Rarity hummed to herself as she worked. In front of her, a large pile of palm fronds lied on the ground. As she worked, she’d pull one out, strip the vanes of the frond off, and add them to the mat she was weaving. By now, the mat was almost four feet square. Rarity figured she could get it to five feet before it became too unwieldy to work with. So she kept at it, making careful but dedicated progress with what she had, tying off the ends with coconut fiber when she needed to.
Rainbow returned after a few minutes with another clutch of palm fronds held in her mouth. Spitting them out, she swatted at a pesky fly buzzing around her flank and regarded Rarity’s work. “You’re making good progress on those.”
“I am,” Rarity said, glancing aside at the pile of mats she’d already made. “We need a lot of these to make the roof and the walls. How many more can you get?”
“I’ve only cleaned off like, four of the treetops,” Rainbow said. “We’ve still got another six to work with. After that, you’ll have to start sawing them off with your magic.”
“Hopefully it won’t come to that,” Rarity said. “I already have so much to do.”
Rainbow frowned at the seamstress. “I told you I’d help if I could…”
“I’m just teasing, darling.” Rarity plucked another frond from the pile and quickly disassembled it. “You doing the hard manual labor of sawing the fronds off of the fallen trees and bringing them back here is good enough. I’m much more skilled at weaving and assembling our walls and roof than you are. Besides, you helped enough with the heavy lifting yesterday in assembling the frame of our hut.”
“Yeah, I guess.” Rainbow sighed and sat down on the sand. Her eyes wandered over toward their old hut and spied the gray figure sprawled out in front of it. “Gyro looks like she’s enjoying herself.”
“More than she ought to, if you ask me,” Rarity said with a slight smirk on her muzzle. “All our guest has done is eat and sleep since we brought her here. You’d figure she’d at least help with the dishes.”
Rainbow snorted and shook her head. “I won’t complain about the downtime,” she said. “We need this time to relax instead of setting our sights on the next island. We’re in no hurry.”
“At this point, no.” Rarity finished tying off the ends of the mat and gently floated it over to the pile with the others. “We’ve been gone from Equestria for, what, twenty-six days? What’s a little longer?”
Memories of their conversation last night came back to her, and Rarity immediately dipped her head. Rainbow must’ve been thinking the same thing, but she coughed and shook her head like it was nothing. “Yeah. We’re not getting anywhere in a hurry. Still, though, it’s nuts that it’ll be a full month since we left Canterlot soon.”
“I never knew my life was going to take a twist like this a month ago,” Rarity mused. “Funny how quickly things can change.”
“Yeah.” Rainbow flopped onto her back, scattering sand around her. “You ever wonder what happened to those pirates?”
“Captain Squall and her crew of miscreants and ruffians?” Rarity shook her head. “I figure they either went down with the Concordia or escaped on their barge. Hopefully we won’t see them again.”
Rainbow nodded. “It’d be pretty ironic if they were the first ones to find us.”
“At that point, I think I’d rather hide instead of letting them take me prisoner,” Rarity said. “Even if it is a chance to get back to Equestria.”
“Yeah, screw that,” Rainbow said. “We’ve got our own plan. I don’t want to deal with those assholes again if we can help it.”
A loud snore from Gyro interrupted their conversation. Chuckling, Rarity nevertheless kept a sad smile on her face. “And there’s Gyro, too. I don’t think they’d treat her kindly if they captured us. We’re worth our weight in gold, but she’s not. I’m afraid of what they’d do to her.”
“Hopefully we won’t have to worry about it,” Rainbow said. “We’ll just focus on surviving and making sure the minotaurs don’t bother us. That’s pretty much all we can do right now.”
“Mmm.” Once more, Rarity’s magic started the task of weaving a palm mat from scratch. “We’ll pull through somehow. I just wish this island had a salon.”
“I wish this island had a friggin’ bar,” Rainbow grumbled. “Seriously, I don’t think I’ve been this sober in forever. I could really use some Apple Family cider.”
Rarity nodded along. “I know how you feel. I would suggest trying to ferment a coconut or some fruit that we have here, but we don’t have any yeast.” She sighed, and her shoulders slumped forward a bit. “Now I really regret drinking that entire bottle of champagne the night we found it. We should’ve saved it.”
“Eh, it probably wouldn’t have lasted.” Rainbow watched Rarity work, and the corners of her muzzle twitched. “On second thought, maybe it’d be awesome of those pirates came back,” Rainbow said. “We could go steal a crate of their rum or something.”
“Please don’t say things like that,” Rarity scolded. “We don’t actually need them coming here.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” She grunted as she forced herself to sit up. “Do you need me to do anything? Need any help with some of this stuff?”
“I just need more fronds,” Rarity said. “I’ve got enough to put two layers on the roof, which should hopefully keep the rain out, but I need more for the walls.”
Rainbow sized up the hut and nodded. “Shouldn’t be too bad,” she said. “I think we’ll have enough if I strip another three trees.” Grunting, she stood up and cracked her neck. “Better get back to it, then.”
Before she could go, Rarity reached out with her blue magic and tugged on Rainbow’s tail. “Don’t leave your lady without properly saying goodbye,” she said, fluttering her eyelashes.
Rainbow smirked and trotted back toward Rarity. Bending down, she kissed the mare, her wingtips fidgeting at her sides. When they separated, she ran her hoof down Rarity’s muzzle and up the side of her head, ending at her ear. “It’s not goodbye, it’s just seeya,” Rainbow said. “I’m only going to the other side of the island.”
Rarity stuck out her lower lip. “But that’s so far…”
Rolling her eyes, Rainbow kissed Rarity again. “I’ll be back before you know it.”
“If you insist…”
“I do.”
A loud cough made both of them jump. Glancing to the side, they saw Gyro sitting upright and watching them with one eyebrow raised. Flustered, Rainbow turned around and marched off, and Rarity put her attention back to her work.
After a moment, the mechanic chuckled. “You two lovebirds just can’t help yourselves, can you?”
“I don’t see the problem with it,” Rarity said, hunching over the mat.
“I’d say get a room, but I can tell you’re still building it.”
“Filly, I will throw you back into the water.”
“Right…”