“It was a dark and stormy day in the Lost Isles.”

“Zeph, it’s literally the sunniest day I’ve seen in a week. Not a single cloud in the sky.”

“I’m trying to build a mood. Now, if you don’t mind, can I get back to my narrative?”

“Why do you even need a narrative? We’re looking for a lost cat toy?”

“It helps me stay in the detective’s state of mind. Now, if you don’t mind, Zain, can I get back to my narrative?”

“Fine—”

“…was a dark and stormy day on the Lost Isles when the great cat-tastrophe occurred.”

“Found it! It just fell behind the steps.”

With a heavy sigh, the light gray pegasus, her mane a cascade of grayscale hues, adjusted her black hat and straightened her tie as she approached her brother. His aquamarine mane and dark blue fur were complemented by his overly formal midnight blue attire, his most contrasting feature being his large, rimmed gold glasses. With a swift motion, she snatched the cat toy away from him.

“You think there’ll ever be a real mystery to solve around here?”

“I want to say yes? I mean, we literally live in a place with ‘lost’ in its name.”

“I’m tired of finding lost things!”

“Well—if things aren’t lost, you can’t find them.”

“I’m not a lost and found expert. I’m a detective! I want to solve mysteries, stake out an evildoer’s headquarters, or uncover a grand conspiracy.”

“The only ‘grand conspiracy’ in the Lost Isles is how Flare gets her pizza to taste like burned driftwood, no matter what the toppings are.”

“Speaking of, I’m kind of hungry. I wonder what the pizza of the day is?”

“Driftwood, what else?”

“Could you at least pretend she makes good pizza? The least you could do is support her.”

“What have I been doing this whole time? It’s not like I’ve ever complained while eating it.”

“How about a compliment next time?”

“I’m a widely respected reviewer, Zeph. I can’t bend my opinion in favor of a friend or practical family member.”

“She’s getting better, and it’s been her dream since we were fillies to make the best pizza in the Lost Isles. It’s our duty as her friends to support her. It’s not like your quill is moving while you’re eating a casual personal dinner. You can turn off your work persona from time to time, you know?”

Making her way over to a lazy black cat, Zeph dangled the toy in front of it only to have the cat look up at her like she was crazy. Zeph sneered at the cat, then dropped the toy in front of it. The cat turned its head and closed its eyes.

Picking up the toy again, Zeph made her way to the front of the house and found Lilly, an elder, gray-maned mare with a long faded blue coat, watering her flowers.

The moment Lilly noticed Zeph, her face lit up with joy as she made her way over.

“You found it! Lucky’s going to be so thrilled! He’s been such a grumpy kitty since he lost his four-leaf clover toy. The other day he was so depressed he wouldn’t even eat his favorite fish.”

Zeph saw a look of utter disgust wash over her brother’s face, causing her to smile nervously as she hoped he’d keep his mouth shut. Her brother wasn’t very good at hiding his thoughts, feelings, or opinions.

Zain walked by Zeph and nudged her on the shoulder. “Let’s get going. We told Flare we weren’t going to be late today, since she had a surprise for us.”

Breathing a sigh of relief, Zeph enthusiastically agreed with her brother and made a quick departure.

As the pair left ear range, Zeph heard her brother shudder in disgust.

“I don’t know why ponies keep cats as pets.”

“If you don’t think about what they eat, they’re kind of cute.”

“Zeph, they eat other pets!”

“I know, I know, it’s gross, but thank you for not making a scene.”

“I’m just tired of having the same argument over and over. I feel as if I haven’t had a unique conversation in years. While I don’t understand why you care about solving some grand mystery so much, I would like something new for a change. I mean, seriously, my last review column was the three hundred and twenty-fourth part of reviewing surfboard designs because the only regularly interesting thing that ever happens around here is surfboard art, and that’s just because it erodes so quickly. If Luna ever comes up with true waterproof paint, or runs out of original ideas, I don’t know what I’m going to fill my column with most of the time.”

