The Heart of Azure crawled over the calm ocean water on its way west. Only the smallest of waves was bothering them as they made their way to the Smoking Island, nothing to write home about. The weather had luckily stayed very nice for them ever since exiting the Strip of Storms. Rainbow Dash had kept herself in the crow’s nest, peering out to the east, and occasionally checking back west and even north and south at times. There wasn’t anything else out here though, just their ship sailing to the island.
She was hoping that meant Godfrey and The Scourge had met their end in the Strip of Storms—but she wasn’t counting on it. He was far too tenacious.
Other bit of good news besides not seeing Godfrey chasing them right now though was that the Smoking Island was finally coming into view. From her position in the crow’s nest, Rainbow Dash had seen the blue sky in the distance start to get covered in grey smoke clouds. As they got closer the tall volcano itself and then the shoreline of the island appeared. It was far wider than all Three Spears put together, and the volcano itself also much taller than any of those mountains. While overall it didn’t cover near as much area as the entire Sea Lion Reefs and all its atolls, it was certainly far bigger than any single atoll had been. So she was going to count it as the largest island she had been to so far.
It actually looked really nice with how green it was. If the volcano in the middle was a normal mountain, she would think it was just an ordinary tropical island that looked like a nice place to stop. That said, the smoke coming from that volcano was constant. Constant enough to be a little worrisome already.
In the end though, she still felt her tail swishing around behind her in the crow’s nest as the island got larger and larger in her view.
Its coastline didn’t look like it had any sandy beaches, instead she saw cliffs with forests close behind them and the shores that were at the same level as the ocean were just rocky. Whatever small towns or outposts that were supposed to be inhabited—she couldn’t see them yet. According to Breakwater there were still ponies there, and Rainbow had to imagine they were near the coast, but there wasn’t even a tall building or lighthouse that she could see just yet. Or any boats she could see docked anywhere.
She frowned—the place was giving her an unsettling feeling already. There was just something off about all of this.
It was bad enough that they were sailing to an island with an active volcano but now it was looking emptier and even less inviting than it should’ve been. Maybe she was just overreacting. Maybe there wasn’t a settlement on this side of the island and she was just being silly. Maybe.
But just like with Godfrey, her gut was telling her something different.
Rainbow turned around and whistled down to Breakwater, who was still at the helm. “Yo! Are you sure there are ponies on this island? Cause I don’t see anything so far.”
“They should be there,” Breakwater called back to her. “From the maps I have there should even be a place to dock at pretty much dead ahead.”
Rainbow Dash looked back at the island and raised an eyebrow. “I mean… if you say so.”
Over the next couple of hours, the Heart of Azure made its way close enough to the Smoking Island that the other members of the crew could see it as well as Rainbow Dash. And they had to admit, it was much too calm to be normal. The one thing they saw that showed any sign of habitation was an old wooden dock that came out of the rocky coast and led to a clear road that went into the jungle. It was small, only big enough for maybe the Heart of Azure and one other ship if there was one. Rainbow hadn’t been able to see it until just recently.
“This isn’t right,” Daylight said with a worried look on her face as they approached the empty dock. “I don’t hear any birds in the jungle, I don’t see any seagulls in the sky, I don’t even see any fish looking down at the water. And there definitely aren’t any ponies out here to greet us.”
“Well there shouldn’t be many here to begin with but… yeah… yeah I don’t think this is normal either,” Breakwater said.
Rainbow Dash dropped from the crow’s nest and stood by everybody. She threw a glance at Gilbert. “Should the two of us go flying out there first and see if we find anything?”
“I don’t know if we should be splitting up. I wasn’t expecting this,” Breakwater said.
“Let’s just dock there quickly and get to whatever town the ponies still living here reside in,” Senax said. “We weren’t planning on making acquaintances or stopping to talk with any of them more than we need to. We always just wanted to go straight for the temple, that’s all that matters. We don’t even need to ask for directions, just the barest amount of important information and then we can go.”
“You’re sounding a little “intense” there, Senax,” Daylight said to her friend.
