Melodys' Island Part 1

Melodys' Island, Part 1

Everything felt calm, quiet and serene while Octavia watched the sunset from the railed ledge of Canterlot looking over the beautiful land of Equestria. The cool breeze lightly swayed her dark mane and tail as it cooled her coat, caressing it to a comfortable level. For the first time in a long time, she breathed in and let all of her frustrations out. She felt at peace, right until some pony pocked her right cheek.

“Hey, Tavi… You still alive?” The familiar raspy voice called out to her as the owner of the voice pocked her cheek once more.

Octavia waved her away with a tired hoof as she turned over with an irritated moan, “Go away, Vinyl…” She mumbled to her housemate as she tried to go back to the sweet embrace of sleep.

“Fine…” Vinyl whined in defeat with a huff. “Want me to find a Coconut for you?” she suddenly asked.

“Mm…” Octavia moaned in response, begging for the mare to go off to her shenanigans and wub-music. The sound of her adorable whine and hooves crunching away on wet sand was music to her ears, Especially the sound of waves washing up on the shore and the serene trees blowing in the cool breeze. Curling herself a little on the sand, she smiled and thought “Mm… finally. Time to rest on this soft, wet, cool… sand…” she nestled in, tucking her legs closer to herself as well as covering her muzzle with her fore hooves. After a long moment, the gears in her head started to come back to life as they slowly spun, “Mm… why does it feel so… strange?” she thought as the gears started gradually speeding up. “Hm… I feel just fine… Maybe I forgot something?” she pondered long and hard trying to find when or anything she might have forgotten, an important meeting with somepony or anything , but nothing came in her mental chart. She sighed and nestled back down, “Well, nothing like a good long sleep will fix…” she murmured with a quiet, sleepy tone as she moved around to get herself more comfortable as wet sand clung to her light grey coat. “Mmm… comfy, wet, cool sand… Sand? SAND!?”

She quickly scrambled up to her hooves with wide eyes, just now seeing what Vinyl meant by “find a Coconut”. She screamed at the top of her lungs at the sight before her, causing a few birds in the trees to fly off; they were now stranded in the middle of nowhere on a tropical island.

She started to hyperventilate at the thought of being stuck here forever, with no food or shelter. They’ll DIE of dehydration, or from an unknown infection, or get ripped apart by a wild animal!

Her thoughts raced a mile a second from one point to another of how they’ll DIE, but then her line of thought was interrupted by the mare she’d been stuck with the most part of her life.

“Hey, Tavi!” She looked to her right as she continued to heavily breathe and saw the white coated, Unicorn mare, Vinyl, waving at her happily, clinging onto a Coconut tree upside down as the tree bent down with the extra weight, her Electric Blue mane and tail hanging freely and swaying lightly in the gentle breeze. She then lost her grip on the tree and fell into a bush below with a yelp as three Coconuts shook themselves off their parent tree and made audible ‘Bonks’ within the bush. “Ow!” she then heard the mare mumbling to herself angrily about ‘traitorous’ coconuts.

Oo~~O~~oO

As Vinyl simply slurped on her coconut without her Violet shades on, a few empty shells laying around her, Octavia watched her housemate in fascination as the DJ was propped up against a tree she tried to climb up earlier. Vinyl threw the empty shell to the side, relieving her stomach of its built up gasses with a loud, long belch, causing a few exotic birds within the forest to be, yet again, disturbed from their rightful nests. She sighed blissfully and patted her stomach with a smile like a happy, glutinous couch potato.

“How and why are you so relaxed?” Octavia asked in shock.

“Huh?” Vinyl looked up at her questioningly.

“How are you so relaxed?” Octavia raised her volume a little more to send her message straight.

“Why not?” Vinyl shrugged with a small smirk, leaned back onto the tree and used her forelegs as pillows.

“Why not?” the Cellist hissed, glaring daggers at the relaxing, party mare in front of her, “We’re stranded, in the middle of nowhere!” She yelled angrily, stumping down and kicked up some sand repeatedly in a tantrum. She swung her gaze back to her housemate as Vinyl watched her with confusion and with the slight hint of concern. Octavia stumped over to her, scrunching up her muzzle, “Can’t you even see the downsides to this!?” she growled.

“Well…” she looked down to her side and drew out her favorite shades, the left eyeglass revealing a small crack, “I need a replacement glass for my shades.” She then levitated it up and rested them on the base of her horn.

Octavia just stared at her for a long moment, right before she twitched her right eye and blew up the gates, “AAAAAAAAUUGH!!! We’re stranded on an Island, Vinyl!” she turned to her right and put up a hoof to her brows to shield her eyes from the sun to look across the ocean, “Oh! Look here!” She swiftly turned around and did the same thing, causing Vinyl to look as well in interest, “Oh! And look there! Do you see it!?” she pointed out into the horizon and looked at Vinyl with a comically, manic big grin.

“No! What is it!?” Vinyl excitedly got up and stood beside her friend, squinting her eyes to see more clearly while wagging her short tail to and fro.

