Sail
The sky burned a brilliant red with the rising sun, the beauty only accentuated out on the open water with nothing in the way. Applejack stood still, eyes east, simply marvelling at such an amazing shade of crimson appearing in nature. Celestia really did treat the sky as her canvas, and millennia of experience had made her amazing at it. Eventually, though, the sun fully escaped the horizon, and the sky faded back to a uniform blue.
Applejack's grin never faded as she watched the island grow smaller and smaller. It was big, she realized now, looking at it in its entirety. It was still only an island, but it was big enough to still take up most of the horizon after more than an hour of floating. Then again, maybe she was just moving slowly. In any case, Applejack did eventually tire of staring down her former prison, and turned her back on it to focus on other things.
"Right then." She stood up straight, ready to tackle whatever presented itself.
Her hooves idly tap-tap-tapped on the wooden raft as she stood there, waiting, thinking. There really wasn't a lot she needed to do, Applejack realized. She was set on her course now, and all she could do was hope to drift into a shipping lane or towards some form of civilization. Not that she was worried, of course. The shipping lanes were massive, and would suck her into their currents if she got even remotely close. And even if she didn't, she was bound to reach somewhere eventually. The entire surface of the world was covered in folk of some sort or another, and it only stood to reason she'd run across someone's shore sooner or later.
None of that helped her in the now of course. Applejack was bored. She sighed, sunk to a sitting position, and ran a hoof through her shortened mane. She swept her hat from her head and held it in front of her, wringing it between her forehooves. She'd been given the old stetson... years ago. She couldn't even remember how many. It was, quite literally, her very most prized possession. Truth be told, it was remarkable that she'd managed to hold onto it for so long, but then, she really didn't know what she would've done without its constant, comforting presence.
She could still remember seeing it on somepony else's head, though it had been no less comforting even then. His strong, bass voice resonated in her mind as if she were still hearing it. She could see a little orange filly playing in the orchard, she heard the voice call out to her from across the farm. She broke into a wide smile and sprinted towards the source, the large stallion on the front porch wearing an old, weathered stetson. Filly-Applejack froze as the memory stuttered. Applejack couldn't place a face there. For the life of her, the stallion remained nothing but a voice, a vague shape, and an old hat. Then the voice came again, and it had lost all of its comfort. It was saying the one thing she never wanted to hear, it was telling her goodbye—
Applejack shook her head so hard that she stumbled a few steps to the side. She very nearly teetered into the water before catching herself. When she finally regained her balance, Applejack staggered to the center of the raft and sat down roughly. Her breaths came in haggard gasps, rapid chokes of air that danced the razor's edge of becoming sobs. She was still clutching the hat, she realized, and quickly set it back atop her head. Her vision was blurred and out of focus, and when Applejack reached up and rubbed her eyes her forehooves came away wet.
Her shoulders shook as she tried to control her breathing. In, out, in, out. Careful breaths, easy, calm. Applejack finally managed to get her breathing right, though she couldn't stop the shaking that wracked her body.
Okay, boredom was dangerous. Boredom allowed her mind to go places that she never, ever wanted to take it. Boredom was to be avoided at all costs. It was the second time her thoughts had wandered in that direction since waking up on the island. The second time in more years than Applejack could possibly remember. It was inevitable, she supposed. The whole ordeal had, if only in the back of her mind, gotten her thinking about life, her own mortality… death.
The little filly beamed as the far-too-big hat was gently set upon her head—
No, there it was again. Applejack needed a distraction. If she was going to survive hours, maybe even days, of this monotony, then she needed to keep her mind far, far away from such thoughts. She unslung her saddlebags from her back and set them down on the deck, then flipped open the flaps in a desperate attempt to find something, anything to distract her.
It was right there on the top. Stuffed in at the last moment, waiting at the top of the stack and staring upwards in anticipation, was Pinkie Pie's rubber chicken.
