Chapter Eight - Sustenance
The daylight leaked from the island quickly, and the grey, oppressive sky hid the traitorous false moon completely from view. In the clearing, surrounded by the protective but hardly comforting bulk of the rootscraper herd, Twilight Sparkle strained desperately to pick out some detail in the rapidly darkening jungle.
Her ears flicked nervously, which stung, and she found herself pawing the mud and stopped, scowling slightly.
She hated this. Twilight Sparkle was a proactive pony. A pony of forethought, and careful planning. She avoided situations like this precisely BECAUSE she hated feeling powerless.
Being powerless meant being out of control. Being out of control of a situation meant reacting to changing conditions on the fly. Being forced to react meant making split second decisions, and too many of those turned out, in hindsight, to be mistakes. So here she was, completely stymied, unable to so much as create an orb of light to improve visibility for fear that the use of her magic would draw that thing close.
Draw it towards her, but also towards Marshall, alone out there, in the dark.
She grit her teeth and stood, pacing, her thoughts circling furiously. Admittedly, this current situation was partly her fault. She was willing to admit that much, but the way he'd reacted... He had gone completely overboard, and now he was out there, and angry, and worse, he had a tendency to get reckless when he was angry.
She stopped and looked back towards the jungle, but she could make out only vague shapes now.
Tepid moisture splattered her muzzle and she blinked, going cross-eyed to stare at it.
This was all the warning that was forthcoming. Seconds later she was in the middle of one of those torrential downpours that strike the rainforest so often. The rootscrapers, covered in thick feathers and no doubt optimized for this type of weather, didn't even move. Her mane plastered against her head and neck, she blew some of the sodden mass out of her eyes with an irritated whoosh of breath, then went back to her cycle of annoyance.
And anger.
And worry.
She did this for several hours, pace pace stop, scan the treeline, pace pace stop. She continued long after there was any sort of decent visibility, which didn't take long, with the fall of night and rain respectively, simply for lack of anything better to DO. She had a wealth of options with her magic, but she didn't dare exercise any of them for fear that it might make the situation WORSE. She had just about reached her limit before a wave of dizziness struck her with no warning, like a freight train. Her forelegs slid forward out from under her, resulting in a muddy faceplant. After several aborted tries she managed to right herself, twisting about frantically.
"No no no.... not now.." She moaned.
The telltale blue lightning that fell what felt like approximately fifteen to twenty minutes later was close, probably no further than the primordial palm forest they'd left behind on their first passage through the herd, and it struck several times in quick succession, almost mechanically precise in its interval. The world was suddenly visible in patches, like a strobe light at one of DJ-PON3's shows, but without the deep bass rumble that would accompany such a show. If there was any other need for an indicator that this was not normal lightning, the complete lack of thunder would have been enough.
She gritted her teeth and considered her options. It was time to stop sitting on her flank and DO something, Celestia damn it. He could be hurt, he could be-
"Wow... that's a lot of sky lights-"
Twilight jumped about three feet in the air, turned and flailed wildly with her hooves in an amazing display of involuntary mid-air acrobatics, and let out a yelp of startlement. Marshall, startled at her reaction, stepped backward, dropped his pack and her saddlebags with a splash before slipping on the rainslickened mud and going down on his rump. He had obviously grabbed his rain gear from his pack, as the downpour pattered on the waterproof camo poncho he had put on over the rest of his gear.
Why, exactly, those unknown soldiers had packed raingear going into the desert was a question best left to equipment loadout planning groups.
"Jesus, Twilight! You scared the-"
She was in his face before he could finish the sentence. "YOU!"
He paled and jerked his head back from her furious countenance. She reacted by stepping up onto his chest with her forehooves, driving him further onto his back. He squelched into the mud, and the sound the rain made on his poncho was a frantic drumbeat in furious counterpoint to the still active flashing of soundless alien lightning. She leaned down to glare at him eye to eye.
He started to speak and she narrowed her eyes and bared her gritted teeth. Little wisps of vapor began to curl from her mane.
Deciding keeping his mouth shut was the better part of not being immolated, he shut his trap.
Twilight was horribly conflicted. On the one hoof, she was genuinely relieved to see him, so relieved, in fact, that she felt a little light headed. On the other hoof, she was also so furious with him that if she had had hands, she would probably be strangling him right now.
She elected instead to continue staring at him. To his credit, not only was he not stupid enough to try saying anything, he also looked honestly terrified.
They sat frozen like that for several minutes, her standing half on him with her sides heaving, him pressed with his back in the mud, hat askew, staring up at her in the rain, his face illuminated in still images of blue illumination. After several beats, she snorted.
"I don't know, what that was..." she said, slowly, filling each word with deadly sarcasm. "But you cannot freak out in this place, Marshall. Not like that. Not ever."
He winced as she threw his own words into his face, and started to open his mouth.
Her glare intensified.
"Every decision you make here... everything you do has to be considered." She stepped backwards deliberately, and sat on her haunches, watching him. Her furious visage had banked to a slightly colder fury.
He closed his mouth, sat up wincing, and looked downward, sheepishly.
She cocked her head slightly. "Well?"
He shifted his gaze to look at her through the matted, sodden tangle of his hair and nodded.
"I'm-"
She shook her head. "I don't want to hear it, right now. I am so... I really don't have the words, Marshall. This was the most inconsiderate thing you've ever done."
He jerked his head up. "Oh for crying out loud! I admit, it was stupid, but it's not like-"
She blazed up again, almost literally, though she was a bit too damp to really catch flame, and stepped right up to him once more.
"You are all I HAVE." She hissed.
He started, blinking, shocked right out of his indignation.
She met him eye to eye, willing him to understand.
"I was always... different, Marshall. It wasn't obvious at first. Little things. I was speaking in full sentences at the age of three. Reading at a college level at age five. Then one day, I saw Princess Celestia raise the sun at the Summer Sun Celebration and I knew... I KNEW what I was meant to do."
"It may have escaped your notice, but I am not the most socially adept pony in Equestria. I suppose, in retrospect, it was that my intellect developed so much faster than my emotional maturity. The only friends I had growing up was my brother and my foalsitter, Princess Cadence... and just before I joined Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Young Unicorns, he was busy with guard training. I didn't see Princess Cadence much after joining the academy."
