Expanding Horizons

by mechafone

10 - Introductions And A Reunion

Anorax stood at the bow of the ship as it drew closer to the old wooden docks at the pier. Despite knowing that this could be his last chance to have fun and relax with Madalah, this last hour had been exciting for him. He could go with Madalah alone into the woods, explore for a few days, relax, and forget about this whole thing for a while. This thought made him smile, made him relax a little, even excited. He decided that, least for now, he would just concentrate on her. He smiled reassuringly for her as she emerged from the cabins, a smile that she met with a little less enthusiasm, but the same eagerness for a reprieve was there in her eyes.

"Hey, guys!" Laser Reflex called from the right side of the ship. Spark, the changelings in their pegasi forms, Russet and Trixie stepped over to see what he was calling about. It seemed that there was a gathering at the pier to meet the ship. Dozens of earth pony, pegasi and a few unicorns had made their way from their island homes, all carrying various gifts, a welcoming tradition. Laser turned to his friends and gestured to some of the flower leis that the pretty island girls had brought. "Hey everybody!" Spark winced, readying himself for what was sure to be a terrible joke. "We're all gonna get lei'd!"

There was a collective groan as Spark's fear was affirmed. It was a terrible joke, with even less class than he was expecting. "Ugh. Cute, Laser, really cute." Laser shrugged and looked down at all the mares. Many of them were in their mid-teens, slightly younger than him. This was his kind of place! Now if only Trixie's nagging words from the other day weren't now actively running through his mind. He sighed dejectedly and slumped onto the floor. Meanwhile, overhead, the crew worked fervently to prepare the ship as it came in to the piers, readying ropes to the tie the ship to the harbor.

---

Near the back of the crowd, a hefty burnt-orange unicorn stallion with messy, short brown curls in his mane and an even shorter tail fidgeted, his dark aquamarine eyes darting left and right. Where was his contact? After another minute or two of waiting, a tall green earth pony, sporting a short light blue mohawk stepped up beside him. Despite him being an earth pony, there was nothing earthy about him. He looked more like he was made for the sea, and his slanted shark-like eyes didn't really help his look. "Mayor Sandy Sunset - you're looking nervous," the tall pony more warned than told him.

The mayor let out a yelp as he turned to the earth pony. "Oh, Lusus! Don't scare me like that, you know my blood pressure is already through the roof here, I-" he trailed off as the one called Lusus held up a hoof for silence. One did not just keep talking when Lusus wanted quiet.

"I was told there would be no more island visitors until later this week - after tonight's festivities. Who are they and why are they here?"

Sandy swallowed hard as he looked up at the bigger pony. "I-I haven't the faintest idea, Lusus. I assume they're more tourists. I...I could try sending them away..."

Lusus frowned and glanced at the ship. He had a peculiar feeling about this ship and it's contents, but he couldn't just send them away, it would look suspicious. Best to keep them occupied at the other side of the island, maybe mix them up with the locals. "No. We can't do that now. Have your son show them around and introduce them to some of the locals. Maybe...Deep Surf. He can keep things interesting...it'll be best to keep his nose out of my business, as well."

Sandy nodded obediently and stared at the group of girls waiting at the pier. Was that Seaweed? She was bouncing and giddy and yelling at the males in greeting as well as any of the other girls. "...Since when does Seaweed fall in line with the other girls? She's always been so...disturbingly quiet," the mayor mused.

In a rare moment of going along with unnecessary conversation, Lusus looked over to see the pretty blue earth mare with the wavy green mane and tail shrieking and waving excitedly. "It's a little something she's been getting into lately; trying to fit in, blend in with the crowd. Method acting, I think she called it. She can mimic most any attitude and social activity and seem like a normal pony, but...she doesn't understand the reasons for others' actions. She probably never will. She'll never be normal."

