//------------------------------// // Tropical Eden // Story: Subnautica: A Sparkle in the Deep // by The Original Gaston //------------------------------// I stirred as a faint ray of sunshine poked through my ramshackle thatching. I yawned, shifting my weight just a little bit on the cold, hard floor. The tablet was still in my hooves, its purple glow still illuminating the dim space around me. An empty bottle of water rolled around near my head, the sound causing my ears to twitch. The jury-rigged branches, covering the broken window of the larger room, rustled as a breeze blew against them outside. I winced as I got to my hooves, my legs still shaky beneath me. I grunted as my stomach gurgled and I realized just how famished I was. I hadn't eaten a bite of food in two days! Well... maybe the bark of that Water Tree, but that was more water than it was substance. An old enemy also plagued my throat once again. Good old thirst, huh? A huge chunk of Water Tree and a bottle of (I hoped) disinfected water later and you still wanted more? Ugh. I had blocked up the shattered window of my new home with a wall of foliage, mostly due to the several mental images of me getting gobbled up by Crabbies (as I had taken to calling them) while I slept. It also was not that great of an idea to keep such a large opening to my shelter exposed to the elements, although I'm pretty sure that the sticks and leaves wouldn't have done much to repel rain and flood. I shrugged it aside, snorting as it fell limply off the opening and hit the ground with a "fwoosh". Flimsy little thing. I would need to find a more permanent solution than inexpertly crafted thatch. Most houses in Ponyville may have used thatch for roof, but I could not make a grass wall to save my life. It was barely dawn, and only the first rays of daylight had penetrated the horizon. A calm breeze blew through the trees and the morning birdsong had begun to erupt across the island. The ocean shimmered, and I could hear the calm lapping of the waves against the shores. It looked like the weather would hold out for the better. For now. I sighed, as soon as I ate I would need to get to work reinforcing my shelter. I trotted over to the planters, stomach growling, its barren pit eating away at me. I snorted, I had always worried about my weight and eating too much, perhaps my stay in this desolate ocean would teach me the habits of eating responsibly. I arrived at the planter, and examined my options. Either the purple potatoes or the stone hard melons. Since I figured that I would need some kind of a knife to cut through the hard flesh of the melon, I decided to try the potatoes. I tried my telekinesis, and was glad to find one of the many fleshy tubers lifted up in my weak but functional magic. I pulled on it, finding it firmly attached to its parent stem. I leaned forward and bit down on the stringy tendrils securing the tuber to its plant. The potato came off, held freely in my magic. I took a moment to examine it. The sample looked like a potato. Except purple. And slightly smaller. I knew that an Equestrian potato was slightly poisonous when raw, and I also could not verify the toxicity of the strange sample before me. I had no doubt that the original inhabitants of this island had intended to grow this plant for food, as it was planted inside a crop plot and I had seen no examples of it in the wild. However, many foods needed to be cooked before they could be rendered edible, and, despite my stomach's incessant complaints, I was not about to risk food poisoning in an environment such as this. I pulled the leaves and sticks from my ill-constructed thatch and put it all in a campfire-esque stack. The thatch had already torn in many places, and I was going to set about replacing it in short time. I focused my magic in my horn. Not a full-blown flame spell, that would take too much energy, just a small surge would create enough of a spark to ignite the wood. A few minutes later, I had three purple potatoes on a stick, roasting them over an open fire. I held the stick in my hooves, not wanting to waste energy unnecessarily, as I would no doubt need it for the workday ahead of me. I took the time to take a good look around as the sun rose on my little island. I was reminded of the other, unexplored structures still on this island: the two observatories capping off the twin mountain peaks of the island. Sunlight reflected off the glass of their spherical observatories, which had the polluted look of an old factory building (or perhaps, in this case, an abandoned habitat) A few, grey clouds rolled across the sky, and a large, red moon orbited outside the atmosphere... Hang on. I stood up, gaping at the gigantic, foreign body in the sky. It was a deep, dusty red. No, not the red you saw during a blood moon. More orange than that. It was huge, it was easily ten times the size of Luna's Moon, and it was making a fast-moving circle around the horizon of my position. Behind was another moon, this one a glowing white orb, this one not unlike the Moon. Where was I? Absolutely not in Equestria, I could be certain! At least, unless some cataclysmic event in the alternative future had somehow brought a gigantic red planet into orbit of Equus. Maybe... maybe I was just somewhere completely... alien. A foreign planet! There was a loud pop, and one of the purple potatoes exploded, having been roasted too quickly in the depths of the fire. I hissed as burning potato-innards coated me, and I hurried to pull the rest of my now-cooked meal out of the fire. I stared down at the purple potatoes. Was I really on an alien planet? I mean, lots of evidence now pointed towards that probability. Alien flora and fauna, unknown orbiting body, and architectural style unlike anything I had seen before in any of Equestria's neighbors. But... why? Why