//------------------------------// // Excursion // Story: Surviving Sand Island // by The 24th Pegasus //------------------------------// Rarity’s weary limbs could hardly support her anymore by the time the small band of survivors finally started moving out. Every time they slowed down to maneuver past an obstacle, she felt like she could just shut her eyes and be sound asleep before she even flopped to the ground. As far as she could remember, she’d never felt so tired in her life. Even her many nights of staying up until well past the breaking of dawn hadn’t left her as fundamentally drained as this single night had. She didn’t think she could ever complain about being exhausted again, which was a feat in itself. Celestia knew how she loved to complain about the littlest things, as if by complaining about them she trivialized them into something more manageable to compartmentalize and deal with. She wasn’t quite ready when she walked into a tree and nearly fell over, yelping as she barely managed to catch herself on her lethargic limbs. Rainbow quickly placed herself against Rarity’s side, stabilizing the unicorn before she could fall over. The entire procession stopped as Rarity found her hoofing once more, and they all turned worried eyes to her. “You alright, Rares?” Rainbow asked, making absolutely sure Rarity wasn’t going to fall over again before she took a step to the side to return to the seamstress her personal space. “I’m fine,” Rarity insisted, though the words came out half-slurred through exhaustion. “I’m merely tired is all.” “Once we return to our camp, you can rest easy for as long as you need,” Ratchet said. “After tonight, I don’t think the pirates will be in any position to try anything. I don’t even think they know where we are. We’ve been very careful to mask our movements between the islands to make it nearly impossible to track down.” The older stallion stepped onto the silty beach around one of the channels between islands. Adjusting his stance, he made sure that Coals’ head was roughly at his shoulder level before beginning to cross. The water splashed around his hooves, rising up to his belly at its deepest, before beginning to recede as he started to emerge on the other side. Rainbow, Rarity, and Gyro all followed him into the channel as well. The water felt unpleasantly cold and sharp against Rarity’s aching muscles, and she caught similar grimaces on Rainbow’s muzzle. Gyro growled as she fought the small but persistent current in the channel that tried to sweep away her walker and drag her out to sea with it, and Rarity ended up using her exhausted horn to help support the mare’s crossing. Eventually, the three friends emerged on the next island over, dripping seawater and all around tired and annoyed after having to make the crossing. “How many more crossings to we have to ford?” Rarity asked, already feeling a whiny edge beginning to prick its way into her voice. “Another three,” Ratchet said, making a beeline for the heart of the island to mask his hoofprints beneath the trees. “We’re on almost the complete opposite end of the island cluster from the pirates. Using the channels has made us very difficult for them to track.” As they walked through the jungle, Rainbow piped up. “So I heard Squall say that there were ruins or something in the middle of these islands. Have you guys seen them?” Ratchet nodded, holding back a low-hanging branch so everypony could pass by it. “We used them as a point to rally and fend off pirate attacks while we were still collecting all the survivors we could. But they’re big and sprawling, and the pirates knew that we were hiding there. So as soon as we gathered everypony we could find, we moved to another island for safety. As far as I’m aware, they still think that we’re hiding at the ruins.” “They certainly seemed to think that,” Gyro said. “They were muttering about a tomb while they were chasing my windchimes around. They said something along the lines of you guys being too content to hide in the tomb to do anything.” “We certainly haven’t been content. We’ve been doing everything we can just to survive.” His hooves pushed aside more sand and silt as he approached the next channel, and Rarity barely had time to sigh in disappointment before the mechanic started to cross it. “We didn’t even get a chance to look around the ruins and see if there’s more to them. The pirates had started doing that shortly after they found them and knew we were there as well.” “Squall claims they’re cursed,” Rainbow said. “I don’t know what she means by that, but she didn’t want to take her crew near the ruins.” Ratchet shook some of the water off his coat upon emerging on the other side. “We never noticed anything like