"Where did that bird go?!" The screen operator screamed as he began to panic, running around the holographic display over the large table in the middle of the room. "Come on, come on! Okay, Last reported location at... here!" he barked as he placed a marker between five small holographic islands. "Storm comes out of nowhere, just forms around Wyvern, then contact lost..."

"With whom?" A new voice, from Noble Stellar Wing no less!

"AHHH!" The poor unicorn screamed, nearly jumping out of his fur.

"Calm down please. Now, what is your name?" Stellar reassured.

"It's uh... Comet, sir; My friends call me Hawkeye though." He whimpered, his voice cracking a little.

"Okay then, Hawkeye. Tell me what's wrong." Stellar's wing draped over the young stallion, urging him to settle his nerves.

"Okay so... we've... lost contact with one of our Ornithopters. 'Thopter Wyvern, specifically... My.. commanding officer demanded I not tell you and just find it..." Young Comet stammered out, rushing back over to the holographic display map.

"And you haven't sent out a rescue team yet?" Stellar asked patiently.

"We can't sir. It was lost in a freak storm around these islands." Hawkeye explained, pointing to the half dozen island chain. "If we send more 'Thopters, they'll go into the sea, and Luna knows what kind of creatures live in that sea. We have to wait for it to pass."

"Buck... that could take days..." Stellar grumbled.

"Sir, whoever was in that bird can handle themselves. I want them back too, whoever they are; But I have confidence in their skills."

"I hope your right Hawkeye. For my daughter's sake." Stellar said patiently, before turning around and leaving.

"Oh... well... Buck..." was all the pony could say.

~~~~***~~~~

"Ugh... my head..." I grumble as I regain consciousness. Buck me, my first solo flight and I crash land on an alien island, on an alien planet, in a freak storm... talk about bad bucking luck... Twitching my ears around, I can still hear the storm pounding away outside... probably best to stay put in here and wait it out. Unstrapping myself from the seat, I find I'm actually upside down, as I fall and land on my head... on the roof of my cockpit... ow. Looking around, I turned the headlamp in my helmet on.

"Okay... interior damage is minimal. Some stuff scattered around, could be worse." I say to myself. Going around, I gather up my personals, as well as my survival bag. I'm a pilot, not a technician, so repairing this thing is out of the question. Even then it would require a hangar and a massive set of tools... I doubt I'll be able to do that with alien palm trees and coconuts. It was then I notice something off... taking a few whiffs of air in my nose, I'm getting the subtle hint of fuel...

Looking up, I can't seem to find the leak. Oh wait, that's the floor... So instead I look down. Yup... fuel leak... buck... I can't stay here after all. I make my way to the rear of my ornithopter, and lift the switch to manually open the cockpit. As it opens, it gets only partially open before jamming. I can suddenly hear the storm quite loudly now. The pounding rain, rapid lightning strikes, and very heavy winds.

A loud pop above me gets my attention. Horse-apples... The fuel was in the roof, and the electrical was in the belly.. and now she and I are inverted... something in the electrical is messed up and some wires seem to have gotten crossed... I'm sure you can guess what happens next. Yup; Sparks begin arcing. grabbing my two bags, I make my way to the rear entry way as quickly as I can. I got my bags out easily enough, but the gap... not exactly big enough for me. The sparks behind me are getting more and more frequent. I'm left with no choice but to ditch my helmet and try to squeeze my flank out.

I get about halfway out, and my mane is instantly soaked. Just barely over the winds, I hear a whoof, and suddenly my backside feels warmer.

"C'mon, c'mon!" I growl, trying to find purchase with my rear hooves. Finally I manage to get my hooves on something and force my body through the remaining gap just as the fire engulfed the entire cabin. Grabbing my bags, I make my way into the jungle, managing to find temporary shelter under a small rock outcropping, can't be more than a hundred meters from the wreck. I don't think I can get my portable stove to ignite, but I can munch on a granola bar for now.

Well... that wasn't that thrilling. Reaching into my bag, I pull out an enchanted survival blanket, and wrap myself up. Nothing to do now but wait. Might as well catch up on the sleep I've been missing out on...

~~~~***~~~~

When I woke, I find that the storm has passed, and it's a wonderfully sunny day. Okay, not gonna question that. Crawling out of my little rocky cave, I see the burned out husk of my poor ornithopter... burned to a crisp... I don't know who's going to kill me first... Dad, or my Commander? At this point it's stay alive.

Okay... Priorities... Opening my bags, I start digging around, looking for anything that can help me out of this situation. Ok, enchanted blanket, rations, water purifier, jet lighter, fire starter cubes, backup jumpsuit, portable stove, solar powered drones, and... Peanut butter? Why peanut butter? Wait, drones! Pulling out a matching tablet, I set the three drones on the ground and program them to fly a four kilometer triangle around the beach.

The drones hummed to life and then took off on their respective routes. The data collection may take a while, so I start gathering dried wood, and start making a fire. Survival school always did say to not wander too far away from camp, so I check to see if I can send a distress... Signal... Of course I can't, I left the Celestia damned beacon in the ornithopter, and it's destroyed... Figures.

"Beep! Beep! Beep!" Huh. Wonder what the drones found. Wait... Signal lost? With all three of them? What in Luna's plot...? Looking at my tablet, I start going through the footage. Each drone showed similar feeds. Two flew along the beach, for about a kilometer before, it looked like something attacked them. The third, the one I sent into the jungle, apparently only made it about a quarter of a kilometer before... Something grabbed it... I need to find that drone.

Following the drone's programed route, it took only twenty minutes through the dense vegetation before I found it's smashed remains. Picking it up, it was bone dry, so nothing bit down on it... The local aerial fauna is too small to cause this level of damage. Looking back at the tablet, I watch the last few frames in as slow a frame rate as possible. The last five seconds were...

The video shows the drone flying through the trees, before a reddish brown blob shot past the camera. Then, in the next frame, what appeared to be a hand swatted the drone to the ground before what looked like a stone hammer smashed it. That was when the signal stopped. That's... haunting.

" I guess I'm not alone on this island..." I say to myself... Turning around, I haul my flank back to my beach shelter.

Ok... Back on my beach and.... What in Celestia's flank?! P-paw prints!? My gear is scattered all over the place, my camp, if you can call it that, is totally trashed. My rations are gone, my purifier is destroyed, my peanut butter is missing... Who or what could have done this?

A soft thump behind me forces my heart to skip a beat and my fur to stand on end. I try to turn as fast as I can only for my eyes and nose to get covered in a green powder. My eyes slam shut as if dirt had been thrown in, which was kinda true, and all I could smell was... Wait... I know this smell... My thoughts begin to slow as my body starts to sway.

Back in Canterlot... That party... At the Blueblood's. Last thing I saw was that reddish brown form standing over me. Then everything went black. Ah...sleepy time.

Author's Note

As usual, constructive criticism is welcome.