//------------------------------// // The crossing // Story: Rogue // by chaos2012 //------------------------------// The water continued to creep its way up the shoreline, taking away more precious space from the trapped ponies. An hour after the vanishing of the Rogue, only ten feet of beach remained on the piece of land, constricting the movement of the terrified tourists. Applejack sat alone on the side of the hill, holding her sprained ankle as she stared out with a blank expression to the water. The feeling of a hoof touching her shoulder caused her to jump up in shock. Turning, she looked at her cousin who had a concerned look in his eyes. “Br- Braeburn, what’s wrong?” “Ah was gonna’ ask ya the same. How are ya holdin up?” Braeburn walked over and took a seat on the dirt next to her. Applejack turned her head away. “Lyra is doin’ fine. Lillyflower and Diamond are off by the tree. And-” “AJ, ah asked how you were doin’.” Before he could react, Braeburn felt his cousin throw herself onto him, embracing him in a tight hug. “AJ, what are ya-“ “Ah’m so sorry Brae! This is all my fault!” Applejack released a torrent of tears that soaked her older cousins shoulder. “Ah thought it would be fun to take ya to somethin’ fun, but now we are trapped in this place. Ah was a fool!” Wrapping a hoof around her side, Braeburn tried to calm her down. “AJ, it isn’t yer fault.” “Yeah it is! Ah had the stupid idea of wantin’ ya to do somethin’ different, and now ah got mah little sister stuck here to die with us!” Hearing that made Braeburn grip her tightly. “Listen to me AJ, we are not gonna die. We are gonna get out of here.” Applejack continued to weep onto her cousin, releasing the emotions that had built up inside of her. Despite listening to what he said, she still couldn’t get rid of the feeling that she caused the trouble that they were in. After he was finally able to stop her crying, Braeburn walked off back towards the water. He knew he had to figure something out, and something fast. Grabbing a flashlight in his mouth, he trotted towards the boat, which now was twelve feet out in the water. Glancing around the water surface, he tried to see if the hunter was anywhere near. Taking a deep breath, he slowly stepped into the water as quietly as he could, trying not to cause a ripple on the glassy water top. Step after step, he made his way out to the bow of the boat and quickly hopped onto it. Releasing a sigh of relief, he flicked on the switch, lighting up the interior of the vessel. The back half of the boat was completely submerged, with only the top of the seats sticking above the water. Only three crates remained in the front of the boat, held on by ropes keeping them in place. Flicking off the lids to the one on the left, he found four life jackets lying on top of another. Not sure of what to do with them, he left them inside as he flicked open the second one. The box was completely empty besides the rope that was attached to something. Using his hoof, he moved the bundle out of the way. Underneath was a four pronged anchor about a foot and a half long. Seeing nothing of use with that either, he closed the lid to it and opened up the third. The box had a mix of smaller miscellaneous items including a box of nails, and a bundle of wrap that was meant for injuries. Off to the corner of it was a small line of fishing string with a large triple pronged fish hook. Braeburn chuckled to himself seeing that, ‘Heh, too bad ah couldn’t just catch the thing and- Something clicked inside of his mind at that. Going back to the second box, he stared at the anchor, an idea forming inside of his mind at perhaps the craziest thing he had ever thought of. Grabbing the anchor and rope, he then went and pulled out the life jackets, laying them across his back to carry them out. Having found the only things of use, he made his way off the boat and walked back through the water to the shoreline. Carrying the items up, Braeburn hopped off the boat and made his way over to where Lyra, AppleJack and Rainbow were sitting. Slipping the lifejackets off, he spit the anchor out of his mouth and let it fall to the ground with a thud. The others all looked at him with confusion. “What is that for?” Rainbow asked. “We are dealin’ with an animal, right?” Braeburn asked, “In the end of the day, it is still just a big stupid animal. So, ah was thinkin’ we could maybe set a trap for this thing for it to hook onto this piece, hold it for just a little bit for us to swim across the other side.” “You mean like bait it so it bites the anchor?” Lyra lifted