Expedition to the Cloudbreak Islands

by Starglider

Landfall

The day dawned bright in its strange, un-Celestian way, revealing an airship still distinctly the worse for wear. The sailor ponies flew and climbed around the big balloon keeping the ship aloft, but with the supplies gone they were done to whatever scraps of canvas they could find around the ship, and there wasn't enough to repair all the tears. With all the ballast dumped, that left the ship floating squarely at neither up nor down. Winged crewmates actually pushed the ship with great beats of their wings, slowly sliding its bulk towards the floating island until its side butted up against a smooth spot in the edge, where the verdant meadow terminated abruptly in a rocky face.

Ropes were tossed and stakes driven into the earth, and for the time being it seemed like the ship would stay securely anchored here. The only indication that the airship was anything other than a floating hulk was the low, quiet rumble of the engines in the back. From the upper deck a gangplank slid out to thunk onto the grassy land, securely bridging the two worlds, and an intrepid team of explorers prepared to head into the unknown. Four ponies would gingerly cross over to stand on the firm, verdant soil...

• Summer Scribe, new to the office of distinguished senior researcher, a young pale blue unicorn mare with a mane and tail in stripes of white and stronger blue.
• Melonwater, a pink haired, green furred, and rather short earth stallion in his late teens, who had not quite yet graduated to the point of researcher, but knew a thing or two about Geology.
• Blue Type, a Ponypologist just itching to see what strange, alien cultures have left behind: a pale lavender earth mare with her blue mane wrapped neatly in a bun.
• Azure Feather, a blue unicorn guardsmare with a grape purple mane and shimmering butterfly wings, there to keep the rest of them intact.

They found themselves on an idyllic pasture, full of rich, luscious grasses, and not a lot of thorns or brambles. The meadow was flat as a plate, stretching for perhaps a kilometre before reaching the banks of a smoothly flowing river. On the far side the grass was interrupted by scattered trees, which quickly became a dense forest of strange, twisted vegetation, with branches that seemed to go sideways as often as they go up. The only possible threats to pony life out in the meadow were the pleasantly bouncy white woolly puffballs that sort of looked like sheep. The creatures took one look at the quartet of colourful equines, then went straight back to eating grass again.

Oh gosh. Summer Scribe was all over herself with excitement! "Check it out, everyone! An entirely new world, unlike anything we've seen on Equestria! Anything and everything could hold a new discovery within it!" Let's see what we immediately have on offer! Grass and sheep in an idyllic meadow; "Wow! You rarely get anything this pristine back at home. It's like it's reached the platonic ideal of harmlessness!"

The ponies trotted across the meadow, soft grass brushing at their legs, and approached the river. A structure immediately caught their eye: out in the middle of nowhere, a stone arch bridge spanned the water course, a work that might as well have been made by pony hooves, if there were any ponies living here. It seemed entirely intact, and though it ended in grass on the near side, on the far side a gravel path could be seen leading away into the dense woods. Stone might last a long time, but surely that path would have been overgrown long ago, had the structure been abandoned?

The river itself emerged from within the dense greenery, far to their right, flowed swiftly down the border of the meadow, then poured heedlessly off the edge of the island to their left, tumbling down into the mist below. The other three sides of the meadow all ended in open air, or rather, a sudden and vertiginous drop.

A stone bridge over there, with path leading out of it... clearly sturdy and well maintained, Summer thought, for lack of disrepair and overgrowth. "Signs of construction and ongoing maintenance..." A forest, full of twisting and baffling trees... "Magically influenced terrain growth. Forest likely to hold danger and discoveries within..." She traced the river upstream, wondering what source was concealed by the thick forest. "Note to self, study Cloudbreak Islands' water cycle... likely to be heavily magical in nature." With the initial survey out of the way, the implications are obvious; Summer took out her notebook and quill and telekinetically sketched one of the sheep! They were white, fluffy and curiously spherical, compared to the sheep one might find in Equestria.

