Jason and Eddie stepped toward the edge of the hole and leaned over to look down into the red light. The blackened edges of the abyss framed the crimson glow in a perfect circle of nothingness, leaving a sick feeling in both of their stomachs.

"Fuck me..." Eddie whispered.

"On the count of three?" Jason asked, feeling a pit form in his stomach.

"Yeah... yeah, fuck it. Let's go, let's do it." Eddie said, nervously jumping up and down.

"One... two... three!" Jason shouted, before jumping into the abyss, Eddie falling right beside him.

They fell into the red light for several seconds, their hair blowing back in the deafening wind, before Jason glanced down at his wristband. Even against the crimson light he fell through, Jason could easily make out a bright red glow on the bracelet. He looked over to Eddie to see him giving a questioning shrug as they continued to fall.

Deeper and deeper they plummeted, for far longer than either believed was physically possible. After a while, Jason looked back up toward the surface, only to see a tiny speck of light nearly a mile above. He whipped back around to face Eddie and pointed back toward the end of the hole. Eddie quickly saw his gesture and glanced up as well, his jaw dropping in the process.

Eventually, the red light they fell through grew brighter and brighter, until it was all they could see. Jason clenched his eyes shut as yet another wave of pain shot through his brain, rendering him incapable of moving. He simply fell uselessly through the air as his mind reeled from the pain. He grit his teeth so hard that he was sure they were going to crack, but even that would have been a welcome relief from every nerve in his head firing off a thousand times a second, and pushing him to tears once more.

Then, it was gone. He opened his eyes to find himself laying on his side in a dimly lit room. The pain receded from his head, and he pushed himself upright. A quick glance over the room gave him little more information, other than the pale red light coming off of the nearest wall. He heard a groan to his left, and looked over to see Eddie getting to his feet.

"What the fuck?" Jason questioned.

"Don't... ask me... I'm probably more lost right now than you are." Eddie replied.

Jason slowly shook his head and pushed himself to his feet. He stepped toward the nearest wall and inspected the light coming off of it.

"It... Almost looks like some kind of ancient runes or something..." Jason said, squinting at the symbols on the wall.

"Runes? The fuck?" Eddie replied, stepping toward the wall and scanning it himself.

The lettering on the wall was in fact, the source of light in the room, making it easy to inspect and identify. The shapes formed a strange 'S' shape, and a strange triangle with three dashes piercing through it. Both Jason and Eddie inspected them for a few moments before leaning back and glancing over at each other.

"Hmm... I have no idea what the fuck any of that shit means." Eddie shrugged.

"Same... Maybe you have to push them in or something." Jason replied, reaching out to the 'S' shaped rune.

"Hold on a second. We don't know what the hell these things do. For all we know, they could just flood the room and kill us." Eddie interjected.

"Well we're running out of time." Jason responded, rotating his wrist to show the red light of his wristband.

"Fuck..." Eddie sighed, "Just... fuck me... Alright." He shook his head.

Jason gave a short nod, and touched the rune with his hand. Immediately, the segment of stone it rested on glowed white hot, and a bright vortex opened behind them. Jason and Eddie quickly turned around to look at the portal, and quick enough, a sandy beach entered their view on the other side. They both stared in awe at the sight of beauty contrasted by the never-ending storm just behind it.

"Wow..." Jason whispered.

"Is... is that the beach?" Eddie asked, equally in awe.

"Yeah... This must be the way out of here." Jason replied.

"Well that's good... but where are the crystals?" Eddie replied.

Jason's eyes fell from the portal and quickly darted over to the wall of runes. He removed his hand from the portal, and a few seconds later, the portal closed.

"Woah." Eddie said, taken aback by the sudden closing.

"What?" Jason asked.

"What did you do? It just closed." Eddie replied. looking over at Jason once more.

"I just pulled my hand off." Jason responded.

"Touch it again." Eddie instructed.

Jason placed his hand on the rune again, and the same effect happened once more. The portal opened, and the stone glowed white hot. After a moment, he pulled his hand off the stone, and the vortex closed after a few seconds.