would the time spell have dropped me here? Why here? What did Equestria have to do with anything? The only, and I do mean the only, trace of home I had remotely found here had been some strange artifact written in Equestrian. I shook my head, ripping my eyes away from the orbiting planet as my stomach growled once more. I picked up my thoroughly-roasted Purple 'Taters (I couldn't really think of a better name), tentatively biting a small piece off. It was hot, that's for sure. It was, however, strangely similar to a pumpkin in flavor. I couldn't complain. Pumpkin may have not been my favorite, but food was food. Two roasted potatoes, and one half-exploded one later, and I felt relatively full. My throat was still dry, but it wasn't demanding my immediate attention, so I decided to bump that little problem back on my list of "things I needed to fix". After all, if worse came to worse, I could always make the trek back to the Water Tree. I got up, shaking off the dust I had accumulated from sitting on the ground. I had work to do! First step in any survival situation: Inventory All Resources. Figure out what items you had, and what you could do with them. Having what you need when you need it would save your life! At least, this is what my read-through of Daring Do and the Castaway Island had told me. I secretly wished I had a pad of paper to write a checklist on. Of course, one did not appear. I guess an internal list would have to do. First things first, I had two strange alien tablets, one less alien and more purple than the other. I had an empty plastic bottle of water, and a first aid kit containing, mostly, unverifiable medical contents. I also had two metallic, vacuum-sealed crates to store food and other things that I may want to keep out of the rain. I had food planted inside the raised gardens, probably enough to last me a couple more days on a steady diet. Maybe more if I could figure out the proper ways to remove and replant their seeds and or cuttings. I had a water tree, possibly more, growing on the island. The sea probably had some fish in it, in an emergency I could probably try to catch something. I loathed the idea of eating actual meat... but fish wasn't so bad. Just so long as it wasn't animal meat (or Celestia forbid, Cow meat), I could probably stomach it. Just as long as those ghostly creatures did not leap out of the water at me... I would be fine. I probably had unexplored resources on the twin observatories up on the mountains. I could attempt to make the climb today! Perhaps they had some materials up there that I could use to reinforce the hull. If anything I could expect a place to retreat to if, for some reason, the lower parts of the islands got flooded. I decided that my first task was going to have to be: Explore. I could not exactly make a full inventory until I knew exactly all the resources I had at my disposal. I followed a trail leading from the habitat, which was no doubt blazed by the previous inhabitants. My legs, after two nights' worth of rest and nutrition, were feeling much better. They weren't completely relaxed, and they still sometimes cramped up, nothing short of a deep tissue massage would fix that, but I was confident that I could at least still run, should it be necessary. I reached the edge of the island in no time, and I stared tentatively out into the water. I couldn't see anything, but that didn't mean nothing was down there. I began to walk a perimeter around the island, studying the flora as I navigated the thin, gravel path winding around the island. I noted a couple of things about the plants. No truly tall grass grew here, the tallest specimens making a carpet of fetlock-high blades which, funnily enough, ended in small rings that I could barely stick the end of a quill through. A taste test told me that they were bitter, which was not a great sign for grass, or most edible plants for that matter. It probably meant that the island had a faint mineral layer, corrupting the grass, or that the plant itself produced a foul toxin. Either way, the grass here wasn't good for consumption. I noticed a bunch of wide-spread pink mushrooms, almost matching the colour of Pinkie Pie's coat. I picked them up and sniffed them. Smelled like one of Rarity's perfumes. I broke one of their caps, watching the tissues of the plant. They began to turn purple after being broken. Poisonous. Very poisonous. I chucked the mushrooms away. I noticed more of the little pink flowers, which I snacked on. They were nice. I would need to grow some more of those... I was delighted to find an abundance of Water Trees growing here and there, all beginning to sweat pure water as the morning sun began to rise on them. I happily walked over and took a bite out of its bark, letting the fluids sate my thirst and spitting out the bark. I had already eaten breakfast, I wasn't going to spoil the taste of baked potato with the sour taste of that rubbery flesh. I was about to walk away from the snacked upon Water Tree when I noticed something gushing from the base of their trunks, right where the trunk turned into the roots. A milky fluid gushed from it, presumably some kind of sap... wait, no that couldn't be it. I had seen the sap come from the Water Tree that I had wounded earlier, it was green not white. I plucked a droplet of the syrup with my magic, holding it up to the rising sun, being careful not to let any slip past my telekinetic cloud and into my eyes. I marveled as it hardened in the open air, eventually solidifying into a milky-white, sticky liquid with the consistency of half-dry superglue. I bit my lip. If used correctly, this sap would a decent adhesive. I would have to keep that in mind. I continued on, noting alien flora and more alien flora as I went along. Short, wooden trees grew in clusters not too far from the Shelter. They