The ships climbed with all its might against the still rising swell of the colossal wave, eventually reaching a nearly vertical incline on the rushing water.

"Anybody got any ideas!" Jason shouted as he hung onto Tempest's chair, his feet dangling toward the back of the ship.

"We're gonna fucking die!" Rebecca cried out.

"Not like this, not like this, not like this, not like this!" Melody chimed in, her eyes wide in terror.

"Does this fucking thing have any boost!?" Eddie called out, struggling to climb the stairs to the bridge.

"I'm giving it all he's got!" Tempest responded, eyeing the maxed out gauges in front of her.

"Maybe we should have stayed at port..." Midnight fearfully whispered as Sky held onto her tightly.

"Can we supercharge this engine or something!?" Jason exclaimed.

"No time!" Tempest shouted.

The ship reared back as the full force of gravity took effect against it's hull, and it slowly tipped backward in the swell. Over a hundred feet above the water-line, the ship quickly slipped back down the wave and completely tipped over, capsizing on it's top, and slamming into the water below. Immediately, every window in the bridge shattered, and ice cold water rushed in, instantly flooding the room. Jason, Tempest, and Melody were slammed into the back wall of the bridge by the force of the rushing water, and momentum of the ship slamming back into the ocean.

Below them, or rather above now, the bridge stairs quickly flooded with rushing sea water, blocking out the light and filling the room with freezing water. Sky, Midnight, Rebecca, and Eddie barely had time to take a breath in before they were completely submerged. Any lights in the ship were quickly extinguished, and everyone inside was plunged into darkness.

Struggling to get his bearings in a now blacked out and upside down ship, Jason pinched his nose closed, and attempted to right himself. He was vaguely aware of water moving around him, and reached out a hand to grab the struggling pony to his right. The pony in question only seemed to panic more, and struggled in vain to reach the surface, although it was obvious that they were completely disorientated.

Jason reached out to his left to find the other pony in the bridge, but only found water. He blindly felt around while holding onto what he could only assume was the nape of Melody's neck. After continuing to find nothing, and feeling his lungs burn for oxygen, he pushed himself toward the window, dragging the flailing pony along with him. They were just about to reach the nearest window when the rush of water threw the back against the wall again, and their world spun once more.

Jason rolled about with the pony in his arms as a bright light flashed before him, and suddenly, the water drained from the bridge, giving room to breathe. Almost as fast as it flooded, the bridge emptied it's water content, and left a retching Jason holding onto an equally oxygen deprived Melody.

As soon as they got their breaths back, they glanced at each other, then around the room, finding crashing waves and pouring water all around them.

"What... the fuck... just happened?" Jason breathed.

"I... I think the wave flipped us back over." Melody replied.

Jason took one more look around the bridge before his pupils shrinked to pinpricks, and he pushed himself to his feet.

"Go check on everyone else. I need to find Tempest." Jason ordered, quickly moving to the door and stepping outside.

Melody groggily nodded and headed down the stairs. Luckily, most of the water had drained out the crew quarters doorway onto the deck, leaving just the tossed-around remains of the room instead. As soon as she stepped into the room, she saw Eddie and Rebecca trying their best to stay calm after the near drowning.

"Are you guys okay?" She asked.

"Yeah. Go check on Sky. I think Midnight's hurt." Was the only reply she received.

Melody hastily left Eddie and Rebecca to look for Midnight and Sky. She quickly found them, laying by the bunks. Midnight was visibly shaking in Sky's hooves as he held onto her tightly and gently rocked her back and forth in the remaining water. His wings dangled limply against his back, one of them clearly snapped and bent to an odd angle.

"It's gonna be okay, you're okay, you're okay." He whispered, the waiver in his voice showing that even he was having trouble believing his words.

"Are you guys okay?" Melody asked, stepping over to them.

Immediately, she saw a ghastly sight. Midnight's foreleg was bent at a completely unnatural angle, and part of the bone was sticking out. Beside that, there were dark bruises clearly appearing on her barrel. A thin trail of blood leaked from her brow, and she was clearly unconscious in Sky's forelegs.

"Please wake up... Please wake up..." Sky pleaded, tears already spilling from his eyes.

Melody took a step back from the scene in front of her, before turning back to look at Eddie and Rebecca. They looked just as shell shocked as she felt, and her gaze only lingered for a few seconds before drifting back to Sky and Midnight.

"Sky..." She whispered.

"I... I don't know what to do... Melody, I don't know what to do... Please... help her." Sky begged, his voice straining.

Melody felt her own tears threaten to fall.

"I'll... I'll do what I can."