“NOTHING!!!” Octavia screamed into her ear, causing the poor mare to fall back onto her rump and rub her ear with a wince. “We’re going to die out here!” Octavia cried out in despair and galloped over to a rock near the waterline and collapsed on it in a heap. She cried mournfully for a few moments before she felt a comforting hoof rub her back, calming her to a few sniffles while wiping her eyes.

When she opened her eyes though, she saw a cell phone half way embed in the sand, its little screen glowing away brightly. She quickly scrambled over to it like a staving pony and grabbed it in her hooves desperately, rubbing her eyes to make sure she wasn’t seeing things. She than jabbed herself on the thigh to make sure, receiving a shock of blissful pain. The little item brought a tear to her already drenched puffy eyes as she saw the bar count for the signal was full, ready to make a call.

She got up to her hind hooves with the phone on hoof and scooped up her housemate in a bear hug, “Yes-Yes-Yes-Yes-Yes-Yes-Yes! We’re going to be saved!” she cried out and twirled around with an oxygen deprived mare in her tight grasp.

“Tavi…” Vinyl croaked out as she began to feel lightheaded. Right after she spoke, she was unceremoniously tossed away like garbage, or like a deflated balloon just landing after a ridiculous fly around.

The moment Vinyl gasp for air on the sand, Octavia had already dialed a number for the Coastguard. Vinyl gasped and coughed for air, but was quickly shushed by the mare, whom almost crushed her spine and ribs. Vinyl returned Octavia’s lifted hoof with a scowl.

After a few rings, it was picked up by a mare.

“This is the Prancific Coastguard, how may I help you?” She asked.

“Hello, this is Octavia Melody with Vinyl Scratch. We’re stranded on-”

“Beep-Beep!”

Octavia blinked at first, “Hello?” she said, but no one answered back.

She looked at the screen, wondering what was happening, but then her eyes went wide in sheer terror of what the little cell told her on the small screen.

“Battery level: 0%” and just like that, it shuts off like a light right in front of her.

Octavia just sat there, staring at the cell phone with a blank expression. Vinyl slowly went up beside her friend and looked at the phone as well for a few moments before she looked at Octavia.

“So… what now?” she asked and sat down with her.

Octavias’ hoof holding the cell gradually started to shake till the phone fell out of her grasp. She stumped her shaky hoof down and swiftly lifted her head up and stared at Vinyl with a grin that was dangerously close to splitting her face into two, her mane now fizzled up and her right ear started twitching. She hopped up to her hooves and started galloping around, stopping at random points.

“Oh! Maybe we can set fire to the whole island!? Somepony will see that!” she stared at the exotic, luscious forest for a brief moment before turning her gaze to a small sparkle of light on the beach nearby. She zoomed over to the twinkle of light like a lightning bolt, noticing it was a glass, empty, cracked wine bottle embedded within the sand. She scooped it up with a swing of her hoof, “Or maybe, we can send a message in a bottle! Y-yeah! That should work!” Her ears perked up and turned her crazed gaze at the open ocean, “Ah! We can Swim back!” she finished, tossing the bottle over her as she galloped in the forest.

Vinyl, on the other hand, was just sitting nearby, watching her once sane companion losing it. She sighed and looked down at her lifted hoof, checking on her imaginary watch. When she looked back up, she saw Octavia galloping out the forest with a coconut in mouth and skidded to a holt in front of her, spitting out the hard shell fruit.

“Yeah-Yeah! It’s hundred percent full proof! Are you coming, Vinyl!?” she looked at her friend with a look of blind excitement. Vinyl just gave her a deadpan stare and lightly raised an eyebrow. “Okay-okay! I’ll grab help and get back to save you! Wish me luck!” she sucked up the coconut and galloped into the tropical waves, splashing up sea water with her hooves. “I’ll be baaack!” Octavia yelled as she swam away, and dropping her coconut into the water. “Hey! Get back here!” she swam after her only food and water sours for the trip.

Vinyl sighed with a light shake of her head. She got up to her hooves and strolled over to the coconut tree with empty shells of coconuts littered around her, stood beside it and checked her imaginary watch once more. As she checked, it was quickly followed by a sound of a screaming mare with splashes of water. Vinyl nodded to herself, levitated up an empty shell of a coconut and waited as she stared ahead.

The screaming increased in volume, as well as hooves splashing on the shore. Octavia got out of water with a baby shark clamped down onto her tail, wiggling its body as it tried to gnaw of her tail.

“Get-it-off, get-it-off, get-it-off-” she screamed repeatedly, as she galloped around with a dripping wet body.

Just as she passed by Vinyl, the DJ knocked the baby shark off her companion with a swing of her shell and held up the wiggling infant by its tail with her magic. She strolled on over to the shore and released it.

