Melodys' Island Part 2

Melodys' Island, Part 2

Octavia quickly limped through the darkening forest, her cheeks damp with her salty tears as well as bloodshot eyes. While gasping for air, she looked back in paranoia, but trips while doing so and started rolling down a muddy hill with yelps and grunts and suddenly stopped hard with a thump, dead leaves being thrown up to the air like confetti.

She coughed and spat out dirt from her mouth and groaned from her beaten body. She spat out more dirt and opened her eyes to be met with a large black Scorpion, its broad pincers spread out defensively and its big black stinger ready to strike.

With a screech she jumps back up to her hooves and started galloping once more as best she can through the thick, darkening undergrowth.

She was tired, in both physically and mentally. All she wanted was a quiet and relaxing cruise with her friend for a good week before going back to their quaint little home and work. Yes, Vinyl was more or less goofing around on the ship with the young fillies and colts and playing pranks of the ships’ crew but she never gone beyond that because she knew her friend wanted to have a relaxing cruise.

She took a quick glance up at the sky and saw the stars were out and shinning as she hurriedly limped across the ground with tired and aching hooves.

After a few more moments, she bursts out of the forest and collapsed on the sandy ground, the sound of waves washing up as well as the cool light breeze brushing by her ears. The moon shined brightly in the sky, coating both land and sea with its cool gentle light.

Staring at the moon for a good moment or two to rest, she took a deep breath and sat herself up with closed eyes concentrating on calming down her emotions to think more clearly. Though, it was hard to concentrate clearly without her friend to be there with her, she managed to calm down enough to start searching her surroundings with tear drenched cheeks.

She was sure this was a different part of the island’s shoreline; it was more of a small lagoon than anything else as short wall of dark rocks and stone curved around her sides but gradually shrank down into the ocean.

She breathes out shakily and rested down onto the warm sand and inspected her injured hoof closely. The small cuts were still there but long stopped bleeding out. She gently tucked it away close to her barrel and covered parts of her exposed skin with her other hoof to keep it warm.

She hung her head and continued to rest. Her mind was yelling at her to go find her companion Vinyl to make sure she was okay, but she gave up. She was too tired to do anything anymore, she was defeated and battered like a broken solder left behind after battling endlessly till their body and mind couldn’t function anymore to continue. She was a broken glass that couldn’t be brought back together with a simple clear sticky tape.

She continued to hang her head, accepting defeat like a grieving mare. She accepted she was stuck here on an Island that couldn’t stop giving her hard time right from the start, turning her into a living stress that made her blood boil like a whistling kettle, raising her blood pressure like a volcano ready to erupt and stressing her body to the breaking point. That point, part of her mind was screaming at her to rest and sleep, and right before she could, loud brushing of leaves, snapping twigs and swaying trees caught her attention like an Elephant was going through the forest.

Using her last bit of energy, she crawled and dragged herself to a large rock and hid herself behind it as best she could and curled into a small ball against the rough surface. She couldn’t do anything else; she was starving as her stomach ached, her dry throat thirst for cool water, her mind numb from the lack of nutrients and liquid and her muscles dead from being overworked to the breaking point. In the back of her mind, she knew she wouldn’t last for too long without help, sooner if that new monster wanted to have a little pony snack.

As she slowly closed her eyes, being lulled to sleep by the gentle waves, she heard light murmuring of her friend behind the rock but passed out not a second later the moment she closed her eyes.

Oo~~O~~oO

Waking from a dreamless slumber, Octavia cracked her eyes open but quickly shut them as the suns’ light bombarded her blurring sight. She whimpered and tried cover up her face with both her hooves but winced as the other stung from inside and out. She just covered her eyes with the other as her body slowly started to wake from sleep.

Her mind ached as if she had a hangover of a lifetime from a night of hard party. Her mouth and tongue felt dry as well as her throat, her stomach ached of emptiness and her limbs felt stiff as a log.

Yes, she’s still alive.

She blinked her eyes to get them used to the light as she started looking around her surroundings with squinty eyes.

She was resting beside a large tree with comfortable green moss bed cushioning her body from the ground and the leaves of the tree over head shaded her from the sun… well, somewhat anyways. The sandy beach was right in front of her, gentle waves washing up the shore and against the dark rocky ridge. The birds sang with the forest right behind her and distant, giant clouds slowly drifted through the sky in a snails’ pace. If she wasn’t trapped on the Island and was in a vacation, she might have considered staying for a couple more days. Who knows, maybe she’ll be stuck here for the rest of her life with…

“Vinyl?” she said out loud and started looking around for her companion. “Vinyl?!” she yelled out but quickly coughed as her sore throat tickled.

With a quick whiff of odd oater, she looked down and saw some type of seaweed wrapped around her injured hoof. She wondered what good the marine plant was doing to her but just shook her head and continued to wonder where her friend went off to this time-

Knock-knock…

She whips her head to her right and saw Vinyl smiling at her, with her barrel wrapped in the same weed as well as a leaf basket resting on her back.