"Tempest!" Jason shouted against the storm.

The rain only answered him with more rain.

"TEMPEST!" He cried out.

He received no answer yet again. Jason's eyes darted back and forth across the raging sea for any sign of the mulberry unicorn, but all he could see was blue and black. The rain pelted against his bodysuit and skin, forcing him to squint in the darkness, only limiting his vision further. Blindingly brilliant bolts of lightning darted across the sky every so often, giving him brief glances of the barren wasteland of ocean around him, but amongst all that darkness, he still found nothing.

His hands migrated to the top of his head as his breathing quickly accelerated to nearly hyperventilating, and his bloodshot eyes strained ever harder to see any sign of her. When he still found nothing, Jason's heart sunk in his chest, and he fell to his knees on the deck.

"WHERE ARE YOU!?!?!" He cried.

When only the crack of lightning answered his call, Jason slammed his fist into the wood and screamed. The lightning sparked again, as if to cover his cries with its own, and only when his lungs burned, and there was no air left to scream with, did the sound finally die.

The dark blue world around him suddenly illuminated with a bright purple light, and Jason instantly glanced up to see the explosion of magic fireworks just a few hundred feet away from the ship. He instantly looked down to the water and saw a dark blob that seemed to be splashing in the rising waves. Without a second of hesitation, Jason broke into a sprint and dove off the ship into the icy water below.

Upon breaking the surface, he paddled hard against the water, and quickly gained distance. He panted for breath as he put forth all of his might into each stroke, and cut through the water like an angry shark. Soon enough, he heard her voice.

"Jason!" She cried, struggling to stay afloat.

Jason paused for only a second to reply.

"I'm coming! Hang on!" He shouted back.

Again, he pushed through the freezing water, each stroke burning his muscles and straining his lungs. Even with all his effort, the distance between them shrunk slowly, and he was quickly starting to tire out. He felt his body cry out in protest from the freezing cold water and the intense physical strain, but he did not let up. His arms cut through the water over and over, each individual muscle fiber screaming out in protest as he slowly closed distance.

Eventually, and be it with almost all his strength, Jason finally reached the mulberry unicorn. He struggled for breath as he grabbed a hold of her bodysuit, noticeably lacking the armor she was usually wearing, and pulled her close. She instantly latched onto him with her hooves and held onto him tightly.

"I didn't think you were going to make it!" She cried.

"I... couldn't... leave... you..." Jason panted, "Come on!" He replied, before turning back to the ship.

Tempest took the hint, and they both quickly paddled back through the water toward their vessel as it was rocked back and forth by the waves. They struggled hard against the current, Jason in particular. Eventually, he rolled onto his back to keep his head above water and used a backstroke to swim along-side Tempest.

For quite some time, they fought the water to get back to the ship, but eventually, they reached the port side, and scrambled to climb the netting along the side of the ship. Jason's exhausted arms struggled against the thin material, and he only managed to pull himself a few feet up before stopping to rest. Meanwhile, Tempest fought to get any kind of grip on the netting, and only managed to keep herself alongside the ship.

Sensing that he was alone, Jason looked down to see Tempest fighting to climb up behind him. He panted hard for breath before pushing harder, and climbing the net with all his remaining strength. Several perilous seconds passed as he struggled to climb, but eventually, his hand grabbed the railing, and he flopped over onto the boat.

Taking almost no time to catch his breath, Jason pushed himself to his feet and grabbed the netting.

"Hold on to the net!" He shouted.

Tempest did as instructed, and held on tightly. Slowly, ever so slowly, the netting was pulled up, dragging her along with it. Just as she reached the half-way point, a rushing wave pounded her against the port side of the ship, and she almost lost her grip on the netting.

When the water receded, she was able to climb up a bit more. Inch by inch, she was dragged, and dragged herself up the rest of the netting until she too reached the railing of the ship. She hastily threw her forelegs over the metal rail and pulled herself up onto the deck. She struggled for breath after the whole ordeal, but upon seeing Jason's exhausted form panting for breath on the other side of the ship, netting wrapped all around his bloodied hands, she quickly made her way over to him.

"Jason!" She cried as she reached his side.

"Glad you... could... make it..." He said between heavy breaths.

"Your hands!" She replied.

"Yeah... You're kinda heavy..." He said, chuckling slightly.

Despite the absurdity of the situation, Tempest too quickly found a small giggle escape her lips. For a few precious seconds, they laughed together in the pouring rain and intense waves, before a glimmer of light caught Jason's eye. He slowly turned to look at it before his jaw dropped.

"Son of a bitch..." He whispered.

