A Most Unusual Little Island

by LordSmokedMeatsandFishes

The journey so far.

Dear Journal,

Today marks the first day of our covert mission. Because of this seemingly never-ending winter, I and a collection of pegusi and unicorn on the Pony Ship Newstart have been given funding (from sources that wish to remain anonymous) for a secret mission. That mission, is to find new land at sea to settle, in case the peace summits of the three tribes fail, and the land becomes inhospitable. I have high hopes that we will succeed in this endeavor. However, I am somewhat concerned about the crew. Individually they are some of the best sailors you could find. Unfortunately, they are individuals from the three tribes, and it should go without saying that with current events, tensions are high among the crew.

Fortunately, they all seem to respect (and fear), Captain Seastorm. According to my bunkmate, a pegasus named Windmaker, Seastorm is a veteran from a war between the pegusi and the griffons not too long ago. Supposedly, he took down an entire squad of griffons alone. Only losing his eye, and one of his front legs in the process. I don’t know how much of this is fact or fiction, but what is true, is that he is indeed missing an eye, a leg and all of the pegusus do exactly what he says.

The earth ponies and unicorns were originally hesitant if not outright rebellious at the idea of following orders from a pegasus. But, after a several minutes of speaking, Seastorm put the fear of the gods into them. The contents of said speech are things best left unrecorded. It’s getting late and tomorrow is our first real day at sea, so I’d best prepare for bed. Here’s hoping I will have news of success in the future.

Sincerely, Assistant Quartermaster and Ship Chronicler Pensworth.

Day 3

The excitement is overwhelming. We have traveled beyond the cold winds and blizzards of home, and made it to the open sea. The reappearance of the sun has done wonders for morale. One of the crew members in particular, a former prospector by the name of Ash McGee, claimed that it was the first time he’d been warm since the start of the winter. Even, Captain Seastorm seemed to enjoy himself, if the half a centimeter he smiled is anything to go by. As for myself, I had almost forgotten what the sun even looked like, but upon seeing (and more importantly feeling) its magnificent rays, I am reminded of how vitally important our mission truly is. Even as I write, the chills of the coming night remind me that we still have a long way to go.

Day 5

I asked our navigator, a pegasus named Farsight, the general direction we were headed. He told me Far East, where there are legends of a land with pristine weather all the time. When I asked him why none have discovered it before, he informed me that in order to get there one must pass through the Wild Weather Sea, where the weather does whatever it pleases and storms can’t be affected by pegasus manipulation at all.

I thought he was joking when he mentioned that last part, however, he assured me that such a thing was possible. I mentioned this to Quartermaster Outa Stock, and asked him if he had every heard of such a thing. He said that not only was it possible, but it becomes increasingly common the further you go from land. The idea is bizarre, if not downright repugnant to me. But, I did go on this journey partially to learn new things. At the very least I’ll be able to tell my family at home about self-manipulating storm clouds. Not that they’ll believe me.

Day 6

I, and the rest of the crew have rediscovered an important fact that we had long since forgotten during this long winter season. The sun is hot. Not a comforting kind of hot like an old fireplace. The incredible, uncomfortable, sweat inducing, maybe an eternal winter isn’t so bad kind of hot. At least with the cold you can bundle yourself up but what can you do with the heat?

If you stay on deck you might catch the occasional breeze, but the full force of the suns rays are beating down on you. You can go to the shade below deck, but now there’s no breeze. If that weren’t bad enough, we are starting to run out of fresh fruit. Quartermaster Outa Stock, let the unicorns talk him into practicing some new food preservation spell that is still in the testing stages. When it worked it was wonderful, the fruit was pristine and it still looks like it could last for months. When it didn’t, the food became not only inedible but emitted a disconcerting green glow.

After three crates were ruined in this matter, Seastorm forbid the practice on threat of latrine duty. Without magic. Needless to say the practice has stopped and now the still pristine fruit is being saved only for emergencies, special occasions, or when the captain is in the mood for an apple. Fortunately, according to Outa Stock, we still have plenty of sour cabbage, and sea biscuit that could last for months if need be. Unfortunately, it looks like that’s all we’re going to get. Oh well, at least the crews spirits are still up from the weather, and truthfully most back home can only dream of having to be in uncomfortably warm weather, with nothing but sour cabbage and terrible bread to eat. I’m sure once I get used to it it wont be so bad.

Day 10

I was wrong, it still is.

Day 15

I am starting to look foreword to night. It continues to get hotter and hotter. This wouldn’t be so bad except it’s beginning to cause problems amongst the crew. There was almost a small clash between a pegasus, and an earth pony today. Fortunately, Captain Seastorm managed to break it up. I asked him if he was worried that this was a sign of bad tidings, but he told me not to worry, and that we were doing significantly better then expected. If anything he was surprised that it had taken this long for something like that to occur.