“Good morning, Tavi.” She greets and moved closer to the laying mare.

Octavia smiles in relief at the site before her, “I got worried about you.” She nuzzles the mares’ neck with a small smile.

Vinyl chuckles and levitated the bowl down for Octavia with a small wince, filled to the rim of various fruits and even a few rolled up Sea Weeds. “Hungry?” she asks and rested down beside her friend. Her answer came in a form of Octavia burying her face into the basket, her cheeks bulging out like a Chipmunk with full cheeks, munching and crunching messily with juices leaking out.

After filling her stomach of fresh food, Octavia made the most unladylike belch ever heard from between the two. She quickly covered up her lips with a surprised expression. Vinyl giggled at her blushing friend and levitated up a Pear to eat herself, taking out a large bite.

“Geez, Tavi. You almost beet my record with that burp of yours.” She snickered as she spotted her friend shrinking from embarrassment, turning redder than an Apple. She gently nudged the mares’ side, gaining Octavia attention as she tried to hide behind her hooves, “Oh lighten up, Tavi, we’re the only ones out here to witness that.” But right after she finished saying, a short roar was heard with the forest. “Um… actually add another one to that list of Island residents.” She corrected herself as she looked to the direction of the roar.

Octavia cowered and shook in fear, trying to hide herself behind her companion, peeking out from under Vinyls’ neck with pin pricked eyes. “W-what in Equestria… was th-that?” she squeaked out as the thrashing within the forest increased in volume with birds flying out there perches from the disturbance.

Vinyl looked at her with a happy smile, “Fluffy.” She answered as the hairy beast leaps out of the forests’ tree line a dozen meters away, looking from to and fro with a worried, urgent look. Vinyl quickly notice Octavias’ terrified expression, scooted herself closer to the mare and started gently shushing as well as caressing her mane, down her neck and on to the mid of her back. “Sshhh… Tavi, it’s okay, Fluffy won’t hurt, yah. He’s more scared of you than you are to him. Come on, it’s okay.” She continued to whisper comforting words to the shaking mare.

The large beast slowly lumbered over warily, taking each calculated step onto the warm sand and then stopped, leaned its head up to peek at the shaking mare in curiosity, just staying in place about ten feet away.

Octavia pressed herself closer to Vinyl, anchoring herself onto the DJ to calm herself.

“It’s okay, Tavi. Fluffy won’t hurt you and me. He’s just a big softy with a heart of a Manticore.” Vinyl continued whispering to her and nuzzled her cheek to get the mare out of her shell.

After a while trying to coach the mare to calm down, Octavia finally opened one of her clenched, purple eyes and looked up at her. She smiled proudly and playfully tussled the Cellists’ mane.

“There’s my girl.” Vinyl congratulated and briefly hugged her with one hoof, resting her chin on top of Octavias’ head, gaining a small smile from the cellist. Vinyl looked down at her as Octavia gave her her full attention, “Now, Tavi. I know you don’t wanna meet or even see my new friend, but you have to give him a chance… He saved us.” Octavia then looked down at her hooves in hesitation. “It doesn’t have to be now, maybe later, but he is here now. Like you said in the past, ‘Get it over with so we can get going.’…” The phrase itself caused a slight wince from Octavia as a memory briefly clouded her mind. Vinyl notices this and reassures her with a little nuzzle to the cheek, “It’s okay, Tavi. It’s in the past and you apologized. That’s more than enough for me.” She said but Octavia continued to stare down at her hooves. “So do you want to meet him now?” she quietly asked.

Octavia continued to look down at her hooves and fidgeted a little. After a moment of waiting she eventually gently nodded her head in agreement, also tensing her body in the process.

Vinyl notices, “Tavi, I promise I won’t let Fluffy get too close to you, you can just take a peek at him as well.” She assured. Octavia internally sighed a relief and nodded her head and looked up at her.

Vinyl looked back to see Fluffy just resting down on the sand, watching them from a short distance. Octavia moved her leaf bowl to the side with her good hoof and gradually inches forward with quiet grunts and pants. She leaned her head down and slowly peeked out from behind Vinyls’ lower neck.

When she saw the large, dark creature just quietly watching them like a curious dog watching its owners speaking to one another, she froze and held her breath as they both locked eyes. She wanted to scoot back to hide but her body was petrified to even acknowledge her command and Vinyls’ back hoof was firmly planted on her flank to stop her.

Few moments of silence later, she finally released her breath and blinked a couple times to moist her dry eyes, quickly rubbing off the irritation with her good hoof. Tears formed by how dry her eyes became but quickly, she felt a cool sensation being gently wiped across her forehead, cooling her temperature to a blissful level and wiped her cheeks and eyelids from her salty tears. She smiled at how quickly she felt better and opened her eyes, expecting Vinyl carrying a wet cloth in her magical grasp but only saw a long, large tongue slithering back over to its owner, the beas-… Fluffy.