"Alright... So now we just need to find out how to get to the crystals." Jason announced, looking the wall over.

"Right..." Eddie replied, glancing at the wall as well.

Jason pressed another rune, causing a separate portal to open. A brilliant blue light beamed in through the portal, and both Jason and Eddie were taken aback by the magical energy radiating through the vortex. They barely managed to open their eyes wide enough to look in and see a monumentous cave filled with white crystals. After another moment of looking, Jason removed his hand from the wall, and the portal closed.

"Well... literally none of that matched the description we got from Twilight." Jason sighed.

"They said the crystals were black... right?" Eddie asked.

"Yeah. Like obsidian. Fuck..." Jason sighed.

"Well... maybe they change color once they get here or some shit? We've already got fucking portals here - a crystal changing color can't be too crazy, right?" Eddie suggested.

"I... I guess so. I don't think we can even get to them though. You felt that heat... Felt like our brains would melt if we stepped any closer." Jason shook his head and leaned against the wall. He quickly slid down until he was sitting on the ground.

"Well we need to figure out a plan then. The nearest crystals were... what? Thirty feet away?" Eddie replied.

"Something like that... but trying to get to them is suicide. I could feel a migraine coming on just looking in there... We'd die for sure if we stepped in there." Jason shook his head.

Eddie frowned and looked around the room for another option, but his search quickly ended when he saw nothing but three other blank stone walls in the room. He looked over to Jason and bit his lip in thought before finally speaking.

"Do we have anything with us that might be useful for this?" He asked.

"No. All we've got is that tiny cloud Rainbow Dash gave us and whatever you brought - which I'm guessing isn't much." Jason replied.

Eddie sighed. He leaned against the wall next to Jason and slid down until he was seated beside him.

For a few tentative minutes, neither of them spoke. They thought to themselves in silence, not even sparing a glance in each other's direction. Eventually, Eddie shook his head and let out a small chuckle.

"What?" Jason asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You remember that time we got Mike to drink Johnny's stash of Jack?" Eddie chuckled.

"Heh, right after we raided that facility in the Aphelions asteroid cluster and Johnny was getting his first medal?" Jason recalled.

"Yeah... Bastard was so pissed when Mike walked in to the ceremony, trashed as fuck." Eddie grinned.

"Dumb bastard got us all fucked up for a month after that." Jason shared a small laugh.

"Ah, good times... Why'd they have to leave us?" Eddie sighed.

"I don't know... I wish things worked out and everybody was here right now. God knows Mike would come up with some stupid shit to get us to the crystals and it'd actually work." Jason shook his head.

"Heh... he had a way of un-fucking your fuck-ups, didn't he?" Eddie replied.

"You all did. I think that's what made us such a great team." Jason responded, his eyes glued to the floor.

"Yeah... I guess so." Eddie said, his eyes also migrating to the floor.

"Just wish I could rewind time..."

"Don't we all?" Eddie replied, "Hey, Jay..."

"Hmm?" Jason glanced over to Eddie.

"Look... I'm sorry about how I acted back before... on the ship." Eddie said, his eyes never leaving the floor.

"You don't have to apologize, man. I get it." Jason replied, giving a half smile.

"No. I do... I was just... I just wanted them back... both of them... and I needed something... or someone to blame." Eddie explained.

He took a second to clear his throat before continuing.

"-And when you and Tempest got together... I guess it just kinda clicked for me... and I'm sorry for that."

"Apology accepted. Thanks, Ed." Jason smiled.

"Heh, don't mention it." Eddie replied, giving his own small smile.

"So... what now?" Jason asked.

"Tell me about you and Tempest. What is it that you see in her?" Eddie pressed.

Jason gave him a curious look, but answered.

"Well... She's adorable, for starters... Uh... She's really kind and gentle once you talk to her... She has some demons from her past that she's been fighting for some time, but she doesn't let that stop her... She's one of the only people I've ever met that genuinely wanted to hear what I had to say. I mean... I don't really know what else to say. You kinda caught me off guard with that." Jason explained, looking thoughtfully at the ceiling.