Azure Feather seemed significantly less excited, but wasn't absolutely indifferent to the new lands. 'On one hoof...', she thought, '...you've got a meadow that's a little too perfect, but there are such places in Equestria, too'. Or at least close to it. What Summer Scribe stated out loud, she was noting to herself quietly. That forest, however, was never a thing that she kept out of her field of vision for very long. If magic was a common thing, this was more akin to the Everfree more than anything.

"Sheep likely to be the native civilized species." Summer confirmed, nodding her head to Blue Type! "OK, shall we make First Contact and write pony history?" Without waiting for the other mare's response, she approached the nearest sheep (which was peacefully chewing on grass), keeping a comfortable distance at first so as to not spook it. Hearing Summer now trying to approach the natives got Azure's attention too: as innocent as they looked... house cats also looked rather innocent. Were they? Not so much. Her eyes remained on both the forest and the unfolding First Contact...

"Hello, fine and fluffy denizens of Cloudbreak Islands!" Summer began in a loud, cheerful voice, "We have sallied here from Equestria far below in the name of scientific discovery and exploration! We are ponies, and it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance! I hope that our two species can co-operate, as friends!" With that, she held out a hoof to shake!

A few of the roughly spherical sheep turned to look her way with something like interest, as Summer Scribe waited for an answer. Slowly, they chew on their mouthfuls of tasty grass. The sheep she approached finished chewing, emitted a quiet 'baa', then without a word, hopped away. Its fellows all immediately lost interest, turning from the pony to aimlessly gambol about the meadow again.

The forest failed to comment on this. A slight hiss sussurated through the air as a breeze danced across the island’s surface, to entwine with the bright green leaves high overhead. A keen eye would have seen things rustling around back there, now and then on the shaded forest floor, but the movement was too far inside for Azure to be able to identify it.

After a few long moments, Blue Type coughed awkwardly.

Summer Scribe... scratched behind an ear awkwardly. "Not as... amicable to conversation as I was expecting. Admittedly." She lowered her hoof and thought, looking to Blue Type. "Any ideas? I mean, well... I guess if they don't want to talk they aren't gonna. And..." She squinted, walking in a circle. "I don't see any written language or artistic decoration of any kind to study. Or, for that matter... well. Structures of any kind, except for that bridge."

Blue Type shook her head. "It could be a completely alien language, but... perhaps they don't even have speech?" She looked around. "They don't seem to be interested in us." Azure muttered something unintelligible as the sheep turned out to be... well, even less interesting than Equestrian sheep.

“If only Dr. Story were here,” the grad student known as Melonwater said glumly, “She at least specialized in studying plants. I can tell you the stones in that bridge weren’t cut anywhere near here, though. It’s actually kind of impossible to have igneous rock up here. There’s no magma layer under the islands.” He inspected them more closely, declaring, “Yep, that’s granite alright.”

Oh! Summer Scribe nodded to the student stallion. "Good catch! I wonder what that means; we're going to find magma on another of the islands or... A real headscratcher! "For some reason, that stone got used to make a bridge HERE?" She made a note; definitely worth remembering.

“So we can cross?” Blue Type asked, looking to Summer Scribe hopefully, “It doesn’t look like the, err...” she glanced over her shoulder at the sheep, “...residents particularly mind. Forgive me if I had a hard time believing that... sheep could create something like this, even before you tried to talk to them.”

Mentally blocking out Melonwater's talk about rocks, Azure turned her attention to the smooth stonework of the bridge. "Admittedly, I agree, I don't think the sheep built this either."

Summer's thoughts concurred with Blue's. "I think I'm coming around to your point of view, yes. These sheep are... Well, not like the sheep back at home. They seem to be blissful and content just eating grass here! I wonder what..." she shuddered "...natural predators they might have here?" And just like that, gone from seeing them as friends to potential prey! Barbaric!

Her gaze travelled back to the forest. "Well... Yeah! I wanted to go this way, anyway!" she realigned her train of thought, beaming now with a smile! "Within and beyond this forest are no doubt going to be answers to the questions we seek! Before we venture forth, does anyone have any comments or objections? We'll have to all be on our guard and keep our eyes open! We'll want to take stock of any plant and animal life we make out, and any signs of civilization! Yes, I believe crossing the bridge and exploring the forest is our next move."