The mayor wasn't sure what to make of this information, he just knew he needed to get over to his guests and play his part. Now where was Sunny Waves? Sandy spotted his son in the crowd, smiling excitedly. He followed his son's gaze at the two females on board the ship - both unicorns? A small, almost hopeful smile pulled over the older unicorn's face. Maybe, just maybe, there was some small chance of happiness for his son. There was nothing left but to pray that these strangers managed to stay out of Lusus' way tonight.

---

Flash Fire frowned unhappily at Spark Storm's side. She might've been able to enjoy herself at the fact that the group was staying here for a week if she weren't burdened with the guilt of horribly burning one of the crew. Rolling Waves, completely covered in bandages and laid out on a cot, had been set beside the unicorn. It was bad enough that she put him in that state, but the ship's crew was hell-bent on reminding her of it every step of the way.

She nearly jumped when she felt a hoof on her back, prompting her ears to pin back. Her gaze narrowed but not did swerve to put her glare on the perpetrator. "Spark...not to be pissy or anything, but I don't want your sympathy."

"It's not sympathy, Flash Fire, it's a light prompting, more like a request, to have you calm down. You're too tense," the pegasus replied, and after a moment removed his hoof.

"You try relaxing when you have a ship's crew staring at you and muttering curses behind your back!" she hissed in reply, now turning to glare up at Spark. The sound of a throat clearing caught the two's attention as the captain sidled up between them and waved down at the crowd below on the piers.

"There'll be no arguing or fighting or speaking of our business while we're on this island. We keep to ourselves, we tend to our own, then we leave when Rolling Wave's wounds have had a chance to heal a little," he said, glancing inbetween the two of them, surprisingly his gaze off of Flash Fire when he mentioned the burn victim. "Am I understood?" he added, this time a stern glare on Flash Fire.

"Yes, of course," she told him.

"Understood, sir," Spark affirmed.

"Then let's get off this ship and get busy laying low. I don't want any trouble, not from you, not from the locals. Stay close to each other, don't get lost," The captain gave both Fighters a stern gaze before stepping on a switch that revealed a set of stairs that slowly emerged from the ship that would connect it to the pier. As the ship's captain turned to help his crew get Rolling Waves hoisted down the ramp, Spark and Flash shared a look. Their sponsor had given them an awful lot of rules for a simple rest-up. There was more to this situation than he was telling them.

After Rolling Waves had been carted off the ship, the group was ready to disembark. Flash Fire went first, a bit nervous at all the teenage colts crowding around her. Trixie, however, was ecstatic. All the cute stallions, and even some of the entranced girls who 'ooh'd and 'aah'd at her looks. Some "I love your coat, it shines like the sun!" and "I really love your mane!" and "Marry me!"'s were dropped on her, leaving her both blushing and happy at all the sudden attention.

One unicorn in particular stood out to the showmare. He was a tall, bright orange unicorn with a gorgeous brown mane that had orange and cream streaks in it. She had to stare at the stallion's aquamarine eyes, and soon found herself standing before him, transfixed on the young colt's athletic body. "Hi there. Welcome to Sunanwaves," he told her with a lazy but confidant smile. "I'm Sunny Waves."

"Sunny Waves?" Trixie repeated, a flirtatious smile in her eyes. "Like Sunanwaves?"

The stallion rolled his eyes good-naturedly, flashing the pretty mare a brilliant smile. "Well, yeah. My dad's the mayor of the island. He thought it'd be funny to name me after it. Pay it no mind - please. The locals bug me about it enough." This brought Trixie to giggles, and the two proceeded to walk slowly together ahead of the group.

"Man..." Laser said as he received a lei and a kiss on the cheek from one of the local mares, a pretty blue mare with a mane and tail that looked like the most beautiful bright green seaweed. "The islanders really know how to make a stallion feel welcome."

Spark rolled his eyes as he made his way slowly past the same mare. The two locked eyes for a moment, and immediately the pegasus began to feel uneasy, as if expecting the mare to lash out at him any moment. She smiled prettily enough at him, but it felt like she was waiting for him to turn his back. It felt like she wanted to pounce on him and rip at his wings and throat...