"Heh, just trying to make up my mind on something. Keep talking." Eddie replied.

"Uh... okay... Well, this one might be kinda weird, but I love the way her fur feels against me. She's so soft and gentle... and she makes me feel at ease... When I'm around her... I don't know, I just feel like everything's gonna be okay. She calms my nerves, I guess." Jason continued, his brow furrowing in thought.

"Hmm... do you love her?" Eddie asked.

"This is a pretty weird line of questioning for you, man." Jason replied, giving him another confused glance.

"Just answer the question, Jay." Eddie replied.

"Uh... well... I don't know... After everything we've been through, I... I think I do... Yeah... Yeah I guess I do love her." Jason answered, his eyes falling to the floor.

Eddie gave a sage nod, apparently satisfied with his answer.

"Alright. Let's do this then." He said, pushing himself to his feet.

"Wait, what? What do you mean?" Jason questioned, following quickly behind.

"Open the portal. I'll get the crystals." Eddie replied.

"What!? Ed, that's suicide!" Jason exclaimed.

"I know. That's why I'm doing it. Not you." Eddie calmly responded.

"Ed, no! What are you even talking about!? That's insane!" Jason rebutted.

"We're out of time and options. One of us is gonna have to stay here and keep the portal open anyways. We don't have any way to make the trip in there safe... It's gotta be me, Jay." Eddie explained.

"No! No one else is dying out here!" Jason shouted, grabbing Eddie's shoulders.

"Jay... We don't have time to figure something else out. If I don't do this... we all die." Eddie replied.

"No! That's not true! We can figure something out! We.. we can... we can go back to the boat. There's gotta be something there that can help us!" Jason hastily rebutted.

"We don't even know where the boat is in relation to the portal. For all we know, it could be on the other side of the island. Jay, we have to do this." Eddie said, his voice soft, yet firm.

"I am not losing you. You're my brother." Jason shot back.

"Jay... think about Tempest. If you don't let me do this... we all die. and then what?"

"We... We won't die. We'll figure something out and we'll all get out of here!" Jason responded, losing some of his momentum.

"What are we gonna figure out, Jay? There's no time, and we don't have any other options. Here's what's gonna happen. You're gonna open that portal, and I'm gonna walk through. I'm gonna grab those crystals, and I'm gonna bring them back to you." Eddie declared walking over to the wall and giving Jason an expectant look.

Jason quickly rushed to Eddie and grabbed him by his shoulders.

"There's still some time! We can still figure something else out!" He exclaimed, shaking Eddie in place.

"Jay, you look at that little wristband of yours and you tell me that we have time to be arguing like this." Eddie replied, giving a deadpan look.

Jason's grip loosened on Eddie's shoulders, and his eyes fell to the floor. He slowly looked over at his wristband to see the bright red light shining against the black outline of the bracelet itself. He slowly shook his head and sighed.

"Ed... Please... You're my best friend..." He whispered, just loud enough for Eddie to hear him.

"I know... and you're my best friend too... That's why I have to go." Eddie replied, pulling Jason into a hug.

Jason struggled to keep tears from welling up in his eyes as he returned the hug, and he took a shaky breath before Eddie spoke again.

"You know me, man... I don't have anything other than you and the squad... Not anymore, at least... You still have Tempest... and a future here... It has to be me, Jay... It has to." Eddie comforted, squeezing Jason closer.

"God dammit..." Jason muttered through grit teeth.

Eddie slowly released the hug and stepped away. Jason's head hung low as he sluggishly turned and walked to the runes. He placed his hand on the wall, and the rune once again glowed white hot. The vortex opened behind them both, and Jason slowly turned to watch as Eddie stepped toward the hole in the fabric of space. The magical energy wafting in through the portal hit him immediately, and he stifled a grunt of pain as his migraine flared up once more. He fought through the pain as he stepped into the vortex, and moved toward the nearest crystals. He walked slowly, each step taking more and more of his energy to complete as he forced himself toward the crystals.