an eyebrow to the idea. “How will it even bite it? We don’t have any bait to use?” “Ah’m not sure, but ah just think we can tie a lifejacket to the rope so the hook will stay just under the surface.” Braeburn turned to see Lillyflower making her way over as she listened to the conversation. Lyra looked out to the water with a concerned look in her eye. “But… we don’t have any-” “Look, ah know we don’t have bait!” Braeburn took a breath to lower his voice. “Ah’m just sayin’ if we can somehow hook the damn thing on here, we might actually have a chance.” “So, is that the bright idea?” The small group turned to see Caramel trotting towards them, holding a beer in his hoof as he lifted it up to his muzzle. Taking a big gulp, he wiped off the small trail on his chin as he grinned at Braeburn. “I see your idea. You want to go fishing. Heh heh. Let me be the one here to tell you that you are just a fucking genius.” The country stallion glared at the sarcasm thrown into the statement. “Just shut up Caramel, alright? Ah am tryin’ to think of somethin’.” “You know, I’m sorry I seem to be like the dark cloud here, alright?” Caramel responded with an angered tone, “But we are stuck here. There is a creature out in that water, and it is hunting us. I mean, why is it still after us?” He then turned his attention to the quiet mares staring at him. “You all saw that croc. It’s big. I mean, it’s like a… a fucking train with teeth, and numb nuts right here wants to hold it with that little bit of dental floss!” Braeburn stomped forward to stare down the negative pony. “Ah said shut up! Look, judgin’ by the tide, we only got probably a half hour before we are under water. This is our last chance to do something or we are going to be done for.” Rainbow nodded in agreement. “I’m with you on this. Lyra is right though, we don’t have any bait.” The group sat in silence as they had no idea of what to do now. Then, the whining of Teddy caught the immediate attention of Lillyflower. Shifting her head, her eyes stared with a stern look in her eyes as she saw a possible way off the island. “What about that thing?” Caramel looked over to the dog as well, causing a big smile to spread across his face. “Yeah, that is a good idea!” “What!? Ya can’t use the dog as bait.” Applejack yelled out, “That is just wrong!” “Yes we can.” Lillyflower stated. “It is a dog, and we can use it to get out.” “Ah said that is wrong! We can try to find somethin’ else.” Lillyflower glared at the farm pony mare. “I have had to fight my way through these last several years in my life to give my daughter a wonderful life. I have had to make many sacrifices through my times just to continue on. Now, I will not sit here on this island if we have a chance to get off and have just one more day of living on just because you aren’t willing to do something beyond normal.” The group sat quietly to the sudden tension that formed between the two mares. Caramel stared at them, swirling the beer in his hoof. Suddenly, he looked down to his beer. “Wait a minute.” Caramel ran off to the other side of the island away from the others, bringing more confusion to all of them. After a moment, Caramel trotted back, holding the small crocodiles that washed up on shore from earlier. Lifting them above his head, he grinned, “You said you needed bait, here you go.” --- The skewered crocs and the anchor made a loud splash as they were thrown out into the water. tied eight feet from the anchor was one of the life jackets, acting as a bobber to the giant sized fishhook as it floated. Grabbing the rest of the rope, Braeburn wrapped the slack around a boulder that sat against the side of the embankment. Once it was snuggly wrapped, he let it go and stared out to the water. “Well, let’s see if this will work.” Caramel stood by the country pony, lighting up the bait with his light. “Hope your idea pulls through.” He turned to walk away before stopping. “Listen, I’m sorry for what I said earlier Braeburn. I was just freaking out.” A small grin spread across Braeburns muzzle. “No worries, ah think we are all feelin’ a little stressed.” “That is no excuse for how I acted earlier to you. I.. I just don’t want to die here.” Caramel hung his head low as he walked on. Off on the top of the island, Diamond Tiara sat alone on the dirt next to the base of the tree. The horrid images of her father eaten alive in front of her plagued her mind, replaying over and over. No matter what she tried to do, they wouldn’t go away. Then, she began imagining the same thing happening to herself, being helpless and at the