Surviving Sand Island

by The 24th Pegasus

Not So Alone

Rarity rubbed her eyes for the millionth time and stared at the mare sleeping in the corner. There was another pony here after all this time? Who was she? Where did she come from? Why was she locked in one of the cells for so long with hardly any food or water?

After she’d collapsed, her and Rainbow had dragged her back to the more open main room for all of their sakes. The cell the mystery mare had been locked in only had a basket that once had food in it and a clay jug dry as bone. The room also had a horrid odor to it; the poor mare had been living in her own feces and filth for who knew how long. Both Rainbow and Rarity had agreed that they didn’t want to have anything more to do with that room and had tightly locked the door when they were finished.

For the moment, the mare they’d rescued was asleep in a curled-up ball of skin and bones. Her coat was dirty and matted and what muscles she still had left were like strings along her bones. When they’d tried to get her to drink, her tongue reminded Rarity of drying clay, and her lips were like tree bark. The minotaurs’ prisoner was so dehydrated that she probably would’ve died in another day.

Rainbow Dash crossed Rarity’s vision yet again as her pacing took her to the opposite side of the room. “I don’t get it,” she muttered to herself. “Why is she up here? Why did the minotaurs just lock her in that crappy little room with barely any food and water? Why didn’t they just kill her and eat her like that other pony we found?”

“Maybe it wasn’t even their fault,” Rarity said. “She could’ve snuck in here some time ago and gotten trapped inside. There’s no way to tell until she wakes up.”

Rainbow stopped and looked at the gray mare. “Do you think she’s from the Concordia?” she asked.

“I don’t know where else she could’ve come from.” Rarity sat up and peered at the emaciated mare. “I don’t imagine she’s from any earlier wrecks or anything. That would’ve been too long for her to still be alive.” After a moment’s thought, she pointed. “What’s her cutie mark? I didn’t get a good look at it earlier.”

Blue hooves shuffled over toward the sleeping mare. “It looks like a bunch of rings around a wheel. Something mechanical.”

Rarity thought for a moment, trying to picture what exactly Rainbow meant. “…A gyroscope?”

“Yeah, that’s it.” Rainbow walked back to Rarity. “So she’s like a mechanic or engineer or something. That sounds like the kind of pony that’d be on a big luxury airship like the Concordia.”

A nearly inexplicable feeling of happiness welled up inside of Rarity. Her and Rainbow weren’t the only other survivors after all. There was somepony else who could share in their suffering and help them return to Equestria. And given how empty their island felt, if two’s company, than three’s a crowd.

The mare moaned as she slept. Of course, this was assuming that she even survived the next few days… same with her and Rainbow, for that matter.

“I wonder how she did it,” Rainbow wondered aloud. “I thought those pirates had all the crew locked up in the Concordia. We were the only ones who managed to get to a lifeboat before the storm ripped the balloon off the deck.”

Rarity shrugged. “The Concordia was a big ship,” she said. “Perhaps she managed to hide and slip away when the pirates seized it. It’s possible.”

“Or maybe she took the plunge and survived because she’s a tough earth pony.” Rainbow smiled slightly. “I bet she already would’ve been dead if she was a unicorn or a pegasus. Earth ponies don’t go down so easily.”

“And who knows how long she’s been down here.” Standing up, Rarity approached the sleeping mare. “The Concordia crashed about three weeks ago. I can’t imagine she was in that little room all this time.”

“She’s definitely been starving and dehydrated for a long time, that’s for sure.”

Rarity nodded. “We should leave some of our food and water out for her if she wakes up. Celestia only knows how the poor thing needs to eat.”

“Let’s just hope she doesn’t eat all of our rations,” Rainbow said. “Who knows how long we’re gonna be stuck in this place too.”

They pulled out a square of cloth and a couple of their fruits and set those down in front of the mystery mare. Rarity also floated the jug over after her and Rainbow each took a few sips of water. Though Rarity wanted to implicitly trust the mare, she took the rest of their food and supplies and moved them back into the main hallway and out of sight once that was done.

When they were finished, they found themselves back in the worship room. Rarity turned her eyes back in the direction of the prayer cells and frowned. “We didn’t check all of them,” she said. “Do you think there’s anypony else?”

Rainbow shuddered. “I’m afraid that we’ll find nothing but corpses,” she said. “If her being locked up here is the minotaurs’ fault, then there might be bodies behind those doors.”

“We still need to be sure,” Rarity insisted. “We have to look.”

Rainbow’s wingtips drooped but she reluctantly nodded nonetheless. “Okay,” she said. “We’ll take a look, and then—” A yawn interrupted her train of thought. “—then I need to get some sleep. I’m really tired and it’s probably almost dawn.”

Rarity glanced out the open windows in the side of the mountain. Sure enough, it seemed like the sky was beginning to brighten far to the east. They probably only had an hour, maybe two before the sun started to peek above the horizon. And after being up all night, Rarity wanted nothing more than to catch at least a little sleep. The night had been way too hectic for her.

But she still wanted to check the other cells first, so that’s what she did. Returning to the short hallway, she slotted the medallion into the unopened doors, one by one. Every time a door slid open she expected it to be filled to the brim with corpses, but every time, there was nothing but cobwebs and dust. At least, until she opened the last door.

There wasn’t a body in it, but the smell reeked of waste and refuse. Rarity only stuck her head in long enough to make sure there wasn’t a pony somewhere inside like when they’d found the gray mare. As soon as she was able to, she shut the door and nearly gagged on the suffocating smell.

Rainbow held her feathers up to her muzzle and tried to breath between them. “That wasn’t the same room we found her in, right?” she asked through her wing. “We didn’t just reopen it?”

Rarity shook her head and pointed to the next door over. “That’s the one she came from,” she said. Then she put a hoof on Rainbow’s chest and started pushing her backwards toward the door out of the hallway. “I’m sure of it.”

They returned once more to the prayer room, leaving the stench behind them. Once they could finally breathe again, Rarity let her thoughts surface. “There was another pony there some time ago,” she said. “They were alive at some point recently.”

“Then what happened?” Rainbow asked. “Where did they go?”

Rarity shrugged. “I don’t know, darling,” she said. Then her eyes turned toward the sleeping mare in the corner. “But I have an idea of who might.”

Comments

[Sir Budginton]

Another pony who was alive recently, but now isn't. I suspect cannibalism. How else would that other pony survive for three weeks, trapped.

[RoboRed]

Nasty business.

[Neece]

I hope she survives, but I wouldn't put my chips on it.

[Snow]

8531985
Uh. They found two cells, not one, that was... "inhabited".