Surviving Sand Island

by The 24th Pegasus


Champagne in the Sand

Lunch came, and then dinner, or at least, what passed for it. All they had to eat was grass, grass, and more grass. It was hardly the most filling of diets, but at least they wouldn’t starve. And with the amount of energy they were expending scavenging the beaches and building their shelter, they needed to be as well-fed as they could afford.

Between the sun beating down on her all day, the burial, scavenging in the surf, and now helping Rainbow weave a wall of palm fronds, cloth, and netting at their shelter, Rarity was exhausted. The sun hadn’t even gone below the horizon and she already wanted to curl up and sleep for the next twenty years. It didn’t help that Rainbow had woken her up too early that morning. But on the bright side, if she went asleep early, she’d be better able to deal with Rainbow rising with the sun.

They eventually finished the final wall, and once again, Rainbow supported it with her back while Rarity secured it to the frame. It took a few minutes longer, but soon enough, they managed to put the last wall on their hut. With a satisfied sigh, Rarity stepped back to admire her work with Rainbow.

“Now that’s a shelter!” Rainbow proudly proclaimed. She slapped Rarity on the back with her good wing. “That’ll survive at least a few storms, eh?”

“I certainly hope so. I wouldn’t want all our hard work to be blown away in the first squall.”

It certainly wasn’t an impressive hut, but all things considered, it may as well have been a mansion for the two survivors. Despite the limited materials they had to work with, they’d managed to put four walls, a roof, and a simple door of hanging fronds on the planks of wood they’d scavenged from the airship’s hull. Inside was just enough room for two beds laid side by side, and they’d even laid a ring of stones a safe distance from the door to hold a fire. At least until the fronds dried out and started to rot, it’d make a splendid shelter for the two of them. Hopefully help would find them long before then.

“We should christen it,” Rarity said. “It’ll bring it good luck.”

“Christen it? With what?”

Rarity grinned. “I’m glad you asked,” she said, and with that, she trotted over to the trees. A moment later, she returned with a sandy bottle of champagne between her teeth, smiling proudly. She spat it out between her hooves and showed it to Rainbow Dash. “Müle & Chandon! The finest champagne money can buy, and it just washed up on the beach!” She shook the bottle a little before setting it on the sand. “A bottle of this costs as much as one of my premium exclusive dresses! I used to trade with the distributor in Canterlot when I wanted some; his wife really loved my work.”

Rainbow picked up the bottle and looked over the label—all in Prench. “This looks fancy,” she said, marveling aloud. “And it’s free, so it’ll taste even better, right? Everything’s better when it’s free!”

“I certainly don’t think CelestiAir will sue us for ‘stealing’ a bottle of champagne we salvaged from the wreck,” Rarity agreed, chuckling. “In fact, they should be thanking us that we’re putting it to good use!”

“Heck yeah! Let’s celebrate!” She planted the bottle in the sand, held the neck down with her hooves, and pulled the cork out with her teeth. Almost immediately, the bottle began foaming over, and Rainbow quickly placed her lips over the opening to suck up the champagne before any more of it drenched the bottle or the sand around it. She picked up the bottle with her teeth and tilted it back, sending a splash down her throat and champagne dribbling down her chin.

Rarity watched all of that with a mixture of mild disgust and amusement. “Erm… Rainbow, darling…”

Rainbow blinked. Setting the bottle down, she sheepishly chuckled. “Eh heh… sorry, Rares. But it’s really good!” She tried to wipe the neck down on her chest, frowning when she only made it a little sandier.

Rarity rolled her eyes and stuck out her hooves. “Oh, forget it, darling, a little spittle isn’t going to kill me. We aren’t exactly living the life of luxury right now, are we?”

“I dunno, Rares, that stuff’s really good. It makes it feel like we are.”