stood only a foot higher than my head and branched out about three feet in diameter. Orange, translucent fruit hung from their branches, shaded over by pretty blue-orange striped leaves. I plucked a fruit from the tree and sniffed it. Odorless. I decided to simply dispose of it, I could always pluck another one for analysis later and I didn't want to taste any of the wild plant life unnecessarily. Not with the risk of the fruit being toxic. A closer look at the tree itself told me something fairly fascinating. It was not a lone plant, but instead a colony of woody vines. They grew out from the ground, growing up into and around each other, relying on each other for support. The vines stopped at the top, each vine going out into a single branch. Fascinating... A few speckled, purple rattle-like plants grew around. I poked one and it gave out a pleasant rattling sound. I giggled, tapping it again, just a little harder. I eventually plucked one of the rattlers from the ground, shaking it harder in my magic. I plucked another one, shaking them in tandem and bobbing my head to the impromptu musical orchestra I had made. I grinned, my mood lifted. I had completed an exploration of most of the small island, and the sun had fully risen over the horizon. The breeze had died down, and I began to sweat. I made the short walk back to my Shelter, which wasn't all that far from my position (again, small island, big ocean). I tossed my two rattles into the main room, right through my still-open window. I wasn't quite ready to make plans for renovation just yet, I wanted to check out the mountaintop observatories. I set out again, scaling the landslide by the Habitat and making my way up to the steep path up the mountain. The gravel crunched underneath my hooves and keeping my balance was difficult. Dry, clumped up grass grew on the side of the mountain and the flora from the lowlands still persisted up here. Pink flowers and more of the rattles grew, blowing around in the wind. I finally arrived at the top, taking my first close-up look at the abandoned observatories. The modular pieces were much like their lower counterparts, grimy and rusted, a few dents and holes punched through here and there. A rusted bulkhead guarded the entrance, which was already open enough for me to step through. I noticed a large crate sitting not too far from the entrance to the observatory. Not the same as the boxes I had discovered earlier, but larger, and with the front side opening to its contents. I leaned down and looked inside. There was a damaged piece of technology inside. It was long, thin, and colored the same pure white as most of the island's technology. It had definitely seen the ravages of time and the weather. It was about the length of my foreleg. Two parallel cylinders stuck out from a strangely-shaped handle, ending in a binding with twin, blue crystals (which were cracked). The handle itself held a still-glowing display, which showed most of its level grayed out. Its prongs were dented and and disfigured and certain parts of it were damaged and discolored. Whatever this thing was, it was out of commission. I tenderly pulled the damaged wreckage from the large crate, holding it aloft in my magic. A few small bits and bobs fell out of its casing as I lifted it. I grimaced, flipping it around. Yeah, this thing was not going to work. Ever. I placed it on top of the crate, intending to bring it back down the mountain with me. Who knew, it might come in handy for something. I pushed through the entrance to the observatory, wiping the sweat from my brow as I came into the shade of the building's roof. The walls in here were constricted, and the ceilings were just a tad high for my tastes. To my right were two alien objects. A vacuum crate, and another tablet (the broken variety that I couldn't read, not the purple one). I levitated out the alien tablet, placing it outside next to the other broken technology. Another thing I could dissect later. I pushed the panel on the crate, it opening to reveal... yet another piece of alien technology I could not recognize. It was a cylindrical, metallic object, made out of a darker, more silvery substance than the white panels of the habitat. Each side of it contained a contact made of copper... hinting at some kind of electrical use for the object. One that I could not fathom. On the side was printed some kind of triangular logo, followed by words that I did not recognize. I levitated the cylinder out of the observatory, adding it to the stack of "things I would just figure out later". I walked over to the large indoor planter. It was hosting many plants that I had already seen growing elsewhere on the planet. The interdependent vine tree, the purple rattles, and a couple of those tasty pink flowers (nom, nom) all crowded in the soil of the planter. I silently wondered how the plants had not already exhausted the nutrients of the soil they were planted in, let alone how they survived so long without being watered. Perhaps my predecessors did not leave so long ago... though I had plenty reason to doubt that. The only plant I did not recognize in the plant bed was a short, spindly palm-like tree. It did not reach higher than my neck, and consisted mostly of segmented bark and sharp, sturdy shoots as leaves. It didn't... exactly seem useful, nor had I seen it growing wildly around the island. Perhaps the previous inhabitants had brought it here? If so, why? It wasn't exactly pretty, it did not have a pleasant smell, and it definitely didn't seem useful as a building material. I shook my head. The Precursors (as I had taken to calling them) were just a bit strange. Why even build an observatory all the way up here just to plant more trees? I would understand if they were using it as a lighthouse to signal their ships, but there was no light