With both girls pulling, it took just over an hour to drag the tree to camp. Having been dead for a month, all of its fronds were gone, and any coconuts that may have been growing had long since disappeared. Rarity directed Rainbow to the sharpened stone, and she immediately began chopping away at some cutoff shrubbery branches, turning them into wedges. Once she had about five, she began beating the rock lengthwise with a baton into the trunk down near the roots. As soon as a crack began to form, she started driving in the wedges, until finally, the trunk split right down the middle.
Rarity had been assisting the whole time, moving the wedges that had fallen out to tighter positions and keeping them straight so Rainbow could work faster. "Rainbow, that was spectacular!" she congratulated, hugging her. "Now what?"
"Now we do it again a few more times," panted Rainbow. "It'll be much easier from this point, so can I ask you to go collect more fronds? We're going to need more than what's in that basket."
Rarity looked to the basket indicated; the one she had filled on her way back. It wasn't even full. She'd just picked up what she could find on her short walk back. Collecting more would take no time at all; they were scattered everywhere. "Are you sure you don't need any more help?"
Rainbow looked over what she had left to do. It would be a lot easier with Rarity helping, and even if she came back with all of the island's foliage, it was useless until Rainbow was done with this. If they finished this, however, Rainbow could go out with Rarity and collect it all faster. Or worse, if they ran out of wood, she didn't want to have to drag another tree out here, even one that was closer.
"Okay," she nodded. "I appreciate it. I just thought you might have liked something a bit easier to do."
"If this was easy, I'd have built a separate house, and we could have the luxury of privacy. Besides, I run a business, so I'm no stranger to hard work."
"Just as long as it's not sweaty work, right?"
"Even sweaty work," corrected Rarity. "I really would like a bath at the end of it, though, and the minute we return to Ponyville, I'm scheduling a spa day."
Rainbow scoffed as she started to split the log down further. "Shouldn't you fix your horn, first?"
Rarity crossed her eyes as she looked up at her forehead. "I suppose, but wouldn't the doctor want me to be clean? Kind of a big deal. Plus, we don't want to wet the bandages, because it could damage the plaster."
"Well, I'm going to schedule surgery as soon as possible. I want to fly again."
"That's perfect," smirked Rarity. "A surgeon can't work on both of us at once, so you should go first. Really, I insist that you take priority."
"Well, I'm not going in alone," she huffed back. "It's not like the operation's going to take days. You go in, they set it up, and you're out in a few hours. I would rather inconvenience you a little from the bath to make sure your horn heals up properly. You don't want to be without your magic forever, do you?"
"Of course not! I just don't want the doctor to be repulsed my how awful I smell."
"I'm pretty sure the nurses will give you a sponge bath..."
"They needn't bother, as they likely have more important matters to attend to. I'm perfectly capable of bathing myself."
"And that's why you're going to have the twins wash you, instead?"
"You know very well that they're trained professionals that are clearly better than I am. Plus, it comes with a massage, and a date with Fluttershy."
Rainbow chuckled at the phrasing. "Yeah, and AJ owes me a hoof wrestle."
"It'll have to wait until after Pinkie's "welcome home" party. The poor dear probably already set one up and was distraught when we didn't show. No doubt she'll plan an even bigger one when she finds out what happened."
"Who's to say she won't jump on the ship coming out just to make sure we're okay?"
Rarity chuckled. "I'll give you that. She probably would come out just to make sure we were alright."
"Heh. Yeah, she's a keeper."
They had managed to split the log into several planks. It wasn't as flat as sawn wood, or even as smooth as if it had been cleaned up with an actual axe, but it was reasonably flat, and very sturdy. They carried the planks over to the pit and used that to measure how long they needed to be. Rainbow was pretty sure they had made the whole thing wide enough with multiple planks, so now they just needed to be cut to length. While a saw would have been very useful here, the sharp rock would have to do, and it would take a lot of chopping with it to cut through, even with how thin the planks were, averaging between two and three centimetres thick. It was a hard wood, especially around the edges. The heartwood was soft and punky, but still fairly sturdy.
"It's not the best material," grunted Rainbow, dragging the scored wood over to a rock to finish snapping it at the seam, "but it'll have to do."
"It's not like there's a lumber yard nearby," agreed Rarity. "I have to admit, when you issued your plan this morning, I had my doubts, but you've really pulled through. This was a spectacular idea for a floor."
"It keeps us up off the dirt," panted Rainbow, "Gives us some clearance from the water if it comes in, and once it's covered in fronds, it'll probably stop being as lumpy. That'll hopefully act as enough of a cushion."
"If not, I have an idea of how to fix it," nodded Rarity. "Before I do that, though, let's see how it operates as it stands, currently."
After the planks went down with a decent amount of clearance, meaning there weren't a lot of alterations to make, Rainbow still had some wood, which slid into place and would act as very sturdy braces for the stone wall to hold up the slab.
The sky was darkening, meaning there wasn't a lot of time left in the day. Rarity rushed around, trying to pick up all of the fronds she could while Rainbow started the fire. Rarity had brought extra coconuts the day before, and they could just eat that.