• Published 14th Aug 2017
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Surviving Sand Island - The 24th Pegasus



An airship wreck leaves Rainbow Dash and Rarity stranded on a deserted island. Together, they must find a way to survive until help comes—if it comes.

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Home Free

There was nothing but the gentle rocking of the waves in the middle of the night. There was no wind and nearly no noise, save for the clunking of the logs of the raft as the current batted them against each other. For Rarity, there was only the light of the moon, the stars, and her horn as her and Rainbow paddled across the sea.

Like the first time, they’d made good progress out to the halfway point, but then the currents started to fight against them. Still, out here, there was no way that the minotaurs could catch them. They were safe, and the island was little more than raised stone and trees behind them. Up ahead, Rarity could see the treetops of their home island, so close yet so agonizingly far away.

Rainbow Dash set her oar aside when they drifted out into the middle of the strait. “I need five,” she said, grunting and flopping down on the raft, dangling her left legs over the water’s edge. “Celestia, I’m gonna be so friggin’ sore tomorrow, holy crap…”

Rarity took the opportunity to rest her horn as well. “I’m simply happy that my horn didn’t split from all the exertion I forced upon it today,” she said. “The last thing I needed was to lose my magic for another week or so after all this.”

“Yeah, that’s good that you didn’t,” Rainbow said. Her legs lazily paddled in the water. “And soon I’ll be flying again! How awesome is that?”

Gyro shifted at the back of the raft, causing it to wobble slightly. Rarity turned to see her staring back the way they’d come, forehooves trailing in the water behind the raft. Smiling, she touched the earth pony on the shoulder. “Feels good to be gone, doesn’t it, darling?”

“You have no idea,” Gyro said. The corners of her mouth twitched. “If I never go back, it’ll be too soon.”

“Then it’s a good thing you won’t have to,” Rainbow said. “Our island’s in sight! We’re just two or three hours out!”

Rarity winced and looked at her oar. “Don’t remind me,” she said. “I’d nearly forgotten how miserable paddling out to that island had been. If only we had a better method of propulsion, we could be home much faster and a lot easier.”

“I’d suggest sails, but there’s no wind, so that wouldn’t even be helpful,” Gyro said. “You can’t find some way to make this thing move faster with your magic?”

“I’m… not sure,” Rarity said. “I never was a scholar or a mage. I just make dresses for a living.”

Gyro thought for a moment. “Is your telekinesis fine enough to move water?”

Rarity chuckled. “My telekinesis is fine enough to stitch thread and weave fibers. Water is easy!”

“So what if you pushed the water out of the way in front of the raft and raised it behind it?” Gyro asked. “That would make a gradient that would drive the raft forward using gravity. It’d be like going downhill without actually going downhill.”

Rainbow blinked. “You can do that?”

“I’m… surprised I didn’t think of that,” Rarity said, looking at the water. “If this works, Gyro, I’ll owe you a dress when we get back home.”

“I thought I was getting one for free anyways once this was all said and done,” Gyro teased. “For being a fellow survivor and everything.”

“Fine, two dresses, then,” Rarity said. “You’re going to drive me out of business if you keep this up!”

“She can have mine,” Rainbow said.

“She might fit yours now, but I doubt she will when she puts some weight back on.” Rarity stopped, blinked, and offered Gyro an apologetic smile. “Erm… I didn’t mean it in that way, darling. Earth ponies are just… thicker than pegasi.”

Gyro laughed. “I don’t care. Honestly, once I’m back to my old self, I could probably break Rainbow’s back if I stood on her. Earth ponies are dense.”

“You can’t be that dense,” Rainbow protested. “I mean, you can read!”

Rarity snorted in spite of herself and tried to cover her muzzle with a hoof. Gyro just stared at Rainbow for a few seconds before chuckling and shaking her head. “Right… knew it wouldn’t be too long before we ended up there.”

“Heh, sorry. Couldn’t help myself.” Sitting upright, Rainbow turned her attention to Rarity. “Well, Rares, want to give it a whirl?”

Rarity straightened her posture and shuffled toward the front of the raft. “No rest for my horn,” she grumbled. “But I suppose it’s better than exerting myself for another few hours.”

“If this works, you’ll be back at the island in under an hour,” Gyro said. “Trust me, I’m an engineer.”

“I thought you said you were just a mechanic!” Rainbow shouted.

“I never said that.”

“Girls, can you please be quiet,” Rarity hissed at them. “I’m trying to concentrate. Weaving manafibers tight enough to stop water from sliding through them isn’t as easy as picking up a brick, you know!”

Rainbow raised her hoof. “Actually, I don’t know, so…”

“You’re two words away from getting dumped into the water,” Rarity growled. Then, focusing her breathing, Rarity let her horn glow. The buildup was slow and deliberate at first, allowing her to save energy and not strain her horn to create the field. She felt the water pushing against her magic, trying to find a way through, but concentration and focus kept it out. Once she’d developed a large enough field, she angled it down and curled the edges up above the water to make sure that nothing would drain inside.

The shift in momentum was subtle at first, but after a few seconds, Rarity could feel it. The water she moved from the front of the raft she raised in the rear, causing the whole raft to pitch downwards by about twenty degrees. And, as Gyro predicted, gravity began to pull the raft down into the gap Rarity had made in front of it, only to raise again at the water she moved under it. Pretty soon, what started as a slow glide had turned into a quickening surf.

Rainbow laughed somewhere behind her. “Haha! Sweet Celestia, she’s actually doing it! You’re awesome, Rares!”

“I told you so,” Gyro said, and Rarity felt certain the mechanic was smirking. “It’s just making an infinite gradient over flat terrain. That kind of stuff is what magic’s for, right?”

“Somepony tell me when to slow down,” Rarity said through gritted teeth. “I’m keeping my eyes closed so I don’t get salt spray in my face and ruin my concentration.”

She acutely felt the raft shift over her magic as Rainbow moved a bit forward. “Well, we’re going a lot faster than just paddling would’ve gotten us. I give it like half an hour. Think you can keep it up for that long?”

“If I can’t, I’ll probably fall into the water,” Rarity said. “Please do catch me before that happens.”

Rainbow chuckled. “You can count on that,” she said.

Time passed, but to Rarity, it seemed like an eternity. At least once she started the raft moving it didn’t take much energy to maintain, but it was an exercise in her endurance. After all she’d used her horn for these past few days, she was starting to think she had more magical strength than she realized. When she’d originally suggested taking lessons from Twilight and Starlight, she’d meant it as a joke, but now she was feeling a little more serious about it. If she had the strength to pull this off, then imagine what she could do with actual magic!

“You can slow down, Rares,” Rainbow said, barely audible over the whipping wind. “We’re almost there.”

Nodding, Rarity tilted the magical field back a bit, raising the bow of the raft and allowing it to bleed off speed. When the salt stopped spraying her in the face, she opened her eyes and saw the trees of the island looming in front of them. Had they really gone that far that quickly? “How long was I doing that for?” she asked.

“Like I said, probably about half an hour,” Rainbow said. “You were pretty much in a trance for half of that. You unicorns are really good at meditating and crap.”

They had just enough momentum to ride the surf onto the beach. As soon as the logs scraped sand, all three ponies hopped off, and Rarity dragged the raft out of the swash. Once it was safely up the beach, she fell to her haunches and felt the sand under her hooves. “Home, sweet home!” she exclaimed. “Oh, how I missed you!”

“I wonder if Chirp kept the shelter clean for us,” Rainbow said. “Come on, let’s take a look!”

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