Pony Island

by All of the Above

No more water for us

I awoke to the sound of trees being kicked, and then some items falling to the ground with a *thump*. I'm guessing Applejack is awake.

My eyes open wide, and the first thing I do is smile. It wasn't a dream. I look to my right to see Fluttershy still asleep. I quietly get up, and walk out of the tent, not wanting to wake her up. The orange pony was kicking random trees, making fruit fall. She picks them up in her mouth, and then drops them into her sack.

"Oh, hi 'dere sugarcube. How'd ya sleep?" The country pony asks.

"Great, thank you." I respond.

She gave me a simple smile, and continued onto her business. I return the gesture, and walk towards the campsite. Before I arrive, I get tackled by a pink hurricane.

"Hey, do you happen to have any water with you?" Pinkie Pie asks. She knocks me down on the ground as she asks the question.

"Uh, I'm sorry, I don't."

"Dang it, we don't have any water with us, and I'm really thirsty."

"Well, maybe some of us can go look for some water in the jungle later." Her hoof was right on my stomach, and it kind of hurt.

"Okay then." She gets off of me, and then bounces toward Applejack, using my gut as a launch pad. I get up, brush myself off, and head towards the camp. Even though it hurt, it still made me smile.

I see Twilight walking back and forth on the sand. A groove is formed under her feet. It makes me assume she's been doing this all night.

"So how did you sleep?" I ask her.

"I didn't sleep." She says.

"Why not?"

"I can't sleep, when I have too much on my mind."

"What do you have on your mind?"

"Oh, the usual. What are we going to do to survive, and how do I know that we won't become cannibals in the next few days."

"We have plenty of fruit trees around here. I don't think we'll starve."

"Well that's great. Now we just need to have someone go and look for water in the jungle."

"I could go."

"Okay then. But how do we survive without a shelter.

"We could make a shelter. There are plenty of trees around here so we could chop some down."

"It seems like you've been stuck on an island before."

"I haven't, I just watch TV shows about guys getting stuck on a random island."

"Oh." She sits down in the sand, and then jumps back up. "I think we need to make a canopy too, or the suns gonna burn us all.”

"Probably." Twilight smiles, which causes me smile, making Pinkie Pie show up, jumping all over the place with a huge smile on her face. As quick as she arrived, she left. It was in her nature to do this kind of thing, but it still scared me half to death.

"I think I'm going to walk around the island for a bit."

"Sounds good, I'll see you later." I get up from my spot and walk away. When I'm far enough away, I turn around to see Twilight lying down on the sand, eyes closed. The sight makes me smile, and I walk away.
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Applejack took a look at what she has collected. A dozen oranges, peaches, some coconuts, but not a single apple. She scowled before sitting down. Rarity came around later, and sat by her friend.

"Am I the only one here who finds him good looking?" Rarity says.

"You find every colt that you come across good lookin' in one way or another. But it crosses the line when you find a human
good lookin'." Applejack responds.

"Yes, I know. But I try not to think of him as a human, I try to picture him as a pony. Can't you picture him as one of us?"

Applejack sat there for a moment until she answered. "No, no I can't."

"Well I can, and he looks absolutely dashing." She blushed as her mind went elsewhere.

"If you're thinking about beginning a relationship with this fella, then forget it. He's from a different dimension than us, so it can't happen. Besides, once were off this island, Twilight’s probably gonna to send him back to where he came from. Do you understand that Rarity?" Rarity didn't answer; she just kept smiling and giggling to herself.

"RARITY!"

"Aaah! What is it?"

"Did you even understand what I just said?"

"Oh, yes. Bruce is good looking, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Now I must be going, I'm going to make some dresses out of materials I can find lying around."

"Well I hope they turn out like you want them to." obvious sarcasm shown through her southern twang.

"Thank you, Applejack." Applejack rolled her eyes. Love is deaf to.
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I returned a little while later. I wanted to go to my boat to get some sleep, but Twilight called me over to a place near the jungle.
She looked kind of tired, like she just woken up, which she has.

"We need to get talking about our water supply."

"I know. I think I'm getting dehydrated."

"I already have the others over here, so let's get going." I follow her to the fire pit, where everypony (I think when I get off this island, I'm going to have a hard time getting used to saying everybody.) was gathered. I took my seat next to Fluttershy, where she proudly cuddled up to me. It seemed almost impossible for me to stop smiling.