mercy of a monster. Feeling a presence behind her she tried to wipe her tears away before turning around to see Applebloom standing there. “Wh-what do you want?” the pink filly asked between sniffles. Applebloom trotted over and sat right next to the crying Diamond. “Ah wanted to come make sure ya were alright.” Diamond frowned and turned away, “Why do you care. I know you don’t even like me.” “Ah may have some hard feelings inside, but that is not gonna stop me from caring about a pony that is hurting.” Applebloom reached over and put a hoof around Diamond’s shoulder. She could feel Diamond fidget and resist at first, but eventually let her foreleg rest on her. “Ah know what it feels like to hurt.” Looking over, Diamond saw Applebloom’s eyes, filled with her own pain and sadness. “What do you mean? You never lost any family.” “Actually, ah did. Mah parents died when ah was really little. Ah don’t remember them like Applejack did, so ah am not gonna try and compare that way. Ah do know what it is like to feel alone. All these years, ah would look around to the other fillies in school meeting their mom or dad. Ah would see the happiness when they got together and played in the park. After time, ah began to feel a pain in mah chest.” “What do you mean a pain?” Diamond questioned. A tear rolled down Appleblooms face as she continued, “Ah knew ah would never have a mom or a dad, and ah tried to just live how ah was. No matter what ah did though, ah always felt a loneliness inside, since ah could never know what it would feel like to have a parent.” She stopped to wipe away several tears that rolled down her face. “Now though, ah realize that even without a mom or a dad, ah have mah sister, mah brother and mah granny looking out for me. I also have friends to bring me happiness every day.” Diamond watched as Applebloom gazed up to her with glossy eyes and a smile, realizing what she meant. “Y-you want to be friends? Even after everything that I have ever said to you in the past? All those times that I teased you?” “Ah think we can work those out.” Applebloom cheerfully said, bringing a smile to both her and Diamond. Leaning forward, both fillies embraced each other in a tight hug, happy for the first time the entire night as they created the bond of friendship. Lillyflower smiled at seeing her daughter embracing the other filly. Turning away, she nearly walked right into Rainbow. “Hey, uh…” Rainbow turned her gaze away for a moment to make sure she said the right thing. “I’m sorry about what happened to Filthy Rich. I… I couldn’t imagine not being able to say goodbye to someone I loved.” Lillyflower wiped a tear out of her eye. “No, you shouldn’t worry about me.” “Well, here…” the cyan Pegasus reached around and pulled the life jacket she was carrying and held it out, “You can put this on and it will help you float.” “I can’t swim.” The gray mare felt more tears begin to form in her eyes. “Don’t worry, I’ll help you get across and- “Just stop!” Lillyflower now had tears rolling down her face as she looked at the Pegasus, “Please don’t make this harder than it already is. I’m not going to risk anypony’s life for myself.” Walking closer, Rainbow put a hoof under Lillyflowers chin and lifted it up so she could look in her eyes. “Put this on or you will be risking your life. I’m not going to leave you here on this island.” Braeburn sat still by the rock as he watched the lifejacket floating out in the water. For ten minutes the bait had been sitting there and the rogue had not even touched it. He was beginning to have doubts about his plan, realizing they were running out of time. On the dirt below him, the water was now only six feet from the hill in the center, giving hardly enough room for the ponies to walk around the perimeter without straying too close to the edge. To his side Applejack walked over, hobbling on her three good legs to keep the weight off her sprain. He gave her a disappointed look before turning his attention back to the bait. “Ah’m not sure mah bright idea was so bright after all.” Lifting her Stetson up out of her sight, Applejack gazed out to the still life-jacket on the water, hardly causing a ripple on the surface. That’s when she realized the problem. “Brae, the bait is too still.” What?” he gave her a confused look. “The bait, it ain’t movin’. It can probably sense movement in the water, and with the bait not movin’, it may not be able to tell that it is there. It we stir it up, we might be able to draw it over.” Seeing that is was worth a try, Braeburn put some of the rope in his hoof and gave it