Gyro blew a hot breath out of her nostrils and stretched her forelimbs. She’d moved herself to a half-shaded spot with the help of some of the other survivors so she could enjoy some sunshine without spending too much time under the direct glare of the sun. The only thing worse than not being able to move was not being able to move when the sun was scorching her dark coat into charcoal.
But at least, as per usual, there was a nice breeze coming in off the sea. Gyro had perched herself on the sandy ledge that made up the waterside tree line of their camp, where she could get a good view of the ocean. On a day like this, she would have loved to be down at the shore, happily splashing through the waves, but her recovering back made that all but impossible right now. She’d found she could weakly move her legs through about half of their usual range now, but her back was definitely not healed enough yet to stand. At the rate she was recovering, though, she knew it wouldn’t be too much longer before she was out and about again.
Her ears twitched at approaching hoofsteps, and she glanced over her shoulder to see Ratchet walking towards her from the camp. “It’s a good thing you’re not our king or something, old stallion,” Gyro teased him. “I don’t have to get up and bow whenever you approach.”
Ratchet shook his head and sat down on the sand next to her. “Being the king of this ragtag bunch of ponies is about the last thing I want,” he said. “Rainbow can be the leader, for all she wants. So long as I’m keeping my crew safe, I don’t really care about much else.”
Gyro nodded, and her eyes drifted off to the south, where somewhere beyond the horizon, Rainbow and Champagne were looking for Rarity. “I hope she’s doing alright,” she said.
“Who?” Ratchet asked. “Rainbow? Or Rarity?”
“I mean, both,” Gyro said. “But more specifically, Rainbow. She’s been gone all day. I don’t know what the south island’s like, but I would’ve hoped that she’d find Rarity by now.”
“Even if she did, it would take them some time to get back to us,” Ratchet said. “Besides, need I remind you it hasn’t even been a day? I don’t know how long it took the two of them to fly south last night, but in any case, they probably were tired and had to rest this morning. And even if they do find Rarity, I think it will still be a while before they manage to make it back here. Especially if they have to carry her back.”
“They should’ve taken the raft,” Gyro said. “That would’ve been the smart thing to do.”
“From what I’ve gathered about Rainbow Dash, she usually isn’t one to follow the ‘smart thing’,” Ratchet said with a wink. “She just wanted to get over there as fast as possible. Besides, you know she was insistent on trying to take as few ponies as possible. She didn’t want to weaken us in any way while she was on this excursion of hers.”
Gyro sighed. “She worries too much about us,” she said. “She’s always worrying about ponies. Like, what do we even have to be worried about right now? It’s not like those moon mummies and dark alicorn whatsit have attacked us.”
“I think she’s less worried about them and more about our company,” Ratchet said. “She doesn’t trust the pirates.”
“She’d be an idiot to, so there’s that.” Gyro shook her head. “I don’t know what to think of those two. The older one seems like he’s reasonable, but the younger is just… well… dangerous.”
“They’re convinced that we’ll stab them in the back once we don’t need their help anymore,” Ratchet said. “They’re afraid to let their guard down around us. We won’t be able to cooperate until we both learn to trust each other.”
“And why shouldn’t we just deal with them and stop worrying about it?” Gyro asked. “That Jolly Roger stallion isn’t stable. He’s gonna snap at some point, and somepony’s gonna die.”
“Are we really any better than the pirates if we murder them in cold blood?” Ratchet asked her.
Gyro scoffed. “How many ponies died on the Concordia? How many of you guys did Squall’s crew murder on the archipelago before Rainbow and Rarity killed her? How many brothers, sisters, parents, and children died on the crash because the pirates took our ship and flew it right into a hurricane?” She idly struck at the ground with her hoof, leaving a horseshoe imprint in the sand. “It wouldn’t exactly be cold blood, if you ask me. I think it’s already simmering, if not outright at a boil.”
“Be that as it may, we won’t accomplish anything from killing each other,” Ratchet said. “All we can do is keep a close eye on the pirates and make sure they don’t pull anything. That’s what I’ve been having Stargazer do when he doesn’t have anything else to do.”
He shrugged and turned his attention back toward the sea. “Enough about the pirates, though. That’s a point that’s been talked about at length. We know where they stand, and we know what they think of us… or what they think we might do. It doesn’t matter. One way or another, we’ll get over it.”
Gyro could only reluctantly nod and look away. “You know, if it wasn’t for all the killing and death and everything, these islands would be a pretty nice place to retire to.”
“Be careful what you wish for,” Ratchet said. “Keep talking like that, and we might never leave.”
“I mean…” Gyro half-heartedly moved her shoulders. “It’s been on my mind a lot, lately. Just… what happens if we never find a way to go home? Think we could live on these islands forever? Assuming this stuff beneath the tomb doesn’t break out and kill us, I mean.”
“Until the minotaurs get to us,” Ratchet said. “We definitely don’t have the numbers to fight off a war party.”
Gyro sighed and laid her forehead down on her crossed forelegs. “It’s a shame, really,” she said. “Everything here just looks perfect at the superficial level. Dig a little deeper, though, and it’s super dangerous and deadly.”
“At least we don’t have to contend with things like malaria,” Ratchet said. “Truth be told, having access to freshwater and food, while also steering clear of dangerous tropical diseases, has been a boon for all of us.”
“Yeah,” Gyro agreed. “Disease would have torn us apart by now if there was really a problem with it. Thank Celestia the islands are basically clean.”
“Mmhmm.” The two ponies sat in silence for a bit, at least until Ratchet stood up a few minutes later. Grunting, the stallion stretched his neck left and right. “Alright, that’s enough of a break for me. You know I hate sitting around and doing nothing.”
“Too bad there aren’t any boilers that need maintenance around here,” Gyro said. “Maybe you can build one from scratch.”
“Maybe. We have enough metal for it.” He turned around and began to walk away, only stopping long enough to give Gyro a farewell. “I’ll check back in on you in a bit.”
“Don’t worry, dad, I’ll be fine.” Gyro shook her head. “I’m not even going to say ‘I’m not going anywhere’ because even I think that joke’s dead by now.”
Ratchet stared at her for a few seconds. “I’m going to assume the joke in there was you said the thing you just said you weren’t going to say.”
“Ayyyy, somepony gets it.” Gyro snorted in amusement and went back to looking out over the waters. “I’ll be here all week.”
“Celestia damn it, Gyro…”
“Hehehe…”