"Alright, now that we're all here, I think we can get started." Twilight said, followed by nodding from everypony.

"I think you're all aware that we don't have a water supply, and that we're all dead without it." She's always tried not to say dead, or any word related to it, around her friends. "We need to venture into the jungle to find some kind of water. After that, we should try to build a shelter. Applejack, Rarity, I think you two could handle that."

"Oh, most definitely." Rarity says.

"I reckon I can." Applejack says.

"Great, now all we need to do is find water. Any volunteers?" When she asked the question, I raised my arm against my will. I looked at it and realized that it was surrounded by a purple magic. I looked at Twilight with a look that said 'seriously?'

"You're the one who came up with the idea." Twilight says.

"I thought you asked for any volunteers?" I say.

"I wasn't talking about you, I was talking about them."

"I'll go!" Applejack says loudly. I see Rarity glaring at her, looking like she's about to kill her.

"Applejack, I couldn't ask you to do that. You're already working on the house." Twilight says.

"Doesn't mean I can't do anything else to help."

"But-"

"Twilight, I insist."

"Well... alright." Applejack sits down, giving Rarity a troll face kind of smile. Eliciting a death stare from Rarity. "Then you and Applejack better be on your way, then."

"Can it wait until morning?" I ask her.

"If your God gives you a task that can be done in a couple hours, would you put it off until morning?" I don't respond. "Then get a move on it."
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I pack the tarp I use for a blanket, in case we needed to make camp, my backpack, some water bottles that I had in the backpack, and some fruits from random bushes. (Just pray that these aren't poisonous.) Applejack brought nothing, for I had all of her stuff. We headed off into the jungle about ten minutes after we dispersed. When we were in the jungle, we heard a rustling coming from our right.

"What was that?" Applejack asks.

"It was probably a squirrel or something. Let's go." She examined the bush before rejoining me.
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Rarity jumped out of the bush, taking a big breath of air when we were farther away. 'You've got to be more careful. One more slip up like that, and you'll be caught for sure.' Rarity thought to herself. She got out of the bush, brushed herself off a bit. “It’s all worth it.” She says out loud. She continued to walk towards them, making sure her steps are careful and quiet.
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"So... uh... how's life on the farm?" I ask her.

"Good. There's always some kind of problem, but Big Macintosh usually takes care of 'em."

"Well that's good." An awkward silence passed before she asks me a question of her own.

"How 'bout you, how was your life before all 'dis?" She asks.

"Well, it's kind of a long story."

"Well, we have plenty o’ time on our hooves, or in your case, hands."

It takes a while before I answer. "I had a moderately good life when I was a kid. My mom and dad were both happy with their
marriage, and everything was going pretty well. It wasn't until I got into college when it all went wrong.

"My parents both died in a car crash, and I had to finish college early and get a job. Six years later, I get a girlfriend, which was
the luckiest break I've had since college. We had a terrible fight about... I can't even remember what it was about, she took all of my money, I lost my job, and I got desperate. I won a lucky game of poker, challenged the best guy in the joint, who also happened to be the strongest. I beat him, and escaped him by buying a last minute cruise ship ticket. I thought that I would never be bored on a cruise in my entire life, but I was wrong. The only thing interesting that happened was the entertainment for the night. It was some kind of alternative group called Breaking Benjamin. Next thing you know, the ship sinks. I'm the only survivor as far as I know, and I landed on an island... and I guess you know the rest."

Throughout the description, she didn't say a word. She was completely respectful, and didn't even stop me once. "Y'know, there was an alternative group on our ship called Breaking Brawny." She says.

"Really?"

"Yes."

"That's... that's actually kind of cool."

"The fact that the same event happened in both of our dimensions?"

"Well there's that, then there's the fact that there's a pony version of them. That could possibly mean that there's a pony version of everything, like bands, celebrities-”

"Like Three Days Grace and Shinedown?"
"Yeah, that's completely possible." The thought of this was making me smile very hard. "Wait, you actually listen to that kind of music?"

"Not on purpose. Rainbow Dash keeps playing that stuff wherever she goes."

"Oh. More of a country kind of gal, huh?"

"Yeah."

"That's cool, I guess." The conversation went from interesting to awkward in ten seconds flat (HA). Neither one of us said anything until I stepped in something wet.

