After what happened with the zebras, Rarity and I made quick work with them by tying them up to a log with some rope that I found in my boat. The entire time, Rarity just smiled at me.
It took us about ten minutes, and we went back to the campsite.
"So how'd it go?" Pinkie asks as she bounced around the campfire.
“Good.” I couldn’t help but smile at Pinkie’s usual antics. I never thought I would experience them up close. My mind wandered over to the new-comer, as I near her. “Who is she?” I ask Rarity.
“Her name is Octavia Melody. She is a resident in Canterlot. She was playing the cello on our cruise when it sank."
"She was playing the cello part in the song 'Without You', wasn't she?"
"Yes. How did you know that?"
"That's not really important right now." That's about as much time as I wanted to spend with her. It would have ended in an awkward silence anyway.
With nothing else to do, I decided to go look for some food. Call me an idiot, but I was starting to get hungry. The zebras may be looking for Octavia, and here I'm going to go look for food.
I grab my backpack, grab some sticks for defense, and head out into the jungle. I was soon tackled by a cyan colored pegasus.
We rolled around in the sand until we finally stopped. Rainbow stood up before I did. She brushed herself off, then took a look at me. She chuckles a bit. "Uh, excuse me." Gee, where have I heard that before?
"You're excused Rainbow. What are you doing?"
"I was trying to catch some air, but some creature was blocking my way."
"Catch some air? You're wing is broken."
"What are you talking about? No it isn't."
I looked at her with a strange, confused look. Why is she denying that her wing is broken? She only chuckled at the expression I was making. She kept a smile on her face when she stopped laughing, which drove me to forget about what just happened... somehow.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm just going into the jungle to find some food. Applejack got some fruit, but I think we need a little more than that."
"Can I come? I'm getting really bored just hanging around."
I didn't say anything. Rainbow wasn't exactly my favorite pony. But I couldn't just say no to a mare with a broken wing. "Sure, why not?"
I turned around and heard Rainbow say a soft "Yes", and followed me into the jungle.
-------------------------------------------------
Let me tell you, spending time with Rainbow wasn't bad at all. She was a little annoying, but I didn't really pay much attention to it. She was telling me about some times where Equestria's fate was hanging on the balance, and she and her friends stopped it like bosses. I actually quite liked how she described them at times. Sometimes it was serious, other times she was acting sarcastic. If this Wonderbolt thing doesn't work out, she may have a career in storytelling. She might even make a brilliant author.
After an hour of walking blindly in the jungle, we heard some rustling coming from the right. At first, I thought it was Rarity following me once again, but I found out it was something not as harmless.
"Get down." I whispered to Rainbow. She showed a questionable look on her face, but then she obliged.
"They couldn't have gotten that far! We have to find them. They're the only ones who know how to activate the totem." shouted a gruff female voice.
"We'll find them! I bet Fenreet and Jaggern have already captured them by now. They're probably back at HQ right now." The male voice sounded much calmer than the females.
"First this, then that we were robbed by... Something." the female stated.
"I know, right? Have you seen the look on Centika's face when she found out? My ears still hurt from her yelling."
"Well, no time to worry about that now. We have to keep searching for them."
"They're probably back by now. Maybe they lost them or something."
"How are you so calm? The only zebras on this island who can summon Him are gone, and you're completely calm about it!? What the hay is wrong with you?"
"I have hope that they're back at HQ! Now calm down, Basprom."
"Shut up Samor!" The two zebras kept arguing until they were out of hearing distance. But we still stayed hidden behind the bushes, just in case.
I checked to see if they were still around. They seemed to be heading away from our camp, so we didn't need to worry about that.
"Are they gone?" Rainbow asked.
"Yeah... they're gone." Without a moment of hesitation, Rainbow jumped up from her sitting position and walked away, as I followed her.
She looked around, trying to spot a berry bush, or even some kind of fruit hanging off of a tree, even though I told her not to. I don't want her to do any kind of work while her wing is broken. She managed to find some fruit, and threw them into my backpack. I didn't feel like telling her not to, so I let her continue.
The entire trek through the jungle also consisted of her telling me about how she saved the Wonderbolts, over and over again. I decided to get on her about that when we got back.
"...as Rarity knocked them out by thrashing her hooves around, they also started to fall. And I was the only one that could save them. I quickly went down as fast as I possibly could, when BOOM!" Rainbow jumped, and landed on the back of my shoe, giving me a flat tire. "I save them when they're inches away from the ground. I also ma-"
I couldn't hear the sound of sticks or leaves cracking under her hooves. I turned around, to see her looking at something. Closer inspection showed that she was looking at a peculiar flower. "You'll have time to look at plants later. We have to keep moving."
"This plant," I stopped in my tracks. Her voice didn't sound very well. It sounded like a pair of scissors being dragged on a piano string. "It seems... so familiar."
The flower in question looked like a normal rose. A very big difference was that there were green threads drooping from eight places on the flower.
Rainbow studied it, looking at it in every angle she could think of. She touched it, making it sway backwards. "OUCH!" She screamed.
"Every rose has its thorn, doesn't it?" Rainbow didn't respond. She seemed too focused on her hoof. "Hey, you still with us?"
Rainbow turned around to look at me. "Bruce."
"Yeah?"
"I think you're gonna have to carry me." Rainbow fell to the ground, making a pretty nasty landing.
I stood above her, waiting for her to jump up and scare me. But she remained on the ground. "Haha, real funny Rainbow. Now get up." Once again, she did nothing.
I flipped her over to see if she was hiding a smug smile, but she wasn't. She was hiding the blood that flowed freely from her eyes.