“Bye, little fella!” she waved happily at the baby shark as it swam away from the beach shore. She went back over to the shaking mare, hugging herself while rocking back and forth on her rump, looking even more terrible by the second. She sat down beside her hyperventilating friend, “Okay, Tavi, deep breaths.” she took a deep breath to show her friend. Octavia looked at her with a pinked eyes, “Deep breaths, Tavi.” She did it again, as Octavia started doing what her friend was telling her to do. “In…” they both breathed in a lung full, “Oooouuuut…” they both breathed out at the same time. After a few more, Octavia calmed down exponentially, but continued to shiver in the cool breeze. “Want to go in the jungle? It’s a little warmer and shady.” Vinyl suggested in a quiet, caring tone, acting as motherly as possible for a DJ to be while rubbing her back. Octavia nodded shakily in response, slowly getting herself up to her hooves. “Okay, let’s go in the shades.” Vinyl let her friend lean against her side, as they slowly went into the dim forest.

Vinyl gave the resting mare a makeshift coconut bowl filled with cool, clear water with her magic, slowly and gently tipping it on Octavia’s lips so she could drink her fill. Octavia empted the water from the coconut bowl and rested her chin back down to her hooves.

“Feeling better?” Vinyl asked like a mother to her foal, as she gently stroked the mare’s back, just like she liked it.

“Thank you, Vinyl…” she murmured loud enough for her friend to hear and closed her eyes to rest, as Vinyl’s gentle strokes lulled her to sleep.

Oo~~O~~oO

When Octavia awoke once more from a dreamless sleep, she made a wide yawn and held it for a few seconds before fluttering her eyes open. She lifted her head lazily while stretching her body, and looked around to find herself surrounded by exotic, tropical plants of many species and sizes. She sighed sadly, hoping to herself it was all just a bad dream. After finally accepting she and Vinyl were stranded in the middle of nowhere, she took a good look once more to see if she hadn’t noticed anything.

The ground was covered in brown, dead leaves, planet matter and a few snapped twigs, covering the dirt like a possessive creature. She then noticed she was leaning against the base of a tall tree, the base of its roots towering over her like a small wall, protecting her from the elements and a few vines growing against it like a latter to promise land. She slowly got herself up, brushed herself off calmly and took a few steps to examine the plants that interested her.

Vines hung loose overhead, as well as the leaves from the trees, few fallen logs lay rotting on their sides and bird songs echoing out new tunes in the calm air. Her ears than twitched at distant waves washing up the shore; turning her gaze towards a tiny brake in the forest canopy, showing her the open ocean as well as the cyan blue sky.

All was calm and quiet for a good few minutes, till she felt something tickling her side. At first, it started out as little giggles for a good moment as she tried to contain her laughter, but quickly turned into chuckles and as the dam broke, turned into an all-out laughing fit as pin and needles started invading her body. The poor mare collapsed on the jungle floor, hollering out laughter as tears started forming, blurring her vision.

Suddenly, the tickling increased ten folds all over her body, causing Octavia to roll around the soil, making the tickling effect worse as tiny pins and needles continued coating her body like a swarm of angry bees.

She struggled up to her hooves and limped over to a tree, propping herself up in a fit of laughter. The moment she looked down, her eyes bulged out at the sight of her body being covered with thousands of dark brown, crawling Ants. With an ear-shattering screech, she started to frantically shake her body violently to get rid of the small insects off her coat, while continuing screaming bloody-murder.

While she continued screaming and flopping around on the jungle floor like a fish out of water, she managed to get herself closer to a small drop without her noticing the calling of a river. She quickly got up to her hooves, backing away from the last Ant that flew off of her, but suddenly her hind legs slipping over the edge. With a yelp, she flopped down on the hard, unforgiving ground and started sliding down. Realizing what was happening to her; she tried to dig her hooves in the slick soil frantically to crawl back up, trying to get herself out but to no avail.

She goes over the edge, screaming and flailed her hooves around as she fell down. With a splash, she sank down, nearly hitting the rocky bottom but quickly started being carried away downstream. The current threw her body around like a rag doll for a few moments, but as her mind went back to working order, she quickly swam herself up to the surface.

She gasps loudly, desperately filling her lunges of the precious oxygen her body needed, but also causing her to cough out water she accidentally inhaled.

This continued for a good few minutes; trying to keep her head out of the racing water, muscles strained by the constant paddling, cold water keeping her from thinking and breathing straight, and trying to avoid being smashed against the water breaking rocks.

By the time she got herself on the somewhat dry land, she was back on the beach. She dragged herself out of the now wide and shallower mouth of the river, hacking out water from her lungs while still trying to gasp for air. She flopped down onto the warm sand and started panting, breathing more properly as the water in her sore and burning lungs were dispelled.

She whimpered as she rested on the sand, letting the hot sun dry her dripping, damp coat. She just got out of sleep not a moment ago, but now she was, yet again, incredibly tired. All she wanted was a little, relaxing vacation on a cruise with her friend, Vinyl. But because she made one wrong slip in the middle of the night with Vinyl in the open deck to stargaze, she and her friend was now stuck in a middle of nowhere. How she and her friend were still alive, was a mystery to her.

With another whimper, she slowly opened her eyes and looked down at the sand with a defeated expression.

