Separation

by TheOnly

Journey's Beginning

"I've missed you so much, have you missed me?"

Discord leaned out of his hammock, smiling at the ponies. He wore sunglasses and a hat, complimenting the patronizing way he was greeting the ponies. Rarity and Applejack felt fear and surprise on the inside, but worked not to show it. Stepping into the clearing, they tried to stand as tall as possible.

Two trees occupied the center of the small circle made by the forest. In between those two trees Discord lay in his hammock, but around those two trees there was simply grass. The forest died away for a short while, creating empty space, but with a distinctive line the forest started once again. No flowers or small plants grew on the ground, only grass.

Each pony was filled with questions, wondering how Discord had managed to escape his stone prison back in Ponyville. There was no answer that either could come up with, and they stood planted in the ground like one of the trees. The draconequus pulled his sunglasses down, allowing his pupils to just barely show over the rim.

"Don't tell me you've forgotten about me?"

"How...how...." stammered Rarity, trying to find the words but only ending with thin air.

"How in Equestria were you able to break out of the stone we froze you in?" finished Applejack, taking a small step forward as if she was taking authority.

"Silly ponies," began Discord, his evil grin growing wider, "I am the spirit of chaos. You can't imprison spirits in stone, you can only trap my physical form!"

"But that spell was too powerful for escape!"

"Tell me Applejack, where do you think spirits go when they lose their physical body?"

Applejack looked to her unicorn companion, but she was just as confused. Neither pony knew much about spirits. If only Twilight were here, thought Applejack.

"Well, since neither of you ponies seems to know the answer I guess I'll just have to tell you. You see, I'm trapped on this horrible island until I can get my body back, and until I get my body back I'm just a spirit. And that's no fun now is it."

With a nod toward Rarity, the orange pony decided that they'd take care of Discord while they had the element of surprise. They took off at a gallop, and before Discord could react they were both in the air. Both hoofs extended, they prepared for impact.

Before they passed through, the draconequus let out a small laugh. Both ponies hit the ground, tumbling forward. Discord burst out into laughter while the ponies picked themselves off the ground, now looking at the back of the draconequus. Trying to speak, Discord put his lion hand up to signal he was going to talk, but just continued to laugh uncontrollably. Both ponies glared angrily at him, brushing dirt off of themselves.

"Oh, that's just too good! I'm a spirit remember? You can't touch me and I can't touch you, all I can do is speak and watch."

"Then why are you here, mocking us?" replied Rarity, trying to get some dirt out of her mane. This day just keeps getting worse for my beautiful mane, she thought.

"I'm here to watch the fun! I noticed that my favorite six ponies were on my island and I could never miss that." With a snap of his fingers, popcorn appeared in his lion hand. He grabbed a kernel and threw it into his mouth, closing his eyes while he chewed.

"Besides," he continued, "When you all fail miserably at whatever you're here to do, I want to see it happen!" With another snap of his finger, a soda bottle appeared in his other hand. Taking a long sip, he looked at the ponies one last time, this time with a serious expression. "Of course, I can't just leave it at that, oh no," his evil grin grew wider once more, "I have a riddle for you and it's imperative that you listen closely. The riddle goes like this:

When the air is still and cool,

And the nights reveal,

look for the shining jewel,

that they try to conceal."

Upon finishing his riddle, he snapped his fingers once more, disappearing from sight. The two ponies stood idly in the small circle within the massive forest, looking at each other in confusion.

It only took a short while before they were back on their journey to the mountain, dumbfounded by their encounter with Discord. Neither of them could figure out exactly what the riddle meant. They knew that it had something to do with nighttime and a gem, but it couldn't be that straightforward. It bit at their minds, constantly coming back to their thoughts even when they tried to oust it.

"It makes no sense," started Applejack, "How can the night reveal something if it conceals it?"

"I don't know," responded Rarity, tired of thinking, "All I know is that I'm hungry and there's food somewhere on this island."

Slow progress was being made through the forest, both ponies trying to conserve energy. The trees blocked out the burning sun, absorbing the heat for the benefit of the ponies below. Animals had become accustom to the presence of the ponies, they were no longer a disruption to the balance of nature. Now they were a part of the forest.

Traveling through the forest was taxing to say the least. Bugs that couldn't be identified by even the most knowledgeable of scientists buzzed through the moist air. Every now and then, they would notice the two ponies and examine them, flying close to their faces, only to be swatted away within a moment. Unidentified plants grew at the foots of the trees, and odd looking fungus oozed from the roots. Everything in the forest was so foreign to the Ponyville residents.