She scowled. "I went through life thinking I didn't need anypony. That most ponies were a waste of time. The only things I cared about were magic, and learning, and making Princess Celestia proud of me."
At some point that neither of them were in the frame of mind to notice, the sky lights had ceased their regular beat. The rain had lightened up slightly, becoming a gentle shushing sound in the background. The clouds above parted slightly, allowing the traitor moon to peak her face through them and give the island below a quiet, gentle sort of illumination. Marshall watched her quietly, his expression somewhere between confusion and embarassment.
"I was SO wrong, Marshall. It took a near disaster to teach me differently, but I eventually learned that everypony needs somepony. In the course of learning that lesson, I made five of the best friends to ever exist. I love them, Marshall. We were like family. A big, dopey, funny, occasionally schizophrenic, and absolutely AMAZING family. I thought it would last forever."
She sniffed, and her head drooped downward. If she was crying, the rain and the darkness made it impossible to tell.
"Then in one morning, I lost all of it. My friends, my books, my place in the world, my WORLD. All of it. For, as near as I can tell, no reason at all."
She looked up at the sky, considering that nearly impenetrable murk of night and cloud and the distant false moon. Stared as though she could gaze a hole through the monstrosity between them, through the impenetrable, invisible barrier that separated her from... all of it.
"I have to face reality, Marshall. It's the kind of pony I am. I will NEVER, NEVER give up looking for a way home, but if we are on another world... if we are in another universe, I may never find my way there. Regardless of whether I do or not, I doubt it will be a quick process."
She advanced a step, looking him in the eyes. The naked need for his understanding made him lock gazes with her, frozen.
"I may have survived my first week here without you, I may not have. Regardless, you took a bewildered, disoriented mess of a pony in without even the slightest hesitation, and you showed her how you do it. How you get through every day in this miserable place. How you manage to laugh, even... even after all of THIS." She gestured with a hoof.
"I may have survived without you to help me, but I can't survive without you, now. This island has taken everything from me, everything but my magic, and my intellect."
She gazed at him intently. "And you."
She broke the intense stare and sat back on her haunches again, now emotionally drained and so very tired. It had been a long day.
"So yes. Inconsiderate. You ran out there into the night because you were angry, and you did it without CONSIDERING for a SECOND how I would feel if something HAPPENED to you!"
He seemed to deflate slightly at this, and she could tell that what she'd said had hurt him, at least. Maybe he was listening.
"I don't know what it is you think you're responsible for, what makes you throw yourself at danger without a care for your own safety, and I don't CARE. We are a team, Marshall. It's you and me, and we either get through this together, or we don't get through it at all."
Marshall looked pained. "But-"
She glared. "Don't you say you aren't that important. Don't you dare."
"Twilight-" He started.
"You have to promise me you won't pull something like this again. You are important to me! If you have any feelings at all for me, whatsoever, you will PROMISE me that whatever else we do, if its reckless, or dangerous, we will DO IT TOGETHER."
He sighed. "Twilight-"
She stepped right up again and put a hoof on his knee. "You bucking promise me, Marshall!"
"Goddamn it, you stubborn mare, will you let me get a fucking word in edgewise?!"
She blinked, then gestured with her hoof for him to go on.
He glared at her sullenly for a moment, his jaw set in that stubborn way of his that made her want to smack him, then his expression softened and he sighed.
"I'm just not used to it, ok? Five years is a long time, Twilight. I've taken so many risks, so many insane risks, that it just doesn't register sometimes that what I'm doing may be... somewhat ill-advised."
At her disbelieving look at his understatement he waved her off irritably. Then his expression softened.
"When I only had myself to look after that was ok. No one would be hurt but me if I fucked up and got myself killed."
He sighed. "I get what you're saying, I do. For what it's worth, I don't think I could deal with losing... anyone else."
He put a hand on the hoof she still held on his knee. "So I get it, Twilight. I'm sorry. To be honest, I was sorry almost immediately after I hit the treeline, but..."
He looked sheepish. "I kinda... got turned around in the dark. Stumbled on that broken palm tree more by smell than any real woodcraft, got our stuff, then wandered around in the wet and dark and kickin' myself in the ass, 'til those sky lights started up."
He rolled his eyes and cocked his head slightly. "The whole time I was thinkin', damn, she's right, this is fucking stupid, but, well... you know me."
She stared at him for a long moment, then sighed and grinned tiredly. "Oh believe me, Marshall, I am rapidly becoming a subject matter expert on the complex patterns of human idiocy."
Her expression hardened again. "You still haven't promised me, Marshall."
He sighed and gave her as sincere a look as he could manage in the dark and wet. "I promise, Twilight, no more stupid, unnecessary risks."
She glared. "And?"
"And if a risk is stupid, but necessary, we do it together."
She continued to stare at him. He fidgeted, then rolled his eyes again.
"Pinkie Promise." He said, morosely.
She relented and cocked her head, slightly. "Are we cool?"
He grinned tiredly. "Yeah, we're cool."
Despite the tension earlier, the two wayward castaways had managed to settle into something approaching comfort, with the inclusion of a second poncho for Twilight. Adapted from another soldier's gear, it was a little long, but it worked for their purposes. Marshall thought it looked pretty hilarious, but he kept his mouth shut about it, managing to restrain himself to a few odd grins when she wasn't looking. Eventually the rain tapered off to the occasional splatter and the night grew relatively clear. Huddling together for warmth, they shared the contents of her packed fruit bag.
The improvised saddlebags had not held up under the downpour as well as she'd hoped, and she cringed to think about what the precious books inside might look like. She sighed and dug through looking for them, but not finding them, she sat back munching disconsolately on a piece of star fruit.
She frowned. "That's funny."
Marshall, who had been steadily easing towards a light doze blinked, then looked in her direction and, upon seeing her staring glumly at a piece of star fruit, smirked lazily. "Twilight, considering the fact that star fruit has been a part of your balanced diet for nearly every meal since we've met, I wouldn't use the word funny to describe the situation."