Applejack barked a laugh. She snapped it up in a hoof and turned it over. It was the strangest thing, but that chicken seemed to have amazing timing when it came to providing Applejack with comfort in a time of need.
"You really take after your owner, don'tcha?" Applejack muttered to the inanimate thing.
It was silly. She had never been a filly to play with dolls; that was more Big Mac's thing, much as he'd like to deny it. Yet now, she was starting to see the appeal.
Applejack set the chicken down on the deck, and propped its back against her cloth-covered stack of supplies. She walked over to the other side of the raft, sat down, and stared across at the unblinking rubber poultry.
"This is dumb…" she muttered after only a moment. "Look, I just ain't the type to… need this kinda thing. I ain't gonna go crazy for havin' nopony to talk to. I can handle myself, been handling myself for longer than I can remember. Little lonesomeness never hurt nopony, if you ask me."
She tapped her chin. "Twilight, now there's a girl that'd go crazy without any of 'er friends around. Wouldn'ta thought it when she first came to town, neither. That gal was about as un-sociable as they come. 'Course, that was then. Nowadays I don't think she could go two minutes without any of us gals or Spike to talk to."
Applejack chucked. "Pinkie Pie, you've met her, now we found out exactly what happens when she gets left alone too long. It…" She shuddered slightly. "It ain't pretty, I'll tell you that much. Girl's got a heart the size of a cart, though. And a dang amazing memory, too; I forget my own birthday more often than she does."
"Now Rainbow Dash…" Applejack shook her head. "There's a pony who wouldn't survive two seconds without anypony else around. Not that she'd ever tell you that, of course. Proud as a peacock, that one, and with the chops to have earned it, too. Though between you and me she doesn't quite have the plumage to match."
She went on, describing her friends aloud somehow helped more than simply thinking about them had. She realized, in some distant corner of her mind, that she was talking to a fake chicken to pass the time, but she didn't stop.
By the time Applejack noticed the beaming smile creeping on to her face, she was already engrossed in a very one-sided conversation about her best friends in the world. Sure, maybe she was a little bit insane, but it beat being crazy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hours passed. Applejack wasn't sure how many, anymore. It was hot. Too hot. Hot hot hot. The sun was absolutely relentless in its blinding glare. Applejack was sprawled out on her back in the center of the raft, her half-open eyes staring up at the perfectly clear blue sky while her half-listening ears hardly registered the continuous swooshing of the surrounding ocean.
"You know the first thing I'm gonna do when we're back home? Eat an entire apple pie, prob'ly with ice cream on top. Granny's always sayin' to be careful, 'it'll all go straight to your hips'." Applejack sat up and glanced down at herself. She could faintly see the outline of her ribcage, and even more bones sticking out in places they hadn't before.
"Yeah, I think that'd be a good thing at this point." She collapsed onto her back once more with wheezing laughter, only to devolve into a short coughing fit.
As soon as the coughing subsided, Applejack sat back up and reached for her canteen. It rattled dryly as she picked it up, and she couldn't help but sigh. She took another one of the glass bottles of water and emptied it into the canteen, leaving far fewer full than she liked to think about. It wasn't strictly necessary, of course. She could just as easily drink straight from the bottle, but the few moments she spent transferring the water were a few moments spent doing something.
All too soon, those moments passed. Applejack took a short gulp from the canteen, barely sating her dry throat, then lay back down on her back. The sun was worse that she'd ever thought it would be. It was an oversight, she realized. She was so used to the cover of the jungle, the protection of the canopy. She'd managed to forget what the tropical heat could be like. It was as bad as any desert. Sand dunes were replaced with constantly shifting waters, but that water provided no more relief than sand.
"Hey, hey…" Applejack propped herself up on her elbows and stared blearily at her silent companion. "You ever think the ocean is like sand? That's deep, right? 'Cause water and sand ain't nothin' alike, but at the same time the two of 'em are like peas in a pod when you get right down to it."
She blinked slowly. "They're both… wavey."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts. Here they are a-standin' in a row." Applejack lay on her stomach, rolling a pair of coconuts back and forth in her forehooves with bleary eyes. "Big ones, small ones, ones… uh… bigger ones."