Nevertheless, the heat is starting to agitate the crew. In addition, we are starting to reach the Wild Weather Sea and already it’s affecting the pegasus ability to keep the ship moving at our rapid speed. Windmaker in particular is working as hard as he can just to keep the ship at its current pace. A process that grows more difficult by the hour. But, at least we continue to make progress.

Day 21

We are now trudging along at the proverbial “snails pace”. Without the pegasus manipulation of the weather we are forced to rely on this “self governing” weather to move us foreword. Apparently, it is a vindictive government as it has decided to be as uncooperative as possible. There is barely any wind in the air, and the temperature continues to rise, as does the temper of the crew.

Captain Seastorm is keeping it contained at the moment, by making sure the crew stays occupied lest they start some incident. On a lighter note Ash Mcgee grows more and more delighted the hotter the weather becomes. He spends every waking moment on deck, and is willing to do almost any task for the excuse to do so. In all honesty, it is starting to become uncomfortable how much he seems to adore our unpleasant situation.

Day 22

Well, it happened. We are now dead in the water. There is no wind whatsoever. Some of the sailors are starting to worry, but Outa Stock assured me that things like this happen. By tomorrow we’ll be on our way, and this day will just be a distant memory we can all laugh about.

Day 23

We weren’t, it isn’t, and I am quite confident we wont. In a desperate ploy, all of the pegusi tried moving the ship with nothing but their combined wind flapping. After an exhausting half hour they managed to move the ship a few feet before they were forced to stop. The unicorns attempts at combining their telekinesis wasn’t much better, if anything they might have moved us backward.

Or so the earth ponies and pegasus say. I just think they are just trying to find some outlet for their frustrations. Usually it’s so simple, if you don’t like the weather or how quickly the day goes by you have very clear targets. You know for a fact that some pegasus or unicorn is directly responsible for the unfavorable weather. Not so here, and the idea is still unsettling to me.

Day 30

It’s been more then a week since the wind stopped, and the unease is almost palpable. The crew is bickering among themselves more and more, particularly the pegusi and unicorns. Everywhere you go on deck you can hear the mutterings of “lazy cloud huggers”, or “stuck up horn heads” or some more vulgar variation thereof. Meanwhile, the earth ponies are just trying to stay out of the conflict. Although you can tell the animosity is still there.

The food continuous to fill our stomachs, and that’s about the nicest thing you can say about it. Meanwhile the sun seems to be getting hotter. Even Ash Mcgee is starting to become uncomfortable from the heat. This is doing nothing for the crew’s spirits. There is however something worse then the heat, and the “food”. The boredom.

Believe it or not, staring at a vast blue nothing all day starts to grow old. Some tried swimming in the ocean to cool off but after a few were almost eaten by sharks that swiftly stopped. Some have tried singing to pass the time, which might work if any of the crew could agree on a proper song. Outa Stock spent all day organizing our provisions alphabetically by the type of container, and by what was actually in said container. Or something like that.

Poor Windmaker spends his time making paper boats pretending he can move them with wind he can no longer make. Even Captain Seastorm seems under strain if his now permanent grimace is any indication. I can only hope that something happens soon. It seems that just about anything would be a welcome change to our current predicament.

Day 31

Well, something did happen today although none of us are entirely sure what. We were all lounging on the deck, when we heard a rumor that somepony had been diagnosed with cabin fever. Apparently most of the crew hadn’t heard of that particular phrase, and so many crewmembers began declaring that they had it too. Now this is where details get fuzzy. What we can all agree on is music seemed to fill the air. All of us starting singing and dancing although none of us can remember exactly what the lines were. All we remember is it was very well choreographed as if we had all rehearsed it.

Whatever happened we somehow ended up with several sailors in mariachi outfits, some playing fiddles despite having no past experience (or any knowledge of how they obtained said fiddles) as well as hats adorned with fresh fruit. The fruit was swiftly eaten after we came to our senses. Although this horrified some sailors as they claimed that the fruit was singing along with us, and deserved respect as befitted their newfound sentience. Though we may never know what happened, what we do know is the wind returned almost immediately after it was all done with, and we are now beginning to make progress again. We have also collectively agreed never to talk about today again.

Day 32

We continued to advance at a rapid pace until a small storm flew in. I will never forget the look of surprise on the crew’s faces as the first drops of rain fell. This surprise quickly turned to joy as the crew reveled in refreshing rain. Particularly when a sizeable puddle formed on one corner of the deck. A small line formed as the crew took turns jumping in this puddle giggling like little colts. The giggling suddenly stopped, as Captain Seastorm approached the puddle. We all became silent, waiting to see how he would respond. The Captain then jumped into the puddle and started splashing around while smiling a full centimeter.