'That sounded just like what an expedition leader would say, didn't it?' Summer thought to herself. "Shall we then?" She nodded over to Azure, the team's bodyguard, for approval.

Azure's constant scanning of the forest had picked up something moving back there, though, and her attention snapped back to the group as Summer asks for comments on how to proceed. Her wings had spread out to relieve tension before folding again as the issue of crossing the bridge came up. "Unless some creature wants to take a nap this early, then yes, crossing the bridge would be our next move." She would stick with the group. There was no use in moving out in front, not when she was the only guard: what if some creature waited for her to pass then ambushed from the rear? "All I will say is to keep your eyes open for more than just plants and minor wildlife." she cautioned. "There's no telling what lives in this area, and even less telling us if it likes us or not. Be ready for anything." Now if only the serious-sounding guard didn't have butterfly wings, she'd be that much more convincing...

Summer and Blue led the way, and as soon as they marched up onto the stone bridge... nothing special happened and the party crossed without incident. The forest loomed ahead, and the buzz of insects, the spooky murmurs and animal moans in the distance immediately had everypony on edge. The path is clear though, and it’s easy enough to navigate double file, so the forest envelops them as they enter seeking the origin of this strange little chunk of civilization.

---

Four sets of hooves crunched on the packed gravel of the path, which formed a narrow corridor cutting through the increasingly dense vegetation. Ferns, shrubs and brambles lined the sides while crooked branches laden with creepers and vines closed overhead, letting occasional shafts of brilliant sunlight through to dapple the forest floor. The path curved gently to the right, just enough to quickly hide the entrance. The strange chirping and clicking sounds came from all around now, thousands of unknown species of insects broken intermittently by a musical bird call.

The path snaked back to the left, and a mere five minutes trot from the entrance had brought the group to their first choice of route: a side branch veering off to the right with a glint of water visible at its terminus.

Summer Scribe marched on, in high spirits - vast unknown territory to explore, things to learn - it'd be a lot of responsibility if it wasn't even more fun! Though the actual walking from place to place part mostly consisted of letting your eyes wander: taking in the sights and keeping alert to your surroundings. Not that it took much of a keen eye to notice the obvious side path: her ears perked at the sound of lapping water. "Alright, let's take the right here," she ordered, "I've been curious as to what was upstream."

Azure nodded and waited for Summer to proceed, keeping her in the lead. Next to her, Melonwater mumbled uncertainly: "Perhaps be a spring, some sort of magical source... There's no way rainfall on this island alone could keep a river of that size going."

Summer Scribe nodded in consensus: "Exactly what I was thinking! I mean, islands floating on their own power is one thing, but the water is flowing. It's coming from somewhere, and I want to know where!" The party proceeded forward, following Summer's lead.

A few more minutes trot brought the group to a substantial stone pier, overlooking a small lake. The pier itself was clear, but the lake was choked with reeds, lilies and the rotting remains of fallen trees. A couple of weathered boards sticking out of the water just by the pier might once have been a rowboat. Motion caught Azure's eye and she stared out over the water, looking for danger: a few groups of ducks paddling and quacking around the shallows probably weren't an issue, but the electric-blue glints of light moving under the water might be.

"I don't think this is the source." Melonwater remarked, assessing the terrain. "Look, the river flows in over there... two outlets on the other side, the closer one must lead to the meadow." He stared nervously at the lights moving beneath the surface. "What are those?"

Summer approached the lake, taking in the plant-filled waters, rivers leading into and out of it, and the solidly built pier; granite again, perhaps? "Yeah, I think this is just an ordinary lake: pretty, but little scientific value on its own." She glanced over it again, seeing if anything stood out... then perked, and backed up behind Azure. "Do you see that? Some kind of native aquatic fauna that produces illumination? You'd normally not see that except in the deepest oceans, I'd thought..." Looking more closely, Summer realised that at the glowing shapes were long, squirming fish, likely some kind of eel. Less extravagant species can be seen swimming with them; in particular large plump fish with brick red scales.

