//------------------------------// // Coming Undone 1 // Story: My Little Pony: Paisley Tales // by ukulelemoon //------------------------------// ‘Ponies will ask me different sorts of questions all the time during tours of the Island. The most common question is, “What’s it like being married to a crazy inventor?” I have to laugh because seeing the humor in my situation is how I cope. I’m not on tour right now, but the question keeps running through my head harder than fillies and colts in the school-yard during recess. You’re never bored because this whirl-wind romance offers you so many different experiences that you’d probably never encounter on your own. Just think, what lucky wife wouldn't adore the opportunity of having half her kitchen burned down during one of her husband’s experiments? Or what about having your prize-winning Moonflowers used as an alternative fuel-source for one of his hair-brained inventions? You almost forgave him for that little incident, almost. Did I mention that the soil is probably completely ruined and will probably never yield again? All in the name of science! In your heart, you know he’s one of the most brilliant and gifted minds on the whole island. Gear Turner is always attempting to make life on the Paisley Islands better by creating inventions of convenience. Your husband is known as reliable, gentle and true and just about everyone thinks he’s a swell pony. Being an eccentric scientist married to the flamboyant tour-guide of the Island does make you an odd-couple. Everyone on this island thinks your marriage is a blessed one, and it is! You don’t understand why lately he aggravates you so much with things as simple as the way he chews his food. You should be grateful! You reason to yourself that he only gets under your skin because you love him so much. He’s always got some great discovery just waiting to burst out of that wild imagination of his and right into your home like a canon! The mess left in its wake would surely point evidence that a canon had exploded in the middle of your living room, bedroom or porch. They say that marriage is a journey that a husband and wife take together. It seems that the dashing stallion who stole your heart so completely may have also lost his marbles somewhere along the way. That witty smile and optimistic twinkle in his eye almost make it easy to forgive the idiot when he screws up so badly and leaves your bathroom sink in tatters. It seems that the pit-stops in this marital voyage never come soon enough and you find yourself running on empty. Unrest. Words spoken too quickly and with little thought given to their weight and tone. You hurt him, cutting past his defenses and giving validity to his worst fears. Sometimes when Gear Turner is faced with your anger, he shuts down. He doesn’t think the way his fertile mind allows and he does some really dumb stuff while he is in this state. Letting your temper get the best of you for something so insignificant seems trivial now. Home is nothing without the people in it, right? Now you’re beloved is missing somewhere in this mess and you’re paying dearly for the words that you used as a weapon earlier. The question should be phrased as “What’s the very worst thing about being married to a crazy inventor?” Loving him so much that you don’t think about all the consequences when you leave the storm shelter.” Ukulele Moon’s hooves thundered down the path of the volcanic beach towards her home. Around the teal colored unicorn’s head the air-stream was really beginning to pick up quite violently. Large gusts of wind thrashed against her body without warning and almost knocked her down despite her best efforts. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see that the waves were beginning to grow in their strength and height. Soon, they wouldn't be abstract whitecaps drifting a few miles out from the coast. As every moment that passed in her search, she felt her chest tighten with fear. Gear Turner, that lunatic, was out in this jumble somewhere. That feather-brained white Pegasus had gone back to their home after the evacuation order had been issued. All of the Islanders were required to head inland and to the storm shelter that had been built in the center of the town square for their protection during the tempest. All but Gear Turner, who after one of their famous arguments, had taken off into the chaos. He had quickly explained to the Mayor that he had to secure one of his inventions for everyone’s imminent safety before the storm hit. Against better judgment, the Mayor had allowed his passage back into the disorder and to complete his urgent mission. Ukulele had been busy helping elderly ponies get settled when she realized that Gear Turner had left. In the moment that she realized that her husband had departed into the confusion of the natural world, she felt he had committed suicide in his ignorance. She was fairly certain as a wife could be, that he used rational of his invention as an excuse to hide from her and her over-powering irritability. He was running from her more often these days and the trend was disturbing to the heart-broken mare. She was also certain he did this on purpose, to spite her, for the nasty things she had said to him during the heat of their quarrel. The frenzied confrontation seemed as out of place in her world as the storm that enveloped her now. The storm that was brewing so rapidly wouldn't have been so strange if it had