He looked skyward at the dismal clouds, then sniffed. "Fucking tragic comes to mind..."
She rolled her eyes balefully in his direction. "I didn't mean the fruit, you nut. I meant the books. I was expecting to find them ruined after all that water, but I can't seem to find them at all."
He snapped his fingers. "Right! You tore me a new asshole so fast it completely slipped my mind!"
She smirked. "Marshall, just as you can't put a new donut hole into a donut hole, you cannot put a new asshole in a-"
He chuckled. "HA! Bite me. No, what I meant was, I moved your books into my pack when I found the bags. I figured it might be a good idea considering how rainfall is around here. Check my pack."
She blinked, then opened up his much better put together pack and found the explosives manual and her new journal safe and sound on the very top. She turned to him, somewhat embarassed by how touched she was by his gesture.
Then she recalled how he'd done it in the middle of being inconsiderate and had a perplexed moment where she couldn't figure out whether she should be happy or angry again.
He snorted. "You can't figure out whether to be pissed or grateful, can you?"
She flicked her good ear at him in response and he chuckled. "Pony or human, you mares are all the same."
She rolled her eyes. "I had noticed some distressing similarities between you human males and stallions as well."
He gave her a disdainful look. "Neigh."
They stared at each other seriously for several seconds, then both burst out laughing in quick succession, Twilight, then Marshall after her mirth got the better of him. They laughed together on and off like this for several minutes. One or the other would stop for a moment, then they'd look at each other and start up again. Before long, tears streaming down their cheeks. At some point during this Marshall impulsively hugged her, and after a beat she hugged him in return. If there was a hint of fierceness in that gesture, even a bit of desperation, on both their parts, it still felt good. Perhaps even helped to heal part of the rift between them.
It felt good to laugh again.
The two of them had gone into what was left of the night with the intent of sleeping in shifts, but this had proven absolutely futile, as several hours of exhausting activity had left them both... well, exhausted.
Marshall lay peacefully on his back, his head supported by their combined packs, his hat pulled low over his eyes. Twilight had simply slumped with her head on his chest, and in repose he'd rested a hand on her neck. The first to awaken, Twilight opened her eyes to stare blearily at him. She'd fallen asleep with her face turned in his direction, and not particularly in a hurry she stared at him, unwilling to disturb him by moving around.
She contemplated her state of being as she gazed at him. Her friendship with Marshall Bailey was a strange one, and she wondered if that was because he was human, if it was who he was, or if it was their situation. Probably a bit of all three, she decided. She'd never have imagined a friend like this back in Equestria. For one thing, anyone who heard them talk to one another for more than five minutes might assume that they didn't like each other very much.
She shuddered to think what would have happened if Fluttershy instead of Twilight had been foalnapped. 'Shy was just... too emotionally fragile, too thin-skinned for someone with Marshall's sense of humor. Rarity would have found him rather uncouth... worse, he was smart enough to know that his behavior would get under her skin, and demented enough to think it was funny.
That might actually make the contrary human WORSE.
Applejack and Dash probably would have gotten along with him ok. He was guileless by nature, tending to evade questions he didn't want to answer or flat out reject lines of inquiry rather than outright lie, and hardworking. If he and Applejack had butted heads, it would have been out of sheer stubbornness. As for Rainbow Dash, they had flight in common, and were both on the reckless side. They definitely shared a love of practical jokes, as well. Inevitably though, he and Dash would have clashed at times. Dash had a tendency to jump to conclusions and a sort of bravado that Marshall would have found impossible not to mess with.
Twilight had given up trying to predict what Pinkie Pie would do in any given situation.
Twilight frowned as she realized that her friendship with Marshall couldn't really be categorized in the same way as her relationship with her other friends. She didn't quite know what made it different... aside from the casual verbal abuse, of course.
Was that it? Were they only friends out of adversity? She'd said things to Marshall that would have absolutely devastated some of her other friends, and she'd said it to be FUNNY. More importantly, he'd done the same to her, and if she had to guess, she'd imagine that the growing fondness with which she viewed such bickering was the same for him.
Was that healthy?
More importantly, was it really friendship?
If it wasn't friendship... what was it, exactly?
Twilight Sparkle didn't like being confused.
"Twilight, I can assure you that no matter how long you stare at me, I am not going to get any prettier than I already am. It just isn't physically possible."
She started, jerked back to the now by his voice, and found Marshall gazing at her from below the brim of his shapeless booney hat with a lopsided grin on his face. She snorted.
"The multitudes of human females must mark the day of your disappearance with wailing and gnashing of teeth." She said dryly.
“Naw. Know a couple that might throw a party, though.”
She smirked. “Why do I have absolutely NO problem believing that, do you think?”
He let out a rumbling chuckle that she felt through his chest and sat up, brushing his hat back onto its proper place. She raised her head and gazed up at the morning sky.
It was clear for once.
Marshall stood, groaned, stretched with numerous cracks and pops, and let out a voluminous series of curses so foul that Twilight's ears involuntarily flattened.
He finished the string of invective with a yawn.
“Well... everytime I think I've hit rock bottom, this island sets the bar a little lower. A night of sleeping in the mud, in off and on showers, and freakish monster summoning blue lightning, in the middle of a herd of dinosaurs, while a creature out of Clash of the Titans stalks my ass all night? You can't BUY suck like this... and believe me, I've been to Thailand, I've TRIED!”
She gave him a disgusted expression and shook her head. “I'm not sure what most of that sentence means, but something about it makes me want to kick you.”
He didn't respond to this, instead pulling out his binoculars and scanning the treeline. She watched him, fidgeting slightly for several seconds, before he lowered them and passed the binoculars quietly to her.
She looked up at him and after an awkward, confused hesitation he remembered that she was trying not to use magic at the moment. He helped her adjust the strap around her neck, then she sat back awkwardly on her haunches and used her forehooves to mimic him.
“Did you see it?”
He shook his head. “No, but I want a second opinion.”
