Before I properly came to, the first thing I felt was the ache in my shoulders. As the fog cleared from my head, I also felt the weight of metal around my forehooves. I couldn’t suppress a groan as I shifted in place to try and get more comfortable where I sat, only to find there was no comfort to be found. They were bent back behind me, held together by shackles fit tightly about my fetlocks. The rough, splintered surface of a wooden pole pressed against my back and accented the ache with sharper, prodding pricks along my hide.

A warm light was shining from up above. At any other time I’d have called it dim, a single beam of fading sunlight coming down from an opening in the rafters. To my bleary eyes it was instead a stinging glare, and it took a long time for me to muster the strength to open them without wincing.

A handkerchief tied about my muzzle formed a makeshift gag. It closed around the whole lower half of my face, secured so tightly I could scarcely open my mouth to make a sound. I was still wearing the black dress I was wearing before I’d been knocked out, and I was grateful for the meager protection it gave me from the rough wood to which I was tied.

I could see that the floor and walls were made of wooden beams. The air smelled musty, accented with whiffs of ocean spray from the drafts wafting in. A ship, then. I was somewhere out at sea, far out where the other Stranded probably couldn’t find me.

I knew I should have been panicking. By any sane pony’s definitions, now was the time to hyperventilate and struggle and beg to be let go. Instead, I felt deflated. All I could do was stare upwards into the lone sunbeam, trying to make out the sky through the light up above. I couldn’t.

It wasn’t like I could expect the other Stranded to come looking for me, if they even knew where I was or who had taken me. Hell, I didn’t know either of those things myself. Why fixate on something that wasn’t going to happen? If this was where things were headed, the only thing to do was focus on the now. And in my case, the now was being stuck here with only the gentle rocking of the ship for company.

I waited in silence as seconds became minutes, and minutes became hours. The light above had begun to dim as the day passed into evening. Whoever my captors were, they didn’t care to make their presence known to me. I figured that it wasn’t shyness keeping them from coming down to say hello.

Maybe they’d forgotten me? Briefly, the absurd thought crossed my mind. The urge to guffaw at my own silliness subsided as soon as it formed, drowned by the numbing quietness of my own solitude. Jokes aside, it seemed I would be here awhile.

Some Fallout: Equestria character I made for a RP game of sorts. I like concepts like this where a character is taken from their group and needs rescuing. This hasn't happened, nor will it ever. This is its own concept.

Story not written by me. I thank a very good friend who I commissioned to write this up for me.