His boot connected with the ground of the crystal cave, and instantly, the pain in his head intensified. Eddie grit his teeth as he stepped forward again, the pain growing even stronger. Eddie's breaths came out in quick, harsh exhales as he struggled to keep his eyes open through throbbing pain.

He took another step forward, and then another, and with each step, the pain worsened, until his limbs shook violently from the intensity. After covering half the distance, he cried out in pain and fell to his knees. His hunched over form writhed in agony while tears spilled freely from his tightly shut eyes.

"Ed!" Jason cried out, desperately holding back tears.

He looked back at the wall, and the rune his hand was holding onto before looking back at Eddie's collapsed form.

"Fuck!" Jason shouted, before slamming his fist into the wall as hard as he could.

In the crystal cave, Eddie fought to bring air into his lungs, but the sheer amount of pain in his brain made each inhale a painful struggle. He grit his teeth so hard that he felt one of them crack, but even that pain was simply washed out from the absolute strain on his nervous system.

Steeling his resolve, Eddie clenched his fingers into a fist, and pushed himself up to his knees. His body shook hard the whole time, but eventually, he was able to reach a standing position. Once there, he took a step forward, and then another. Each step forward was pure agony, and tears freely streamed down his cheeks as he choked back a sob of pain.

Finally, he reached the end of the line, and stumbled against the wall of crystal. Just as he put his hand on the wall, a drop of blood seeped from his nose, and dripped down to the ground below. With his vision quickly failing, and more blood oozing from his nose, Eddie grabbed the nearest pair of crystals and pulled with all his might. His head felt like it was going to explode, and he had to suppress the urge to collapse in pain.

Blood freely flowed from his nose as Eddie pulled hard, but the crystals simply refused to budge. Feeling the full effects of the magic ripping his brains apart, and his fine motor skill deteriorating, Eddie gave every ounce of his strength into pulling the crystals. A crack resonated through the air, then a snap, and the crystals finally broke free from the rock. Eddie was thrown back from the inertia, and fell down onto his back. His world spun around him for several moments, and even the pain dissipated for a moment. He saw a brilliant bright light straight up above him, and for several moments, he was memorized. He couldn't look anywhere except for straight up at that beautiful, blindingly bright light until the corners of his vision grew fuzzy and black.

"Ed!"

A voice reached his ears, and Eddie slowly turned his head to the side, away from the light. There, in his hand, he saw the crystal, no longer a brilliant white, but instead, an obsidian black. He slowly turned his head over to look at his other hand, and saw the other crystal. He forced himself to roll over, away from the light, and look over to the vortex. There he saw Jason, tears freely streaming down his face as he watched his best friend dying.

Eddie let out a groan as he pushed himself up just enough to rest his weight on one elbow. His vision was blurry and unfocused, but he could make out the portal easily enough. He squinted through the haze and blood now forming in his eyes, and threw the first crystal. It soared through the air and flew into the portal, hitting the ground and sliding to a rest at Jason's feet.

Upon seeing the crystal hit it's mark, Eddie switched hands with the other one, and prepped to throw it. The pain threatened to claim his consciousness any second, and his body shook from the strain. With his vision fading fast, and his strength running out, Eddie cocked his arm back and threw the last crystal at the portal. It sailed through the air and into the portal.

Jason stared with a mix of awe and horror as the second crystal came to a rest right at his feet, beside the first one. He glanced up to Eddie to see blood streaming down his face, and his arm extended toward the portal. Eddie's fingers were once more curled into a fist, and his thumb was extended upward. He continued to give a thumbs up for a few more seconds before collapsing to the floor and going completely limp.

Jason stared at Eddie's body for a long time after that. He kept his hand against the rune, as if at any moment Eddie would come back to life and crawl the rest of the way back. After an unbearably long few minutes, Jason broke down. He cried out in pain as tears poured from his eyes.

"God dammit... God fucking dammit..." He whispered.

Jason gave another look to Eddie's body, before finally releasing his hold on the rune, and watching the portal close. Once it was completely shut, he simply stared at the floor for a few more minutes. Memories flashed through his head as his fingers curled into fists. He took several shaky breaths before letting out a long, angry cry of pain. He slammed his fists against the ground so hard that he cracked his knuckles, but the pain barely registered with him.