She began her own surveillance, frowning slightly in concentration. Marshall, meanwhile, removed his poncho, whacked it several times against his leg to break the dried mud off of it, then folded it and put it in his pack. As she turned to scan the opposite treeline he unbuttoned the top two buttons of his BDU top due to the heat and went off a ways away to do his business. She continued her scan of the treeline studiously until the sounds of urination finished, then lowered the binos and cocked her head at him.
He raised an eyebrow. “Well?”
She frowned. “I didn't see it either, but that makes no sense. Why would it dog us all night, then just... give up? What changed?”
He shrugged. “Dunno. Seems unlikely after the epic ass-whooping it waded through just to keep close by, though. Think it's a trick?”
She shook her head. “Honestly, I don't think it's that smart.” She shuddered. “Maybe whatever came through in that last round of sky lights scared it off.”
He frowned. “That's... discouraging. Also, it doesn't strike me as the scareable type.”
They mused this over for several seconds before Marshall slapped his fist into his hand.
“Countermeasures!”
Twilight blinked, then cocked her head at him curiously. “What?”
“Ok, this is gonna take some explanation, so bear with me. I told you about anti-aircraft weaponry, right?”
She frowned, but nodded. War was not unheard of in Equestrian history, but it had been a very long time since Equestria had had anything approaching an armed conflict, and they had NEVER had one on the scale that humans tended to. It took a certain amount of mental juggling to reconcile this with certain accepted notions in Equestrian social sciences, namely, that a society had to be largely peaceful to enjoy any sort of technological advancement worth the name.
Such experts often pointed to the differences between griffon, pony, and diamond dog tech levels as proof of these notions, and while these modes of thought were cautiously accepted by the Equestrian scientific community at large, they had always struck Twilight as somewhat condescendingly pony-centric.
Considering the massively more advanced state of human technology, it would appear that humanity blew those theories completely out of the water. With the evidence that she'd gathered on this island, she could probably have written a score of mind blowing papers on the subject.
She shrugged off the thought for later analysis and turned her attention back to Marshall.
“One of the types of anti-aircraft weaponry is called a heat-seeking missile. You already know that heat is a form of radiant energy, but what you might not be aware of is that most of that radiated heat is actually a form of light.”
She frowned. “Ok... so if it's light why can't we see it?”
He raised a finger. “Light has properties of both a particle and a wave. I could get into it, and by your expression I see I'm going to have to later, but the jist of it is that the wavelength of light determines what color it is, or even if we can see it at all. Heat radiates in the infrared spectrum, and the heat that most aircraft generates from engines and the like is specifically the mid-IR. Heat-seeking missiles look for that signature, lock on to it, and follow it to the target.”
She nodded, following, and completely fascinated.
“So anyway, obviously nobody likes the idea of a weapon they can't evade, so they developed countermeasures. At first, these were decoy flares that radiated heat. Essentially, they fooled the missile into thinking it was tracking the target, when in actuality it was just chasing a flare.”
He paused, and at her nod, continued. “So that worked for awhile, but as heat-seekers got more and more sophisticated that method got less and less effective. Eventually, a company called Northrop-Grumman came up with another solution. They invented a countermeasure that shot a focused, multi-wavelength beam of mid-IR light from a turret that contained a sensor that detected missile launches, called a Directed Infrared Countermeasure, or Nemesis defense system. Basically, instead of giving the missile a decoy to follow, it blinded the sensor the missile used to track in the exact wavelength of light that it was looking for.”
She frowned. “So...”
He snapped his fingers, excited. “Come on, genius! So what I'm saying is, you don't see by magic, or hunt by it, but every time those sky lights hit, it knocks you for a loop. You said it felt like the magic thauma-thingie flexed when it happened and that made you dizzy.”
Her eyes widened. “Right.... so if this thing is even MORE sensitive to magic than I am because it hunts by it...”
He grinned. “Then when those sky lights hit it was like the thing was a cat left in a tumble dryer for twenty minutes or so. Combine that with how dark and rainy it was last night, and the fact that you've avoided doing anything magical since we saw it...”
She beamed at him. “You know... I honestly think you're on to something here. It's a sound hypothesis.”
He grimaced. “Only one way to test it, though.”
She frowned. “Yeah. We can't stay here forever. I say we go for it.”
He nodded seriously. “And... that doesn't factor in whatever those sky lights just landed on our backyard. They were close by, and RIGHT in the direction we have to go.”
She sighed. “That's true whether we leave now or later. Best we do it while we have the best possibility of evading that magic hunter thing.”
He nodded. “Agreed. Like the mare said, a stupid risk, but a necessary one. Let's eat breakfast then make tracks.”
Twilight grabbed a star fruit from the bag with her hoof and looked at it glumly. Marshall gave her that evil grin of his that always preceded a comment that she wasn't going to like.
“There are alternatives... just make that noise again, I'm sure one of the rootscrapers will-”
She threw the fruit at him, which caught him by surprise, as he wasn't aware that hooves could do that. Luna wasn't the only one good at spider tosses. It hit him in the inner thigh and left a painful bruise.
He called it a mark of tragedy.
Leaving the herd was much easier now that it had been several hours since the “Magnificent Bastard” had been spotted, as Marshall had taken to calling it. Despite her initial rejection of the sobriquet, she was not above just calling it “MB” for short, because they had to call it something, and before long both of them were doing it.
Trudging warily through the woods, every sense on alert, Marshall and Twilight made their way through the primordial palm forest. Every unexpected noise or snap of a branch brought them both to instant, tense stillness, Marshall's hand drifting to his knife.
Both of them KNEW something was wrong, something was out of place, but neither of them could put a finger (or hoof) on it.
Twilight was the first to spot it, when it came right down to it, and that was mostly because she literally stumbled over it.
“Ouch!” She exclaimed cutely, as she tripped and half tumbled into a palm tree. She had been so focused on her surroundings that she hadn't paid attention to where she was putting her hooves. She glanced down at what she'd stumbled over and froze.
Then looked up consideringly at the palm tree.
Marshall, who had gotten a bit ahead of her but turned when she exclaimed, gave her a confused look.
“What is it, Twilight?” He asked, concernedly.