As the siblings made their way down the sun-bleached boardwalk that sprawled out in countless unorganized directions as if it had been built by a community of intoxicated spiders, Zeph’s eyes wandered across the tropical cityscape of her home. Ever-changing, yet always the same. Ponies were always doing things, but they were always the same things. When she was a filly, the city’s many twists and turns felt like they held countless mysteries and endless possibilities, yet as she explored, she came to realize that despite its appearance, it was filled with more or less the same down every corridor, with only a few unique standouts dotting the city as major landmarks.

As the pair passed by Sundancer’s pet shop, Zeph’s attention was pulled to a rather peculiar, and exceptionally grumpy, looking lavender-colored bunny.

“Hey Zain, since when do bunnies come in lavender?”

“I’m pretty sure they don’t. I suppose Sundancer dyeing bunnies to try and find them homes could be something new to review.”

“I didn’t dye any bunny any color,” came a rough female voice from around the corner, followed shortly by the bright yellow pegasus the voice belonged to. “Cloudy and Storm found that little guy washed up on the beach a couple of weeks ago and brought him in. Though he’s only been out for adoption for a couple days. He wasn’t seriously hurt, but the poor little guy was pretty malnourished. That said, he’s a pretty weird bunny, so no one’s wanted to take him in yet.”

Carefully watching the bunny, Zeph felt strange, as if she was watching a bored pony rather than a pet or wild animal. He was sitting unnaturally, had unusually shaped paws which he tapped impatiently against his leg, and stared off into the distance with a deep sense of awareness. For a brief moment, he looked towards her and rolled his eyes, as if to say, “oh great another pony gawking at me.”

“You want me to write about him? My next column will be posted on the board tomorrow.” Hearing her brother’s voice, Zeph’s attention snapped back to Sundancer.

“Nah, he seems to be getting grumpier the more ponies stop to look at him, so I think I need to put him in the back and find him a home another way. Though if you know anyone who wants a precocious escape artist bunny, let me know and I’ll interview them.”

Zeph’s eyes went wide. “Escape artist?”

“Yeah, he’s always trying to escape, the little rascal. I’d just let him go, but since he’s obviously not native to the Lost Isles, it would be the death of him. I’m sure I don’t have to remind the island’s foremost detective of all the poisonous and deadly things around here.”

Zeph chuckled awkwardly as she tried not to remember some of the grimmer outcomes of her missing pet and pony investigations. Most of the time when a pony went missing, they just got lost amongst the city boardwalk, but every once in a while… she shuddered and shook her head intensely. “Indeed not. Where do you think he came from?”

“Not much of any real clue. While he was recovering, I did my best to figure something out about him, but came up empty-hoofed. At this point, I’d have to assume he came from the mainland.”

“Then it seems like the obvious thing to do would be to return him there.” Zeph’s eyes darted towards the bunny as she noticed his paw stop tapping at the sound of her words, but her attention was soon stolen back by the sound of Sundancer laughing flamboyantly as she dismissed the outlandish idea.

“No pony’s been to the mainland in recorded history, nor am I letting anypony just toss him on a raft and send him back out on the ocean alone. Like it or not, he’s a member of the Lost Isles now.”

Looking back over at the bunny, Zeph noticed a clear sign of irritation, as if he could understand what was being said. Wanting to test her theory, she decided to press Sundancer a bit and see how the bunny reacted.

“Just because no pony’s done it in a while doesn’t mean no pony is willing to do it.” Looking back at the bunny from the corner of her eye, Zeph noticed he was now looking straight at her inquisitively, but once again turned his head and rolled his eyes as Sundancer laughed.

“Detective, I know you like to try and solve things, but this is one best left alone. He’s just one of us now, and you both need to just accept it.”

