The world returned to Ocellus with a crash. Water smacked up against the side of the Solidarity, and yet it wasn’t moved at all. There was no more bobbing, no floating. She jerked suddenly awake, horn coming alight with green magic to light her way.
She was below deck, in the single large space that was their sleeping area. Blankets, hammocks, and clothing had gone everywhere, covering the ground with a thick layer of cloth. Instead of being behind her, the stairs were on the wall, and gray light came spilling down.
How did we get down here? Ocellus wasn’t alone—all five of her friends had come below, and were scattered across the floor. None looked to have woken yet, though Sandbar and Gallus were stirring.
Ocellus wasn’t much for magic beyond her transformation. She knew there was much more that could be done—Equestrian unicorns had a great deal to teach her. They had medical spells, transportation spells, communication spells—but learning them felt like climbing uphill during a rainstorm, the mud always dragging her back down again.
Even so, she could unfocus her mind a little, sensing for the most basic units of life from her friends. Make sure none of them had died. It was the same sense she would’ve used to sniff out love back when she still needed it.
They were all still there—even Smolder, whose breathing was so subtle she was almost completely still. Good.
They’d made all kinds of backup plans for this trip, mapping out every port and dock they could use along the way. They were never supposed to be more than a half hour from the shore.
From the sound of waves crashed up against them, and the Solidarity having fallen sideways, Ocellus wagered that monster wave had shipwrecked them on an Equestrian beach. At least we didn’t try anything riskier, like going all the way to Griffinstone.
Ocellus took one last glance at her unconscious friends, before buzzing her way up the sloping ramp and out of the ship. I hope Yona can get out of there okay.
Outside, many of her predictions were confirmed. The Solidarity showed other serious signs of damage, most notably a mast that had been split down the middle. The mainsail was in tatters, and bits of rope hung all around them. The sun just barely poked through a haze of gray clouds, revealing a beach like many others. Probably would’ve seemed a relaxing place, if it had been swarming with ponies instead of being completely deserted.
“Hey,” said Sandbar from behind her. He emerged from the forecastle a second later, looking out with her. “Guess we made it. Did you teleport us down there?”
“I don’t think so,” Ocellus admitted. “I’ve heard some unicorns can cast spells reflexively. But most changelings only transform when they get nervous or scared.”
“Hey, I’m not complaining. We made it, that’s what matters. It’s all seagulls and sandbars from here.”
“Not exactly made it.” Ocellus followed his eyes, off the edge of the ship and back to the ocean. “The Solidarity is wrecked. She isn’t going to sail again, and we won’t make it to Manehattan.”
“Whatever,” Sandbar shrugged. “Who cares about our score? That storm almost killed us.”
“Fair. But where did it send us…” She turned around, but she couldn’t really get up to look over the deck and the landward side. “Come with me. Maybe you’ll recognize it.”
“Yeah.”
They clambered together onto the sand, Ocellus buzzing her way and Sandbar just jumping with raw toughness down to beach level. They got another good look at the Solidarity, battered and broken, and got plenty wet from the waves lapping at their hooves. Then they were out of its shadow, and they could look landward.
Ocellus froze in her tracks. Maybe we found Manehattan after all. There was a line of shops and restaurants right on the edge of the sand, almost all of them shuttered and barred with warning placards pinned outside. Ramps and stairways led over them, up into a city of massive buildings stretching up the coast. They kept going in both directions as far as she could see, and that wasn’t even the strangest thing.
“They’re… a little small,” Sandbar muttered. “What kind of creature lives here?”
If it had, it had done a whole lot of other things too. Ocellus hadn’t noticed the sounds over the ocean behind her, but now that she listened they came through clearly. Machines zooming around, an occasional warning horn so loud her ears flattened—and towering above it all, a round white wheel with lots of little boxes attached around its outside rim. From where she stood, it was taller than Canterlot Castle.
Distant shapes moved on the upper level, above the shops and stores down on the beach. Ocellus couldn’t see them well, but she could see enough to tell they weren’t ponies. “What… part of Equestria is this?” she asked, her voice very small. “Manehattan, right? Bigger than I imagined.” But also wrong. There was supposed to be a huge port full of ships, not a beach. And there were no other ships to be seen.
“Sandbar! Ocellus?” a voice shouted from behind them. Ocellus winced at the volume, now that she knew where they were. The beach was an uncomfortably small barrier between them and this alien place. “Oh, there you are!” Silverstream emerged from the Solidarity, hovering in the air slightly over their heads.
Too high. Something will see her. All of Ocellus’s old instincts were waking up, though a single glance down told her that her body hadn’t reverted. She had more love than ever now—but she still felt just as unsafe. I think we’ve gone further than any creature before. But gone where?
“What are you looking at?” Silverstream asked, landing on the sand beside them. “Stairs?”
Sandbar pointed with one hoof. “Yes, Silverstream. Looks like you could skip most them if you wanted to climb up, though.”
“Oh.” Her eyes went so wide Ocellus couldn’t see the color anymore. “That’s… weird.”