Twilight, looked around one more time, then a slow wondering grin broke over her face. “Of course...” she said quietly.
Marshall frowned.
“Marshall, it all makes sense now! I'm telling you, it makes SENSE!” She whooped, then started running around him in a giddy little circle.
He followed her motion, bemused. “Did you hit your head or something?”
“No no! I get it now! Something that's been bothering me all this time is finally clear! The rootscrapers, Marshall, how are they still alive?!”
He frowned. “Because they're too damn big and ornery for anyone to take down?”
She grinned. “Exactly, but you're missing the point. That herd is huge... it represents a combined tonnage of well over 300 tons. Something about them has been bothering me all this time, and I finally get it! The closest land animal in my world that matches it for size and feeding habits is a form of elephant, and adults get to around six to twelve tons and eat close to... eight hundred pounds of food a day.”
He put a hand out and stopped her giddy victory lap, as it was starting to make him dizzy. She turned, excited and happy, her cheek against his palm.
“Ok, so...?”
“So taking into account that these are birdlike, and appear to have a crop, so they probably have a slightly more efficient metabolism, they STILL eat pretty much ALL day, and they eat a very specific part of one type of plant. You said so yourself.”
She met his gaze squarely. “So as a rough estimate, say an adult rootscraper needs close to six hundred pounds of food a day. That's probably an underestimate, but it will do for our purposes. Do the math, Marshall! Six hundred pounds, times thirty adult animals, equals eighteen thousand pounds of palm heart a day! That's nine tons! Now granted these are huge palm trees, that still around two palm trees per animal per day...”
He blinked, then looked around at the forest, and considering look on his face. “Sixty trees per day... four hundred twenty trees per week... there shouldn't even be a forest here right now...”
She nodded eagerly. “But there IS.... why?”
He looked at the rootscraper dig marks she'd tripped over. The dig marks that went right up to a palm tree...
That was absolutely pristine.
“Because whatever is causing those sky lights is replacing them.” He finished, awed.
She turned eagerly from him and gazed around them. “The scale of it! It's...”
Marshall shook his head, mutely, for once awed into silence.
“Figure that before I showed up, unless you actually SAW the sky lights happen, you would have been completely unaware of them. Now factor in that if I'm asleep, or lying down, I wouldn't be aware that I was dizzy...”
He frowned thoughtfully. “You think the sky lights happen a lot more often than we're even aware of?”
She nodded. “I think it's pretty obvious. Something is ACTIVELY maintaining this biome, Marshall. In addition to yanking random ponies from their beds and thrusting them into the middle of this...”
She gestured with a hoof. “Something recognizes that this is a closed system with an unsustainable ecology... and it's fixing it ON THE SLY!”
He nodded seriously. “Ok... so how do we exploit this?”
She paced furiously, thinking. “Well... again, we need to run a few experiments when we get back to the camp. I'll need your help with those... and...”
She looked up at him. “I need as close to a bird's eyeview of the island as I can get. We need to get to the top of that mountain.”
He frowned. “Why? I've already surveyed...”
She shook her head. “That's just it, Marshall, you haven't! You searched the island when you were under the assumption that the only thing the sky lights mean is new predators, but we have evidence that more than just that is being transported here all the time, and that it probably happens way more often than we're aware...”
He sighed, looked away, set his jaw and crossed his arms, then nodded finally and turned back to her. “Ok... so how do we get you to the top of the mountain, genius? It's too far for you to teleport. It's surrounded by flying predators. There are at least four or five sections that are almost perfect vertical climbs, and you have no hands!”
She grinned wickedly at him. “Oh ye of little faith. Fear not, monkey. I have... a plan.”
He blinked, then narrowed his eyes at her. “You know, it kinda ruins the effect if you blush while you do that.”
She blushed harder.
A/N: And now for your viewing pleasure, one of my good friends and colleagues Nugar has written a scene for you folks. It's good enough that you could consider it canon Quantum Castaways if you wish, and probably takes place some time during the three weeks or so that Twilight is acclimitizing to her situation on the island. I doubt this will be the LAST one of these, and I will post them as I receive them at the end of each new chapter.
So, without further adieu, Quantum Castaways presents, QC Omake Theater.
Musical Murder, by Nugar
“Murder turkey, you’re the one… you make breakfast, so much fun…murder turkey, I’m awfully glad I shot you.”
Twilight’s ears twitched as she slowly turned to see her human companion cooking breakfast in his makeshift fryer, humming a random tune beneath his breath. He broke off and sucked his finger for a moment when he got some hot grease on it, and when he resumed poking the charring flesh with a knife, his absentminded tune had changed.
“Murder turkey murder turkey… come join my murder day feast… murder turkey murder turkey… everybody have a piece…”
“Marshal!” she snapped. “That’s one of my favorite songs! Do you have to pervert it into something so… so human?!” He froze, giving her a startled look, completely unaware as to what she was referring to.
“What?” he asked in complete confusion.
Twilight sighed. “Oh, nevermind. But if you’re going to sing, can it be about something besides killing animals?”
He blinked, then got a faint blush as he realized what he’d been doing. “Oh! Oh, uh, sorry. It’s just… you know, murder turkey is actually a pretty fun thing to say.”
“Sometimes, you’re like a big, uncouth Pinkie, you know that?”
“…No?”
“If you want something funny to say, just say pickle barrel kumquat, and show some respect to to that poor thing you’re eating.” She glared at him sternly.
“Okay?” He paused. “Pickle barrel… kumquat?”
Twilight nodded, satisfied. “Much better. Also, you’re burning your murder turkey.”
“Dammit!” After hurriedly rescuing his breakfast from the coals, he sat down with a sigh. “You know, it’s just too goddamn early for this island’s special brand of what the fuck.”
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And... there you go. Probably a bit slow, action-wise, but interesting, I hope. I am mostly a character oriented writer, and consequently character development has a tendancy to take the foreground in most of my work. I apologize to those of you who find these types of chapter too slow, but I regret to say that's probably going to stay.
Holy shet update!
hahaha funny, enjoyed this keep it up.
Love the story, and the Omake too.