She blinked slowly. She couldn't be sure, but the constant sun might have been getting to her head.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Wheeeee!" Applejack barrel-rolled across the deck of the raft from one end to the other, stopping just before plunging into the ocean and reversing direction with yet another, "Wheeeee!"
She only stopped when her head started spinning faster than she was. Applejack groaned and screwed her eyes shut as dizziness overwhelmed her momentarily. Her stomach was doing backflips, but she fought down the nausea with all her might. Her food supply was extremely limited, and she couldn't afford to lose the coconut and blueberries she'd eaten for lunch a little while ago.
Finally, the world stopped spinning and Applejack was able to blink her eyes open. She glanced around her at the same undulating waves, the same hot sun –though it was definitely further into afternoon than it had been– and the same perfectly clear, cloudless blue sky. She sighed as her stomach settled down, simply basking in relief for several moments.
Applejack glanced left, then right.
"Wheeeee!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
How long had it been again? Hours? Applejack stared out across the glinting blue waves towards the horizon. It was still there, that damned island. Was it following her, now? The landmass was small enough now that she could cover it up with both hooves. She knew because she tried.
Applejack giggled tipsily, swaying side to side from her sitting position as she held both forehooves extended in front of her. It was gone! Finally, that blasted island was out of her life forever, and she could be free of its monsters and mysteries and… mountains.
Then Applejack lowered her hooves, and there it was, staring back at her. She released a long sigh.
"You seein' this?" she queried the still-silent chicken. "How slow are we goin' anyways?"
Applejack flopped down onto her stomach. The locket pressed into her chest as she lay there moping. If she hadn't gone so far, she would've turned back then to construct some sort of shelter from the evil, evil sun. At that point, however, Applejack was honestly unsure if she had the strength. Some current was clearly moving her farther and farther from the island, and she didn't want to waste her energy fighting it when she knew she'd tucker out hours before even coming close to the island.
She could hold on, though. She could last. It was only a matter of time.
The ocean waves beckoned to her, mocked her with their promises of cool relaxation. It would only be a waste of energy. She was in a long-game, now, and every scrap of energy counted. Time wasted frolicking in the water would mean collapsing earlier, perhaps too early to be rescued. No, she couldn't give in. As hot as she was, Applejack couldn't give in.
…Except that she was so hot. Her mind was a clouded mess, her vision was blurred at the edges, and she could barely stand upright.
She was standing upright, Applejack realized suddenly. She had been sitting down a moment ago, but now she found herself standing on the edge of the raft and staring down into the cool blue ocean just inches from her hooves.
"Buck it!" Applejack shouted abruptly. She swept her hat from her head, and in the same smooth motion flung the locket from around her neck and onto the pile of supplies. Naked except for the knife on her left foreleg, Applejack flung herself with all her might into the waiting waters.
Instant relief. Despite the fact that her jump had been more of a flailing collapse, it did the job of plunging her into the refreshing ocean well enough. The cool waters washed over every part of her in purest bliss. Her sweat-drenched coat was soothed and washed clean as Applejack floated limply under the surface. Only when her lungs began to burn did Applejack finally kick into motion and burst through the top of the water with a mighty gasp of air.
She swam a lazy circle around her makeshift craft, her eyes closed and body completely relaxed. Her mind was washed as thoroughly as her body, cleared and cleaned of the fogginess that had plagued it. The process only increased her enjoyment as it no longer felt like she was wading through a day-dream.
Still, as much as she would've loved to stay in the water forever, she simply couldn't afford to. Applejack climbed reluctantly back onto the wooden deck of her raft and stood in the now pleasantly-warm sun. She sat down and closed her eyes, remaining motionless and allowing the sun to dry her off for several minutes.
Applejack sighed happily. So very worth it.
The waiting came no easier after that. No longer stumbling around in a half-delirious state, Applejack was forced to sit in full boredom and lucidity as her transport drifted ever so slowly along lazy ocean currents.
