Rainbow Dash woke some time later with a growing crick in her neck and soreness in her back. Sleeping halfway hunched over against a stone wall had really done a number on her spine. Add a few days of sleeping on hard stone floors to that, and she felt like it’d be a miracle if her back ever stopped aching. She couldn’t wait to go back to sleeping on sand and ferns. Sweet, comfortable sand and ferns.
Of course, they were no clouds, but given the situation at hoof, she’d take what she could get. Rainbow never would’ve thought that sand would’ve been the favorite choice on her list of things to sleep on a month ago, but here she was.
She rolled to her right, and immediately ended up with a face full of white hair. Rarity snoozed at her side, forehooves twitching and horn occasionally glowing in her sleep. Every so often, she’d murmur or silently move her lips, though Rainbow couldn’t make out any words. At the very least, the unicorn dreamt peacefully. That was good; she’d earned her rest after everything she’d managed today.
Further back in the cave, Gyro had tucked herself back into a little bony ball. She’d even used her hind legs like a pillow, reminding Rainbow of a cat. One of those weird nearly hairless cats from southern Equestria, but a cat nonetheless. It would’ve been kind of cute to look at, if Gyro’s severe malnutrition didn’t make her look like a skeleton.
Rainbow rolled to her left. The sun had gone down, leaving the dark veil of night to descend on the island. She’d been asleep for hours; she must’ve been more tired than she’d thought. But miraculously, the minotaurs didn’t find them, even if both of the other ponies who were supposed to be keeping watch had fallen asleep as well.
It was about time they finally got some luck instead of having to make their own.
But that didn’t mean they were out of the woods yet. If she held her breath and listened, Rainbow could hear distant voices in the dark. There were still minotaurs on and around the mountain. They’d have to be careful if they wanted to sneak back to the raft without getting caught.
Speaking of which, it was about time that they moved out. After munching on half a loaf of bread to take the curb off her hunger pains, Rainbow gently poked Rarity’s side until she stirred. At first, the seamstress seemed confused and disoriented, but Rainbow placed a hoof over her white muzzle so she wouldn’t make any noise until she remembered where she was and why they had to be quiet.
When she finally had her wits about her, Rarity gently removed Rainbow’s hoof. “It’s dark already?” she whispered. “Celestia, I must’ve slept like a rock.”
“You deserved it,” Rainbow said, nuzzling the mare’s cheek. “What with all the awesome magic stuff you pulled today.”
“Yes, I suppose I did.” Rarity tried to work out some of her muscle soreness in what little room she had in the cramped cave. “Is it safe to move? When are we going to go?”
“Soon.” Rainbow passed off the other half of the bread loaf. “Get a bite to eat and wake Gyro. We need to get a move on after we get our strength back.”
Rarity nodded and took the final remaining loaf of bread out of the basket. Instead of prodding Gyro, she simply held the loaf under the mare’s nose and waited. Within a few seconds, Gyro’s eyes fluttered open, and she licked her lips. She snatched the loaf of bread between her hooves and took a ravenous bite out of it even before she really realized what was happening. Cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk, she glanced between Rainbow and Rarity for a moment before swallowing what was in her mouth. “…Hi.”
Rainbow chuckled and Rarity giggled. “This probably sounds dumb, but don’t eat too much right now, Gyro. We’re gonna be hiking down the mountain shortly.” Tucking the rest of their food into a bundle, she pulled the bag closer to herself. “Glad to see you’ve still got your appetite, though.”
Gyro wiped some of the crumbs off her muzzle. “Please don’t make food jokes around starving ponies, they’re insensitive and I’m offended.” She smirked and bit off half the loaf in a single massive bite. “Can ya gib muh thuh watuh?”
“I suppose now’s a bad time to criticize your table manners as well,” Rarity remarked as her magic took hold of the jug and passed what little of it they had left to Gyro. Gyro set the loaf of bread in her lap and tilted the jug back, draining the rest of the water in a few gulps. After a moment to consider what she’d done, she set the jug down and hung her head. “Sorry, you two were probably thirsty, too…”
“It’s fine,” Rainbow assured her. “At least we’re not going uphill. Plus, we’ve got a pot of emergency water in our raft. We’ll be fine.”
