//------------------------------// // The island // Story: Rogue // by chaos2012 //------------------------------//                                                  Rogue       Edited by Thardoc and FlimFlamBros Pre read by Listener “Come on, this will be fun!”   Braeburn frowned as his cousin pushed him along the wooden dock.  “Applejack, ah said ah wanted to come visit ya, not get eaten by a monster!"   Applejack chuckled as she continued to push him from behind, causing his hooves to scrape across the rough flooring.“Come on now, ah want ya to see somethin’ ya never get to see where ya come from.”   “Somethin’ like seein’ a fruit bat rainbow again would be cool. Seeing a bunch of crocodiles isn’t a thing ah dreamt of.”   After learning he had a week of free time, Braeburn had decided to come and visit his family out in Ponyville for a few days. At first it was really relaxing to get away from Appleloosa, but as soon as he was stupid enough to suggest doing something fun. Applejack, with a suggestion from Rainbow Dash, chose to take him on a tour to Hayseed Swamps, to go onto a tour boat, to see the local crocodile population there. Hearing the recommendation was a shock at first, but he didn’t think it would be too bad. Even as their wagon passed through the thick Mangrove Forest he wasn’t too hesitant about doing the tour. Once they arrived at the tour shack, however, the owner had the brilliant idea to scare the fur off the customers by lining the wall with photos.   Photos of crocodiles eating ponies.   Dozens of pictures showed monstrous crocodiles, their massive jaws  and dagger like teeth clamped down on a helpless pony. Others showed the effects of surviving a crocodile attack, missing part of their leg, or the leg all together.   One specific picture especially caused a chill to crawl up his spine. A gargantuan croc, at least twenty feet long, was said in the description to have been responsible for the deaths of thirty five ponies, and had become so dangerous that even Princess Celestia ordered the royal guards to go and hunt it down. Once it was finally killed, it was cut opened to see its stomach contents. Spilling out was a mixture of blood and dissolved chunks of flesh from its previous victims. To top it all off, inside of the pile of flesh was the body of a young unicorn mare. She had been swallowed whole. The photograph captured the fear still engraved on the mangled corpse.   Despite the fact that he now wanted to head back to the farm,  Applejack wasn’t going to let him miss out on all of the fun. “Brae, y’all better grow a pair if ya want to act like a stallion. Even Applebloom is comin’ along and she ain’t scared!” the orange farm pony exclaimed.   Braeburn turned his neck around and glared down at her, “AJ, ah don’t care if she is just a filly, ah’m not sure if this tour thing is safe.”   “Ah checked with this place before we came here, and they said they have never had a problem before. Ah wouldn’t take Applebloom if it wasn’t-   Applejack stopped and looked around the dock, trying to spot her little sister , “Where is that little rascal anyway?”   “Hey sis!”   Applejack  flipped completely around to see her younger sister trotting down the dock from inside the tour shack. Sitting on top of the yellow filly’s head was a tan safari hat that stuck far out to the sides. “What do ya think? Ah look like an adventurer now!” Applebloom happily stated.   Applejack gave a curious look at the hat. “Applebloom, where did ya get the money for that?”   “Rainbow got if for me.”   Suddenly from above, a cyan pegasus landed on the dock next to Applebloom, flicking her rainbow mane out of her face, and standing up straight, Rainbow Dash beamed a wide grin down at the filly. “Yup, and now you are the Daring Do of Ponyville.”   Applejack smiled at seeing what her friend did. “Rainbow, ya didn’t have to get Applebloom anythin’.”   “Are you kidding? We’re going to go see crocs! She has to look the part of an adventurer!” Rainbow said as she playfully rubbed a hoof over the top of Applebloom’s hat, ruffling up the top.   Giggling, Applebloom readjusted her hat and turned to her sister, “Hey sis, can ah go get us our seats?”   “Sure, go on ahead. We’ll catch up once we get yer cousin to move his scared flank.” Applejack said as she smirked back to Braeburn.   Nodding, Applebloom ran down the wooden deck to the boat at the end. Once she was out of earshot Braeburn turned and gave an angry gaze at his tormentor. “Ah swear, if ah get eaten on this thing, ah’m gonna kick yer ass!”   --- Applebloom walked down the brown dock that stretched out onto the surface of the river.  The water here was crystal clear, allowing anypony view of the muddy bottom. She glanced back and forth in the water, trying to spot anything that looked intriguing. Not seeing something of interest, she walked on to her destination.   