She tried initiating further conversation with the chicken, but found that activity waning in its novelty. Each conversation could last only a few minutes before her now-clear mind realized that she was being silly and made her stop.
The island grew ever smaller, though it never quite disappeared. It was barely visible, now, but Applejack could definitely still see it on the horizon. The sun was nearing the horizon, evening descending slowly towards night. This of course came with a wonderful decrease in temperature, though Celestia's charge seemed determined to keep the day somewhere around 'unpleasantly warm' as long as it was visible in the sky.
Finally, when the sun was just touching the western edge of the world, something happened to break the incessant monotony.
Applejack stared straight ahead off the front of the raft, squinting. There was… something in the water up ahead. A couple tiny objects, bobbing with each wave that passed them, floated otherwise perfectly still in one spot. Far more concerning, though, was something extending to either side of them.
She rubbed at her eyes, still it remained. She shook her head, maybe the ocean hadn't cleared it as much as she'd thought. When she focused again, however, the sight she was greeted with hadn't changed.
Applejack wasn't quite sure how to describe it. It was a… line. It extended left and right as far as her eyes could see. It wasn't really visible, though. What made it so hard to describe was that it wasn't really there. The waves just seemed to behave oddly along one continuous path, it was almost like… a border. That was the word. It was some sort of ethereal border, and it was getting closer by the second.
Her speed that had been so slow before seemed distressingly fast as Applejack approached the strange phenomenon. As she neared, she could see slightly clearer exactly where the waves changed their pattern. It appeared as if two ocean currents were meeting all along that border, and the waves on one side were being pushed and pulled differently from the waves on the other side. Hopefully nothing to worry about… unless the crosswise forces managed to tear her raft apart.
She was approaching the line almost exactly where the tiny objects floated, though she still couldn't quite tell what they were.
At last, the small things came into clear view, and Applejack felt her heart skip a beat. They were bottles. Six glass bottles, each of them with a cork in the top, floated in a cluster just at the edge of the phenomenon, bottles that Applejack recognized.
"No… no, no, no," she muttered to herself, raising one hoof over her mouth.
The raft reached the line and slowed to a complete stop, but Applejack barely noticed. The bottles were bobbing along just next to her, now. She reached down and snatched one out of the water. It had a rolled up paper inside.
Her hooves shook as she popped the cork out and dumped the message out onto the deck. Her heart raced, her breathing increased in pace. Applejack unfurled the letter and stared wide-eyed at the words flowing across the page, words she had written herself only just over a week prior. She only read until the tears consumed her vision and she was forced to stop.
Her one best hope in assuring that her friends and family knew she was okay had failed utterly. It was silly, she knew, to assume that the messages would have reached them, but at least there had been a chance. Now she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that not a single one of her letters had gotten out, and the revelation was all but crushing.
Applejack wiped her eyes and gazed at the waters to either side of the unmoving raft. "What in tarnation is this?!"
Only then did she notice it. There was something there. She could feel… something, right there where the line ran across the ocean's surface. It made her coat tingle and stand on end. It was like the feeling just before a lightning strike, something she'd learned only recently, only less intense and more of a continual, steady sensation. She extended her hoof towards the invisible perimeter and the tingling intensified. Applejack pulled her hoof back, suddenly worried at what might happen if it made contact with the unseen force.
Whatever it was, it had stopped her raft. That was why the waves looked different, it seemed. Applejack could see it now, up close. The waves on the other side moved out of sync with the waves on her side, like there was some sort of invisible wall, and nothing on the two sides could ever meet.
A thought struck Applejack, a deeply worrying thought, and she turned around slowly. There it was. The island, just barely a dot on the horizon. Applejack knew, she was positive, that if she managed to move just a few more yards the island would've finally been completely out of sight. This was it, the very edge of her escape, and she'd been stopped.
