“So you guys have just been hiding from the pirates this whole time?”

Gyro still couldn’t get over her elation at seeing friendly, familiar faces. Ratchet, the Concordia’s chief engineer, carried her on his back as the troop of survivors moved out. Normally, she’d make a wisecrack about being put in such a compromising position, but she knew when it wasn’t the right time or place for them. Being rescued from rape and death by friends she’d thought were long dead certainly was one such time.

“The pirates started abandoning ship right before the Concordia went down,” Ratchet said. “Some of the crew started trying to free passengers and ready lifeboats. In the end, there must’ve been twenty or thirty of us that ended up scattered throughout this island.”

“Twenty or thirty?” Gyro whistled. “Can’t wait to meet the gang then.”

The middle aged engineer’s expression turned dour. “That was when we landed. There are ten of us now. You’re looking at four of them, and there were twelve five minutes ago.”

“It was the pirates, wasn’t it.” It wasn’t a question, because Gyro already knew the answer.

Ratchet dipped his weary head, water still dripping off this thinning mane and scraggly silver beard from the rain earlier. “I don’t know how they ended up here; I didn’t see their barge go down anywhere around here, but there were more of them when they first showed up. About twelve or thirteen, though there are fewer now. But they started attacking and cutting down survivors wherever they found them. By the time we’d organized and collected everypony who was still alive, that rabid captain of theirs was burning bodies on the beaches.”

“I would’ve thought she’d at least try to work with the other survivors,” Gyro said. She used her forelegs to adjust her position on Ratchet’s back so she wouldn’t slide off. “Forty-something ponies could’ve easily built a crude ship and made it back to land.”

“I saw enough of her right after they boarded the Concordia to know she’s not right in the head.” Ratchet carefully picked his way across the mud and muck, choosing a path that would keep his hoofprints hidden in the chaotic and upturned ground. “I think she breaks the world down into two kinds of ponies: those she trusts, and those she doesn’t. Her solution to dealing with the latter is to kill them before they stab her in the back.”

“But you’ve been fighting back, at least,” Gyro observed. “So you’re making her regret her decision.”

“Mostly we’re just hiding. They have the weapons, and in a straight fight, they’d cut us to ribbons. We’re not battle-hardened scoundrels like they are, we’re civilians.” But, smirking, he added, “Though if we can get the jump on them, I’m all for thinning their numbers a bit. Last time we reconnoitered their camp, there were only nine of them. Now we’ve cut them down to seven… but not without cost.”

Gyro swallowed hard and let her gaze wander to the two bodies carried on the backs of two other stallions. One she recognized as Wingnut, a friendly if off-kilter mare who worked on the airship’s rigging. The other looked like one of the Concordia’s wait staff, but she couldn’t put a name to his face. She wasn’t as close to the wait staff as she had been with her fellow engineers, mostly because the two groups had a fundamental disagreement on the maximum amount of bearing grease a pony could be allowed to have in their coat.

“If this keeps up, there’s only gonna be one or two ponies left here by the time the killing’s done,” she said. “It’s not solving any problems.”

“If we had an alternative, I’d be all for it. As is, I’m just trying to save as many of us as we can. Squall’s pirates aren’t doing me any favors.”

The survivors reached a shallow channel between islands, and Gyro’s ears perked as Ratchet began to cross it. “Wait, wait, stop!” she shouted, forelegs struggling in vain to move her body on Ratchet’s back. The older engineer briefly stopped to adjust for her, and the other ponies ceased crossing the channel as well. “Rainbow Dash and Rarity! They’re still at the pirate camp!”

Ratchet did a double-take. “Rainbow Dash and Rarity? They’re here too? Just how did you three get here, where did you come from?”

“From the other islands,” Gyro said. “They ended up on one of the islands together, and they started exploring the others. They found me at the island to the north where all the minotaurs are from. They’re looking for these little statue things that they think are on all the islands, they think it’s a way to get back home!”

“That’s… what?”

Gyro groaned and once more tried to pull herself off Ratchet’s back as if she was going to go to the camp and rescue her friends herself. “It’s a really long story, but if those pirates are going back to the camp, then they’re in really bad danger! We have to do something!”

Ratchet grimaced and let Gyro roll off his back. “There’s nothing we can do, Gyro,” he said, standing over the gray mare as she tried in vain to stand. “There are four of us out here tonight. Four! We can’t take on six pirates and their psychotic captain by ourselves! Even if Rainbow Dash and Rarity helped us fight, we still wouldn’t come close to winning!”

“Then take me back to where you found me,” Gyro said. “Rarity knows where that is. She set the whole thing up. If they managed to escape from the camp, she’d head back there to find me. Then we can all escape together!”

Ratchet chewed on his dull red lip and looked at his companions. “Go back to our camp and make sure those weapons are in good condition. Bury Exchange and Port Tack. I’ll bring Gyro back.”

One of the mares, a masseuse Gyro liked to visit from time to time, Soft Step, took a worried step forward. “But what if the pirates come back? The two of you can’t fight them off. They’ll kill you!”

“And they’ll kill all of us if we all go,” Ratchet said. “It’s better to lose one pony than four. Especially when we’re barely clinging on to what numbers we’ve got.”

“What, I don’t count?” Gyro asked. “I’m offended.”

“If you did count, you’d only be a half,” Ratchet said, quickly returning Gyro’s dry wit. “I’m only counting the ten of us who’ve still been here all this time.”

Soft Step frowned, but turned around and splashed through the water. “Stay safe,” she called over her shoulder, and the green pegasus fluttered to the opposite beach, joining the other ponies from her troop.

Once more, Ratchet picked Gyro up, setting her back on his back with his magic. Then, retracing his steps, he carefully picked his way back through the jungle, ears trained out ahead and around him for the sounds of any pirates. “This better not get us killed, Gyro. We can’t afford to lose more ponies.”

“We can’t afford to lose Rainbow and Rarity,” Gyro countered. Hanging her head, she watched the trees pass by in a nervous sickness. “They’re our only hope of making it back to Equestria alive.”