Shipwreck [LONG]

>Ship wrecks at sea during storm
>Thanks to life vest manage to swim to a small nearby island
>Nobody else makes it
>Black out on the beach from exhaustion
>Wake up to find wreckage washed up all around you
>Amazingly, a large crate washed ashore intact
>You open it
>Full of a dozen fluffy ponies
>They're dizzy and seasick, having thrown up all over the place, but alive
>They mutter a few disoriented "Pway?"s
>The only shelter on the island is a rocky cave, which goes down a ways to a shallow spring of fresh water
>The only vegetation is grass, unfit for human consumption
>The fluffy ponies like it just fine
>Sit tight and wait for rescue, with fluffy ponies for company
>They enjoy the island, running and playing, grazing and drinking from the spring
>As days drag on you grow hungry
>Fluffy ponies notice, ask "Why you get smawwer?"
>Finally begin fearing starvation
>In the night, while they sleep, grab a fluffy pony by the neck
>Cover its mouth so it can't scream
>Its little legs run uselessly in the air
>Snap its neck
>Ball of fluff goes limp
>Take it outside
>Make small fire with dry brush and your lighter
>Manage to get enough meat off the fluffy pony to stave off your hunger
>The next day the fluffy ponies wonder "Where fwend go?"
>They think it's hide and seek
>You watch them run all over the island looking for her
>You wonder how long it will take for rescue to come
>Days drag on
>Hunger burns you up inside
>Finally decide to take another pony
>This one actually bites you
>You're so shocked you almost drop it, but keep your hand over its mouth
>You snap its neck before daring to look it in the eye
>You eat this one in the same manner as the last
>The next day the fluffy ponies search the island, a little more worried this time
>One of them approaches you
>"Wan' game ovah" she says, looking sad "Wan' fwends back"
>You can only shrug
>One of the others starts screaming
>You run over to the beach
>The fluffy ponies are crowded around a tangle of driftwood
>The bloodied fluff of last night's victim has washed ashore
>The fluffy ponies are babbling fearfully and confused
>You try to reassure them that they'll be okay, and that rescue will come
>That night they sleep in a pile on top of you, shaking fearfully
>You decide you can go another day without food
>Still no sign of rescue
>Afraid if you leave it off any longer you'll be too weak to go through with it
>That night grab another off the pile
>In doing so you accidentally knock the others
>One wakes and sees you choking the life out of one of the fluffy ponies
>She screams and screams
>The rest wake
>They start screaming, crying, and soiling themselves
>They don't think to run
>You flee the cave
>You cook and eat your latest victim, the distant screams never letting up
>You wait for hours after finishing, waiting for the screaming to stop before you confront them
>You sleep on the sand that night
>The next day you go to see the fluffy ponies, or at least get water from the cave
>They try to scream and scamper away when they see you, but they just end up sloshing around the cave spring
>Their voices are too hoarse to scream any more
>You explain you're starving, that you can't eat grass, that you needed the meat to live
>They don't understand
>"Why eat fwuffy?" one asks, weeping openly "Why hurt fwuffy?"
>You try to explain again that you'll die without food
>"Eat gwass" says another "Fwuffy eats gwass when tummy hurt"
>You say humans can't live off of grass
>They can't grasp the situation, but too exhausted to carry on
>They file out of the cave to graze
>You wash the blood off and drink from the spring
>There are a few half-hearted screams from outside
>Remember you didn't dispose of the remains this time
>Days stretch onward
>The fluffy ponies endure you in mute silence
>When they're grazing and you're in the cave, at times they seem to forget about you as you hear them babbling about playing and the sun and the taste of grass
>Whenever you appear it goes silent
>At night they try to hide
>Pitifully, there's just nowhere to go on the island
>A few even hide in the cave
>One seems to have forgotten everything, sleeps right on your chest
>Hunger is burning again
>Arms growing wirey and weak
>Decide to take one of the ponies sleeping on the grass
>The others wake when you do it
>You can see their eyes in the shadows surrounding your camp fire, watching you as you cook and eat your latest victim
>They make no move, say nothing
>The next day is as before
>This becomes your new reality
>Every few days, when you're too weak to carry on, you take another fluffy pony in the night
>They always struggle when they're taken, but the rest just watch
>You take to staying in the cave at all hours
>Their numers dwindle
>They all sleep outside of the cave now
>All except the stupid one
>It sleeps on your chest
>You have no idea if it even understands what you do
>You hunt the others instead
>When their number sinks to fewer than half, the remainder become slightly better at hiding - some nights you can't even account for all of them
>One night you wake to see the ponies gathering at the mouth of your cave
>You move the sleeping one on your chest on to the floor
>One appears to be leading them
>It has a face of rare determination you have never seen on the simple creatures before
>"We wan' you go 'way," it says, firmly.
