A Grand Journey

by willow_whistle

Chapter 12: Washed Up

Author's Note:

There's a sex joke here. It's not specific or risque enough to warrant tagging it, I just couldn't resist making Sunny absolutely flaming.

To donkeys and mules, Butterfly Island was a place defined by its inaccessibility. A group of ponies not composed mostly of pegasi couldn’t cross the water without a ferry, as it was much further to go than fording a river. Sunny Daze, who elected to travel there alone with nothing but the coat on her hide, was not one to be deterred by unfavorable odds-- she was far too awesome for that. That was why she was here, after all, on a search for a long-lost childhood friend whom she hadn’t seen since foalhood! Four straight hours of swimming would be exhausting for a full-sized pony, but Sunny was easily the smallest full-grown donkey in the troupe, so by the time she made it to shore she-- of course-- collapsed immediately onto the sand.

She was tired. Dead tired. Sunny’s mane, usually a beautifully kept gradient from yellow to red to orange to violet-- like a sunset!-- was a jumbled mess of warm colors, seaweed, and scallop shells. Her white coat was covered in wet sand, and in some places blood, due to small cuts from pieces of shells and driftwood. Her body stung and ached all over, and she felt like she was going to yuck-up the rainbow berries she had foraged before the swim.

“Razz was right,” she said to herself, “I shouldn’t have eaten before swimming… She was totally wrong about me swimming in the first place, though. That was so freakin’ RAD!” She thrust a hoof up into the air in triumph, congratulating herself out loud for being so awesome. This thought was very comforting, as she passed out from exhaustion.

Thistle Whistle had always been fairly reclusive pegasus, and she tended to feel queasy whenever confronted with even the most basic of problems. Bearing this in mind, finding an unconscious pony washed up on the beach during her nightly decompression stroll, was enough to send her on quite the spiral. She knew she couldn’t leave the filly-- or, what looked to her as if they were a filly, albeit with a strangely round snout and long ears-- on the beach. What could Thistle Whistle do? The hospital was on the other side of town, not to mention in the sky above the rest of lower Cloudsdale. Thistle simply wasn’t strong enough to carry somepony there on her wing power alone. Thistle didn’t really have any friends to call for help-- not since Starcatcher moved to that little town in the mountains almost a decade ago-- except for Pastel Heart, but she was an earth pony and not much better equipped to handle the stress than Thistle would be alone. Pastel was lovely, but she was really much more of an acquaintance anyways. Not somepony you could really call in an emergency.

Thistle Whistle had come to the incredibly unfortunate conclusion that she’d have to take the kid home and dress their wounds and whatnot, and just hope that the police didn’t think she was being creepy when she brought the filly to the station the next morning.

“Oh, Starshine above, little mate,” Thistle grumbled to herself, hoisting the white-furred filly onto her back, “I hope you’re not an orphan or somethin’...”

---

Sunny Doze awoke groggily from what she liked to call a ‘power nap,’ but it would be more accurate to say she blacked out from exhaustion. The little jenny noticed two things immediately: firstly, this was not her bed. “Nice.” She smugly asserted, out loud, as she sat up on the bed. The second thing she noticed was that her hair and coat had been cleaned, and her scrapes had been bandaged. She had little memory of the previous evening, other than swimming really hard, scraping herself on rocks, and taking an aforementioned ‘power nap’ on the beach, so she had no idea when, and-- perhaps, more importantly-- how she had found the time to shmooze on some as-of-yet unremembered mare, molly, or jenny. She knew that her swagger and amazing hair were pretty much irresistible, but she at least remembered most other evenings she spent like that, even if not with whom.

Her answer arrived in the form of a very tall and spindly pegasus mare, with sky-blue fur and red-and-orange mane and tail, and the image of a purple wildflower emblazoned on her flank-- which, Sunny noted, was a bit undersized for her figure, though still cute.

“Oh, l’il mate, you’re awake!” The mare chirped, in a voice deeper than Sunny had anticipated. She wouldn’t have assumed this gal to be trans, from her figure, but gosh she was cute.

“That I am, mamacita.~” Sunny responded with a sultry flutter of her eyelashes, at which the pegasus recoiled in astonishment, followed by confusion. “Um…” Sunny began, hoping to salvage the situation, “I’m sorry, ma’am, did I make you uncomfortable?”

“Uh… whatever, kid. Are you feelin’ alright?” The mare said, and approached the donkey, carrying a tray with a glass of water and a banana atop it between her wings.

“I feel great! No more sore than usual, bab-- er, I mean-- Miss.” Sunny flushed at the fumble. Why couldn’t she just be normal? The mare was clearly off-put. Wait, why is this lady asking if she's okay? “What happened last night?”

“I found ya washed up on the beach, lookin’ pretty roughed up.” She replied, and set the tray down on a coffee table next to Sunny, as plain as the white sheets and pillows on the bed. “It was real late at night, and I don’t have a whole lotta folks in my circle, so I thought I oughta fix ya up a bit. Couldn’t just leave ya there! Where’re ya parents, kid?”

“‘Kid?’ Lady, I’m 23!” Sunny gave a hearty chuckle and facehoofed. “OOOH, that’s why you made that face! No, girl, I’m not a foal-- just a donkey.”

“Ah! That’s why the ears…” The pegasus was visibly relieved, presumably not to have to track down anypony’s parents, among the confusion with her height being resolved.

Sunny scarfed down the banana, with the peel still on it-- at which the taller pony cringed-- and chugged the glass of water like she hadn’t eaten or drank for days. “Thanks a bunch, sweetheart,” Sunny said with a grin to her temporary-caretaker, “The name’s Sunny. Sunny Daze!” She outstretched a hoof to the pegasus, who shook it with her own.

“Thistle Whistle, and you’re welcome.” Thistle Whistle took the now empty tray back up in her wings, and gave Sunny a puzzled look. “How’d ya end up passed out on Butterfly Island? I thought donkeys couldn’t swim.”

“Psssht! That’s a buncha hooey.” Sunny days, brayed, as she did an astoundingly-perfect cartwheel out of bed, causing Thistle to flinch. “Ponies seem to think there’s lots we can’t do, for whatever reason, Miss Whistle, but we’re just as capable as yourself!” Sunny said this while walking on her front hooves, her mane and long ears dragging along the-- thankfully very clean-- carpet. “As I’m quite sure you’ve noticed by now,” Sunny performed a backflip and landed on only her hind legs, giving a triumphantly smug ta-da gesture with her front hooves, “I am exceptional.” Finished with a wink, for good measure.

Thistle simply stared on in awe. “Wow, mate, that’s--”

“Amazing? Astounding? Stupendous?” Sunny suggested. “I know, I know, thank you.”

“Sure, that works. I was just gonna say ‘Sumn’ else.’”

Sunny looked at Thistle for a moment, confused, but then smirked and booped the pegasus on the nose. “That, I am, ma’am. I’m somethin’ else, for sure.”

Comments

[softponies]

i'm enjoying this a ton!!! so much good in here, absolutely adore all the use of g3 characters and lore as a basis, and the fantasy twist is great! all the characters are interesting and fun, and the writing is lovely. also, lots of good representation hehe. definitely excited to see more!!!