> A Lifeboat Made for Two
>  by Phil Ken Sebben
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 1


You had gone to Canterlot for the wedding. Not knowing either Princess Cadence or Shining Armor made it a bit akward, but everyone insisted you go. After the Changlings attacked, you did your best to help the girls fight them off. Sure, they eventually overpowered all of you, but everything worked out in the end. The power of love and all that bullshit. 
After the wedding was over, Celestia  decided you all deserved a reward for your bravery. You didn't actually accomplish anything, but you didn't tell her that. A reward is a reward. She treated you all to a luxury cruise. Everyone was invited. Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Twilight, Apple Jack, Rainbow Dash, and... ugh. Rarity.
You didn't like Rarity, and Rarity didn't like you, and neither of you hid the fact. To you, Rarity was a stuck up, condescending bitch. To Rarity, you were a brutish, uncouth barbarian. The others teased you about it, mostly Rainbow Dash and Applejack; constantly making remarks about unresolved sexual tension and the like. But, whatever. Shouldn't dwell on that cunt. You've got a cruise to enjoy.

You're sitting in a deck chair by the pool. Pinkie Pie is swimming, and Fluttershy is floating in a pool lounger, but you're content to sit back and relax with a drink. Whiskey on the rocks. Who knew they had whiskey in Equestria?  Out of the corner of your eye, you see Rarity circling the pool toward you, wearing gaudy sunglasses and an over sized sun hat. Oh boy, here we go. 
She stops a few feet away from you.
"Hmmph."
She's obviously trying to get your attention.
"Hmmph!" She tries again, a little louder.
Yeah, not biting, lady.
Finally, she gives up and says what's on her mind.
"My my, Anonymous, drinking such hard alcohol! Surely a little self control wouldn't hurt, hmm?"
Rainbow Dash snickers. You know you should just let it roll off your back. You should just ignore her until she walks away. You really should.
"Well, Rarity, some of us can hold our alcohol and won't put out for anything with a heartbeat after one glass of cider."
Rarity's face turns red with anger, her composure slipping. Applejack chuckles, and Rainbow Dash falls off her chair laughing. 
"Why don't you two just buck already?" She says, wiping the tears from her eyes.
Rarity huffs indignantly. "Rainbow Dash! How could you ever suggest I would ever lower myself to mate with such a... such a..."
She harrumphs and walks to her own chair, located annoying close to yours. As the day goes on, you and Rarity trade put-downs, as the others laugh and roll their eyes. The two of you also consume a lot more alcohol than you should have, and by sundown, it's showing. With you groan, you stumble out of your chair, your vision swirling. 
Fluttershy and Twilight already went to bed. Applejack was still lounging in her chair, and Rainbow Dash was swimming around the pool, using her wings to propel her at insane speeds. 
"I think I'm going to go lay down, now."
"Alright. G'night, sugarcube!" Applejack says with a wave. Rainbow Dash either doesn't hear you or ignores you, and Rarity just lets out a "hmmf." You stick your tongue out at her with a "nyah" and spit at her. Not the most mature thing to do, but you're too trashed to care. Turning around, you walk toward the rooms.
When you get to the door, before entering, you decide to look over the side. The sun setting over the edge of the water is quite a sight. You can't help but think you would appreciate it more if you were sober. An empty cocktail glass flying past your head pulls you from the view.
You turn to where it came from, and see Rarity standing down the deck from you.
"The hell do you want?" You slur.
"I've had just about enough of you!" She says, advancing toward you.
You turn and prepare for her. Using her magic, she pulls a life preserver off the wall and launches it all you. In her drunken state, she completely misses, but it's enough to show you she means business. You've never seen her so angry before. Seems she's a mean drunk. Regardless, you try to back away from her, but you hit the railing. Rarity tries to charge you, but stumbles too much to get any real speed going. In your state, you can't even dodge her as she leaps at you. 
She plows nose first into your stomach, pushing you over the railing. You desperately grab for something, but only manage to pull Rarity over the railing with you. Thankfully there's a lifeboat hanging right behind you and land safely inside it. You take the opportunity to pin her underneath you.  
"Get OFF me, you fiend!"
"Stop attacking me, you bitch!"
Rarity headbutts you in the chest. It doesn't have much force behind it, but her horn jabs into you, forcing you to back off. She wiggles out from under you and jumps to the other side of the boat. She smirks as she squares of with you.
"It's really not surprising you're so violent. It must be so frustrating being all alone in this world." 
You laugh at her. 
"You tell me! You're the one who'd rather make all those gaudy outfits than find yourself a stallion!"
"How... DARE you!?" she's shaking with rage now. Oh, it seems you struck a nerve. She's gritting her teeth with tears in her eyes as she jumps at you again. You catch her in the air out of the air. She struggles helplessly against your grasp, before breaking down crying. 
Despite everything that happened, you felt bad. You hold her for a minute while she cries before awkwardly pulling her into a hug. She sobs into your chest before looking up at you. The look on her face shows she's still as angry as ever. She bares her teeth at you before suddenly lunging at your face. It happens faster than you can react.
Instead of headbutting you like you expected, she starts kissing you. At first, you're too stunned to react, but you quickly return the kiss. Rarity uses her body weight to push you down onto your back. The force of your body hitting the bottom rattles the rusted restraints on the lifeboat, and finally it falls free. Just as your drunken mind registers that you're falling, the lifeboat hits the water. The impact slams your head into the bottom of the boat, knocking you out cold. 

"Anonymous!"
Oh GOD. Your head feels like a cannon went off inside it. 
"Anonymous!"
You sit up sputtering as water splashes your face. 
"What the hell happened?" you slur, mouth still half full of water. You slowly begin to remember what had happened.
"Oh god. What did we..."
"You are NEVER to mention that!" Rarity yells, blushing furiously.  
"Oh fuck, don't yell!" you say, grabbing your head. You look around and see nothing nothing but water. 
"Anonymous... where is the boat?" 
Panic sets in as you slowly realize what happened.
"I think it's gone, Rarity."
Her face is expressionless for a moment before she lets out a terrible screech.
"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"
"STOP YELLING, YOU FUCKING CUNT! And how is this MY fault!? YOU attacked ME!"
"Because you spit on me!"
"Because you were being a bitch!
"Because...!" Rarity grits her teeth for a moment, before taking a deep breath. "Ok. Passing the blame back and forth won't get us out of this situation."
"You're right. So, what do we do?"
She sits down on her haunches, defeated.
"I don't know."
You can't help but utter an irritated sigh.
"Well, great. That's just fucking great."

End chapter 1
> Chapter 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 2


You're not sure how long you were in the boat. It was definitely several hours at least. And the sun overhead was making sure you felt every second of it. Sweat is pouring down your face as you feel your skin burn, and your mouth feels like sandpaper. Rarity took the front of the boat, while you sit in the back and bake. 
Neither of you have said a word to each other since you woke up, and that's fine with you. Even if you didn't hate Rarity, what is there to discuss? You don't feel like talking about how you're both going to die out here. 
Rarity sits facing away from you, leaning over the front of the boat, staring into the water. She cries now and then. Not a good idea when dehydration is an imminent threat, but you don't tell her that. It's not like she can control it.
The unwavering heat finally begins to let up as the sun finally begins it's descent over the horizon, but shortly after the sun disappears and the sky turns black, it's replaced with a bitter chill. You begin to shiver, rubbing your arms in a vain attempt to keep warm. Rarity holds out a little better than you, having fur and all, but soon enough, she's shivering, too. You sit there trying to deal with the cold as long as you can, but eventually it's too much. You hate to do it, but it looks like you have to. 
"Rarity?"
She doesn't answer you, big surprise. You delicately begin to crawl toward her, as to not rock the boat. When you're right beside her, you try again.
"Rarity."
"What? She finally answers.
"Look. I didn't want to suggest this, but it's freezing out."
"I've noticed, yes." She replies bitterly. "What of it?'
You take a deep breath before continuing.
"I think we should sleep together."
"Excuse me!?" She yells incredulously.
You shake your head with a sigh.
"Not like that! We should sleep next to each other. Share body heat."
She blushes, and looks away with a huff. 
"Fine, then. But you'd better not try anything funny!"
"Rarity, trust me. I would NEVER dream of it."
She lies down on the bottom of the boat, facing away from you. You do the same, and scoot backward until your back touches hers. She flinches away at first, but relaxes back to where she was. It's not what you might have called comfortable, but the little heat you're getting from her is better than the none you were getting before. Still shivering, Rarity lets out a final annoyed sigh before sleep takes her. You follow along shortly.

