Chapter 5
Trek
Twilight, Rainbow, Plaz, and Bronze trudged up a large, grassy hill, continuing on toward the presumed location of the cockpit. The sun occasionally peeked out from the clouds, casting scattered splotches of golden light across the low vegetation. The earthen mound allowed for a spectacular view of the rest of the island, even providing a nice view of the beach far behind them.
"Do I know you from somewhere?"
Twilight's ears perked up at Plaz's query, so she slowed her walk to allow for him to catch up. "I'm sorry, what did you say?" she asked politely.
Plaz briskly cantered up beside her. "I asked if I knew you from somewhere," he repeated.
"Being Princess Celestia's personal student does garner me some attention," Twilight said.
"Oh! You're the Twilight Sparkle!" Plaz exclaimed in realization. "Element of Magic, Celestia's prized pupil, sister of the Crystal Prince Shining Armor," he listed.
"What gave it away?" she grinned.
"Just thought I'd seen you somewhere. That wedding issue, though," Plaz gave a low whistle, "it was quite a famous event. The Captain of the Royal Guard marrying the princess of the Crystal Empire. Canterlot being overrun by the entire changeling army..."
"Don't remind me," Twilight rolled her eyes.
"Sorry."
"It's fine," she reassured him. "Were you there?"
"I was in Germaney at the time. Giving a speech about the theory of nuclear energy. But it was all over the news, though," Plaz grinned. Twilight gave a small laugh in response. He looked over his shoulder and back at Bronze Shield. "Hey, Shield!" he called.
Bronze looked up to him, "Yeah?"
"Did you know that we are in the presence of the Twilight Sparkle?"
"You mean... the personal student of Princess Celestia, Twilight Sparkle?" he questioned. "Sister to the Captain of the Royal Guard, Twilight Sparkle?"
"Indeed," Plaz confirmed, "the one and only."
Bronze's eyes lightened a bit, "Wow! I can't believe I'm actually standing near you! Your brother, Captain Shining Armor, was once my superior officer," he added proudly.
"What do you mean 'once?'" Rainbow asked, entering the conversation.
"I left the guard a little over a year ago after being laid up in a hospital for being injured in the 'line of duty,' as it's called," he explained. "We were answering to an arson case in Canterlot that went sour. I got hit with my partner's spell that reflected off of a mirror that the suspect had. I recovered, but not after going through a couple dozen sessions of physical therapy."
"And what were you doing in Sydneigh?" Twilight asked.
Bronze gave a small laugh. "I was taking a vacation."
"Mimosas by the beach?" Plaz asked jokingly.
"I wish! There's only so much you can get from two bits an hour. Stupid desk job."
They all laughed as they walked deeper into the jungle. Above, the sky quickly grew cloudy, and the sun's light began to decrease. Yet, the four were undeterred by the fact.
*RRRUUUUMMMMBBBBBUUUUUUULLLLLEEEEE*
< - - - - - > = < - - - - - >
Mend and Fluttershy watched over the unconscious form of a unicorn stallion lying in the sand. He was badly injured, with a good sized piece of jagged metal piercing his side. Little crimson streams had dried in his grey coat, only to moisten again as the wound irregularly leaked blood.
"Do you think that you can help him?" Fluttershy asked uncertainly.
Mend sighed as he examined the laceration more closely, gently feeling around the injury. He sighed and leaned back on his haunches. "Why didn't anyone tell me sooner?"
"Well, um... he was found last night by somepony who had to... you know," Fluttershy blushed. "They brought him to me, and since you were still busy with some of the others, I tried to help..." she trailed off.
"It's alright," Mend reassured, though he sighed again. "It would have been better if we were on a rescue boat, by now. I could try to remove the shrapnel, but I'd rather not risk it."
"I'm sure that Twilight and Rainbow Dash will bring the transceiver back quickly," Fluttershy said optimistically.
Mend gave a drawn out sigh. "If it's even there."
*RRRUUUUMMMMBBBBBUUUUUUULLLLLEEEEE*
The skies suddenly grew very dark and ominous, shrouding the beach and its inhabitants in muted, grey illumination. Mend and Fluttershy looked up at the threatening thunderheads.
"Damn!" Mend swore, "We have to move him under something! I can't risk him getting infected from anything that might be in the rain!"
Fluttershy spread her wings above the wounded stallion and hovered into the air, lightly fluttering her aerodynamic appendages. "I'll keep the rain off of him," she assured Mend.
He nodded in understanding and grabbed the stallion's hooves. There was a piece of metal wedged into the sand a couple feet away, and he figured that it was as good a spot as any. He started to pull him towards the overhang as Fluttershy hovered over them, her wingspan fully spread, ready for the rain. Mend dragged the stallion under the impromptu roof just as the rain started.
The rain seemed to come out of nowhere, dropping out of the sky in a full fledged torrential downpour. The beach, and anypony in the open, were soaked in seconds. The ponies out in the open scurried across the sand in an attempt to hide from the rain. Most hid in the main fuselage, while an assortment of others ducked under scattered bits of wreckage that had enough coverage to shield them.
A pony ran over to a small overhang that was occupied by a blue unicorn stallion and a pink unicorn mare. He attempted to squeeze in with them, but the stallion waved him away.
"Non! Il n'y a pas assez de place pour vous là-dessous! Allez ailleurs! Nous pouvons à peine tenir comme il est!" the blue stallion exclaimed. He quickly waved his hoof away from them. The mare beside him set herself more towards the back of their makeshift shelter. The pony outside shook his head, not understanding what was just said to him, and ran off to take cover under something else.