I've been loving this story, one of a whopping three human related stories that I've actually enjoyed.
Really hope it doesn't go romance.
Oh, seems they might be on to something. That omake was funny, you should do more of those.
1268205
Excellently done, herr Dust. That scene where Marshall gets berated was a wonderful character moment, and gave us just enough development to be tantalizing. The new discovery about the trees was also a pleasantly unexpected turn... which, in hindsight, feels like it should have been obvious from the start. It makes the story feel well thought-out and complete, and that's the kind of plot advancement I can get behind!
Keep on keeping on, my good sir.
Oh, and by the way: "... sky lights happen a lot more often then we're even aware of?" <-- You should probably fix that.
1268885
Why not? I mean, it's not bestiality. It's just xenophilia. She's an intelligent, thinking being who lived in a world with multiple races. A cross species romance is not beyond the realm of possibility
Yay update!
Love this chapter and the extra. 
i should probably know this by now, but what do you mean when you say "canon"? also dosen't get some of the acronyms, such as OC and OOC...
Twilight = Best Murder Turkey
28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lp1a9ttu0C1qgqyfno1_500.jpg
and Twilight gets more adorable.
interesting
kinda grossed out by the comments though
The thing that i just love about this fic is that everything makes sense.
Its written very intelligent, love it.
Where is the 'extra' like button?!
Saw that there was an update for this story. FINALLY! YEAH!
1268205
Slow my ass, I love a good chapter that teaches new things. keep up the good work!
1268932
It's highly unlikely to develop though. Xenophobia is a winning strategy, it allows to abuse others as if they were resources.
Love this story so much.
Don't worry about the slow character building, its honestly what drew me to this story in the first place. Whether or not this eventually turns romance, I don't think I'll care as long as its equally slow and built up as the character development is. Just keep writing as you are, its great! 
EDIT: Found some typos.
Dash had a tendancy - should be tendency.
She'd said things to Marshall that would have absolutely devestated - should be devastated.
Touching chapter. I really enjoyed it.
1268885
I think it's too late for that, haha. Anyway, I don't find it disturbing whatsoever.
1268932
1269162
I have nothing wrong with the concept, (I have Xenophilia favorited, because it's a very cool take on HiE presented in what seems to me to be a realistic fashion, clop's meh, but this story really develops pony courting and mating rituals in a very cool fashion that I have not found done nearly as well anywhere else. Edit: Also, to clarify my position on clop, I don't really care for it or against it. The thing that I'm rather attracted to is basically the character reacting in the situation, not the species. Sexy story is sexy, written about ponies, humans, or both.), but I just think it's something that would detract from this story. So far, it's been about the clash of cultures and surviving in this strange circumstances. The story's a mystery, and I'd rather that be expanded upon than a TwilightXMarshall ship.
I don't have any inherent problem with that ship, but I specifically have been loving this because it's not a romance, because it IS a great adventure mystery. If it's building up for some heart wrentching goodbye, that would work well too, but I'd be terribly disappointed if it turned into sloppy makeouts with Twi. I mean, it IS Twilight, so she's pretty awesome, but it doesn't make for a good story. I don't think that would happen, at all. DustTraveller has been writing this brilliantly so far, but I merely expressed a desire for the direction of the story.
Additionally, I read WAY more romance stories than any other type, so it's not like I dislike that genre.
Hm. Does that explain why I said I don't want it to be romance? I guess I should clear it up, I also don't mind if there's a touch of awkwardness introduced because of it, and some bit of conflict, but if it becomes a central theme I'm probably disappointed. This story's been great because of the research and creativity DT has put into creating this story, which I think romance as a major theme would take away from.
Great chapter. It was worth the wait.
After a 5 year dry-spell, quite the few comments about Twilight being both cute and pretty, coupled with the joke about Twilight in black lingerie (In every joke there is a hint of truth) I would say Romance is not an impossibility in my opinion.
*shrugs* I trust DustTraveller to write a good and interesting story regardless,
You know, I would absolutely love to see what's going down in Equestria right now.
Specifically, how do Twilight's friends react to her disappearance? Is she presumed dead?
Or maybe you already have something special planned. Like, "it was all a dream!" (Oh please not that!) Or, while she's on the island no time passes in Equestria, like Narnia. (Although that's almost as bad a calling it a dream)
Regardless, this story is one of the best, and I eagerly anticipate more.
What song was it that Marshall was apparently ruining for Twilight in the Omake?
The scene where twilight figures out part of the island's mystery by deducing the dietary needs of the rootscrapers, was spot on character wise for her, good work.
1269333
"Quantum" would seem to imply wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey, I could easily buy time differential in the context of this story. Say for every week on the island (LOST) only 60 seconds pass in Equestia/Earth.
Really, I'm curious as to how they're going to both get out of this, it is a really shitty situation to be in and there aren't many satisfying ways out. Can't leave them stuck, can't have it be a dream, etc etc.
I've always viewed war as both a terrible thing and something that constantly drives humanity to make better things. After all, necessity is the mother of invention, and whats a better motivator to necessity than the thought of death? I do think that Magic has a part in keeping Equestria's tech level down low though. After all, Magic is Magic, and any sufficiently advanced technology can be mistaken for magic. Not that its a bad thing though, I'd love to have Magic. Though, given the circumstances, the first thing we'd probably do with it would be weaponize it. And after that, apply it to every other aspect of life. Humans do have a tendency to weaponize everything, again, not a bad thing though.
I wonder if anyone/pony else will show up down the road, or if its just Twilight and Marshall in for the long haul.
1269333 Ahh yes, I would find that enjoyable as well. What is going on in Equestria right about now? And what exactly are the lights? Curiouser and curiouser. . .
Also a wonder, what will happen to Marshall, if they do find a way off? Will he have to go to Equestria with Twilight? Will he be sent back to Earth? What of their fire-forged friendship? To all these questions, I suppose, only time will tell. . .
Ohh yes, and I'd LOVE to see Twilight publish stuff on Human technology. That would be fun to read.
1269480
I could accept a time differential. But not too severe.
I just don't want them to finally get home, and have Twilight be like "Spike! I'm back!", and Spike reply "Did you leave? You just went to bed 5 minutes ago."