The warm sun on your face draws you from your slumber, but the velvety sensation of Rarity nuzzling your face pulls you the rest of the way out. Opening your eyes, you find that at some point in the night, the two of you had rolled over to face each other. On top of that, you had wrapped your arms around her, pulling her into a hug. Your face was touching hers. As Rarity begins to wake up, this is the first thing she notices. 
She shrieks and you feel one of her front hooves connect with your face. You push her away and cup a hand over your bleeding lip. For having squishy marshmallow hooves, these ponies can hit hard. You don't think she was TRYING to hit you, just push you away. That doesn't stop it from pissing you off.
WHAT THE FUCK!?" You shout, spraying blood from your mouth. 
"I told you, no funny business!" she replies indignantly.
Gritting your teeth and shaking with rage, you lean over the side of the boat to spit the blood out. Using your hand, you scoop a handful of water up to rinse your mouth out.  It taste disgusting and burns your lip, but it's better than nothing. You feel Rarity's hoof on your shoulder.
"Anonymous."
You shake her hoof away and wipe the water from your face. 
"Anonymous!" She repeats, louder. You can hear a tone of urgency in her voice. Finally, you turn back and look at her.  
"What!?"
She ignores your yelling, and points over the side of the boat. here's an oddly happy expression on her face. You look where she's pointing, and gain what's probably a similar expression. Land. 
Now you just needed to get there. Ok, time to think. 
"Rarity, can you use your magic to get us there?" 
She looks at you as if you asked if you suggested she dye her mane green.
"How in the world could my magic be of use here, you simpleton?"
Fucking bitch. 
"Fine then, look for paddles."
"Look for what?"
"Paddles, oars, something to push this fucking boat through the water!"
She scoffs. "You don't have to be so-"
"Just shut up and find something!"
She obviously doesn't appreciate being shouted out, but she begins to search. You find nothing but a few pony sized life jackets. Too determined to give up, you get an idea. Lining the inside of the boat are boards, meant to be used as seats. You give them a test pull, and find they're not secured very strongly. This is probably the only time going cheap will be a benefit. You pull two of the boards free while Rarity watches.
"What ARE you doing?"
You hand her a board. "Take this."
She stares at it for a second, before levitating it out of your hands with her  magic. 
"What am I supposed to do with a board?"
Careful not to gouge your hands with a nail, you stick your own over the side into the water. 
"We row."

It seemed like a simpler idea before you actually started. You've been rowing for what must have been hours. It feels like your arms are going to fall off at any moment. You're huffing and puffing, while Rarity is sitting there, just looking bored. 
"Honestly, Anonymous." Rarity snarks. "Can't you pull your own weight, here?"
You ignore her. At this point, you're too tired to reply. The shoreline is getting closer... and closer... until finally... You lurch forward slightly as the boat runs aground. Tittering you try to stand, but end up collapsing from exhaustion. You fall face first into the the warm, wet sand. You hear Rarity worriedly call your name as you black out.

You wake up to the feeling of Rarity's marshmallow hooves in your ribs. She sighs in relief when you finally stir. With great strain, you climb to your feet and look around. You're standing on a sandy beach. About a hundred yards up the shore, trees and lush vegetation are growing. 
Ok, Rarity. You stay here, keep a look out for anyone. I'm going to go see if I can a town or something."
"You expect me to just stand here, in the wet sand, for who knows how long it'll take you get back?"
You take a few deep breaths to calm yourself, then you grab the boat. With quite a bit of effort, you pull it a few feet up the beach, out of the water. 
"There, sit in that."
She gives an exaggerated sigh, but climbs into the boat. Still tired, but determined to spend as little time with Rarity as possible, you set off to find civilization. 

Walking up the beach takes a few minutes. You're not really excited at the prospect of walking through the trees, so you stick to the sand underneath them. The shade makes it much more bearable. You do feel bad for leaving Rarity to sit in the sun, though. The thought of it makes you quicken your pace. After about an hour, you find nothing but more sand, more trees, and a couple crabs skittering over the beach. Rounding another bunch of trees, you see something down the beach. The sun is in your eyes, but it looks like... No. Oh god no. It's Rarity sitting in the boat. 
Rarity turns to face you as you shuffle your feet through the sand. 
"Well, did you find anything to get us out of this dreadful place?" 
You ignore her as you step into the boat, completely drained. 
"Well?" She asks, annoyed.
You feel tears start to roll down your cheeks. You're not really crying, but there are tears just the same. Rarity's face adopts a worried look. 
"Anonymous, what's wrong?"
You swallow with some difficulty. Taking a deep breath, you look her in the eyes.
"Rarity, we're not going to find any help here."
"Well, why ever not?"
"Because we're on an island."

End chapter 2	
	
	
	
> Chapter 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 3


Rarity doesn't say anything for a while. Neither of you do. The fact that you're trapped on an island in the middle of an ocean you don't even know the name of has sapped your desire for conversation. A bead of sweat rolling into your eye pulls you from your thoughts. You don't know how long you're going to be stuck here, and sitting her to bake in the sun won't do you any favors. With a sigh, you get to your feet.
"Rarity, we should head for the trees."
"No."
You stare at her for a moment.
"What?"
"I'm staying right here in case someone comes looking for us."
"Rarity, all you're going to do out here is burn up and dehydrate."
"I don't care. Someone will find us soon, I just know it."
She never takes her eyes off the ocean as she speaks to you. Whatever. She'll come to her senses eventually. As you trek toward the comforting shade of the trees, you can't help but feel you shouldn't be this exhausted. It occurs to you that you haven't had anything to drink for almost two days. As you finally drag yourself out of the sun and into the shade, you collapse again. This'll be good for now. May as well just take a short break.

