Surviving Sand Island

by The 24th Pegasus

Skyward

“But I mean, like, they’re clouds, you know? I don’t see how anypony could be traumatized by them, especially if they’re a pegasus!”

The elevator doors opened on the VIP deck of the Concordia, and out stepped Rainbow Dash and Rarity. The unicorn opened her mouth to respond to Rainbow, but instead cooed at the sights around her. Instead of two long halls running along opposite sides of the ship, the VIP deck only had one wide open hall through its middle, with brass doors inlaid with gold leaf lining both sides. Chandeliers hung from the ceiling, casting sparkling light on the blue carpet through crystal casings, while lavish paintings covered the walls. Every so often, the hallway opened up on either side to make room for a small seating area with a clear view of massive floor to ceiling windows.

“Oh my heavens, Rainbow! This is beautiful!” Rarity giggled and trotted into the room, her head spinning from side to side as she tried to take everything in. “The colors, the décor! How renaissance classique!” She turned to Rainbow, eyes sparkling. “How can you not be impressed by something as lavish as this?”

“Meh,” Rainbow shrugged. “I mean, I live in a pretty swanky house myself. I kinda get used to seeing stuff like this every day.”

Rarity rolled her eyes. “Of course. Celestia only knows how you afford that thing.”

“I don’t have to pay anything on it,” Rainbow said, casually glancing out a nearby window. The green hills of Equestria had begun to take on an amber sheen as the Concordia soared above them with the sun setting to its stern. “My dad’s an architect, and my grandpa’s an engineer. They designed and built the thing for me for my sixteenth birthday.”

Rarity’s jaw dropped. “You got a house for your sixteenth birthday?!” She couldn’t believe that Rainbow Dash of all ponies was lucky enough to have parents so wealthy they could just build a house for her like it was nothing. Although, Rarity’s parents had footed a rather impressive investment in her business when she first started it for her sixteenth birthday, but Rarity had paid them back with a ten percent interest, and they still held five percent of her company holdings. Which, in other words, meant that she wrote them a check for a few thousand bits every year for Hearth’s Warming.

“I mean, it’s just a house,” Rainbow said.

“A very big and impressive one!” Rarity protested. “How come you never told us?”

Rainbow blinked. “Uh… told you what?”

“About your family!” Rarity exclaimed. She trotted back towards Rainbow Dash and poked her in the ribs. “In all the years I’ve known you, I think you’ve said a total of ten words about your family. I didn’t know they were wealthy!”

“Yeah, so?” Rainbow asked, raising an eyebrow. “Who cares what my parents do or how rich they are? I don’t want ponies to know me because of them. I want ponies to know me because of me.” She smiled and flicked Rarity’s nose with a wingtip. “Also, they’re... kind of a little too into the whole ‘supportive’ thing. That’s why I never bring them up. Now come on, let’s see this room you’re so desperate to see.”

Rainbow trotted past Rarity, leaving the unicorn to sputter and fluster in her wake. “I’m not desperate to see it!” she exclaimed, stomping after Rainbow. “I just said I wanted to take a peek at what those rooms were like!”

“Uh huh,” Rainbow teased, smirking as she trotted up to the door at the very end of the hall. She dug her hoof into the ends of her mane and pulled out her key, then jammed it into the door.

Rarity stuck her tongue out and cringed. “You keep things in your mane?!”

“Well where else am I supposed to keep it?!” Rainbow exclaimed. “I don’t usually wear clothes!”

The corner of Rarity’s mouth twitched and she glared off to the side. “This is why I insist that dresses can be practical as well as fashionable, darling.”

“Well, duh, yeah,” Rainbow said, twisting the key in its hole. “Pockets are a miracle when you have ‘em.”

Rarity didn’t even notice Rainbow open the door; she was still trying to process what she’d said. “Wait… you admit that dresses are good for something?”

“Yeah, so?”

“I just…” Rarity stammered, then shook her head. “I’m just surprised, honestly. I thought you hated dresses!”

“I have to wear formal stuff for Wonderbolts appearances all the time, but just because I said they can be useful and stuff doesn’t mean I like them,” Rainbow said. Rolling her eyes, she nudged the door open a bit more. “Are we gonna stand here all night or what?”

“R-Right. Of course.” Rarity tossed her mane back into place and trotted into Rainbow’s room with her head held high. “I do want to see your room after alllawahaahaaah!!!” For the second time that night, Rarity found herself cooing and ogling the decorations around her. “How did they fit this onto an airship?!”