Octavia sheepishly smiled with a small flush on her cheeks, “Thank you… F-Fluffy.” she thanked the monstrous, dark, gentle giant and leaned herself on her friend beside her.

Fluffy made a throaty coo and formed a sort of a smile at her in response as he started to gently sway his tail from to a fro.

“See? He’s just a big softy.” Vinyl chuckled but quickly winced, “Ow…” she squeaked out as she held her sides, planting her chin on the sand.

“Vinyl?!” Octavia frantically started looking at her friend as Vinyls’ breathing calmed down.

“It… it’s okay, Tavi…” Vinyl panted for a few more moments before relaxing and smiling at her friend, “That buck-beaked loser got me pretty good…” she looked at her seaweed bandage and started slowly pealing it off with the help of her hairy friend. Octavia gasped at the large, hoof size bruise; it was swollen, at its center was nearly black and gradually turned to a sickly purple, than blue, and finally to red and pink at its rims.

Fluffy gathered up the used seaweed with his tongue and went off into the forest with heavy steps, making the calm forest air echo with mighty thumps.

Octavia looked at her friend with a newfound determination and slowly got herself up, “Vinyl, it’s your turn to rest for once.” She nudges the bowl-leaf closer to the Unicorn and started looking around, “My turn to take care of us and figure out how to get off this island.” She said and faced the open ocean, spotting a few distant, lush islands at the horizon. “Okay!” she started hopping on three of her hooves, trying to get herself hyped, “F-first things first!” she suddenly stopped as her mind jammed itself, “U-um… First things first… is…” she started looking around once more.

“Find food and water!” Vinyl called out behind her.

“Right! Food and water! Where could those be?” she moved on over to the forests’ edge and started limping around, looking around for anything edible.

“Um… Tavi!” Vinyl called out once more.

“Yes!?” Octavia stuffs her head into a bush.

“We already know where food and water sources are!”

Octavia suddenly pops out, “I knew that!” she called out as Vinyl quietly giggled. “Okay second is…”

“Find or make a shelter!” Vinyl answered.

Octavia just stopped, and after a moment, turned and limped on over to her companion and stared at her.

“What? Do I have something on my face?” Vinyl started brushing her muzzled with her hoof to get something off that wasn’t there.

“How do you know all these things?” she asked.

“Know what?”

“How to survive out here?”

“Oh! That. Yeah, I was with the Filly Scouts before I met you. My mom enlisted me because I had nothing else better to do. I wasn’t the best Scout but I was average with the grades.” She answered.

“Oh… why didn’t you tell me you were a Filly Scout?” Octavia asked out of curiosity.

“Simple. You never asked.” Vinyl answered and popped in a berry into her mouth with her magic and happily chewed.

“Oh… sorry.” Octavia crestfallen.

“Nah, it’s fine, Tavi.” Vinyl waved it off with a chuckle. “It was fun, but not that much.” She assured and threw in another berry.

After a moment of silence while Octavia was thinking, thundering steps was going towards them. Octavia squeaked and quickly hid herself beside her friend, peeking out through the crook of her neck. Vinyl lightly chuckled at her friend as Fluffy jumped out of the forest, a rolled up, fresh seaweed being held by his oral appendage and happily went closer to her. He gently un-roles it on the mossy ground near the forest floor, lifted one up into the air and looked at her expectantly.

Vinyl looked at her companion with a smile, “Okay, Tavi,” she gains her attention, “I need to help me get up so Fluffy can patch me up. Can yah do that for me?” she asks and Octavia shakily nods in response.

Vinyl gently leans onto her friend and Octavia slowly stood up, gaining a wince and a few hisses from her friend. As they finally stood up, Fluffys’ tongue stretches out and started wrapping the long seaweed around her barrel carefully and applied a light layer of saliva onto her bruised wound, gaining a relieved, blissful sigh from Vinyl with a small delighted shiver.

Vinyl gently rested herself back down and laid her head down with a small smile, “That’s better.” She says with closed eyes.

“Um… Vinyl?” The mare in question looks up at her friend. “What do I… do next?” she asks.

“Oh! First off, Fluffy’s going to change that seaweed on your hoof.” Octavia quietly whimpered and drooped her ears, “Oh you’ll be fine, Tavi, it doesn’t hurt very much, you’ll barely feel it! Now come on and rest down beside me.” She orders.

With some hesitation Octavia lays down beside her friend and eyes her bandaged hoof with the fear of feeling a burning pain or some sort. Then taken by surprise, Vinyl hushes her and brought the mares’ head against her chest with her hoof, comforting her somewhat.

“I promise, Octavia, nothing’s going to happen.” Vinyl whispered to her.

After a moment of letting the words sink in, she buries her face into Vinyls’ chest to look away and gently brought out her hoof. A moment later, she felt a gentle prod onto her hoof from the creatures’ tongue, causing Octavia to whimper and shake in fear. But her shaking quickly subsided as she felt Vinyl caress her mane and quietly hushed into her ear. Octavia quickly held onto Vinyls’ voice and thumping heart to distract her from the slimy appendage.