Your eyes slowly open a while later. Laying on the ground, you notice something a few feet in front of your head. It's a large, green, roundish object. Huh. A coconut. You take a look up into the trees over your head. Coconuts everywhere. Seems like things may be looking up. 
Forcing yourself to your feet, you walk over and grab it up. You can hear liquid sloshing around inside. You can't help but giggle to yourself as you pick a stone off the ground. Sitting down, you hold the coconut firmly between your legs and bash it with the rock. After a few good hits, it finally splits open, revealing the prize inside. Pulling the husk away, you grab the tender innards. Jamming a finger through to make a hole, you bring it to your mouth and take a drink. You almost gag at the flavor. You were expecting it to be sweet; instead it's metallic tasting. But, you're far too thirsty to be picky, and you drink every drop. Rarity would probably like something to drink by now, too. Even if it's not imported.
Turning back toward the beach, you spot the boat. Squinting, it looks like she's not in it anymore. Scanning the beach, you finally spot something on the sand in front of the boat, almost impossible to see from the glare of the sun. It looks like Rarity, laying on the sand. Why the hell would she be... Oh fuck.
You sprint down the beach toward her, renewed by your rest, your drink, and mostly determination. You come to a stop beside her. 
"Rarity?"
She doesn't respond. You nudge her in the ribs with your foot. Still nothing. Getting worried, you check her pulse at her neck. Good, she's still alive, and seems fine. She probably just fainted from the heat. You've got to get her back to the shade. Unsure of exactly what to do, you grab her front legs and begin to drag her through the sand. After a few feet, you decide it's more trouble than it's worth. Stopping, you scoop her up off the burning sand, cradling her in your arms. It's not easy. She must weigh eighty pounds, easy. Stumbling a few times and almost dropping her, you make your way toward the trees.  the time you reach the shade, your back is killing you, teeth clenched in pain. You gently lay her down on the ground and place a hand on her forehead. She's burning up. After a few quick shakes, she's still out. You don't want to waste the only water you have, but you don't see any other options. 
Quickly looking around, you find another coconut laying on the ground. Using the rock to break the husk away, you pull the innards out and poke a hole in it. Carefully, you drip a few drops of the milk onto her face. Her eyes twitch and she winces, before finally opening her eyes.
"You ok?"
She blinks a few times before climbing to her feet.
"I'm... fine." She replies, clearly embarrassed. 
"What happened there?" you ask her.
She's silent for a moment, then sits down on the ground. 
"After a few hours in the sun, I decided the shade sounded pretty nice. I suppose I waited too long."
She shifts uncomfortably, not looking you in the eyes. 
"Thank you, Anonymous."
You hand her the coconut.
"I know it's not what you're used to, but it's all we have."
She levitates the coconut to her mouth and takes a drink. She grimaces, but downs the whole thing in one go. She sets the empty coconut on the ground beside her. The two of you sit wordlessly for several minutes. 
"I guess we should get ready for nightfall." you say.
"How do you mean?"
"Well, we have water for now. We need a fire, next."
You glance at her horn.
"I don't suppose you could, like... magic us up some fire?
She rolls her eyes and scoffs. 
"Honestly, Anonymous! Could you be any more clueless?"
You shake your head and sigh deeply.
"Fine. I'll try and get a fire started."
This was nothing you've ever actually tried, but you remember seeing something about it on TV. It didn't look so hard. You set off looking for a flexible stick. Walking deeper into the island, you find plenty of sticks littering the ground. Looking around for a good one, you see movement out of the corner of your eye. Turning your head, you see a chicken standing there, staring right back at you, before walking on it's merry old way. Looks like there are wild chickens, here. That is information worth knowing. For now, you go back to your search.
Spotting a good looking stick, you snatch it up off the ground along with a shorter, thicker one, and a large dead one about as thick as your arm. You awkwardly carry everything back toward where you left Rarity. She turns to face you when she hears you approach. She seems to be wearing a sun hat made of palm leaves on her head. 
"Ah, there you are! Just give me a moment and I'll have yours ready."
She uses her magic to weave a mass of the leaves together. After a few seconds of twisting and wringing, the leaves take the shape of a boonie hat. She levitates it over to you.
"Here you are! That should make this dreadful heat more bearable."
"Oh. Thank you!"  
You drop your sticks to the ground and snatch the hat out of the air, putting it on your head. It's a good fit, and you already feel cooler. She eyes the sticks you dropped by your feet.
"What are those for?"
"These are for the fire."
"How are you going to make a fire with just sticks?"
"How do you ponies make fire?"
She scoffs at your question.
"With flint and steel, like any sane pony would."
"Well, we don't have flint or steel. So we have to improvise."
Tearing the hem off your shirt, you twist it taut and tie it to the ends of the flexible stick. There's your bow. You find a sharp rock and carve a notch out of the dead branch and stuff it with any flammable looking grass you found. Finally, you loop the shorter stick through the bow and stick one end into the notch. There, looks like it's all set up. This has all been surprisingly easy so far. Rarity looks at your handiwork with a raised eyebrow.
"Anonymous, are you sure you haven't spent too much time in the sun?"
"No, that would be you, if you remember." 
She huffs at the comment, her face blushing slightly.
"Anyway, why do you ask?" you retort.
"Do you honestly believe you'll be able to start a fire with that... thing?" 
"There's nothing to it," you say with a smirk. "I'll have a fire going in no time."

About 30 minutes later, it's getting dark, and you're no closer to a fire than when you started. This is exhausting, and your arms are already sore from rowing the boat earlier today. So far you've had to stop and drink from a coconut twice. Rarity is just sitting there, watching you struggle with a bemused look on her face. It looks like she's trying hard not to say "I told you so." Which is good, because you'd probably smack her. Arms aching, thirsty, hot, sweat pouring down your face, you keep at. Is it possible for your arms to be so tired they fall off? Because it really feels like it. Just a  little more, come on. 
No, you can't do this... you can't- Wait, is that a spark? YES! You drop the bow, and quickly begin nursing the budding ember. Gently blowing on it, you sprinkle more kindling on top. Your heart begins to sink when you accomplish nothing but cause the grass to smolder, until finally, a small flame erupts. 
"AHA!" you shout, startling Rarity half to death. 
She stares speechless as you pile on additional sticks until the fire is a respectable size. Completely drained, but with a smile on your face, you sit down next to the fire. Looking over at Rarity, you can help but laugh at her expression.
"And what, may I ask, is so funny?" she asks dryly.
"I told you so."
Rarity might have resisted the urge, but you don't feel the need to.
"I suppose you did," Rarity says, taking that jab with annoying dignity. "Now we have water and fire. All we need now is a bite to eat. I am absolutely famished."
You point back to where you came from with your thumb. 
"There's some grass growing back there. I know it's far from ideal, but at least it's something."
"I see. Thank you." She says, climbing to her hooves. "What about you?"
"I can't eat grass. But right now, I'm just tired. I'm going to sleep."
"Then you'll be happy yo have... this!" She magics up a gigantic square made of woven palm leaves. It's pretty amazing what she's capable of with her magic.
"I made it while you were starting the fire. I thought it would be nice to have."
"Oh wow, a blanket? Thanks!" 
You grab it from the air. Laying down on the still warm sand, you cover yourself with it. For being made of leaves, it's actually quite nice.
"G'night, Rarity." you say through a long yawn. Rarity, who was walking toward where you said the grass was, stopped for a second. For a moment, she stood silent. 
"Good night, Anonymous."

As you open your eyes, you realize you can't see anything. At first you're scared by this, until you realize it's just night. Looking over at the fire, you see it's almost out. That also explains why you're so cold. With a frustrated groan, you begin to force yourself up, when you feel something beside you. Carefully reaching out to see what it is, you find that it's Rarity. It takes your half asleep mind a few seconds to realize she must have gotten under your blanket with you to fight the cold. Getting out from under the blanket is like stepping into a freezer.  
You quickly run behind a nearby tree and do your business, before gathering up some more wood. It's not easy seeing as it's almost pitch black out. You feed the hungry fire more wood until it's burning nice and warm again. You delicately climb back under the blanket, as to not wake Rarity. Getting in comfortably is difficult, laying on sand. 
You accidentally bump into Rarity as you climb under. She lets out a loud snort and mumbles to herself. It's all you can do to keep from laughing. She flails around a bit before finally colliding with you. Once she feels you, she scoots back into you and lets out a contented sigh. It's a little uncomfortable, but you can't deny she's warm. 
With a yawn, you lay your head back down on the ground. Before you can drift off, your stomach growls, loudly and painfully.
"Shut up," you say. "I'll deal with you tomorrow."

End part 3

	
	
> Chapter 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 4


The sun shining on your face pulls you from your sleep. You try to move, but it feels like your muscles are on fire. Between the all the rowing, carrying Rarity, starting the fire, sleeping on sand, and your terrible sunburn, your life is pain. With a groan, you force yourself to sit up and look around. Rarity isn't beside you anymore, and the fire is burning high. She must have been tending to it.
Speaking of which, you hear a humming, and you look around. You spot Rarity levitating a coconut over her head and pouring the water on her mane. Beside her on the ground must be 10 more empty coconuts. What the fuck. She looks over and sees you're awake.
"Ah, good morning Anonymous."
You try to reply, but it just comes out as a raspy croak. Rarity giggles. 
"I had the same problem when I woke up. Here, drink this."
She magics an opened coconut over to you. You snatch it out of the air, chug it all down, and chuck the shell at her head. It goes wide and misses her, but it gets her attention.
"My word, what do you think you're doing!?"
You clamber to your feet, throwing the makeshift blanket off of you.
"Me!? What are YOU doing?" 
Rarity scoffs. 
"Pardon me for trying to make the best of a bad situation."
"This is all we have to drink! There's undrinkable water ALL around us you could use!"
She looks appalled.
"Wash my mane in SALT water? That might do for a uncouth barbarian like yourself, but I-"
"NO. You DENSE cunt.  This is ALL we have to drink. And you are NOT going to waste it on fucking GROOMING."
She looks like she wants to keep arguing. Instead, she lets out a "hmmf", dropping the coconut and walking away. You probably could have handled that better, but you were starving and irritable. Just as you think this, your stomach growls loudly. Your mind goes back to that chicken you saw last night. Maybe you could catch one. You have no idea how to cook a chicken that hasn't already been processed, but it couldn't be SO hard. Walking deeper into the trees, you begin your search. You realize you don't know how you're going to catch one, but you'll cross that bridge when you get to it. 
Before long, you can hear a clucking sound. Scanning the ground, you eventually see a few chickens in the distance, pecking away at the ground. Alright, that's that. Now to catch one. You come up with a bunch of ridiculous ideas that would never work, such as a spear, or a deadfall. In the end, you decide to just go with a pitfall.

