//------------------------------// // Chapter 10: The Shell Tribe // Story: Drowning in Love // by Silentpegasus //------------------------------// Chapter 10 The Shell Tribe. Rainbow Dash landed on the outskirts of the island. She felt the sand beneath her hooves and she made her way up to the forest edge. The trees were filled with coconuts and were taller than most of the buildings in Ponyville. Her eyes darted from left to right as she saw something rustling in the bushes. “Who’s there?” She yelled. Another rustling noise came from the bushes. “Come out now!” She ordered with an angry look on her face. Rainbow heard a small blowing sound a and felt a small pain in her neck. “Ow!” The mare reached up and pulled a small barb like needle from her neck. Dash’s legs soon felt weak and her vision started to blur. Before her vision faded she saw the outline of a shadowy pony staring at her. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The other five mares walked down the board walk trying to find their way around. “Where should we go?” Applejack asked. “Not sure. I’ve never been here before.” Twilight said with a shrug. The five mares were then approached by a pink Earth pony mare with a blonde mane and a camera hanging around her neck. “Hello there.” She said with a smile. “I can’t help but notice that you guys look kinda lost.” “And how.” The farmer said with a groan. “My name is Coral and I’d be more than happy to show you all around for the day.” “Why thank you darling!” Rarity chimed. The pink mare then started to show the five mares around the busy and tourist filled board walk. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Wake and the mare made their way through the thicket in silence. Wake knew the way but he stayed behind to be alone with his thoughts. “I’m a bit surprised that you came back here.” She said in a flat tone. “Really?” Wake asked as he cocked an eyebrow. “No.” She said as the two came to a small clearing. Wake looked around to see several huts and fire rings. The blue stallion also saw several other tribal ponies each with distinguishing tribal markings across their coats. The tribal ponies got up from their seats and approached the outsider and the mare. Soon, an elderly stallion wearing a headdress made his way through the crowd and glared at the stallion. The chief smiled and brought Wake into a hug. “It’s good to see you again my friend.” “Likewise Chief.” The embrace was soon broken as one of the islanders trotted up to the chief. “Sir, we just captured an intruder on the island.” “An intruder? No pony except Wake can navigate the tides.” “She be from the sky. I saw her land.” Wake cocked an eye at the stallion. “What does she look like?” “She be light blue, like the sun hitting the water and her hair is like something out of a dream. Seven different colors into one.” The blue stallion immediately face hoofed. “Damn it Dash.” He said as the ponies looked at him. “You know the outsider?” Chief asked. “Yeah, she’s my mare friend. She must have followed me here.” He said as the hunter walked over to a brown net that had the cyan mare trapped inside. “For the love of Celestia! What did you do?” “I used a stun dart on her.” He said in a flat tone. “Can’t be too careful with outsiders.” Wake deadpanned at the stallion. “No offense.” “It’s fine. Let’s just get her inside one of the huts.” He said as he slung her over his back and followed the chief to the large hut in the center. Rainbow Dash’s eyes fluttered open to see Wake staring down at her with a concerned look on his face. “You okay Rainy?” “Ugh, my head.” She said as she sat up. “Yeah, knock out darts will do that to ya.” He said as he helped her up. “Knock out darts?” She said in confusion. The two were interrupted when the Chief entered the tent. “Ah good to see that you’re awake Ms. Dash.” He said with a smile. “Wake here is quite fond of you.” “Um, who are you?” She asked. “Oh right, where are my manners? My name is Chief Sunrise. You can call me Sunny, Chief or whatever you want.” He said with a smile. “Okay, where am I? Last thing I remember is landing on an island.” She said as she rubbed her head. “Oh right. Welcome to Turtle Shell Island.” The elderly stallion said with a smile. “Wake here says you’re quite the flyer.” “Yeah, that’s me.” She said as the stallion handed her a cup of tea. “So what brings you out here Ms. Dash?” “This one.” She said as she pointed to Wake. “Speaking of which, why’d you swim off like that?” Wake looked at the Chief who nodded and exited the hut. “Look Dash, I come here to....remember things.” He said with a sigh.The mare