Nothing happened as he turned his eyes, and the earth pony turned away from him to greet the others as they stepped off the ship. He shivered and ruffled his wings, a relieved sigh escaping him. He hoped he wouldn't be running into her again. An audible shudder behind him prompted him to glance behind to see all three changelings, in their pegasi forms, hurrying to catch up. "Anorax, did you feel that?" he asked.

The white pegasus nodded and shivered once more. "Yeah. That was...disturbing."

"What did you feel?"

Anorax and Kecnik stared at each other a moment, while Madalah remained quiet. Finally, the tall blue pegasus shook his head slowly. "It was...a mess of thoughts and feelings. That mare back there, she's not right in the head. She wasn't there to greet anyone, she...she wanted to please someone. She was hiding in plain sight, waiting to jump at any one of us and..." he shuddered as he trailed off. "Whatever it is she wants, it's not pleasant."

Spark frowned thoughtfully to himself, almost bumping into Flash Fire just ahead of him, who had stopped in front of a portly orange unicorn who greatly resembled the young unicorn who was currently engaged in conversation with Trixie some ways ahead on the beach. "Welcome, travelers!" he said with a cheerful, booming voice. My name is Sandy Sunset, I am the mayor of Sunanwaves. I've already had a talk with your captain, I know why you're here. Let me just welcome you to our island, how do you do?" He held out a hoof, a slightly nervous glance drifting inbetween Flash Fire and Spark Storm.

Spark's partner smiled most humbly and gestured her head at Spark, indicating that he was the pony to talk to. She stepped back as the bigger unicorn shook hooves with the pegasus. "Thank you for the warm reception, Mayor," Spark said, glancing at Flash Fire out of the corner of his eyes. He shrugged and swept his eyes over the beach and the forest beyond. "This is really a beautiful island - can I ask what we can expect to find here?"

This question caused the mayor's left eye to twitch. "W-well, we have many fine tourist locations, of course. We have some of the finest establishments that are fun, safe and...entertaining. Uh, we have many surfing opportunities. My son can show you around, I believe one of your friends is talking with him now," he said, indicating Trixie as he seemed to pick up some confidence.

The mayor sighed with relief. His meeting with Lusus had unnerved him, but he was slowly picking up his game. He'd have this particular situation handled in no time, but he needed something else to keep the group occupied. Oh, that's it! he thought to himself. "Oh, and before I forget, I would direct you to the center of the island. We have a marvelous facility, a biodome. Our local scientist and wildlife fanatic runs the place, Mimosa Palm. I would suggest that you stop by and see the massive habitat he runs."

Spark smiled at the idea of this. Suddenly, the green 'jacket' around his body ruffled, as if the entire surface began to quiver. The mayor, Flash Fire and the changeling stared at him a moment. Spark glanced between them after the quivering came to a stop almost immediately. He coughed and held a hoof at his stomach. "Uh...haven't eaten since yesterday," he told the group nervously, though this was only for the mayor's benefit. "Probably need to get some food in me, heheh..."

"Well..." Sandy said, glancing about for a moment until he faced the pegasus once more. "Why don't you all head into the village and grab a bite to eat before beginning your adventures? Our local eateries include magnificent pizza and all kinds of different foods. Sweet breads, ripe pineapple, and...I don't suppose any of you would be open to fish?"

Spark's eyes widened with excitement at this prospect. "Your island sells fish?!" This was all the prompting that Spark needed. He grinned and waved goodbye to the mayor, who stared after him in surprise.

"He really likes his fish," Anorax explained as the trio followed along behind him. The mayor stared after the group for a moment, then sighed with relief. Their dark blue pegasus seemed a little unusual, but so far, the group offered nothing to worry about...right? His cursory glance at the brush behind him revealed a pair of slanted light blue eyes that gave him an affirming nod. Nothing to worry about.