She scrambled to the edge of the craft and snatched up the paddle, quickly putting it to work with all of her strength. Despite her best efforts, the raft didn't move a single inch farther from the island. She very nearly considered leaping out and swimming, but if the strange static charge wasn't enough, there was also the knowledge that she'd be dead within a few hours out on the open ocean with no craft.
Dropping the paddle to the deck with a clatter, Applejack did the only sensible thing she could do in such a situation. She screamed until her lungs ran out of air.
Just when she was breathing in for round two, Applejack spotted something in the sky above the island.
"Oh Celestia, no…" she muttered as her heart dropped into her hooves.
Applejack collapsed back onto her haunches, mouth hanging open silently, as she stared at the distant horizon: Roiling black clouds, illuminated intermittently by flashes of white-blue. There was a storm brewing, and it was growing closer at an alarming rate.
It was smaller, but the shifting wall of dark clouds was all too familiar. Twilight had said the storm wasn't natural. Apparently she was right.
A distant boom of thunder reached Applejack's ears dimly, but it was enough to snap her out of her trance. She jumped to her hooves and leapt over to her saddlebags. She quickly threw them on, doing up the straps as tight as possible. Into the bags she stuffed her hat, the golden locket and mysterious book, her canteen, the knife and its sheath, and lastly, after only a moment's hesitation, the rubber chicken. She secured the flaps as well as she could, then set into motion.
The storm was closer, the sound of thunder was a near-constant rolling. The wind was picking up, tossing Applejack's tail like a tattered flag. The ocean, previously gentle and smooth, was now rough and choppy. Slowly undulating waves had been replaced with crashing white-caps. The water seemed darker somehow, and the noise was no longer a 'swoosh' in the background, but was rather a constant, violent roar.
Applejack stuffed any and all supplies underneath the blanket she'd used to cover them initially. Any food she'd laid out, the fishing rod she'd brought out to practice with earlier, everything went back into the pile. She secured it as best she could, stomping the rocks at the corners into the wooden deck with her powerful hind hooves.
She grabbed the paddle and started paddling, but not away from the island. There was no point, anyway. She only really had one option. Applejack paddled harder than she'd ever done straight back towards the island. It meant she was rushing towards the oncoming storm, but it was her only choice. At least it meant she would spend as little time in the storm as possible, since she knew no matter what happened she'd either end up back on the island or sleeping at the bottom of the sea.
The cloud wall loomed ever nearer, the sea was thrashing and frothing beneath her, but still she paddled. Thunder crashed and boomed, she could see the lightning now. Even out here, it would only streak about half-way to the surface of the water before halting. The storm was bearing down on her at last. It would be on her in seconds.
Applejack gulped. She felt like she should say some sort of witty quip, one last line of confidence and good-humour in the face of fear. Nothing came to mind, and in the next moment she was swallowed by the storm. Anything she could say was drowned out by the ear-shattering roar of it.
It was worse than she'd even expected. The sea surged up beneath her and Applejack immediately lost her footing. She collapsed with a yelp and the paddle went spinning out of her hooves and into the dark abyss surrounding her. The sun was completely blotted out, she was pretty sure the raft was spinning but she couldn't be certain as visibility was limited to a few feet in every direction.
The ocean tossed her craft again, and Applejack was sent sprawling across the deck. Just as she was attempting to stand back up, a massive wave crested alongside the raft and smashed directly across it. The water picked Applejack up and swept her towards the deadly waters, but she blindly flung out all of her limbs and managed to catch a grip on something with a forehoof. After what felt like far too long, the wave finished washing over the craft and Applejack fell back down to the deck coughing and sputtering.
As she gasped for breath, Applejack tried to identify what she'd clutched to. It was a mangled piece of wood, part of the floor of her raft, jutting up into the air like a limbless, dead sapling. She looked around. The rest of her craft didn't look much better. There were cracks and holes across the entire thing, and bits of it had snapped off and disappeared entirely. Her pile of supplies was completely gone, not even a trace of it remained.