a small tug. Out in the water, the lifejacket bobbed down into the water, causing a small wave to spread out from it. After several moments, he gave another small shake to the rope, stirring up the water more. “Hope this does work. We don’t have much more time left before we are swimming no matter what.” “Ah hope it does too, Brae. If this does work, then ah will say for the rest of mah life that y’all are the smartest pony that ah know.” Braeburn chuckled at the comment. “Sayin’ ah’m the smartest ever is quite the statement, when ya have yer library friend who can read a book in like, five seconds.” Looking back, his smile disappeared when he saw the saddened look on his cousin’s face. “AJ, what’s wrong?” Looking down at the ground, Applejack turned around to look at her sister on the other side of the island with the others. “Brae, ah need ya to promise me somethin’.” “What is it?” “Ah need ya to promise me that you will look after Applebloom if somethin’ happens to me.” Braeburn let go of the rope and stood up. “AJ, don’t talk like that. We are all gonna get out of here.” “Ah need to hear ya promise me. Ah can’t tell what is gonna happen, but ah want to know that she will have somepony lookin’ out for her so she can get home safe.” “Ah said don’t say anything like that. We are gonna all be-” SNAP! The sound of the rope being yanked tight startled both farm ponies, causing both of them to jump back. They turned to see the rope being pulled out, and the lifejacket out in the water swirling around in a mix of splashing water before getting pulled completely under. Teddy barked furiously at the unseen creature, running back and forth along the shore in front of the swirling water.Then, the sound of something thumping caught the stallions attention. The rock that the rope was tied to was beginning to be lifted off the side of the hill, shaking back and forth with the tugs of the rope. Braeburn realized that the rock itself was going to be pulled into the water. Running up to the rock, Braeburn threw himself against the dark mass, pushing it back towards the center of the island with everything he had. Digging his hooves into the dirt, he shoved his shoulder into the hard surface to keep the trap intact. “Applejack, go! This isn’t gonna hold!” Reacting on instinct, Applejack sprinted to the other side of the island as fast as she could. The others were already waiting by the water when they saw her charging their way. “Go, it took the bait, we have to go now!” she yelled out. Not wasting anytime, Lyra and Caramel ran and jumped into the water, swimming as fast as they could to the forest across the river. Inside of the mint green mares’ heart, she felt the icy grip of fear take hold of her, reimagining the event that took place just earlier that night. She couldn’t stop the thought of the crocodile coming through the darkness, clamping down on her and pulling her into the abyss. That however didn’t stop her from swimming. She pushed herself harder than she thought she could ever swim before Grabbing one of the two remaining life jackets, Applebloom ran towards the water’s edge. “Diamond, come on!” Diamond Tiara ran up to the other filly and told hold of half of the lifejacket. While too big for either of the two to wear on their own, the floating vest worked as a good raft for both of them to use to float their front halves on. Jumping into the water, both young fillies began kicking with their back legs like crazy, pushing them through the dark river. Rainbow leaned over to Lillyflower and wrapped her good wing around the pony. “ ‘Alright, just hold on as tight as you can. I’ll do the swimming.” Lillyflower gave a nod before Rainbow plunged into the water, pulling the mare along with her. As soon as they touched the water, Rainbow felt herself dip under the surface, pushed down by the support she was offering. On the shore, Applejack knew she couldn’t swim with her ankle injured like that. Looking over, she saw a final life preserver in the dirt. Seeing that as her best chance, she quickly picked it up and slipped it on. While getting the back part on easy, the front was giving her trouble since she could only work with one hoof. “Come on ya stupid thing, work with me!” she yelled out in frustration. After a second, she finally clicked the front parts together and prepared to jump in the water. Before she did, however, she remembered a single pony. “Brae…” Braeburn struggled to keep his legs from buckling over from the force being exerted against himself. Despite the use of his entire body weight and his strong legs pushing with everything he had inside, the rock still continued to lift off the side of the hill. His hooves scraped across the dirt, pulling him closer to the water before he slammed forward again, pushing the rock back onto the island interior. His shoulder ached from the hard boulder being slammed into him, but he refused to give up to give the creature its chance to get away. His family was swimming in the water, and he would do whatever it took to protect them. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw to his shock Applejack still standing on the shore watching him. “Applejack, get outta here!” Applejack felt frozen as she saw her cousin struggle against the rock. “Ah can’t leave ya alone on the island Brae!” “Applejack go! Now!” Braeburn grunted in pain as the rock pushed out once again, shoving him back a foot before he charged forward and pushed it back a few inches. “It’s not gonna hold, ya have to go while ya still can. GO!” Shutting her mouth, Applejack turned around and ran to the water, jumping out and plunging into the dark river. While the life jacket did help her float, she was still having trouble swimming since moving her injured leg was useless. Out in the front, Caramel made it up the river bank and jumped onto the muddy bank filled with reeds. Shaking himself dry, he turned around and helped pull Lyra out of the water, dragging her out by her hoof until she fell down in the dirt, panting for breath from her ordeal. The two sat quiet for a moment before turning back to see the younger fillies approaching the shore on the small life vest. “Come on, you’re almost there!” Lyra yelled out to them. Applebloom and Diamond tried to continue kicking, but their small legs were growing tired from the long swim. They were now only twelve feet from shore, but then, Applebloom felt the back of her leg suddenly lock up in a massive cramp, causing a scream of pain to escape her mouth. Unable to keep up, her hooves slipped off the life jacket and she began to sink under the surface. Diamond’s eyes went wide in terror as she watched her new friend go under the flowing water. “Applebloom!” she yelled out. Leaping backwards, the pink filly wrapped her hooves around her yellow companion to try and bring her up, but the weight of Applebloom began to pull her under as well. Panicking, she tried to kick harder and harder, yet it was still in vain. Suddenly, a strange feeling wrapped around her body and began to pull her back up. The next moment, both her and Applebloom were lifted out of the surface and carried over to the bank by Caramel. Both fillies began coughing erratically to remove the water that had invaded their mouths, catching wonderful breaths of fresh air. Diamond stood up, noticing a green glow disappear from around her. “What happened?” The glow around Lyra’s horn diminished as she walked over to the young ones. “You are lucky you were so close to the shore. Any further out and I wouldn’t have been able to grab you.” Diamond gave a wide smile to the unicorn before hearing splashes behind her. Turning around, she felt her heart flutter as her mother and Rainbow made it to the shore. “Mom!” Sprinting down, she jumped through the air and wrapped her hooves around her mother, allowing the tears of happiness to come out of her eyes. “I knew you could get across!” Lillyflower nuzzled her daughter affectionately, her own tears dripping off her face. “I would have never made it if it wasn’t for her.” She turned her gaze down to the pony beside her. Rainbow crawled up out of the water, her breaths coming in raspy pants. Every muscle in her body ached from the swim that she just did while dragging the other mare in tow behind. While Lillyflower’s vest did keep her afloat the whole time, she was pretty much dead weight in the water for Rainbow to pull while already having to swim just herself. The only thing that allowed the Pegasus to cross the entire way with the burdening pony was due to her athletic build and endurance. Despite how tired she was, she wasn’t angry; seeing the happiness for the two ponies embracing each other was worth the trouble she just experienced. “I’m glad you both made it across and- “Applejack!” Applebloom screamed out. All the ponies on the beach looked out to the water to see Applejack swimming towards them, still in the middle of the crossing. Her movement was very slow as she tried to make her way with only three of her legs to pull her along. Rainbow stood up in the dirt and stared out to her struggling friend. “AJ come on!” Applejack panted as she continued to try to make