Applejack, Rarity, their sisters, Scootaloo, Spike, and Cadence all sat within the central fuselage, the rain streaming down the sides and through any cracks in the structure.
"Hey," Applejack looked around, "has anypony seen Pinkie Pie anywhere?"
"She's out there," Cadence answered, pointing her hoof down the beach.
Everypony craned their necks and followed the direction she was indicating, surprised to see the mare in question in the middle of the storm. They watched Pinkie Pie as she sat on her haunches a ways outside, letting the rain fall around her. She slowly lifted her forelegs up, opening them as if to embrace the water droplets. Pinkie's mouth began to curve into a smile, and she leaned back until her face was being splattered with water. Her mane was beginning to absorb some rain and the wet hair drooped down to hang around her neck and along her upper back.
The six ponies and dragon within the wreck exchanged confused looks.
"What in tarnation is she doin'?" Applejack asked her fellow companions.
"I'd say that she's just being Pinkie Pie," Sweetie Belle said.
"That's obvious," Applebloom agreed.
Pinkie continued to beam up at the sky, unaware of the comments about her. She just felt the rain hit her body, giving her a tickling sensation as it worked its way down to the sand below.
< - - - - - > = < - - - - - >
Twilight, Plaz, Rainbow, and Bronze maneuvered their way through the thick, grassy underbrush they encountered. Tall trees were spread around them, vines hanging from their branches and stretching toward the ground. The leaves filtered what sunlight was not obscured by the clouds and cast irregular patches of dull light over the ground. Without any further warning, rain began to fall from the sky in torrents, thouroughly drenching the journeyers.
Bronze looked up, blinking the rainwater out of his eyes as it hit him. "Is... is this sort of weather... normal?" he asked uncertainly.
"Where are the weather ponies?" Rainbow asked quizzically. The four of them searched the shy for any signs of pegasi, anything to indicate that there were other inhabitants. "Is anypony there?!" she called out.
There was silence aside from the general slapping of rain on leaves.
"This is creepy," Bronze said loudly, nervousness apparent in his tone.
"Let's not think about it," Twilight said over the noise, her eyes darting around.
"I agree," Plaz voiced.
Twilight turned back to check on Rainbow and Bronze, her wet mane swinging with her and the edges dripping. Her tail hadn't fared any better. Bronze's mane was falling around his face, covering the bridge of his snout and his tail hung limply behind him. Rainbow had endured a similar scenario, her mane clinging to her coat and falling in front of her eyes while her tail drooped behind her. The pegasus whipped her head around, her mane flipping out of her eyes but flinging little, sparkling flecks of water about. Twilight looked back at Plaz and saw that his mane was dripping a dark colored liquid. The soot from the day before had remained in his dark green hair and was now being washed out by the rain.
"I was meaning to take a bath, today" Plaz mumbled.
"Do you think you can estimate how much longer we'll be walking?" Twilight asked him.
Plaz looked ahead, squinting through the rain. "Well... we've been walking rather quickly for almost twenty minutes without pause, covering maybe one to one-and-a-half miles. I predict that we'll come across it in a few moments, assuming that it didn't change direction as it crashed."
"That could be a bit of a problem," Rainbow pointed out.
"Though, I'd highly doubt that would happen," Plaz continued. "A vessel that large and traveling at such a high velocity would likely smash through a couple trees rather than be redirected by them."
"Let's hope you're right," Rainbow said. "The faster we get out of this rain the better."
"I agree with that," Bronze said.
They walked deeper into the jungle, the rain coming down and their hooves sinking into the ever moistening dirt that was turning to mud with each second. They continued on as the trees began to grow closer together and their vines would stretch down, making a green curtain to the path in front of them. They soon came across a tree that was laid across the ground, its bulky trunk obscuring the path. They attempted to circle around, but the vines and trees grew much to thickly and prevented any advance other than forward or back the way which they came.
"I suppose we'll have to go over it," Twilight stated.
"Not a problem," Bronze said, stepping forward. "I'll jump on top and pull you up after me."
"And how are you going to jump that?" Rainbow asked. The nearest branch was nearly seven feet up, and it would be a difficult grip with all the rainwater spilling down.
Bronze ignored her question and ran towards the trunk, leaping up to grab on. He jumped about six feet but his hooves gripped at the stub of a branch and he used his upper body strength to pull himself over. He stood up and looked over the opposite end, and his eyes went wide at what he saw.
"Do you see something?" Twilight called up, noticing his expression. She blinked the raindrops out of her eyes.
Bronze nodded slowly, "You should see it for yourselves." He turned around, leaned over the trunk, and held out his hooves down toward Twilight. "Ready?" he asked.
"Ready," she nodded. Twilight jumped up and reached for his hooves, grasping them tightly despite their wetness. Bronze pulled her up and she was soon standing next to him. "Next?" he looked to Rainbow and Plaz.
"After you, dear," Plaz gestured for Rainbow Dash to go ahead of him.
Rainbow jumped up and, following Twilight's example, pulled herself up with Bronze's aid. Plaz came last and, when he was finally up, they all looked toward what had preoccupied Bronze's attention.
"That's a lot bigger than I thought," Rainbow remarked.
"Agreed," Bronze said.
The front section of the plane was lying diagonally, the nose of the vessel pointed up and wedged between two trees. There was some metal debris scattered around, and a large, steel plate was embedded within a tree, obviously thrown off after the crash. The four companions surveyed the scene with uncertainty, trepidation, and a strong resolve to retrieve what they had come for. If someone hadn't already used it, that is.
Twilight looked between the other three ponies around her, and returned her gaze to the wreck. She sighed. "Are we all ready for this?"