After what felt like hours of listening to Vinyls’ heart, a voice spoke up.

“There! All done with your boo-boo.” Vinyl says and planted a quick peck on top of her head.

Octavia opens her eyes in surprise and slowly looked at her hoof. The once nearly dried seaweed was now replaced with a new vibrant, livelier one, as well as coated with a light layer of cool slime within and out the bandages.

“H-how…?” she tries to speak up.

“See? Was it that hard?” Vinyl ruffles up her already messy mane, “Fluffy knows what he’s doing. I don’t know how, but he knows.”

Octavia looks up at the beast with a small, timid smile and paws at the sandy ground, “Thank you… Fluffy.” And the reply she gets was one big, wet lick on the cheek, completely covering the whole left side of her face with slimy saliva, causing Vinyl to laugh at Octavias’ sudden, surprised expression as her mane stood up in the air by Fluffys’ thick saliva. Their big companion happily wagged his tail and panted with his tongue lolling out like dogs do when they know their owners were happy with them.

Oo~~O~~oO

As the day slowly went on for the trio, Octavia continued to collect items within the forest to make a temporary campsite for her and her companion with the help of the mighty, gentle giant.

Octavia flopped her rump down on the forest floor and panted. She gently put her makeshift satchel bag down, full of fruits and three bamboo water bottles filled with fresh and cool water. She found the bamboo with the help of her new friend deep in the forest. She continued to take her breath, while Fluffy looked at her with worry and quietly whined to her and picked up the bag from her and a pile of freshly cut bamboo with his tongue. He rested down onto his stomach and motioned her to get on up with a nudge of his head.

Octavia stared at him for a moment of consideration and eventually nodded her head with a sigh and slowly got back up to her three hooves. She got up to the massive body and looked up, trying to figure out how to get up to the top of the beast. But then she yelped in surprise as she felt something wet and slippery press against her tush, urging her against the body. She looked back and saw part of Fluffys’ tongue was gently pushing against her. She quickly understands after a brief moment of confusion and planted her fore hooves against his shaggy coat as Fluffy started pushing her up while she climbed up.

She grunts as she pulls herself up at the rest of the way and rested down with a sigh and closed eyes. When she heard Fluffy grunting at her, she looked down at him and just nodded her head and rested her head back down on his soft, comfy back.

The beast slowly rises up and starts lumbering back to the shore in a casual pace while carrying her bag and the bamboos with his tongue.

Octavia repositions herself to face ahead, slowly sat up to her hunches and fixed her bowtie, tried to smooth out her mane and tail and rested back down with a tired sigh. She started looking around her surroundings curiously and saw the light has dimmed from the setting sun. The forest was audibly getting a little quiet with a relaxing sound of Crickets making a chorus in the first hours of the coming evening, a few birds and frogs joining in with the insects.

Moments later, Fluffy brakes through the forest and onto the sandy shore. But the moment they went out into the open, a light, salty ocean breeze passes by, cooling the matted fur on her flank, causing the unprepared mare to tense up as a light layer of blush goes across her muzzle. As Fluffy started going over to their campsite, she quickly started wiping her flank with her tail in embarrassment as a few of Fluffys’ fur clung to her rump like a possessive vine.

As they reached their friend, Fluffy rested back down while Octavia carefully slid herself down on his side. Fluffy then put down the bamboo and bag nearby, making Vinyl smile at the items they found.

“Where’d you find the bamboo!?” Vinyl asked excitedly as she dragged a one pole of a bamboo over to her with her magic and examined the stem with a big smile.

“Fluffy, did.” Octavia went on over to her bag and took out one of the makeshift bottles and showed it to her friend, “We got water too.” She smiled weakly.

“Oh wow!” Vinyl took the offering, opened the lid and chugged down the cool water inside, a few leaks streaking down her chin and cheeks. She finished with a sigh of relief and wiped her muzzle with her hoof, “That hit the spot.” She said and closed the lid.

Octavia smiled at her and then looked back at the pile of bamboo right behind her, “So… what do we do with these?” she asked and strolled on over and rolled a pole to and fro.

“Did you get the vines?” Vinyl asked and Octavia nodded as she pulled out a hefty length of green vines from her satchel.

Octavia scrunches up her muzzle at the thin vine on her hoof, “These were hard to get.” She remembered trying to pull one out of a tree with all her might, but suddenly flew back with a squeak when Fluffy cut the thing with one of his claws and landed in mud with a splatter. It took an hour and a half to wash off the brown substance from her coat in cold river water. Octavia shuddered at the memory.

“Good! We’re going to make a bed frame under this tree.” Vinyl said as she slowly got up to her hooves with a wince. She looked at the worried Fluffy and Octavia with a smirk but had one eye closed as she fought back against the pain on her side.

“What?” Octavia worried expression soon gave way to confusion, “Why?” She looked at the moss bedding she and Vinyl rested on, “Isn’t it easier to just rest on that?” she pointed.

