As the night dragged on, Scootaround and Daring Do found themselves unable to stay awake any longer. The lanterns in the cabin were turned down, and the only sounds were the waves, the gentle hum of the ship's engine, and the occasional creak as the captain steering the ship made a change.
Daring Do was having the most peculiar dream. She was back in the ring, fighting the lion. As she tried to move, it moved to block her. Daring could make out the jeering of the crowd, chanting her opponent's name. The lion stood on its haunches and roared menacingly, and suddenly it's mane was alight with fire. The edges of the ring erupted into a blaze, trapping Daring and the lion together in a glowing ring of flame.
The lion belched loudly, sending a streaming jet of fire in her direction, which she was just barely able to avoid by ducking and rolling to one side. The fire left a burnt streak in the floor of the fighting ring, and the Lion was circling her, finding an opening to pounce. Daring galloped to the opposite side of the ring, putting distance between herself and the flaming feline. It charged at her, and Daring leaped over it, getting her belly licked with the flickering fire of the lion's mane. Daring landed behind the lion, and delivered a strong kick to its hindquarters.
The fire disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, and the lion was reduced to mere ashes. Daring slowly backed away in horror as the ashes condensed and reformed into a gargantuan black serpent. Daring recoiled from the creature- truth be told she was very much afraid of snakes, and this one looked downright deadly.
The serpent lashed out, fangs at the ready. Daring yelped, and jumped into the air to avoid it. With her wings, she could stay airborne and not have to deal with the repulsive reptile. Unfortunately for her, the snake slithered its great neck upwards, lashing at the bottoms of her hooves. Daring squirmed in midair, trying to go higher still, but her head caught the roof of the tent, and the snake was still rising after her. It was an incredible distance for a creature like a snake to go. It appeared to be growing in length to be able to reach up to her. The snake's head reached her eye-level, and Daring gulped, not knowing where she could go. Then, the serpent's mouth opened, and it spoke.
"Wake up, Dr. Do! Wake up!" yelled the snake. Daring opened her eyes, and the snake's menacing face vanished, being replaced by a worried-looking filly wearing a newsboy hat.
"What is it, kid?" Daring said, sitting up groggily. "We there already?"
"We're somewhere," muttered Scootaround, trying to drag Daring Do to a standing position. Daring stood up on all four hooves, and shook her head, trying to rid herself of the sleepy feeling she was experiencing. She looked around. The ship was at an angle, and she could make out the shape of several boulders, and a sandy beach. Sunlight poured in through the port side window.
"Where's the captain?" Daring asked, snapping into alertness. Something was seriously wrong, and she could feel it. Nopony docked a boat on an abandoned beach. They had run ashore by accident somehow.
"Missing!" exclaimed Scootaround, grimacing. "Dr. Do, what are we gonna do?"
"Well,” said Daring, stepping out of the boat's cabin and walking onto the deck, "We're gonna have to find where he went, or maybe get into the contact with local ponies living here." She looked around, now that she was out of the cabin she had a better view of her surroundings. She could clearly see the sand, the waves crashing onto the beach, the forest, and up in the distance she could make out the towering form of a volcanic mountain, which appeared relatively dormant.
"Tropical island," Daring noted, "Probably not one of the Equestrian mining facilities, but there might be a local group digging gemstones out of the mountain. Tell you what, kid. How about we go for a walk, and see if we can find somepony. Grab your gear, we might not be coming back to the boat right away."
Daring Do and Scootaround made their way into the forest. The island they had landed on was quite large, and it had a tropical climate. The sun was warm, and the air was thick with humidity. Daring wiped a bead of sweat off her forehead with one hoof, before continuing inwards. She had no machete or anything to cut down the brush ahead of her, so she and Scootaround were trampling over the less thick parts, trying to cut a path towards where Daring believed they would find fresh water in the form of a river.
"You see, if anypony lives here, they'll be near freshwater sources. The freshwater is likely closer to the center of the island," said Daring. Scootaround looked confused.
"Why fresh water? There's the ocean right there, why can't somepony just drink water out of that?" After hearing Scootaround's remark, Daring laughed.
"You can't drink seawater, kid," Daring said, continuing to work her way through the tropical ferns on the forest floor. "It's bad for you. It takes more water to get rid of the salt in it than you can actually get from drinking it. It can actually dehydrate you quickly."
"Well, what about boiling it?" asked Scootaround, clamoring over a rotten log laying on the forest floor.
"I heard that if somepony boils water, they can get rid of germs and make it safe to drink."
"Well, that's true," said Daring, "You can boil water of any kind to kill nasty bacteria and stuff. But boiling salt water doesn't get rid of any of the salt. You'd need to distill it to do that."
"Oh."