looked at him in confusion. “Walk with me.” He said as he got to his hooves. The mare followed him outside the tent to see a full tribe of the ponies. “These are the Shell tribe members.” “Okay? Why are they on an island?” “It’s their home. I owe these ponies my life.” He said as they walked outside the tribal living area. “Why?” “They saved me when I was a colt. They’re some of the few that know about my wings and aren’t freaked out by it.” He said as they walked into a field. “They actually thought that I was some sort of god.” “WHAT?” “You see, they consider the Sea Turtle a sacred animal and I was brought to them by one. So they thought that it was some type of divine sign.” He said with a shrug. “A Sea Turtle did what?” She said in confusion. The stallion walked with her to the far edge of the field. He stayed quiet as the mare saw a small grave marker against a tree. “Wake? What is that?” “A makeshift grave stone for my brother.” He said in a low tone. The cyan mare put ahoof on his shoulder and tried to offer him some comfort. Dash looked over to see a brown tribal mare walking up to them. “I knew I’d find you here.” She said in a low tone. “Hey Hazel.” He said in a flat tone. “Still stuck in the past I see.” She said with a sigh. Rainbow eyed the other mare in confusion. “Hazel meet Rainbow. My mare friend.” He said as he pointed to the cyan mare. “So I’ve heard.” She said in a flat tone. “Wake, you’ve been blaming yourself for too long. It’s time to move forward.” The blue stallion scowled at the mare. “Oh don’t give me that look.” She said in a rough tone. “Hey back off! Do you have any idea what he’s been through?” Dash yelled as she got in the mare's face. “Yes, yes I do. If it wasn’t for me then Wake wouldn’t even be here!” She yelled. “ENOUGH! Both of you!” Wake said as he stepped between the mares. “Look, it was MY fault. That’s a fact.” He said in a low tone. Wake looked back at the cyan mare who looked more confused than ever. “Dash...I promise that I’ll explain everything once we meet up with the others. Okay?” “Fine.” She said in a flat tone. “We’d better get going. Knowing them they probably got lost.” “Okay. I’ll see you later Hazel.” “Will do and say hi to that idiot brother of mine.” She said with a nod. “Done.” He said as he and Dash took flight and flew off towards the mainland. Wake and Dash flew high above the sky and tried to find their five friends. Wake noticed a familiar brown Stetson hat being worn by an orange mare. He pointed down to the road and he and Dash started to descend. “There you guys are.” Wake said as he landed behind them. The mares turned back and saw their two winged friends. “Oh there you two are. We were getting worried.” Twilight said with a smile. “Sorry, I had to visit some old friends.” Wake said with a grin. “What are you guys doing anyway?” “Oh we were just getting a tour from a wonderful mare.” Rarity said with a smile. “Oh here she comes now.” Wake’s eyes shrank as he saw the pink Earth pony mare with a camera around her neck carrying a tray full of glasses. “Hey guys I got-” She stopped and dropped the tray making the drinks crash to the floor. Her eyes shrank as she saw the light blue stallion scowling at her. “W-Wake?” She said as all the color drained from her face. Wake slowly walked up to the mare still holding the icy stare. Coral was now shaking in pure fear of the stallion. “One piece of advise. Run.” The mare quickly galloped away from the group with great haste, leaving behind a small dust cloud. “Now why in the hay did ya go and scare her off like that?” Applejack said in a confusion. “That was my ex mare friend.” The group looked at him in shock. “She’s also the mare who sold me out years ago.” He said in a low tone. Rainbow put a hoof to her mouth in shock as she trotted up to her colt friend. “I said that I would explain everything to you and I will. Just not here.” He said as he trotted past the mares. The six ponies followed Wake past his home and into a graveyard. He walked past all the rows until he came to one that had a Sailboat carved into the stone. “Wake is this-” “Yeah, my brother’s grave.” He said as he slumped down in front of it. “So, did you really kill a shark?” Fluttershy asked. Wake gave her a slow nod. “Why?” “I wanted this back.” He said as he held up his turtle medallion. “You killed a shark for a piece of jewelry?” Twilight stammered. “No. I killed the shark because it killed my brother.” The mare’s instantly felt tears well up in their eyes. “This was his.” He said as he held up the medallion. “I gave it to him for earning his Cutie Mark a week before.....” The