Vinyl nodded while slowly limping on over to the bamboo, “Yeah, but what’s going to happen if it started to rain? We can’t reach the cave without getting drenched and cold first, and I’m pretty sure you’ll agree it’s a lot better to sleep on something dry and not have creepy crawlies crawlin’ on yah while we sleep.” She chuckled at Octavia’s face drained of blood with her eyes wide, her irises turning into pin pricks. Vinyl then looked at her shaggy friend with a smile and motioned her head for him to come over, “Get over here, Fluffy.” She says happily, making the beast perk his ears and wag his tail as he quickly scurried over to her. She looked at a bamboo pole in front of her, measuring it with her eyes before she gently gripped Fluffys’ clawed paw. “Fluffy. Cut.” She made a slashing motion with her hoof, showing Fluffy what to do and pointed at the bamboo. She levitated a sharp rock over to her with a wince and made a mark with a little cut on the hard stem. She pointed at the mark while looked at her new companion, “Fluffy, cut.” She made a slashing motion again and point at the marker once more.

Fluffy looked back and forth at her and the bamboo with his paw raised, but quickly understood her. He slashed the bamboo in half at the small marker.

“That’s a, good boy!” Vinyl congratulated and started rubbing his head. Fluffy leaned in on her hoof and started kicking one of his hind legs in bliss and licked his master on the whole right side of her face in thanks.

Octavia giggled at them both before looking out into the horizon, watching the setting sun, ever so slowly descend to make way for the coming night.

Oo~~O~~oO

By the time they were finished making the bed frame, the stars were shinning and twinkling in the night sky with the bright moon shinning down on the island, making the ocean sparkle of its silvery light.

The small bomb fire crackled, bathing Vinyl and Octavia with a blanket of warmth as they finally finished their bamboo-bed-frame-contraption. Their bodies were a full three feet off the ground, had a roof over their heads that could collect fresh rainwater if it started raining and had a small three step staircase made of boulders that Fluffy found for them around the beach.

“Aaaand… through the hole… aand… you’re Done!” Vinyl congratulated as she ruffled Octavias’ mane from their ‘bed’, gaining a relived sigh from the tired mare. The Cellist rested down on her rump and hung her head back to stretch and rest her strained muscles in her neck.

“Goodness, that was a hassle to tie.” She voiced her complaint and looked at her latest knot that tied the bamboo column to the roofing. She huffs and looked at her friend resting and nudged her head to the side as she slowly got up, “Scoot over, Vinyl.” She got up to the steps with a commanding tone and waited for her friend to move aside to make space for her.

With a little chuckle and a nod, Vinyl carefully shimmies herself closer to the bark of the tree, making room for her friend. Octavia gets herself comfortable; tucking her hooves inward, whipping her tail to surround her left side that’s exposed to the elements and cuddles a little closer to friends’ side for some warmth while nestling her muzzle into the DJs’ chest, making Vinyl chuckle.

Vinyl looked over at their beastly companion resting under a Coconut tree as it got ready to sleep, “Goodnight, Fluffy.” She whispered, making the beast whine in return. Vinyl makes a throaty chuckle before a mighty yawning escaped her system, making her eyes droop and drossy. She snuggles up with her friend to go to sleep as well.

The lolling sound of a crackling fire, gentle washing waves, brushing leaves of the trees caused by the ocean breeze and nocturnal insects, frogs and toads making a calming chorus within their forest home. It was the perfect combination to make any day dwelling creature to go into slumber, but a certain mare had a question to ask before going to sleep.

“Vinyl…?” Octavia whispered in her friends’ warm coat.

“Mm?”

“How are you so calm about this whole… turn of events’?” she asked. It took a good minute to get her answer from the mare in question.

“Actually… I was freaking out just like you when I woke up washed up on the beach. But when I found you, I knew I had to be calm for you, so I took my breath and inspected you for any injuries or even if you were breathing.” Vinyls’ body shivered as she got cozy with her friend, “After that, I accidentally woke you up to see if you were in a coma or something. I was relieved when you were your grumpy-self.” She quietly giggled and nuzzled her nose into Octavias’ coat, “When you went back to sleep, I knew you’d be out for some time after sleeping on wet sand, so I went out to go find some fresh water and maybe a little bit of food. When I got into the creepy, quiet part of the forest, I got tackled down by Fluffy.” She giggled once more, “Oh, you should’ve see my face, Tavi, I was freakin’ out like a drugged out colt. All I saw at the time was a big mouth full of sharp teeth and a big, long tongue. When I hit him with a rock with my magic, I crawled myself over to a tree and used a broken off branch to protect myself. When I saw the big guy, he was pouting like big-o’l-puppy while showing me a small branch of berries for me. Oh, I just fell in love with the cutie, so that’s when I started calling him, Fluffy. When we made peace, he threw me up on his back and showed me where he lived. After that, I told him to ‘stay’ and galloped back to get you.” She finished her little story.