“Why can’t I have a peaceful life?” she mumbled, and with a grunt, she gets herself up back to her four shaky hooves and started brushing off the sand. As she continued to brush herself off, her thought went right to her friend, Vinyl. “Oh, of course I can’t get a peaceful, simple life because of that crazy mare.” She frown at herself and shook her head aggressively, “No, bad mare! Don’t you dare think of her like that!” she scolds herself and shook her head a little more violently and finished with a snort. “Vinyl is your dearest, and the most thoughtful friend you’ll ever get in your whole life!” she held her nose up high, beating down the parasitic, angering thought and brushing it aside like a common, fine dust.

“There you are!” Octavia jumped at the sudden sound and turned back at the forest to see the culprit. Vinyl grinned sheepishly near a tree she was under, “Ah… sorry, Tavi.” She gently pawed at the leafy and sandy ground and lightly whipped her tail nervously.

Octavia sighed in relief, feeling her heart slowing, “It’s okay, Vinyl. Just… clear your throat, or knock next time, okay?” she said and Vinyl nodded in understanding, a smile coming back to the DJ mares’ lips. Octavia started looking around curiously, “Now… any idea where we are?” she asked as she watched seagulls glide overhead.

Vinyl went up to her side, “Don’t really know, but it’s a pretty neat place. I looked around while ya slept. This place is Huge!” She answered with a grin and motioned her head for her friend to follow her back into the forest. With a bit of hesitation and a shudder of creepy crawlies crawling all over her again, she huffs in determination and starts following Vinyl, just a few paces away from her.

Oo~~O~~oO

As they strode through the forest like amateur explorers, Octavia slowly following right on Vinyl’s tail, she glanced from left to right at the various plants and insects with great caution. The sound of birds singing within the trees overhead and the brushing of leaves being caused by a light breeze in the canopy, calming what was left in her-.

“Aaah!” She hopped away from where she once stood and quickly shook her fore hooves frantically as little Ants fell off of her once more.

“Oh yeah… I forgot to mention, watch where you step.” Vinyl spoke back at her friend as she tip-hoofed over the highroads of ants like a tap dancer, giggling like a little filly like she was playing Lava-Floor.

Octavia glared at her, “Oh? Really? I was thinking of blinding myself while using flippers, later.” She said sarcastically and checked her hooves for anymore creepy crawlies still attached, causing a shudder to go down her spine from the thought of going through the ordeal once more.

“Oh don’t be a big filly, these Ants don’t even sting or bite. They just crawl around you.” Vinyl chuckled and continued on, playfully hopping from point to another.

Octavia huffed and tried to catch up, but also tried to watch where she stood and tip-hoofed out of the rather large Ant highway coating the forest floor like a living carpet. She could almost hear their little legs pitter-patter like pop-rocks.

“Okay, Vinyl, where are w-Aaah!” a sudden weight flopped down onto her back. Octavia started galloping around and shook her body to try and get rid of the small weight clinging onto her back, till Vinyl stopped in mid air with her magic.

“Calm down, Tavi!” Vinyl laughed and levitated a small green lizard off her back, “It’s just a little lizard. See!” she glides the gecko over to Octavia, causing the Cellist to lean her head away with a cringe as her body was still held by the Unicorns’ magic.

“Vinyl! Please! Just… Just take that thing away from me! I’m having a rough morning as it is.” Octavia begged and quickly nudged her head back as the lizard’s tongue licked its own large, bulbous eye.

Vinyl snickered and let loose the Gecko to the hoard of ants. As the mares left the area, but Octavia swore she heard tiny barely audible screaming coming from where she came from but shrugged it off as she saw the little green lizard lapping up the Ants by the dozens with quick movements, moving from one target to another. Soon later as the mares became out of sight, more Geckos scurried in and terrorized the ants and their home. A slaughter of countless ants died that day and no survivors were left alive, not even the Queen herself as she joined her children in the afterlife in the great ant hill in the sky.

The Clan Geckos’ assault was a success.

Oo~~O~~oO

An hour or so later, Octavia was having trouble just keeping up with her friend as they went through the wall of plant matter. The only thing keeping her in line with her friend was that she kept her head low and followed Vinyls’ blue tail. But the occasional light slap to the face caused by the plants and the muddy ground sucking in her hooves were not helping making the treck easier.

“W- alm- ther-” Vinyl murmured.

Octavia looked up at her, “What was that?” she asked, but was quickly followed by a hard slap to the face by a leafy branch. She tripped back to her rump and rubbed her stinging face with her hooves. “Ow…” she whimpered.

Vinyl looked back in slight annoyance, “Tavi, it’s not the time to sit around and whine all day. Now, come on! We’re almost there.” She chirped.

Octavia glared at her for a moment with a reddened face, got up to her hooves and started following her once more, choosing just to stay quiet and soldier-on.

