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// Chapter 3: River Traveling Part One 
// Story: Equestria and The Arcane Islands 
// by _LootsAHollow_ 
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I soaked myself in the river to get rid of the daily muck and flies. Grandpa had gone down in a direction of the river to go search for any remaining survivors from the train. We would soon be heading out of the woods towards west. Grandpa had not been detailed about where he was exactly taking me, but I was assured by him that this place could help me gain insight of what had happened one hundred years ago. I didn’t talk to him about the dream a couple of days ago of princess Luna. What I was hoping for was that Luna would contact me during my dreams but there’s been no sign of her.

She had put down a plan that that instructed me to follow my grandpa. I asked why but she only said that my grandpa was a very wise man and could guide me towards the island. The island, she told me, was a great manifestation of magic that was conjured by Star Swirl the bearded. She explained that Star Swirl the bearded was one of the strongest conjurers of his time and had made the “island” as his last act. She then secretly whispered to me that it was actually an archipelago, or a cluster of islands. She said that many people thought of it as one island only because history depicts that there’s only one island recorded in the files. Although the island was never explored, a lot of researchers and travelers had “seen” the island in the ocean, south-east of ponyville. The archipelago, she said, was called “The Arcane Island(s).” All throughout her explanation she smirked mischievously as if me and her were telling our deepest, darkest secrets.

To be completely honest, I had grown a small crush on her. Even though she was thousands of years old, she was only a few centimeters taller than me. And her smile was so interchanging that it could switch from royal and majestic to playful and mischievous.

I shook the thought from my head and stepped out of the freezing river. I dried myself out with a shake and trotted back to the camp. I checked for anything that seemed misplaced or messed up. I looked through the log storage that was half filled and then stood in front of the fire pit.

A rustling in my tent got my attention and I very sneakily trotted toward the tent covers. A memory hit me of me and Burn sneaking around the house in the middle of the night. I winced from the pain of remembering that he was gone. Once I got to the tent, I pulled the covers back, preparing for the worst. What I thought was gonna be a menacing beast or an evil villain, it was instead a raccoon that was feeding off of my apple stash. I chased the raccoon away, furiously screaming. When I was sure it was gone, I murmured, “Never come back here again.” I checked the damage done to my stash and around 2 apples were ruined. One was half gone and the other had nibble marks on it.

“What a troll,” I said, while rolling the damaged apples into the river.

The apples sank into the river.

I turned around to go back to camp but a bubbling from the surface of the river made me look back.

A tortoise came out of the place where the apples last sank.
The tortoise was relatively small. It had dopey eyes and wrinkles crowded around it’s body. Even so, the shell on it’s back was clean and seemed pretty hard. It clambered out of the river and went in my direction, looking at me with it’s tired eyes. I bent over and pet the tortoise on the head. I picked it up gently and noticed a pair of goggles dangling from its back, left leg. I took the goggles and inspected them. The goggles were circular and had an orange shade to its rim. It seemed just about the right size for the tortoise's head and eyes. I strapped the goggles around the tortoise’s head and peered into its old eyes.

Tank.

“What was that?” I thought.

You’re serious about this hibernating business?

I looked all around, searching for the sound.

Tank’s not some fuzzy little bunny. He can take care of himself.

I finally found where the sound was coming from. It was coming from the tortoise.

C’mon Tank! We’re gonna be late for our very first pony pet play date!

I was bewildered by the tortoise and the sounds. My mind was then flooded with memories of the tortoise. I kept my eyes shut, trying not to get nauseous from the memories and reality, until I fell over with the tortoise still in my hooves.

I saw many images of ponies and animals but one particular pony always stood out in the memory. In the tortoise’s eyes, a bright blue pony with a rainbow mane stared into my eyes. The image then flickered to a scene where the blue pony, with five other mares, were standing in winter weather. The ponies were bundled in winter wear, and were standing near the edge of a pond.

I couldn’t control any of the tortoise’s movements, as he was covering himself with dirt and snow. I read that during the winter, animals would go into a long sleep called hibernation, and so I figured that the tortoise was getting into hibernation.

When the tortoise almost covered itself completely, I got a glimpse of sad faces from the ponies. After everything went dark for a couple seconds, a light shown through the dirt. The light expanded and I finally got a glimpse of the outside world again. The snow that coated the ground was gone and the pond was now melted into a big pool. The trees were now starting to grow leaves. The blue pony was staring at me in delight and expectancy.

The vision stopped and I opened my eyes. The turtle was gone but the goggles remained.

I lay on the ground.
I got up from my river nap and slowly made my way to camp.

I looked up and gray clouds rolled over the sky. Lightning flashed and the wind picked up from a small breeze.