-------------------------------------------------------
Twilight sat in her usual place under the sun. It was nothing particularly exciting, but she enjoyed it nonetheless. Being alone with her thoughts was just what the doctor ordered. She learned earlier that Bruce and Rainbow had ventured into the jungle to go searching for some food. She was told by Bruce before they left. She didn't see why, because Applejack had gotten some fruit earlier today.
It was funny. Their time here was no more than three days, but it felt like months. She didn't mind this at all, but she found it amazing how slow time can go. It seems that nowadays, ponies everywhere have so much time on their hooves and spent it doing absolutely nothing at all. Why not read a book, or learn a new trick? It would make up for all the lost time.
During Twilight's thoughts, she decided to go check up on the zebras. They were bound to be awake by now. Twilight got up, stretched a little, and started to trot. She took her time walking over to them. She had to think about what she was going to ask them. There was so many questions that they needed to answer, but she didn't want to take too much time asking questions.
It was getting dark by the time she had arrived. As she predicted, they were awake. Twilight sat down in front of them. Their eyes followed her every movement.
"Good evening, gentlecolts. My name is-"
"Twilight Sparkle." The one on her left said. "We know who you are." The zebra on the left looked much like a certain brown stallion back in Ponyville. If she remembered correctly, his name was Time Turner.
"How do you know who I am?" Twilight innocently asked.
"We knew that you were going to arrive on this island, and we knew you would bring the other elements bearers along with you. We know a lot of things Ms. Sparkle."
"You know us, yet I don't know who you are. What are your names?"
The zebra on the right spoke up. He looked older than the other zebra, and he shared similar features, besides his mane. His mane was more unkempt, and it was longer. "I'm Fenreet. And that's Jaggern."
"Alright, now just why are you two on this island? In fact, why do zebras inhabit this island?"
"This is our home. We were born here. If you didn't know already, this island is called Giba." said Jaggern.
"What are you doing here?"
"That's not important. What is important, is that Rainbow Dash character. She's got a problem that you have been too blind to see."
"What are you talking about? What about Rainbow Dash?"
Fenreet raised his hoof, pointing in the direction of an opening into the jungle. Twilight directed her attention to the opening. She saw nothing special about it. Until...
-------------------------------------------------------
With all the strength I had in my legs, I sprinted as fast as I possibly could back to camp. I tried my best to keep Rainbow from moving too much. I could hear her breath starting to grow faster, which wasn't a good sign. It only made me run faster.
I eventually arrived where we entered into the jungle, and dashed into camp. I
was greeted by Twilight sitting next to the zebras. Twilight jumped back in surprise when she saw me.
"But... what?" Twilight said, clearly bewildered.
"No time to explain. We just need to get help. Fast!" I lowered Rainbow safely to the floor. She seemed unconscious.
"What happened to her?" Twilight asked.
"I don't know what happened. We were just walking around the jungle, when she spotted this plant," I told her what happened after she spotted the flower. Her strange sounding voice, and her falling to the ground.
"Get the others. Have them grab the tarp from your boat." I stayed there even though she gave me pretty straight-forward directions. I couldn't take my eyes off her hers. They seemed to yell at me for help. And I couldn't do anything.
"BRUCE!" I shook my head, breaking myself free from my own thoughts. "Get going!"
Not another moment of hesitation. I ran as fast as I possibly could. The others were preparing themselves for the night. They're probably not going to get any sleep after this.
"HEY!" I get their attention quickly. "Somepony grab the tarp from the boat!"
"Why?" Pinkie asks.
"Just do it!" I quickly yelled. Not waiting for a response, I turned myself around and ran back to Twilight and Rainbow.
Before reaching her, I was cut off by the grey mare known as Octavia. I skidded to a stop before running right into her. She still had that terrified look on her when I first saw her. "You're coming to."
"What? What's going o-"
I quickly picked her up. "No time to explain." She tried to buck me in the face, but I somehow managed to dodge it. She squirmed around a lot, but I kept running nonetheless. Despite her efforts to be put down, I still ran. There was nothing else I could do but run. All the obstacles I had to face while running to Rainbow meant nothing. Nothing did. Nothing but her.
Nearly passed out from exhaustion, I stopped when I was, maybe, eight feet away. I set down Octavia, and she bucked my leg.
Sure it hurt, but I really didn't care. I limped my way towards the body of Rainbow, while the other four were close behind.
-------------------------------------------------------
Two zebras walk down a cobblestone path, lit by a dozen torches. The path led to a large, block based building. The building was built in the middle of a massive forest, which led to It may have been nothing fancy, but the architects were in a hurry to build it. Perhaps in the future, they'll add something a little fancier.
The zebras continued walking. They eyed each other with a silent rage. Their angry silence spoke over two-thousand words. Two-thousand more than they wanted to.
Basprom left Samor's side, attending some business that had to be dealt with. It's about time she left. He thought to himself.
He was supposed to head towards his assigned business quarters, where he sorted the various weapons that they have acquired, but he instead strayed from his path. He trotted over to a bush, and took out an axe that he had hidden there.
He raised the axe up over his head, and let it fall onto the fence. The fence cracked, but only slightly. He repeated this process, until the fence had cracks all over it, even in places that he didn't even touch with the axe. He delivered one last blow, and the fence broke. Well, not really broke, just shrunk down to a smaller size.
The now smaller fence hovered up and down and spun around, while staying in the same spot. Samor ran through the gap in the gate, and into the forest.
Samor wandered around the forest, leaving hoofprints that led to dead ends. He stopped when he decided it was safe to do what had to be done.
The zebra sat on the ground. He let himself get a little comfortable before he began his process. He shut his eyes, and in a flash, he changed shape. Samor was no longer a zebra, but an insect. A changeling.