//------------------------------// // Home is Where You Don't Get Rained On // Story: Surviving Sand Island // by The 24th Pegasus //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash heaved and threw her weight against the plank resting against her shoulder. “You got the vines?” she shouted. “Yes, though my hooves aren’t quite as dexterous as I’d like them to be,” Rarity grumbled. She was lying on her stomach on the frame of the shelter, attempting to tie two planks together with some green vines. The cleaver rested on the plank beside her, and after she’d looped together the support Rainbow Dash was holding with the corner of the roof’s frame, she severed the extra vine with a solid chop. Once that was done, she carefully slid off of the roof and landed on the sand, spreading her hooves a bit as it slid out from under her. “How does it look?” Rainbow gingerly stepped away from the support beam, and when the whole thing didn’t immediately collapse, she sighed in relief. “Looks like a good start to me,” she said, grinning at her friend. “Now we just gotta get the walls and the roof on this thing, but it’s not bad at all for a stunt flier and a fashion pony stranded on an island.” Rarity stopped at Rainbow’s side and looked back at the hut. The floor plan was roughly ten feet by five feet, and the ceiling was only six or seven feet tall; that was as tall as they could make it with the planks that they scavenged that day. For the moment, it was only the rough frame of a hut tied together with vines and planks driven into the sand, but soon they’d have it all filled out with palm fronds and maybe some more wood for strength and support. There was still a pile of wood they’d collected not too far away that had a lot of splintered flat panels. That would make great material for the walls. “Should we get the roof on tonight?” Rarity asked, her eyes drifting to the low clouds above them. The slightest touch of an orange sheen glistened off of their bottoms as the setting sun found one or two peepholes to shine through in the west. “Is it going to rain?” “Nah, we’ll be fine,” Rainbow assured her. “The storm wore itself out last night. It’ll just be a little breezy tonight. We won’t be getting rained on.” “That’s good. I could use a dry night for once.” She grabbed a stainless steel pot they’d managed to salvage earlier that day and started walking inland. “I’ll get some water to boil so we have something clean to drink. Do you want to get firewood?” Rainbow shrugged then nodded. “Yeah, I’ll go scavenging for dead wood and dried palm leaves. We’re gonna want to keep all the good wood we got off of the airship for building and stuff like that. Oh, after you get the water, can you find some more green palm leaves? We could use some bedding so we’re not sleeping on the sand every night.” “My thoughts exactly, darling,” Rarity said. “Stay safe!” Rainbow watched her go through the tree line. When she was gone, she cracked her neck from side to side and began walking between the two lines, wandering into the thickest part of the trees. The birds sang their last songs of the day, slowly winding down for the night, and a few frogs began peeping as the shadows fell heavy around their trees. Rainbow flicked her ear at a fly that landed on it, but thankfully the nuisances were starting to sleep as well. She couldn’t wait until she could start a smoking fire just to keep the bugs away, and the island certainly did have a lot of green palms for that. She found bits and pieces of dried wood and palm fronds that’d fallen off of the trees and into the sun, and she began piling these on her back. Her good wing helped balance her finds as she walked over the uneven sand and rocks, and by the time the sun had set, she had several pounds of wood resting on her spine. To her right, she could see the ocean glittering in the last feeble rays of sunlight, and to the left, the darkness of the island began to creep out from behind the trees and rocks. Rainbow decided to go to the right, and she emerged from the tree line and onto the sand. It was much easier to keep everything balanced on her back when walking along the beach instead of through the undergrowth. By the time she made it back to their shelter (retracing their hoofprints in the sand from earlier that day), Rarity was already arranging pond fronds and moss on the sand inside the frame of the hut. She turned her head when Rainbow dumped all the wood and kindling she’d collected onto the sand, groaning. “I take it you found plenty of wood?” “If we ration it it’ll last a couple of days,” Rainbow said. “Thankfully we’re on a tropical island so we don’t really need the fire to keep warm. At least, definitely not during the summer.” “I filled the pot with enough water to last us maybe two days,” Rarity said. “Depending on how long we’re in the sun. I also used