At that very moment her examination was forcibly brought to an end. The raft was once more flung across the sea on a raging surge of water. Applejack clung desperately to the broken bit of wood and silently prayed that it would remain attached to the raft.
Suddenly, she was pressed into the floor as the craft rose up, up, up on the top of a huge cresting wave. Applejack gritted her teeth against the g-forces as her stomach travelled all the way to the ends of her hooves. When it finally ended, she was weightless. For the briefest of moments, the deafening sound of the storm was forgotten as Applejack felt like she was floating. Then she noticed the deck of the raft receding away from her, and at that same instant realized she was actually falling.
In the split second between the instant when the raft touched back down on the water and the instant where Applejack touched back down on the raft, she had time for only one clear snippet of thought.
This was a really stupid way to die.
And then everything went black.
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Well now she has to figure out the mystery.
4207823
Was there ever any doubt?
4208066
Alas, all this crap was decided a long, long time ago in a galaxy far away.
That is to say, I have to stick to the outline I came up with at the start.
I don't trust myself to change stuff on the go. I don't want to risk George Lucas-ing it.
Anyway, don't worry. Her attempted escape was short and disappointing (like me), but it was required to get us to the next bit.
You'll see~
Soon(tm)
4207901 Actually, yes, yes there was.
Cool music time.
It just seems to fit the whole evil island atmosphere.
Strangely relevant (from 2 Best Friends/Sisters Play RE4):
"Yeah, that's about the way I thought it was gonna go. Yup."
"Go eat a boat."
Cool. Cool cool cool.
Ah hah, it was set up like The Truman Show!
The storm was a bit odd in that I would have expected it to form on the outside of the barrier to keep trespassers out, not attack them once they're inside. Hopefully AJ will cling with a death-grip to that log of wood till she drifts back to shore. I'm also gonna guess that now that going out is no longer possible, she will turn towards going in... down the dark dark tunnel. (Watch out for grues!) Finally face that weird symbol and butt heads with that enigma till it breaks and gives up it's secrets to AJ. That and she really needs to read that book. She picked it up and has yet to read it! (At least, I'm pretty sure she hasn't. I could be wrong)
On the plus side, even with nearly all her supplies gone, she still has her tools and knowledge on how to quickly restock the larder.
On the negative side, she'll have more hair-raising encounters with the Screamer.
Giant, magical fish tank.
It had to be done.
~The lizardman has no regrets
Had a feeling something like this would happen. There are still far too many mysteries concerning the island for her to just up and leave.
This seems to reinforce my theory that the island and surrounding area are a sort of... I dunno, pocket-reality, set up by an anti-alicorn group, likely with its own weather (mysterious storms) and time cycles (that day when AJ thought time seemed to passing too quickly). I could be wrong by varying degrees, but I'm excited to see what, exactly, is going on. And further: to see how the hell she'll get out of it.
4208628
If I remember correctly, the book was written in a different language. She hasn't read it yet because she can't read it.
I figured it wouldn't let her leave, I was just wrong on how. Next part should be good, hopefully we start to get answers about whats going on now.
First of all, amazing story, epic pacing. Second of all, im not sure if this was intentionall or not, but theres an old saying about a red sun at morning signifying a coming storm, and in my experience its been very accurate. So if the red sky at morning thing was on purpose, then thats some next level detail bruh, mad props.
4208628
"Applejack." The voice boomed across the still ocean waters, seemingly echoing from everywhere and nowhere all at once.
Applejack jumped. She stared around in wide-eyed silence, searching for the source.
"You can speak." The voice bounded across the waves with absolutely clarity. "I can hear you."
"Who... who are you?" Applejack whispered, staring up into the clouds.
"I am the creator... of a fanfiction based on a television show that gives hope and joy and inspiration to millions."
Applejack was silent for a few moments before the question that was destroying her inside managed to work its way to the surface. "And who am I?"
The smile was evident in the voice as it uttered, "You're the star."