Only when his pain and anguish were completely spent, did Jason finally rise back to his feet. He wiped the tears from his eyes and grabbed the crystals off of the ground. He slowly walked over to the wall and pressed against the rune, opening the portal to the beach. He gave one last look over at the other rune, before sighing deeply and stepping away from the wall. He walked through the vortex, and onto a sandy beach. Feeling utterly numb to the world around him, Jason trudged across the beach toward where he assumed the ship was anchored off shore. It didn't take too terribly long for him to realize that he was on the opposite side of the island, and without so much as a sigh, he simply followed the beach in silence.

Tempest watched over the island with a mix of emotions on her face. She kept her eyes open and scanning across the beach for any sign of Jason, Eddie, or Rebecca, but for quite some time, she found nothing. Eventually, she turned to head back into the ship, but just as she turned, movement caught her eye. She hastily turned back and observed as Rebecca stumbled through the brush and onto the beach. With no other humans beside her, she appeared to be the only one left.

Tempest's heart sank in her chest, and a pit formed in the back of her throat. Her mouth felt dry, and she stared, unblinkingly as Rebecca crawled onto the raft and paddled toward the ship. It only took her a moment to reach the starboard side of the ship, and she quickly tied the raft off to the side railing. With Tempest watching the whole time, Rebecca climbed onto the ship, and flopped onto the deck.

For several seconds, Tempest simply stared at her in silence, as if speaking alone would confirm her greatest fears. Eventually, Rebecca got to her feet and made her way over to the crew quarters doorway. She paused at the door to look up at Tempest, to see her looking down at her.

"Are... are they..." Tempest began, a clear waiver in her voice.

"I don't know... I had to turn around and head back... The pain was too much." Rebecca shamefully admitted.

"So... Jason's still alive?" Tempest hopefully continued.

"I hope so..." Rebecca quietly replied.

Tempest hopped down to Rebecca's level and placed a hoof on her thigh in a comforting manner. Rebecca leaned down and gave a gentle hug to the mulberry unicorn. After a moment, they separated, and Tempest quickly opened the door for her. They stepped inside to find Melody and Sky sitting beside one of the bunks, with Midnight laying between them. Her foreleg was wrapped and splinted with two pieces of wood clearly broken off from one of the bunks.

"Rebecca!" Melody cried, hopping off her seat and trotting over to her.

"Hey, Mel." Rebecca replied, pulling the chocolate mare into a hug.

"Did you guys get fixed?" Melody asked, eagerly accepting the hug.

Rebecca sighed.

"Not yet... I had to turn back... Jason and Eddie are still on the island." She responded.

"Oh... Well... I'm sure they'll bring back the crystals in no time." Melody optimistically replied.

"I hope you're right." Rebecca said.

Rebecca and Melody separated from the hug and headed over to the bunks, Tempest in tow. They quickly arrived, and sat down beside Sky and Midnight.

"How's the wing?" Rebecca asked, eyeing Sky's splinted and bandaged wing.

"I can barely feel it." Sky softly answered, his eyes glued to Midnight.

Rebecca gave a small nod before looking down at the graphite mare.

"Any change with her?" She asked.

"Nothing yet... Still... Still waiting on her to wake up." Sky replied.

"She'll be okay... I know she will. It looks like the bruising hasn't gotten any worse since we left... and you guys got her leg all patched up too." Rebecca commented, gently placing her hand on Midnight's un-bandaged foreleg.

For a few minutes, all was silent in the ship as they simply watched Midnight sleep. Sky quietly sighed to himself as his eyes slowly fell to the floor, but quickly darted back up as Midnight groaned.

"Mid!" Sky exclaimed.

"Ugh..." She whimpered, her eyes slowly fluttering open.

"Mid! Oh my god, you're okay!" Sky cried, relief flowing through his voice.

"Ahh.... My foreleg..." Midnight responded, grimacing in pain.

