//------------------------------// // The Arrival // Story: The Island // by Avagantam0s //------------------------------// The Island It was a beautiful summer morning, the kind of morning where everypony wanted to be outside enjoying it. This particular morning seemed to be even more beautiful than normal. The clouds were extra fluffy, Celestia’s sun shone extraordinarily bright, and a gentle breeze blew through the park where you were relaxing under a tree. You could hear the faint sound of fillies laughing in the distance, further adding to the serenity of the day. “Man,” you thought to yourself, “there’s only one thing missing to make this absolutely perfect. If only she was he- Oh! Here she comes now.” An unbelievably gorgeous mare was flying towards you. Her yellow mane continued to flow behind her as she landed next to you thanks to the peaceful breeze, which only added to her beauty. You couldn’t help but notice that only one eye was focused on you while she smiled, the other eye lazily drifting off to the side. You didn’t mind though, because you knew that despite what other ponies said about her looks, you loved her all the same, and while she may not be the most graceful pony, you found her clumsiness adorable. “So how was your day, Love?” You finally ask after you finish admiring her. “It was wonderful, Dear.” She responded with a happy smile. “Everything went smoothly and I even managed to pick up some muffins on my way here,” she says, pointing at a brown bag as her smile gets even bigger. Suddenly snuggling up close to you, she says, “But before we get to the muffins, I’d rather taste you.” She pushes you to the ground and stares at you lovingly. As she slowly starts to bring her lips to yours, you think to yourself, “This day is definitely perfect.” As soon as you finish this thought, your lips meet and the only thoughts you have are of her. Her taste, her smell, her feel, everything about her. You feel her breathe mix with yours, filling your lungs. As you try to breathe the air she just gave you, you violently start to cough, and your world is shattered before your eyes. --------------- You wake up coughing, trying to dispel the liquid in your lungs, almost banging your head against somepony else. As you roll over to finish coughing, you feel a hoof gently stroke your back and a concerned voice reaches your ears. “Are you okay? How does your head feel? Are you in pain?” The voice rapidly asks one question after another, barely giving you the chance to answer, which you currently couldn’t do anyway. As the last of the violent coughs ends you realize two things. One, it’s very early in the morning. Two, there’s a beautiful blue-gray pegasus with a yellow mane and tail sitting next to you. Her eyes are filled with tears, and although one eye is looking at you worriedly, the other is busy examining something off to the side. You feel like you should recognize her, but your head feels like it’s trapped in a vice and you can’t think straight. You stare at her face, waiting for something to click although it never does. You suddenly realize you’ve been staring at her for quite some time and decide to break the silence. “Why are you crying? Are you hurt?” “Am I hurt?!” She yells back at you, although you can’t understand why she’s angry. She glares at you hard enough to cause you to flinch as she continues to shout, “Your head is bleeding, you almost drowned, you were unconscious for several minutes and you ask me if I’m hurt?” As she finishes yelling at you, both of her eyes manage to focus on you. You’re surprised to hear her get so angry over this, considering you’re pretty sure you don’t know her, and the only thing you do is answer with a weak, “I’m…sorry?” She suddenly throws her forelegs around your neck as she apologizes. “Don’t be sorry, Dear.” Dear? She talks as if we’re pretty close, but I don’t remember her at all. As you think this, she continues talking. “You’ve always cared about others before yourself, so I shouldn’t be too surprised you asked me that.” Your mind starts to go crazy, increasing the vice-like pain in your head. You slowly push the mare away from you and she gives you an almost hurt expression, but it passes quickly and you’re not sure if you truly saw it. You decide to ask the question that has been nagging at the back of your mind, “Who are you?” This time, the pain in her face is quite visible, with her mouth agape with shock, although you still don’t see it as your brain goes into overdrive. “Actually, who am I? How did we get here? Where is here? Why-” You suddenly get cut off as she places a hoof to your mouth, tears visibly streaming down her face. “Please don’t say anything else.” She pleads with you, trying to hold back her sobs. “But I don’t remember anythi-” Once again she cuts you off. “Please. Just…don’t.” You can clearly see how pained she is and realize that if you really are as close as you think, this must be torturous for her. You sit there quietly as she gets control of herself. Eventually she looks up at you with bloodshot eyes and says, “I’ll answer all of your questions, but first we have to take care of your head injury. It may not be bleeding badly, but we still need to wrap it.” You reach up and feel the