A long, long time ago, a ship sailed across the Pacific Ocean. It was headed across the Pacific Ocean from Equestria, delivering supplies to faraway countries. The captain of this ship was a young, handsome colt known as Storm Flare.
“Hoist the sail!” he called to his workers on board.
The crew was cheerful, singing songs and laughing while they did their work. What else was there to do?
One of these workers, called Rockie, sang a jaunty tune.
“Oh ho, these smooth waters,” he sang. “Surely full of cute animals like otters!”
Another member joined in. “Although they don’t live here,” he continued. “You can think about them while you work!”
“That doesn’t even rhyme!”
“The sails must be hoisted!” half of the crew called.
“But what about the fish?” the other half sang.
Storm Flare joined in. “The life of a captain is good enough for me! The adventure is such a pleasure that it gives me cold chills!”
“You do realize we’re not rhyming, right?” a member of the group deadpanned.
That stopped them.
“Huh, I guess you”re right,” said Storm Flare. “Oh well! Back to work, everyone!”
The crew cheerfully returned to their duties. The ship was sailing over beautiful waters, and the temperature outside was simply wonderful. Soon, the ship would reach a certain point, and then the ship would be on their way.
One of the crew members, Aspen, walked up to Storm Flare.
“Well, this trip is going smoothly,” she said.
Storm Flare nodded. “Much better than my last trip. That time, I fell overboard and was pulled back up covered in seaweed!”
Aspen snickered. “Yeah, you looked ridiculous! But have I ever told you about the time that I fell overboard? I looked like a train wreck! There were fish hanging all over me, I was covered in seaweed, and worst of all, I had been pinched by a crab on my nose, so I looked like I had been dunked in the ocean with a cold!”
Storm Flare laughed. “Y-you must have looked r-ridiculous!”
Aspen snorted. “I did! My father was on that ship with me and he took a picture!”
The two of them fell on the floor, screaming with laughter.
Storm Flare breathed hard, trying to catch his breath. “Boy, I love hanging out with you, Aspen.”
Aspen giggled. “You too, handsome.”
They both blushed. “I better get back to work,” both of them said at the same time. They laughed again.
“See ya, silly,” Aspen teased.
“You too, bragger,” Storm Flare said.
They both trotted off. Aspen sneaked a glance at Storm. Was it just her, or was his head raised a little higher?
The ship continued sailing. An hour had passed, making it late in the afternoon. The sun was shining, the sky was clear and it was a beautiful day. Soon, Storm Flare saw something.
There was a line, halfway across the ocean, that told they were entering foreign waters. The ship steered towards it, and no sooner had it crossed this vague line that the captain noticed gray clouds on the horizon. He cursed under his breath. There was no way to avoid it.
The storm hit in seconds. The fierce winds and battering rain threw themselves against the ship’s hull as it slowly started to crack. The wind swept the ship into the air, sending it rolling.
“ASPEN!” Storm cried. The captain tried feebly to turn the ship, but the mast came crashing down on him, and he was brought into a world of black.
When he woke up, he was lying on a beach. He scrambled to his hooves, and went galloping at full speed towards the edge of the island. He was almost at the water when he hit something. Whatever it was, it was invisible, and preventing Storm Flare from getting off the island.
Storm went searching for his crew frantically. Soon, he had found the wreck of the ship.
“Oh no, oh no, oh no...”
He pulled a plank away from the ship. Underneath it was something that he hoped he would never see.
“ASPEN!” he howled.
There she was, limp and lifeless.
“HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?!” he bellowed at the sky, his eyes filled with tears. He sobbed over Aspen.
“No... no!”
Storm was furious. That storm had made him lose his only friend. ‘And maybe more,’ he thought bitterly, still touched by an ocean of grief. He raised his head. His eyes were bloodshot and a fire raged in them.
That storm would pay.
He roared at the sky. Gray clouds began to gather.
Storm’s horn lit up and he shot spell after spell at the gray clouds. His body began to melt away as his soul transferred to the clouds above.
“What is happening to me?!” he cried in disbelief.
He was swept up from the beach. He saw Aspen’s body fading away below him. “No! Don’t! You! Touch her!”
He struggled with the storm as the clouds encased him. His rage began to fade. Why was he even struggling?
“No!” he howled. He fought the tomb that now encased him, but it was a lost cause. The clouds felt like steel.
Storm sobbed in his cloud prison. He was going to ask Aspen to be his special somepony right when they delivered the supplies.
With a sniff, Storm bowed his head. ‘This can’t be it,’ he thought sadly. ‘It was for Aspen, but... there has to be somepony that’s alive.’
He tried to reach out with his mind, so see if anypony was still alive. No one. Not a soul.
Finally, Storm decided that enough was enough. He succumbed to the cloud prison, and let it take him.
Legend tells that Storm Flare became the very same storm that shipwrecked him there. And he was still there, nearly a thousand years later, when a group of eight got trapped on the island by this storm.
But unlike him, they escaped.
They escaped from Journey Island.