time, sitting in front of Luna, that is where this chapter of my life ended.

Introduction

Stranded

Introduction

Where do I even begin? I’ve been through so much in just the past couple days, it’s hard to know where exactly to start from.

Maybe I should start with my parents…then again, they were never really around to begin with. I spent most of my days raising my sister, trying not to fall too far into the wrong crowd. I guess it was inevitable when you have a deadbeat drunk for a caretaker. Of course, I’m one to talk. For all the good I tried, in the end I drew my sister down with me.

See. I don’t like talking about my…our past. I never wanted to be…who I became and I didn’t want that for my sister. To ride in a gang. Terrorizing and leaching off the Badlands. When making money from the races didn’t cut it, we’d do anything to make sure we had the bits to support ourselves. Just about anything.

Even then I was always looking to educate myself, become an authority figure, but living in the Badlands doesn’t work that way. Leaving a gang for a better future wasn’t easy. There’s always repercussions. In a way, our current screwup was kind of ironic. The very past we were running from might not have caught us, but something else did.

I’ll just start from a couple days ago.

I’ll start from the beginning.