@neutralgrey
Feeling the warm sands under her soles was a lot more comforting than usual, coupled with the gentle sea breeze flowing around them. It was a moment of bliss that allowed the pegasus to put what she witnessed earlier on the back burner of her mind, only to recall it when the time was necessary. She would eventually have to confess to both Rainbow Dash and Dana at some point, best before she was ‘out’ of the contest. It was going to be an awkward conversation, regardless.
Speaking of contestants, Fluttershy took notice to Alexander as they walked alongside each other, finding herself taking a real liking to the stallion. He’s been a sweet and patient pony to her up to now and she felt like she could put a lot of her trust into him, possibly even more than that. She also found him to be quite cute in looks, shape, and guilty as she may be for thinking it, his size. She couldn’t help but to giggle to herself - it was like they were living a page out of a romance novel, and they were just rounding out the first chapter. She could only wonder how far they’ll get into the book together…wonder what was written for them at the end. She was thinking ‘going steady’.
Finally, she broke the silence of the serene scene, a thought coming to her mind about the scenario with the island wildlife and is absence. “I think there’s another way we should look at this, Alex.” she stated off, looking ahead as the evening sky started to move in. “Since this is a contest and a private resort, this might be all staged. I’ve heard that when contests are held in the open like this, the area has to be closed off to keep their contestants safe.” She looked over to Alex, taking a note to his horn. “I sound silly for asking this, but can you sense any magic that may be keeping the animals away? Or anything close to it?”
Fluttershy knew she was taking a stab in the dark at the idea - magical barriers wouldn’t be necessary to zone out an area where the more feral creatures normally reside. On average, just having a few good tamers and a fence would suffice. It may go against the principles she stood for, but she also knew that most ponies wouldn’t want to deal with a leopard prowling in their own kitchen when they got home. All she could do was ask. Not like she would be killed for it…
…actually, considering this contest takes place on an island called Murder Island, that might be one of the rules. In that case, she hope she wasn’t an early elimination.
((Christ, if work keeps whipping away at me at this rate, I’ll have to write out chapters. Sorry for the late reply!))