Surviving Sand Island

by The 24th Pegasus

If the Primitives Could Do It...

Rarity’s horn gently buzzed as she worked her magic. In front of her, two thick, stiff vines twirled around a pair of logs like snakes. The knife twirled in her magical grip, and with expert precision, she started slicing away at some of the bark and vegetative material to bend them like she wanted. When that was finished, she knotted off the ends, chopped them off with a cleaver, and tossed the scraps aside for use later. If nothing else, they’d make decent kindling when they dried out.

A few errant wood chips came flying in her direction, lightly pelting off of her sandy coat. To her left, Rainbow straddled the last tree, stone axe viciously biting into the hard wood. She stopped every so often to roll her neck and stretch her legs, but then she’d be right back at it. The poor mare had been at it since sun-up, but Rarity knew she was too stubborn to give up even now that it was well into the afternoon. Especially not when she only had one tree left to cut through.

At the edge of the little clearing where they were building their raft, the treetops lay stacked in a neat pile at the behest of Rarity’s magic. They were still several feet in length each, and their ends were covered with drying palm fronds. Maybe later when they had the time and energy, her and Rainbow could carry them back to their shelter. If nothing else, they were good sources of wood to be cut up as needed. With a little more effort and use of the axe, they could make some simple furniture from the ends. Having a log to sit on would certainly beat the sand.

Celestia, Rarity shuddered at the thought. Furniture would be a godsend. The sand got everywhere, and she truly meant everywhere. The uncomfortable feeling between her legs was really starting to make her irritable. At this rate, she might end up killing something. Hopefully it wouldn’t be Chirp or Rainbow.

Her horn flared once more, and she felt the weight of the next log over pushing her down into the sand. She placed a few vines under it, wrapped them around the log twice, and then dropped it back down into the sand. With that done, she started tying the log to the body of the raft, extending the platform they had to stand on once they managed to push off to sea. She had a feeling that every inch would count by the time they were done, and not just because of her and Rainbow’s shoddy construction skills.

Rainbow triumphantly threw down the axe and started prancing in place. “There! Last one done! Hah!” she exclaimed, fluttering her good wing. “Take that, you stupid trees! You ain’t got nothin’ on me!”

“Finished?” Rarity asked, eyeing the last treetop resting in the sand. “I wouldn’t know what all the fuss was about otherwise, I suppose.”

“I just showed those trees who’s boss!” Rainbow said, hopping onto the raft. “Cut them up like… like… uh, something that gets cut up that isn’t trees!”

“Well, I’m very proud of you, darling,” Rarity said. Then she tossed a loop of vine over Rainbow’s back and smiled. “Now, please get off the raft before I accidentally tie you to it. Though I suppose that might solve a few problems…”

Blue hooves hit the sand as Rainbow jumped off the logs. “Yeah, yeah, whatever,” she said. She caught Rarity by surprise when she planted a kiss on the nape of her neck and tickled her side with a feather. “You wouldn’t do that to me, would you?” she whispered in a fuzzy white ear.

“Mmmm… I can certainly think of a few good uses for these vines when we’re done here,” she said, shooting back a sweetly innocent smile.

Rainbow blinked and stepped back. “I… didn’t know you were into that, Rarity.”

Rarity tilted her head to the side and kept the same smile. “Into what, darling?”

Even Chirp raised his head and stared at the two from the other side of the clearing while Rainbow fumbled for words. Eventually, the pegasus gave up and shook her head. “Riiiiiiiiiight. Okay. I’m just gonna… gonna forget about that for a bit.” Nervously laughing, she trotted off to the side and put her hooves on the treetop she’d just severed. “How about I move this thing to the pile for you, Rares? You’ve done enough heavy lifting today. I don’t want to feel like I’m not contributing.”

“No, you just don’t want to be shown up by a mare who makes a living sewing gemstones onto dresses,” Rarity teased. “I assure you, if you need any help, it’s no problem at all, Rainbow.”