some reeds to make a rough cover for it out of some of our cloth; we don’t want it to evaporate away on us, now do we?” Rainbow shook her head. “Good thinking, Rares.” She began to stack tinder and wood in the sand a little bit away from the hut and started arranging some rocks around it as well. “I’ll start working on the fire so we can get this water clean.” Looking over her shoulder, she added, “Good work on the bedding.” “Palm fronds aren’t exactly the softest thing, but hopefully the moss will help with that. I tried to wash it out in the lake as best as I could, but…” she sighed and ran her hoof down her side, knocking loose sand and salt. “I don’t think it really matters all that much at this point.” “Heh. Better get used to it.” Rarity shuddered. “I certainly hope not. I don’t know how bad all this salt is going to be for my skin. Why, it’ll be like leather if we’re not rescued soon!” “Salt’s good for your skin, isn’t it?” Rainbow asked. “I don’t know, I don’t read all those fashion magazines and tabloids and stuff like that.” “You don’t?” Rarity asked, surprised. “Of course!” A beat, and Rainbow’s eyebrows sharply slid down her brow. “Should I?” “Oh, know, it’s just…” Rarity bit her lip. “The tabloids certainly are creative when it comes to celebrity reporting. Even with the Wonderbolts.” “Oh…” Rainbow shifted a few sticks around and grabbed the board and stick she needed to start a fire. “Well, what are they saying about me?” Rarity chewed on her lip. “Oh, nothing, nothing!” Rainbow blinked. “You sure?” “I’m positive, darling! Just… forget about the whole thing.” She nervously chuckled, then added, “I mean, I’ve certainly had much worse done to me, but if you just don’t read them it can’t bother you.” Rainbow stared at her… then shrugged and turned away. “Okay, Rares, whatever you say.” Gripping the stick between her hooves, she began to spin it back and forth on the grooved board, trying to get the tinder to light. “Come on, stupid fire starter… I always hated these things during survival training!” Smoke began to rise from the end of the stick, and in a few seconds, Rainbow had a tiny flame smoldering on the tinder. She squealed with excitement and quickly transported the flame from the fire starter to the tinder of the fire, gently blowing on it to get the flame to rise. After a few minutes of hard work, she had a crackling blaze growing between the rocks underneath the pot. “Haha!” she threw the fire starter off to the side and began to dance around the pot. “We have fire! I did it! I’m the best! Woooo!” She galloped over to Rarity and shook her shoulders. “I made fire! Now we won’t die! From here, we can do anything, whoooo!!!” Rarity giggled and drank in a little of Rainbow’s enthusiasm, allowing herself to jump around a bit. “Yes, now I know for sure that we’ll be fine!” she said, giggling. “Now if only we had some marshmallows to roast.” “Heh, yeah, that’d be awesome.” Rainbow took a deep breath and flopped down next to the fire. “Man, that’s the most exciting thing that’s happened since we got to this place.” “That’s not nearly drowning, at least,” Rarity amended, sitting at Rainbow’s side. “Yeah, guess you’re right.” She shifted her good wing and looked up at the clouds above them. “I bet the stars are gonna be awesome once this storm passes. There’s too much light from Canterlot and Manehattan at night. It kinda sucks.” Rarity nodded. “It’ll certainly be pretty…” They fell into silence, simply watching the flickering flame in front of them. “What are we going to do tomorrow?” Rarity asked. “Uhhh, I was thinking just salvaging more stuff from the beaches,” Rainbow said. “Some of the heavier things should start washing up now, so that’ll be good.” “Yes, I suppose,” Rarity agreed. “Will you need my help for that, darling? I’d like to explore more of the island. We’ve only gone a little bit through it; we don’t even know how big it is, or what else is here.” Rainbow thought for a moment. “I don’t think anything nasty or helpful’s gonna be waiting on the rest of the island. We can definitely take a look around later, though. I want to secure our supplies first.” It was already getting dark out, and Rainbow let out a big yawn. “Mmrff. Tiring day in the sun and wading through the surf. I think I’m gonna hit the hay… or, well, fronds, as soon as this water boils.” Rarity stifled her own yawn. “Mmhmm. Sounds lovely to me, darling.” She simply lied down on her stomach and rested her head on her hooves, staring into the fire. “It’s so peaceful out. If I weren’t still a little hungry and thirsty, and my coat wasn’t filled with sand and salt, I could almost imagine I was on vacation.” “Heh, not many ponies get a free vacation to a deserted island.” “Mmhmm. I’m just hoping that it’s not a one-way flight.” “Relax, Rares, it’ll be fine.” Another yawn. “It’ll all be fine.” “Mmmm.”