Nestling on the end of the dock was the boat that was to take them on their tour; a twenty four foot aluminum panga boat. Inside of the center were eight, two seat benches that lined a main pathway in the center that ran from the bow to the back. Set up over the top was a large canopy that stretched from the second row from the front and covered all the way to the back. Set in the back was a single seat behind the steering wheel house.   Sitting in that lone chair to the back was the captain of the boat, a light blue earth pony with a dirty blonde mane. Looking up, he gave a small grin at Applebloom. “So, you want to go see the crocs here, do ya?” He said with a strong neighstralian accent.   “Eeyup, mah sis thought it would be fun to come and see them. Mah names Appleboom.” Applebloom smiled as she stuck out a hoof.   Leaning over the edge, the stallion gave her a shake, “Nice to meet you. I’m Wrangler . Now, why don’t you take a seat and get ready for some fun.”   Nodding, Applebloom looked inside to see only one pony in the very front. After staring at him for a moment, she recognized the stallion. “Hey Caramel, how are ya doin?’   Caramel turned around in his seat when he heard his name, smiling when he saw who it was,”Hey there Applebloom. You are coming on this trip too?”   Mah sis and Rainbow thought it would be fun to take Braeburn on this. Ah’ve never seen crocs before!” she giggled with excitement as she hopped in the boat and took the seat behind him. “So, did anypony come with ya?”   Caramel gave a small shrug. “No, I just thought it would be fun to try this out. I’ve never seen wild crocodiles either.”   “Why did you make me come on this?” a voice said from behind.   Because we have a long way to go to Manehatten, and your mother and I thought we could use a break.” Another voice responded.   “Huh?” Applebloom turned around when she heard the question. What she saw caused her mood to go from happy to horrible; Diamond Tiara was walking down the dock towards the boat. ‘Ya gotta be kiddin’ me.’   The small pink filly was frowning up to her father, Filthy Rich, who was helping a pony Applebloom had never seen before. The mare had a light gray coat and a blonde mane. What Applebloom noticed the most, however, was the way the pony walked; her back legs seemed buckled and weak, causing her to stumble every few steps that she took down the dock. Turning back to Caramel and put her hoof up to her mouth to hide her whisper, “Hey, who’s that pony next to Filthy Rich?”   Looking over Applebloom’s hat, Caramel stared for a second before turning back to her, “That’s Lillyforth, Filthy’s wife.”   Hearing that caused Applebloom’s eyebrow to stretch up, “Wife? Ah never seen her before.”   A slight look of sorrow came across Caramel’s face, “She doesn’t get out too often. See how she walks like that? She has MS.”   “Huh? What’s that?”   “It’s a disease that affects your nervous system. It affects how her body communicates to her muscles, which makes it difficult to move sometimes.”   Hearing that made Applebloom  feel so sorry for the poor mare. It sounded horrible for something like that to happen to a pony. Seeing things like this always made her appreciate her own fortunate life.   As the new guests approached the dock, both fillies locked eyes for a moment, causing immediate tension for both of them. Diamond cast a snoody glare at seeing who was going to be on the boat with her. ‘Great, I have to go on a lame tour with a lame blank flank.’ She sneered to herself. Wanting as much distance between Applebloom, she looked up to her dad with puppy dog eyes, “Daddy, can we ride in the back? I like it better back there.”   Filthy smiled down at his daughter. “Sure, sweetheart.”   As they stepped in the side of the boat, Diamond turn forward and stuck her tongue out at Applebloom, who in return glared while putting her hoof under her chin and flicked outward. The moment she did that, a hoof gave her a hard tap on the back of her head. “Oww!” Rubbing the back of her head, she flipped around and glared at Caramel… only to find her sister glaring at her. “Applejack, what did ya do that for?”   “Look here sugarcube, ah know ya don’t get along with Diamond, but ah won’t have mah sister be doing inappropriate things like that gesture y’all just did there.” Applejack  retorted.   Applebloom frowned, but decided to hold her tongue anymore and folded her forelegs over her chest. “Fine.”   Grinning, Applejack trotted over to the bench where her sister was. “Good, now scootch over, ah’m sitting next to ya.”   Braeburn stood there as he watched his two cousins take their seat behind Caramel. Once they were down, his eyes floated down to the seat below him, unsure if he wanted to even get in or not. The sudden shove from behind didn’t allow him to make a decision as he tumbled inside and yelped out when he landed face first on the bench. Crawling off the seat, he flipped around to see Rainbow Dash chuckling as she stepped inside after him. “What the hell was that for, Rainbow!?” He snapped.   “At the rate you were going, it would be dark by the time you got inside of the boat.” Rainbow chuckled as she took a seat next to the glaring country pony. “Just relax and enjoy the boat ride.”   