back of your head. Sure enough, your hoof comes away bloody. “Okay,” you say, “Do you have anything to use, or do we have to makeshift it?” “Yes, I have something. At least, I think I do,” she says as she stands up, her voice still shaking slightly. “Some supplies washed up along with our life boat.” She flies off before you get a chance to ask anything. While she’s gone, you finally look around to get your bearings. You’re on a beach, between the shore line and the tree line. Looking towards the ocean, you are shocked to see so much water. In fact, the only thing you see is water. Considering you can't see any other signs of land, you assume you’re on an island in the middle of the ocean. Sighing to yourself, you look towards to tree line. You notice the forest seems to naturally rise with a gentle incline, and that it already seems to be alive with life. You realize that this island is actually quite beautiful, but the thought is quickly overshadowed by the hopelessness you now feel. Well, you think to yourself, at least I’m not alone. Even if I don’t remember her. You look over to where the un-named mare flew off and see that she’s flying back towards you with a white box in her hooves. “I found an emergency-medical kit on the beach. It should have everything we need,” she announces as she lands next to you. She opens the box and pulls out gauze and begins to slowly wrap your head, tying it tight to prevent future bleeding. After she finishes the job, she sits on her haunches and stares at you with one eye, the other one having returned to its usual position. She continues to stare for several minutes as you try to think of how to ask your questions without upsetting her. As it turns out, you don’t need to, because she starts to talk very quickly. “First off, my name is Ditzy Doo. You and I are,” she pauses, before continuing, “very close friends.” That last part sounds a little funny to you, but with no memory to back it up, you can’t really argue. “Ever since we met at school as foals, we’ve been best friends.” She sighs, maybe remembering your early years together? “I’m sure you’ve guessed by now, but we’re stranded on an island. We ended up here because we both had some vacation time saved up from our jobs and decided we needed a break. I rented a small boat for the two of us to enjoy. Everything was going well for the first few hours. We were the only two passengers and the captain was a very old and very nice stallion who practically lived on the ocean. Only hours after we left port, however, we struck something in the water and our boat started to sink. The captain told us to get into lifeboat and save ourselves. He planned on staying behind with his one true love until the very end." She tears up at this point but it passes very quickly. "You and I got into the life boat and bailed. As we approached the island, the ocean slowly started leading us towards those rocks.” She points a hoof towards the sea, where you could just make out vague shapes that look like the teeth of a dragon. “When we crashed into them, we both went under, but you...you hit your head on the rocks first and were knocked out. It took me a while to find you, and when I finally did, you weren't moving. I was so scared, I thought that I lost you. That you were...dead." You hear her sniffle and look up at her. You notice that she is trying her hardest not to cry again. Unlike last time however, you are aware of her grief and move closer to console her. Without hesitating, you reach out a hoof to gently stroke her mane, a motion that feels natural to you. After a little break she continues, "I brought you to the beach as fast a I could and tried giving you CPR. Thank Celestia I took a class on it." At this point, she loses all control over her tears and they pour down. Whether from grief of what could have happened, or joy that she saved you, you're not sure. All you know it that your heart hurts seeing her like this, even if you don't know why. She buries her face into your shoulder as you continue to comfort her. “You don’t have to finish if you don’t want to. I can pretty much piece together what happened after that.” She replies with a soft ‘thank you’ and doesn’t say anything for a while; she just relaxes her body to your gentle stroking. With Ditzy finally calmed down, and a basic understanding of your situation, you try to piece things together: One - I obviously have some form of amnesia. Hopefully not permanent Two - We're trapped on an island with no obvious way off. We could wait for help or try to get off ourselves. Have to discuss with Ditzy later. Three - Ditzy and I are very close friends. That's not hard to believe, considering how much it hurts seeing her upset and how distraught she was over my near death experience. However, I think that there may be more to this. Something deeper between us. If only I could remember. Finishing the end of your list, you notice that Ditzy has dozed off and is leaning against you heavily. Realizing how tired the whole ordeal was, you decide to follow Ditzy's lead and take a nap. Shifting your weight so that you can both sleep comfortably, you gently fall asleep next to her. Unbeknownst to you, Ditzy mumbles three words in her sleep. "I'm so sorry."