or mirror in here for such a purpose. I walked out of the observatory, confused and a bit disappointed. Well, at the very least I could still, maybe, build a mirror up here to signal rescue. I would need to remove the planter, but that was something I could easily lose. I could even take it back down to my main base and use it for my own farming procedures. I arrived back at base, bringing with me a stack of unknown technology, which I promptly placed next to the broken alien tablet and the "General Access Key" inside the main room. I sat down for a breather, electing to examine my supplies before taking the trek up to the other observatory. I looked through my messy stack of random damaged garbage. I had neither the tools nor the patience to attempt to repair or disassemble the tablet or the long, banged up object. So, I instead turned to the large, purple tablet. "GENERAL ACCESS KEY, KHARAA CURE RESEARCH LABS", what was Kharaa? Well... since the tablet said it was to "Cure Research Labs", I could deduce it was probably some kind of disease. Either that or it was the name of the corporation that built the disease research laboratory. "Kharaa Incorporated"... that didn't sound completely unbelievable. I picked it up and ran a magic scan over it. Fascinating... this was incredible magic! The tablet consisted of an internal lattice of relatively cheap diamond. An extraordinarily complex enchantment was laid across the crystals, similar to an intelligent golem's brain, but much more advanced (also, notably, not built for complete autonomy). I marveled. This kind of magic was the stuff of science fiction! Theoretically possible, but something that I could not fathom the minute detail of! I could have sat there for hours, scanning the small fixtures and gadgets within the tablet. In the end, I could not arrive at a definite conclusion as to the tablet's purpose (aside from the fact that it was some kind of key, but that was mostly from the inscription of the front). I couldn't say for sure, but it seemed that something about the internal enchantments had been damaged or "wiped", as there were entire lattices filled with blank enchantments. I could also not identify the metal that comprised its casing, and I could also see with the naked eye the huge growths of algae and mold outside of it (though the insides were completely fine). I deduced that this tablet was... much, much older than the other technology I had found. The other pieces were dusty, dented, and rusted. This tablet was at least centuries old, even if the metals and the interior enchantments didn't show any sign of decay (probably the enchantments themselves that kept them maintained). Otherwise... it looked like it was supposed to have some higher purpose than just as a "key", but I wouldn't be able to figure that out until I found the lock it went to. I placed the tablet aside for now. I guessed that was a question for another day. Properly rested, I picked myself up, heading out the shattered window once more and turned up the path for the second observatory. The sun was starting to rise high in the sky, it would be noontime in about an hour. I would finish my exploration, then get to work in the afternoon reinforcing my shelter. The second mountain was just about as steep as the first, but the path instead snaked through a few short caves, heading through the mountain and again through the other side. I found another patch of pink flowers. Tasty. I would have to stop eating them and eventually extract a bulb to plant later, or else I would have no more left. I made it to the feet of the observatory, and noted that it was the same in construction and design as its counterpart. Unlike its counterpart, there was no opened crate lying around outside, so I simply walked right up to the bulkhead and pushed through it. Two indoor plant pots were resting up against the wall. One containing another Purple 'Tater and the other containing a melon plant. To the left, the compartment continued into the large, glass observatory, which seemed to have an indoor planter in it, overgrown with alien flora. To their left lay another vacuum crate. I punched open the box, revealing another bottle of (supposedly) pure water. I grinned, floating it out the door and placing it neatly on the ground. To the right, inside the glass observatory, was a desk with an office chair parked in front of it, the blue glow of a non-magical tablet coming from the desk. I walked over, getting a small case of vertigo upon looking at the perilous cliff face from the window of the glass room. I picked up the tablet, walking out, trying to keep my balance. I arrived back at base with a bottle of water and yet another broken tablet. I tossed them both on top of the Pile in the main room, before stepping back from the base. I took a deep breath, assessing what I would need to do. I could see about five obvious holes in the base's structure, not counting the fractured bulkhead section and the smashed window. Three in the hull of the bottom level, one gaping hole in the second floor's T-section (on second thought, that may have once been another compartment that was torn off), and one hole in the roof of the second floor. I also had to note that half of the main room was buried in mud from (what I supposed was) the landslide that had damaged the base initially. I would want to think about digging some of that dirt out before making the place a permanent home, and probably removing some of those boulders as well might free up a lot of working room and sanitize the interior. I decided that, at least for now, I would just seal off the top floor via the ladder's hatch, turning two hefty holes into one job. All that was left was figuring out what to patch them with. I began to pace around the base. They had to be waterproof, and heavy enough to not