Giving a loud snort, Braeburn sat down in the seat next to Rainbow, glaring ahead since he didn’t want to look at her. “Ah can’t believe ah’m goin’ on this thing.”   “Me too, pal.”   Hearing somepony answer his question made Braeburn turn around. He was met with a light yellow earth pony mare with blue mane mixed with a pink highlight. Seeing the upset look on her face brought a small smile to the farm pony’s muzzle. “Not in to crocs like me, ah see?”   Bon Bon nodded, “I wanted to go to Manehatten to go to a museum, but SOMEPONY wanted to go risk her life to see a bunch of crocodiles!” she yelled as she turned back to her mint green unicorn companion, who in turn just chuckled at seeing her friend so upset.   “Bon Bon, I promised that if you did this, we would go to the cooking museum like you wanted. I just thought this would be a nice little thrill for us to try.” Lyra grinned as she hopped in the boat, taking one of the rows to the left. Sitting upright, she put her hoof to her left and tapped the empty seat next to her, coaxing her friend to join her.   Looking at the boat, Bon Bon turned back to the captain with a concerned look on her face. “This thing is safe, right?”   Wrangler chuckled at the look she gave. “Don’t worry ma’m, riding in this thing is as safe as goin’ to the zoo… unless you want to go for a nice dip in the water.”   “No thanks.” Bon Bon quickly hopped in the boat and sat on the seat, keeping as much space between herself and the edge.   Counting the heads in the boat, Wrangler saw that all of the registered guests were on board now. “Alright, now that we are all here, let’s get ready to go. My name’s Wrangler, and I’ll be your guide this wonderful afternoon.” Looking back to the tour shack, he put a hoof up to his lips and let out a loud whistle.   Lillyforth looked back to the captain, curious on what he was doing. “Are you signaling the store we’re leaving?” she asked.   “Yep, and calling our last companion.” Wrangler replied with a big grin.   Everypony on board turned around to see a black and white border collie running down the dock, barking happily as it approached the boat. A mix of dawww’s filled the air as the young dog hopped in and sat down in the back by Wrangler. Reaching down with a hoof, he playfully ruffled the dog’s ears as he spoke up. “Everypony, this here is Teddy, my personal assistant. He will help us find them big crocs we want to find… and he just loves boat rides.”   Braeburn gulped as he heard those words. ‘Big crocs? Why in Equestria would he want to find the big ones? Why can’t he just find baby ones.’   Wrangler turned around in his seat and leaned down to the engine in the back. Grabbing the pull string in his teeth, he yanked upwards, causing the starting cable to whip out. The engine roared to life, churning up the water in the back as the propellers began to spin. Letting the cable go, it sucked back into its hole as he reached over the side and untied the ropes to the dock. A moment later, the boat slowly drifted out away from the wooden platform and into the deeper water of the river. Placing his hoof on the throttle stick, he grinned to the tourists on his boat. “Alright, let’s go find some crocs.”   --- The tour boat cruised along the glassy water for about thirty minutes without anything special to see. The mangrove forest itself had become denser as they continued further up the river away from the tour shack. After time it was so thick at some riverbanks that the shore itself couldn’t be seen through the thick bundle of tree limbs and trunks. The water itself had also lost its clear tone, becoming more like a light brown color and hiding whatever may be below the surface. Applebloom took note of this by turning around and yelling over the sound of the passing wind. “Hey, mister! How are we supposed to see the crocodiles if ah can’t even see under the water?”   Wrangler pulled back on the throttle, causing the boat to begin cruising to a relaxing putt through the water. “No need to worry about that, little one. Crocodiles like the dirty water so they can hide from something when they are hunting, but if you look right, you can always find them.” He smiled down to the curious filly before turning to the side and spotting a large pocket of floating moss on the surface about thirty feet to the right. “Hey now, looks like we may have our first sighting already.”   All of the ponies looked over to where he was looking at, trying to spot what he was referring to. Diamond Tiara scanned the surface of the water, searching for anything that looked like a crocodile. Seeing nothing, she smirked up at the captain. “I didn’t see anything. There is no animal there.”   Wrangler grinned at the smart mouthed filly. “You look for something that is out in plain sight, but most of the time when looking for these hunters, you must look for something that hides itself.”   Lyra raised an eyebrow when she heard that statement. “Come again?”   “Here, let me show you.” Wrangler turned the boat and headed to the left side of the floating moss. As it approached the green mass, everypony stared intently to the pile and scanned for anything to see. All of a sudden, towards the very center of the moss pit, what seemed to be like a small floating piece of wood slightly moved in the loose pile of fuzzy algae. Then, a single yellow eye slid open, staring directly at the passing ponies.   The bright round orb had a long, slitted pupil in the center of the iris, giving off the same look as a gargantuan dragon. The odd thing about a crocodile eye is that it seemed even colder than a dragon’s; the round eye stares blankly outward, seemingly unfocused on any one thing in particular. The cold gaze peered straight through the souls of everypony on board, causing a chilling feeling to run up their spines.   Applebloom watched in awe as the eye closed up and the head disappeared into the river. “Wow, that is so cool! How did ya know that there was one here?”   Leaning back in his seat, Wrangler looked out ahead of the boat. “Over the years you learn to look for small things that resting crocs like to enjoy. If that croc was in hunting mode, you wouldn’t have been able to spot her.”   Bon Bon gave a questionable look, “Wait, her? How did you know it was a girl?”   “The size of head that we saw was pretty small. Males are generally a lot bigger than the females.” Wrangler turned the steering column so the boat headed off the main river and down a small side stream barely wide enough for the boat to pass through. Low hanging branches brushed against the sides of the hull, causing a small yet irritating screech for a few moments before stopping.   “How big do these things get?” Caramel shouted from the front.   A big smile crept across the pilots face. “Just see for yourself ahead.”   When Caramel turned around, his bottom jaw nearly touched the floor. Coming up ahead through the trees was a large cove that spread over half a mile across. Scattered throughout the interior were several islands about forty feet across each. The most noticeable thing though was the inhabitants here. dozens of crocodiles were seen swimming throughout the calm water, their long tails swishing back and forth as their strokes glided them along the surface. On the muddy beaches lay several more of the scaly creatures, basking in the fading light of the sun to get what warmth they could.   Braeburn couldn’t believe his eyes either; seeing so many crocodiles in one place caused a mix of different feelings inside of him. On one hoof, so many predators around him made him extremely nervous. On the other hoof he felt really pissed off that his darn cousin got him on this boat in the first place.   “Alright folks, this is just a little place I like to go to guarantee sightings for these things.” Wrangler turned the boat to pass by another resting crocodile that lay perched on a dead tree that stuck up from the water. “Now what you all are looking at are Eastern Equestrian crocodiles, which are the most common types of crocs in the land. This right here is a small colony of them that make this cove their home.”   Swimming up alongside the left side of the boat was another crocodile about twelve feet long. Rainbow Dash leaned her head over to peer at the light green creature. “Wow, this is so cool! I have never seen these things so close before besides Gummy.”   Braeburn tilted his head to the Pegasus’s comment. “What’s a Gummy?”   “It’s Pinkie Pies alligator.”   Hearing that caused Wrangler to become curious. “Your friend has an alligator for a pet?”   Rainbow turned around to the question. “Yeah, it doesn’t have any teeth though, so it is safe.”   Wrangler chuckled when he heard that. “Oh I see. She has a northwestern Alligator. That is surprising, those are quite rare. They are the only species of crocodilian that doesn’t have any teeth through its life. Even if you found a hatchling of any other species, they would have a mouthful of them sharp buggas.”   Bon Bon was hesitant at first by having a crocodile swim by her, but while scary it was also really thrilling at the same time. She watched as the predator drifted lazily along the surface, before whipping its tail and diving head first under water, causing a splash to come up and connect he face. “Ahh!”   Lyra laughed as she saw her friend fall backward in the boat and into her lap. “What’s wrong? A little water scare you?”   “No! I was scared that it moved so quickly!” Bon Bon snapped as she sat back up in her seat. She did a quick shake to her mane to get out some of the loose water that built up inside. Once she was done, she turned back to the captain. “They can move that fast?”   “Oh, they can move even faster than that.” Wrangler smirked when he saw the terrified look on her face. “Crocs can move up to twenty miles an hour under water without causing a ripple on the surface if they are deep enough. They use that speed for their advantage to sneak up on prey in an instant.”   Driving along further into the cove, Filthy Rich and his wife watched the many creatures swim by the boat, diving under as their boat approached. Lillyforth suddenly chuckled out of nowhere, making Filthy confused. “What’s so funny?” he asked her.   