"Hey, I found some mud."

"So?"

"So, if there's mud, then there's got to be water nearby."

"Well then let's get on it 'den."

I find another mud spot ahead of the first one. Pretty soon, we find a little stream going across some dirt. The stream got bigger as we go along, and it brought us to a waterfall. The water from it lands in a pond, making the water splash all around us. The water was not drinkable because it was so dirty. But it was so warm, so I decided to go for a swim. I stripped down until I was in my pants, and then jumped in.

"Seriously. We're probably gonna die of dehydration if we don't find water, and you're taking a swim?" She asked.

"I guess it's a good time to take a break, don't you think?"

She thought to herself. "I guess." She lied on a tree and put her hat over her eyes.
I swam around the pond about twenty times before I got tired. Applejack lay on a tree the entire time, and she looked a bit bored from the looks of it. “Why don’t you come in, the waters fine?” I ask.

“Nah, I’m fine.”

“Why not?”

“It’s nothing.”

“What, are you afraid?” I knew that if I could make her angry, then she’d come challenge me. Applejacks mind just worked like that.

“No, I just prefer not to get wet right now.”

“You’re on an island, you’re gonna get wet eventually."

"Well that day is gonna have to wait now, is it?" I raised my eyebrow, while she just crossed her legs, hooves, feet, whatever word is correct. We sat there in an endless staring contest until I decided to go under water.

I try to hold my breath for as long as I possibly can. I always thought that one of these days, I'm gonna have to go under water for a long period of time. Right now, I can hold my breath for five minutes. Obviously, that day hasn't come yet, but I will be prepared to do so if it happens. After a while of hanging around, I saw something gleaming over by the waterfall. I thought it was a fish, but I realized fish don't usually stay in the same place for a minute or two. I swam over to it to realize it was a green pendant. I stared at it until I realized something. It was one of Zecora's doorstops that she used to trick Trixie in 'Magical Duel'.

I looked above me to realize that I was behind the waterfall. I mean, way behind the waterfall. I swam up to the surface to examine what exactly was behind it. I saw a staircase leading up to a torch-lit cave. The architecture surrounding the cave seemed native, like it was made by Indians. I suddenly remembered Applejack, and swam back to the pond to tell her. I took a deep breath and went back to tell her.

"Dang, Bruce. You were under for quite a while." She says.

"I know, but you need to come see something."

"Eh, nope."

"I'm not trying to trick you, I'm being serious. There's something you need to see."

"Sure, and Big Macintosh did nothing but sit when the Flim Flam brothers came and threatened to take over our farm."

"Who?"

"Flim and Flam. Those guys with the giant contraption making cider admittedly faster than we can."

"Uhh... whatever, that's not important. What is important is that you need to see this."

"Okay, I'll bite. What is it?"

"It's a cave."

"Heh, sure there is. And you got me excited over nothing."

"If that's true, then explain this." I toss the pendant her way, and it lands at her hooves. She stares at it until her eyes open wide. She looks my way, and then got up. She walks slowly towards me, trying to stay as far away from the water as she
possibly can.

"Get a move on, we don't have all day." I yell at her.

"I'm coming, just let me... get in the water first."

"Look, if you can't swim, then that's alright. But you need to try your best to swim."

"It's not that, it's... something else."

"Applejack, why won't you get in the water?"

"I... I can't talk about it."

"C'mon Applejack, you can tell me. Don't you trust me?"

"Not exactly, I did meet you just two days ago."

"Applejack, this is kind of important, so let's hear the reason why you won't come in."

"Alright, alright... I'll tell you." When she said that, tears began to form in her eyes. "After Apple Bloom was born, there was a
flood at the farm. My parents tried to get some of their belongins'. The water got deeper, and I saw them fall into the water. I didn't see them come up. I tried to help 'em, but... but-" She was on the verge of crying, and I didn't want to see that. I walked to her, and wiped away a tear from her eye.

"Applejack, will it make you feel any better if I swam with you?" I say in a softer tone of voice.

Applejack, still in tears reluctantly responded. "What do you mean?"

"I'll keep you next to me the entire time. My hand will never lift from your back. I may not be able to carry you, so you'll have to try to swim along with me. Do you understand?" For a moment or two, she doesn't respond. Instead, she stands there, trying really hard not to cry. "Do you understand, Applejack?"

"I-I do."