"What?" Tempest asked, turning to look into the light as well, "...Oh..."

Not even a mile away, a majestic, tropical island covered in greenery shown like a beacon. All around the island, darkness enveloped the waves and rushing ocean, but there in the center of it all, a pillar of light reigned down on the small spit of land itself. On the beach itself, white sand stood out against the greenish water and palm trees blocking out the interior of the island from view. Against the blackened skies above, and violent waves below, the little island looked like heaven.

"There it is... Holy shit..." Jason said, his eyes still glued to the island.

"Told you we'd make it." Tempest replied, her voice still filled with awe.

Jason quickly pushed himself to his feet despite his protesting muscles, and headed for the bridge.

"Come on! Let's get there before these waves take us to God-knows-where!" He called behind him.

Tempest quickly trotted after him and together, they climbed the ladder on the outside of the bridge. Once they reached the top, they stepped inside, and found the controls.

"Think this thing will still turn on?" Jason asked, eyeing the dead gauges.

"As long as the water-proofing spell we put in the cargo and engine rooms held up, we'll be fine." Tempest replied.

She turned the key in the ignition, and almost immediately, the engine started up again. The gauges all jumped to life, and the ship jolted forward just a tad. Upon inspecting each gauge individually, and finding nothing out of the ordinary, Tempest spun the helm until they were heading straight toward the island. Once their course was set, she turned to Jason and gave a small grin.

"Looks like we're gonna make it." She said.

Jason smiled brightly before stepping forward and planting a kiss on her soft lips. Tempest happily reciprocated the action for a few seconds, before they pulled apart, and shared a tender nuzzle.

"I'm gonna go make sure everyone else is okay. You think you can handle this for a bit?" He asked.

"Yeah. We're past the worst of it, so getting to this island shouldn't be too hard. I'll call you or Melody if something happens." She replied.

Jason gave a small nod and pulled away. He headed down the stairs to the crew quarters to find water still covering the floor, and the rest of the group huddled over by the bunks. One look in their direction, and Jason felt a pit form in his stomach.

Sky was off to the side by himself, one of his wings hanging limply at an odd angle. The pegasus was rocking back and forth and whispering something to himself, although, what it was, Jason couldn't tell. Next to him, Eddie and Rebecca sat together, although, their backs were to him, and Jason couldn't tell what they were doing. Lastly, on the far left, Melody seemed completely transfixed on what was in front of her, if her glowing horn and focused gaze were anything to go off of. It took a bit longer for Jason to realize that he was missing one member of the group. He looked around the room for a few more seconds before his heart sank in his chest, and his eyes fell on the dark grey foreleg being held in Eddie's hand.

It was as if all the joy was sucked out of his body, and Jason numbly walked forward in the ankle deep water toward the rest of the group. Upon reaching them, he saw the state Midnight was in. Dark purple bruises lined her entire barrel and flank on her right side, and the blood dripping from her foreleg only served to highlight the white of bone peaking through the skin there. Jason cringed slightly at the sight, but kept his composure well enough to speak to the group.

"How bad?" He asked, his voice stained with regret.

"Not good..." Melody absentmindedly replied.

"We need to get her to a hospital..." Rebecca whispered.

"We're hundreds of miles away from any kind of landmass. There's no way." Eddie replied.

"She's got a compound fracture on her foreleg, a possible concussion, and possible internal bleeding. If we don't get her some serious medical attention soon..." Melody spoke up as she felt Midnight's pulse.

With each injury listed, Sky cringed harder and harder. He desperately tried to hold back tears that threatened to spill from his tightly closed eyes, but it was to no avail. He barely choked back a sob as he grabbed Midnight's uninjured hoof and gently held it against his chest.

Eddie, Rebecca, Melody, and Jason gave Sky a sad look as he cried. For a few seconds, it was the only sound in the room, aside from the occasional slosh of water as the ship rocked back and forth in the waves.

"Is there anything we can do here? Any kind of spell you can do to check for internal bleeding? For all we know, that could just be a nasty bruise and the foreleg might be the only seriously injured part of her." Rebecca reasoned, turning to Melody.

"I... I don't know. I'm an explorer, not a doctor. I only know really basic medical spells to fix cuts and disinfect skin. I don't know anything about internal bleeding or how to check for it," Melody replied, deflating even more, "All I can do is check her pulse and try to keep her comfortable."

"I wish our fucking medical scanners still worked... we could at least be sure." Eddie sighed.

"All we can do right now is just keep her comfortable and hope to God that it looks worse than it is." Jason sighed heavily.