Cutting through the forest was a long, snaking river that shined with brilliance. The water was as blue as the oceans, reflecting the rays of the sun. Water flowed quickly down the river, but gently dodged rocks that broke the surface. Small fish followed the current, swimming downstream without any notion of where they were going. Their destiny was left to nature, and they trusted that it would take care of them.

Small twigs were carried by the gentle river, bringing them to the ends of Equestria and back. Rivers were one of the only truly endless structures of nature. If somepony was to try to pinpoint the beginning and ends of a river, they'd only find the beginning of the ocean. Water constantly moves from one part of the system to the other, and back around in full circle. It was one of the ways nature keeps itself moving while conserving itself. The river never truly ends, just widens and narrows.

Stretching for about the length of three trees placed end to end, the river was the divider of the forest. It was the sole force that allowed wildlife to flourish. Animals were fed by the water, allowing them to live. The river owned the forest, despite its inferior size. All things led back to water, and at the center of the forest there was exactly that. Without it, animals would die, and the life of the forest would disappear. Instead, it would be replaced by the stillness of trees, for a forest is only alive when it contains movement and animals. Otherwise it is simply a large collection of poles, slowly moving skywards.

As the two traveling ponies approached the magnificent river, they suddenly came to a standstill. Applejack looked with disdain toward the river, ignoring any of the beauty it had. To her it was merely an obstacle, and an annoying one, too.

"Applejack, how in Equestria are we supposed to get across this river?" inquired Rarity.

Applejack looked both ways, checking to see how far the river snaked along. With a heavy sigh, she turned to Rarity, despair in her eyes.

"I don't know."

Before they could work out a plan, they heard the rustling of leaves above them. Turning their heads quickly, the two ponies only caught a glimpse of a branch moving slightly, and a quick movement. Something was in the tree above them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They were small, easily destroyed, and could be meaningless, but they could mean so much more. The hoofprints left in the snow led directly to a crag in the distance with caves spread out over the massive structure. It could lead to an animal, such as a deer, but it could also lead to something that would change the way Pinkie Pie and Twilight would have to travel the snowy land.

The thought that another pony could be on the island was devastating, it meant that the ponies would have to compete to get to the food first. Add that on to the biting cold wind, freezing snow, soaring cliffs, and endless miles of land, and the journey becomes twice as taxing on the ponies.

All this was going through Twilight's mind as she trotted, carefully observing the hoofprints to see where they led. If at the end of the trail they found another pony, there was no telling whether they would be hostile or not. What if they attack us? thought Twilight, What if they know what they're doing? We'd be doomed. Her eyes drifted toward Pinkie Pie, who bounced merrily along without a worry in Equestria. Twilight couldn't imagine Pinkie Pie having to fight for her life with another pony.

It seemed as though the pony who had made the hoofprints never deviated from their path, as the line went directly toward the large rock structure without ever turning to the side even slightly. It wasn't apparent how long the hoofprints had been there, as the gentle breeze wasn't enough to push snow into the small indents made. They could be as fresh and new as the one's Pinkie Pie and Twilight were making, but they could also have been there for days.

Thoughts of all the worse case scenarios played through Twilight's mind, causing her to shiver. Not because it was cold, but because the thought of not knowing what they were going to find at the end of the trail scared her. She had always been used to science telling her the facts, and everything being clear cut. Uncertainty was one of the things that could frighten the unicorn. It was the same thing when she had found out about the Pinkie Sense, she needed answers. Not being able to find an answer based on anything but taking action was a new concept to the studious Twilight Sparkle.

There was one thought that never left Twilight's mind. She couldn't figure out how any other pony had gotten to Bedlam Island. She had thought that they were the first to have come to the island. It just didn't make any sense.

Pinkie Pie opposed those thoughts directly. Not even beginning to think about the end of this journey or where the pony who made the hoofprints came from, she was only concerned with what she was doing at that very moment. Consideration of consequences was a foreign idea to the spontaneous pony. She only thought of how the snow looked, or the trees. Listening to a tune inside her mind, trying not to sing it, watching the trees and trying to figure out what food they looked like. These were the things Pinkie was thinking about.

One at a time, slow steps had made their way down the row of hoofprints, approaching the large crag that was at the end of the trail. Lifting her head, Twilight beheld the structure that lay before her. The cave entrances were large enough to fit something seven times the size of a pony inside. A small path was carved out along the snow covered rock by the hoofprints. They climbed up the slow elevation made on the side of the crag, as if it were a flat staircase. The pathways jutted out of the side of the rock, only to rise straight up again. With a drawn out sigh, Twilight began to trot forward once more.