>You stare
>"We's no afwaid of you no more!"
>You search for words
>You can no longer remember them
>You feel instead an animal rage build within you
>A growling roar rolls out of your mouth
>The ponies scatter
>You chase the ringleader, feeling your hunger acutely now
>She flees, terrified, straight into the ocean
>You wade in up to your waist but stop, your strength spent
>She keeps going, her tiny limbs pumping furiously, propelling her whole soggy mess of a body further forward
>The weight of her wet fluff catches up to her
>She disappears under the waves
>You find one of the others, quivering behind the cave
>It cries as you take it to the fire pit
>When you're done you return to sleep
>Your favourite never even woke up
>Days become weeks
>While the sun is up you squat in darkness, watching from the cave mouth
>The remaining ponies only enter once a day, in a huddled group, drinking from the water spring and then hurrying out again
>You loom over them the whole time
>Your favourite is the only one who goes back and forth comfortably
>While it's outside you can hear the others 'whispering' furiously to it, trying to explain their childlike understanding of the situation
>It's totally oblivious
>It keeps asking if you want "pway ball?"
>You want to tell it you don't have a ball, but your tongue feels fat and dead in your mouth
>You prowl the beach every night, watching the remaining ponies as they sleep, shivering, in the cold
>When your hunger takes you you take one of them
>When there remains only one besides your favourite, it stands at the mouth of your cave
>It looks past you toward the water spring
>It scurries off
>This carries on for two more days
>On the third day your hunger is too great
>You emerge from the cave, squinting against the sun you forgot
>You find the last fluffy pony not far away, lying dead where it died of dehydration
>Your favourite follows close behind, confused
>"Wha happen?"
>You don't reply
>Your favourite seems to shrug it off, and goes to graze
>There is nothing left to eat
>Nothing but your favourite
>You sit with her in the cave, watching her play in the shallow water
>She keeps rolling over, soaking her fluff and making it flop around, which makes her laugh
>You feel close to death
>You need to feed while you still have the strength to do the deed
>That night you look at her sleeping form
>You wake her first
>She looks at you with the same happy face as you saw on the first day, when you opened the crate and found the fluffy ponies inside
>"Pway?"
>You dig deep to find your voice
>"No, not today," you croak
>She frowns
>Suddenly, bright light pierces night
>Pours through cave entrance
>You shade your eyes
>It's a spotlight
>Rescue has finally arrived!
>You can hear a voice on a loudspeaker, calling your ship's name, calling for survivors
>You look back to your fluffy pony
>She's still confused
>"Wha's that?"
>You try to imagine what'll happen if anyone hears what you did
>You imagine what she might say if you're rescued
>"Nothing..." you manage "Everything's going to be okay"
>Your weakened hands take fluffy pony by the throat
>She's still looking at you with completely trusting eyes
>You close yours
>You thrust her head under the water of the spring
>She gives a few ineffective kicks, more reflex than anything
>A few more twitches and she goes still
>Fluffy pony drowns
>You drag yourself to the beach
>A small craft is already pulling up, its spotlight trained on you
>You can make out the dark outline of a larger ship out to sea
>Men come running up
>They pull you upright, shoulder your weight
>You try to rasp out thanks, but are too weak
>"It's okay mate, we've got you. Come along now."
>You're taken to their ship and wrapped in a warm blanket
>A medic on hand gets to work checking you for injuries
>"Thank you, thank you all," you manage
>The crew aren't looking at you
>They're scanning the beach
>"There's no one else," you offer. "I was the only survivor."
>"We were told to look for a shipment of fluffy ponies," explains the craft's captain
>"I never saw anything like that, their cargo unit was breached when it washed ashore."
>The captain raises his eyebrows. "Really? That's strange. Contradicts the story we got from the other survivor."
>You tense
>"What other survivor?"
>"A fluffy pony we found floating along about a week back. It's a damned thing getting nautical directions from a fluffy pony, I can tell you."
>It couldn't be
>It has to be
>"What did... what did she say?"
>"She?" said the captain, frowning. "She said there were a half-dozen fluffy ponies and a frightening monster trapped on an island near the wreck. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"
>Your throat goes dry
>Your tongue goes dead
>"Well, never mind," says the captain. "Once we get back to the ship we should be able to set things right, once and for all."