Castaway

by lunabrony

The Escape

Into the storm. Did she just say go back into the storm? Two things were immediately wrong with that. First of all, the ocean had been almost completely calm since the morning following my arrival. Secondly, even if another storm did present itself, there was no way in hell that I was going back into it. That was just asinine.

"Excuse me?" I asked, just for clarification. Maybe I had heard her incorrectly.

"Let me explain." Twilight said. "I think I know what your predicament is. Unless I'm mistaken, the wave that knocked you off your boat flung you into a bubble, a disconnected pocket of space."

"...What?" I said, trying very hard not to laugh. First talking ponies, now inter dimensional travel? Ridiculous.

"Bear with me." Twilight said. "Since you arrived on island, has the weather worsened at all?"

"No, it hasn't." I confirmed.

"And your mindset has been one of fear, praying that the weather cooperates?"

"Well, yes. One storm was bad enough. I really don't feel like sitting through another one. Secondly, poor conditions mean poor visibility, reducing the chances of my being found and rescued."

"Precisely!" Twilight exclaimed. "Your subconscious is controlling your environment. I can't say exactly for sure how you wound up in that bubble, but you will be completely unable to escape it by conventional means," she said.

I felt a sense of dread rising within me. It wasn't that I didn't believe her, it was that I didn't want to believe her. This kind of information could completely turn everything I knew upside down, and defied every known facet of scientific logic.

"That would explain my raft," I said. I'd told her my entire story thus far, including my inability to leave this damned island.

"It does indeed. It doesn't matter how you leave that island, or what direction you take. You're always going to end up back where you started." Twilight said.

"Alright." I gave a sigh of defeat. "And what about the lack of any signs of habitation? The absence of birds, or even fish?"

"That's simple. In desperation, your mind created a space to protect you in a moment of extreme stress. It created the environment from existing knowledge already stored in your memories. But not even the mind can create new life."

"You're saying I can't play God?" I asked.

"Who? I'm not sure what you mean by that." Twilight sounded confused. "Not even Princess Celestia can create life from nothing, it's an extreme feat of her power just to channel the alicorn process."

I decided not to ask what an alicorn was. I had a feeling I wasn't going to like it.

"So you claim that I'm in pocket of space in which I'm suddenly in contact with talking ponies." My voice was bitter, the words sounded absolutely ridiculous leaving my mouth.

"That's not unusual. Different dimensions primarily have no contact with each other, but a subconscious pocket of space could press against or even interlock with any number of dimensions because it's not supposed to be there. It's only blind luck that you managed to contact this one."

"And once I leave here, I'll never hear from Equestria again?"

"Most likely." Twilight confirmed. She sounded a bit regretful. "It's a shame, really. There's so much we could learn from each other. At the very least, Lyra will never shut up about it. She's been going on about humans for years, and we all thought she was making it up. You should have seen her face. I think half the town owes her an apology now."

I wasn't sure why, but I couldn't help smiling at that. "I'm glad I could help. I think." I said. "So what do I do about the storm? I want to get out of here."

"Completely understandable. You have to will the storm to exist," Twilight informed me.

It sounded stupid, but I was willing to try anything at this point. "Can I talk to Lyra real fast? I think I owe her that much."

"Of course," Twilight said. "Be safe, Jason." There was silence for a long moment, and Lyra's voice returned to existence.

"Please don't go, Jason!" Lyra pleaded. "I waited so long to talk to a human, if you can't take me with you, at least don't leave me alone again!"

"You won't be alone, Lyra. You have your friends." I said quietly. I still wasn't entirely sure I believed in all this, but the sadness in her voice was still heartbreaking.

"I know. But it's still not fair that you have to go already.".

You'll be alright, Lyra. If I don't talk to you again, thank you for helping me."

"You're welcome. Good luck, Jason." Lyra said, and the radio went silent. I wandered down to the beach and tugged my raft up further onto the beach, just in case. My mind began to wander. Instead of being scared of the storm, I began to encourage it. Willing myself to wish for rain, for stronger waves.

Nothing happened, not that I expected any differently. I crossed my arms, trying a bit harder.

"Come on, storm!" I yelled out into the winds. The waves began to look just a bit bigger, the sky a bit darker. I thought I was imagining it at first, but soon it was undeniable. A storm was coming.

I wasted no time. Grabbing my raft, I hauled ass towards the waves and pushed it into the angry ocean. The raft immediately began bouncing, and it was difficult to stay aboard it. It made sense now that it hadn't fallen apart. It stayed together because I WANTED it to stay together. I guess that worked in my favor. My arm worked the paddle, churning further into the darkening skies.

I wasn't sure how much power I had over this pocket realm, but I willed larger waves and darker skies. I was not disappointed. The waves were powerful now, and I found it impossible to stay aboard the raft. For the second time in a matter of days, a heavy wave tore into my body, whipping me backwards into the foam. I barely managed to stay afloat, bobbing helplessly in the surf.

"Is that all you have?!" I screamed.

In response, lightning lit up the sky, and freezing rain began to pour from the clouds. My raft had long disappeared.

"You better be right, Twilight Sparkle." I whispered under my breath, and flung my arms wide as another wave came crashing down, and I plunged towards the dark depths of the ocean.