Blue Type looked out of her element, staring nervously at the trees, then the fish. Other than the masonry, there didn't seem to be any sign of civilisation here; nothing for her to study. "Perhaps the griffons will appreciate them." she said. Many griffs spending time in Equestria liked to maintain a polite fiction that they satisfied their carnivorous appetites only with fish, to minimise distasteful reactions from their hosts.

"Ooh, that IS cool..." said Summer, trotting to the end of the pier and crouching down, wiggling a little as she tried to get a closer look. "Let me see if I can get a sketch..." She sat down on her rump, taking out her notebook and jotting something up. It wouldn't have the most artistic value, especially given the viewing conditions, but it would make for a nice reference later!

Taking a cue from the expedition's leader, Melonwater also dropped to his rump and pulled out a scroll; fumbling with a quill pen, he began to update his map to show the path, lake and watercourses. Meanwhile Azure had taken to the air, flying out over the water on gossamer wings, to get a better view of anything that might be contained within. "I see another wreck, a little larger, sunk into the mud... nothing else unusual, except... Summer, I don't like the look of those... fish." Indeed there seemed to be more and more glowing creatures gathering in front of the pier.

Summer Scribe blinked, looking up from her sketch at the illuminated and flashy figures lurking and wriggling in the water, congregating at the pier! She instinctively backed off... but then perks and giggles as nothing further happens. "I guess they're hoping I'll fall in! Guess we should skip the swim, then..." She walked back along the pier, thanking Azure for the intel. "I think this is all we want to find out from the lake for now; everyone ready to move on?"

"Yes please." Blue Type looked relieved that she wouldn't be stuck staring at fish any longer. Behind her, Azure drifted down to the stone, landed and nodded; the trees were too dense for her to stay overhead once they returned to the path.

Meanwhile, Melonwater blew on his parchment to dry the ink. "Uh, just a moment... got it." he said, packing the map back into his saddle bag. "Granite again..." he muttered, looking at the pier, "but the fill is sandstone, you can see it where the retaining wall buckled here..." His voice trailed off as he realised Summer and Blue weren't listening.

With her party assembled, Summer Scribe headed back to the main path. "Let's see what's up ahead!" she enthused. A few more minutes trot down the green-walled tunnel and she was again presented with a choice; the path formed a Y-shape, splitting into two branches. The right fork was clear, whereas the left one had weeds growing up through the gravel and ferns reaching out to obscure the view. Its otherwise limited appeal was enhanced by a mossy stone arch that reached up and over the entrance, big enough to admit a minotaur. The remains of a large wooden sign hung from the top of the arch, a few strange symbols barely visible under the moss and rot.

"Is that writing? Those look like runes!" Blue Type said excitedly. "If only they'd carved them into the stone, they might be better preserved." Turning to Summer, the older mare was excited for the first time on the trip: "We have to find more of this!"

Summer Scribe hmmed and looked at the arch, squinting at the sign, but of course they had no way to read it... for now! "Yeah! This probably leads somewhere civilised! Let's check it out." She trotted straight through the arch, eager to see what lay beyond.

The ponies pushed their way down the overgrown path: Azure using her magic to rip away the larger branches, while Melonwater took some pleasure in stomping the weeds underhoof. It was much slower going here than on the open path, but soon enough they made it to a new area of the island. Not a clearing exactly, or perhaps it was once before the vegetation took hold again, but the trees here were smaller and less dense than the forest proper. The air was warmer as well, the climate becoming subtropical as the group travels further across the island.

Blue Type and Summer Scribe paid little attention to the climate though, as dozens of stone shapes catch their attention. Clearly the remains of buildings, many had lost their roof but some still retained a covering of cracked tiles to keep out the weather. Ferns clustered around the walls while vines clung to the sides and crawled through the windows, but the jungle had not yet completely reclaimed this village.

Summer Scribe's jaw slowly dropped as she trembled. "Oh my gosh. Ruins!" She squeed and rushed forward to check everything out. No people, but about the next best thing! "Oh, Celestia! There is so much to do here, I don't know where to begin!" Well, where she DID begin was by running around and checking things out; getting a lay of the land, as it were! Taking note of notable structures, what kind of central hub it had: anything out of the ordinary!

