Confined With a Goddess

When they returned to the hut, Jake was glad to have something to drink. Celestia had a large tank of freshwater under her hut that she would often supplement with coconut water because it tasted better, but it was good enough for Jake. He had no idea how he'd ever manage that.

Suddenly, an axe showed up in front of him, and he stumbled backwards. Only when he took a moment to look at it did he notice that it was slightly translucent.

"Go on, pick it up," urged Celestia. "I'm not going to hold it up for you all day."

He looked back, and it seemed that her horn was glowing. Had it been darker, he'd have noticed that the axe was glowing the same colour.

He grabbed it by the handle, and she let go. He very nearly dropped it, because it was very heavy, and the weight distribution was not what he'd expected. How did video game characters hold giant axes, bigger than this, out in front of them?

"What's this for?" he grunted, trying to redistribute the weight so he could hold it properly.

Celestia gabbed another and hoisted it up over her shoulder. "That's an axe. To be more accurate, that's a double-bit felling axe. Mine, as you can see, is a single-bit felling axe."

He looked at both his and her own, and noted the differences. The most obvious was the handle shape. Hers was curved forward, while his was straight. That was likely due to the fact that his had two blades, and hers only one.

"Does the term "double-bit" mean that it has two blades?"

Celestia nodded. "That's right."

"I've always wondered why it has two. Is there a reason for that?"

"There are a few," nodded Celestia. "For one, the forge blanks tend to be a fair bit shorter, though that doesn't apply to spectral tools like these. The original reason was that it's a pain in the arse to have to spend your entire lunch break sharpening your axe after having used it all morning. A lot of Lumberjacks would carry two axes just to have a sharp one for after they finished their burrito. Then somepony came up with the idea of putting a second axe blade on the back of the first, and because that's a lot cheaper, easier and more lightweight than having to carry around two separate axes, they just made this one reversible. Again, this is spectral, not steel, so we're not going to need to sharpen these, but it also weighs more than a single bit axe."

"Weighs more?" Jake raised an eyebrow. "I thought you just said it was more lightweight?"

"One double-bit axe weighs less than two single-bit axes of the same size. One single-bit axe weighs less than a double-bit axe of the same size."

"So you gave me the heavy one?" questioned Jake.

"Yes," nodded Celestia. "For you, all you have to do is make sure the blade falls in the right location. I actually have to swing. Now, let's go collect some firewood."

After felling the first tree, Jake was pretty glad to have a heavier axe. Turns out, Celestia was right, and all he really had to do was aim and drop the blade. Of course, she'd fallen five in the time it took him to do just one, and she was managing to do it with just one hand, but she was stronger than he was by a wide margin.

As she picked up a tree over both shoulders and dragged them over to him, he had to ask. "You referred to yourself yesterday as a "banished princess." And earlier today, you called this a "prison island.""

"I did, that," nodded Celestia. "Glad to know you were paying attention and were able to connect the dots."

"No, I... Well, yes, but that's not what I meant. I just wanted to confirm that before I asked my question."

"Well, then, ask away," smirked Celestia. "I hereby confirm that what you heard me say earlier is exactly what I said."

"Why don't you just go back?"

The smile faded from her face. "It's not that simple."

Jake nodded, but did not break his gaze. There was an awkward pause, broken by his next question. "Why not?"

Celestia shook her head. "I am only allotted so much of my magic. I have no means of passing through the barrier."

"What barrier?"

Celestia pointed her axe out over the water. "Five hundred metres out from the shoreline, my stomach begins to twist. That's the proximity warning. At seven hundred and fifty metres, it starts to hurt. At nine hundred, my brain begins to swim, and if ever I make it a kilometre or more from the shoreline, I am teleported slowly back to shore. And the slowness of the process is what makes it all that much worse. Unless there was something powerful enough to dispel that barrier, I can never leave."

"Well, I made it through the barrier," noted Jake. "I wasn't even teleported to shore. I had to swim."

Celestia nodded. "So it seems that you're not an alicorn. Or perhaps the barrier only goes a single direction. All I know for certain is that I've lost five boats out there."

"Have you tried moving the shoreline?" asked Jake.

"There's not enough sand or stone to facilitate that. Besides, it resets twice a week; on Sundays and Wednesdays. If I tried to build a bridge, it'd just be demolished."

"What about a wooden bridge that can float on the water?"

"The same thing, destroyed in three to four days."

"So we can't build anything?"

"No, we can. Or rather, I can. You're still up for debate. I had to build my hut from the ground up. Anything I build that doesn't leave the island stays where it is. The same if it just sits on the island. That's what allows me to keep my fishing raft." She turned to him. "Actually, we can test that. The next time I go out fishing, I'll take you with me. Then we shall see if you suffer the same way that I do."

Jake swallowed. He wasn't keen on the idea of suffering the same way she did, especially since he was a coward, and she likely had a higher tolerance for pain than he did. "When is that going to be?"

Celestia paused for a moment, then smiled. "In five minutes."