After a minute of getting no response, she slowly lifted her head and saw Octavia was fast asleep with quiet, little snores. Vinyl smiled, pecked Octavia on top of her head and rested back down.

“Goodnight, Tavi.” She whispered.

Oo~~O~~oO

BOOOOooooom!

Octavia and Vinyl suddenly woke from their slumber from the sound barrier braking right above them. Octavia rolled off their sleeping place with an ‘Eeep!’ and crunched on down on the sandy ground. Vinyl just shot her head up, but quickly hissed in pain as her side was bombarded by red hot needles.

Quickly recovering from her fall and drossy mind, Octavia shot up to her hooves and looked around the area to notice nothing had change, but couldn’t see Fluffy from where he slept the night before. So she looked up to the sky to see a large, expanding, halo of firry rainbow right above them, with dive bombing projectile heading straight for their position, with a rainbow trailing in its wake… wait…

Her eyes widen at the realization and duck under their bed frame with an ‘Eeep!’. Noticing Octavia diving under their ‘bed’, Vinyl winced as she strained with her magic, casting a blue bubble to surround them in protection. A second later the sandy beach exploded in a shower of wet and dry grains, a small wave of sand bouncing off of Vinyls’ shield.

The sound of disgusted spitting started to echo out, “Ugh! Should’ve slowed down first…” the tomboyish female voice spoke out as she continued spitting out salty sand from her mouth.

Both Vinyl and Octavia looked with wide eyes as they saw the Element of Loyalty standing in front of them in a small crater. Rainbow Dash shook off the countless grains from her body as best she could and continued spitting at the ground. She finally looks up while trying to clean out her right ear, one eye closed.

“You know, you two…” she trots out of her crater and shook her head violently to get the remaining sand out of her rainbow mane and whipped her tail from side to side to do the same, “When the ship got quiet, I knew something was wrong.” She brushed her chest and shook one of her hind legs, “I checked to see if you two were okay, then ‘Poof’! You both were gone! I searched-And I mean Literally Search every part of the ship to look for you both.” The brash mare then started looking around and whistled with a nod, “Wow… I like stay here for a while.” She said.

“Oh thank goodness!” Octavia crawls out with a grunt while smiling up at Rainbow. “Finally, we’re saved!” she praised to the sky, now stand on her hind hooves and throwing her free one up in the air.

But suddenly, a mass of dark fur leaps out of the jungle and pinned Rainbow Dash back down in the crater, peppering the poor mares’ face and mane with slobbering licks. Rainbow struggled to get the beast off of her, but to no avail as Fluffy continued to smother her.

“Fluffy! Down!” Vinyl yelled as she carefully got herself down with a wince, standing beside her grinning companion. The beast obeyed loyally and took a few paces back from the matted Pegasus. Vinyl smiled approvingly with a quick nod, “Good boy!” she levitates up a stick from under the tree and waved it around, gaining the beasts’ attention as he eyed the stick with great concentration, his tail now wagging from side to side. Vinyl flings the stick to the other side of the beach, “Go, Boy! Go!” she said with enthusiasm and with that, Fluffy ran off to retrieve the stick with loud thumps.

Rainbow quickly sat up to her haunches and wiped the slippery, thick, oozing saliva from her face and shook both her hooves as the slobber slowly oozed down from her matted coat. Rainbow shivered in disgust and spat, “Groooss…” her face cringed and whipped her hooves once again in front of her, leaning her head away with a scrunch.

Octavia chuckled nervously, “Y-yes, Fluffy gets excited easily… but it does come off easily with a little bathing, Miss Dash.” She said as the lumbering beast came back and started carefully playing Tug of War with Vinyl with a playful growl.

Rainbow slowly got up on her hooves, sand now sticking to her coat. She sniffed her hoof, but pulled away with a scrunched up muzzle, “What about the smell?” she asked.

Octavias’ smile flew away in a dash, “Not… really.” She answered with a sigh and hung her head, but jumped as the large tongue of Fluffy licked her cheek. She winced at first at the slobber, but once she looked up, she smiled at the happy look of Fluffy, his tongue hanging out as he panted while wagging his tail excitedly. “But he means very well.” She added, went up to the large beast and petted him on the head, gaining groan of appreciation from him.

It was strange; she noticed that the shaggy beast seemed to be a little more loyal and kind to her than the enthusiastic DJ herself.

A second later, the sound of running boat echoed into their ears. They all looked out and saw three Zodiac boats coming their way with a few ponies on board, wearing bright red life vests. Octavia couldn’t recognize any of them but the farm mare of Ponyville, Applejack. She believed both Rainbow Dash and Applejack were sent to the cruise ship to relax. It was strange, but enlightening to speak with them both at the first night of dinner. They told her their friends practically forced them to go on this cruise, and she believed she saw a glimpse of them trying to argue back at them in the docks. It reminded them of herself and Vinyl in some ways; they were competitive.