But now that she was quiet, she couldn’t hear anything else but their hooves strolling through the thick wall of plants. She couldn’t hear frogs crocking or exotic birds singing. It was just… silent. It unnerved her to know something was wrong, she knew from experience, just an hour ago at least, that this jungle was supposed to be quite musical with all the animals, but all she could hear now were her heart beating in her ears and the now loud moving branches caused by Vinyl and herself.

She starts looking around for any life moving and living around them, but nothing seemed to move, not even the insects buzzing around the air or crawling on the forest floor. She saw a large yellow Snake retreating up a tree but that was all she could see. But she quickly stopped in her tracks as the yellow Python moved its body away to reveal a capital letter ‘M’ carved into the tree, barely noticeable with the growing moss, but it was there. She then shook her head, figuring she was just seeing things and continued on to follow her friend.

The thought of animals being so quiet and possibly hiding started to scare her. The only time animals were this quiet was because something big or predatory creature was nearby.

She gasped and froze on the spot as she heard a distant twig snapping. She felt her pupils dilate into pin pricks and her heart pounding in her ears. The hairs on the back of her neck stood erect as a familiar feeling took hold of her whenever she tried to practiced ‘alone’; they were being watched.

“V-Vinyl…” she called out quietly to her oblivious companion, as the said mare continued on through the forest but stopped and looked back at Octavia.

“Yeah, Tavi?” she replied with a small smile.

“Do you hear that?” Octavia quickly and shakily scurried over to her friend and started looking around in paranoia.

Vinyl scrunched up her muzzle and started flicking her ears in every direction. After a moment, she lightly shook her head, “No, I don’t hear anything.” She simply answered as Octavia stuck close to her.

“Exactly!” she hissed with a terrified expression, “It’s too Quiet! Nothing in this jungle should be quiet!” she said and continued looking once more as her body gently shook in fear.

Vinyl turned to her friend, “Tavi, it’s okay.” She spoke with care and gently pulled her friends’ chin to look at her in the eyes. “Nothing bad’s going to happen to us. I promise.” She finished with a wider smile.

“H-how do you know that? We don’t know where the hay we are!?” Octavia replied.

“I know because I found a safe spot on the island while you slept, Tavi. It has all the things we need to keep ourselves going while we’re stuck here; food, clean water and shelter. That’s where we’re going.” Vinyl gently ruffled Octavia’s already un-kept mane playfully, “And I went through here before, Tavi. Like before, it was as quiet and creepy as Tartarus.” She chuckled nervously and looked around the thick undergrowth. “It’s just a little creepy like the Everfree, but nothing came after me while I went through. Nothing to worry about.” She finished and looked back at her with a small, confident smile.

Octavia shakily nodded and started taking deep breaths. “Okay, okay…” she said with a flushed face and took one last, long breath and slowly let it out with a sigh. “Okay… I’m fine now.” She said.

Vinyl grinned, “Good! Now let’s head to our new home to settle in!” she happily said and started going through the forest once more without a care in the world.

Now calm once more, Octavia shook her head and continued following her friend with her head down.

Oo~~O~~oO

When they broke through the thick foliage, Vinyl stepped aside and gestured the area. “Behold! Paradise!”.

Octavia dragged her hooves with heaving grunts as she went up beside her housemate like a tired slave pony. She slowly looked up with tired eyes and immediately her eyes grew three times bigger the second time that day.

The land before her was indeed a ‘Paradise’. To their right was a smooth rocky ledge as a glacial, waterfall sparkled down to a pool of fresh water, a little stream flowing out to the forest of berry bushes and fruit baring trees right up ahead, clear paths leading through the forest as well. To their left, was a small clearing where a cave mouth was located, as well as a large twisting tree right beside the entrance. She looked around a little more, and sees they were in a large crater of some sort, near a mountain top of white glacier resting at the very tip, a whole living forest smacked right in the middle of the crater as the ridges shielded the little haven from the rest of the world like a baby in a cradle.

“Like it?” Octavia looked at Vinyl as the unicorn mare smiled hopefully.

“It’s a beautiful place.” She looked back at the scenery. “How in the world did you find this?” she asked as a small flock of birds flew out of some bushes and circled around in the sky.

“Oh, Fluffy helped me!” Vinyl answered with an upbeat voice. Octavia looked at her with a questioning look. Vinyl chuckled, “He’s just a fluffy fella.” She waved a hoof at her dismissively, and looked down at the haven, “He should be here somewhere…” she said as she search the forest below with a small, playful smile, shaking her rump in the air, ready to pounce like a cat.

“Oh… well… may I have a grand tour?” Octavia asked and gestured the forest.

“Sure! Right this way, madam.” Vinyl answered regally and strolled down the dirt path with a little skip in her step as she held her head high. Octavia smiled and followed her housemate down the path, her once tired limbs finding back their energy as excitement flooded her body and mind.

She then quickly stopped in her tracks once more an looked down at the flat surface of a rock, noticing the crude, carved out letter ‘M’ once more with a raised brow.

“Hm…” she tried to inspect the symbol a little closer but the voice of her friend broke her concentration.