simply get blown off by wind. Of course, they also had to be put up by tonight. Just because today's weather was holding, it didn't mean that I would not wake up to a storm tomorrow morning. Perhaps I could try my thatch again, but this time using the adhesive sap from the Water Trees. I could also lash them over the holes using some of the local vines, seeing as the damaged modules were both built elevated off the ground and were circular, allowing me to tie and tighten vines around the building. However, I first needed a tool. At least a knife of some kind. I looked around, finding a piece of handle-like scrap metal. I stripped a piece of vine from my failed attempt at thatch from the day before, and pulled a large piece of sharp glass free from the window. I carefully used my magic to punch a pair of small holes through the glass. My head ached from the spell, however. I would need to be more sparing while I recovered. I laced the vine through the holes tightly, before wrapping them around the scrap metal. I tied the knot across the bottom of the scrap, before testing the handle in my magic. Firm, surprisingly so. I do believe I had outdone myself. I didn't exactly need the handle to lift the knife with my magic, but I might need to handle the knife in my mouth should my magic either be unavailable, or if I needed to access it quickly without calling to my telekinesis. In those cases, I did not want to be chomping down on a piece of sharp glass. I set out into the forest with my makeshift knife, getting to work on some of the larger trees. I hacked away at branches, retrieving leaves and small, purplish-grey colored sticks. I tried to cut a branch from the Hangers (the interdependent vine trees), but found that its wood was soft and flexible. Not a good building material. I did pluck one of its fruit for later study though. I placed a good (but not quite big enough, I would need to get more) stack of leaves, branches, and other thatch-worthy materials by my shelter. I picked up the empty plastic water, walking out into the undergrowth to retrieve a bottle of Water Tree sap. Not wanting to waste much magic in funneling sap into the bottle, I left it under a pore of the Water Tree, letting a slow-moving stream of sap flow out into the bottle. I would be back for that. I went to the center of the island, were a vine-hosting tree stood. I used my knife to slash off some of the strong, rope-worthy vines. I bundled them into a coil, much like I would with a rope, and placed them on my back. By now, the sun was about half way down from its noontime position, three or four hours until sundown, as it seemed. I I turned my eyes back down towards the path ahead of me. Plenty of time before sunset.... Wait, why was it getting so dark? I stopped dead in my tracks as my environment got slowly darker and darker, not quite like I was blacking out, just as if it was becoming night very, very quickly. Soon enough, the day seemed to have left me, me being in total darkness. It was as if I was in a studio and somepony had turned off all the stage lights. The only things I could see was the bioluminescence of the surrounding trees. Suddenly, just like day had left me, it was now coming back to me. The light came back, as if it had never left me in the first place. I looked up at the sun, only to find out that I had experienced a very brief eclipse. The red planet I had spotted before had completely blotted out the sun for a few terrifying minutes, before orbiting back around. I took a deep breath, calming myself. Sweet Celestia, my body had gotten used to adrenaline recently, hadn't it? I relaxed, continuing on my path. Perhaps eclipses would be common with that big planet (or second moon) in orbit. I picked up the bottle, now full of sap, and brought the whole load back to base. I looked at my gathered supplies. If I was going to repair my base completely, I would need more leaves, and probably more vines. With this, though, I could at least try and patch one of the holes on my base. My intention being to test the seal on the one patched hole, just to make sure my plan was going to work before wasting away the entire afternoon. I began to take up some branches to make a basic framing when I heard a skitter from behind me. I growled as I spun around, only to find nothing. That was, though, right before a Crabby jumped me from behind, giving me a deep scratch across my back. I gasped, almost having a heart attack as I pulled my knife from the ground, knocking off and stabbing the unbearable Crabby with the sharp glass. I tossed my knife aside when its body stopped twitching, panting heavily. Annoying little bottom-feeder. I picked up the corpse, tossing it into the same pile as my hanging fruit. Another thing to learn the insides of later. I went back to work, wary of any of its Crabby friends. I stitched together heavier leaves and the more spindly and strong, thin fronds of some of the ferns, making a "patch" of kinds. I applied it over the hole, pushing it down before wrapping it with vines. Two lengths of vines went around the patch, parallel to each other, down under the base and over it again, a tight knot secured in in place. I pulled out a bottle of sap, distributing it evenly across the surface of the patch, watching it as it hardened into a thin film (kinda like a bubble's surface, but more firm). Satisfied, I took the now emptied plastic bottle down to the shore, where I washed out the remainder of the sap and filled it with seawater. I brought it back to the patch, before emptying the bottle onto the makeshift repairs. I frowned as the water seemed to seep right through the film, and I could hear dripping on the floor below. Well, so much for that idea. I removed the patch, the leaves sticking together as the not-so-waterproof gluing sap blooped off the patch in