He then told us to get back to work although he made a show of ignoring us as long as we didn’t crowd around the puddle. Really, the only pony that didn’t seem happy, was Ash Mcgee. He spent most of the day staring at the clouds with unusual suspicion. I didn’t think much of it, until he asked me to make an official notice that should he die he was to be cremated. I was curious where this sudden idea came from, but I agreed. He seemed very relieved after that, so hopefully whatever was bothering him has ceased.

Day 33

Today, has been, well… rather unfortunate. Nopony can quite agree as to what happened, but a fight broke out among a small group of the three tribes. Some say it was caused by a slip on the still wet deck, others a deliberate act of violence. Whatever the cause, a fight broke out leading to several injured, though fortunately not severely. Captain Seastorm was of course furious. Then as he was reprimanding the crew something… happened. We all felt a sudden chill and I can swear that the clouds grew darker.

I will never forget how Captain Seastorm suddenly ceased his rant with a look of concern on his face. This soon turned to surprise (as did the rest of the crew) as a horrific scream broke through the silence. The source of the scream was Ash Mcgee, who I briefly saw on the deck looking at the sky with what I can only describe as absolute terror.

He then immediately ran below deck, and broke into the storage room with strength fueled by fear. By the time we got there he had barricaded himself in with various barrels. We could hear his panicked mutterings from outside the door, most of it made no sense, but there was one phrase he kept saying that still disturbs me even as I write it down. “The Cold, its followed us.” Again and again, that same phrase.

Fortunately one of the unicorns can teleport, and managed to get in and restrain him without damaging any more of our supplies. When he found him he was completely covered in blankets, towels, really any spare piece of cloth he could find. I suspect he would have attempted to start a fire if we hadn’t caught him. He is currently in the ship’s cells, and after somepony finally gave him a blanket has stopped screaming. With any luck he will overcome whatever has befallen him. For his sake and the crews.

Day 34

I tried speaking with Ash Mcgee today; the interview was as short as it was disturbing. When I found him he was sitting in a corner of his cell completely covered in the spare blankets we had given him. I tried asking him questions but I don’t think he even heard me. All he did was repeat the same phrase “The Cold is coming”. This is causing serious problems for morale; even Captain Seastorm seems unnerved by all of this. I never thought I would say this, but I am starting to look foreword to this voyage ending. I would even take being back at that frozen tundra we call home. Although with the way the temperature is starting to drop, that may not be a problem…

Day 35

I suspect Ash knows something, unfortunately all he can do is repeat, “The Cold is coming”. Meanwhile it continues to grow colder as the rain turns to snow. The winds, which were once a gentle breeze, now feel like a sharp slap to the face every time I walk above deck. We lost our first crewmember today. His name was Shed Wooly. He was a nice unicorn with a gift for sewing although he did suffer a strange shedding problem.

The seas started getting rough and an unexpected wave took him over the side. By the time we caught him he had already drowned. Or froze to death we are still not entirely sure. Its fortunate he was able to make such a distinctive scream, otherwise I doubt we would have found him at all. He was given a traditional burial at sea, a morbid ending for an awful day. I pray things do not get any worse.

Day 40

Things have gotten considerably worse. We are currently suffering a horrific blizzard, and I’m not sure how much longer we can hold out. It started about five days ago and doesn’t show any signs of stopping. We have lost most of our sails, an unseen rock tore a hole in the ship that we just managed to fix, and at least a quarter of the crew is suffering from severe exposure. Meanwhile, poor Ash Mcgee is literally frozen in a block of ice. We have no idea how considering he is in one of the warmer parts of the ship.

I convinced the crew not to throw him overboard, though it’s highly unlikely he’s still alive. It wasn’t that hard to convince them, considering we have more significant problems to deal with. I’ve gone over our supplies, and the situation is grim. The bread is so frozen it’s practically inedible, and the pickled cabbage isn’t much better. And that’s not even getting into the difficulties of trying to drink frozen water. Even with the unicorns using their heat spells, the water seems to revert to ice almost instantly.

Despite all this, Seastorm says we must press on. He says we are so close to the land and if we can hold on a bit more we can make it. I would like to think he’s telling the truth. I would like to think that he’s not just saying that to give us a sense of hope no matter how feeble. But I cant. The way I see it, the best we can hope for is to freeze to death.

Then if we are really lucky, and the ship doesn’t sink something will find us one day. Our corpses will be preserved in the ice and they will wonder “How did these ponies get here?” Then they will read this journal and see that we all died meaningless deaths, to fulfill an expedition that was probably doomed to failure from the start. Maybe we will be a footnote in the history books. Our names will be things some filly will have to memorize for some history test. All in all I suppose there are worse legacies to leave behind.

Day 41

Ink frozen, hard to write, 5 more dead. Feeling sleepy. Just going to rest head for a minute.