Lillyforth took a breath to compose herself. “I’m sorry, but I just pictured one of these jumping in here and scaring the fur off your back.” Immediately she started giggling again.   Flithy Rich just shook his head at hearing that. “Glad you find amusement in thinking of these things scaring me.”   Diamond Tiara was looking out as well to the side. While against having to go on a boat ride at first, she was surprised to find herself actually enjoying this boat ride so far. To the far left of the boat sat a small island, where a big crocodile was lying on the sand sleeping. “Wow, that one is big!” She yelled out.   Wrangler turned to see what she was talking about. “Yeah, that bloke is pretty good size. I reckon he is about sixteen feet long. He is close to full size.”   Applejack was amazed to hear that. “That thing is gonna get bigger? That darn critter must weigh a ton!”   “Yes. I’ve seen some around eighteen to twenty feet before. There are rumors of some growing up to twenty five or more, but those have never been proven. Despite being smaller, these crocs here are just as dangerous.”   Lyra now became scared hearing that these things could get bigger. “Aren’t you worried about them coming at the boat?”   "Don’t worry, they won’t attack anything bigger than they are. We are perfectly safe in this boat.”   “How big is this boat?” Braeburn questioned.   “Heh heh, big enough. Don’t worry about it.”   --- After forty more minutes of putting around the cove, Wrangler drove the boat back down the narrow stream and back out onto the main river. Turning back up river, he drove for another five minutes before coming across a spectacle in the water; seven crocodiles were sitting on top of the water with just their heads sticking above the surface. “Here we have another small group of crocodiles resting together in the water.” Wrangler spoke to the group.   Rainbow Dash watched as a few of the heads dove under as the boat approached. “Hey, so do these things always live in groups together like this?”   Wrangler looked at the Pegasus with an almost eager expression. “Actually that is a good question. When they are younger, they do live around other crocodiles. When they grow older however, they become more independent, even aggressive to others. Older, larger male crocs will actually leave to live on their own, keeping to an area of territory for themselves. These kinds of crocodiles are known as rogues.”   “Rogues?”   “Solitary animals. They refuse to let other crocs into their territory.”   Rainbow pictured herself living off alone from all other ponies, keeping to just herself and not letting others near her. Just the thought of something like that made her feel like a jerk. “Why would a crocodile do that?”   “A crocodile doesn’t have compassion like other creatures, ma’m.  They only live to hunt and to live on. By staking a territory to itself, it creates a hunting ground for itself free of competition from other predators. Survival of the fittest.” Finishing talking, Wrangler turned the boat and drove towards the center of the river to get a view of the sun.   Once out of the cover of the trees, he looked up and saw the sun not far off the ground. “Alright folks, we have about an hour and a half until dark, so now would be a good time to head back down river to the tour shack. I hope you have all enjoyed the tour today and have plenty of good memories for later.”   Applebloom looked back to him with large frown on her face. “Aww, we have to head back? Ah was havin’ so much fun on this thing.”   “Heh heh, yes, it is time to head back.”   Applejack smiled and patted her sister on the back. “Don’t worry, ah was havin’ a lot of fun too.” She turned to look at her cousin, which caused her to chuckle when she saw him hunched in his seat. “Hey Braeburn, did ya have fun?”   Braeburn turned and glared at her. “Ah am a little happy we are headin’ back now.”   Rainbow laughed and gave Braeburn a friendly slug on the shoulder with her hoof. “Come on, I know you liked it. You just have to relax more.”   “Ah tried relaxin’, ah just can’t!”   While her sister and Rainbow were giving her cousin a hard time about his fear with crocodiles, Applebloom leaned against the side of the boat and looked out. Letting out a long sigh, she just wished they didn’t have to head back since she was having so much fun. Looking out to the trees, she watched as several birds flew up from the canopy in the distance as a-   “Huh?” Applebloom saw a bright red flash shoot up into the sky and suddenly slow down. “What is that?”   Applejack turned to the side of the boat and looked out. “What did ya see?”   “That thing up there.” Applebloom said as she pointed up with her hoof.   All the other ponies, even Diamond Tiara, looked out to the direction Applebloom was pointing to see the object in the sky, causing a mix of questions to start popping out.   “What is that thing?”   “Is it fire?”   “What about a magic shot?”   “Enough!”   All ponies went silent from the shout in the back. Turning around, they all saw Wrangler staring intently up into the sky at the falling red light. “That’s an emergency flare. That means somepony’s in trouble.”   “In trouble?” Lyra asked. “What could have happened?”   “I’m not sure. Could have run out of gas or got stuck in the mud. Perhaps we should go and check it out.”   Filthy Rich stood up from his seat hearing that. “Now hold on there. Our taxi is waiting back at the tour shack. If we are gone too long they may leave.”   “We have a wagon as well sitting back there.” Bon Bon stated.   Lyra turned to her friend and gave a puzzled look. “Bon Bon, what about the pony that is in trouble? We should go and help them.”   Braeburn watched as the flare began to slowly descend lower in the sky, leaving a trail of smoke in its wake. “What about the sunlight? It’s getting dark soon.”   Wrangler stared at the sun for a moment, judging it’s position. “We still have a while before night. The flare only looked a few miles ahead, so it won’t take that long.”   “What about us? What if something happens to us?” Caramel asked.   “Look I know all are concerned with doing this, but it is the right thing to do. If that was us needing help, you would want somepony coming to help you, right?”   “Hey, why don’t I just go and check it out!?” Rainbow said as she stood up, “I could just fly over there and see what is wrong. I could do it in a snap.’’   “No…” Wrangler frowned, “I am responsible for all of you. If you went missing for some reason, I get the trouble end of it. We stick together as a group.”   Lillyflower nodded in agreement to the captain. “It would be best to go and see if they need help.”   Filthy Rich furrowed his brow towards his wife. “Honey, we shouldn’t waste our time with this and-   “Filthy, it is the right thing to do and you know it.” Lilly cut him off.   Watching the flare descend, Wrangler started the boat back up and turned back towards up river.   --- After twenty minutes of traveling, the tour boat came across a small fork in the river, where a smaller river led off to the right. Wrangler had never been this far north on the river, so he had no idea where the turn led to exactly, but the flare had come from that direction, so he turned and went down the new trail. Moving around the curves of the bend, the small river ended up in another lagoon about six hundred feet long by four hundred feet across. At the very end of the stretch of water sat a single island about eighty feet across.   Looking around, Braeburn searched for any boat that was here; he wanted to find whoever needed help so they could get out of here. ‘come on pony, show yerself. Ah wanna go home.’ He thought to himself.   Rainbow was standing up on the bow of the boat trying to get a better view. As she was looking, she felt something brush up against her side. Turning, she saw Teddy also looking out to the water, his canine eyes focused on the still surface. “You see something boy?” Rainbow asked the dog, who in return gave a small grunt. Turning to the direction Teddy was focused on, Rainbow noticed something sticking up in the water. “Hey, I see something!”   Applejack looked up to her cyan friend. “What is it?”   “I don’t know. Something is floating out there in front of that island.”   “I wanna see!” Applebloom yelled as she prepared to hop off her seat, only to have her sisters’ hoof push her back on.   “Hold on there. Y’all sit right there next to me.” Applejack sternly said.   Wrangler turned the boat and drove forward slowly toward the strange object ahead of them. From where they were it was a light tan and black colored item bobbing up and down on the surface. It was mostly under water, so he had no idea what it was. “What is that thing?”   As the tour boat approached, several gasps came from the guests when they realized what it was in the water; a small boat, perhaps ten feet long, was suspended under water. The bow of the boat sat above the water as the current gently pushed it along. Below the murky water, a massive hole was ripped in the bottom of the small boats hull, signifying why it had sunk.   “Well, I guess we know where the flare came from then.” Caramel bluntly stated as he stared at the broken vessel.   “My gosh, what could have happened to it?” Lillyforth asked.   Filthy Rich shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t know. Maybe he ran into a rock or something.”   Diamond Tiara looked around the cove, noticing the glassy surface. “But daddy, there aren’t any rocks here.”   Wrangler had the same question that Diamond just asked. ‘What the hell caused this boat to sink like that?’ He looked around the stretch of water, looking for anything that could have made a hole like that in the bottom of the boat.   Rainbow scanned the entire clearing several times before grunting in frustration. “Can I Fly now? I would have a better view if I was above and could-”   BOOM!   