"That's not good enough..." Sky whispered, tears threatening to fall from his eyes once more.

A painful silence filled the air as Sky's words echoed through the room. For almost a minute, no one knew what to say or what to do. The silence soon became deafening.

"I know... Sky, I... I'm sorry. I truly, hope she's okay." Jason finally said, placing his hand on Sky's wither.

Sky quietly nodded as Jason kneeled beside him. As Jason wrapped his arm around his shoulder and pulled him into a small hug, the crimson pegasus leaned his head against his chest piece and silently wept.

"I just... I can't lose her..." He pleaded, "She's everything to me."

"Hey, look at me," Jason ordered. It took a moment, but eventually Sky looked up to his emerald eyes, "She's gonna be okay, you hear me? She's gonna make it, I promise."

Sky stared up at Jason with a stunned expression on his face, before his eyes flicked down to Midnight's unconscious body just a hoof's length away. He bit his lip as his eyes lingered on her wounds, before looking back up to Jason, fresh tears streaking down his cheeks, and nodded. Jason gave a small smile, before releasing his hug and standing back up.

"We're almost at the island. We should be there in a few minutes. I'm not sure what it does to ponies, but I remember Celestia and Luna being pretty specific that it's not good for you guys to be there." Jason addressed the rest of the group.

"So... what do you want us to do then?" Melody replied.

"You, Tempest, and Sky will stay on the ship. Take care of Midnight. Find some ice or make it and put it on her bruises. That should help slightly. We've got some rags here we can wrap the ice, so get to that asap. As for her foreleg... the bone needs to be reset and splinted. Honestly, she's probably gonna have to go to a hospital and have it re-broken so it can heal properly once we get back to Ponpei, but for now, that's all that we can do." Jason explained.

"And as for us?" Rebecca asked, gesturing to herself and Eddie.

"We're gonna find those crystals and get the fuck off that island as fast as we can." Jason replied.

.

.

.

.

.

Jason jumped out of the small raft into the shoreline of the beach. His boots hit the sand with a wet splash from the gentle waves hitting the coastline, and he was immediately followed by Eddie and Rebecca. As soon as they all stepped onto the beach, a wave of energy hit all three of them, and they fell to their knees.

"Gah!" Jason shouted.

"Fuck!" Eddie cried out.

"My head..." Rebecca grit her teeth.

Needle-like pain shot through their brains and rendered them immobile for several minutes. Jason's body shook from the waves of intensity rolling over him again and again. The pain went from sharp, to dull, to throbbing, then back to sharp again every second, and it took everything in him to not break into tears from the sensation.

Rebecca and Eddie fared no better, having their minds rocked by the powerful magic of the island as it ripped into their brains and delivered more physical pain than either of them had felt in their entire lives. Each second ticked by like a lifetime of pain and agony, and for the three humans on the beach, time only seemed to slow down.

None of them knew how long they lied there, unable to move, but eventually, the pain subsided, and they were able to get back to their feet. They struggled for breath for several minutes, before finally standing upright and speaking again.

"Okay... what... the fuck... what that?" Rebecca asked, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"The magic here hurts ponies, right? Well don't we have a bunch of pony magic in our heads right now?" Eddie asked.

"I guess... Listen, we need to find these crystals. Fast. I'm not sure how much more of that I can take." Jason replied, fixing his gaze on the tree-line.

"I'm down with that." Rebecca responded, taking the lead.

Jason and Eddie quickly followed behind, and the group headed into the dense jungle in front of them. The green grass and gentle breeze against the palm trees was a welcome relief after months at sea with nothing but blue and grey to greet their eyes.

As they tread through the knee-high grass, they all kept their eyes open for any sign of the crystals in the dense foliage. The air around them felt warm, and humid, although not unpleasantly so. Ever deeper they traveled, the smell of salt managing to penetrate through even the deeper greenery. Surprisingly, there was no sign of any insect life on the island. No mosquitoes or flies to distract or annoy the group as they walked.

Jason glanced up at the trees, finding a gentle breeze lightly blowing the leaves of the palm trees in its wake. He looked back down toward the ground to see the soft imprints of his boots in the deep grass, and he shook his head in disbelief.

"If I didn't know any better... I'd call this place the perfect little island paradise." He chuckled.

"Well, unfortunately, we do know better." Rebecca quipped.

"Just gotta get to the crystals... Speaking of which, do we even know what the fuck they look like? Or where they even are?" Eddie chimed in, giving Jason a critical look.

"They're black, like little obsidian shards. From what I understand, they're supposed to be in the center of the island." Jason replied.

"Alright... so how do we get there?" Eddie asked.

