Surviving Sand Island

by The 24th Pegasus

A Ship on the Horizon

A stick of charcoal gracefully flowed over a sheet of paper. Lines joined other lines, creating one smooth, flowing form. A breeze tugged on the corner of the paper, but a white hoof smoothed it back down.

Rarity hummed to herself as she finished her sketch. Long but airy and light dresses would be the next trend come the fall, and she wanted to design something with a little loft to it. The dress she’d quickly sketched on the piece of paper in front of her, pinned to a board with some clips, had a short piece that covered the breast before smoothing into a series of delicate layers that fell down from a mare’s flanks. They were almost like the petals of a flower, or the leaves of a tree right before the Running of the Leaves.

“Beautiful,” Rarity hummed to herself, unclipping the design and placing it into her portfolio. The key was to get the general design down now, then set them aside and worry about the details like embellishments and stitching patterns later. She could do that on the return trip from the Confederacy.

She took a sip from her glass, this time filled with water instead of wine. She’d had enough of that last night with Rainbow Dash, and even if her head didn’t hurt too bad, she didn’t want to push her luck. Her liver already had enough of dealing with the toxins she’d been ingesting, and she didn’t need to add to its worries. Besides, she already knew that she wouldn’t be able to help herself when tempted again tonight.

But at least she’d been right. Rainbow’s balcony was the perfect place to sit and work on her designs. It wasn’t too windy since it was at the stern of the ship, sheltered from the headwinds, but still open and airy enough to get a gentle breeze. Far below, the vast and empty ocean drifted by. Occasionally she’d see a splash of white and green amidst the deep blue, but there weren’t many islands to be seen this far from Equestria. Most of the islands were far to the south, and the Concordia wouldn’t be passing over them.

Another sip, and Rarity let her eyes wander across the distant horizon. They were still well below the clouds—the airships never went that high—and the sky was dotted with all sorts of puffy white cotton balls. Still, they were starting to show up pretty thick. There was definitely a storm brewing to the south; if she leaned over the railing and looked to her left, it was almost like looking at a fluffy white and gray blanket. But if Rainbow said that the storm wasn’t going to catch them, then she had nothing to worry about.

Rarity’s ears perked at the door to Rainbow’s suite opening, and she looked over her shoulder through the windows into the main room. It was Rainbow Dash, as she expected, and the pegasus was covered in sweat and still panting lightly. Rarity expected her to go straight for the showers, but instead, she joined her on the balcony. “Hey, Rares.”

“Hello, Rainbow,” Rarity said with a cheery lilt. “How was your workout?”

Rainbow Dash wiped her forehead with a towel, trying to mop up some of her sweat. “Eh. Flying in a fitness center isn’t anywhere near as good as flying under the open skies. I thought I was gonna break the elastic bands on my legs; they only barely held me in place while I stretched my wings.”

“I’m sure you could’ve really broken them had you tried your hardest,” Rarity said, to which Rainbow nodded.

“Yeah, but I don’t think they’d appreciate it too much if I did that.” She shook out her wings, and Rarity flinched in disgust when sweat droplets pelted her shoulders. Rainbow snickered and covered her muzzle. “Oh, uh, sorry, Rares.” Snickering again, she stretched her wings out to their full glory. “It was a good workout, though.”

“Yes, and I can tell that you need a shower,” Rarity said. “Or were you going to stand out here and air dry? Quite frankly, darling, you smell horrid.”

Rainbow smirked. “That’s just the smell of awesome!” She held a wing toward Rarity. “You sure you don’t want a whiff?”

“Rainbow, if you try to put your sweaty wings in my face, I will clip them and throw you overboard.”

“Alright, alright, fine,” Rainbow said, folding her wings up. She took a step back and glanced at Rarity’s portfolio, lying open on the table next to her. “Looks like you’ve been busy.”

“Only four dresses so far,” Rarity admitted, paging through the portfolio with her magic. “Sometimes I just get lost staring at the beauty of the sea. It’s vast and perfect, like a roughened sapphire.” After a moment, she tapped her chin. “Do you think there are seaponies out there?”

“Beats me.” Rainbow shrugged and turned around, though she put her hoof on the doorframe before entering. “Wanna go chill on the decks when I get out of the shower? I wanna get some sun before the clouds cover it up.”

Rarity smiled at her. “I think that would be splendid, darling. I am starting to get hungry for lunch, after all.”

“Cool, sounds great!”

Rainbow dashed off to the shower, slowing only long enough to dump her things on the nearby couch. Meanwhile, Rarity closed her portfolio and hefted her supplies back inside. She didn’t want them to blow away in the wind, what little of it there was. Better safe than sorry.

A distant horn wailed somewhere on the horizon as Rarity tucked her things safely inside the door: three short, three long, three short. At first, the fashionista didn’t think anything of it, but then a much louder horn answered, shaking her very bones. It must’ve been the Concordia’s horn, and she felt the great airship shake as its engines changed course.

Rainbow Dash stuck her head out of the bathroom, mane still dripping with water from the shower. “What was that?” she asked, and she looked around her room to make sure that nothing was on fire or had otherwise changed in the suite.

“I don’t exactly know, darling,” Rarity said, “but there was another horn before that one. From another ship, maybe.”

“Another ship?” Rainbow ducked back inside the bathroom, and a moment later she opened the door again, tossing a damp towel on the floor. “Awesome! Wanna go see?”

“I mean, well, I’m certainly interested, but—”

“Cool! Let’s hit it!” And with little more than that, Rainbow threw open the door to her suite and fluttered down the hall.

Sighing, Rarity followed her. “Do wait up, Rainbow,” she said with a little shake of her head. “It’s probably nothing to get excited about.”

But a part of her wondered if she was wrong.

Comments

[FloydienSlip]

Oh shiiiiiiiit.

[Neece]

Oh, finally! Well, not that their time on the ship hadn't been cute and all, but I want to get to the meat if it too

[PonySage86]

Is it Sky pirates?
Is it bad that I hope it's sky pirates?

[RoboRed]

Fun times, dead ahead.

[Czar_Yoshi]

Rainbow dashed off to the shower

[Sir Budginton]

You ever read a chapter where nothing super interesting happens for most of it but the chapter title obviously doesn't mean anything good. This was one of those chapters, I could feel my heart rate increasing only half way through.

[Snow]

Three short, three long, three short?

. . . - - - . . .
An SOS!

(I mean obviously)

[Merula]

Three short, three lobg, three short bursts again?

If I know my morse, shits about to hit the fan

[Vibrant lies]

This story’s pretty good, but the chapters are too short. I’ve noticed several that shouldn’t have been split.

[Matthewl419]

8702997
To be fair, he is writing this as a chapter-a-day writing challenge.

[Zac9087]

welp...looks like shit's hitting the fan, better watch out you two! I think you're gonna be landing sooner then expected, also nice touch on the morse code

[psychosis]

8594409
You know, it's a sad reminder of the state of my mind that immediately after recognizing the Morse code pattern, I now have Rhianna stuck in my head.