The force struck the left side of the boat so hard that the entire ponga boat lifted several feet out of the water, causing all of the passengers to scream as they nearly fell out of their seats before they caught themselves. Rainbow, who was standing up however, was thrown sideways and slammed into the thick support pole of the canopy. “AHH!” She screamed out in pain when she felt something crack in her shoulder.   Braeburn jumped off his seat and ran over to the Pegasus’s side. “Rainbow, what happened?”   “My wing. I- I think it’s broken!” Rainbow mumbled through the gasps of pain as she tried to stretch her right wing, which hung limply at her side.   Applebloom nearly fell overboard before her sister reached out and pulled her back up. “Applebloom, are ya alright!?”   “Ah’m fine.” Applebloom shakingly responded.   Filthy Rich looked around frantically for the thing that hit them. “What the hell was that!?”   Bon Bon Reached over and placed her hooves around her friend to help her up who had hit her head on the seat in front of them. “Lyra, are you alright?”   Lyra rubbed the side of her head with her hoof, feeling something warm. Pulling her foreleg away, she saw a small patch of blood on the end of her hoof. “I think I’m alright, i…” she paused when she heard a strange gushing noise coming from below. Looking down, her heart began to race when she saw the water pouring in from the massive crack on the flooring. “Oh shit! We’re sinking!”   Screams of panic erupted from all of the ponies on board as the water began filling up the bottom of the boat. Wrangler quickly revved up the engine and gunned it as fast as he possibly could go. Unfortunately, the water was coming in too fast to be able to make it all the way to shore. Reacting off instinct, he angled the boat to the nearest piece of land possible, this being the island. “Hold on!” he yelled as the sinking ship bashed onto the dirt mound until the bow struck a large rock impeded in the beach. The hard impact through Caramel off of his seat, making him smack down into the water on the floor of the boat.   Wrangler quickly got out of his seat and grabbed the bag to his side. “Everypony, off the boat!”   Scrambling as fast as they could, all of them jumped onto the dirt and away from the water. After a few moments, the back of the boat slowly sank a few more feet into the water until settling down. Being nearly completely submerged, the engine flooded and sputtered out, then turned off completely.   Applejack sat Applebloom on the ground at the base of the hill in the center of the island. “Applebloom, are ya hurt at all?” she put her hooves over different spots in her sister body, trying to feel for anything broken.   Applebloom put her small hooves on her sister’s to stop her checkup. “Ah’m fine, AJ. Ya should check on Rainbow though.”   Applejack turned to her right to see Rainbow sitting by herself with a horrible look on her face. Trotting over she was about to ask what was wrong until she saw the injury on her friend. “Oh my gosh! Rainbow, yer wing!”   From the base of her shoulder, Rainbow Dash’s wing was popped out of its socket, hanging limp to her side. The main bone in the wing base going to her back also seemed broken; the normally straight section was bent sideways in the middle, creating an awkward direction for the hanging limb. Rainbow looked up to her farmer friend, her eyes filled with pain and suffering. “AJ, I can’t fly with this.”   Applejack reached over and nuzzled her friend. “Don’t worry Rainbow. We’re gonna be fine.”   To the side, Bon Bon was trying to calm her friend down. “Lyra, it’s alright, we are going to get out of here.”   Lyra, however, was not even listening to her friends’ pleas. “I can’t believe we are stuck here. We’re going to die. We should have gone back instead of coming here.”   Braeburn came over when he heard the rambling pony going off. “What’s wrong with her?”   Bon Bon shook her head, “She isn’t taking this well.”   Lyra was on her haunches as she started to rock back and forth during her mumbling. “I should have listened to you. We shouldn’t have come here. We should have just gone on to Manehatten. I’m always too stubborn and have to do different things. This is my fault, this is my fault.”   Putting her hooves on her friends shoulders, Bon Bon gave her a shake, “Lyra!” her shout snapped her friend out of her trance, making her look her in the eyes. “This is not your fault. None of this is your fault at all.”   Braeburn turned away from the scene to see Wrangler opening up the bag from the boat. Dumping out from inside were several flashlights, a pack of matches and a bag of lighter fluid. “What is that stuff for?” the farm stallion asked.   Wrangler looked up to him with a face filled with frustration. “It’s going to be dark soon. We have to have a way to see.”   “Dark? What about help? Is anypony gonna come lookin’ for us?”   Wrangler took a deep breath to try and calm himself. “Once they realize we haven’t shown up on time, they will send some to look for us. We are pretty far up river, so it may take a couple hours.”   