"Let me check my compass real quick..." Jason replied, pulling out the aforementioned compass and opening it. The needle spun in circles, giving no indication of where they were, "Well fuck... Looks like we're eyeballing it."

"In a jungle? You know that's damn near impossible." Eddie replied.

"Unless you've got a better idea." Jason shrugged.

Eddie sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Fuck... fine." He replied.

The group trudged on further into the expanse of the jungle, finding nothing more than the same greenery as they progressed. The closer they got to the center of the island, the more frequent the intense pain flared up in their heads, forcing them to come to a crippling stop every few minutes. Jason, Eddie, and Rebecca fell to their knees as their brains once again suffered the stabbing pain that rocked them to their core. For several minutes, they fought against the pain, before it finally subsided once more, and they were able to keep moving forward. Unfortunately for them, the pain only got more intense with each wave. After the fourth time, they all barely managed to stand back up.

"Fucking... Christ." Eddie wheezed.

"I can't keep doing this..." Rebecca admitted through tears.

"Just... a little... further... We got this, guys. Come on." Jason replied, grunting as he got back to his feet.

"Fuck." Eddie groaned as he leaned against a tree for support.

"I can't..." Rebecca said, her voice filled with pain.

"Chief, you have to." Jason replied.

"I can't go any further... My head... feels like it's gonna pop..." Rebecca responded, her eyes falling to the floor and her hands coming up to her temples.

"Jay... Let her go back... We can bring the crystals back." Eddie chimed in, shaking his head.

Jason looked over to Eddie, then back to Rebecca and sighed.

"Alright. Head back to the shore, Becca. We'll meet you there once we get them." He said.

Rebecca slowly looked back up to Jason and gave a slow nod before getting back to her feet. It took her a while, and she needed a helping hand from both Jason and Eddie, but eventually, she stood on her own feet, and walked back toward the beach.

Now alone, Jason and Eddie turned back around and continued forward into the jungle. The walked onward through the brush for several more minutes before the leaves and terrain slowly opened back up, and a new sight caught their eyes. Down at their feet, the grass quickly changed into dirt, and from dirt, to stone.

Soon enough, the dense vegetation thinned out as well, and they beheld a sight that stopped them both in their tracks. Ahead of them, only a mere hundred feet away, was a giant hole, nearly a thousand feet wide. The edges of the hole were an obsidian black, while the center shown like a brilliant red light. It almost appeared to pulse with life as Jason and Eddie stepped closer. As they approached the edge, they each took a tentative glance down at the abyss below, finding only the glowing red light and blackened walls.

"So, uh... Got any ideas?" Eddie asked, cocking an eyebrow back.

"I'm working on it..." Jason replied.

They continued to eye the light below for a few minutes before stepping away from the edge and looking around at their surroundings. In every direction, the only thing they could see were the trees circling around the hole in the ground, and the stone they walked in on.

"Jason, I don't think there's any crystals here." Eddie said, shaking his head.

"There has to be... This is the center of the island. Twilight said... something... about a red circle... I'm sure she did." Jason said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Well, did she say anything about the crystals being in the giant fucking red hole?" Eddie replied.

"I... can't remember." Jason grit his teeth as he struggled to think.

"Well... I'm not jumping in there." Eddie shook his head.

"I don't think we have much of a choice man." Jason replied.

"Dude..." Eddie deadpanned.

"Well do you have any better ideas?" Jason retorted.

"Well-" Eddie started, only for another rocket of pain to shoot through his head, dropping him to his knees.

Jason fell too, and for a time, they both gripped their heads in pain, breath struggling to reach their lungs the whole time. Wave after wave of intense, burning pain seared at their brains, driving them both to tears as they desperately clutched their temples in a vain attempt to aleve some of the pain. Eventually, the pain subsided, and they were able to stand up again.

"Okay... fuck it. Into the hole." Eddie spoke up after some time.

Author's Note

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naoRTkiEims&list=PLH9C08qrQ7S7fCPVs7EX_uHeebaHFieau&index=8

Hey guys. So I know there's a lot that happened in this chapter, and a lot of it might seem questionable or scientifically impossible. Now, for the ones I can think of off the top of my head, the reason they just went straight into the wave was because they had little to no time to choose a better route, and the island is surrounded by waves like that on all sides anyways. Second, as for the ship rolling back over and righting itself, my thoughts are that as long as the hull is intact, and the majority of the ship is still airtight, then it could right itself due to its buoyancy. I'm sure there's a better scientific explanation for this, but that's all I got right now. Other than that, I hope you enjoyed the story.