“You coming!?” Vinyl yelled near the bottom of the now noticed, strange path of gravel. Everything on this island said ‘Wild’ but these little hints were telling something else in Octavias’ mind. But then her mind blanked at the sound of her growling stomach, demanding fresh food and water. With the promise of potential, fresh food in mind, she quickly galloped over to her friend.

But as they strode down the path, a creature uses its slimy, oral appendage to move aside some leaves from behind the two mares. With a low, throaty growl, it slid back into the shadowy forest like a stalking ghost.

Oo~~O~~oO

To Octavia’s relief, this smaller jungle was pleasant and quiet with birds chirping happily in the air and within the more dispersed trees. The sun shined like there’s no tomorrow and the small pond and waterfall sparkled like stars in the night. When Vinyl showed her a few berries, she ate a few to see if they were good and immediately devoured the small berries, Vinyl’s hoof almost going alone with the process. Eating a few more berries right out of the bushes like a greedy dog, satisfying the hunger in her stomach, she continued to follow Vinyl to their new home while wiping her stained lips; the cave.

“Honey! We’re Hooome!” Vinyl yelled at the mouth of the rather large cave with an excited grin.

Octavia’s mouth was slightly ajar from the sheer open space of the cavern; rays of sunlight going down from the few openings from the high ceiling. Surprisingly enough, she saw a few ledges on the far side of the cave to sleep on and were shielded by bars of stalactites and stalagmites like protective barriers. She even saw a stage like flat area to her right. If only she had her Cello with her.

“Like it?” Vinyl spoke up, causing Octavia to get out of her stupor with a light shake of her head.

“It’s… quite cozy looking with the lights to be honest. How did you find this?” she asked and stepped in the cave to get a better look around her new surroundings.

“Fluffy helped out.” Vinyl started looking around curiously, “Where’d he run off to now, though? I wanted him to meet you.” She quickly galloped up to the stage and looked at the flat surface, closely inspecting it, “He should be here.”

Octavia looked around the new settlement and spots something that was out of place within the natural cage, like the phantom letters of this island. She strolled on over and stepped through, to be met with a crude, carved out word, each letter in different levitation but was clear of what it said.

“Melody…” she whispered and leaned in to get a better look. “Vinyl… did you see this when-”

Before she could finish properly, a loud screech echoed into the cavern, followed by thunderous wing beats as shadows briefly covered the sunlight from the ceiling leading to the mouth of the cave. After a moment of silence, Octavia quickly hopped in the circular, bowl like ledge and spoke.

“W-what was that?” she asked with a shaky voice.

Vinyl held a light frown while starring at the cave, “It wasn’t Fluffy, that’s for sure.” Vinyl quickly and quietly trots over to the mouth of the cave, sticking close to the smooth wall. She peeks out cautiously, “Fluffy?” she spoke out.

With another screech, Vinyl yelped and galloped back in; get’s in the cell with her friend and jumps in the bowl with Octavia shakily.

“Nope. That wasn’t Fluffy. Fluffy’s nice.” She said with a quivering voice.

“D-did you see it?” Octavia whispered.

“Um… uh… i-it was b-big… with big w-wings… an-and had a pointy h-head.” Vinyl answered. “We need help from Fluffy. He should get that wingy-thing away.”

“Oh for goodness sake, Vinyl. Who’s Fluffy!?” Octavia whispered with a hiss.

The moment she finished speaking, a shadow loomed in front of the cave with a heavy thump, dry dust mixing in the air. Both mares slowly moved their gaze towards the cave mouth and slowly sank down at the creatures’ presents. The large creature slowly goes in the cave, looking around with its spear like head and a long boney crest going backwards from its skull. Its front legs were large, leathery wings with three tiny toes, while the membrane of its wings connected to the back of its short legs, its long tail jutted out from its boney pelvis as a fin like growth located at the very tip. The creature surprised both mares as it created its own Blood red light source coming from its broad chest, stomach, throat, to the tips of its wings and at the very end of its long tail. The red shinning light bounced off the walls and back to the creature, making the winged-terror even more horrifying.

The Pterasaur made a throaty growl and continued on in, still looking for its supposed prey it spotted from above.

“What are we going to do!?” Octavia whispered as they both huddled together.

“I-I don’t know. Fluffy should get this thing out, though.” Vinyl replied and peeked over the edge to see the creature now looking around the stage. “Where the heck are you, Fluffy?” she whispered, but did so a little too loudly.

The winged terror swiftly turned its beady eyes at them both, quickly shutting them both with a squeak. With an ear shattering screech, the creature propelled itself with its powerful fore legs and crashed onto the barbed minerals, but held strong. Both mares screamed and tried to back away from the creature trying to break through to get to them. It speared its head between the gaps of the columns and snapped its beak at them repeatedly.

“Crap!” Vinyl yelped and ducked down just as the sharp beak lanced towards her, cracking the wall of hard mineral just behind her head. But as she ducked down, she accidentally nudged Octavia out of her spot, causing Octavia to flail her hooves in their air to regain her balance with an ‘Eep!’.