"Don't move it! Just stay still. You got hurt pretty bad and broke it." Melody cautioned, gently holding her down with her magic.

"I... I did? Sky?" Midnight replied, turning to the crimson pegasus for answers.

"Yeah... When the boat flipped we hit something pretty hard. I broke one of my wings and you broke your leg... I'm just so glad you're awake..." Sky answered, gently caressing her good foreleg in his own.

"You've got some nasty bruising all along the side of your body, but otherwise you should be fine." Rebecca chimed in, giving a gentle smile.

"Is... is the foal okay?" Midnight asked, fearfully glancing around the room.

"We... We think so... There's really no way to tell right now." Melody sadly answered, sympathetically placing her hoof on Midnight's wither.

Midnight's eyes slowly fell until she was looking back at Sky. She blinked back a few tears before a choked whisper left her lips.

"I'm sorry..."

"For what?" Sky replied, just as quiet.

"I don't want our foal to die..." She managed, her voice cracking.

Sky leaned down until his muzzle was just a few inches away from hers. He gave her a gentle nuzzle against her cheek, ending with a soft kiss on her lips.

"I'm the one who should be apologizing for dragging you into this... You're the light of my life... I never should have put you in danger like this... God, I love you so fucking much." Sky replied, tears freely streaming from his cheeks.

Midnight choked back a sob as she held out her good foreleg. Sky immediately took the hint and leaned in for a hug. He carefully avoided putting any stress or pressure on her bruised body, and only gently held her against him as she cried into his neck.

Melody, Tempest, and Rebecca silently watched with mixed emotions on their faces. Melody gave a sympathetic smile while Rebecca and Tempest gave a sad look or a small nod of encouragement. For a time, they simply sat around, before Rebecca and Melody decided to give them some privacy, and stepped over to the stairs. They quickly reached the bridge, leaving Tempest with Sky and Midnight.

Eventually, Midnight managed to calm down enough to control herself, and pulled away from the hug. Sky reluctantly let her go, but continued to sit beside her, one foreleg draped lovingly over her uninjured foreleg. She gave a grateful nod, before turning to Tempest and sniffling a couple of times.

"S-sorry about that... I shouldn't be so pessimistic." Midnight said, her voice coming out weak and slightly strained.

"Don't ever apologize for caring about your foal... I'm so sorry you were hurt... but if it's any consolation, I think he's going to be fine." Tempest replied, giving a small supportive smile.

"Thank you..." Midnight replied, giving a soft smile of her own.

"Anytime." Tempest winked.

"Where... where are Jason and Eddie?" Midnight asked, suddenly looking around the room and noticing the lack of two humans.

"They're still on the island... We're... not sure when they'll get back." Tempest hesitantly replied.

"The island? Wait... we're already at the island?" Midnight asked, curiously.

"Yeah... you've been out for a couple hours now. Rebecca went with them... but the pain was too much for her." Tempest explained, her eyes falling to the floor.

Midnight immediately picked up on Tempest's fears, and gave her a reassuring smile.

"Hey, I-I'm sure Jason is fine. Eddie too. They're strong, both of them." She said.

"Yeah... I know... Just hurts knowing that they're in pain and I can't do anything about it..." Tempest sighed.

"They'll make it back. Jason's tough as shit, and Eddie never quits." Sky chimed in.

"Heh... you're right... I probably shouldn't worry so much... but one thought has come to my attention." Tempest replied, looking back up at them.

"What is it?" Midnight replied.

"Well... since you're hurt... Can Melody cast the spell to save Jason, Eddie, and Rebecca?" Tempest asked, pawing at the ground with her hoof.

"I... I don't know... I think she can... I don't see why not. Why?" Midnight replied, giving her a curious look.

"No real reason... I just... I just have a bad feeling... Think it might be useful if I could get my hooves on the spell." Tempest absentmindedly replied, her eyes darting to the doorway, as if any second, Jason would come in.

"Um... Sure. Yeah, sure. The spell is in my saddlebags, over... where ever you guys put them." Midnight answered, looking around the room.

