> Stranded
>  by FlashBurn
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> The only chapter
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

            Twilight reclined back in her chair, a refreshing drink in her hoove. As she read through her book and bathed in the sun, she thought about Spike. Twilight truly hoped that he could take care of himself on the one week of vacation in her entire year. Nevertheless, she was always concerned, akin to a mother and her child. Meanwhile, in the water outside of the yacht, Rainbow Dash was chasing Fluttershy. The two were having a great time, and would periodically call up to one of the others to join them. Rarity had no interest at all in getting her hair wet, and was much more focused on getting the perfect tan. Applejack sat in the cabin, hoping that nopony would know her embarrassing secret, which was that she could barely tread water, let alone swim. Eventually, Pinkie Pie was able to coax applejack into coming outside, onto the deck. Although she would never admit it, Applejack much preferred being outside, but any idea of water, and she was out.

Pinkie Pie was thinking about one thing, and one thing only. Pranks! She really wanted to prank Applejack because last season, she got no cider from her. She would get her revenge! She had the perfect idea! Pinkie Pie took the inflatable emergency raft, and was planning to put Applejack on it while she slept, tie it to a rope, and when she woke up, she would be in the ocean! After a few good laughs, Pinkie would pull her in, and they would all share that prank as a good memory forever. Pinkie Pie slowly inflated the big orange raft, then picked up applejack and dropped her in there. Applejack was a heavy sleeper, so she wouldn't know anything was happening. Pinkie tied the rope, and dropped the raft into the ocean, then went back to bed. Next morning would be awesome! 

Twilight was awoken by horrified screams and splashing. She ran outside, to see Applejack thrashing about in the water, before going under. She dove into the water to save her friend. The other 4 ponies groggily walked outside to see what the fuss was about. When they saw their friends in danger, they all dove into the water to save them.Twilight opened her eyes, using her horn to illuminate the murky water. Magic was incredibly tiring in the water, but she had to save her friend. She spotted an orange silhouette, and swam to it. She grabbed it with her teeth, and pulled it up to the surface. She quickly swam over to the orange raft with her friend in tow.

All six of the ponies came up onto the raft after realizing that her friend was on it. After taking a breath, they realized where they were. The boat had drifted away and had let them alone in the middle of the ocean.All of them glared daggers at Pinkie Pie. Applejack finally spoke out.

" You tried to kill me!"

Pinkie Pie responded harshly, choking back tears,

"I was just trying to play a prank..."

Applejack snapped at her, screaming,

" IS THIS WHAT YOU CALL A PRANK! NOW WE'RE ALL DEAD! IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!"

She realized what she had said, and promptly apologized to the crying pony, assuring her that they would be okay. Twilight decided to take control of the situation, and get it under control. She proposed various ideas, but it seemed that the most popular one, was to have Rainbow Dash fly and get help. Rainbow looked back, said her goodbyes, and took to the sky. In her mind, this situation was almost a good thing. For some reason, it was harder to fly than usual, but she could still do it. The other ponies watched as rainbow dash flew away, becoming smaller and smaller in the distance. That was when Fluttershy remembered that her wings were wet.

Having worked with animals, including birds, for most of her life, she knew that most birds had a special coating on their feathers that wouldn't allow them to get wet. However, with pegasi, there was no special coating. She knew that although Rainbow was a strong flier, she would get tired, and fall to her doom. She tried to call out, but her voice was far too quiet. She warned the others, and they all shouted at the pegasus to turn back. To their horror, they could only watch as she plummeted to the surface. Her body slammed into the water, and lay motionless. The other ponies just sobbed, and watched as there friend floated around.

Suddenly, Rainbow perked right up. She seemed to come to her senses and begin swimming to her friends. All of them cheered her on, and did their best to inch the boat closer to her. She was weak, and likely very concussed, but she still had the sense to follow her friends' voices. Kicking her legs blindly in panic. Suddenly, she was slammed into the air, her limp body like a rag doll as it fell to the oceans surface, splashing into the sea. She was now unconscious, and her friends were screaming at her, in a panic, to try and revive her. She was then thrashed about, and pulled under. Her friends stared, motionless with dread as the water where their best friend had just been became red with her blood.

Nopony said anything, but everyone had the same thing on their minds. Sharks.

After what seemed like hours of silence, Fluttershy choked out a few words between sobs,

"What should we do?"

And for once, in her entire life of planning, and having everything under her control, Twilight had no idea. Applejack stood up, with tears in her eyes, and screamed at Pinkie. Nopony dared do anything, for fear of going overboard. The small survival raft was already unbalanced with Applejack's weight as she stood. She charged at the pink earth pony, with the intent of hurting her. Pinkie grimaced and tried to stand up for a hug, but was all but destroyed by Applejack bucking her as hard as she could in the face. Her nose cracked, and a sliver of the bone went into her brain. She stood for a second, looking confused, before her body fell into the water. It floated, before the same shark that had killed dash pulled her under.

It was entirely silent on the boat. That night, as the ponies sat, freezing in the cold, nopony spoke. The next morning, when Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rarity nodded at eachother, knowing that they couldn't let Applejack live after what she had done, nopony spoke. The three ponies waited until it was night time. Then, they strapped the sleeping Applejack into a life jacket and set her into the ocean. They simply couldn't kill their best friend. They would let the shark do it for them. The three ponies watched in anticipation as the fin circled around Applejack. Suddenly, Applejack awoke with a scream. She had been bitten. With adrenaline coasting through her, she thrashed about. She couldn't swim, so any of her efforts were useless. She looked at Twilight, pleading With her to help her into the raft, and end this hell. Finally, Fluttershy couldn't take it.

Fluttershy couldn't just watch a pony die. She dove into the water, With the thought that she could tame the shark. She looked at the vicious apex predator, and gave it "the stare". It didn't work. The shark slammed into her, breaking some of her ribs. It then sunk its teeth into her chest, and the life faded out of her. Applejack could only cry as she watched the only friend that tried to save her be eaten. Rather than meet her rate at the teeth of the shark, she unclipped from her life vest and drown.

Now, only Rarity and Twilight were left alive. As the days went on, their few supplies dwindled. After a week, they had no food or water left. Rarity could take no more thirst, and tried to drink salt water. It cured her thirst, and she was happy as a clam. Until the effects of the salt water set in. Rarity went mad, and would dance, sing and tell stories to Twilight about her being an egg, and the universe a crying pan. Twilight knew she had to kill her, as it would be giving her mercy. Twilight knew that if Rarity got help, she would be fine. But at the moment, things looked hopeless. The purple unicorn took the flaregun, and shot rarity when she wasn't looking.

Twilight sobbed until she could cry no more. She put the gun in her mouth and closed her eyes. She clicked the trigger, and fired a round into her brain, killing her instantly. Not even 5 minutes later, a ship came right by the raft. The fishermen onboard reported the story. A massive funeral was held in the honor of the heros Who could wield the elements of harmony, that had saved ponykind so many times. "A tradegy at sea" headlined every paper, and all species flocked to  pay their respects.

Never give up

Fin