Whump! Whump! Whump!
“Rainbow—!”
Whump! THUMP!
“Gah! Friggin’… Stupid tree ball!”
“It’s called a coconut, Rainbow.”
“Rarity, you’re not helping!”
Rainbow Dash dropped the coconut in frustration, its hide covered in cuts and scrapes that left fraying fibers spilling out at random. Getting the coconut off of the tree had been easy. Opening it, on the other hoof, had been incredibly difficult. No amount of beating or banging the fruit against rocks or the corner of their shelter had gotten her anywhere close to sampling the fruit inside.
Rarity’s freshly returned magic plucked the coconut off of the sand and brushed off some of the sediment. “You’re not going to achieve anything through brute force like that,” she scolded. “We’re not savages, darling. Though we may be stranded, we have tools.”
The cleaver drifted over from where Rainbow had wedged it into the calendar plank. Placing the coconut on the ground, Rarity twirled the cleaver and swung it down on the fruit with all the force her magic could provide. The blade slashed through the rind easily, and after wiggling the cleaver back and forth to loosen it, she set it aside and began peeling apart the coconut’s hide.
Rainbow watched with anticipation, her stomach growling. Bit by bit, Rarity unwrapped the hide, trying to keep it all in one piece. When that was done, she floated it over to Rainbow. “Don’t lose this,” she said to her. “I can probably take it apart and make some thread from it later.”
“Sure,” Rainbow said, tossing the hide into their shelter. At least it wouldn’t be lost there. Licking her lips, she shuffled closer to Rarity, only to see that they’d shed the first layer for a second, harder shell. She groaned and flopped into the sand, her hooves placed to her forehead. “Why is it so difficult just to open a stupid coconut?!”
“They’re not difficult, they just require patience, Rainbow. Which, I would assume, is why you think they’re such a struggle.” She set the cleaver aside and picked up the rock Rainbow had been using to try and get through the husk. “Lacking any more suitable tools, now comes the time for a precise application of force.”
Rarity aligned the rock with the side of the coconut and smashed it downwards, caving in a chunk of the shell. She plucked a broken piece out and admired the juicy white flesh clinging to the brown exterior, then set it in a basket. “We’ll have to cut the flesh off of the shell before we eat it,” she said. Picking up the coconut, she peered inside and smiled. “And this one still has plenty of water in it! The oils in coconut water are great for your skin and coat!” She lifted the gash in the coconut to her lips and took a drink, practically shivering in delight. “And it tastes heavenly!”
“Don’t hog it all to yourself!” Rainbow protested, snatching the coconut away. “You’re not the only one who’s hungry!”
Rarity frowned, indignant that Rainbow had stolen the coconut away, but she wordlessly waited while Rainbow took a drink. Rainbow looked inside the fruit and saw the water sloshing around, maybe enough for one or two mouthfuls. Holding the nut to her lips, she let the water dribble into her mouth. She didn’t really know what to think at first; it was a mixture of sweet and bitter, and the fluid was a lot thinner than she expected. It certainly wasn’t rich and heavy with flavor like apple juice or apple cider, but it was at least a new taste she hadn’t experienced since coming to the island.
The coconut returned to Rarity at the whim of her horn, and she drained the last few drops of water from the shell. “Now to get the rest of the flesh, she said, carefully chipping away at the hole she’d created in the shell. Bit by bit, the coconut broke apart with a little more effort, and soon Rarity had disassembled the fruit into several pieces. “There! The challenging part is finished,” she said, smiling. A knife floated over to her, one of the few they’d managed to recover from the wreck. “Now to just strip the flesh from the shell. Care to help?”
“If it means I can eat faster, then totally,” Rainbow said, fetching another knife and sitting across from Rarity with the basket between them. She picked up a large chunk of the shell and held it in place with her wing while she went to work on it with her knife. One piece at a time, the two mares sorted the flesh from the pieces of the shell, setting the edible part into another basket and leaving the shell pieces in the sand for now. Perhaps they’d find a use for them later, or more realistically, Rarity would find a use for them. The unicorn was much better at improvising and repurposing junk into something useful than Rainbow was.
By the time they finished peeling off all the flesh, Rainbow couldn’t contain herself anymore. She immediately scooped up a hoofful of the white meat and popped it into her mouth. It was still juicy and a slight bit oily, coming fresh from the fruit, but it offered an amazing contrast to the sweetness of the other fruit they’d been eating for the past few days. Rainbow’s wingtips trembled as she swallowed the bite and immediately reached for another. “This stuff’s awesome! I’ll have to get these more often when we get home!”
“We’ll see how we feel about it by the time we finally do get home,” Rarity said. “I imagine I’ll never be able to eat star and sugar apples after this ordeal. Coconuts may very well follow that.”
“Eh, maybe.” Rainbow swallowed another mouthful. “For now, though, it’s awesome!”
Rarity took a taste and hummed in delight. “Yes, it’s certainly a welcome change of pace,” she said. “We’ll have to see about drying the flesh from other coconuts, or pressing the milk out. I’ll also try experimenting with the husk and see if I can make some thread from it. Perhaps I can use it to stitch makeshift dresses!”
Rainbow shrunk back a bit in evident worry. “The day that you start trying to have me model dresses made from leaves and coconuts is the day that I’m just gonna try flying back to Equestria. You can figure out your own way off the island.”
Rarity rolled her eyes. “Are you saying you have something better to do with your time?”
“Yeah, like collecting more coconuts and making sure that we have what we need to survive.”
“Yes, but between all that!” Rarity protested. “Coconuts in particular can be very useful for more than just food. Imagine all the things I can make from their husks and shells!”
“I’d rather coco-not,” Rainbow said, snickering.
Rarity blinked. “Did you really?”
“Maybe…”
Sighing, Rarity pulled another four coconuts off of a tree and sat them in front of Rainbow. “Here you go,” she said, standing up and walking away. “I don’t think I can bear to look at you any longer.”
“Come on! It was a good one!” Rainbow yelled back as Rarity walked away. “You have to admit that! We’re from Equestria, literally everything is a pun of some kind!”
“Leaving, darling!” And she disappeared between the trees.
Rainbow sighed and frowned. Picking up the cleaver, she set it to work on one of the coconuts. “Why do I always end up doing all the work?” she grumbled.