“I’ll be fine,” Rainbow insisted. Her cheeks puffed out as she heaved against the log, managing to get it to roll just the tiniest bit as her hooves fought for purchase in the sand. “I’ve moved heavier stuff than this in my sleep!”

Rarity shook her head and let Rainbow do her thing. At least it’d keep the stunt flier occupied for the next short while. So long as she didn’t give herself a hernia, there wasn’t much harm that could come from it, right?

At the very least, she was glad that she didn’t have to move that last treetop over to the pile. She was getting enough of a workout just trying to tie the raft together with vines. Every time she needed to loop around a log, she had to lift it out of the sand, arrange the vine with her magic, and then drop it again. And the longer the raft got, the heavier the whole thing became. As she got to work on the eighth log in the line, it took nearly all of her energy just to lift it a few inches off of the ground. Though her stamina had lasted longer than she thought it would, Rarity found herself wishing for just a fraction of Twilight’s or Starlight’s strength. The relatively shallow angling of her horn coil was great for fine detail and manipulation, but it was much weaker than the more sharply-coiled horns of her friends.

Yet Rarity pursued her task with a stubborn persistence that reminded her of Rainbow or even Applejack. Even if she had to take longer and longer breaks after lifting the raft, she kept at it, tying the logs together one vine at a time. By the time she could call the raft finished, the shadows had moved quite a far bit across the ground—but it was finished nonetheless.

Rarity split the last vines with the cleaver and tossed them aside. “There!” she exclaimed, panting lightly and trying to keep the sweat out of her eyes. “It’s done!”

Rainbow’s ears perked, and she turned around. “Holy moly! Awesome, Rares!” She jumped off of the pile of treetops and gave Rarity a hug, an embrace which the seamstress exhaustedly returned. “That’s what I’m talking about! Great job!”

The raft was hardly impressive: ten logs tied together with three rows of vines, one each in the middle and at both ends. It measured about ten feet long and nearly as wide, and there were gaps in the floor where the curves of the tree trunks didn’t match up. But together, their buoyancy would make up for that, Rarity supposed. They’d find out sooner or later.

Still, it was work she could be proud of. “If the primitives could do it, I don’t see why we wouldn’t be able to as well,” she said. “And now here we are.”

“All that’s left is to see if she’s seaworthy,” Rainbow said. She started eyeing the ocean with anticipation. “There’s still daylight out if you want…”

“I’m going to put my hoof down on that one and say no,” Rarity said. “It can wait until tomorrow. My horn is burnt out and I’m likely to collapse from exhaustion at any given moment. And if I dragged the raft into the water, I’d have to drag it back out when we’re done.” She groaned and rubbed her forehead. “It can wait until tomorrow.”

Rainbow seemed a little disappointed, but she smiled and nodded anyway. “Alright. Sounds good, Rares.” She started shepherding her marefriend back toward their shelter. “Let’s get something to eat and worry about it later. It’ll be here in the morning.”

“Celestia, I hope so,” Rarity said. “I didn’t lift all those tree trunks for nothing!”

Comments

[RoboRed]

The sand got everywhere, and she truly meant everywhere. The uncomfortable feeling between her legs was really starting to make her irritable. At this rate, she might end up killing something. Hopefully it wouldn’t be Chirp or Rainbow.

“Mmmm… I can certainly think of a few good uses for these vines when we’re done here,” she said, shooting back a sweetly innocent smile.

Rainbow blinked and stepped back. “I… didn’t know you were into that, Rarity.”

[Neece]

C'mon Rainbow, where's your sense of adventure? Afraid of some ropes? Or that you'd like it?

[FloydienSlip]

The sand got everywhere

img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2016-12/23/1/enhanced/buzzfeed-prod-web-08/anigif_enhanced-15743-1482475198-2.gif

[PropMaster]

Rrowr.

[FridayPie]

that isn't very seaworthy raft, too much flex would tear ropes apart... also need to lift logs is why one would lay then on some other logs...

https://m.wikihow.com/Build-a-Log-Raft at very least <.<