big, wet drops. I discarded the ruined patch and added the vines back to my spool, sighing. I took the bottle of fresh water, taking a deep sip from it as I tried to think of a better solution. With enough magic I could weld the breakages in the metal shut. That option was out, since I did not have nearly enough stamina for that kind of spell craft, nor would that fix the broken, non-metallic window. I had no really wide leaves to make seamless patches with, and the last time I had tried to do that without adhesive the construction had fallen apart. I groaned. Survival was hard. I didn't really have a choice, though. If I couldn't survive... well... I wouldn't survive. My other option was to leave an imperfect patch on the roof and deal with the leakages. There was little to no drainage in the habitat, meaning that rain would all pool in on the floor after seeping through the thatch, leading to a wet and filthy shelter (maybe that's how the indoor planters got their water). That was an option that was not really an option. I grumbled, getting up and scanning my surroundings for inspiration. I had to be honest, I was stumped. Most of my solid options weren't waterproof. I had the idea of using mud and firing them into brick, but then I realized that a furnace was one of the many things I didn't have. Okay... what exactly did I have that was waterproof? Metal containers, plastic bottles, some bits and pieces of scrap, though nothing that would fit perfectly inside the holes... I hummed in thought. It would be pretty strenuous, but maybe I could do it... if that one link was strong enough. I gathered some scrap metal from the many bits and bobs strewn about the shelter, placing them in a pile in front of me. I took a deep breath, taking a look at the holes for reference, and then rearranging the pieces in their approximate shape. It was like a jigsaw puzzle, except none of the pieces fit together. Having a half-fitting pile of scrap, I picked them up, holding them over the target hole and comparing their fit. Almost perfect. The metal overhung the gap a little, but it didn't leave any openings. This was going to hurt, but it was going to be permanent. Placing too much heat on the metal all at once would do nothing and leave me passed out on the ground for Crabbies to gobble me up. I slowly dialed up the heat coming from an expensive solar heat spell, a cone of solar radiation becoming visible from the top of my horn. The solar heat spell wasn't all that difficult, at least not for an Alicorn. It was related to the Solar Control spell, the one that I needed to use to temporarily control the sun during the Princess's absence, though it was not nearly as energy consuming. What it was was hot, very hot. It didn't matter how much actual magical energy you moved around to perform this spell, it was the very fact that you were emitting focused solar radiation sent waves of heat through your horn. If you maintained the spell for too long, you could burn your horn or melt it right off. I was sweating and it felt like my horn was resting on the baking tray of a hot oven. The metal, however, was turning white hot. I let the hot metal run for just a second, but not increasing the heat any more, lest the whole pile melt and lose shape. I did not have a cast. Finally, I could not safely hold the spell any longer and I let it go, falling onto my rump, panting heavily. My horn was blazing hot and I swear I could smell it sizzle just a bit. Nothing too serious, the bone of the horn was actually fairly durable (especially in Alicorns), more like a heavy steel beam than anything else. The actually sensitive nerves of the horn were located at the base, near the brain and away from the excess heat of a spell. As long as I could still feel it, it wasn't seriously burnt. Just needed to cool off. Never stick it in a bucket of cold water to cool it off, though, as the sudden decrease in temperature would cause it to crack open. That wasn't fun. I sat there for about a half-an hour, waiting for the metal and my horn to cool off. Yes, using such a sapping spell was a bad idea, even though I had mostly recovered. However, if it would all work, I would not have to worry about the holes any longer. I spent the time preening a little. I had not paid much attention to my wings, mostly because there was very little I could do to help them until they began to grow back. I could remove the directly damaged feathers now, but I would have to wait a good while for the others to fall out and start growing in. I would be able to glide with a few primaries missing, but with about 50% of my feather mass blown off by the storm... I wasn't going to airborne for a good week or so. The heat I had applied to the metal showed through. It was now bubbly, but smooth, not having any gaps in their structure like they had previously. Molten metal from the top had flowed down to the side and hardened along the roof, securing the metallic patch over the holes all too well. I climbed carefully down from the roof, walking through the broken window and looking at the bottom side of the sealed hole. It wasn't pretty, but there was no longer a small shaft of sunlight poking in through the roof. I went to the shore, filling up a plastic bottle with my hooves (my magic wasn't home right now), and brought it back to the shelter with the filled bottle between my teeth. I poured out the water onto the, well, I guess I'll call it the "weld". Every last drop flowed off beautifully. I sighed in relief. A perfect seal. Now that I think about it, it might have been more effective to seal off the ladder's hatch first... but I guess it was too late now. I wasn't going to be able to turn metal molten again today. Maybe not even tomorrow. In a couple hours I might have my telekinesis, but until then I was stuck with imperfect seals