Ascending deftly upon the snowy incline, the hoofprints made their way toward a small cave entrance. It was around the middle of the rock structure, and had one of the smaller entrances. The snow made it's way into the cave, only to be cut off a couple feet in. Stalactites hung from the ceiling, like icicles ready to fall on anypony who dared walk underneath. As the cave went deeper in, the darkness blocked the view of the ponies more, until it was completely blacked out.

With a gulp, Twilight looked down. There was no denying it, the hoofprints lead directly into the cave. They hadn't come all the way up here to just leave now. The unicorn felt sweat forming on her forehead, she wasn't ready to face whatever was in the cave. Pinkie, on the other hand, was totally prepared to gallop into the cave without looking back. She looked to see Twilight frowning and taking small steps away from the cave.

"Well? What are you waiting for? Let's go!" exclaimed Pinkie, unsure of what Twilight was so scared of. The way Pinkie saw it, inside the cave was just another friend.

"Um....um..." stammered Twilight. She swallowed her fear, knowing that this would be something she would have to do. She needed to protect Pinkie if anything was to happen. "Let's go."

With cautious steps, the pair entered the darkness of the cave. Twilight used her horn for a dim source of light. Stalagmites complimented their brothers, lining the sides of the caves. Even though they couldn't be seen, Twilight knew there was some kind of animal lurking in the crevices. Still unsure of what they would find in the cave, Twilight turned her head rapidly from one side to the other, trying to observe everything. For once Pinkie was leading.

Small water droplets fell from the rocky icicles that hung precariously over the traveling pair. A small noise could be heard when they hit the ground, echoing throughout the cave. Within a few seconds, the sound had died away and the cave returned to its creepy silence, only to repeat the cycle once again. Darkness consumed the ponies, even with their small source of light. Even though the cave was huge, it seemed to be closing in on the ponies. They felt as though the walls were slowly coming closer together.

Continuing further and further into the cave, Pinkie had stopped bouncing around and was trotting. Her head hung low to the ground, her eyes darting from one corner of her eye to the other, trying to get a sense of what lay around her. Small, loose rocks were scattered around the floor. It felt as though they had been trotting for forever.

Twilight took a quick step backwards. The light that was cast by her horn had illuminated the figure of another pony, standing a little in front of the traveling duo. This pony came a little closer, allowing the light to show who she really was. She had a blue coat and light blue mane, along with a unicorn horn. She had small scratches along her side and face, and her tail and mane were a mess. Her eyes were a brilliant shade of light purple, but they had become red around the edges. It seemed as though this unicorn hadn't slept in a while.

Watching each other closely, the ponies stood at a standstill for what seemed like eternity. It was Pinkie Pie who finally broke the stalemate.

"Hey there! I'm Pinkie Pie and this is Twilight Sparkle. What's your name?" She gave her friendliest grin. If there was one thing Pinkie was experienced at, it was making friends.

The blue unicorn didn't respond. Instead she squinted, as if she were trying to figure something out. Pinkie Pie looked to Twilight, confused as to why the unicorn didn't respond. Twilight didn't return the glance, she was fixated on their new "friend", who crouched close to the ground.

Without warning, the unicorn was out of her crouch and galloping toward the intruders. Pinkie looked toward Twilight, smiling, and said, "Oh look, she's coming to say hello!"

At full speed, the unicorn jumped and tackled Pinkie Pie to the cold cave floor, standing on top of the pink pony. She raised her hoof into the air, preparing to bring it down on Pinkie's helpless face at full force. Before she brought her hoof down she yelled, "That food is mine, don't you dare try and take it from me."

Thinking quickly, Twilight used her magic to teleport Pinkie to her side. The attacking unicorn stomped only the ground, her eyes widening in surprise. She turned to see the pair standing next to each other.

The blue unicorn used her magic now, picking up a loose rock from the ground and hurling it toward her unicorn opponent. Her magic was powerful, lifting up one of the larger rocks.

With an immense force, the rock smashed into Twilight's side, sending her back toward the side of the cave. She landed on the ground, the rock rolling off of her, but the pain from the initial hit throbbing in her side. Closing her eyes, she moaned as she rolled on the ground, covering the spot of impact with both her forehooves.

Pinkie was now left to fend for herself. The unicorn was approaching her, galloping at full speed once again. Anticipating another tackle, Pinkie ducked. It was too late for the cave unicorn, as she jumped clear over the head of the giggling pink pony. With a thud she hit the floor, not expecting to have missed and not anticipating having to land by herself.