There was a definite structure to the village, even if it took some effort to visualise with the blanket of plant life. Larger, better preserved structures towards the centre of the cluster, smaller less substantial ones around the periphery, including some wooden shacks and barns that time had reduced to a collapsed jumble of rotten timbers. A paved square, the cobbles pushed up and scattered by spreading roots. The far side of the settlement sloped gently down to end at the bank of a babbling stream, apparently distinct from the rivers they'd visited before. A large blocky building projected a weathered wooden axle over a straight section of stream, that might once have held a water wheel.

"What a find!" exclaimed Blue Type, "...and on our first foray. One of these central buildings must be the town hall, or at least the leader's house. There have to be records in here somewhere, oh I hope they haven't all rotted away." She started pushing her way towards the doorway of the biggest structure, only to shriek and jump back as a cluster of furry bodies dashed out of the entrance.

Summer Scribe was been muttering and taking mental notes as she paced around, settling in to become more studious, getting the lay of the land. "Yeah, Blue Type - this is greaaaa woah now!" She rushed over, horn glowing, ready to do battle! Hopefully Azure noticed too: they might be in mortal peril, after all!

A sudden zapp and a glowing bolt of energy streaked over Summer's head, bursting in the trees behind the ruin. Blue Type dropped to the ground with her head between her hooves as Azure flew to the rescue, with Summer not far behind. The family of lemurs wailed and chittered as they ran like they've never run before, desperate to get away from these new magic-wielding invaders. Within seconds they'd disappeared into the trees and the ruins are still, save for the renewed trilling and squawking of a hundred agitated jungle birds.

Azure drifted down to a landing near Blue Type, muttering "Better safe than sorry..." In a louder voice she said "I apologise if I startled you, Blue Type. It seems like there were just a few small animals living in there."

Summer let out a long breath. "Thanks, Azure!" She squinted: "I guess we just disturbed a nest of wild squatting critters, not a pack of bloodthirsty killers. Still, you're right, better safe than sorry!" A nervous chuckle, a quick look around, then she approached the building. "OK, let's check this place out."

The ground floor was mostly one large room, with a couple of doors leading to storerooms at the back. Blue Type wrinkled her nose at the scent of animal droppings; it seemed like a lot of wildlife had lived here at one time or another. Splintered and chewed wood littered the floor, some of which was fallen floorboards from the upper level, but much of it definitely looked like carved pieces of furniture. In fact a couple of tables and the odd chair are still recognisable. Mixed in with the debris were the remains of plates, tankards and the odd fork.

Over the next two hours the ponies pushed their way into a half dozen of the ruined buildings, taking stock of their contents for future investigation. They confirmed that the first building was the remains of a tavern, restaurant or perhaps inn of some kind. Melonwater was fascinated by the rusted machinery and grind stones within the mill, and Blue Type had to fight back tears when they found the library, its contents long rotted away to illegibility. The historian had to content herself with a few slates found in what might be a classroom, still bearing chalked runes where they hadn't been exposed to the weather. Finally Summer came to a curious structure on the edge of the village, with a domed roof held up by stone pillars. Skylights in the dome still held glass, and let shafts of light fall on a large stone table in the centre, but vines had grown all over and obscured the contents.

"Huh, check this out: looks decorative in nature. Spiritual, even?" she remarked. The little unicorn trotted up to the central platform - altar? The solid stone mass formed a pentagon, with each side divided into two sections, each with a contrasting central symbol, surrounded by rows of smaller symbols. "Oh, this is looks like a table of elements? That's fire, that's water - right - there's a skull and a plant, hmm - sun and moon, earth with... guessing that spiral is wind, and then these two are..." She studied the remaining pair of symbols: an eight-sided star and a gear.

"Aha, this one looks an awful lot like Twilight's cutie mark! Magic, maybe? And this would totally be Nutmeg Inferno's if she had one. Hehe! Technology it is." Rearing up to put her hooves on the altar, Summer peered at the numerous statues: each the size of a newborn filly: "Look, creatures in battle poses, and lunges! I guess this is a shrine to the heroes of this place! Are they all from here, or maybe they're legendary across the Cloudbreak Islands?" she mused. "Probably the latter, given the limited scope... and these ten elements are clearly significant."