---

Spark Storm's mouth was watering at the prospect of fish, his favorite food. After learning how to survive on fish in the wilderness, it had quickly climbed the ranks of his most-sought after foods. None of his friends shared the same desires when choosing what to eat. The eager pegasus followed the pattern of coming and going to a clear in the trees that opened at the right-hoof side of the beach that lead to a sand-covered sidewalk, which in turn followed a gently down-sloping hill that eventually opened up into a quaint, relaxed-looking village.

The buildings were all old wood, but sturdy. The colors of the village seemed to be mostly brown, with white rooftops. The ground was littered with sand, even though most of the ground here was black asphalt. He had just begun to smell the glorious scent of grilled fish when he felt himself being pulled into the bushes. He hadn't seen anypony beside him, so he pulled away and back onto the sidewalk, his head snapping in the direction his unseen assailant should've been, but there was nothing.

A second pull revealed that Ampelus had wrapped a vine around a passing tree and was pulling him towards it, as she was still anchored to his body in the "jacket" around him. The pegasus sighed and stepped into the brush and made sure that nopony was watching. He sat down and waited as the nymph finally emerged from his body, leaving him bare, a feeling most welcome as wearing the elastic body had felt overly warm. Spark shook himself off with a sigh of relief.

The now revealed Ampelus slowly pulled herself into shape with a few groans and plenty of stretching. Staying in a mostly flat shape was tiresome, but at least this time she wasn't as hungry as last time. The nymph turned to revere Spark, but something other than the pegasi's body was on her mind for once. Her thoughtful glance was not lost on him. He narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously. "Ampelus? What's going on with you? Ever since earlier on the ship, you've been acting strange."

Ampelus set a pair of angry blue eyes on the pegasus, her vines rattling loudly. "I don't recall inviting your concern!"

Spark backed off a step, surprise in his eyes. Ampelus almost never snapped at him for showing concern, and it was even more rare for him to be concerned about her in the first place. Thinking that perhaps she was still tense about his aggression in the apartment, he pressed further with more caution. "Ampelus, talk to me. I care about you and you're acting a little different from usual. Please?"

Spark's gentle words took the nymph by surprise. Again, like he'd done on the ship, he was being much more patient and inviting than he had been in the last few months. He was returning to the way he was, before the caves, and this new turn of events was inviting all new kinds of situations between them. She wasn't sure how much more niceness between them she could tolerate. In the time she'd spent with Spark, she'd gone from hating him, to tolerating him, and to respecting him. Since when had they gone from respecting each other to caring about each other as friends?

Ampelus frowned thoughtfully and began pacing about in front of Spark, her concerns and thoughts now doubly heavy with this new development between the two. "Spark, I...I don't know how to say this without throttling you. There's something on this island that's very familiar to me. It's...it's everywhere, in the air, on the trees, in..." she stopped at the nearest tree, a bamboo tree. Beyond it, nothing but bamboo for miles. She scratched at her chin thoughtfully, becoming silent.

"Uh..." Spark began. "what does this familiar feeling have anything to do with throttling me?"

The nymph turned back around and glared at him. "It has everything to do with that!"

"You mean it's just convenient for you, because you're angry about what you can't figure out and I'm right here?"

"That's exactly it, thank you for saving me the trouble of demonstrating that fact, Sparky," Ampelus told him sweetly as she approached him and lightly pressed their muzzles together and gave him a seductive, bedroom-eyed stare. When he gave her no more response than an inch of space between them, she scowled and turned away from him. Before, she could get such reactions from him, and now he refused to give her a proper response like he used to. It was beyond frustrating. She'd had enough.

"Look, go find some food. Your belly was making all kinds of weird sounds, it's hungry. I'm going to go explore the island for a bit, see if I can't find what's bugging me," she told him without looking back at him.