Applejack nodded slowly, her mind almost entirely blank. She quite literally had no idea what to think. Finally, one question managed to come to mind. "Was nothing real?"
"You were real. It's what made you so good to read."
That was enough. Applejack turned away and faced the barrier. She raised one hoof to step through when the voice stopped her.
"Listen to me, Applejack!" The urgency managed to stop her in her tracks. "There's no more truth out there than there is in the world I created for you. The same lies, the same deciet." The voice paused for a moment, then went on, "But in my world, you have nothing to fear. I know you better than you know yourself."
Applejack snarled. "I never had a camera in my head!" she snapped without turning around.
"You're afraid... That's why you can't leave," the voice stated in a tone filled with absolute kindness. "It's okay, Applejack, I understand. I have been watching you your whole life. I was watching when you woke up. I was watching when you took your first steps. I watched you on your first night in that cave." The voice paused to chuckle. "Heh, the chapter where you fell out of that tree." It chuckled a little more, the sound rolling across the still ocean waters like the rumble of distant thunder. "You can't leave, Applejack. You belong here..." The final utterance came out as a loving whisper, like father to daughter. "With me."
Applejack remained silent. She simply stared at the shimmering static barrier before her as her ears twitched to the last trailing echoes of the voice.
"Talk to me," the voice demanded, slightly more urgent. "Say something." It became frantic at Applejack's continued silence. Almost pleading, it half shouted, "Say something, Celestia damnit! You're on the internet! You're live to the whole world!"
Applejack slowly turned around. A placid smile spread across her face as she stared once more into the deep blue sky and its shifting clouds.
"In case I don't see ya," she winked, "good afternoon, good evening, and goodnight."
4208691
4208714
You're so welcome!
4209261
Besides, I think we all know I'm just not that nice.
4208628 4209691
She has tried to open the book, but it remains stubbornly shut. It has a latch, but no visible keyhole. Strange...
4210155
Soon(tm)
4210434
It is not the first time that a red sky has been featured.
Good catch, though!
4211075
~The lizardman needs to ease up on the emoticons
At first: Ahoy, ye bunch of cutthroats! Set the sails! [soundtrack]
fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2014/013/8/0/pirate_applejack_by_gamemasterluna-d71zc6y.png
Some time passes: Applejack is such a silly pony. Talking to a rubber chicken about her friends.
Losing sanity with sun's help is best way to keep yourself occupied. [soundtrack]
twilight.ponychan.net/chan/files/src/139502873992.png
A barrier?
A barrier.
A BARRIER?!?
Oh well. Let's hope AJ survives, uncovers the secret of the island and escapes.
An island with a barrier around it. Reminds me of the story Quantum Castaways
Freakin' magical island of doom.
First thought: Truman Show.
4211616
"And then Applejack died. The end."
4211733
Man, that story is so good...
I really wish it wasn't dead.
4211857
4212590
See above.
I do hope AJ does not just get back at the beginning of the story.
Kay, so this island seems to not want to let AJ go. That's for sure. It seems, and this is a guess, That this barrier is a trigger as well... and each time that its stormed on the island is basically been a rescue attempt of sorts or maybe just a passing ship triggering it... >v> dunno, just speculation on my part.
So THAT'S what Nec Di Nec Domini is about. The last ponies on the island couldn't get away on a raft because it was too damn hot.
4210434 Red sky at morning, sailors take warning. Red sky at night, sailor's delight.
4211075
That sounds eerily familiar. Like a line from an obscure video game that I don't own anymore. It's already bugging me.
Very interesting! I would've liked to see AJ test out the barrier a bit more (perhaps see if she could throw one of the bottle across it, though I imagine it would'nt be that simple). Maybe those bottles of hers triggered one of the other storms.
When you had her looking up, at first I thought she was going to see clouds impacting the barrier as well. A storm makes more sense for her tone though.
One correction:
Lightning, I'm guessing :P
4225469
Fixed! Thanks! I make that error far more than I care to admit.
4225479
Same here. Just one of them words.