It's been about two hours and you've finally finished digging the trap. If you had a shovel, this would have taken a few minutes. You try and shake the feeling of dread you get, realizing exactly how much trouble you're in out here. For now, you just need something to eat. You cover the hole with the thinnest sticks you can find, and cover those with fallen leaves. That looks good enough. Now you just need to try and trick a chicken into falling in.
This proves much easier said than done. You don't know how long you've been chasing these fucking chickens, trying to lead them toward the trap. Your entire body is drenched in sweat and you're exhausted, on top of being hungry, and it's starting to wear on your last nerve. Deciding to give it one last try, you flank the chickens, putting them between you and the trap, before charging. Waving your arms, you run at the chickens, trying to scare them into the hole. A few of the chickens just run to the side, but one seems to be running right for the trap. FINALLY. You hold back, not wanting to scare it too much. The chicken keeps walking right at it. It steps onto the sticks over the hole, and... Nothing.  It just stands there. MotherFUCKER.
The chicken seems to know something is wrong. It takes a few careful steps, before the sticks finally give out. It falls into the hole with a loud squawk. Grinning ear to ear, you rush over, and peer in. The chicken is jumping around, feathers flying, trying to escape, but it's no use. It's all yours. All you need to do now is get it out. 
You've never even seen a live chicken in person, let alone tried to pick one up. Reaching slowly into the hole, you barely touch the chicken before it pecks the everloving shit out of your hand. Well, that was unpleasant. You stand back and think a minute. You vaguely remember seeing something about farmers carrying chickens by their legs. Looking down at it's feet, you're not too excited about going near them. But, you gotta do what you gotta do. Thrusting your hands back into the hole, you withstand a barrage of pecking and scratching until you finally have it's legs in your hand. It's surprisingly heavy as you pull it out of the hole, and you almost drop it as it struggles, but you finally have it. Today seems to be looking up.
Walking back into your makeshift campsite, you see Rarity has been busy. A sizable tent has been erected. It looks like a bunch of sticks tied together with woven leaves, but it'd looks much better than sleeping in the open. It also seems to be adorned in gemstones. Hearing you approach, Rarity trots out of the tent. Her leaf sunhat has a bunch of gems on it, same as the tent.
"Ahh, you're back!"
"Yeah. You've certainly been busy."
"I had some free time," she says with a dry laugh. "I found this little island is absolutely rich in marvelous gems! Speaking of which..." 
She levitates the boonie hat she made for you up to your face. It's also covered in gems. You stifle an exasperated sigh as she plops it on your head. The gems on the sides weigh heavily on the brim, pulling it down over your eyes. With your free hand, you pull the hat off and toss it aside. At first it looks as if Rarity is going to protest, but it seems she's finally noticed the chicken.
"Anonymous... what is that?"
"This is a chicken," you say, holding it up.
"Well yes, darling, but whatever for?"
"I'm going to eat it."
Her eyes go wide with shock and disgust.
"You're going to EAT it? Why?"
You sigh.
"Because I haven't eaten in DAYS, Rarity, and I'm starving.
Looking around for a bit, you find a suitably sharp looking rock. 
"What are you going to do with that?" Rarity asks nervously. 
"I'm going to cut it's head off."
Rarity stifles a gasp as you kneel to the ground and pin the chicken down. You raise the rock over your head, giving it a few test swings. Not wanting the chicken to suffer too much, you want to be as accurate as possible. Ok, time to do this. You raise the rock again. And everything goes black. Something was dropped over you. Startled, you drop the chicken and the rock, and tear the object off your head. It was your blanket. Rarity had dropped your leaf blanket on top you. You see her chasing the chicken back into the trees.
"Shoo, shoo! Off you go."
You can only stand there, stunned at what just happened. Rarity trots back to the camp.
"I'm sorry, Anonymous, but that was for the best." she says matter-of-factly. "I know we're in a tough spot right now, but that's no reason to start slaughtering innocent creatures."
The shock begins to wear off, replaced instead with a burning rage. Dropping the blanket, you slowly walk over to the trunk of a tree, where several coconuts lay on the ground. Rarity smiles. 
Yes, see? There's plenty to eat here without bloodshed," she says, her voice dripping with smug self satisfaction.
Picking a coconut off the ground, you whip it at her as hard as you can. This time, you don't miss. The coconut hits her square in the nose. Blood starts pouring from her snout immediately. It's her turn to be in shock. Eyes as wide as saucers, she touches a hoof to her nose, dabbing at the blood. She looks at the blood, then to you.
"H-how dare you. How DARE yo-" 
You cut her off with another well placed coconut to the side of her head. Before she can scream, you plant another into her ribs. She stares at you for a moment, tears in her eyes.
"How could you?" she asks, her voice quivering.
"How could I?" you ask stomping over to her. She flinches away. "I agree, how could I? How could I get stranded on a fucking desert island, with YOU of all ponies!? I'm going to die out here, and it's because of YOU!"
Your accusation seems to bring her will to fight back.
"What? How is this MY fault?"
"Oh, I don't know, lets think about this! Rainbow Dash could fly somewhere for help! Twilight could teleport us home! Fluttershy could catch fish or something! Applejack would know how to grow food! And Pinkie would at least be pleasant company!"
She stares up at you with a hurt expression that has nothing to do with her bleeding nose.
"But what can YOU do? Oh, that's right. YOU CAN STICK GEMS ON THINGS!" 
You grab the leaf hat off her head and tear it in two. You throw the pieces to the ground. Kneeling down, your face is mere inches from hers.
"You. Are. Useless." 
She opens her mouth as if to say something, but no words come. Instead, she turns away and runs, crying.

It's been a few hours since Rarity ran off. You know you overreacted, but she had no right. Finishing off the last of the water in the coconut you were holding, you stare at it for a bit. With a sigh, you tear it in half. Taking your finger, you scoop some of the insides out and plop it in your mouth. You almost gag. It has a gel-like consistency, and tastes like a nickel with a hint of almond. Starving, you eat all you can. It's better than nothing, you suppose.
Looking toward the sky, you see the sun is starting to get pretty low. With a deep groan, you get to your feet. Better look for Rarity. You have no idea what you could possibly say to her, but you need to make sure she's safe. Besides, she couldn't have gone too far; the island isn't THAT big. 
You set off into the trees, in the same direction she ran. Following her hoof prints is easy enough in the sand. From the way they're spaced, you can tell she ran for quite a while. Eventually, the sand turns to dirt, and the tracks vanish. That could be a problem. Walking through a bit of waist high grass, you see a big hole in the ground, probably some kind of cave. You start to walk around it, but you begin to think. If the grass was waist high to you, it'd be over Rarity's head. She never would have seen the hole. Fuck.
Wading through the grass, you peer over the edge.  The hole isn't very deep, but there are some jagged looking rocks in it. And you really hope you're wrong, but that looks like blood on some of them. You make your way around to the shallowest part you can find and drop in. Making your way to the rocks, you confirm your fears. This is definitely blood. 
There's a small trail leading to an overhanging rock. As you follow it up the gentle slope, you begin to hear something. It sounds like... crying? Stooping low to walk into the small cave, you can definitely hear crying. 
"Rarity?" you call gently. 
The sound immediately stops.
"I know you're in here, Rarity. I heard you."
Go away." she replies, in a low voice.
"Come on, Rarity. I saw the blood. I know you're hurt. Let's get back to the camp."
"Why?" she calls out.  "So I can continue to be useless? I thought you would have wanted me gone!" 
"Rarity, stop it. We're going back to camp." 
You turn to look behind a rock and finally find her. There's a deep, jagged cut going up the side of her left flank. She looks pitiable, leg caked in dry blood, bruised face, and scabbed nose. You feel sick to your stomach knowing this is all your fault. She doesn't say a word or try to resist as you carefully scoop her up. You cradle her in your arms like you did when you pulled her off the beach.  Thankfully, you're better hydrated this time, and she doesn't feel nearly as heavy.
As you walk back to camp, she stares ahead. She hasn't said a word to you. The silence coupled with the guilt gets to you.
"I'm sorry." you say. 
You know it's not enough, but there's nothing else you can really say. Rarity doesn't acknowledge you. You can't blame her. Emerging from the trees and back into the camp, you duck into the tent, and gingerly place her onto the woven leaf sleeping mat inside. It feels as if she stuffed it with grass or something, so the two of you didn't have to sleep on the sand. Sitting beside her, you notice exactly how much room was in this tent. It wasn't gigantic, but there was more than enough room for the two of you inside it. She had built it with the intent of sharing it with you. She's made you you a hat, a blanket, a place to sleep, and shelter. All you've done is complain and hurt her and call her useless. The tears are falling from your face before you even realize you're crying.
"I'm sorry!" you manage to sob. 
Rarity still doesn't answer, but her expression softens slightly.
After a few minutes crying bitter tears, you regain you composure. You have a lot on your plate, now. Still stranded, still hungry, and now you have Rarity to take care of. You sigh.
"I'm getting a coconut, want one?"
She nods slightly. You crawl out of the tent, and return shortly, two coconuts in hand. Handing one to Rarity, she quickly cracks it open with her magic and downs the contents. She's done by the time you get yours open. Poking a hole in the flesh, you prepare to drink when the coconut is wrenched from your hand. Rarity levitates your coconut over to her, and drinks it, too. Ok, then. Suppressing a sigh, you crawl out of the tent for another one. It's starting to get dark. It's amazing how fast night can sneak up on you when there's nothing blocking the horizon. You feed some sticks into the fire, and crawl back into the tent. Rarity is on her side, facing away from you. You clear your throat.
"As soon as it's bright again, I'll take a look at your leg.'
No reply.
"I don't know if there's much I can do, but I should at least be able to clean it off.'
Rarity remains silent.
With a sigh, you pull your leaf blanket over you, facing away from Rarity. 
"Good night then." 
There's almost a full minute of silence before you hear
"Good night, Anonymous."

