Gyro was too nervous to go to sleep. Ever since Rarity had left, there’d been nothing but the sounds of the water and the calls of distant insects to keep her company. The beach was desolate and empty, and it wasn’t too hard to believe that nopony else lived on this island.
But she knew that was a lie, and it was a dangerous one. There were pirates on the island here, though how many, she couldn’t tell. Pirates that wouldn’t hesitate to kill her if they got the chance. And there was nothing she could do to defend herself. Everything below her bellybutton was tingly and numb, and no matter how much she tried, she couldn’t get her legs to respond to her. And, like she’d predicted, she’d lost control of her bowels. It wasn’t pleasant, to say the least, but at least she could clean up after herself.
The waiting, however, was killing her. It would’ve been one thing if she could walk and pace, but now she just felt helpless, utterly useless and helpless. If something happened to Rarity, she’d never know, and she wouldn’t be able to do anything about it even if she did. If the pirates came from her, there wasn’t any way she could fight them off if her hind legs didn’t work. An earth pony’s first line of defense was their hooves, and Gyro couldn’t even use hers. She wouldn’t even be able to flee if she was found.
So her heart skipped a beat or several when she heard hooves striking through the sand somewhere nearby. Grimacing, she tried to sit up straighter to peer through the foliage around her, but it wasn’t like she could even see anything to begin with given how dark the night was. A cold wind sliced through the plants and her coat, and Gyro shivered as her hair began to stand on end. She wrapped her fetlock around a nearby spear and drew it in close in case she needed it—whatever good it would do from a sitting position.
“Gyro? Are you there?” a voice hissed through the darkness, and Gyro immediately lowered her guard. A moment later, an alabaster horn poked through the foliage, followed by Rarity’s face. Her tense and dirt-streaked features relaxed when she saw Gyro still sitting against the tree, and she emerged all the way from the brush. “Oh, thank Celestia, I had half a worry that you wouldn’t be here for some reason when I returned.”
Gyro chuckled and repositioned herself with her front hooves. “Why? Worried I’d wander off somewhere? I don’t blame you, I can never sit still.”
Rarity’s eyes flitted to Gyro’s legs and she chewed on her lip. “I… well, I don’t suppose I have to keep too tight of a leash on you now, don’t I?”
“So long as you let me out every so often so I don’t pee on the sofa.” Gyro shook her head, then looked Rarity over. “Celestia, Rarity, you look like you’ve been through Tartarus!”
“I certainly feel that way,” Rarity said. “I found the pirate camp, but the pirates found me. Thankfully I got away, though.”
Gyro craned her head a little to the side to try and see over Rarity’s shoulders. “And you’re sure they didn’t follow you? Because this has all the setup to us getting shafted by something like that.”
Rarity shook her head. “No, I made sure. I was able to lose them in the undergrowth, and then I waited a long time before I came back here. They all went back to their camp, but they know that Rainbow wasn’t alone now.”
“So they do have her?” Gyro asked. She screwed her face and struck at the ground. “I knew it. Damn it!”
“At least we know where she is,” Rarity said. “We can free her now.”
“Did you see her? How’s she doing?” Gyro shuddered. “I doubt those pirates have been good hosts to their guest.”
“I didn’t get to see her,” Rarity said with a sigh. “I couldn’t see where they were holding her. But it didn’t sound like they were treating her all that well.”
Gyro grimaced. “Eeesh. How bad?”
Again, Rarity could only shrug and dejectedly hang her head. “She’s alive, but I think she’s hurt. It sounded like they were beating the poor mare for sport. One of the pirates didn’t think she’d last more than four days before that dreadful Captain Squall snapped and forced Rainbow to suffer the brunt of her ire.”
“Oh, fuck me. That crazy bitch survived the crash, too?” Gyro glowered at her hooves and mashed them together several times. “Well, at least that means her barge went down in the storm, too. A little karmic justice or something like that. Do you know how many of her crew survived?”
“Not for certain, but I counted five around the fire. I didn’t see Squall among them, though, so that’s six. Who knows how many more they had around the camp or elsewhere in the jungle, but there’s at least six. I’d guess ten or twelve.”
“Well, that’s twelve of them to three of us,” Gyro said. “Or two and a half. My ass doesn’t count for anything anymore. Not like I can move it.”
“Yes, unless your back makes some sort of miraculous recovery, I suppose I’m the only one actually able to move about the island and do things.” Rarity frowned and rubbed her muzzle with a muddy hoof, too tired to care about the muck she pressed into her coat. “I think in the near-term, we’re going to have to think about changing islands. We have the raft, so we can use it to go somewhere else, preferably away from the pirates. We might as well utilize whatever advantages we have if we’re going to beat them.”
“But your horn is messed up so we can’t even use the raft,” Gyro said. “At least not for another day or two. We’re stuck on this island for the time being.”
Rarity nodded. “Right, so obviously our first plan of action needs to be rescuing Rainbow and preparing to flee as soon as we do. Ideally, as soon as I have my magic back, we can spring Rainbow free and then escape to another one of the islands in this cluster and start our hunt for the figurine in earnest. The sooner we can find it, the sooner we can go back to our home base, where hopefully the pirates won’t be able to follow us.”
“At least it’s a plan,” Gyro said. “But you’re still one mare against a dozen pirates. How are you going to even get Rainbow out of there?”
Rarity frowned and let her eyes wander around her campgrounds. After a moment, she raised an eyebrow at Gyro. “Tell me, darling, did you come across any wire and rope in the wreckage before it collapsed?”
Gyro nodded. “I found a lot of things in there. Whatever survived the fall will still be there waiting for us. Why? It’s not like metal panels and wooden planks are going to help us out now.”
But Rarity just grinned back at her. “That’s where you’re wrong, my dear,” she said. “They’re the only reason my plan is going to work.”