The three mares strolled down onto the edge of the water with Fluffy right in their wake, while Rainbow Dash continued to wipe and shake the slobber off of her coat in the best of her abilities, which was not much as her fur was still matted, sticky and stank of Fluffys’ saliva.

The inflated boat got close but didn’t move up to the shore as the ponies on it stared warily at the shaggy beast behind the trio.

“What intarnation is that thin’!?” Applejack yelled.

“His name’s Fluffy!” Vinyl yelled and petted the beasts’ head happily with a smile.

“Is this… Fluffy, hostile?” a random stallion spoke up.

“If being slobbered on excitedly by an easily excitable…” Octavia stopped with a blink and looked at Fluffy in confusion, trying to figure out what in the world the creature was. After a second she turned back to the ponies on the boat, “‘beast’, then yes, Fluffy’s hostile.” She finished sarcastically.

The small, three pony crew looked at each other for a moment, debating whether they should land or stay back. Applejack snorts and looked at the driver.

“Well, get goin’! We’re not leavin’ ‘em jus’ because of a li’le, ol’ vermin. Or are the big stallions scared of gettin’ a li’le wet?” she taunted them both with a teasing, challenging grin. The two stallions frowned looked at one another in a silent agreement and the driver and drove up to the beach. AJ tossed three Life Vests and beckoned, “Hurry on up, yah three. Every pony’s worried sick about, yah two.”

Octavia easily put the red vest on and helped Vinyl in hers, making the mare wince and grunt when she zipped her up. She then felt a nudge on her rump, making her squeak and twist around to find a sad looking Fluffy. She and Vinyl smiled sadly back at him and hugged the beasts’ neck in a loving embrace. Octavia nuzzled her muzzled into his thick fur.

“I’m sorry, Fluffy, but we have to go back home.” she said, making Fluffy whine and hung his head in defeat and depression. Octavia looked at him sadly, feeling terrible for leaving such a gentle giant by himself on the island.

“Strange…” the little group looked at cyan stallion.

“Wha’ was that?” AJ asked.

“This island, it’s not in our records or maps. It’s pretty far from mainland, but… how did it hide for so long? it’s huge!” he said and jogged over to the tree line. “This is a new Island!” he yelled back and continued to examine the surrounding flora.

“New?” Octavia question, “Than how do you explain all the ‘M’s I’ve been seeing all over the island? This place have been visited before by some pony named ‘Melody’.” Fluffys’ ears quickly perked up at the name and gave Octavia his full attention.

“Wait… isn’t your last name Melody?” Vinyl question.

“Yes, but I don’t go by that name. I got it from my grandmother.” she replied while stroking Fluffys’ head to calm him down, making him purr in delight.

“Oh…” She said, a little surprised, “Where is she now?” Vinyl asked once again.

“She went… missing…” Octavia looked down at the sandy ground a little sadly, “She went missing when I was five actually. My parents don’t know what happened to her. The last ponies that saw her said she went on a boating trip on her last day of vacation.”

“So… yah think y’er gran’ma somehow ended up here, maybe?” AJ said and gestured to the island itself.

“I-I don’t know, it might be some other pony named Melody.” Octavia rubbed her bandaged hoof; feeling confusion and hope welling up inside her. She always did love her Grandma Melody dearly, and she was the reason why she took up learning how to play the Cello, to be like her… well, not like her entirely. She wasn’t too keen on exploring the world on a sailboat.

“Well, your grandmother or not, by the laws of ‘Equestrian Exploration’, you both own this island now sense no other is here to claim it.” the cyan stallion said while going over the boat and started digging their his waterproof satchel. Both Octavia and Vinyl’s mouth hung agape at the sudden news.

“W-what?” Octavia voice, dumbstruck.

He pulled out sheet of paper and showed it to them. The face of the page was littered with numbers and words with different codes; coordinates, and two empty lines right under them; one for the owner or owners, and the second for the name of the island.

“You both own the island, now. This is just one part of the paperwork that has to be done, but it’s a start.” he said and brought out a quill and a small jar of ink for them to use.

Vinyl and Octavia looked back and forth between them and the paper for a moment before Octavia signed her name, as well as Vinyl. They both looked at the empty slot, and blinked, but then Vinyl looked at her.

“Any ideas for a name?” she asked.

“W-why me?” she looked at the mare like she just grew a new head.

Vinyl chuckled, “Well, it’ll be your birthday in about a month, and I don’t really have anything in mind on what to give yet, so why not a whole Island!?” she gestured to the forest with a big smile.

Octavia took the quill from her magical grasp and looked down at the page, thinking through list upon list of names to choose from. Fluffy then whined and nudged her, and an inspiration quickly popped into her mind and wrote down the name.

She spits out the pencil, “Melodys’ Island.” she said out loud with a proud smile adorning for face.

“Huh… I thought it would be something twenty percent cooler.” Rainbow commented, but yelped in pain once AJ kicked her side.

Octavia paid no mind to the mare and looked at the stallion, “Does this mean I and Vinyl can visit the Island whenever we want?” she asked with a big hopeful smile and the stallion nodded. She giggled and pranced in place like a giddy little filly and quickly hugged Fluffy, “We’re coming back, Fluffy.” she said.

