Rarity’s dreams were pleasant that night. She dreamt she returned from the island with Rainbow at her side, and the two of them together started a fashion line of tropical clothing for the summer season. Princess Celestia gave her a new ear and healed the scarring done to her face by Squall, and her newly revitalized visage graced the covers of every reputable magazine. Ponies queued up for hours outside of her stores to buy dresses from the mare who’d survived for months in the middle of nowhere, and her fashion empire toppled all of its competitors in the ensuing seasons. That left her as the sole titan of the fashion industry, and every mare all across Equestria soon had at least three of her dresses for every conceivable occasion.
She was almost disappointed when she woke up. Almost, because once her senses fully returned to her, she felt herself embraced by a warm, feathery body. Somehow while they slept, Rainbow ended up plastered over Rarity like a fuzzy blue blanket, her six limbs splayed every which way as she lied on top of Rarity’s side. At the very least, Rarity was glad Rainbow was a pegasus; the blue mare’s small frame and hollow bones left her at roughly half Rarity’s weight despite being only a few inches shorter.
Though she appreciated waking up to Rainbow’s tender embrace—graceful or not, with how much the pegasus snored and drooled while she slept—Rarity quickly found herself a victim of nature. Though she would’ve loved to cuddle with Rainbow all morning, she could only delay answering nature’s calling for so long. Groaning, she finally began to orchestrate her escape, using her magic to pick Rainbow up and gently set her back down on the sand. Though Rainbow grunted and groaned in her sleep and the sudden loss of a warm body to hold onto, she didn’t wake.
After a moment to watch her marefriend sleep with a soft smile on her face, Rarity walked away from her and back towards the survivors’ camp. She winced as she stepped out into direct sunlight. Was it already that late in the morning? The sun was practically overhead at this point. She had no idea when her and Rainbow finally fell asleep last night, but it was almost noon and she still felt groggy and tired. She wasn’t sure if that was because she slept for too long or for too little. Or maybe it had to do with her activities last night.
Rarity decided she was too tired to keep thinking about why she was tired, but not tired enough to not relive those fuzzy feelings and memories.
Once she’d freshened up as best she could on an island with no beauty care products whatsoever, Rarity entered the clearing once more. She recognized Soft Step and Ratchet sitting by the fire, boiling what looked like oats in a kettle. As soon as she saw the oats, Rarity felt her stomach do flips, and she quickened her trot over to the fire. “You have oats here?” she asked, mouth already watering in anticipation. “Where did you find oats?”
“The Concordia’s galley ended up not too far from here,” Ratchet said. “Though a lot of the things in bottles ended up broken and shattered, we managed to recover lots of foodstuffs from it before the seas swept the wreckage away. We’ve got enough oats to last us another three months, as well as potatoes, corn, and even some dried flowers.” He looked Rarity’s sandy body over and smiled. “Good morning, by the way. You and Rainbow Dash didn’t use one of our shelters last night, did you?”
Rarity blushed and sat down next to Soft Step. “We wanted a little privacy.”
“I can imagine. You two deserved it after everything you did last night.”
Soft Step’s eyes brightened. “Ratchet said you two killed that horrible pirate captain.” She turned to Rarity with a grin on her face. “That’s awesome! Glad that somepony finally gave that mare what she deserved.”
“It… wasn’t easy,” Rarity said, and her ear wiggled almost for emphasis. “We didn’t walk out of it quite in one piece.”
“I noticed that last night,” Soft Step admitted. “I didn’t want to say anything about it. I know how concerned you are about your appearance, Miss Rarity.”
“I had almost the exact same conversation with Rainbow last night.” Shaking her head, Rarity turned her attention back to the oats. “I try not to think about it too much. I’m merely grateful that we got out of there with our lives.” She smiled at Ratchet and Soft Step in turn. “And I’m glad that more ponies from the Concordia survived, too.”
“It’s always nice to see another friendly face,” Soft Step agreed. Her eyes flickered dark for the briefest of moments, and she continued in a sadder tone. “There aren’t many of them left. Detendu didn’t make it. Jetstream didn’t make it. So many ponies I knew on that ship didn’t make it.”
Rarity put her hoof on Soft Step’s. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “It must be so much harder for you and the crew. You all knew each other, didn’t you?”
“Mostly.” Sighing, Soft Step tried to shake her head and dash the sad thoughts away. “I guess I should just be happy I’m still alive. I could’ve very easily drowned. Through some luck, I managed to ride out the storm as the ship came down.”
“Do you mind my asking about that?” Rarity asked, her eyes flitting between the two ponies. “Rainbow and I escaped from the bridge when the airship’s cables destroyed it, and then we took one of the lifeboats down. But how did you all survive? The pirates locked everypony up below decks.”
“They didn’t lock up all of the crew,” Ratchet said. “They needed some of us to do our jobs and keep the ship flying while they manned it with a skeleton crew. When they started abandoning ship, we tried to unlock as many doors as we could and escape to the lifeboats.”
“I was locked in the spa,” Soft Step said. “Not the worst place to be, all things considered, but I was one of the last they managed to free. Then the ship started going down. While the earth ponies and the unicorns tried to get into the lifeboats and launch them before the ship broke apart, lots of us pegasi tried to fly through the storm and brave it. Not a lot of us managed it.”
She held out one of her green wings, and Rarity noticed that it was twisted, crooked. When she folded both wings against her sides, the wingtips didn’t point the same direction like usual. One wing pointed up with the feathers above her cutie mark, and the other pointed down below it.
“Can you still fly?” she asked, Rainbow’s fears and worries coming to the forefront of her mind. After seeing how Rainbow fretted about her injured wing and understanding what flight meant to a pegasus, she immediately worried about the green masseuse.
“Yeah, I can,” she said, to Rarity’s relief. “Not very long and not easily, though. But I can still fly up to the treetops. It’s just… a lot harder to do so with my wings crooked.”
“We didn’t find Doctor Gauze for almost a week after we ended up here,” Ratchet said. “Her wing set wrong after she fractured it flying through the storm. Gauze could’ve broken and reset it, but without an x-ray to see the damage done to the bone, he didn’t want to risk permanently crippling her and causing her to lose her flight for good.”
“I think he made the right choice,” Soft Step said. “I’d rather fly like a foal than not fly at all.”
“Then I’m glad you’re doing okay,” Rarity said. After looking around the camp, she noticed a distinct absence of a gray and white engineer. “Do either of you know where Gyro got off to?”
“She’s with the doctor right now,” Ratchet said. “She said she wanted to get her back looked at, but I think she mostly wanted to see his other patient and make sure he was alright.”
Rarity swallowed. “And… is he?”
“Last I heard, yes,” Ratchet said, to Rarity’s relief. “He hasn’t woken up yet, but Gauze says he’s stable. Since I know you’re going to ask, they’re in the brown hut over there.” He pointed his hoof across the campsite to a cramped hut built around a tree to give the roof some support.
Rarity smiled. “Thank you for that. Though I’m not going to go there immediately. First and foremost, I want something to eat.” Her stomach growled again, and she grimaced as she rubbed it. “I’ve had nothing to eat but sugary fruits, coconuts, and grass since I ended up here. Some real oats would be heavenly.”
Chuckling, Ratchet grabbed three bowls and a ladle and started measuring out the oatmeal for the three of them. “Then you’ve come to the right place.” Passing a bowl over to Rarity, he winked at her. “Welcome to the Sandy Islands Resort. I hope you enjoy your stay, because you’ll be with us for a long time.”