Seeing this, the creature took advantage of Octavia’s situation and snapped its large beak onto the mare’s hoof. With a pained yell, Octavia desperately started pulling back to get back her limb. Vinyl saw this and started pulling Octavia’s hoof with gritted teeth.

“Let! Go!” Vinyl yelled as the mares played tug of war with the creature. The winged monster growled and started pulling a little harder; causing the mare it held to make a short scream.

“Ow-Ow-Ow-Ow-Ow-Ow-Ow-Ow-Ow-Get this thing off, Vinyl!” Octavia cried out as tears started to form at the edges of her eyelids as the pressure on her hoof being bitten increased by the creature’s jaw muscles as well as digging its tiny teeth into her hoof.

Vinyl glared at the creature and started pounding its head with her hooves, but once she knew her hits weren’t doing anything, she started using her magic to try and pry the beasts’ large beak as well as using her hooves to get its jaw open, but she immediately regretted doing so as the monster bit down harder to compensate.

“Aaah! Vinyl, Stop!” Octavia cried out in pain as tears started pouring down her cheeks.

“Crap-I’m So Sorry, Tav-”

Suddenly, everything in the cave went silent as a bloodcurdling screech echoed into the cave and lingered around, bouncing off the stone walls.

The monster suddenly yanked Octavia urgently and dragged her out her safe zone as it started prancing towards the cave mouth with her. Vinyl quickly gets out of the cell, leaped out and caught her friends’ hind legs and was now being dragged along the ground with her friend just off the ground as the creature hauled them out of the cave. Octavia cried out in pain and started pounding the beast’s lower beak desperately to get the now flapping creature to let her go before it flies off with her and her friend.

The creature tried to fly off the ground with a few desperate flaps but with the extra weight of another pony it couldn’t get away. Once it knew why it couldn’t take off it started flailing around its large head to get rid of the second pony that held onto its meal of the day.

Vinyl held on tightly to her friend as the creature continued to thrash around its head to get rid of her, but once she hit the large tree that rested beside the cave mouth, she had no choice but to let go. She screamed out in pain as she felt few of her ribs cracking from the sheer force and rolled onto the ground in a heap, hissing in pain.

“Vinyl!” Octavia cried out to her curled up companion as the monster holding her started prancing away once more to gain momentum to fly.

Vinyl looked at her friend as her eyes widen from the sudden realization.

“T-Tavi!” she cried her name and tried to get up to go after the hopping monster preparing to fly, but fell back down in a heap once more while yelping in pain.

With a mighty hop by using its muscular front legs, it quickly spread its wings wide and started flapping, gaining height to get away from the ground.

“No! Vinyl!” Octavia yelled and started hitting the creature once more on its head, beak and neck to make it let go of her, but trying to hit a target while dangling uncontrollably was too hard for her. She immediately had flash backs of her foal hood, playing peeka-boo with her mother and father in her small crib, then moved onto her first school day where she met her dear friend Vinyl Scratch the first time in recess, then flashed forward when she got her Cutie Mark and celebrated in her home with her parents and Vinyl, having cake and sweets and playing games like there’s no tomorrow. Her life moved onto her first live performance in the Canterlot Opera Theater, nervously looking around the crowd of ponies with a forced smile but once she spotted her housemate Vinyl sitting within the crowd with comforting smile, her nerves calmed down exponentially and took deep breaths before starting, it then flashed when they received a letter telling them that they won two tickets for a week long cruise in the new expensive ship.

The moment her flashback ended, she was hearing a waterfall roaring right under her as small droplets peppered her dangling legs and the loud wing beats of the monster’s wings as well as the rushing wind going past her limp ears. She wanted to live a little longer, to grow old to a right old age with Vinyl Scratch in their home to let time do its work right up to their time of passing. Octavia closed her eyes as her warm tears dripped off her chin, now believing she’ll never get to live her full life.

With another defining screech, Octavia snapped her eyes open and looked back as a large hairy creature bursts out with a large maw gapping out as it extended out it surprisingly long tongue towards the monster that carried her.

The slimy oral appendage wrapped around the creatures’ neck and yanked it down with it. The pterosaur screeched in response, letting go of the pony it held.

With a scream Octavia plunged towards the rushing shallow water, both monsters falling right after her. The mare splashed down but sense fell head first with her hooves out, the pain in her right hoof worsened at the hard impact of the bottom. She started washing down as the heavy creatures splashed down not far from her.

Octavia gasped up for air and tried to stop herself from getting close to the roaring fall, but she could only use her left fore hoof and combined with the strength of the shallow yet strong, cold current of the river, she knew she’ll eventually fall over the fall.

Remembering the fall itself wasn’t that high off the ledge she began to prepare herself by tucking her injured her hoof against her barrel and curled into a tight ball as she fell over the edge, the thrashing monsters quickly followed after as they fought.

To say splashing down onto the small but deep lake back first wasn’t painful would be a great lie. Octavia sank down quickly and nearly touching the sandy bottom. She opened her eyes with a wince of pain and a small throaty whimper, but shot them open as both monsters splashed down right above her, still struggling with another with muffle roared and cries. She flipped herself around and started swimming away to get away from the two fighting beasts while still tucking her pained hoof close to her body.

