//------------------------------//
// Chapter 8: It's a Jungle Out There 
// Story: The Five: Into the Beyond 
// by lyra_lover777 
//------------------------------//

	Dinky awoke in the morning refreshed and happy. Spike had been so... lustful kissing her last night. It had been pure joy. Dinky was surprised how serious their relationship had gotten, and in so little time, but she realized they had both been waiting for something like this for a long time. Spike had had Rarity to wait on, and Dinky had been denied by Pipsqueak, Rumble, and Button Mash. Pip went with Apple Bloom, Rumble with Scootaloo, and Button with Sweetie Belle. No wonder she had refused to join the crusaders. Having been deprived of this so long made them wanting, needing each others affections.
Dinky shook the thought as she heard a knock on the door. Hoping it was Spike, she sauntered seductively over to the door and opened it. She said "Hey Spikey." Seductively. And looked up to see Coco standing at the door.
Coco fell to the floor laughing and snorting. Dinky walked over her, making a point to step hard on Coco's chest before trotting away. 
Dinky arrived at Spike's room. Dinky looked down the hall to see Coco disappear into storage to put the third piece away. Maybe she wasn't such a snoop after all. Dinky got along with everypony except Coco really well. She knew Coco was just friendly joking around, but Dinky always took it like she really ment it. 
Dinky knew she had anger issues. She went to a therapist once a month to help it, but nothing could make it go away. Dinky had been doing really well until Coco. Coco just had all those traits that made her bristle with anger every time she met somepony with them.
Dinky knocked and Spike was quick to answer. He pecked her on the cheek. She leaned in for a kiss on the lips, but Spike pushed his way into the hallway.
"I'm really hungry." said Spike before running into the storage, probably to grab a box full of gems to stuff down his gullet. 
Dinky bristled. Had he just ignored her? Wait. Dinky tried to calm herself. Were supposed to be happy all the time. Right?
===
Roseluck sighed as she steered between a maze of rock pillars that reached several feet into the air. This was the hardest sailing she had done. Ever.
After several more minutes of trauma, the ship finally left behind the forest of rock. Roseluck sighed in relief. She checked the map. They were in open water for about an hour. 
Roseluck trotted a few feet away from the wheel to get a better view of the deck. Dinky sat on top of the tallest mast as lookout. She seemed a bit distant today. Must be something with Spike.
Anyways, Amethyst was napping in the sun, curled up on a pile of rope. Spike was below decks cleaning the rooms, and Coco was polishing all of their armor.
Roseluck hated to wake Amethyst, but Coco did it for her. Coco trotted out with the fixed and clean armor and shouted at the top of her lungs "Come and get it!"
Amethyst jumped to her hooves, pulling out her bow and firing. Coco ducked just in time and the arrow hit the deck behind them, hitting it with a loud thunk. Dinky rushed from her post to see if everypony was alright and to get her armor. Roseluck spared a few seconds away from the wheel to grab her armor.
Coco was making fun of Dinky again. That mare needed to go easier on the little filly. Roseluck thought that Coco forgot that Dinky was still a fragile filly, not a full grown mare.
Roseluck slipped on her armor quickly while running up the stairs to the wheel, Amethyst not far behind with the "Finder" clutched in her mouth. 
They both reached the map. Rosleuck turned her attention to the seas, steering out of the way of a barely noticeable sand bar. They could of cruised over it, but Roseluck didn't want to chance tearing up the hull. Meanwhile Amethyst slipped the "Finder" on and the map's icons appeared. They were about an hour away from the next place, a large island with the head of what looked like a head of a pet deer that some ponies have emblazoned on it. It was labeled " Anteopolis,The Antelope Empire."
Roseluck shook her head as they sailed on. Spike came out from below deck and swabbed the deck while Dinky took post on the mast. Coco went below decks to make cucumber salad for them all to have for lunch. Amethyst retreated to her sunny pile of rope coils and dozed off again. She had been pretending to check if the ropes were fraying or not when she eventually floated into the land of dreams.
Roseluck sailed on. In what seemed like weeks but was only hours, the ship arrived at the shore of the giant island. Everypony suited up in their newly cleaned weapons and armor (Thanks to Coco. Turns out she wasn't so useless.)
Coco had also made sure everypony had a secret dagger stuck in their mane or armor somewhere. Roseluck placed her's carefully in the thickest part of her tail.
The group departed, their hooves hitting a pristine white sand beach. A dense jungle sprung up at the top of the beach. No pony (or antelope) arrived to greet them. So the group headed into the dense jungle, tense and ready to fight.
===
Dinky moved forward, trailing behind Spike at the back of the group. Roseluck was leading, and Amethyst and Coco were right behind her, talking avidly. Well, as avidly as you can in a creepy dark jungle. 
They kept trotting on for about an hour, no sign of intelligent life or the jungle's end. 
Spike swatted away a leaf that hit Dinky in the face. She fell backwards and fell tumbling down the hill they had been going over.
Dinky was about to shout when she saw some weird creatures appear in the trees. She jumped into a bush near the top of the hill.
Dinky tried to alert them, but they didn't hear her. Spike turned around to say something to her but stopped in his tracks. He was about to say something when Dinky saw the creatures raise wooden pipes to their mouths.
The creatures were all tan, with a white underbelly and a black stripe just above that. Two small black horns rose from their heads, but were much thinner than a unicorn's.
Spike fell as a dart from the pipe hit him in the chest. Everypony else fell soon, too, except for Dinky.
Spike was barely conscious. "Rescue us." he stated before falling unconscious.
Dinky said" I will." quietly and then giving him a kiss on the lips.
Then Dinky got out of the bush and scurried away into the underbrush. What was she going to do?