Surviving Sand Island

by The 24th Pegasus

A Little Ingenuity

Gyro’s ears perked as approaching noises took her out of her daydreams. Groaning and shifting, she managed to raise her upper body enough to peer through the brush and spot Rarity returning along the beach. A minute later, the plants shifted, and Rarity made her way into their little sheltered campsite with a sack clutched between her teeth.

“Good haul?” Gyro asked, watching as Rarity spat the sack out and wiped some sweat off her face. “Looks like you’ve got a ton of crap in that sack.”

“There was a lot of debris and detritus to pick from, and I still left most of it in a hiding spot near the wreckage,” Rarity said. Sitting down across from Gyro, she opened the sack and dumped out some of the things she’d collected. “I found plenty of wood, metal, and wire. I was worried about the wire, but I found a spool in a box.”

“Yeah, that’s the stuff that we use to patch tears in the balloon,” Gyro said. “You can’t use rope or thread because it’s too weak. Steel wire is flexible and strong.” She blinked. “What are you gonna use it for?”

But Rarity just smiled at Gyro. “I have a few ideas. I still need to do a little testing before I find what works the best. But it will help us free Rainbow from her captors. Hopefully.”

Gyro narrowed her eyes. “You do know what you’re doing, right?”

Rarity sighed and pawed at some of the scrap on the ground. “An idea of sorts, but I don’t know how well it will work.”

“Well, what’s the plan?”

Rarity picked up the spool of wire in her hoof and spun it around. “The pirates have their camp, yes? And Rainbow’s there. But it’s not like I can just fight my way through all of them to get to her. I need to clear them out before I can rescue her.”

Gyro lifted one of the metal panels with a forehoof, only to let it fall to the ground seconds later. “So, what? You’re gonna draw them out with a bunch of noise?”

“That was the idea,” Rarity said. “Last night, I slipped on a rock and had four pirates after me. Imagine what I could do with a lot more noise.”

“I mean, maybe.” Gyro shrugged. “But how are you gonna do that?”

“With lots of metal and wooden panels connected by wire and rope,” Rarity said. “That way I can set them off at a distance and move in close once they’re gone. Apart from trying to fight my way through who knows how many of them, that’s the only way I feasibly have a chance at getting Rainbow out of there safely.”

Gyro’s teeth tugged at her lip. “I guess you’re right,” she said. “How are you gonna rig it up, though?”

“My best guess was to try and get the rope up in the trees and hang it, that way the pirates wouldn’t notice it late at night.” Rarity turned her eyes up along the length of her horn, where a feeble blue glow built up for a few seconds before it vanished with a wince from the fashionista. “My magic is recovering. I should have my telekinesis back tonight so long as I rest my horn. I just have to be careful with it.”

Then Rarity opened up the bag some more and pulled out a few thin pieces of wood and some gears. “I got something else, though. Something for you. There’s just a little assembly required.”

Rarity started lying out the pieces in the sand with her hooves. “Your legs might not work now, but that shouldn’t mean you’re stuck in one place. Especially not somewhere as dangerous as this.”

Gyro blinked and her mouth hung agape for a few seconds. “You’re making a crutch? For me?”

“I’m not sure how well it will perform in the sand with nothing but gears for wheels, but it should at least provide your back end with enough support that you can pull yourself along with your forehooves.” Rarity picked up some pieces with her hooves and stuck her tongue out to the side as she eyeballed measurements. “We need to get you to move again, Gyro. I want to see you move again. I won’t be able to forgive myself if my mistake forces you to live like this for the rest of your life.”

“Rarity, it’s not your fault.” With some effort, Gyro managed to sit up and reach a hoof across the sand to touch Rarity’s shoulder. “Stop blaming yourself, okay? None of this is your fault. I knew what I was doing when I got into the wreck. Rainbow knew what she was doing when she flew off on her own to explore the island some more or something.” A beat, and then she added with a bitter laugh, “Though I don’t think Rainbow ever really knows what she’s doing at any given moment, so who am I to say?”

“That’s not funny,” Rarity said. The unicorn’s eyes fell and Rarity pawed at the sand. “Regardless of whether or not this calamity is my fault, I still feel like I owe you. So please let me build this for you so you can walk again.”

Gyro laughed and held up her hooves. “Hey, I wasn’t turning down your gift. I like being able to walk and go places too, you know. And I know you like, get off to generosity or something like that.”

Rarity rolled her eyes. “I wouldn’t quite use that sort of language to describe it…”

“Draining the swamp, then?”

“…I can’t say I’ve heard that one before,” Rarity said, looking more confused than anything else.

Gyro chuckled. “I’m from Baltimare, remember? It’s kinda swampy outside the city limits. And teenagers are the worst thing ponies ever invented.”

“My younger sister is beginning to enter her adolescent years. I’m starting to agree.” Sighing, Rarity shook her head. “More importantly, I got the material to build you a walker or whatever it is you call it because I need your help to pull this plan off.”

“My help? What could the crippled mare possible do to help?” Gyro raised an eyebrow. “Be bait? I’m really good at not moving and being helpless. It’s a hobby I picked up recently.”

Rarity shook her head. “Not that, and it wouldn’t put you in any danger.” Then, smiling, she dropped a loop or rope in front of the engineer. “Somepony has to work the distraction while I slip into the camp and save Rainbow.”

Comments

[bahatumay]

Just watched The Last Jedi and the thought of all these unspoken plans going on at once means I have to say…
I've got a bad feeling about this.

[Aurora Dimmet]

8649102

Trope law states that any plan described in front of the camera is not going to work as described and will be foiled at some point, even if it all turns out well in the end the plan will still crash and burn.

A plan agreed upon off-screen will look like it fails, but then the real plan will become obvious when the 'fail' happens because that was the trigger for the plan to get underway, and success is basically guaranteed.

[Snowdrifter]

Once Gyro is mobile, I see her improving Rarity's concept into a tank mecha hybrid so they can throw Squall and her fellow pirates a surprise party.

As in, surprise, you're dead!

[PonyDragon]

Well, let's hope this plan works...

[zaponator]

Wouldn't it be hilarious if Rarity manages to make it into the camp and finds only one guard left after the distraction, but the guard is menacingly rushing towards Rainbow, so Rarity makes a huge decision and stabs him with a spear, killing him instantly, only for Rainbow to be like "dude wtf? That was Hot Coals!"?

I think that'd be hilarious.

[Sidetrack]

8653865
Dark humor is like food. Not everypony gets it.