Still studying the bunny out of the corner of her eye, Zeph tried to come up with a rebuttal to Sundancer in order to get his attention again. Running out of ideas fast, but not wanting to let the chance for the most exciting mystery in ages to escape her hooves, Zeph suggested she could adopt the bunny, which seemed to stun both Sundancer and the bunny. After a moment, Sundancer put her hoof on Zeph’s shoulder as she looked her straight in the eyes.

“Detective, the only pet I’d allow you to adopt is a rock.”

Feeling bemused, Zeph found herself speechless.

“Even if she got a rock, Flare would be the one who got stuck dusting it.”

Hearing her brother’s voice, Zeph snapped out of her state of shock. Feeling flustered and annoyed, she glared at the two for a moment while she contemplated her next words carefully. She knew if she gave a knee-jerk reaction, it could lose any hope she had at securing the bunny. Knowing she had little time to think, she gave a quick direct glance over to the bunny, who looked into her eyes for a moment before smiling at her, then returned to looking even grumpier than before. Feeling as though she knew what he was thinking, she looked back to Sundancer and cleared her throat.

“How about a challenge, then? Anything you want, but if I win, I get to adopt him.”

Sundancer looked between Zeph and the bunny for a moment before sighing. “Detective, we both have better things to do with our time.” Zeph stood firm and stared intensely into Sundancer’s eyes. “Okay, if it means that much to you.”

“Come on, Zeph, you can’t possibly want to adopt him. You’ve never wanted a pet before. You don’t even like lavender-colored things!”

Zeph took a deep breath and gave her brother the most intense “please be quiet” glare she had ever given him, and with that, he sighed and looked to Sundancer and waited for her challenge.

The first part of the challenge was a breeze, a simple question-and-answer session about what bunnies need to eat and how to take care of them. Having politely listened to countless bunny owners talk in great detail about their precious little fuzzballs, of which she usually had near zero interest, Zeph knew about everything any pony could know about them.

“I’m surprised you know so much about bunnies, but no matter your depth of knowledge, the true test is whether you can handle them.” Sundancer gave Zeph a wicked smile as she walked over to the cage. “If you can catch him, he’s yours.”

Unlatching the cage, Sundancer stared in confusion as the bunny walked out of the cage, calmly and sat between Zeph’s front legs. Sundancer scrunched up her nose and stared intensely at the bunny before tapping her hoof on the ground.

“I-I, what? Aren’t you going to run? You’re free, get going!” The bunny looked at her unamused before hopping up on Zeph’s back and turning his head away from her, as if to convey that he was completely ignoring her. “Uhm, hmm, well… I guess he’s yours? B-but if you have any trouble with him, bring him back.”

“That’s it. You’re just going to let her take him?”

“I guess? Honestly, I’m a little confused. He hasn't let anypony come close to him since he regained his strength. I’ve also never seen a bunny ride on a pony’s back before either… Maybe you remind him of his last owner, and they had him trained to do that? He seems to be unusually smart for a bunny. Anyway, let me know if you need anything, I guess…”

Author's Note

Feel free to leave comments predicting what you think will happen next. Even if that part of the story has been written already. I always love hearing about what people think will happen. If you don't want to risk predicting spoilers for people in the comments: https://tally.so/r/wQO1oY

Special Note: This series is being written for my niece and nephew. e.g: Expect it's content to be appropriate for pre-teen / early teen audiences.

I plan to keep writing it until:

A: I run out of story to tell.
OR
B: My niece and nephew lose interest.

IF B happens Then:

As long as the series has a reasonable audience after they lose interest it will likely still continue until I've ran out of story to tell. As of now (Chapter 43) they say they are more excited about this story than they are new Minecraft book releases, so that's a good sign. They both—really love their unofficial Minecraft fiction books.

I've been striving for 1x chapter every other day.

This is also still a "rough" story as far as I'm concerned. I do periodically go back and revise small details such as descriptions in the story from time to time. Especially as I get to know characters better. Suggestions for better descriptions are always welcome.