"Then let's go." I take my time going to the pond, making sure every step is safe. I feel her struggle a bit, but she calms down when we enter the water. My hand grasps her back while she slides in closer, making herself comfortable next to my body.
Pretty soon, the water gets deeper. It was deep enough that we can't feel the ground, so we're driven to float.

"We're gonna have to go under. I need you to take a deep breath, okay." She nods her head, and then takes a deep breath. Before we do, I wipe away another tear from her face. I smile at her. She doesn't smile back.
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Rarity was reduced to tears by her friend’s story, and touched by the way I made Applejack feel safe in the water. She sat by a tree, waiting until we had gone underwater. She was curious about what I found, and wanted to see what I wanted to show
Applejack. She walked over to the pond, but before she took a step into the pond, she stopped.

'What's more important? Finding love or getting your hair wet.' She overlooked her options, and then came to a conclusion.
'Your hair will be fine. It just needs to be dried and styled again.'

She steps into the water, surprised by the warmth. She follows us underwater, forgetting everything else but the possibility that we could make a good couple.
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"Hey, has anypony seen Rarity?"

"Nope, did you need something Pinkie Pie?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"No, it's just that I haven't seen her since Applejack and Bruce left."

"Where do you think she is?"

"Maybe making some dresses somewhere along the beach."

"Probably. Hey, do you want to swimmin?"

"Pinkie, you do realize that if we don't start getting to work on the shelter we might not survive, right?"

"Oh yeah, right." Pinkie trotted off towards the jungle to grab some more wood.
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The trip underwater was fast, I didn't know how long she could hold her breath, so I went as fast as I possibly could. When we popped up on the other side, she swam over to the staircase, ran up the stairs, and then danced around on the ground.

"Oh, sweet land, I missed you so much." She tried to hug the ground, only to hit her head. I walked up to her, and made her look in the direction of the cave.

The cave went farther than I thought. It stretched for about seventy feet, until it reached a door. It was round and small, like Frodo's door in The Lord of The Rings. It was black and white, with a large imprint of the pendant on the door, and gold knocker on it. I was about to knock on it, but Applejack stopped me.

"I don't think we should knock." She says.

"Why not?" I respond.

"We have to find water for the others, or we might not survive."

"True, but I can't handle not knowing what's behind those doors."

"We can find out later, but right now we need to find some water." I was going to protest, but she persuaded me otherwise by guilt-tripping me with those eyes of hers.

"Alright, let's go." We got to the staircase when she stopped again. I offered my hand, and she took it. This time, she didn't struggle.

Before we enter the water, I see something swimming in the water, coming up to the surface. I couldn't see much of it, but it was large. This obviously wasn't a fish. What I could tell was that it was white, with a hint of...purple. I realized it was Rarity.
She breached the surface, only to realize that we were staring right at her.

"Oh... hello."

"Rarity, what on Earth are you doing here?" I ask her

"What on what?" She responds.

"Ear-" I growled to myself. "Equestria. What on Equestria are you doing here?"

"I'm... uh... I'm just, um."

"You maroon, you're not supposed to come with us." Applejack tells her. "Why did you put yourself in this kind of danger? Who knows what kind of monster could be around here?"

"Well I just can't let you run off into the forest with him."

"Wait, what?" I ask.

"Can't you just let this one go?" Applejack asks Rarity.

"No, no I can't."

"Just can't handle me hangin' out with your crush, can't you?" Applejack says.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" I ask.

"Quiet down, Applejack!" Rarity says.

"What, are you afraid that he might find out?" Applejack says.

"Find out what?" I ask, quite confused.

"Nothing darling." Rarity says.

"Rarity's got a crush on you." Applejack tells me.

"Oh, no I don't!" Rarity says.

"Don't deny it, Rarity, you told me just this mornin'."

"Can I say something?" I ask.

"Admit it, Rarity." Applejack yells.

"So what if I am, what's wrong with that?"

"Other than the fact that it's not going to work out, it's just plain creepy." Applejack says to Rarity.

"Look, I-" Before I could finish, I get cut off.

"Love can overcome any obstacle!" Rarity yells.

"So you plan on making him one of us?" Applejack asks.

"We'll see what happens."

"You're relationships last as long as zap apples!"