Thanks for writing so prolifically recently! Just have more free time?
4225499
Just more motivation, really.
Though this next chapter won't be quite as speedy as the last couple, it'll definitely be quicker than I used to be.
We're kicking into a whole new part of the story, and it's fun!
4225540 I only came in around chapter 21-ish, but the last few have sure seemed to come out fast!
It IS fun!
Just like LOST, I crave answers, and you give out just enough to keep it interesting. Of course, there are always new questions too :P
I said 'Increase the WIND'
Thar she blows...
Nec di nec domini roughly translates to neither gods nor masters (thank Google Translate for being a Latin expert), or somewhere along those lines. It's starting to make some sense now, what with all the Luna theories, that the symbol is of rebellion against the princesses and there's some experimenting going on. I'd bet the telltale signs of chaos (red sky, screaming pinkie beast, etc.) will end up connecting into the same thing at the climax of the story. I have so many branches of theories in my head but that's pretty much the trunk of the tree. You, sir, amaze me. Can't wait until the next chapter!
I'm sure people have made the comparison before, but surprisingly no one in this chapter's comments; this fic is very heavily reminding me of the movie Cast Away.
The Lost comparison I've seen people make is obvious enough too, but the Truman Show comparison doesn't quite work for me.
The island WANTS her to go back...
CLESTIA-DAMN THAT BARRIER!
The shield makes the island invisible to everypony outside the island, and it has long been forgotten by the outside world. It had been inhabited by a group of anarchists, hence the "No gods, no masters" motto. The storm was an assassination attempt on Twilight, but not her specifically. The heart of the island has long been turned into a killer-storm machine, triggered by the approach of any alicorn.
Applejack's only hope is to get into the book, or try to pass through the dead-end wall somehow. The gems and/or locket are somehow a key to opening one or the other?
4262460 Google Translate isn't bad, just finicky. Put the phrase in just right, and you get something intelligible, most of the time.
Caught just a few errors throughout the story.
Chapter 15:
Chapter 18:
Chapter 22:
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Thanks for the catches! Fixed now.
4211075
Couldn't she just cut the covers off with her knife? Unless it's protected by some form of magic, of course (likely the way to open it, too)
Yeah, she's definitely losing it.
Damn... what a powerful chapter. That's what I love with your story. So many memorable chapters (the cave exploration, sightings of the creature, first night on the island, ect...) that emulates powerful emotions, from fear to despair. At least that's what your chapter made me fell so far.
When Applejack hit the border, I felt my heart stop. Thankfully, this was just an exageration of how I felt, otherwise I'd be dead.
I'm getting a sneaking suspiscion that there's a facility underneath the island.
Frigging storm season. Amirite?
This is by far the best chapter in the story. The characterization was spot on, you spent plenty of time with her emotions, and she acted exactly like I'd expect Applejack to act in this situation. Now for my guess as to what's going on...
Seeing as how the storm just seems to appear from out of nowhere, I'm thinking that there is some sort of machine under the island that creates it. I also think that wall in the cave is the secret door that leads to it. The storm and the force field are to keep Alicorns out, and the beast in the jungle was an unexpected anomaly that spawned from whatever sciences they were dabbling in. It forced them to move underground, which is where they are now living. Also also, the symbol seems to keep A.J. safe from the beast, as it attacked as soon as she left the cave (where the symbol was), but left her alone once she found the bag with the symbol, but as soon as she left the bag behind (when she went to the beach and passed out), it came back but would not follow her into the cave. So A.J., just keep the damn bag with you and you'll be safe!
And couldn't she use the knife to open the book? I mean if it can saw through a tree branch, you'd think she could get through the binding... anyway, can't wait to read more!
That......sucks.......Applejack is truly stuck......I have a few theories on how she can get out, but as of right now, the situation is completely grim and hopeless....and it sucks.
She should have thrown the bottles at the invisible wall. Even if they just bounced off, at least she could confirm it was a physical barrier. If they passed through, somepony could get her message at least.