She gasped at the surface and struggled on over to the shore now at the other side of the small river while trying to keep her head above water. She trudged out onto the wet gravel ground and gasped to fuel her body of oxygen to regain part of her strength back. With a quick look around, she limped over to a tree and leaned against and flopped down onto her rump while still gasping for air.

She inspected her injured limb; parts of her grey coat were missing, showing bruised skin as well as a few cuts to go with it as small drops of blood leaked out. She sighed in relief that she got to keep her bow holding hoof, it may hurt for a couple days, but it was still attached to her.

Sudden splashing and roaring and screeched caused her to whip her head around at the lake to see the creatures still brawling with one another as they threw each other around, bit and slashed out to injure the other.

The new monstrous creature looked like a large black bear with a large head and a maw that held sharp teeth and large canines to go with it. But its most prominent feature was its irregularly large, long and muscular tongue that lashed out at the winged creature like a striking snake.

Octavia quickly hid herself behind the tree she was leaning against and watched the creatures brawl like wild rabid animals in a safe distance. Well, as safe she can get herself, she couldn’t go very fast with her injured hoof.

The black hairy beast wrapped its long tongue around the Pterasaurs’ neck and flung it over to a tree with a loud thud and cracking trunk, a few leaves being shaken off. The winged monster yelps in pain, but slowly got itself back and looked at its opponent head on and screeches its loudest yet, causing its attacker to wince and whimper as it wrapped its head along with its ears with its own tongue to try and lessen the pain. The winged monster quickly pranced over to it and swung its large head to the side and struck its attacker with its thick beak, sending the dazed creature on the ground with a limp tongue as it groaned in pain.

With a snap of a twig the winged monster swung its head over to its meal of the day.

Octavia lightly whimpered as she slowly started backing off with a limp, still staring at her attacker. With a screech, the monster started prancing after her and leaps over the small river with thundering steps. Octavia quickly swung around and started limping away as fast as her three hooves could take her through the undergrowth beside the river and rounded around the trees to try and slow the winged beast down, but the trees did very little to slow monster itself.

The moment she looked back, it swung its mighty head from her side and sent her flying over the river with a pained cry. She rolled for a few feet and suddenly stopped with a whimper as fresh tears started to form while wincing in pain. She looked up and saw the winged monster loaming over her like a giant, raising its large head to prepare to strike her with its sharp beak to end her struggling.

But as she was sure her life was ending there, a loud roared echoed through the air and was quickly followed by a large slimy tongue wrapped around the winged monsters’ throat and sent it flying away from her against a large bolder. The new monster then charged right by her, scaring her to a breaking point.

Now crying in udder defeat, she quickly got herself up and started quickly limping away through the path she came through to get as far away from the fighting scene and disappeared into the forest.

As the distraught mare fled the scene in haste, the winged creature gasped for air as it tried to recover from its latest surprise attack from its challenger. The lumbering beast strolled on over to its enemy with glaring eyes with a rumbling growl. Seeing this, the Pterasaur quickly got back up and started staggering back in fear to get away from the much stronger beast. The shaggy creatures’ tongue slithered back into it maw with took a deep breath through its wet nose, it made a screeching roar that frightened its trespasser to the bone.

The winged monster stumbled back with a trip, pranced away and started flying away in hast to get away from the island. The monster roared in victory, but was suddenly stopped by a distant voice.

“Fluffy!” Vinyl yelled.

The creature quickly looked back towards its cave home in concern and started hastily going over to the injured pony.

Vinyl smiled at the lumbering beast as she laid on the ground, her shades laying just nearby. As the creature got close to her she reached out and gently patted the monstrous creatures’ cheek and nuzzled its chin.

“You did great, Fluffy.” She whispered and chuckled as the beast licked the whole side of her face in response. “Yah kicked his skinny flank back to where he came from, Fluffy, but do you know where Tavi is?” she asked and as she got herself to sit up on her rump with pained grunts and winces. The beasts nuzzled her, making her chuckle once more but pushed him away with a small smile, “I’m fine, Fluffy, but do you know where my friend went? She needs help and comforting.” She asked once more.

With a little knowing huff, it turned its head and pointed the tip of its tongue towards the path her and Octavia went through before.

“Okay, Fluffy, let’s go find ‘er.” She groaned as she got herself up and levitated up her shades up to her horn and looked at her new companion as it rested down. Its long tongue gently wrapped around her barrel and with a wince it lifted up off the ground and placed her on its shaggy back. Taking a few quick breaths to lessen the pain on her side, she took a quick look around, spotting a strange, small mound of dirt with a single, beautiful, blue flower sprouting from it near the tree she hit, but paid no mind to it. She smiled and pointed towards the path and yelled, “Tally-Ho, Fluffy!” with that, the beast sniffed the air and started following Octavia’s scent as it started going towards the path in a brisk pace like a blood hound.