“Where is your raft?” Gyro asked. “Is it nearby?”
“East side of the island. We’ll have to do a bit of walking.”
Sticking her head out of the den, Rainbow scanned the mountain for any movement and listened for noise. The only voices were far away and she didn’t see anything crawling around the slope, so she ducked back inside and nodded to Rarity and Gyro. “Right, let’s get our crap and get going. They’re still looking for us, I think, so we don’t want to waste any more time.”
Both Rarity and Gyro shook their heads in understanding and started to climb to their hooves. Rainbow stepped outside of the den, carrying what she could in her mouth and across her back, trying to make space for the other two. They each mimicked Rainbow and grabbed supplies with their mouths and slid what they could onto their backs. While it would’ve been simple for Rarity to carry everything in her field, it would’ve produced too much light in the dark of the night. What they needed now was to move quickly, quietly, and stay out of sight.
Rainbow led the procession of fugitives directly down the southern slope as best as she could. If they got to sea level, they wouldn’t have to worry too much about minotaurs being all around them. Plus, there was more tree cover down by the crashing waves of the southern shore. With the backbone of the island to shelter them from the interior, she hoped that they’d be able to move without being seen. Plus, the flatter terrain would be easier to navigate with everything they carried on their backs. The last thing any of them needed was to trip and fall down the side of the mountain, possibly hurting themselves and making a lot of noise as they fell.
So it was a huge relief to Rainbow when her hooves finally touched sand. She took a moment to just stand by the water and dig her hooves into the wet grit, scrubbing dirt and dust out of the frogs. Rarity and Gyro ended up doing the same around her, and Gyro in particular stared off into the infinite stretch of sea to the south.
“I haven’t seen the ocean in weeks,” she said. “None of this feels real.”
“You better believe it, girl, because we’re about to bid this place bye bye!” She slapped Gyro on the shoulder and grinned at her. “Trust us when we say that our island is a bona fide island getaway!”
“I just wish it had cabanas and a spa,” Rarity said. “Or even just alcohol.”
“Eh, maybe we can ferment a coconut or something,” Rainbow said. “But come on! Enough standing around, let’s move!”
They trekked on through the darkness of the island as quietly as they could, ears swiveling this way and that to pick out sounds of minotaurs through the dense foliage. Once, Rainbow had them stop for several minutes until the voices up ahead grew quieter, but apart from that, they didn’t hear or see anything more as the beach grew shorter and the backbone of the island grew steeper and steeper.
And then they made it. Resting just inside of the trees was the raft, still carefully placed and concealed where Rarity had left it. “And this is our ride home!” Rainbow exclaimed to Gyro. “We built it ourselves and it got us over here. Now it’s gonna save our lives again!”
“That’s impressive,” Gyro said. “And it’s big enough for all of us and our supplies?”
“Oh, that we’re quite sure of,” Rarity said, dropping her supplies. “It’s not exactly a small raft. It’s roughly ten feet by ten feet. A big square that could easily carry another pony.”
Then her horn lit up, and after a moment of exertion, she dragged it out of the sand and flopped it into the water’s edge. Grunting, she wiped her brow and started picking up the supplies. “I’m going to have such a dreadful migraine tomorrow. I can just feel it.”
“At least we won’t need your magic for anything tomorrow,” Rainbow said, hopping onto the raft and picking up one of the oars. “We can just be lazy on the beach all we want. I’m certainly not interested in immediately turning around and heading to another island.”
“And I’d like to help,” Gyro said as she too climbed aboard. “I just can’t help all that much while I’m still skin and bones.”
Rainbow grinned. “See? Perfect excuse to take a little time off.”
“I suppose it wouldn’t hurt,” Rarity said, stepping on as well. “We could all use the rest after these past few days.”
“Or weeks,” Gyro said.
“Or weeks,” Rarity amended. Then her magic pushed off of the sand, and the raft rode the retreating surf out into the water. Grabbing the other oar in her magic, she set it to the water and started to paddle. “Home free! So long, minotaurs!”
“It wasn’t nice knowing ya!” Rainbow exclaimed as well. “Don’t come visit!”
And then the current began to pull them out to sea, and the horrid island faded into the darkness of the night.