and a super-heated head. I walked up to the roof, tapping the metal quickly with my hoof. It had apparently cooled faster than I had expected, probably dissipated by the large amounts of heat-conductive metal next to it, now that I think thermodynamically. I smiled at my hoofwork. It was firm, impervious, and oddly enough made out of the same material as the rest of the habitat. I could probably tune the spell a little more; make it better for melting metal in particular. Once I let my magic fully heal, I could probably chain up a couple of those in a day. Soon enough I would have the whole base fully sealed and impregnable once again! I looked up from the hole, spying the broken second floor of the habitat (the floor I could not make it to due to the ladder's imperfect design). I could fit through the gaping hole I had seen earlier, since it was the size of an entire hallway. I shrugged. I guess the only place left to explore on this island was the second floor of my new shelter. I hopped up into the fractured section, smiling as I spied another vacuum crate and... yet another broken alien tablet. I noted that, pleasantly, this section actually had windows built into it, giving me a nice view of the endless ocean horizon around me. I opened the crate, revealing a... strange item. It was rectangular, and fibrous. Kind of like a biscuit. It was about the size of my hoof, and it smelled a lot like. Hmm, how did it smell exactly? Kind of like... dog biscuits, but left out in the rain for too long. It was dry, though, and it was firm in my hoof. While it's smell wasn't great (not like those pink flowers), it did seem like food. Was it? I didn't really see anything appetizing about it, though sometimes things like military or emergency rations weren't aiming for taste. I picked up the glitching tablet between my teeth and laid the rations on my back, shrugging and walking carefully back off the roof. I placed the rations on the desk, right next to everything else I didn't yet understand. The sun was halfway through its decent towards the horizon, and I didn't have all that much time left to effect final repairs. I looked at my, probably biggest, problem with my main room. The broken window stared back. I went over to the room's intended entrance, the one barred off with heavy beams. Another problem, if I blocked off my window, I wouldn't be able to get out or into the main room without removing the beams. I sighed, and put my nose to the grindstone, seizing the beams and doing my best to move them out of the way. Progress was slow, but the beams were damaged and weakened, and one of the three races in Alicorn DNA were, after all, Earth Ponies. I eventually cleared the doorway enough to be able to step through fairly easily, yet I could still block off the gap during the night so that the Crabbies couldn't get in. I looked back to the broken window, noting the shifted shadows outside. My muscles were aching, and I was sweating profusely. I picked up the half-full bottle of water and downed the rest, just one more job to do and I would take the rest of the day off. My everythings needed it. I decided the broken window was most effectively solved by simple, traditional, Stone Age engineering. A rock wall, made of boulders. A few minutes later, and I was rolling the largest boulder from the inside of the main room out to its window, removing the stone from the debris of the landslide that had, probably, caused all this damage in the first place. "Stone's *huff* in my path? *puff* I shall *huff* keep them all! *puff* With them *grunt* I shall build my castle!" I gritted my teeth as I pushed the boulder a final few inches into place in front of the window. I was no rock expert, but that boulder was much lighter than I had expected it to be (any heavier and I would have been able to push it in the first place). Probably porous on the inside, maybe volcanic in origin? In any case, the boulder blocked most of the window now, and I only needed a few other decently sized stones to completely wall off the window. The sun was setting by the time I had sealed off the final gap in my wall with a stone. I picked up a gathered bottle of Water Tree sap, coating the interior of the stone with the glue-like (but unfortunately not waterproof) syrup, letting the pasty mixture harden into a solid mortar. It would secure the wall from the inside, on the side which did not receive any rain. I took a deep, exhausted breath. I had always needed more exercise, and between the swimming marathon the day before yesterday and today's magical and physical exertion... if things kept going like this, I would soon be able to challenge Rainbow Dash for best athlete... Except, there was no more Rainbow Dash to challenge. I squeezed my eyes shut. No, no, no, no... just don't think about it. Crying over something I could not change did not help anypony. I picked myself off the ground, taking a deep breath to calm myself. I needed some fresh air. The birdsong was starting to be replaced by the chirping of crickets and the horizon turned red as the sun set. Red at night, shepherds delight. That meant good weather was coming, right? I would be fine to walk around for now and enjoy the view. Just so long as I got back to my shelter by night before the Crabbies came out in force. I decided to go and explore down at that deep lake I had seen earlier on my arrival to the island. Maybe taste the water. Who knows? Maybe I had been ignoring a perfectly good source of fresh water this entire time! There was a steep, winding path down to the water's edge. It stretched through a cave, twisting down between trees before arriving down at the lake. There was about a ten foot beach wrapping around most of the lake. Vines hung from the trees above, and the lighting of the setting sun set a beautiful scene for my eyes