“I just want us to get done with our business and get out of here without any problems arising. This trip has been dangerous enough already,” Senax replied with a somewhat stiff look on her face.
“Cheer up, Senax! I’m sure that despite the strange empty look of the island so far that there’s nothing wrong. We’ll surely find a friendly face and get on our way to the temple quickly. I doubt there’s anything to worry about here,” Gilbert said.
Daylight shook her head and closed her eyes. “Gilbert, have you not seriously tempted fate enough times already?”
“Well… what day of the week is it?”
“Chill out, Daylight,” Rainbow said, patting a wing on her back. “I’m not going to be crazy optimistic like Gilbert either, but even if there is something weird going on here or something comes up, we can handle it. We’re awesome, remember?”
“I suppose I wish I could look at things the same way as the two of you sometimes...”
“Regardless of all that, we’re coming close to the dock. We’ll drop the anchor and head on up the path and into the jungle. We’ll get to the bottom of this and find that treasure too, all in one day.” Breakwater said.
“Right,” Rainbow nodded.
“Right,” Senax confirmed.
Their ship slowed down as they reached the mini “harbor” where the water of the ocean lazily slapped up against the rocks of the shoreline. If someone wasn’t careful they could easily accidentally crash here, especially if the waters were more turbulent than they were this day. It made Rainbow wonder why there wasn’t a lighthouse or any sort of safety measure. But with Breakwater at the helm they still landed at the dock with no trouble, then she and Gilbert tossed the anchor over the side and their ship was now moored safe and secure.
As they all got off it and stood on the dock, Rainbow looked back at the Heart of Azure. “Err… should one of us stay here with the ship? What if someone actually is here and they come by and try to steal it?”
“You make a good point. It might also be a good thing to do so we can make a fast getaway in case Godfrey shows up,” Daylight said.
“That would involve us splitting up though,” Gilbert said.
“Mm… it’s true. I know it’s better to be safe than sorry but at the same time I get the feeling there really isn’t anyone here that’s going to cause trouble for us like that,” Breakwater said.
“So we’re all just going together then?” Rainbow asked.
Breakwater looked at his ship, safely docked right next to them. “Yep. I’ve got a feeling she won’t be accosted by anybody. Call it a sixth sense.”
“It’s your ship so—hey, all good then,” Rainbow shrugged.
With Rainbow Dash in front—floating a bit above ground—the group left the dock behind and started heading up the road that led into the jungle. It winded and curved quite a few times, never giving them a straight look ahead for too long. In the meantime, Rainbow continuously looked at the jungle around, and listened to it. But there was nothing. No rustling of rodents or any other sort of animals in the thick foliage, not even the buzzing of any mosquitoes. It was pure silence. She saw and heard nothing. Frowning, she lifted her head up and stared at the volcano in the distance. It’s smoking peak was easily visible over the jungle.
She couldn’t help but bite her lip and think that the two things were connected.
“So you guys have all noticed this too, right?” She asked the others. “No animals, no bugs, nothing.”
“Yep,” Daylight said as she looked around. “Just like I thought.”
“I’ll say it is like we’ve stumbled onto a ghost island or something,” Gilbert said.
Senax looked at Breakwater. “Are you sure this is the right island? There aren’t any others with volcanoes like this around?”
“This is definitely the right island. There’s no mistaking it,” Breakwater said.
Rainbow Dash sighed and looked over to Gilbert. “Well we don’t need to split up but let’s take a look over this treeline, Gilbert. We’ll see if there’s a town or something coming up soon.” She didn’t wait for his response as she flew up higher to get over the tallest trees of the jungle and peer out ahead. Gilbert did come up with her shortly and together they scanned the jungle island. “Come on, there has to be a little something down this road. Even just a cabin or two.”
“Look, Rainbow Dash!” Gilbert said and pointed to a spot in the jungle where it looked like things cleared up a bit. Judging by its location and the road they were using, they’d eventually reach it by walking down it a little more.
Rainbow rose a little higher in the sky to get a better view and was finally able to see some actual buildings sitting there. So they were at least going the right direction. She quickly flew with Gilbert back down to the others.