END CHAPTER 4
	
	
> Chapter 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 5


A loud, painful rumbling in your guts pulls you from your restless sleep. Rarity's loud snoring made it hard for you to rest easy. Seems a battered, bloody nose restricts airflow. Sitting up in the tent, you see the sky is a rusted red color. Going to be dawn soon. You crawl out from under the leaf blanket into the cold morning. Stomach wrenching in pain, you feed some sticks to the fire in an attempt to warm up. 
As you stare, half asleep at the growing fire, you feel a sudden impact on your shoulder. Glancing down, you see a large grasshopper landed on your shirt. You absently move to brush it off, but stop yourself. A grasshopper is food. Not MUCH food, but better than nothing. You slowly carefully position your hand over it. As fast as you can, you snatch it off your shirt. You take a look at your prize. As hungry as you are, you're not liking the thought of eating it raw. Those legs look pretty iffy, too. Carefully, you pluck all the legs off the squirming insect, as well as it's wings for good measure. Finding a solid, thin stick, you run it through the side, and stick it in the fire. You don't know how long it'll take to cook, but it shouldn't be long. After a few seconds, you pull it out of the flame. It's a dark, roasted brown color, and it doesn't smell half bad. You tentatively take a bite. It's not the best thing you've ever eaten, but hunger will do strange things to a picky eater. 
All too soon, the insect has been devoured, and your stomach is screaming for more. That wasn't nearly enough to be filling. All you did was remind yourself of how hungry you really are. But maybe you can find more? As soon as the thought crosses your mind, you become aware of the constant chirping coming from the grass around you. You never payed attention before; you were used to hearing it at home. It was just noise. But to your starving mind, it was the sound of food. 
Rushing to the nearest patch of grass, you hear it go silent. There are some in here. Rooting through it, you see quite a few. Snatching as many as you can, you impale them on your roasting stick. More escape than you manage to catch, but you still pull in a fair amount. Pulling their legs and wings off as fast as you can, and stick them in the fire. It's going to be dawn, soon, and Rarity will be awake not long after. You'd prefer if she never knew about this. 
Pulling them out of the flame, you gorge yourself as fast as you can. They could use some salt, but they'll do. A few more trips through the grass, and you've eaten more insects than you'd ever care to admit to anybody. You're not full, but you feel much better than you had. Satisfied for the moment, you decide to crawl back into the tent and see if you can get some more sleep. It's not like there's much else to do.

