Surviving Sand Island

by The 24th Pegasus

Curiosity Killed the Pegasus

The shattered island chain was unlike anything Rainbow had experienced before. The closest comparison she could draw was to a lush jungle valley that she’d seen during one of her many excursions with Daring Do. The islands here were dense with foliage and crooked trees growing at angles out of sloped rocks, with moss-covered boulders precariously perched on rocky outcroppings, a single nudge or strong gust of wind from rolling down the mountain slope. All the vegetation seemed to contribute to the humidity, and a fine layer of mist seemed to cling to the side of the east mountain. Which was impossible, given that the sun should have burned it away and there weren’t any other tall peaks to keep it contained, but there it was. Rainbow Dash, despite being an experienced weathermare, couldn’t think of any explanation for it.

The noise of the birds and the wildlife was nearly deafening compared to the relative calm and stillness of their home island or the empty whistling wind over the open seas. Every which way Rainbow looked, she could see a flock of colorful parrots moving from tree to tree or smaller mammals scurrying through the undergrowth. Something shrieked and called out in the distance, unlike any bird or animal Rainbow had ever heard before. Whatever it was, Rainbow had no doubt it was exotic.

But the deeper into the island fragments she flew, the more she realized she had a problem. The trees grew so vigorously on the rich volcanic ash that made up the soil of the islands that it was hard to pick out the contour of the land apart from the higher slopes of the remaining mountain. Sometimes the islands were separated only by little channels, and sometimes those channels could be completely covered by trees leaning over the water from opposite shores. Unlike the minotaur island, which was more sparse in its vegetation, or their home island, which was simply small and starved for nutrients, the canopy here was too thick for Rainbow to peer through from far above. The only chance she had of getting a lay of the land was to drop lower beneath the leaves. And given that she didn’t know exactly where the strange sound had come from, she was reluctant to trade her mobility for closer inspection of the land.

Yet she eventually realized she had to if she wanted to figure out what was happening behind the trees. With no visible distinctions between one cluster of trees and another to guide her, Rainbow took her best guess as to where the sound had come from, tucked her wings in at her sides, and plunged through the trees.

Moments later, she flared them and came to a stop on damp, muddy ground. Her hooves sank half an inch into the ashy muck, and she grimaced as a cool, moist feeling settled in the frogs. The air was even more oppressive and humid here, trapped beneath the dense and shadowy foliage of the craning palm trees, and she knew she’d be covered in sweat inside of ten minutes. The shadows and shifting spots of light through the swaying palm fronds were deceptive and messed with Rainbow’s depth perception a surprising amount. And the noise, once merely below her, had enveloped her, swallowed her whole.

In short, she felt disoriented and confused. But, with a steady breath, she reminded herself that she could always fly upwards if she got lost and find her way back. Not that she was too keen on flying again after all the strain and exercise she’d put on her wings over the past few hours. Her left wing ached and felt as stiff as a board. She couldn’t even get it to fold properly against her side, so she kept the crest angled out from her shoulders as she walked. It put her slightly off balance, but she managed. She was too stubborn to admit otherwise, anyway.

She kept her head on a swivel as she walked, eyes peeled for anything that might jump out of the shadows of the jungle and attack her. She kept an ear trained on the noise of the wildlife; she knew from experience with Fluttershy that they knew better than ponies did when something bad was about to happen or when something not normal approached. She could hear birds going quiet as she moved near their trees, only for them to start singing again once she passed. They’d be a decent alarm if something was creeping up on her and give her time to take off into the sky.

The ground was rough and uneven here, and much like the spires of stone she’d seen when approaching the island, numerous oblong and shattered fragments of rocks jutted out of the ground seemingly at random. While the trees tried to paint a different story, if Rainbow looked at the ground and at the topography she could tell that she was standing on the ruins of something that cataclysmically destroyed itself unfathomable numbers of years ago. It was a surreal feeling, like she was someplace that she knew she shouldn’t be, simply because it shouldn’t exist.

Despite the shipwreck wedged between two spires at the fringes of the island, it seemed like the big island Rainbow had landed on was uninhabited, untouched by pony hooves. Or minotaur hooves, for that matter. There weren’t any hoofprints in the muck, there weren’t any obviously felled trees or tree stumps sticking out of the ground. At one point, Rainbow gasped in excitement when she saw a pair of old trees lying side by side on the ground, but on closer inspection, she noticed that one had broken near the base and had knocked the other over, leaving their splintered stumps jutting out into the air. Nothing unnatural there, just the work of a particularly violent storm.

Almost through sheer luck, her eyes happened to wander over a thick tree that looked… odd to her. Blinking, she shook her head and trotted closer. A couple of feet off the ground, almost at her eye level, a portion of the bark had been scoured away. She frowned as she lowered her brow and leaned in closer. Something had struck the tree at a near-glancing angle, sending splinters of wood flying and cratering the side of the trunk. Those same splinters rested on the ground by her hooves, and when she lifted one up with her wingtip, the wood was still fresh and the ends were still jagged. It hadn’t had time to weather and begin to rot in the rain and elements that had worn down the fallen trees behind her.

She flicked the wood splinter aside and peered at the wound in the tree. After a moment, she hummed and angled her head to the side. There was something embedded in the tree, and it glinted slightly in the dim light piercing through the canopy. Was that a bit of metal? A bit of… lead?

Her ears twitched and she blinked at the silence around her. The wildlife had gone silent. The birds weren’t singing, and the critters weren’t scurrying. And as her ears pivoted back and forth, it was more of the same up and down the forest.

Swallowing hard, she turned around.

A length of wood aimed at her face was the last thing she saw.

Comments

[Merlin Prime]

Please tell me that the chapter title IS NOT being used literally??

[Love Moth]

I'm hoping the rest of the saying will be the next chapter

[Flare]

Well that chapter name is pretty ominous I must say.

[Neece]

8608424
The lack of the Tragedy tag does indicate it's the case, yes.

[Aurora Dimmet]

Yar har fiddle-dee-dee.

[Elsaack]

vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/residentevil/images/c/c0/You_dies_RE_wiki.png/revision/latest?cb=20110430060844
Well, now it's back down to two little ponies.

[RoboRed]

Well, shiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeet.

[Merula]

Well, shit

[zaponator]

Rainbow died. The end.

But actually, someone shot a gun in those woods and hit the tree. Probably a pirate, but not necessarily. Someone's got a gun though so that's concerning.

[Eroraf86]

Don’t you know? You never split the party!