That's just not the reaction I'm looking for.
I want feels.
Excellent and very interesting chapter. Thanks !
1269260
+100500
1269489
"I'm finally back home!"
"Hey, it's my student from 3,000 years ago!"
True, but too long and you can end up over doing it.
Or, even worse:
"I'm home!"
"It's been months, we held your funeral and all thought you were dead and now we're all emotional and can't figure it out so we're angry!
I suppose some time needs to pass, my empathy cringes at thinking about it though, would hate to find myself in that situation. I had a similar cringe during Cast Away.
1269532
Oh man! That ending of Cast Away.
Great movie though.
Anyway, I think the trick is to have her gone long enough for her friends to be concerned, but not lose hope.
Also, one of the best things to see is their reactions to subtle changes in her behavior. Like cursing maybe?
That could be funny.
*at her welcome back party*
"SUPRISE!"
"GAH! FUCK!"
"..."
1268205
Not gonna lie to ya, character development is a big part if the appeal of this story.
No being, pony or man, is gonna get out of there unchanged, and we wanna see it.
1269547
Yeah, you can already see her personality being affected! I sympathize with authors of all types over how to conclude stories, especially ones like this where you throw an established character out of their established life because there's really no way to get out of it without having to rely on some sort of trope. That said, seems Dust has an idea of where he's going with all of this and that is a serious boon to not writing ones self into corners!
1268913>>1269140
Thanks for the catches folks. I've gone in and fixed them. While I was doing that I saw that I had misspelled definitely again... sigh. One of these days I WILL spell that correctly the first fucking time.
1269177 1269162 1268932
I have answered this one once before, but I will reiterate my position, since there is a bit of debate here. I am not categorically AGAINST human/pony relationships, as evidenced that I too have Xenophilia favorited. I set the tags of what are major components of the story when I created it, and astute folks will note that romance is not one of them. because while I am not against something like that developing naturally between characters if it does, it will probably not be a major enough influence on the plot to change the direction of it.
So... is romance an option? I'll leave you folks in suspense there, sufficeto say there are a large amount of obstacles that would have to be overcome for that to be an option. Is it going to factor in as a major component of this narrative? Probably not. I started this story with an outline of events that are going to occur right to the end, but that's all it is, an outline. Things can, and WILL, change in that framework as new ideas occur to me. It has already happened once or twice. If it ever did, I would include the Romance tag. It's like this; no matter which way I run with it, someone is going to be disappointed. So my only alternative is to play it like I've always done. Let the characters decide for themselves. Anyone who has ever written knows that sometimes the characters hijack the story like they were in Under Siege or some shit.
Regardless of what direction I go with it, at no point am I going to write clop. Graphic sex scenes just aren't in my repetoire. Sorry.
1269095
Man, you crack me up Zed. Thanks for the comment. It's always nice to hear from you, you crazy kid.
1269487
Bear in mind that I see absolutely no difference between magic and technology. If Science is a way of making observations about the universe, then technology is the exploitation of those observations for advancement. In Equestria, magic works, thus it is inherent to the physical laws of Equestria, and can be exploited. You still use science to make those observations. So when equestrian scientists are saying they are advanced technologically, they are including magic in that equation. Having never observed a universe in which magic is not present, they assume also that any sufficiently advanced culture will ALSO have magic.
In terms of hard advancement, it is true that cultures which experience conflict have a tendancy to advance more quickly, but this is a more a byproduct of adversity rather than war itself. Technology fills a gap, in that technology that does not serve a need or make something more convenient tends to be dropped or not adopted in the first place. Equestria has a cornicopia economy, in that the ponies needs are all met, they don't appear to have starvation in any real sense. This, by necessity, is going to stagnate technological advancement somewhat. It isn't that ponies are dumb... it's that they don't have a need for things like doppler radar and sonar and the like. They don't have to worry about incoming enemy fighters or submarines blowing their shipping out of the water. The problem with this is that while radar and computer technology was developed for war time use FIRST, the peacetime applications were by FAR more significant. So you lose some of the good with the bad.
1269487>>1269532>>1269547
Sorry. Not gonna spoil it. Suffice to say, I think... naw. Not even going to hint at this point. It's better that way. The payoff is more satisfying.
1269721
Just as we prefer it
1268980
Snort. Wow... that's awesome.
1268205
YOU, You're the magnificent bastard here, i love you. Thank you so much for writing this!
This is very well written. You do it very well, i can't explain the details of how well you do it because i can't words good.
1268962
Ok, I'll try to help you out a bit. Canon is a term used in a fandom context to describe something that is in universe, or officially accepted as true. By calling the Omake "canon", I am effectively saying that it could have happened in Quantum Castaways officially. If something is non-canon, it isn't something that happened officially. For instance, most fanfiction is by definition "non-canon" from the source material.
OC - Original character. A character which does not appear in the source material universe.
OOC - Out of Character. Used to describe a character who appears in the show acting in a manner which is not consistent with their accepted behavior, IE, Twilight Sparkle acting like a bimbo, or Fluttershy being a complete bitch without some external stimuli causing her to do so. In a roleplaying game sense, OOC can also mean conversations between players which are not happening "in game".
1269841
. The gentlecolt Kouen also sent me a message earlier explaining it. 
Thanks a bunch
Nice to know you guys take the time to help a newcomer out
I hope that a ship comes, because I need that ship to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
1269721
Well NOW I'm disappointed. I was secretly hoping for Human/Rootscaper/Pone clop.
1269998
Ew.... now that's beastiality. Also physically unlikely. Also painful.
1270060
I meant painful more in the sense that if you start messing with a rootscraper of any genders junk, you're probably going to end up smeared all over the landscape.