happened a few months ago during the Paisley Island’s annual monsoon period. Being the wrong time of year made the squall extra deadly because it happened during the island’s much-needed tourist season. Not only did the island residents have to batten down the hatches of their own homes, but they also had to find shelter for almost 150 visitors from Equestria’s mainland. Tourism was just one of the ways ponies on this rock supported themselves through economic hardship. This had quite possibly been one of the worst years in Paisley Island’s history for mishaps and bad luck. The season had been fraught with pirates, poor crops and geothermal activity. Ukulele’s heartbeat was quickening as she rounded the corner of the shoreline towards their home in Coconut Hollow. Debris began to whiz past her head and blind the vision of her lime-colored eyes. Tiny grains of sand pelted her body like miniature bee stings coming from every angle. Even breathing in this clutter was becoming a chore for the young, otherwise healthy mare. She hated storms like this one ever since she was a filly. They always brought out the worst in her, stirring up panic-attacks and sleepless nights. It felt as if any control that she had was stolen away from her the way a thief will uncover weakness in defenses. Ukulele remembered the warm embrace of her mother’s comforting hold during these episodes as if it was yesterday. It was like a security blanket that she could use to shield herself from the terror going on just outside the shelter’s thick doors. That protective bubble of splendid ignorance was long gone now as she made the decision to search for her husband against the reasoning of her mother and concerned friends. She was a grown-up now who had to face the reality of her own stupid decisions. Right now, as the intensity of the elements began to rattle her frail form, Ukulele felt as though she was drowning in a sea of regrets. Her only life-raft in this chaotic battle of Mother Nature and fear was lost somewhere due to her short-fuse. “The wind, it’s getting too strong! I can’t…” Ukulele choked out urgently to anyone or thing that could hear her pitiful pleas. Anxiety filled her chest more than the ragged, labored breaths she was frantically trying to feed her lungs. She was beginning to get dizzy and disoriented from asphyxiation and wide-spread fright. The stinging sands of the beach tore at her eyes and blinded her momentarily. In that obscurity, Ukulele had never felt more alone in her life. “Gear Turner! Please!” She shouted hysterically. Attempting to look upwards at the darkened sky produced nothing for the unicorn mare except feeling even more flustered and frantic. “Please be out there, you idiot!” She felt her eyes welling up with thick, warm tears of hopelessness. She lowered her head in bitter defeat and closed her red-rimmed eyes. “I’m sorry…” Her velvet voice cut off abruptly as a hefty green palm frond finally tore loose from one of the trees along the coastline. The branch spun wildly out of control in the surge of wind that had gathered with the tempest. The loud ripping noise tore through the air like the crack of a bull-whip and caught the distracted unicorn off-guard. Mother Nature roared as She unleashed the full strength of Her power on the Island in the form of lightning and thunder. Before Ukulele Moon had a chance to know what had hit her, she was knocked into unconsciousness by the frond. The wind pawed at her insignificant body like a wild beast. It raked through her pink mane as if it was made of straw like the roofs of the island homes. She rolled along the beach like a crumpled love note blowing in the gale, forgotten. Eventually her body hit the blackened waves of the angry sea that had gathered like a pride of hungry lions on the coastline . The frothy waves churned angrily as they devoured the pony like some great, terrible monster. If this was the last moment of her life, Ukulele would have been grateful to be comatose for the duration of what was left. It seemed as if hell had split open and threatened destroy the foundation of life on Paisley. Superficially it appeared that she was alone and forgotten. It seemed as if Fate had turned a blind eye on the unicorn mare that expired beneath the surface of the irate briny deep. Nature did not appear to show any kind of emotion outside it’s devastation that a life had passed in such a cruel manner and cared not the reasons why or how. A voice spoke through the wind, as ancient and unyielding as the elements themselves. “Sometimes the choices one makes define them in ways they cannot readily see for themselves. Sometimes the lives we live and the consequences we face define who we are and show us the most important aspects of our characters. Often, the most terrifying reality we will face is the short-comings and victories of our own brief existence. “ Ukulele Moon sunk to the bottom of the abyss and trailed along the floor of the sea like a newly-formed polyp of coral. The tides and torrents that whined overhead were silent in this under-water world that had become her tomb. Pulled by the under-tow, her body made its way into one of the submarine caverns that were littered beneath the mysterious island of Paisley. Her body washed ashore one of the obsidian shorelines and rested there for a moment before the mare twisted and coughed hoarsely. Her eyes fluttered opened to the spectacle of her own reflection along the cavern’s walls.