Not even a minute later, Rainbow Dash touched down in the middle of the camp. Though sunrise had already happened a few hours ago, it seemed like everypony had decided to be just as lazy as her. Case in point, they were only just starting to serve breakfast. At this hour, Rainbow figured it was probably a brunch. That put a little grin on her face; she loved brunch. It was an excuse to eat two meals in one sitting. For a mare who always kept herself to a busy schedule of training, goofing off, and napping, it helped free up a little more time in her day.
Of course, free time wasn’t something that she had to worry about too much out here on the islands. Without the trappings of modern society, there were only the bare essentials of survival to occupy her time, plus searching for a way back home. Between those two things, that still left a lot of free time that would otherwise pass by in boredom. Maybe she could try to organize a few buckball games the next time they weren’t doing anything. With a coconut as the ball and some palm frond baskets as the goals, they had everything they needed to pull it off.
Champagne nudged Rainbow’s shoulder, snapping her out of her thoughts. “Some food?” she asked, offering a simple bowl to Rainbow. “It’s just plain oatmeal, but there’s some fruit to top it with if you want. You’ll have to forgive us; we don’t have any brown sugar out here, if that’s how you like your oats.”
Rainbow smirked and happily snatched the bowl in her wing. “Eh, what can you do?” she asked, peering into the bowl. Brown sugar or no, the oatmeal certainly smelled delicious, and Champagne had already given her a pretty good idea: topping the bowl with some fruit. Thanking the Prench mare for the food, Rainbow trotted past her and to one of the huts, where she fished out some drying fruit from one of the baskets and dropped a few sugar apple cloves into her coconut half shell. Sure, it was crude, but appearances didn’t affect taste at all.
Minutes later, with a decent enough brunch to much on in addition to the sand crabs she’d devoured that morning, Rainbow made her way down to the beach, where a small crowd of survivors was already growing. There, she saw Melody and Rarity working on a haul of seafood for their own breakfast, while some of the survivors watched with morbid curiosity. While Melody of course didn’t care about ripping apart meat with her teeth, Rainbow had to try very hard to suppress a giggle at Rarity’s expression. She knew that Rarity didn’t really want to tear into fish with her teeth but was only doing so because she had to to survive. Sirens were carnivores, and Rainbow knew Rarity certainly wouldn’t get very far by trying to strip the island of all its fruit for a single meal.
She made her way to Rarity’s side and sat down on the sand, making sure to stay upwind of the pile of fish Melody had brought to the beach. Rarity decided to use her presence as an opportunity to distract herself from the laborious task of eating meat and set aside the tuna she was eating in favor of conversation. “I wish I could eat oats,” she said, eyeing Rainbow’s bowl.
“I’d trade you but I don’t think you’d get very far,” Rainbow said.
Melody shook her head. “It can’t be that bad,” she said. Fish bones crunched in her beak as she finished off the rest of a tuna. “The tuna here is really meaty. I’m just glad that there’s a school that stays close enough to the islands for me to lure in with a song.”
“It’s all in your head, Rarity,” Gyro said, sitting not too far away. Rainbow noted with some excitement that the mare had seemed to develop enough back strength to sit up on her own without using her forelegs to support her. “Just pretend it’s a big, juicy, uhh… apple or something.”
“It certainly doesn’t crunch like an apple,” Rarity grumbled, “even if it does taste good.”
“If it tastes good, why all the fuss?” Coals asked, positioned by Gyro’s side.
“Because it’s the principle of the thing.”
Rainbow snickered and took a few more bites from her bowl. “Always the drama queen, right, Rares?”
“It’s less drama and more that I’m trying to maintain some of my equine standards while in this body.” Rarity sighed and splashed her fin in the water. “I dearly hope you can change me back after we go exploring the sunken temple some more, Melody.”
“And I thought you were enjoying yourself,” Melody said.
“The novelty is beginning to wear off, I fear.” Rarity shrugged. “There are advantages for each of my forms, but returning to the comfort and familiarity of my pony self would be wonderful.”
“She just doesn’t want to get too used to being a siren,” Gyro said, her lips quivering and creeping into an amused smile. “She might end up preferring it.”
Rainbow Dash snickered at that, though movement through the undergrowth toward the north side of the island caught her eye. Raising an eyebrow, she saw Black Flag slowly blundering his way out of the interior of the island and emerging on the beach. The pirate held his face in a perpetual grimace, and judging by the way he walked, Rainbow figured he must have been vvery badly hungover. Smirking, Rainbow set her bowl down on the sand and crossed her forelegs as the pirate trudged closer. “Sorry, but we don’t have any coffee for that hangover of yours. You’re on your own.”
“Fuck off,” Flag grumbled, ultimately sitting on his flank not too far from the ponies and sirens gathered on the beach. Groaning, he flopped down onto the sand, his cheek resting on the sun-warmed sediment. “If somepony could bring me something to eat, it would be very much appreciated.”
Rainbow glanced at Champagne, who was merely watching what was happening on the beach out of curiosity. “Hey, Champagne, can you get him some oatmeal?” she asked the Prench mare. “He could really use something to eat.”
Champagne nodded and disappeared back through the trees separating the camp from the beach, and Rainbow chuckled at the pirate. “Did you learn your lesson?”
“Mmmrrrff… Fuck off, again. And no.”
“At least he’s getting what he deserves,” Rarity observed.
Black Flag managed to lift his eyes enough to spy the two sirens watching him from afar. “If you’re planning on eating me, just do it now and get it over with,” he said. “I’d rather die too hungover to care about it than when I’m sober enough to worry about it.”
“Dude, we’re not gonna kill you,” Rainbow said, shaking her head. “I’ve been trying to make that clear since we started working together. Sure, we got off to a rocky start, but right now, we need everypony’s help. And I’m still looking to get all of us back to Equestria safe and sound when this is all done with.”
The pirate flicked his tail across the sand. “Well… good to hear from you. But what about the rest of your friends?”
Rainbow glared at Gyro, who was currently frowning at the pirate with borderline murderous intent. “They’re not going to hurt you or your brother, either,” she said, making sure to get a nod of reluctant agreement from the gray mare. But as soon as she said that, she turned back towards the interior of the island and cocked an eyebrow. “Speaking of which, where is your brother, anyway?”