Spark watched her go silently for a moment, then shrugged and turned to step out of the bushes and back into the crowd. With his business with Ampelus concluded for now, he could concentrate on what he really wanted - a nice grilled fish. Glancing about at the open market ahead, he frowned as he saw Laser Reflex chatting it up with the pretty blue mare from before. Something told him that even talking with her was a bad idea. For now, he kept a safe distance from her, though he would keep his eyes on her. Laser obviously wasn't getting the same homicidal vibes from her, it was best not to let either of them get too far off.

---

Ampelus slipped inbetween the trees stealthily, keeping to the shadows. Not a difficult task, considering the island was mostly comprised of trees, and every last one of them had a familiar scent to them. The problem was not knowing where this scent came from or what it meant to her, in fact it was the opposite: she knew exactly what this smell was, and it annoyed her to no end.

The walk towards the center of the island was a long one, mostly because there were many settlements and villages to avoid. The deeper she traveled, though, the more sparse the population became. Within a few miles the settlements disappeared altogether.

The wildlife was fairly basic, consisting of the usual bugs - dragonflies, butterflies, bees, spiders, ants. The one thing that really threw her off, however, was a roadrunner that she spotted dashing about. She'd never seen one of these birds before, but she just knew that it didn't belong in the jungle. Nowhere in her race memory did a bird that looked acclimated for dry conditions would belong here. So why...? Oh. Pausing in a clearing, she came to the edge of a massive building that seemed to stretch for miles, made of thick glass.

There was a small panel missing from the building directly in front of her, letting out an intense heat from inside, something that made Ampelus cringe in displeasure. This heat was an unwelcome sensation. Glancing once more at the small bird scuttling around on the ground, she approached it slowly. The roadrunner hopped towards her, it's head tilting this way and that as it got a good look at her, apparently not deeming her a threat. She smirked at this and shot a vine out from her mane and picked up the bird. It screeched in panic as she brought it closer to her. "That's the sound you should be making, little one. Now get back in there."

With a careful toss, the roadrunner was deposited back into it's habitat. The nymph frowned; without a panel to plug up the hole, he would just escape again, and die out here, out of his element. She shrugged and ripped up a good sized chunk of earth and stuffed it into the hole until it was impossible to escape from again.

Ampelus, satisfied with her work, sighed and shook her head as she slowly turned to look at the stallion that had been following and watching her for some time. Mimosa Palm approached her, then sat down on his haunches and clopped his hooves together joyfully. "Wonderful! That was truly compassionate of you. I have to say, though, you're certainly different from the last time I saw you, you must've been..." he paused and brought a hoof to about half-way down Ampelus' shoulder. "-this tall last time I saw you."

Ampelus frowned and slapped his hoof away from her. He wasn't going to get away with pretending like nothing happened between them. "What is your problem? You disappear for four hundred years and you think it's ok to just up and talk to me after all this time?"

"Well, technically, sweetie, you came to me," he pointed out as he rubbed his slapped hoof. She'd gotten stronger too, gods!

Ampelus hissed at Mimosa for even implicating such a thing. She stared at him a moment, then reached out and dabbed at the white coat around the stallion. "What is this?"

Mimosa glanced down at his coat and shrugged. "It's a doctor's coat, I guess. I don't know, I just like it, but if you prefer-" he paused and began taking off his coat. Ampelus rolled her eyes and sat down to watch him. The coat was placed on a branch, and Mimosa's body was revealed - a strong back, insect-like wings unfolding as the dryad stretched them out. "Ohh, my. That feels wonderful. I should take that coat off more often, I don't know if my wings even work anymore." Mimosa turned back around and smiled at Ampelus. "So? How does your old man look?"

Ampelus shook her head, completely unimpressed. "You look the same as always, daddy. You look ridiculous."

Comments

[Skywind]

For some god awful reason I want Ampelus and Spark to get together I really don't know why XD

[shade_taDark_Phoenix]

What a Twist