stallion couldn’t hold back the tears forming in his eyes. “He was only ten years old for Celestia’s sake!” He yelled. Dash wrapped him in a warm hug and ran a hoof through his mane. Wake looked at the medallion and pressed the turtles head. He heard a small metallic click as the shell opened up revealing a picture of a light blue Pegasus stallion and a red Unicorn colt on top of his head smiling. On the inside of the shell a small engraving read; Brothers to the end. “Oh my word.” Rarity said as she put a hoof to her mouth in shock. “Wait, if the shark ate him then how-” “I cut it open.” He said in a low tone. “There wasn’t much left.” He said as he hung his head in shame. “My brother and I were on a sail boat. Just a small boat meant for two ponies. My brother’s special talent was sailing and he wanted to practice. A big wave capsized the boat and my brother and I were flung into the water.” He said as he lowered his head. “I was a fairly good swimmer, while Reef was still learning how to swim. I managed to get a life jacket on him before the boat flipped. I used the mast as a floatation device. Reef swam up next to me and we both held on for hours.” Wake felt fresh tears roll down his eyes. “It’s okay Wake. I shouldn’t have asked.” Twilight said as she sniffled. “No...I think it’s about time I talked about it.” He said as he hung his head. “We spent the night clinging and paddling, hoping to find land. I managed to collect some more wreckage and rope together a wooden raft. Luckily one of the items that made it out of the boat was a survival kit. We had bandages, a knife and a little bit of food.” He said as he let out a sigh. “On the morning of the third day I saw a little piece of land in the distance. I flew up high in order to get a better look. When I flew back down to the raft Reef was....gone.” The stallion felt a new batch of tears well up in his eyes. “I...I saw what looked like a blood trail in the water and a dorsal fin leading away from the raft.” The mare’s were in tears at the stallion’s story. “Wh-what did you do?” Pinkie asked trying to hold back tears. “I dove in the water with the knife in my teeth and I dove after the shark.” “How? Sharks are one of the fastest animals in the ocean.” Twilight said with a sniffle. Wake pointed to his wings. “I’m a strong swimmer with just my hooves, but when I use my wings I can match a shark.” He said with a sigh. “As I caught up to it I saw that there was blood stained on it’s teeth. I managed to stick it a few times before it bit me.” He said as he pointed to his side. “After the bite I thought it was over. I could barely keep my eyes open.” He said as he hung his head in shame. “I swam towards the surface only to see a few more fins popping out of the water. I thought it was over.” The cyan mare put a hoof on her colt friend’s shoulder. “Then I felt something lift me up.” “Huh?” Pinkie asked. “I felt as though something was carrying me. I looked down to see that I was on the back of a Sea Turtle.” The mares looked at him in shock. “A group of them surrounded and protected me from the sharks. The brought me to shore on the island. We call it Turtle Back Island due to it’s odd shape.” He said with a sigh. “The Tribal ponies nursed me back to health and welcomed me as part of the tribe. I told them what happened and they sympathized with me. Then they taught me how to kill the shark.” “How did you...you know, kill it?” Applejack asked. “Sharks may be strong but they’re stupid. I led it into the shallows and ran it to ground as I neared the beach. Once I had it caught I used the knife to pierce it’s gills and it’s skull.” Fluttershy cringed back at the mention of it. “After that I managed to haul the damn thing to shore and I opened it up and I took this back.” He said as he looked at the medallion. “It’s all I have left.” He said in a low tone. Dash tightened the hug around him. “I’m so sorry Wake. I didn’t know coming back here would be this painful for you.” Dash said holding back tears. “I know. It’s about time I faced this.” He said as he hung his head. Wake looked towards the sky and saw Luna’s moon hanging over head. “C’mon it’s getting late.” He said as he stood up and walked back towards his home. The walk back was short and spent in silence. Wake trotted up to his home and trotted inside. The mares all let out a sigh and went to their rooms. Rainbow Dash followed her colt friend and crawled into bed next to him. The cyan mare heard the sniffles come from the stallion as she wrapped her hooves around him. Soon the small whimpers stopped as he fell asleep in the cyan mare’s arms.