Still moaning, Twilight had managed to pick herself from the floor, trying to find where Pinkie was. The blue unicorn had already recovered from her fall, and was upon Pinkie once more. With a kick from her back hooves, she treated Pinkie as if she was a tree, bucking her for apples. Pinkie had turned around at the most unfortunate moment, taking the kick directly to her jaw. She fell backwards, tears in her eyes as she brought a hoof to her injured mouth.

As the blue unicorn trotted over to Pinkie, Twilight had gotten a hold of herself again. Wishing that she had read some of the combat spells books, she picked a rock of her own up. Aiming toward her unicorn opponent, she tossed the rock with all her might.

Soaring through the air, the rock hit the blue unicorn dead-on, knocking her to the floor just as Twilight had been moments ago. The only difference was that Twilight had thrown the rock which much less force. Twilight galloped toward the downed unicorn, prepared to do what she needed to in order to protect Pinkie Pie.

Picking up another rock from the cave floor, the blue unicorn attempted to bring Twilight to a halt. Seeing the rock hurled toward her, Twilight used her magic to create a small bubble around her, protecting her from outside projectiles. The rock hit the bubble with a thud, bouncing off without injuring the galloping unicorn. However, the force of the rock drained some of Twilight's energy, as maintaining the spell under fire was extremely difficult.

Allowing the small shield that she had created to disappear, Twilight jumped for her unicorn foe. Success. The blue unicorn lay on the ground under the hooves of Twilight Sparkle. The pink pony had finally gotten up from the ground, and was trotting over to help Twilight.

"Go, run Pinkie, I've got this!" commanded Twilight. Thinking about it for a second, Pinkie halted her trot and looked back towards where the cave entrance was.

"No." Pinkie continued to trot toward the interlocked unicorns. She wasn't about to leave her friend.

Still struggling to keep her pinned to the ground, Twilight used everything she had read about fighting to try and stay on top. Of course, reading about combat and actually participating were too different a thing, and the pages of a book didn't translate into real fighting. Twilight knew she was going to lose, hoping that by some luck she would be able to defeat her unicorn enemy.

Breaking loose from her grip, the unicorn delivered a powerful kick from the ground. Her hooves moved swiftly, and within half a second it was over. The kick had hit Twilight square in the face, sending her to the ground. Her face was red from where the hooves had landed. The pain was unbearable at first, but it was only for a short moment. The blue unicorn picked herself off the ground.

Everything was becoming blurry. Slowly losing a sense of reality, Twilight began to slip away. Her eyes closed and darkness consumed her mind. She couldn't feel the pain anymore. She couldn't feel anything. Her final memory was Pinkie tackling the blue unicorn to the floor. She couldn't hear anything or see anything. Her mind went completely blank.

Twilight lay unconscious on the cold cave floor.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Without a word, Fluttershy sped down towards the ground where her friend stood, awaiting a falling coconut. Seeing Fluttershy coming down towards her, coconut still between her hooves, Rainbow Dash began to yell. Fluttershy wasn't concerned however, the information she held was important. Upon landing, Fluttershy dropped the coconut and tried to quiet her pegasus friend.

"Rainbow Dash please be quiet..." she pleaded.

"What are you doing? Why didn't you smash it?"

"Rainbow Dash this is important, I saw...."

"What's important is that we get some food!" interrupted Rainbow Dash, kicking the coconut to the side with her hoof.

"No you don't understand..."

"We're here to get food, not to play games, Fluttershy."

"Rainbow Dash!" yelled Fluttershy, finally losing her patience, "I saw a boat, it's coming toward the island."

Unsure of what to do with this information, the sky blue pegasus turned her head toward the ocean. What used to be a small speck out in the ocean was now the clear outline of a boat, sailing directly for the island. Cracking open the coconut was the last thing on Rainbow Dash's mind now.

The boat was coming closer and closer with every passing second. Before long, the two pegasi were already trotting away from the sandy shores of the ocean, and from their coconut. Ponies were definitely on the boat, and they were coming for the food. Both pegasi agreed it was imperative that they get there first. They began their journey toward the mountains.

Hills of sand became tall grass. The palm trees died away, leaving only the grass to cover the ground. It rose to the necks of the ponies, green and shiny. What hid in the grass was a mystery. Slowly the ground became muddy and the hooves of the trotting pegasi sunk further and further into the ground.

They trotted on, pushing grass out of their way only to have it snap back up once they were past it. Bugs flew in the moist air, and the sound of frogs croaking took up the area. The beach had quickly turned into marshland. Within the center lay a pond of clear water, with small plants floating on the surface.