“Okay, we just need to follow the road a bit and there’s actually like—an outpost or small town or something. Didn’t see any ponies there but maybe they’re all inside,” Rainbow shrugged.
“Maybe,” Gilbert added.
“Then we shouldn’t lollygag anymore,” Senax said and already picked up the pace.
“I would say we’re not in such a hurry but that would be a lie. So yeah, let’s go,” Daylight said.
The party of five now traveled down the road at a slightly faster pace than before, now with an actual destination in mind. Rainbow Dash kept her ears open and her eyes darting from one side of the jungle to the other, but there was still only silence and stillness greeting her. She looked down at the road everybody else was walking over. It was still clear of any vegetation or even weeds growing up out of it. So somebody had to be regularly taking care of it and cleaned it up recently. There had to have been ponies here at least not too long ago or the jungle would’ve started taking it over again already.
It was only a few minutes longer before they made one last turn on the road and saw it end ahead, opening up into a part of the jungle that had been cleared of trees. Together they saw several buildings, most simply single-story ones but there were a couple that reached a little higher. All of them were placed on the north side of the clearing while the south side had a few small gardens and a stone well in the middle.
And absolutely no ponies around or even any signs of them.
“Well… we’re here,” Rainbow said.
“Yes,” Daylight nodded as they all emerged into the “town”. “And I think we’re the only ones here.”
“I think so too but let’s at least check around to be sure,” Rainbow said. She swiftly flew to the nearest building and landed in front of it, knocking on the door. “Hello? Anybody in there?”
“Is there anybody here at all?” Gilbert shouted as he flew overhead.
Daylight, Breakwater, and Senax walked into a building together and found themselves in what looked like some kind of empty office. There were still books and papers on the tables and in bookshelves, and various different kinds of rocks in glass cases along the walls. Strangest, and most unsettling, of all was a cup of cold coffee that had been left on one of the tables.
A blue glow enveloped it as Daylight picked it up in her magic, raising an eyebrow at the object. “They left in a hurry but… it wasn’t more than a couple days ago.”
“What could have caused them to leave so quickly? Obviously the volcano didn’t erupt. Maybe they thought it was about to?” Breakwater wondered as he looked through the office. “They left a lot of records behind—this is stuff that would be really important to the scientists and surveyors that worked here. They must’ve been spooked.”
“Obviously all the animals on the island felt the same way,” Daylight said.
“Daylight? Breakwater? I found something strange,” Senax said from another room.
The two shrugged and followed her voice to find Senax standing in front of some kind of machine. It wasn’t very big, hardly any larger than a big sewing machine, sitting on a desk while another machine had a now spent roll of paper coming out of it. The thing Senax was looking at was some kind of white cylinder lying lengthwise on the desk in some sort of tray, while a metal needle was positioned right over it that looked like it could scratch up and down the cylinder’s surface.
Breakwater rubbed his head. “What is this?”
“Dunno,” Daylight said. “Never seen something like it before, must have to do with their work here.”
“I was looking at the papers and I noticed this too-” Senax said as she grabbed the end of the roll of paper that had spilled out on the floor. On one side it had a squiggly line going up and down and for a while it was just a small squiggle, but as Senax went further along the squiggles started to get far larger and closer together. The end of the roll coming out of the machine was like that. “It’s just a guess but I think when the machine started doing this it might have been what triggered the ponies here to leave. But I don’t know what any of it means.”
“Neither do I. And I doubt Rainbow Dash or Gilbert do either,” Breakwater said.
“Now that I think about it… shouldn’t there have been a ship at the dock that was for the locals to use if they ever needed to leave? We didn’t see one. They had to have left on it,” Daylight said.
Senax bit her lip, her eyes darting back and forth as anxiety tore through her. “This… this doesn’t change anything. We still just need to get to the temple and find that treasure so let’s go do it. It’ll be fine. Just. Fine.”
Daylight stared at her for a moment, contemplating saying something, but just nodded instead. “I’ll go get Rainbow Dash and Gilbert. We can drag up some water from the well and have a snack before leaving. We probably don’t want to get hungry out there.”