//------------------------------// // Crustacean Carnivory // Story: Surviving Sand Island // by The 24th Pegasus //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash sat with her back to a palm tree, forehooves behind her head. She’d made a sort of makeshift seat for herself in the soft sand at the edge of the tree line, safely nestled under the shade of the palms. She was supposed to be keeping her eyes set on the northern horizon, alert for any puffs of black smoke in the big blue empty of the sky, but her attention kept wandering to the sand and surf around her. The ocean was like one big, blue, roughened sapphire, the white sands like opals. She snorted to herself—Rarity’s colorful terminology was rubbing off on her. But it wasn’t merely the boredom of staring at the sky for several hours that was causing Rainbow’s attention to wander; it was also the heat. Rainbow had known as soon as she’d woken up that today was going to be the hottest since her and Rarity washed up on the island. By noon, she was drenched head to hoof in sweat, and even venturing out into the sunlight for a minute left her panting. She could feel ultraviolet rays from the sun forcing their way through her coat and scalding her hide below, so she knew that limiting her exposure to the sun wasn’t only for the sake of her own comfort, but for her health as well. The last thing she needed to be on top of hot and sweaty was horribly sunburnt beneath her coat. She envied Rarity for a moment, but only for a moment. Though Rarity didn’t have to sit on the beach and stare at the sky all day, and somehow keep herself awake through all of it, she’d gone to collect some more water and fruit to add to their provisions. Really, Rainbow would’ve been happier to do it the other way around, but Rarity had insisted that Rainbow’s sharp pegasus eyesight would be put to better use looking for airships coming from the north. And while Rainbow would normally enjoy just being lazy all day, the heat and humidity were making that hard, and she couldn’t even take a nap to pass the time. Not like she really could with the weather, though. Also the flies. She felt like their attacks were getting worse the longer her and Rarity stayed on the island. An entire new generation of the monstrosities was being raised purely on pony flesh, she was certain of it. Something gray and small moved out of the corner of her eye, and she perked up her ears and tried to spot the source. After a few seconds, the gray lump scuttled again, and Rainbow recognized a small crab scurrying along the waterline. Licking her lips, she stood up and stalked down from the sand, her eyes fixated on the little sand crab as it burrowed itself back beneath the waves. It must’ve been trying to reposition itself with the changing tides, though it’d chosen a poor time to do so. Rainbow stood over the spot where she saw the crab disappear, just inside the swash zone of the surf, and shoveled some sand out of the way with her hoof. As soon as she saw the gray body surface and try to get away, she snatched it between her teeth and chewed it up. The crab was crunchy and salty—just as she remembered them tasting. Really, it’d been too long since she’d gone crabbing along the coast. The little creatures were great snacks. Rainbow almost felt like a shudder of ecstasy ran through her body. She’d only eaten the same three things for the past few days: grass, star apples, and sugar apples. The crunchy, salty taste of the crab was so much different from the sweet and tart flavor of the apples or the cool, muted flavors of grass. Her mouth watered at the thought of more, and she completely abandoned her job after a quick glance to the sky. Airships weren’t all that fast, and she had plenty of time to go crabbing before the next ghost ship could possibly wander into sight of the island. Without a second thought, she started wandering along the shore, eyes trained on the swash for any movement. She found two more crabs without much difficulty; the beach was practically full of them. The tides were changing, and that meant the crabs were moving, which made Rainbow’s job much easier. She just had to watch for gray bodies scurrying to lower waters, then digging up the sand in the lulls between surges. Some of the crabs were pretty fat and juicy; with all the fruit just inside the island, the gulls probably didn’t prey on them as much as she would’ve imagined. Rainbow didn’t mind; more for her. A vision of white moved just at the edge of her sight, and Rainbow looked up to see Rarity approaching. Without her usual mask of makeup, Rainbow noticed that Rarity’s face looked decidedly plain, but the contours were all there. And on top of that, the unicorn’s royal purple mane was plastered to her face and neck in sweaty tatters, and no matter how hard she