"That does it!" In a flurry of rage, her horn lit up, and a magic volt came rushing towards her. Applejack dodges it and jumps towards Rarity. Both mares are fighting in the water, trying to drown each other. The bolt of magic ricocheted off the walls, eventually hitting the door at the end of the hallway. The door opens slightly, revealing something in it. I couldn't concentrate on it, due to the two mares trying to kill each other right behind me.

I ran to them and separated them. "Knock it off you two!" I yell. It did nothing but fuel their rage. It was like I was the referee in an internet fight between two girls.

"Get a hold of yourselves!" I yell. The two finally calm down. "What's wrong with you two, I thought you were friends."

"Right now, we're frienemies." Rarity says, sticking her tongue out at Applejack.

"I think the two of you need some space." I say.

"I couldn't agree more. So Applejack, you'd better get going." Rarity says.

"I'm sorry, who volunteered first?" Applejack retorts.

"I'm saying the both of you go back to camp!"

"What?" Both mares say.

"You heard me, get going!"

"C'mon, can't we just go on with our task?" Applejack asks.

"No, you two need to get to apologizing. Friends don't fight, and I can't handle
it when friends fight."

"Why can't we stay?" Rarity asks, trying to make me feel guilty by trying to look adorable.

"You two need a little time out. Now if you could kindly get a move on, that would be great."

"There's no need to treat us like kids." Rarity says.

"I wouldn't have to if you two didn't act like it. Now MOVE IT!" I yell. Both of them jumped back at my rage. Applejack puts her head down, while Rarity looks away from me. I walk into the water, and grab Applejack. I see Rarity make an angry face as I do this.

When we reach the other side, I tell them to head back. "Applejack, you head that way." I point my finger the direction we came from. "And Rarity, you head to the right. Get a move on." Neither of them says a word, but they obey. With their heads down, they head into the jungle where I tell them to.

With them gone, I decided to go look for water. The best way to find water is to go to the top of the waterfall and find the source of it. I walk around, until I get to the top of the waterfall. Right when the reality of what I said hit me, they were already gone. I continue on, in hopes that I can find water in time.
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After walking for a while, the two ponies reach a crossroad, and begin walking with each other.

"Oh the nerve of him. Treating us like children, and then sending us back! I can't tell you how angry I am with him!" Rarity says angrily.

"You can't blame 'im Rarity." Applejack says, still looking at the ground. "We were actin' childish back 'dere."

"I know." She said, letting her head down. "Bruce is right, we need to make amends."

"Yeah, I'm sorry I acted like that."

"I'm sorry too." Both of them gave each other a quick hug, and then continued on.

"You think he'll find some water?" Rarity asked.

"Eventually. I know he-" Applejack suddenly stops talking. Rarity looks at Applejack, just to see her on the ground. She observes the area, and then feels something pierce her neck. She pulls it out, and sees a needle dipped with a green liquid.
Her head starts to spin, making her fall to the ground. Before she loses her sight, she sees a figure walking among them. She steps around them for a while, and then puts bags over their heads.
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I return with three full bottles of water. I left a trail from the place I found the water, back to camp so we could find it again when we run out of water. In the ocean, I see Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash gathering wood, Fluttershy talking to a squirrel in a tree, and Twilight pacing around. As she's pacing, she's looking in several different directions.

"Are you looking for something?" I ask her.

"Rarity. She's gone missing." Twilight says

"She showed up at this waterfall me and Applejack found."

"Okay, so she snuck off with you two. But where is she now?"

"You mean they're not back yet?"

"What do you mean?"

"I had to send them back, because they were fighting."

"Did you say anything to them to make them upset or mad?"

"I-I-I yelled at them for behaving like they did."

"Oh no! You don't think they decided to head off somewhere else, do you?"

"No, they wouldn't have done that. They would have come back." A million thoughts go through my mind at the same time. "Do you think that we're not the only ones on this island?"
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Applejack awakes to see nothing but black. She feels a rope tied around her hooves, and behind her is another set of hooves. Probably Rarity. She can't hear much, but she can hear different voices around her. Most are male, and a few are female. She can only make out a few words. "What... other... where... they... fail... task"

After what feels like hours, the darkness lifts from her eyes. Her vision is blurry, but she sees figures in front of her. Seven in all. The one in the middle steps forward, taking off its hood. As it gets closer, Applejack can see the figure better. When the figure is right in front of her eyes, she regains her vision. Looking back at her is a female zebra