You hear Rarity groaning beside you, and it wakes you up. Rolling over, you grimace at the sight of her leg. The gash has scabbed over, but the wound still looks pretty bad, and her pure white fur was stained a dull, rusty brown from the dried blood. Looking from her leg to you, the two of you lock eyes. She stares a look raw anger into you, forcing you to look away.
"I'll, uh... go get something to drink." 
You quickly crawl out of the tent and look around for some more coconuts. There aren't many fresh ones on the ground at this point. You'll have to get some more out of the trees. Looking around, you glance at all the remaining coconuts. It leaves an uneasy feeling in the pit of your stomach. You grab two, and head back into the tent.
In the last few days you've gotten pretty good at opening them without tools. Peeling one apart, you hand it to Rarity. She takes it with her magic and drinks deep while you open your own. You almost gag as you drink. Drinking nothing but coconut milk has gotten you quite sick of the taste. Still, it's all you have, so you make due.
You both sit in silence for a moment. 
"Rarity."
She doesn't answer, but her ears perk slightly.
"I took a look around at how many of these we have left." you said, waving your coconut for emphasis. "I can't say with any certainty, but at the rate we've been drinking these, they'll probably be gone within a month."
"Oh." she replies, emotionlessly. You can't tell if she's not taking it well or if she just didn't hear you.
"So. That's something we need to consider."
She doesn't answer. She's probably taking in the gravity of the situation. The conversation breaks off into silence. You might as well move it along.
"We should get your leg cleaned up."
Again, she doesn't answer. With a sigh, you crawl out of the tent. The sun is already high in the sky, now. Even in the shade of the trees, it's sweltering. You look around for something, anything, you could possibly use. Rarity could probably weave some leaves into a bandage,  but that wouldn't do much to actually CLEAN the wound. Maybe you could wet your shirt down at the beach? You're not sure how clean ocean water is, and the salt would be unpleasant, but it's the best you can come up with.
Leaving the trees is like stepping into an oven. You make your way down the beach as fast as you can without running. No need to overexert yourself. Reaching the water, you wade in about waist deep, and take your shirt off. Once it's in your hands, you give it a quick sniff. Whoo that's nasty! You've been wearing the same shirt for days now, stewing in your own sweat. Better scrub this out first.	
You do your best to clean the shirt until you can no longer smell B.O. then ball it up, and shove it underwater. Trying to keep it as moist as possible, you trek back to the camp. By the time you get back, the shirt is half dry and hot, but it should work. You duck back into the tent. 
"Alright, I'm here."
Rarity turns to look at you, and seems taken aback by your shirtlessness. 
"Where are your clothes?"
You hold up the wet ball of shirt for her to see.
"I told you, we need to clean your leg."
She looks disgusted.
"I'm not having you touch me, let alone a WOUND, with that glorified sweat rag. Why, it must be festering with-"
"I cleaned it."
She stares at you, a look of annoyed skepticism stuck on her face.
You give another irritated sigh.
"Would you like to smell for yourself?" you say, shoving it in her face. She reacts as if you were offering her a bowl full of shit, but gives it a small sniff. Smelling nothing, she gives it another, stronger smell. Apparently satisfied, she rolls onto her side, allowing you full access to the gash. You have no idea what you're doing, but how hard can it be to clean a cut? You drape the shirt over her leg, and apply light pressure, letting the warm water to loosen the dried blood. After a few minutes, you take the shirt and begin to scrub as delicately as you can. Rarity makes a show of it, of course.
"Ouch! Anonymous, honestly! Can't you do this more gently?"
"No, Rarity, I really can't. If I use any less pressure, I won't be touching you. Just deal with it, I'm almost done."
She huffs, but stops complaining. A few minutes of scrubbing and a few grunts of pain from her later, you have her leg as clean as you're going to get it. Her leg is still stained that rusty brown color, but the cut itself is nowhere near as bad as you expected. Ideally, it should be stitched up, but it's nothing life threatening. You sit back, and let out a out a satisfied sigh.
"There. That's about as much as I can do for now." 
Rarity gingerly sits up and inspects the wound. She grimaces at the sight of it, but still looks relieved it wasn't as bad as it looked. 
"So, what about a bandage?' you ask her. "Can you, like, weave leaves together or something?"
Rarity rolls her eyes at the question.
"Yes, I could. I don't suppose you had the foresight to wash some for me to use?" 
"... Fuck."
Rarity lets out a sigh of her own as you venture from the tent yet again, shirt in hand. You throw the shirt back on, then gather some leaves off the ground. You're not sure how many she'll need, but this should be plenty. With no small amount of reluctance, you set off for the beach again. You shouldn't be getting tired this easily. Probably because you're under hydrated. 
When you reach the water, you realize you don't know how you'd actually go about washing the leaves. Scrub them off one by one, or just dunk them in the water? Deciding the latter is less effort, you just wade into the sea up to your chest, and swish the leaves around a bit. Glancing up, you see what looks like a dorsal fin out ahead of you. And here you are, standing in a bloody shirt. Yeah, these are probably clean enough.
Turning, you run as fast as you can through the deep water. Glancing back, you see the fin is so much closer, now. Your muscles burn as you fruitlessly try to sprint. The shark makes a pass at you, bumping into the back of your legs. At this point, you give up on trying to run and just start swimming, losing half the leaves in the process. Before long, you're in the shallows, and can properly run out of the water. Even though you're safely back on dry land, you keep a quick pace back to the camp. The whole thing just has you a bit spooked.
Ducking into the tent, you plop the leaves down on the mat. You lay down on the mat next to Rarity, trying to catch your breath. 
"Anonymous? Are you alright?"
You decide not to tell her. Don't want to get her worried over nothing. 
"I'm fine," you say between breaths. "Just moved too fast for this heat."
She looks like she wants to press the issue, but instead, turns to the leaves without another word. Using her magic, she shakes off any remaining water and sand, then weaves them all together. Carefully, she wraps the makeshift bandage around her leg, and tucks it snugly to stay put. 
You could probably doze off, at this point, but you suddenly hear Rarity's stomach growl loudly. 
"Hungry?" 
"Well obviously!" she snaps.
She clears her throat, and takes a dignified tone.
"I apologize. Yes, I am hungry."
"I can go get you something, if you want."
"If you would be willing, I'd greatly appreciate it." She forces a smile, but it's not convincing. She's still pissed at you about her leg, and she's none too happy that you have to take care of her, now. Sitting up, you crawl out of the shelter and walk deeper inland. 
She's a pony, right? Shouldn't be too hard to find stuff for her to eat. Finding some tall grass, you grab a few handfuls until you have a sizable bundle. Easy enough. Walking back, you spy a bush with berries growing on them. They're dark red and roughly oblong shaped. Maybe they're something she can eat? You grab a handful and put them in your shirt pocket, just in case. 
Back in camp, you present Rarity with your bounty. 
"Ah, yes. Thank you."
She's obviously less than enthused, but she eats anyway, using her magic to levitate each individual blade of grass to her mouth. You watch her eat for a while, before remembering the berries.
"Oh, I also found something else." you say, pulling a few of the berries from your pocket. Her eyes light up when she sees them.
"Oh my, roan berries! This is a pleasant surprise!"
She snatches the berries from your hand with her magic and snarfs them down.
"Mmm, simply divine!" she says, savoring the taste.
"So you seem to like them."
"Like them? Roan berries are a delicacy, dear! Do you have more?"
"Uh, yeah."
You pull the rest from your pocket and Rarity immediate swipes a few more.
"Mmm. You simply must try some!"
Well, she obviously likes them... a lot. You pop two or three in your mouth and almost gag. They taste like pine needles, but have the texture of snot. Still, food is food, so you manage to swallow them.
"Not my cup of tea," you sputter.
"Hmph. Suit yourself. That's more for me." 
You lie back down on the pad, and try to relax. Wow, it's gotten a lot hotter. Come to think of it, your stomach burns, too. And you're suddenly aware you can hear your own breathing echo. You sit up in alarm, and almost topple back over. The inside of the tent is spinning, and colors are flashing in front of your eyes.
"Anonymous? Is something wrong?" 
Rarity sounds like she's yelling in a tunnel, but it's muffled at the same time. You look at her to answer, but only end up screaming. Her eyes are so massive they're sticking off the side of her head, and they're dripping a thick, red liquid. You scramble to your feet and run from the monster. 
A few steps outside the tent, and the pain in your stomach is too much. You fall to your knees and vomit. Relief turns to horror as several snakes emerge from your pool of sick and slither away. No wonder your stomach hurts, there are snakes inside it.
"GET THEM OUT!" you scream, clawing frantically at your own gut.
Outside the tent is worse than the inside. There are shadowy figures all around you. They duck behind trees and into the grass when you face them but your vision is still too messed up to focus on them. You run out onto the beach to escape the shadows, but the sand is constantly moving and shifting. You can't get good footing and fall to the ground. Above you, colors swirl in the sky. They clash together, producing a deafening roar every time. With every collision, the sky gets darker and darker. 	
Voices around you begin to call your name, softly at first, then louder. 
"Who's there!?" you cry, looking for the source. 
You don't see anyone, but the voices are still there.
"Help me!" you scream. "I'm scared and I just want to go home!" you cry, over and over, tears streaming down your face.  You fall onto your back in defeat, squeezing your eyes closed, trying to block it all out.
Suddenly, you feel your head being lifted and you open your eyes. There's something standing above you. It looks like it's made of light, and it's presence is calming. The entity reaches out, and gently strokes your face. It feels like velvet, warm and soft. It leans down closer, and speaks in Rarity's voice.
"Anonymous!"
The world fades into darkness.

A loud clap of thunder snaps you into clarity. You feel a warm softness under your head. You reach back to see what it is, and stick your hand in Rarity's mane. 
"Are you finally awake?"
You're laying on the beach, with your head on Rarity's side. Sitting up, you notice it's much colder, and much darker. The sky is covered in black clouds.
"What the hell happened?" you say, fingers on your temples. It feels like your head is splitting open.
"I'm not sure. I think you had some kind of reaction to the roan berries. You were acting erractically."
"How long was I out?"
"A few hours, at least."
"And how long was I using you as a pillow?"
Her face reddens.
"That's not important. We should really-"
There's a flash of light above you as the sky is ripped apart by lightning.  Mere seconds later, thunder booms so loudly, you could swear you felt the ground shake.
"Looks like a storm." you say, sarcastically.
"Yes, I was just getting to that." Rarity says, rolling her eyes.
You shakily get to your feet.
"Come on. Let's get back to camp."
You head up the beach, but find you quickly outrun Rarity. Looking back you can see she's struggling pretty bad on her leg. You feel guilty that she walked this far on it because of you. 
"Ok, let's do it this way."
You walk beside her, and quickly hoist her up. 
"I beg your pardon!" she says, indignantly. "I do not need to be carried around like some common-"
"Shut up." you cut her off. "Unless you REALLY want me to leave you out in the rain," you add as droplets begin to fall from the sky. It's not much more than a sprinkle, but it gets your point across. She silently concedes, and you make your way back under the trees. 
Gently, you place Rarity on the mat in the tent.
"Be right back." you tell her, before heading back out into the storm. Luckily, the trees block most of the rain, but you should still get the fire going hotter, just in case. Gathering, some sticks you toss them into the fire, getting it nice and high. You should probably get something to drink, then head to bed. Snatching a couple coconuts off the ground, you head back to the tent.
Rarity is already laying down when you enter. You offer her a coconut, but she wordlessly waves it away. Sitting down, you crack yours open, and down the contents. You sit in silence for a bit.
"I'm sorry, Rarity."
"Hmm?"
"It's just... I've done everything wrong. Anything bad that's happened is because of me."
Rarity rolls over to face you.
"Anonymous..."
"I'm serious. I'm just a screw-up. I'm worthless."
"Anonymous, that's enough."
"What? I figured you'd love to have a chance to discuss my faults."
"Normally, yes. But I don't want to hear your whining when I'm trying to sleep." She gives a teasing smile.
You can't help but laugh. Yawning loudly, you roll on your side, facing Rarity. It isn't long until sleep takes you.