tried, Rarity couldn’t get all of it off of her coat by shaking her head. The sweat made her face glisten in the sun like a light all its own, and her fluttering eyelashes still managed to capture the mare’s charm and confidence, even if the fakes had fallen off long ago. Rainbow’s wings fidgeted at her sides, but she forced them to stay still. “Rainbow, darling, what are you doing?” Rarity asked, moving within earshot of her friend. “Your muzzle is all covered in sand!” Rainbow’s tongue darted to the blue hair lining her muzzle like it didn’t believe Rarity; a salty, gritty taste a moment later confirmed that she was telling the truth. After a brief shudder, Rainbow shrugged her wings. “Crabbing,” she said. “You wanna help?” “Crabbing?” Rarity echoed with some measure of disgust. “You’re eating crabs?” “Pegasi love seafood!” Rainbow protested. “It’s super high in protein and energy! We need it since we’re flying all the time, and the oils help our feathers grow! We’ve been eating seafood since long before Commander Hurricane’s time, and it’s not like fish or crabs have hooves like us.” She pawed at the ground, uncovering a burrowing sand crab, and ate it right then and there to prove her point. “You should try it! They’re like, salty, crunchy candies or something. Not as good as fresh fish, but they’re great snack stuff.” Rarity pressed a hoof to her lips; whether she was actually trying to suppress a gag or merely doing it for the effect, Rainbow couldn’t tell. “I’ll pass, Rainbow. Even as necessity presses down around us, I refuse to stoop to such barbarism as hunting and killing our food!” Rainbow’s eyes were rolling even before she could think to stop them. “C’mon, Rares, don’t be such a sissy. They’re just stupid crabs. I’ve had, like, four or something and they haven’t complained too loudly!” “I’m sure they were, you just don’t speak crabanese.” Rainbow’s blue hoof found another one, and she flipped it up the beach to Rarity. “Come on! Just one! You can step on it first if you’re afraid it’ll try to pinch you or something, but they don’t even have claws.” Blue eyes dropped to the little creature scuttling through the sand back to the safety of the water. Swallowing hard, Rarity raised her hoof. “If Fluttershy learns of this and stops speaking with me, it’ll forever be on your head, Rainbow.” “Relax, Flutters kills fish and mice to feed to her bears and snakes on a daily basis. She’s probably the most bloodthirsty out of all of us.” Swallowing hard, Rarity drove her hoof down on the pitiable little creature, then plucked it off the ground and tried to chew and swallow it before she could stop herself and think about what she was doing. Rainbow watched as her friend’s face contorted, and she struggled to fight a rising urge to laugh throughout the whole ordeal. When Rarity finally swallowed, the unicorn stuck her tongue out, shuddered, and grimaced as she sank to her knees. “Mmmrfff,” she moaned, pressing a hoof to her lips. “That was dreadful!” “How’d it taste?” “Like I’m going to be sick!” Rarity rolled onto her side, clutching at her stomach. “It was so… salty! And it crunched! Celestia, I felt it twitch!” Rainbow finally broke down laughing. “Wow, I didn’t think you’d actually do it! This is amazing! Hahaha!” A wave of sand went flying in her direction as Rarity stood up. “I can’t believe you made me do this,” she grumbled. “I feel like a whole bucket of water isn’t going to get the taste out of my mouth!” Slowly, Rainbow’s laughter subsided. “Sorry, Rares, but that was too good an opportunity to pass up.” She trotted over to Rarity and patted the unicorn’s back. “How about we go back to the shelter and get you something to eat. One of those star apple things should really get the taste out of your mouth.” “And the sand,” Rarity muttered. “How do you even eat them without washing them first?” “I’m not a foal, that’s how,” Rainbow said, perhaps a little too proudly for a mare in her twenties. “A little sand doesn’t hurt anypony.” “Yes, but a hoof to the back of the head might.” “A hoof to the back of—ow! Rarity!” Rarity smirked and strutted a few paces ahead of Rainbow. “How about we break for lunch, darling, and we’ll figure out where to go from there. The way I see it, you owe me one, and I intend on cashing in.” Rainbow rubbed the sore spot on the back of her head and caught up to Rarity. “Alright, sure, fine. What do you want?” Chuckling, she added, “Thank Celestia your wardrobe didn’t crash with us so I don’t have to try on any stupid dresses.” “No ‘stupid dresses’, but my back is horribly out of order from all this mayhem we’ve suffered through over the past few days,” Rarity said. Smiling at Rainbow, she brushed her side against her friend’s. “You think you can pass for something resembling a masseuse with at least two functioning brain cells?”