Tempest quickly headed over to the pile of saddlebags and packs, and pulled out Midnight's. She opened the flap and hastily pulled out the spell scroll in question. She read it over three times before it set in her mind, and she was able to cast it, provided her horn worked. Not a second after she set the spell down, did she hear Melody's voice shouting down from the bridge.

"Tempest! Get up here!" She called.

Tempest hastily dropped the scroll and galloped up the stairs. She quickly reached the bridge and found Melody standing by one of the broken windows.

"What is it!?" She exclaimed.

"Jason! On the beach!" Melody cried, pointing at the man in question.

Tempest's eyes immediately darted to the white sand of the beach to see Jason's silhouette, walking along the sand. He stumbled every few feet, and it almost appeared as if he was drunk. With her eyes widening in shock, Tempest watched him make his way to shore, until he collapsed at the water's edge.

Tempest moved in a blur of motion, before she could even process what was happening. The world around her simply faded from existence as she galloped down the stairs and grabbed her saddlebag with her teeth. She gave no acknowledgement to Sky or Midnight as she bolted out the door, slamming it open with her skull, and jumping off the side of the ship. She vaguely heard several voices calling out her name as she leapt, but she paid them no mind. All she could see was the shoreline, and the silhouette of the man she loved laying on it, desperately in need of her help.

She hit the water hard, and immediately paddled toward the shore. She panted heavily as she reached the beach, and saw Jason laying just fifty feet away. He was so close that she could almost feel the relief of touching him once more flourish in her heart, but as soon as she stepped one hoof onto the sand, all she felt was pain.

Excruciating, only scratched the surface of the throbbing, stinging, burning pain that seared itself into Tempest's brain she she struggled to maintain her balance. She blinked back tears as each step forward felt like a titanic task that she could barely accomplish with one hundred percent of her strength. Still, she pressed on, only one thought in her mind, even despite the horrendous pain in her head.

I'm not leaving you...

Tempest fought against the pain for what felt like hours. She pushed with all of her might for each step forward into the island, and even though she made good progress, the pain of the island's magic clashing with her own was quickly wearing her down. Tears streamed down both her cheeks, and even her horn seemed to pulse with blue light that synced up to her erratic heart beat.

Just... a... few... more... feet...

Tempest's forelegs no longer responded properly to her orders, and instead, they simply locked out. Gritting her teeth in defiance, she pushed herself forward with her hind legs, enough to lose her balance and fall face first into the sand. The pain of the impact was lost on her as she desperately pushed once more with her hind legs until they too refused to cooperate.

Eventually, her entire body seized up, just a few precious inches away from Jason, and even though every nerve in her body screamed out in protest at the pain and harsh treatment, she refused to give up. Once more, with all her strength, she willed her foreleg to move, if only just a few inches. For a few seconds, it simply refused to cooperate, until she finally saw the limb twitch, and inch forward ever so slightly. Her brain throbbed as if it was being smashed by a hammer, but even so, she willed her shaky body to crawl forward. One inch at a time.

Finally, she touched Jason with her hoof, and pulled herself on top of him. With what little higher brain function she had remaining, Tempest thanked her luck that Jason fell face-up. It allowed her the ability to instantly see that he was unconscious, and there was a small amount of blood slowly trailing out of his nose. Stifling her fears, she dropped her saddlebag from her mouth, and shakily nudged the cover open with her muzzle.

With now violently shaking hooves, she reached in and slowly managed to grab the lone crystal in her saddlebag. She plunked it out and slowly brought it to her horn, her hooves straining the whole way. Once she felt it reach her horn, she fired up a small levitation spell to hold it in place. Immediate, intense pain flooded her brain, one hundred times worse than anything she'd felt so far. She cried out in pain and fell to the ground, her entire body convulsing in agony.

Only when she could finally she through her eyes once more, did she manage to push herself back up to her hooves. She was breathing heavily, but no amount of air seemed to fill her aching lungs, and the stress was quickly getting to her.