End chapter 5
	
	
	
	
> Chapter 6
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 6


It sounds like an explosion went off over your head. You jerk awake just just as Rarity screams and thrashes violently. This time, you manage to dodge her hoof and sit up out of harms way. 
"What was that!?" she shrills.
"I'm not sure."
You can hear the rain coming down hard than you've ever experienced, and you're suddenly aware that you're wet as you see the water splash in. Should have given the tent some flaps. 
There's another crash overhead, not nearly as bad as last time. This time your head is clear enough to realize it's thunder. Rarity screams again.
"What IS that!?"
"Calm down, it's just a bit of thunder."
"I've never heard thunder like THAT before!"
You force a chuckle. 
"Makes sense. I don't think the weather committee ever ordered a tropical storm over Ponyville."
You stretch and yawn, allowing yourself to wake up, and letting your mind sharpen. Flipping over, you crawl on your hands and knees toward the door of the tent. 
"What are you doing?" Rarity asks.
"I'm just going to have a look."
"Well... do be careful, won't you?"
You flash her a reassuring smile, then exit the tent. The heavy leaf coverage overhead does little to block the torrents of rain falling down. The fire is on it's last legs, trying desperately to stay alight. Looking around, you try your best to find some dry sticks, but they're all soaked. Shaking the rain off as best you can, you feed the wet sticks to the hungry flame, hoping the last remnants of the flame will dry them off enough to burn. 
As a large crack of lightening flashes overhead, you glace down toward the beach, and notice something frightening.  The boat isn't on the beach where you left it, anymore. You don't have time to panic about that, though, as the waves are reaching to about ten feet from where you're standing, completely covering the entire length of the long beach. Another flash lights up the sky, giving you a good look at the horizon. You stand in shock, mouth agape, at the sight, until you feel water hitting your feet. The waves were getting closer still.
You sprint back to the tent as fast as you can, almost diving inside. Rarity, who had gone back to sleep, wakes with a start. 
"Anonymous, what are you doing? What's wrong?"
"We can't stay here!" you manage to squeeze out between gasps for breath. "We have to move inland!"
Rarity looks at you like you suggested cutting her mane off.
"Why on Earth would we want to go out in that weather? This shelter isn't perfect, but surely it's better than being out in-"
You stick a hand to her face to shush her, earning you an angry look.
"Rarity, shut up!"
"Fine, then. What's so urgent that we should run out into a storm?"
"I'm not sure, but I think there's a hurricane heading this way.

The waves have already put out the fire and almost reached the tent by the time you've coaxed Rarity out into the storm. Gently, you pick her up again and move into the lush foliage.
"Where are we going exactly?" she cries over the storm. "I hope you've thought that much through!"
"Of course I have!" you lie. You didn't exactly have much time TO form a plan; you just know you have to get as far away from the shore as possible. 
After a few minutes of walking, you realize you're next to the cave Rarity fell into. That would the perfect place to wait this out. You carefully step down as gently as possible into the mouth of the cave. 
"The cave? This is your plan?"
"You got a better idea? I'd love to hear it!"
You can't hear the curt "hmph" over the rain, but you know she gave one. The water pooling at the bottom comes up to your ankles, but the uphill slope ensures that the rest of the cave is mostly dry. It was dark the first time you came here, but this time it's pitch black. Doing your best to find a clear area free of stones and pebbles, you gingerly place Rarity onto the cave floor. Exhausted, you sit beside her with a loud groan.
Silence overtakes you as you listen to the storm rage outside. Each clap of thunder seems to reverberate inside the stone confines of the cave. You can hear Rarity shivering beside you. You're pretty cold, yourself, wet to the core, on a stormy night, in a damp cave.
"I guess We should have grabbed a blanket." you say half jokingly, trying to lighten the mood. She says nothing, but a small sniffle betrays her. She isn't shivering; she's crying.
"Hey... you ok?" 
You feel like an idiot for asking, but you need to say something to her. She takes a moment to regain her composure before she answers.
"I'm afraid, Anonymous."
"You don't have to be afraid. We're perfectly safe in here."
That probably isn't true, but hopefully it makes her feel better. You can faintly hear her shake her head in the darkness.
"Not just of the storm. Of our situation. Of everything happening."
"Oh." 
Not the most intelligent reply you could have come up with. 
"I'm scared, too."
Come on, you idiot, that's not helping.
"But, we'll be fine. It's only a matter of time before they find us."
”But what if they don’t find us? What if we have to stay here?"
She pauses, and you hear her gulp, fighting back tears.
"I don’t want to die here.” she says, sniffling again. 
There's a slight pang in your chest, almost a knot. It's fear. The same fear she's having. Though you can’t see her, you can hear her move slightly in the dark.  You reach into the blackness, feeling for her. Your hand lands gently on her back. This time, she doesn't flinch away.
"We'll be fine, ok?"
Your stomach growls loudly as you say it, reinforcing the doubt in your own words. Luckily, it was drowned out by the storm outside. 
"Let's try to get some sleep, ok? We'll worry about this in the morning."
It's doubtful you'd get much sleep over the sounds of the howling winds and booming thunder, but you were exhausted enough, physically and mentally, that you were willing to try. She doesn't reply, but you feel her shifting underneath your hand, lying down on the cold rock. You take the place beside her. 
Sleeping in the sand wasn't fun, but it was luxury compared to this. You feel Rarity shifting next to you, until you feel her back meet yours. It was only a little warmer, this way, but it made you feel a lot better just knowing she was there. After what seemed like hours, you finally drifted off to a light, troubled sleep.

End chapter 6
	
	
> Chapter 7
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 7


As you open your eyes, it takes you a second to remember where you are. You do your best to sit up, but it's rough. Sleeping on stone certainly didn't do your back any favors. You blink a few times, and glance around. There's a little bit of light making it's way into the cave; it must be morning. It's still pretty dark, but you can see well enough to tell Rarity isn't beside you anymore. 
You stand with a groan, and make your way toward the front of the cave. Rarity is sitting at the bottom, in front of the pool of water. It looks like it's a lot deeper than when you entered the cave. 
She doesn't turn around as you approach her. Sitting down beside her, she finally acknowledges you. 
"Good morning." she says, her voice almost monotone.
"Hey. Waiting for me to get up?"
"Why do you ask?"
"I assumed you didn't want to try and wade through this by yourself." you say, motioning toward the water.
She doesn't reply, but you can tell from her expression that's pretty much it. Guess she's still too proud to outright ask you to carry her. 
Working your way down to the pool, at you peer into it. It looks like it'd come up to your waist, so Rarity would definitely have trouble with it, especially with her leg. But most importantly, you notice how clean it looks. You can see the bottom of the pool clearly, no dirt or mud or creatures swimming around. Then again, this IS rain water; it should be perfectly fine to drink. Reaching into the water with one hand, you scoop some out, and bring it to your lips. It's cool, and refreshing, but most of all,  it wasn't more coconut milk.
Dropping down to your stomach, you bring your lips to the pool, and drink deeply. Your stomach stretches painfully after being empty for so long, but at least you have some real water in it. Rarity slowly walks up besides you, watching you drink with a curious look.
"Are... are you sure that's safe you drink?"
Her voice is quivering a little, hoping whatever answer you give is good enough for her to drink for herself. You push yourself up away from the water, and sit back down.
"It's rain water," you say, gesturing at the pool. "Unless there's a lot of pollution in the middle of the ocean, it's perfectly OK to drink."
Satisfied with the answer, she carefully kneels down and brings her mouth to the water. Even as thirsty as she is, she maintains her self control, and drinks slowly and elegantly. She still drinks for nearly a minute, though, before sitting back with a contented sigh. The two of you sit in silence for a moment, before you get to your feet.
"I hate to dirty this water up, but we should clean your leg again, with CLEAN water."
Rarity hesitates for a moment, like she's going to protest. Instead, she gives a quick sigh and nods. Using her magic, she unbinds the leaves from her leg, wincing slightly as they come off. Kneeling down, you inspect her wound. 
It doesn't look too good; it's red and slightly swollen, a layer of pus coating the surface. 
"Well then? How is it?"
"I, uh..." you sigh. "I think it might be getting infected."
Again, she says nothing, but you can see a look of fear flash in her eyes. 
"But, hey! That's what the clean water is for? It'll clean it right out."
You're pretty sure that's not true, but you need to try and keep her calm. Taking off your shirt, you dip it in the pool, and scrub it against itself briefly, until the smell is gone. Taking it back to Rarity, you try and clean her leg like you did before. This time it's harder, because the wound is much more tender and sore. 
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry" is your mantra as you clean her leg as quickly but gently as you can. Rarity is almost in tears by the time you're satisfied that it's finally clean. Putting your shirt back on, you grab the leaves and wash them in the pool, and hand them back to Rarity.  She uses her magic to twist them back into shape around her leg. You sit there in silence for a few minutes, letting her rest from her ordeal.
"Rarity. We should head back to camp."
She sits there for a moment, like she didn't hear you, or she was ignoring you. Then, she slowly stands up, careful to keep weight off her bad leg. She doesn't protest as you bend down and scoop her up in your arms. Even carrying her, the touches her hooves as you wade through the water, to the exit of the cave.
Outside, everything looks like chaos. Big, green leaves cover the entire ground, with entire trees strewn about. Carrying Rarity and stepping over downed trees at the same time is difficult and very painful on your back, but you keep your mouth closed; it's your own fault you have to carry her. 
Eventually, you make your way back to camp. Or, at least where camp used to be. There's not a single trace that either of you had been here. he sand is still damp, and there are puddles of water littering the ground. Whether it's ocean or rain water, you don't know; probably a mixture of both. 
You stand there for a moment, taking it all in, before setting Rarity down in the ground. Wracking your brain, you try to think of something to say.
"This is fine.  We can just start over, right?"
"Anonymous."
"I mean, what do we need? A fire and a tent, right? That wasn't so hard before!"
"Anonymous!" she says harder this time.
You glance at her, and see her pointing at the trees with her hooves. Looking up, you don't see anything; there's nothing in the trees. Wait... there's nothing in the trees. All the coconuts are gone. You stare at the empty trees for a moment, then fall back in the sand, defeated. The two of you sit there almost a full hour before she speaks up.
"So. Now what?"
You push yourself into a sitting position.
"Now? Nothing."
"What do you mean, 'nothing?'"
"I mean there's nothing we can do."
"So what? Now you're just going to give up?" she cries indignantly.
"What do you want me to do?" you reply. It sounded much angrier in your head, but you just can't spare the energy to yell. "There's nothing clean to drink anymore. Even if we drink that water we contaminated, it'll go stagnant in a few days. And on top of that, I've had almost nothing to eat in like a week. So yes, Rarity, I think I'm going to just give up, now. Sorry to disappoint you."
You fall back to the ground, and stare up at the sky. Rarity is silent for a few minutes, clearly thinking. Her expression goes from depressed, to angry, to determined. She climbs to her hooves, marches over to you, and jabs a hoof into your ribs.
"Ah! What the hell!?"
"Get up! Get up right now!" 
She pokes you again, harder than before.
"Jesus, OK, OK!" You jump to your feet. 
"Now, those coconuts didn't just vanish. They're still out there, somewhere! And you're going to go find them!" she says, pointing a hoof at the wreckage of the inland, and staring at you with narrowed eyes.
You want to protest, but you know it's not worth it. With a sigh, you turn and head into the trees. There are leaves and downed trees everywhere; you can even see the ground. Shaking your head, you start kicking leaves aside. To your surprise, you find a coconut almost immediately. With a shrug, you throw it behind you back into the clearing. A few minutes later, you find another. Maybe Rarity was onto something. You feel hoping playing your emotions, and start looking with renewed vigor. 