‘This’ was the luxury suite Rainbow Dash had managed to land herself with the CWC company card. It wouldn’t be fair to call it a room, because it was more than that. The door opened into a spacious living room, replete with faux leather couches and glass reading tables. From there, the main space branched off into a bedroom with a king-sized bed on the left and a master bathroom with a Jacuzzi and walk-in shower on the right. Opposite the entrance, large glass doors slid open to a balcony looking over the stern of the ship.

Rarity immediately trotted through those doors and placed her hooves on the railing. The balcony was framed on either side by the bulwarks of the ship, which rose to meet the floor of the captain’s quarters directly above it, yet was spacious enough to hold six ponies across and two ponies deep with plenty of elbow room. The winds this high up batted with Rarity’s coiled mane, making her feel like she was a pegasus. With the sun shedding amber light on the farmlands of Equestria far below them, it wasn’t too hard for Rarity to buy that illusion.

Hoofsteps heralded Rainbow’s egress onto the balcony, and Rarity whirled to her. “Rainbow, darling, this is simply amazing. I can see why this is the most expensive room on the whole ship! Why, if I could afford it, I’d live like this for the rest of my days!”

“Yeah, it’s pretty nifty,” Rainbow said, resting her forelimbs on the railing. “And it’s a great takeoff point for flying. Plenty of space, little wind, and sheltered from the elements. I’ll get good use out of it.”

“But I thought that pegasi weren’t allowed to disembark from the airship at any time during the flight,” Rarity said, frowning at Rainbow. “Otherwise they’ll be refused reentry.”

Rainbow snorted and waved her hoof. “Yeah, like anypony’s going to be able to stop me. I’m the fastest flier in Equestria; they won’t even know I’m gone!”

Rarity swatted Rainbow with a magazine she picked up from the nearby reading table. “Rainbow Dash, you will not leave this ship on some daredevil joyflight. There are ponies counting on you to go to the Confederacy and do your job, and you can’t jeopardize their trust in you because you’re bored.”

Rainbow rubbed the back of her head. “You just want to use the room.”

“And I want to use the room,” Rarity admitted, swatting Rainbow again. “Mostly the balcony. I don’t think I’ll find a more pure haven of inspiration on the whole ship.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Fine. I’ll find some other way to entertain myself then.” She trotted back into the living room and began to dig through the cabinets until she found the hidden minifridge. Glasses clinked together as she rifled through the contents until she pulled out a glass bottle and set it on the table behind her. Taking a bottle opener in one hoof, she popped the cap off and walked back to Rarity. “At least there’s booze. Want any?”

Rarity looked at the brown bottle with disgust and shook her head. “Thank you, but no. I’d rather drink some fine wines than something like…” She squinted as she tried to make out the name on the bottle. “…Boars Light. That is for frat colts and sorority fillies at a party campus, not a designer like myself.”

Rainbow blinked and stared at Rarity. “There’s wine in the fridge if you want that,” she deadpanned.

Rarity bit her lip. “I don’t know, I know companies like this charge you for everything you take out of the fridge. I wouldn’t want to do that to you.”

The pegasus took a big gulp from her beer, wiped her lips, and belched, much to Rarity’s horror. Shrugging, she looked at the print on the bottle. “I mean, it’s all going to go on the company card.”

“In that case…”

Rainbow’s eyebrow crawled up her face. “You sure?”

“…Gimme.”

Comments

[PonySage86]

“But I mean, like, they’re clouds , you know? I don’t see how anypony could be traumatized by them, especially if they’re a pegasus!”

I would absolutely LOVE to know the context of that line.

[ZanyZapper]

8429674
I think this is a reference to an earlier gen pony Thistle Whistle. I know she was in "A Very Minty Christmas." How she came up in their conversation here is up to our imagination I suppose.

[Frustration in Excelsis]

“Yeah, so?” Rainbow asked, raising an eyebrow. “Who cares what my parents do or how rich they are? I don’t want ponies to know me because of them. I want ponies to know me because of me.” She smiled and flicked Rarity’s nose with a wingtip. “Also, they’re... kind of a little too into the whole ‘supportive’ thing. That’s why I never bring them up. Now come on, let’s see this room you’re so desperate to see.”

Not to be cynical here, but I find that you often need to be rather rich yourself in order to afford the luxury of not caring how rich you are.

[Eroraf86]

Clearly, this airship was built using TARDIS technology.

[FridayPie]

8791700
It's smaller outside!

[rainbowmane]

“Uh huh,” Rainbow teased, smirking as she trotted up to the door at the very end of the hall. She dug her hoof into the ends of her mane and pulled out her key, then jammed it into the door.

OMG
When did rainbow dash become pinkie pie?