Filthy Rich stood up from where his wife and daughter were and came up to the two talking. “What was that thing that hit us?”   Stopping what he was doing, he turned and looked up with a stern look on his face. “It was a croc.”   Everypony went silent when they heard him say that. Braeburn gave a confused look his direction. “What? I thought you said a crocodile won’t attack a boat.”   “Remember what I said about rogues? It seems like we have stumbled into one’s territory. Seeing us as a possible threat, it gave us a… a little nudge to scare us.”   “A little nudge!?” Lyra snapped, “That thing nearly flipped our boat. Now we are stuck here. We’re in the middle of nowhere!”   Caramel’s eyes looked around the island. At least one hundred feet of water separated them from the main shoreline. The entire perimeter of the island was about thirty feet of sand and dirt on all sides and in the center raised a single hill about ten feet above the water. He then noticed something odd; there weren’t any plants besides the shrubs and single large tree on the top. Immediately, it all clicked together.  “This is a tidal river. This is a damn tidal river!”   “What?” Rainbow looked up to the outburst with a confused look.  “What is a tidal river?”   Caramel kicked the ground beneath him “You see how this island is all dirt? The only plants are on top of this mound. That means that is how high the water is going to get. This island is going to be under water!”   Standing up, Wrangler tried to calm the situation. “That is not going to be for hours, alright? Now we just have to calm down and-   “We are on an island which is going to pretty much sink, and you are saying to calm down!? We are miles upriver, and by the time we wait for help, I doubt we will be able to stand on land.”   “He does have a point. We can’t just sit here.” Rainbow added. She looked across the channel to the shore, thinking of anything they could do. “Lyra, can you teleport across the water to the other side?”   Standing up from the dirt, Lyra shook her head. “No, I can only jump about twenty feet. I can’t go farther than that.”   Rainbow grunted at hearing  that. ‘Where’s Twilight when you need her?’   “If we can just swim across here, we can probably walk back in a couple of hours.” Caramel suggested.   “What? You can’t go in the water, that’s crazy!” Lillyflower yelled out.   “I’m trying to think of a way to stay alive!”   “That’s enough.” Wrangler snapped, “I’m in charge of this group, and what you are suggesting is-   “Hey do you want to get through this water in the dark!?” Caramel retorted.. He turned away from the others as he trotted down to the water’s edge. “Screw this, I’m going.” He then began to wade into the water.   Reacting, Bon Bon ran down after him. Wading in knee deep, she hopped in front of him, blocking his path. “Caramel, this is crazy! Go back up.”   “Get outta my way, Bon Bon.” Caramel tried to step around her, only to have her splash over to intersect him again. Becoming frustrated, he tried to push her out of his path. “I said move!”   “No, you aren’t thinking clear if you are trying to-   BOOSH!   A massive explosion of water engulfed Bon Bon, startling everypony on shore. Caramel fell backwards out of shock from the sudden burst. As he crawled back up to the beach, he heard a mass of gasps emitted from the throats of the others. Turning back around, he was shocked at what he saw; nothing.   Bon Bon was gone.   Lyra began to panic when she couldn’t see her friend. All that remained in the spot where the mare was moments before was a patch of rippling water. “What happened!? Where is she!?”   “Ah don’t know. She was just there a second ago.” Applejack responded as she pulled Applebloom to her side.   Suddenly, the surface of the water several feet out began to bubble up red. Blood began to spread outward, covering up more area. Then, the end of a massive scaled tail broke the water’s surface in the middle of the blood patch, its dark green scales shining in the sunlight. Swinging sideways, it moved away from the island before disappearing completely under water.   Cries of terror erupted from the two fillies on the beach. All of the others stared in terror to what they just witnessed. Lyra however ran to the edge of the shore, her body trembling.  “Bon Bon! Bon Bon!” She flipped around to the others, her eyes leaking tears, “Somepony do something!” She turned to run in after her friend, only to have a pair of hooves grab her. “NO! Let me go!”   Braeburn dug his back hooves into the ground as he yanked her away from the edge. “Lyra, she’s gone! Don’t go in there!”   “No! Bon Bon! Bon Bon!” Lyra continued to pull against him before finally giving up. “Let go of me!” Thrashing out of his grip, she dropped to the ground and wept in her hooves. Her screams echoed in the still air, only broken by Teddy as he continued to bark at the water.   “All of you, stay away from the water!” Wrangler shouted out to all of the others. While trying to keep composed, he knew the situation; they were trapped on a sinking island in the fading light, being stalked by a vicious predator.