After a few hours, you found just over 40 coconuts.  That should be good for now; the sun's starting to get low, anyway. Heading back into the clearing, it doesn't even look the same as it did. Rarity had built a new tent, complete with flaps this time, and a new mat inside. More importantly, there was a fire burning in the middle of the camp. Over top of it looked like some kind of makeshift spit, with something hanging from it. 
"Ah, you're back!" 
You turn and see Rarity piling sticks off to the side of the camp; presumably firewood. 
"You did all this?"
"Hmph. You sound surprised!"
"Well yeah, I kind of am! You did so much!" You point to the flame. "You even made a new fire?"
"You showed me how, darling." she chuckles.
"And what's that over top?" you say, pointing at the spit.
"Ahh, I'm glad you noticed. They must be done by now." she magically pulls the spit off the flame and hovers it to you. Six large fish are skewered on the stick, their scales brown and flaking, with the stomachs slit open and the guts removed. 
"How did you catch-" 
"Pointy stick."
"But how did you clean-"
"Sharp rock."
You stare at her, for a moment, unable to form words. 
"I hope you appreciate that, because it was absolutely the most disgusting thing I've ever done."
You snatch the stick out of the air, and dig into the fish. They're so hot they burn your mouth, but you don't care; it's the the best thing you've ever tasted. You snarf all six of the fish down in minutes. Sitting back, you sigh in content, feeling full for the first time in days. Rarity floats a coconut over to you, and takes a seat beside you. ou take the coconut and drink the contents all at once.
"There, now. Do you feel better?"
You grin at her.
"You don't even know. I could kiss you right now, Rarity."
She seems taken aback by the comment, but blushes anyway. You didn't mean it literally, but your mind is taken back to the night this all started.
"Rarity. A few nights ago, in the lifeboat..."
"I thought we agreed never to speak of that." she says, her blush deepening.	
"It's just... what WAS that? What happened there?"
Oh, I- I-" she stutters, flustered, before giving a deep sigh. "I don't know. I suppose it's because you were right. I get so wrapped up in my work that I... And anyway, I was drunk. It seemed like a good idea at the time." she says, looking away.
You shift yourself around to face her, and take her front hooves in your hands.
"Anonymous?"
"I want you to promise me something, Rarity."
"What's that?"
"If we get off this island-"
"WHEN we get off this island." she interjects, sternly.
"Alright. When we get off this island, promise me you'll spend less time working."
"I suppose I could try." she says with a sigh.
"How about one other thing?"
"Hmm?"
"How about we drop all the petty name calling and just be friends?"
She gives a warm smile.
"Deal."
The two of you move in to hug each other, your hand patting her back.
"Ha! I KNEW it!"
The two of you jump at the sudden interruption. You turn to face the source, heart in your throat. Rainbow Dash is rolling on the ground laughing. 	
"R-Rainbow Dash!?" you stutter.
"You two are alone together for a few days, and I find you getting all lovey-dovey!" she shouts through her laughter.
Rarity blushes, finally finds her voice.
"I-it was nothing like that!"
Rainbow Dash ignores her and continues laughing.
"Now see here! I'll not having you thinking the wrong thing!" Rarity shouts, raising her voice.
You cut in before Rarity gets more worked up.	
"How did you find us?"
Rainbow Dash finishes her laughing fit and wipes away a mock tear.
"Easy, we found the Lifeboat."
"What?"
She sighs in annoyance, as if it was obvious.
"We were searching for you two along the cruise route when we found the lifeboat. We just looked in the opposite direction the boat was drifting, until we saw the island. You really went off course."
You just sit there in stunned silence. It was finally over, and you could get off this island!
"So...?" Rarity asks.
"Oh, right!" Rainbow Dash says. "I'll go tell the others I found you. They'll have a rescue raft out here in no time."
And with that, she zooms off, kicking up wall of sand, leaving a rainbow trail behind her. The two of you sit in silence for a moment. You both turn and look at each other. Then you both laugh until you cry tears of joy. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You're sitting on a bench in the park, basking in the peacefulness. Sitting in the shade, warm breeze blowing through, fillies laughing and playing around. Out of the corner of your eye, you see a flash of white and purple. You turn to look, and sure enough, it's Rarity, trotting along with one of her oversized sun hats. Walking alongside Rarity, carrying a picnic basket on his back is her husband; you can never remember his name, but he seems like a nice pony.
"Ah, Anonymous!" 
Rarity spies you, and trots over to where you're sitting.
"Anonymous! I haven't seen much of you since the wedding!"
"Yeah, sorry about that. I've been busy with stuff." you lie. You don't want to tell her it was because she was spending so much time with her stallion friend, since it was your idea in the first place. "How's your leg doing?"
"Fantastic, actually, and thank you for asking."
She turns and shows her leg. You can't even see the scar since her coat grew back in.
"Well, we were just going to have a nice little picnic." she says, pointing at her husband. He gives you a quick nod; you wave back. "Would you care to join us?"
You shake your head. 
"Nah, I don't want to impose. Thanks, though." 
"Alright then. I'll be seeing you." she says with a smile. She turns and trots back back to her partner. They smile at each other and walk off into the park, looking for a good spot.
Feeling a bit hungry yourself, you head to Sugar Cube Corner. 
"Hi there!" Pinkie exclaims as you enter.
"Hey Pinkie. I'd just like a cupcake, please."
In a second, Pinkie is in the kitchen and back, cupcake in hoof. 
"Here you go, fresh from the oven!"
You hand her a few bits, and take the cupcake. Taking a big bite, you chew for a second, before spitting it out in her face. Ugh. Coconut.

THE END