“We need to wake the others,” Ocellus said. “Unless Sandbar knows where this is, and we’re not in as much danger as I think we are.”
“Nope.” Sandbar turned away. “I’ll do it.”
“Good.” Ocellus took a step back towards their ship, pulling Silverstream along with her. “Let’s get out of sight. We don’t want to be noticed before we’re ready.”
“Okay…” Silverstream followed along obediently.
Ocellus kept glancing back up the shore, watching for any sign of trouble. And it didn’t take her long to spot it. Something large had appeared on the city level above, something metal and reflective with bright yellow and blue squares. She crouched low in the shadow of the Solidarity, watching as the object opened.
It’s like a covered carriage. Except that she couldn’t see anypony pulling it. The whole thing was sealed, like it had somehow been made of a single piece of metal and glass all fused together.
A figure had emerged from either side of the carriage. They were wearing an awful lot of clothes—so much that she couldn’t see any fur at all. If that yellow wasn’t on a jacket, I’d think they were changelings. But with stripes like that, stripes that seemed to flash when they stepped under the streetlights, these two wouldn’t be hiding.
They stopped on the side of the railing, staring directly at the Solidarity. She couldn’t hear them, but it was obvious what they must be doing. Their arrival had been noticed.
“Everypony’s okay!” Sandbar called from inside the ship, loud enough that Ocellus winced again. “What are we doing?”
“Emergency kits,” Smolder’s voice said, not shouting. “Everything we need. The tide might be up any second.”
Ocellus gulped. She hadn’t even thought of that. But now that she looked down, the water was creeping up her hooves. Will it take the Solidarity back out to sea?
She briefly considered if that might be the better option. This strange land and its creatures were an unknown—the geography of how they’d got here made even less sense. Had they somehow washed all the way south to the Badlands? Was this Minotaur country?
Ocellus had read more about geography than any of her friends. If she couldn’t figure out where they’d ended up, then none of the others would. They all depended on her.
“Yona does not want to be in here anymore. She is leaving,” the Yak shouted, at what amounted for her normal speaking voice.
Loud enough that the figures standing high above them pointed again. One of them was holding a tool in its hand, something flat that made different flashes of light. Then they started jogging down the ramp together, eyes fixed on the ship.
“Hey, everyone…” Ocellus’s voice faltered, but she hoped they could all hear. “I think we’re in trouble.” She pointed back, and Silverstream followed her around the ship.
Yona blocked the way inside, splashing around in the rising tide and rinsing all the sand and seaweed from her coat. “Trouble? No. Yona not think so. We are safe! This trip went better than Yona was expecting.”
“You expected us to shipwreck?” Sandbar called from inside, his face poking out from the doorway.
“No.” Yona stopped, turning back inside. “Yona expected us to sink. This is better.”
“We should go back inside,” Ocellus said, her voice a little braver than before. “Yona, please… some creatures are coming. I’ve never seen anything like them before.”
“Creatures?” Smolder’s voice called from in the ship. “Can you ask them to send a scroll back for rescue? Ember will get us out of this. I’ll never hear the end of it, but I don’t want to walk back. It’s worth a little shame.”
“Yona will ask.” The yak turned, running straight past Ocellus and sending up a spray of salty water.
“Wait!” Ocellus tried to stop her, but at her size she couldn’t even slow the yak down. “Buck.” She glanced back at the others. “I’ll keep an eye on her. The rest of you stay hidden.”
She’d already seen seagulls circling overhead. Ocellus couldn’t match these weird creatures yet, but she could do a seagull. She changed, then took off with an instinctive squawk, rising above the ship and circling overhead.
Seagull eyes were better than her own, tuned to spotting even the tiniest glimpse of food emerging from tidepools and sandbars. She had no trouble watching Yona.
The instant she emerged from behind the Solidarity, both creatures stopped dead in their tracks, and one even stumbled back in surprise.
Now they were close enough to hear. They had a thick accent—thicker than most griffons, even. But Ocellus could still understand them.
“It’s coming for us, Davies!” shouted one, lifting something from his belt with practiced ease—like something he’d done a hundred times. Ocellus had never seen anything like it—but from the aggression in his posture, she could guess it was a weapon.
“Hello!” Yona called, her voice so loud it probably just sounded like a bellow to them. But even with Yona’s great size compared to Ocellus and her friends, she would be a living monster to these little creatures. “Yona and her friends are stranded! They need your help!”
Ocellus swept down in a dive just over the Yak. The creatures weren’t even looking at her—her disguise was apparently good enough. “Yona, stop running!” Ocellus shouted as she passed overhead.
She did, looking up at the bird with confusion. “Why? Long trip up beach.”
The creatures shared a look. “Wilson, are you hearing voices?” This voice sounded higher than the first, and quicker. A female of the same species? Ocellus wasn’t watching as closely as she lifted back up above, hoping they hadn’t seen her. And apparently not.
“I can’t be.” He shook his head once, as though something had gotten stuck in it. “We should… animal control.” He turned, and his companion joined him. They ran back up the stairs from where they’d come, ignoring Yona’s shouts.