Blue Type glanced over the statues but then immediately went back to the sides of the altar. "Look at this! What a find, completely intact, if we can just...." The earth mare began pulling vines away with her teeth, eager to get an uninterrupted view of the rows and rows of runes carved there. "...uh, this tastes horrible."

Azure Feather had been hanging back, keeping an eye on the surroundings as her charges worked, but at the mention of 'battle poses' she trots up and examines the statues. "They're all different. A dragon, a griffon, a monkey, some sort of tree-minotaur? I don't recognise the rest." she said, in a curious tone.

Summer Scribe gave the other unicorn a playful smile: at last something for Azure's interest! She wonder if they might meet any of those figures in person... before turning to Blue Type and her runes. "Yes, let's see them! Maybe we can even figure out what they say..." Lighting her horn, she magically nudged and tugged the foliage away from the altar.

Meanwhile Melonwater had been walking around the structure, examining the pillars, the dome, the mosaic ceiling... "Marble, aventurine, betonite... oh and this is good stonework, the best we've seen so far." he muttered.

Blue Type beamed at the fully revealed carvings. "And there we are... thank you Summer. Now, let's see here..." She fished several notebooks out of her saddlebags and began copying and comparing the symbols.

Summer took out her own notes, thinking she'd want a copy sooner rather than later. "I won't expect a complete translation, of course, but whatever you can glean will be great!" Just then felt a slight twinge in her horn; tilting her head, it began to tingle a bit. "Hmm, something feels... funny... I just noticed." Leaning in waaaay close, she touched her horn to each of the large symbols, wrinkling her nose and making a different face for each one. "Yeah, it's faint, but there's something in each of these that feels... magical, but foreign." What could it mean?

Azure was still studying the figures: she'd flown up for a better view, and was hovering carefully in the confined space under the dome. "Those element symbols... do you see, they appear up here as well. Just below the statues. Like each one is assigned an element. Champions perhaps?" She turned to Summer Scribe "Do you think this was a real battle, or just mythology?"

Summer oohed and noted the correlation, peering back and forth. "Yeah! Champions of each Element." She pondered that for a while. "Good question - but this is a world of magic, and I'd expect no less than real living heroes! Though, whether or not they're still around is another story entirely."

"I hope they're not still around," Melonwater said morosely, gesturing with a hoof at the opposite side of the table where a horde of ugly mishappen creatures display frozen snarls or brandishes tiny stone axes. "They don't look like they want to be friends."

At that, Summer pulled a face. "Yeaaah, can we save that part for later?" She grinned. "They do NOT look like they're here to make fr- hah, yeah, jinx. Well, this place at least hasn't been looted or pillaged: we're presumably safe for now?"

Azure frowned. "No burnt timbers, but... we haven't found any valuables either. I think... this place has been abandoned a long time, we don't know why. Signs of battle might be washed away or hidden under the rubble." She fell silent, mind churning over the possibilities.

Summer scratched her head with a hoof, also thinking it over... "Yeah, I don't know why no one lives here anymore. The island looks perfectly fine to me. Conflict would make sense, but we haven't seen any battle damage so far. I think I'll have to keep mulling over this mystery..." As she did so, she suddenly realised it must be noon by now. Fascinating as this was, they'd explored less than a quarter of the island.

Nodding her head, she addressed her party. "Anyway, look, this place is super cool: definitely coming back here." Before Blue Type could object, she continued "...but we need to days to do this properly! For now, our mission is to find help, supplies, useful flora and fauna... and we have more of the island to explore." She rounded up the group, reassuring Blue Type that she could come back tomorrow and Melonwater that he'd have another chance to look at the mill. "Alright! We're continuing on, deeper into the forest. Map making done, Melonwater? Good, let's set off!"

Author's Note:

This story is a collaboration between myself (playing Reef Skimmer), Ferret (playing Nutmeg Inferno), Patashu (playing Summer Scribe) and Spearmint (playing Azure Feather), based on an online RP.

This chapter covers the first half of session seven (the sheep contact scene), narrated / GMed by Ferret, with some extra material from myself & Patashu (the ruined town / Skylander altar scene).