//------------------------------// // Caught in Crystal // Story: Surviving Sand Island // by The 24th Pegasus //------------------------------// Rarity’s world was a blur. There was no other way she could describe it, were she even cognizant enough at the moment to make an attempt. She didn’t know if she saw colors or heard them, and if the tickle across her flank was fuzz on her eyes or the sound of blood in her mouth. There was simply no way for her sickly and weakened brain to process the feeble sensations her body sent back to it. But occasionally, she had moments of lucidity, snippets of something that might be memory. Green scales at dawn. Water washing her coat, pouring down her throat, filling her deflated veins with something to pump. The taste of something that wasn’t blood or saliva in her mouth, something that reminded her of food. Then, visions of crystal, refractions, echoes, and music. Music. So much music. There was never a moment where there wasn’t music. It filled her mind, dominated it, protected it. It pulled her spirit back from the brink before it could teeter off the edge and plunge into the infinite black on the other side. It filled her flesh and set her hairs quivering like piano strings. She had the vague feeling it was pulling the discordant pieces of her being together like a conductor guiding the sections of his orchestra into one great crescendo, but she had no idea when the buildup began nor any idea when it would end. All she knew was that it was comforting. And then she was lost to the crystal melody again, unable to do anything except experience song in its purest form. ----- Rainbow Dash returned to the survivors’ camp in a daze. Her mind tried to play through every possible scenario, considering what she had seen. Her feathers still clutched at the purple hair, like she was afraid that if she let it go, she’d lose Rarity entirely. That single purple hair was all she had left of her marefriend, all she could salvage from a stain of dried blood on the sand. What had happened to her? She’d done a little more looking around the beach before returning to the camp, but hadn’t been able to come up with an answer. Somehow, Rarity had escaped from beneath the earth, but she’d been badly wounded and losing blood. She’d tried to make it to their supplies on the beach, but she’d collapsed before she could reach them. Then, sometime after her collapse, something took her and left an arrow pointing across the sea. Whatever had taken her was intelligent enough to leave a message, and it wanted other ponies to know where they’d gone. Or at least, that’s what Rainbow thought. If the shells had been placed there in another way or for another reason, then the southernmost island was just a red herring, a false lead. But why would it be anything other than a pointer, a message left to ponies who would come looking for Rarity? “Rainbow!” It was Gyro, her voice snapping Rainbow out of her listless wandering and confusion. While the rest of the ponies around the camp were focused on gathering their supplies for the exodus, Gyro remained motionless near the doctor’s hut. Rainbow had a feeling the mare would’ve come galloping over to her as soon as she’d landed, but with still being bedridden as she was, that was simply an impossibility. “What’d you find, Rainbow?” Gyro asked once the pegasus moved closer. She frowned, her gray muzzle momentarily scrunching, and she saw how Rainbow’s feathers played with a thread she could hardly make out. “You’ve got something in your wing, but you’re standing too close for me to see what it is. Farsighted, remember?” “Rarity,” Rainbow said. “She was at the beach.” “She was?” Gyro gasped, noting the obvious absence next to Rainbow. “She’s not…?” “I don’t know,” Rainbow admitted. “She wasn’t there when I found one of her tail hairs. I only knew she was there because of it and the blood.” She shook her head. “She escaped the tomb somehow, but something happened to her. She was hurt. Really hurt. And now I don’t know what happened to her.” Gyro bit on her lip and looked away. “She didn’t… wander off someplace else, did she?” “Not on her own, I don’t think,” Rainbow said. “Something took her across the ocean. Whatever it was, it left an arrow pointing at the only island we haven’t been to yet. I don’t know why or if we’ll even find Rarity there, but it’s the only thing I have to go off of.” “But why would something do that?” Gyro asked. “What would even do that? Just take her and disappear with only a simple message to leave behind?” “I don’t know,” Rainbow said. “And I don’t even know if it was a good thing or not. Rarity might have been dying and they took her someplace safe to heal her. I just… I don’t know.” She flexed her wings and turned around, eyes focused on the southeast. “But I do know that I’m going to find out. I’ll grab some supplies and fly over there as soon as I can. If Rarity’s there, I’ll find her. I promise you that.” “You’re just going to fly over there? Alone?” Gyro shook her head. “You should at least take a party with you. After we get everypony moved safely to our home island, then you can use the raft to bring a bunch over to the south island.” “No.” Rainbow adamantly stomped her hoof. “I’ve gotten enough ponies killed with my stupid plans. I’m going to do this alone.” “You’ll get yourself killed if you go alone. And we can’t afford to lose you.” Sighing, Gyro added, “Don’t blame yourself for it, Rainbow. Going by yourself isn’t going to accomplish anything except put you in even more danger. If something happens to you over there, nopony else will know about it.” “If something happens to me over there, nopony else will go down with me.” Gyro rolled her eyes. “Whatever it is, it can wait. At least a day. Help everypony get back to our island, and I can help them get settled in. Then you can talk about this trip of yours some more. In the meanwhile, at least use the time you have to think about it first, okay?” Rainbow frowned down the length of her muzzle, and ultimately gave a noncommittal shrug. “I don’t make any promises.” “Yes, I know, because you’re you.” Gyro managed to turn her exasperation into a chuckle. “I get it, Rainbow, I do, just… one thing at a time. We owe it to the rest of these ponies to at least help them get situated after relocating and everything. We’re their only bet for salvation.” Ultimately, Rainbow shrugged and sat down across from Gyro. “I… guess. I just… I hate waiting.” “It’ll just make your reunion all the more sweet,” Gyro insisted. “Then when you meet again you can smash your filly bits together and stuff. Hopefully she won’t cuntblock you by sleeping through your reunion.” She glared back at the hut, where Hot Coals still remained oblivious to the world. “One way or another, I’m gonna ride his dick into heaven when he wakes up.” “You think he’ll still be interested?” Rainbow asked. She immediately winced and realized she’d said the wrong thing when she saw the look of worry flash across Gyro’s face. “I-I mean, I’m sure he will, it’s just… I think you two have a bunch of catching up to do before you get to that.” “Yeah…” Gyro sighed and put her head back down on her forelegs. “That we do. Hopefully it’ll be a good talk. At this point, I’d just love the chance to talk to him at all. Anything would be good.” “Do you talk to him?” Rainbow asked. “Like, even though he’s unconscious and stuff?” “I did a bit,” Gyro admitted. “Don’t know if he heard any of it. But… it’s nice to imagine.” Her eyes drifted across the camp, and Rainbow followed them to find Ratchet moving a crate of rations out from under a simple shelter. “You should probably report in to the head honcho,” Gyro said. “Let him know the raft’s in one piece. He can get a team over to recover it if you show them where it is.” Rainbow nodded and stood up. “Good idea, I guess,” she said. Then, nodding to Gyro, she set off across the sands, her feathers still toying with Rarity’s tail hair. Soon, she hoped. Soon, she’d be reunited with her beautiful seamstress. She just hoped it would be a happy reunion and not a burial.