that while we were there. Besides, I wouldn’t trust Squall’s judgment on something. You saw the mare herself, you know what she was like.” Rainbow still looked unsure, so Rarity tried to assure her with a touch. “He does have a point, darling,” she said, smiling at Rainbow. “The mare was psychotic to an extreme degree. She could have easily imagined something there as being cursed. At the very least, the fear of a curse would let her control her crew better.” “And the crew seemed to buy into it,” Gyro said. “They thought all the noise I was making had to do with this made up curse and stuff when they first heard it. It’d definitely make sense for her to use it to keep any potential mutinies at bay.” Rainbow still looked unsure, but she didn’t press the issue anymore. Even Rarity felt a finger of doubt worming its way into her mind. What if the insane pirate hadn’t been making it up? What if she really believed there was a curse? More importantly, what if she was right? Ratchet didn’t seem to give those thoughts any mind. “If there was a curse, and that’s a big if, I’m sure we would have experienced something by now. But we haven’t, so I’m not worried. I’m not going to explain to the pirates that the superstitions keeping them away from us are false.” They crossed the next to channels in relative silence, their thoughts focused elsewhere. Despite the unpleasantness of the walk and the waters they had to cross through, Rarity felt herself relaxing more and more with each passing minute. Her limbs loosened up and a blissful sleepy haze started to settle over her mind. Now that the cold shock of the water had passed her by, she once more felt the need to curl up in a ball and sleep for the next week. Eventually, she noticed a light through the trees. Ratchet stopped in place, motioning for the others to do as well, and whistled into the foliage surrounding them. There was a few seconds of delay, and then a stallion’s voice drifted out into the night. “Ratchet? That you?” “It’s me,” Ratchet said, still not moving forward, his hooves planted right into the ground. “Who’s with you?” the voice asked again. Rarity blinked and flicked her ear around; was it just her, or did the voice sound like it came from somewhere else entirely? She couldn’t pin its location down very well with only one ear. “Friends,” Ratchet said. “One of them needs to see the doctor as soon as possible.” “Alright. You can come in now.” Rarity’s ear swiveled to the left, following the sound, and she nearly jumped and shrieked when a stallion suddenly emerged from the foliage to her right. Ratchet saw him approaching and smiled, slapping the stallion on the shoulder. “I’m sure Soft Step and the others told you what happened?” The stallion, a mint green unicorn with a sharp, almost mysterious face, smiled. “That they did. When they said to expect guests, I wasn’t expecting to find four more.” Rarity, Rainbow, and Gyro all stared at the stallion. He had the same voice as before, yet there he was standing next to him. There was no way he’d been in all those other places moments before. Rainbow whipped her head around and pointed with a wing in the last direction she heard him speak before emerging from the shadows. “How did you—?” “I’m a ventriloquist,” the stallion said. A faint, almost invisible glow accompanied his horn, and Rarity flinched as she heard his words coming from behind her. “Along with just a general magician. I was to be one of the entertainers on the Concordia, but then we all ended up here.” “He’s really good at keeping watch,” Ratchet said. “If the pirates tried to chase him down through the jungle, he could lead them for all sorts of loops and tricks.” “Stage magic can be very useful in matters of life and death such as this one.” Then, grinning, he bowed to the three mares. “My apologies, I didn’t properly introduce myself. Clever Ruse, at your service, but I don’t mind if you call me Clever.” Rarity wasn’t sure if the joke was actually funny or if she was just that tired, but she giggled regardless. “A pleasure, Clever. I’m sure you know who Rainbow and myself are, and the other two are Gyro and Hot Coals.” She quickly pointed out the other two ponies before a yawn immediately interrupted her next words. “Oh, do excuse me. I’d love to talk more, but at the moment, all I can think about is sleep.” Clever bowed his head. “Do take care, then. We will have plenty of time to talk when the time is right.” Ratchet nodded in agreement, then gestured to the mares following him. “Come on in. Let’s get you all acquainted with everypony and then you can get to sleep.” “Won’t get any complaints from me,” Rainbow said, shuffling off after Ratchet. “I missed my naps today. I hate it when I miss my naps.”