her way across. Spitting out water, she stuck her head out of the water to yell out to them. “Go on! Get outta here! Me and Brae will catch up.” “No, AJ!” Applebloom cried out. Rainbow stomped her hoof down in the shallow water in stubbornness. “No way AJ, I’m not leaving here without you!” “Rainbow, go! Get everypony out of here and away from the water! We’ll catch up with ya, ah promise.” Rainbow sat staring out with a broken look on her face. “But, AJ…” “Rainbow, get mah sister outta here!” Applejacks voice now gave off a stern and aggressive tone, ordering her friend away. The injured Pegasus shut her eyes to clench in the tears of fear before turning around and pushing a resisting Applebloom through the reeds. Trotting off quickly, the others followed in suite as they vanished into the darkness of the forest. Braeburn continued to struggle against the stone bracing as the croc pulled harder. Turning his head, he saw that all the others were now into the forest besides Applejack. Smiling to himself, he realized this was his chance to get out of here, knowing the rock would still give him a small window of time to get to Applejack and help her swim the final stretch to the shore. Waiting for the moment for the rock to be pushed back against the hill, he took his weight off the rock and Sprinted. “This is it, we can make it! We can…” The sound of the rope falling slack rang inside of his ears. Skidding to a stop, he looked back to see the rope hanging down on the ground from the rock and out into the water, where the life jacket popped up through the surface. Confused, he ran back to the rope and began pulling. Strange enough, there was not resistance of any form. “What in the world?” as he lifted the end out of the water, his heart dropped into his chest. The anchors’ prongs were bent completely straight, no longer hooked. Most importantly, there was no crocodile on the end of it. And his cousin was still in the water. Dropping the trap, he ran as fast as he could on the beach to the side where the others went across. Stopping at the water’s edge, he saw Applejack was now forty feet from the other side. “Applejack, it’s loose! It got loose! Swim!” Applejack couldn’t hear her cousin’s warning; splashes and rapid breathing were drowning out all other sounds. Despite not hearing him, she was already swimming with everything she had. Her heart was beating so fast she was worried that she was going to pass out at any moment. “Come on, AJ, y’all can do this!” she yelled at herself. Teddy began barking along the shoreline, catching Braeburns attention. Looking to the left, he watched a disturbance in the water rushing under the surface towards his helpless cousin. His pupils dilated in panic when he realized what was happening. “APPLEJACK!” He charged forward into the water, ignoring his own safety as he swam towards her. Teddy barked several times before jumping in after the final pony. Swimming frantically, Applejack was now only twenty feet from shore, nearing the beach with a glimmer of hope. She gave a grin through her pants as she saw how close she was… until the sudden force struck her from the side. Screaming out, she felt herself yanked underwater, locked inside of the jaws of the crocodile as it bit down around her chest. The force of the bite felt like being crushed down between the rock and the ground, forcing out all the air in her chest. Before she realized it, the croc went into a deathroll, spinning frantically under the surface to weaken its prey before taking her to the depths. Braeburn kicked as hard as he could, but by the time he reached the spot where Applejack disappeared, there was just him treading on the surface of the water. “Applejack!” he called out, trying to listen for a response. After a moment, he swam to the shoreline, stepping onto the land before turning back around to face the water. Teddy followed him out, shaking himself to rid the water from his fur. Braeburn stared out to the still water, looking for anything that could be his cousin. “Applejack!” All of the sudden, her stetson hat floated up to the surface, illuminated by the moonlight as it gently floated towards the now silent country pony on the shoreline. Braeburn felt a wave of powerful feelings rushing over his body as he gazed down to the hat that floated to his hooves. Picking it up, he felt tears forming in his eyes, knowing that his cousin was gone and he did nothing to help her while she was attacked. Dropping to his knees, he cried out into the night, only comforted by a dog and the hat of his departed family member.