only. Yeah, only my eyes. Don't think about it Twilight, keep not thinking of it... I turned to the water, walking up to its edge. I peered down into the lake. Deep, very deep. I could not even see the bottom. I must have leaned too far forward over the water, because I suddenly found myself tipping forward as my back hooves lost traction with the loose sand of the beach. I face planted into the water, the chirping of the crickets quickly being replaced with the gurgling of the water around me. I opened my eyes, only for them to begin stinging with salt. I looked around a little, only to find... Okay, this is hard to explain. The only logical conclusion for me to come to when I saw the pool of water in the center of the island was for me to think "Oh, hey, a lake!". The only other conclusion for me to make when I saw that I could not see the bottom beneath the "lake's" surface was that it was an extremely deep lagoon. When I felt the stinging of salt water in my eyes when I fell in was: "Oh, of course, the water will have a high salt content because the ocean will have seeped into this lake's water table". However, when I looked around me underwater. All I saw was ocean. When i looked up, I realized something that I could not have possibly seen without being underneath the island. It was floating. I don't know how, I don't know by what mechanism, I don't know why, but the island was floating, suspended up on the surface in the middle of the ocean. The same ocean where the Ghost monsters lived... My mind began to generate images of the horrible creatures all around me, closing in. My ears thought they could hear the distant screams coming from their opened maws. Echoing, rasping, bloodthirsty... I have never gotten out of the water so quickly in my life. I sat on the shore of the "lake", hyperventilating as my imagination kept generating images of a hump of water forming in the middle of the pool, right before a monster shot up from the surface... The sun was setting fast when I finally calmed down enough to snap out of it. When I did, the area around me was getting dark, fast. I got up, intending to get back to my shelter and try not to think about the fact that my island was no more than a buoy in the middle of the ocean, in the middle of those creatures' domain. However, when I looked around for the exit in the dim light, I noticed a faint, green glow coming from a strange cave opening (I had noticed the cave opening, which was a geological feature that seemed to be common on this island, but not the glow before) on a ledge a few feet above the far side of the lake's beach. I squinted at it, making my way carefully around the lake, or more accurately, the ocean's edge. The glow was coming from a strange device set into the entrance of the cavern's opening. It was made out of a dark, metal alloy not unlike the one that comprised the casing of the purple, readable tablet. I scrambled up onto the ledge, coming closer to inspect the light. That was when I noticed these... cables snaking from the light further into the cavern, where more lights rested along the cable. I followed the cables in, placing my steps carefully in the unknown cave. My overheated horn could still detect strong magical readings from the cables and from the green lights, and I could only marvel at the magical complexity of the seemingly simple devices. The cavern opened up into a much larger atrium, which was where I saw something that outdid everything else I had found so far on the island. Three pairs of ornate columns lead to a large, open arch, just standing there in the open cavernous room. It sat upon a platform made out of the same alloy as it and the rest of the "magical" technology I had found before. I began to wonder whether or not I should have gone back to retrieve the "General Access Key" from my shelter, just in case there was some kind of security around this... machine. The path sloped down around the room, coming down at the feet of the archway. This detail made me wonder if the cavern may not have been completely natural, or if the beings who built the archway had engineered it for their own purposes. I approached the archway. I cursed myself for using all my magic in my welding experiments this afternoon, not able to even run a scan over what could have been a fascinating discovery. Not like it was going anywhere right now, but still. I ran my hoof across the metal. I noticed a definite groove running along the insides of the archway, which glowed a bright green. Even my burnt horn could tell that the glowing strips were important magical runes; I again cursed my luck for not being able to make a scan for its purpose. I looked around for some kind of interface. Maybe a place to put a "General Access Key"? I wanted so badly to know what this thing did! Of course there was nothing. No buttons, no switches. All there was were these colored lights that glowed on and off when I went near them. It was getting dark, and I was about ready to give up and begin heading for my shelter when, suddenly, a mare's voice boomed out from the archway. I jumped in shock as the voice seemed to come from every direction, "Welcome, *ERROR* UnidentifiedUser001. It seems that you are having trouble operating the platform. Unfortunately, your trouble may be due to the current protocol in place: Planet-Wide Security Lockdown. This travel area as currently locked down from Outpost 012-Quarantine Enforcement Platform. Please contact your network administrator or report to your superior officer. Glory be to the Stars." The voice stopped speaking, and the cavern fell back into silence. I looked back up to the archway, the thing that had spoken the first voice I had heard in much too long. I had an impending feeling that this island, neigh, this entire ocean had more secrets than it was letting on...