Scootaround cocked her head to one side. She looked up into the high canopy of the tropical treetops, watching a small capuchin monkey up in a tree as it swung to another branch. Daring stepped through another patch of ferns, and before her she could see the the trees starting to thin out into a small stream. Daring motioned for Scootaround to follow her, and cautiously approached the running water. When she had reached the water's edge, she dipped her head down, tasting the water briefly.
"Fresh," said Daring as she looked up, "I wouldn't drink it just yet, though. I'd boil it first." She took a few steps upstream on the muddy bank of the stream, looking at the tracks left in it. They had an odd number of toes, and seemed to lead north, farther up the stream. She looked up, trying to peer above the treetops, and saw a spiraling column of smoke stretching into the air. She blinked a couple times.
"Scoot, we're gonna follow that smoke. Either it's a camp set up by the missing captain, or it's some locals. We'll find out soon for sure."
****
Soon Daring and Scootaround arrived near the area where they had seen the smoke rising from. There was a small clearing, where dirt had been packed down by the inhabitants of a small tribal village. The two ponies could see the squat huts and the fires, as well as various outlying tools and gardens that the tribe had constructed. Currently the harvest seemed withered and decayed, and the inhabitants of the village had very glum expressions.
Surprisingly enough, the villagers were not ponies. They were Tapirs. The tapirs had brownish black coats, and wrinkled snouts. Many of the young males had tribal tattoos emblazoned on their hindquarters, and painted designs on their snouts. The chief of the village was a much older tapir who had a length of grayed beard descending from his chin. The chief was currently beckoning for Daring Do to follow him, so she and Scootaround followed.
The three walked through the dusty area that had been packed down by tribal use, and up a steep slope on the side of the hill. The trees thickened, but there was a discernible dirt path that had been worn down by travel. Admittedly, it was a little narrow when compared to Daring Do, but that was because she was an adult pony, while Tapirs were much smaller beings even when fully grown. The chief stopped in front of a pedestal carved out of stone, which stood erect in the middle of yet another clearing. Worn out areas around it suggested that Tapirs would gather around the pedestal in a circular formation. The chief turned to Daring meaningfully, and began speaking in his native language. Daring gasped, and he continued to speak, and she nodded, understanding.
While Daring may have known what he was saying, Scootaround did not. She cocked her head to one side, and scratched her brownish black mane beneath her hat.
"What's he saying, Dr. Do?" Scootaround asked, "It sounds like gibberish to me." As the chief continued to speak, Daring Do translated for Scootaround.
"He's speaking in his native tongue. I only know the root language it stems from, so bear with me," Daring explained, while taking in the words that the chief made as he gestured towards the pedestal.
"He says that thieves came in the middle of the night several days ago and stole their idol- an idol made out of ivory built in the shape of a mighty phoenix. The idol was the symbol of their protector- it protected the village from an evil curse. When the idol was stolen, the protection vanished, and the curse set upon them. Famine, fires, and all the vegetation in their gardens shriveled up and decayed. They haven't got enough food to feed every tapir in the village now- they're just getting by with what they can scrounge from the forest. There's also a rampant sickness that just set in earlier today, high fevers and infection."
"All that because the idol was stolen?" asked Scootaround, looking at the bare pedestal and grimacing.
"The idol protects from an ancient curse set on the island by...." said Daring, translating the tapir's last words and trailing off as her mouth gaped open.
"By who, Dr. Do?" inquired Scootaround.
"...A curse set on the island by the Lord of Chaos. The translation from what he's saying is division, or chaos. I have a hunch that he means Discord." Daring mused. She looked into the chief's eyes meaningfully, and said a few words in the form of a question. The chief looked about himself, nodding, and pointed with one foot off to the north, in the direction of the volcano.
"He says that the thieves fled into that direction. There's a population of ponies in that area, who came here many years ago to mine for gemstones. They're not the ones we were after- these are non-Equestria ponies. He says that the thieves were large like ponies, and they descended from the sky when they stole the idol."
Daring turned to the chief, and mouthed another few words, nodding. The chief looked pleased, and proceeded back down the path, towards the village. Daring and Scootaround followed suit.
"What'd you tell him?" asked Scootaround.
"I said we were heading in that direction and that we'd try to see if we could get the idol back." said Daring. "I don't know how much they taught you about Discord in those classes, kid, but what he's saying might be plausible, and I think we should take his word."
"Why do you say that?" Scootaround asked, as they re-entered the village. Daring motioned towards the vegetable patches, and the decayed food.
"That's why," said Daring, "They've got too many mouths to feed, and not enough supply. Plus, there's many tapirs that are stricken by disease. Strife leads to discord, and discord leads to chaos."
"So we're gonna help them out?" said Scootaround, grinning. She had always wanted to go on another adventure ever since the last one she had been on.
"You bet we are, kid," Daring said, "Better fill up your canteen here, it's a long climb up to the volcano."