1268205 I'm just being driven insane by the fact that I know something is playing a twisted game or conducting seriously screwed up research, and I have no facts whatsoever that lead me to a 'why' for anything! I'm glad you gave considerable thought to the palm trees, as that was one big unknown that puzzled me. Not that it means for certain this 'cage' is being staffed by living aliens, it could still be something left on automatic pilot, following a complex program and maintaining itself (as did the advanced machinery on "The Forbidden Planet")
The only thing I'm sure of is that whatever's behind it is purely diabolical in intent, either originally before dying out and leaving the machine operational or if it's an ongoing project. This is no zoo, that's one certainty. One would not create a zoo enclosure with creatures from various universes capable of killing each other. You would lose specimens rather quickly that way. No, the ONLY thing that makes sense from this setup is to pit the strongest/most powerful inhabitants of the various worlds against each other and see what comes out on top. But that still doesn't lead to a solid conclusion of purpose. Is it to see which worlds to destroy first as potential threats? Is it to seize advanced life forms to single out those with the most potent traits for use in constructing a living super-weapon? Is it simply some sadistic form of entertainment by a civilization I shall then have to completely destroy for pissing me off with such a pathetic rationale? (Seriously, if it's that last one, I'm going to enter this fic's world and slowly tear apart the aliens responsible, after making them piss themselves in fear. I HATE colosseum-type alien games. For aliens to waste advanced technology on such animalistic brutal entertainment... they don't deserve to exist and waste energy better left for more benign entities. So sayeth the Deux Ex Insert.)
The other possiblity is a test by some jackass alien race to decide which species are 'worthy' of advancement, or merely worthy of existing, which a really assinine way of doing things, and which will also require me to kick their asses (Assuming they have asses. Lacking that, I shall plant my foot squarely in some other orifice to induce a similarly unpleasant sensation.)
Basically, whatever the reason for all this is, I already irrevocably HATE the ones responsible, because there is no benevolent reason possible for any of it. So now I just sit here and brood during each chapter over how many unspeakably horrible things I'm going to do to them once I find out who they are. Imma thinkin' cupcakes...
1269061 I keep finding myself looking to verify that I've sadly already fav'd and liked this story after each update.
I can't wait to see how the upkeep of the biome is going to alter the fight to keep alive against the magic-feeder.
1269721 What I see war does for technology is drive unfamiliar or difficult-to-utilize scientific concepts toward a practical use at a very rapid pace. Once one practical utility for the concept is uncovered, then many other related uses begin to branch off. The space program has done the same thing, the only difference being that space exploration has been trending overwhelmingly in peaceful directions.
I forget who positited the concept that interstellar space travel would likely only be developed by peaceful societies because the technology involved is so expensive and resource-consuming and on such a tremendous scale that it requires the cooporation of most of the planet's best minds to achieve it, something not possible if there is constant adversity.
Now, once it has been made by a peaceful alien race, if it falls into the hands of more war-like races, then there's trouble. This was the central idea behind the original (and far superior in logical construction) "The Day the Earth Stood Still". The aliens were afraid that the violent humans were developing space travel and would spread their warfare to all the other races in the galaxy, and so basically said, "Quit it. You all start playing nice or we're gonna erase you for the good of the universe."
Now, I have to talk of the absurdity of the newer version. Aliens wouldn't give a crap what we did to our planet's environment. It wouldn't affect them if we wiped ourselves out. These are aliens who would have seen entire planets worth of life destroyed in supernova explosions (directly and indirectly via gamma-ray bursts) and asteroid-planet collisions all across the galaxy. Our little world wouldn't even register so long as we were no threat to them. The central tennet of that movie was ridiculous.
*chuckles* You focus heavily on characters. I'm the exact opposite. I put so much thought into the internal logic of everything that goes on in my stories that for the longest time the results of my longer story attempts ended up totally wooden and emotionless, though with perfectly plot-hole free narratives!
I've learned quite a bit about outlining to solve plot issues and keep myself on track so that I can then spend time developing the characters and settings when I get into writing the main body of the tale. Most important thing of all time: know where you're taking the story. if you don't know from the start where in general the story is going to lead, it's like taking a journey without a destination in mind. It's easy to get lost and make many wrong turns, wandering in circles until the audience gets bored of watching the story flounder. And even that's no guarantee. The journey to the end is just as important as the destination in a tale. But as I said, if no destination is in mind, the journey becomes random and pointless.
And now I'm just rambling on because I'm an old man (36! OMG SO OLD!!) and we old people tend to ramble until we get our meds.
1270067
...So Gore tag then?
Man, i was so surprised when Twi figured it out with the trees = food for rootscraper = those skylights stuff. Like "Ah! That´s where they get all the food and why there´s no giant clearcutting on this island!". Like i never gave thought to it but it makes totally sense. On an almost impossible scale to believe it though.
I mean, xxx trees every day just to feed those giant birdy thingies and then throw in a Twilight Sparkle out of no where?
This island still makes hardly sense. But i´m sure Twi will figure it out with the help of Marshall.
Also do i guess correctly that her plan involves him carrying her thus the blush? Poor guy gonna have such backaches after the mountain trip.
As for the romance stuff, i wouldn´t want it for this kind of story to go to the cloppy or the main focus side. But depending on the chara´s actions, reactions and feelings it could become an interesting sidetopic to touch on.
Sure it would be an akward, funny and kinda weird part of the story but nonetheless the possibility that it could happen is there, so it could get a bit sweeter in future chapters then some readers would have expected to.
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaait a moment!
I just gotta think...
Could it be that Twi got "chosen" to land on this island by those skylights to a) prevent Marshall to die/get crazy and at the same time b) to give MB a food source to awake it from its slumber? Like that this island cared for Marshall/MB the same way it does for the rootscrapers.
But if it does so, that would mean sooner or later it would supply something Twi would or could need for her survival...
This story keeps getting better.
I really like the way you explore both characters' personality. You have the characters explain a lot about themselves, directly and indirectly. And they complement each other quite well, which is probably not easy to pull off.
You're building this unique world. And a the same time you maintain enough mystery to keep this reader completely hooked. I can't wait for the big reveal, but at the same time I don't want it to end.
You show us the differences in culture between Earth and Equestria without becoming condescending.
And lastly, you show the differences between man and pony. Although, in my opinion, the actual details of a human living with an intelligent, magical, hooved quadruped could be fleshed out further. But that's probably just me.
All in all this is quickly becoming one of my favorites.