Animal control? Oh f. Not the greatest first impression.
Sounds like Atlantic City.
Hmm. Possible case of disbelief-induced deafness. The animals can't possibly be talking, ergo they aren't. Diplomacy will be tricky at best and interrupted by tranquilizer darts at worst. Still, when four out of the six castaways flat-out don't exist in this universe and almost all of them are colors not normally found in nature, that subconscious denial isn't going to hold up very well.
Or, alternatively, consensus reality is going to bite the minority opinion, and it will bite hard. I suppose we'll see what happens.
Animal control sounds about right for a human reaction.
Animal Control? Not the best start for our heroes...now I'm hoping that the next chapter just cuts to them in cages and Ocellus is like: 'How did this happen?' and we see a flashback to how it got that far.
Holy jeez... no way, did that storm actually bring the young 6 to the human world version of Manhattan? Sweet Celestia, when I thought things couldn’t get any worse...
This bit feels disconnected, like something got deleted during editing and the edges don't quite join up any more.
I could just be missing something obvious, but I honestly can't figure out what "if it had" could possibly refer to, there's no indication what "the strangest thing" is, and Sandbar talking about something being "a little small" when the standout part of the previous description is the massive buildings and nothing else is specifically pointed out seems a little bit off. From later context, I'm guessing he's actually talking about the size of the steps in the stairs at that point, but it feels like the missing bit would probably have made that clearer.
Dangit Yona. Seems like things are bound to get worse before they're gonna get better at this rate.
Huh. Interesting way of looking at things.
But seriously, this story is looking great! I've never seen a Pony-Meets-Earth story involving the Young Six before; in fact, I think you might be the first one to do this kind of thing! Keep going!
Animal Control, at least that's probably better than the local SWAT team.
It wasn't until this chapter that I noticed the Human tag.
Are they in a modern version of Lilliput? PLEASE let that be correct. I love to see the young 6 as giants compared to the people of this city. =)
Figures Yona would have no qualms about running up and asking the strange human creatures for help without a second thought.
Wherever they are, it sounds like they had boarded up for a hurricane, or at least a heavy storm of some similar caliber.
Welp, its definitely not Russia
Okay, I'm missing something. Are the student six big compared to the humans?
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Once the humans determine these creatures are sentient juveniles, it might not be too bad.
Just thought I'd put this here:
Just sit right back
And you'll hear a tale
A tale of a fateful trip,
That started from this makeshift port,
Aboard this tiny ship.
None of them were a mighty sailin' lad,
they all were brave and sure,
Six passengers set sail that day,
For a three hour tour,
A three hour tour.
The weather started getting rough,
The tiny ship was tossed.
If not for the courage of the fearless crew
Solidarity would be lost.
Solidarity would be lost.
The ship set ground on the shore
Of this uncharted desert isle
With Silver Stream,
and Gallus too.
Ocellus
And Yona,
Sandbar,
and Smolder and they are all,
Here on Silver Stream's Isle.
Little creatures? Humans? Just how big are ponies in this one?
"A three hour tour. A three hour tour..."
I just needed to comment this before I forgot what the picture made me think of.
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Oh surely not too bad, no. They might be subjected to lab testing of some kind, but nothing too bad.
Okay possibilities. One, they've beached on the shores of Coney Island. Two, they're on the shores of Lilliput. Three, they've landed on a Lilliputian version of Coney Island. Four, the humans only seem small in perspective of distance, since they haven't gotten close. After all, the seagulls seem normal sized. If Ocellus were in Lilliput, then they'd be tiny. Five, if any of the Lilliputian elements factor in, then Sandbar could pass himself off as a Houyhnhnm. Six, like so many college students on spring break, somepony brought along a baggie of poison joke and they've been smoking it. Seven, none o' this here speculatin' is correct and we'll jus' have ta wait until the writer reveals where they are going with this here tale... or is that tail? Whatever.
Interesting. It doesn't seem like she's badly hurt though. Is this a detail about how reptiles don't move much when they're sound asleep? I imagine it would be exponentially so for dragons, who can sleep for hundreds of years.
Good thing the crew didn't land somewhere like North Sentinel Island. The natives would have stuck them full of spears and had a hearty lunch. There is a very good reason for the three mile exclusion zone around North Sentinel Island.
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They could get worse. At least it wasn't Australia! "And we thought the Everfree was full of things trying to kill us!".
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Actually most animals down here act in self defense (except the magpies in spring which become hell bent on murder) and most of the more dangerous creatures are in the desert areas of the country which isn't really everywhere I doubt any tourists cone over to Churchill or Traralgon because they are not the desert locations advertised overseas(cause apparently big expanses of nothing are great tourist spots)
<shakes head>
I can easily see Starscribe banging his head against the desk as he looks through the comments section.
"Really? You think this is somewhere in America? I described the police car and police uniforms quite specifically. And no one has been shot yet. What more do you people need?!"
If they banked in California or NY or Florida, they'd be in some serious trouble
Ocellus is really quick to realize she's nowhere in Equestria, considering she thought that was Manehattan's cityscape at first.