She handed the bottle over to Rarity, who immediately tilted it back and took a sip. The champagne danced and fizzed in her mouth, carrying a sweet hint of grapes over her tongue as it exploded like fireworks. She sighed and wiped her lips for wont of a napkin. “Mmmm, I know what you mean.” The bottle tilted back once more, and this time Rarity took a few gulps before passing the bottle back to Rainbow, giggling. “Look at us, passing a bottle of champagne back and forth like it’s a flask of whiskey.”

“Makes me feel like I’m waiting for the opening acts to get out of the way before me and the Bolts would go fly,” Rainbow said, stopping to down several gulps of champagne. “Me and Misty and Fleetfoot would pass Fleet’s flask back and forth when nopony else was looking. Spitfire knew, but she’d only give us shit if she caught us. Soarin’ would get friggin’ pissed if he caught us with the flask out. ‘Against regulations’ and all that.” Her throat bobbed as she took another gulp. “He’s the number two, so I guess he’s just covering his own flank for when Spitfire steps down. Like she’s gonna go out before he does, hah!”

Rarity gestured for the bottle and Rainbow passed it back. “What would you say if I told you that the most I’ve ever had to drink was at the Fillydelphia Fashion Fair four years ago?”

“I’d say that I didn’t think you were a lightweight, but now I’m reconsidering.”

“Oh, darling, you’re making that on an incorrect assumption.” She sipped from the bottle and licked her lips. “It was during the after party. I had a bottle of wine almost all to myself and took more shots than I can recount. I have a blip of a memory of vomiting in the back seat of a taxi carriage, and then the next thing I know, it’s three in the afternoon, I’m lying at the foot of my bed with wine stains all over my priceless dress, and somepony is beating my head with a sledgehammer.” She set the bottle back down and shook her head. “I don’t know how the paparazzi didn’t nail me during that whole fiasco.”

“Sweet Celestia, that’s quite something,” Rainbow admitted. She rolled the bottle between our hooves and frowned at it; it was already half empty. “Let’s see… well, ever since we all came of age and Pinkie started serving hard cider at her parties, I’ve been getting pretty blitzed at those.”

“‘Cider drunk’ is hardly ‘real drunk’, Rainbow,” Rarity teased.

“Yeah, I know. Oh! I know!” She grinned and drew on the bottle. “It was my first tour with the Wonderbolts after becoming a full member. We were doing a beach show at Maregate; it’s right near Fillydelphia.” Rarity nodded, so Rainbow continued. “We hit up the casinos after the show. I played a few hooves of blackjack and spent a little while at the craps tables, and then I went to the bar. Phew! That was a night I don’t even have the slightest memory of.” Chuckling, she added, “I woke up on my back on one of the sand dunes just outside of the city. Somewhere, somehow, I’d found a bottle of vodka in the night, because that was lying next to me, completely empty.”

“Oh, my.”

“Yeah, crazy, isn’t it?” Rainbow shook her head. “That’s not even the craziest part. I’d passed out with somepony, because I could tell that there was another depression in the sand right next to me, but they’d left before I’d woken up. Don’t know who it was, though. Probably one of the Bolts. There was a little orange hair in the sand, but it wasn’t from me. It was a different shade of orange. But there are so many Wonderbolts with orange hair. Good luck trying to figure out who it was.”

Rarity blinked. “Wait—did you…?”

Rainbow shrugged, a rosy tint glowing on her cheeks. “I don’t really know, Rares. Don’t remember it at all. But you’d think if I did, then that other pony would’ve said something later.” She smirked and added, “I’m not going to brag, but it’s something that you’d never forget.”

“Oh, I’m sure.” Rainbow offered her the bottle, and Rarity gladly took it. Throwing her head back, a big bubble floated up through the bottle. Finally, she set the bottle back down and stared at it. “We have to finish this thing, otherwise it’ll go bad.”

“We’re making good progress on it, that’s for sure.”

“Mmmm.” Rarity did some more damage to the bottle before Rainbow took it herself. Then, giggling, she leaned back on the sand and looked up at the darkening sky. “Here I am, stranded on a deserted island, and I’m still drinking way too much alcohol on this trip.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

“…nah.”