“Really!? Awesome!” Vinyl cheered with a hoof pump, but hissed in pain right after as she gently touched her side with a wince.

Octavia smiled as Fluffy started groaning around happily. She reached out and stopped him by holding his head, “Stay still, Fluffy.” she ordered and took off her pink bow tie and strung it around his right ear in a snug fit. “There…” she said and pulled his head into a loving hug.

Oo~~O~~oO

~Three Months Later~

Octavia never knew she had it in her, but she was actually enjoying-No! Thrilled to sail on the sea! She had her own sailboat now, donated generously by the crown so she could visit her island whenever she wanted.

The E.S. (Equestrian Ship) Sound Wave.

It was not small by any means and she was proud to call it her own.

The boat was thirty five feet long from stern to bow and eighteen feet from port to starboard, and the pull holding up the massive sail was fifty feet high. On the sides of the smooth, glinting hall of her ship, printed in bold, electric blue letters was SOUND WAVE. The boat was rather plain looking like a regular wind-powered boat, but inside, there was plenty of room to fit in a small household.

There were at least two sleeping courters located near the stern, a small kitchen with a stove and a fridge around the middle and where they store all their food and water, a living room located near the bow, and of course, a working rest room. Right above those was the radio room, where all the maps, radios and paper works were, but last and not least the steering wheel right in front of that little workspace. But sense this is the modern time, she ship was equipped with a powerful engine that could propel the ship up to forty miles per hour when there are no winds to pull the sails. The boat also had a zodiac and a small crane for them to get off the boat to get to shallower areas.

All and all, this little ship was a cross-bread between a yaut and a research vessel.

The ship wasn’t the only thing that got her excited; it was the looming, tropical island right ahead of them, eclipsing the setting sun.

“We’ll reach the island in twenty min’ts, capt’in’!” Vinyl yelled from the wheel

Octavia lightly shook her head with a small smirk; she still could believe Vinyl insisted on talking like an old-time sailor during this trip.

She turned around to head for the wheel to see Applejack lying down on her beck with her hind legs crossed and using her fore hooves as a pillow, while tilting her Stetson hat down to shield her eyes from the sun. Rainbow Dash swooped over the ship, flying circles and flips around the vastly open sky quite literally all day.

She invited both mares along to have a week of vacation on the island with them, after what happened three months ago; she felt she needed to pay them back for rescuing them.

Octavia strolled on over to her housemate beside the wheel; the DJ going so far as to wearing an eye-patch over her right eyes with a small, white skull in the middle of it, a painted scar on her left cheek, capping one of her teeth with a fate gold one and wore a black bandana to cover her mane. It amused her, though, knowing her friend was as excited to go back to the island.

“Any word from our guests?” she asked and looked towards the stern to see another bigger ship tagging along with them. The whole Elements of Harmony, their little sisters and a baby dragon were tagging along as well.

“Ney, Capt’in’! Them land-lovers said no word al’ day.” she replied with a thick accent and a grin on her lips.

“Inform them to get ready hit land. We’ll camp out on the shore for the night, and then move out to the crater in the morning.”

“Aye-Aye, Cap’tin’!” she grabs the radio and turned it on, “Sound Wave teh Krystal Clear, Sound Wave teh Krystal, ovah!”

The device statics for a second before a reply came, “This is Krystal Clear to Sound Wave. What is it that you need? Over.” a stallion replied.

“Capt’in’ Tavi ordered fer yer land-lovers teh get might ready fer land-ho. Oveah”

“Roger that. I’ll inform the Elements right now. Over.” with that the call was over.

“You keep steering the wheel, Vinyl. Miss Applejack?” she called out for the farm mare.

AJ pulled off her hat and looked up at Octavia, “Yeah?”

“Can you help me to pack things up?” she asked.

“Sure thin’, sugar cube.” she replied and both mares went down to the deck together.

Oo~~O~~oO

Vinyl eased the inflated zodiac down onto the calm waters with Rainbow Dash on the small boat. Once it hit water and floating, Rainbow unhooked the straps from the crane but was still firmly tied onto the ship to keep it from drifting away as Rainbow dash started loading the supplies onto the boat with Applejack passing the load onto her.

Vinyl then quickly went over to her friends’ side with the speakers on the side. She checked the equipment and adjusted the volume before tapping the mike, causing loud thumping sounds to escape the speakers.

Octavia looked back at the second ship behind their own boat anchored in place. Those ponies were getting ready as well to head for land for the vacation. She could see the mares looking at their direction, waiting for what will happen next.

Both mares cleared their voices and took deep breaths before they yelled out.

“FLUUUUUFFY!!!”

Vinyl quickly turned the speakers off to wait for a reply. They didn’t have to wait long as they all heard a roaring screech echoing out from the forest, a few birds flying away from their perches to escape to another part of the island to get away from the loud visitors.