Only one of them was not a plant. Floating on the surface in a rubber inner tube, a draconquus relaxed in the sunlight. Looking up towards the sky, it looked as though Discord didn't have a care in the world. Of course, he knew that the pegasi were on their way.

As they approached the pond, the two pegasi sensed that something was awry. It was not until they pushed back the final blades of grass did they see Discord lying in the middle of the pond.

"Discord! What are you doing here? How did you escape?" Rainbow Dash inquired, trying to fly out over the pond but remembering she couldn't.

"Hello, my little ponies, it's such a joy to see you again. Enjoying the scenery?" responded the draconequus, not even turning his head. He simply stared up at the sky, his eyes closed.

"Enough games, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, but games are so much fun! Don't you love the way this island is designed, its simply," Discord looked for the right word, "Chaotic."

"If I could get my hooves on you then you'd see...."

"Oh silly Rainbow Dash, why must you always be so brash. I'm not here to harm you, I'm just here to enjoy the show. This should be fun. The island has a few tricks up its sleeves, and it is going to make my day when you see them!"

Rainbow Dash snarled at her smirking nemesis. "How are you not a statue? We defeated you."

"Rainbow Dash, I'm a spirit. I can go wherever I want. Of course, I can't have near the amount of fun I could if I had my physical form back. Anyway, you might want to hurry up, the boat is on its way." A snap of his fingers and Discord was gone. The short encounter had rattled Rainbow Dashes nerves, and had sent Fluttershy hiding in the tall grass behind them.

The pond spread for a long distance, and on the other side the same tall grass covered the ground. Small rocks poked out of the still water, creating a pathway to the other side. Fluttershy could simply fly over the obstacle, but her injured friend would have to use the rocks.

Taking to the sky, Fluttershy was on the other side of the pond, staring back at Rainbow Dash, within a couple of seconds. Small rocks with flat tops made a wavy line to the other side of the pond, and they were the only option of the injured pegasus. Eyeing the rocks warily, she took her first step.

Before she could step on the stone, it magically sprung to life, moving to the side to avoid the hoof. Rainbow Dash almost fell into the water, but managed to regain her balance. She looked up towards the sky, "Discord! Stop that!"

His voice came from nowhere, almost as if it were traveling through the air. "I'm not doing anything, it's simply the island playing its tricks."

Rainbow Dash growled. This was exactly the kind of thing she'd expect from Discord. It seemed impossible to get across the pond if the rocks were just going to move to the side. She tried to step on the rock again, bringing her hoof close to the surface. Just before she touched the rock, it moved to the side. With a quick movement, Rainbow Dash brought her other hoof onto the rock, keeping it in place. With a satisfied grin, she stepped onto the first rock.

Even though the water was clear, it wouldn't be the best idea to fall in. There would be no way to pull herself out of the water, considering the rocks moved away from her. Rainbow Dash couldn't swim either, her broken wing didn't allow her to. Usually she just let her wings push her forward, but this time that wouldn't happen.

Slowly but surely, Rainbow Dash made her way across the tricky rocks, figuring out the secret to stepping on them. She had to jump slightly to the side of the rock, and instead of pulling out from under her the rock would save her. It was risky, but it was the only way to get across the rocks that were further apart.

Halfway across the pond, Fluttershy took to the sky once more, observing what lay behind them. She was trying to spot the boat. Except, the boat was just a little too easy to find.

Comments

[TheOnly]

Took me a while to get to it, but it's finally here.

Another chapter. It MAY seem rushed/ underdeveloped, and that may be because it is. I got caught up in the whole R.A.I.N.B.O.W Dash story

Anywho, it's the new chapter. The next chapter will be much better, I promise

If you find any mistakes feel free to tell me

[choosybeggar]

Interesting, very interesting.

[kladdos]

I did enjoy your R.A.I.N.B.O.W dash story a lot!
anyway, this story is very nice as well and i'm eager to find out what is going to happen
Keep up the good work!

[chees485]

you could've used the excuse that the chaos in equestria had once again awoken discord from his stone prison, then he went back home, but this works too.
oh and good story so far.

[Fort Impression]

You must finish the story!
This is leaving me in so much suspense, and I can't take it anymore.
This is amazing and I don't really find many Discord fics these days, so I am happy to see he's in here with his riddles and all. I am very much looking forward to the next chapter, but I am sad that Dash hurt her wing.
Keep up the good work!

P.S. You better not kill off Twilight and Pinkie (since they are the only ones in danger right now) or you will have to bake cupcakes with me!

[Slayergreg]

I'm guessing this fic will never be finished then....