With bloodshot eyes, she reached forward and grabbed one of the blackened crystals from Jason's limp hands. She felt a wetness slowly oozing down her forehead and onto her face, and after a quick wipe with her foreleg, she found it to be blood. Swallowing back a panicked cry, she glanced up at her horn, to find that it was indeed the source of the blood. Her eyes quickly darted back down to Jason, then back to her horn, and finally down to the crystal.

She let out a quiet sigh, one that felt like it dragged all of the air out of her body with it.

I love you...

She brought forth all of her magic to the crystal held in place over her horn, the action alone driving a spike of pain deep through her mind. Her body went rigid as her mental faculties shut down, and more blood oozed freely from her crackling and cracking horn. She cried out in pain once more as the spell completed charging, her body only retaining enough strength to hold the obsidian crystal up above Jason's body.

Tempest put everything she had into completing the spell, and blasting Jason with enough magical energy to completely envelope him, turning the air around him white with light, and power. It was blinding, and drained every last ounce of her magical energy. Only when she was sure that the spell was completed, did she let go, and fall by his side, her vision quickly fading as her heart beat slowed.

The last thing she saw was a blinding light so white that it blocked out the sun, and then, her world plunged into darkness.

.

.

.

.

.

Tempest's eyes slowly fluttered open. She barely bit back a groan of pain as her eyes blinked through the crusty sensation of waking up after a long sleep, and she instantly felt a dull throbbing in her head. Her eyes were hazy, and unfocused, making it difficult to see anything.

"Hey, she's waking up." A voice spoke up, directing her ears in their direction.

"Ugh..." She croaked, her dry mouth and throat stinging slightly.

"Take it easy. You took a hell of a beating out there." The voice said, before she felt a hoof against the back of her head.

The pony holding her head, brought a canteen of water to her lips, and she eagerly drank down as much as she could before it was gently pulled away.

"What... what happened?" Tempest croaked, her eyes finally adjusting enough to see Melody's brown coat beside her.

"You almost killed yourself casting the spell on Jason while you were both on the island." Melody replied, gently patting her wither.

"Where... where is he?" Tempest asked, fear once more clawing its way into her voice.

"Right beside you." Melody replied.

Tempest turned to the side to find Jason laying right next to her. He was softly sleeping away, and the picture of his gently resting body made her heart melt in her chest.

"After we got you two back on the boat, or rather, Rebecca got you two on the boat, he woke up. He was a bit dizzy and had a nasty migraine, but as soon as he saw the state you were in, he wouldn't leave your side." Melody explained.

"He's... they're all... alright?" Tempest hesitantly asked, as if the answer was too scary to even consider.

Melody was silent for some time, but upon seeing the pleading look in Tempest's eyes, her slight frown flipped into a gentle smile.

"Yeah... yeah, they're okay. You just get some rest. We made it through the worst of the storm, so now we just have a few months of sailing ahead of us." Melody replied, hopping off her chair and heading toward the stairs.

Tempest gave a small, but thankful nod, before relaxing back down into the mattress. She rolled over to her side, and pulled herself toward Jason until she was within forelegs reach. Just as quickly, his arm wrapped around her barrel, and pulled her into a soft hug. She let out a gentle whimper of gratefulness as she looked into Jason's emerald eyes.

"I'm glad you're okay." He whispered.

"I could say the same about you." She replied.

"I know you just woke up... but I have to tell you something." Jason said.

"Me too... but you go ahead."

"I love you."

Tempest sniffled as happy tears formed in her eyes.

"I love you too..." She whispered.

Jason hugged her tighter, and kissed her forehead. They spent the rest of the night in each other's arms, and when sleep reclaimed them both, they slept with gentle smiles on their faces.

Author's Note

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjOSydtI38Q

Hey guys. So here we are. The end of the story. It's been a long ride, and one that I hope all of you who read all of my work appreciated. I hope that the end met or exceeded all of your expectations fully, because I put my heart and soul into each and every chapter.

I'll keep this short, since the epilogue is coming out next week, and that'll tie up all my thoughts and such after finishing the story completely. Either way, I'm glad you guys stuck with me this far.