Black Flag paced within the shadows of the jungle. From where he stood, he had a clear view of the area where Champagne had left them to go to her camp, while hopefully remaining hidden from sight. Hayseed sat on the ground next to him, the unicorn idly playing with her cutlasses while they waited for the survivor to return. As for Jolly Roger, Flag knew he was somewhere above them keeping them safe. Where exactly the pegasus was wasn’t as important as knowing that he was up there doing his job.
“It’s gonna be a trap,” Hayseed muttered. “I’m sure of it.”
“I don’t think so, but we’re over here anyway,” Flag countered. “If they wanted to jump us, then they have to find us first.”
“That might not be too hard with how many of the rats there are.”
Flag shook his head. “Have a little faith. I think we’ll be fine. Besides, do you really think these survivors have the stones to try and stab us in the back? They’re too innocent, too lawful. It’s not in their nature.”
“Desperation’s a bitch,” Hayseed said. “All it takes is staring death in the face once to bring out the steel in some ponies.”
“That mare didn’t seem like she had a lot of steel in her,” Black Flag said. “If somepony’s going to betray us, it isn’t going to be her.”
Hayseed rolled her eyes. “Great. Glad to know there’s one less bitch I have to keep my eye on. Maybe I can focus on the other fifteen fuckers looking for an opportunity to stab us in the back.”
“I doubt they have that many.”
“Who gives a fuck how many they have? They have more than us. That’s all that really matters.” Hayseed aggressively stabbed her cutlass into the ground and let it wobble for a bit. “We might be mean and salty fuckers, but they throw enough cannon fodder at us and we’re sure to get overwhelmed.”
“They won’t try it until whatever’s happening at the temple is dealt with,” Flag assured her. “Nopony really has the numbers to waste lives on a fight while there’s apparently moon zombies in the tomb ruins. Once that’s dealt with, though, that’s when we need to start thinking about what happens next.”
“Assuming we don’t all end up like Matchlock and Scabbard,” Hayseed grumbled.
Black Flag shook his head but didn’t bother saying anything more. There was never any point in arguing with Hayseed. The mare would always find some thread to spin into a pessimistic yarn—that’s just who she was. Besides, even if he had wanted to continue arguing with her, the foliage on the other side of the clearing started to rustle, and soon enough, a small herd of ponies moved out into the moonlight.
Both Black Flag and Hayseed quietly readied themselves for whatever would happen next. But instead of fanning out and looking for them, the survivors merely turned to one another. “I thought you said they’d be here,” one said to Champagne. “You better not have led us into a trap.”
Champagne shrank back. “They’re likely hiding in the plants around us,” she said. “They were probably worried that we’d attack them. They aren’t very trusting.”
“You’re right about that,” Black Flag said, emerging from the undergrowth with Hayseed reluctantly following close behind. “We’ve been at each other’s throats since the beginning. Why think that won’t continue now?”
The survivors all shifted to face the two pirates. Most, Flag noted, watched him and Hayseed with disgust and a little trepidation. Even outnumbered five to two, with a third still hiding in the sky, Flag noted that he still seemed to command some sort of advantage over them. The survivors seemed wary of the pirates, like Flag was hiding more he could summon at a single command to overwhelm them all. If that was all the help Champagne had managed to rally from her camp, then Black Flag felt a lot better about his chances of surviving a stand up fight with the survivors if they came to blows tonight.
An older stallion narrowed his eyes at Flag. “A good question,” he said in a grave voice. “Is it because we have something more important to focus on than killing each other tonight?”
“So it would seem,” Flag responded. “When it comes down to it, I guess we have one thing in common that we can rally behind.”
“And what’s that?” the stallion asked.
“We’re not staring at the moon and babbling on like idiots.” Flag shifted a little more comfortably and even managed to crack a smile, though it was more predatory and amused than genuine mirth. “I figure something like that’s important enough to keep everypony playing nice during recess until the game’s over.”
“Right.” The stallion shook his head. “I would just like to warn you that even if we are working together tonight, we do not trust you.”
“We’d be idiots to trust each other,” Flag agreed. “But hopefully we can put aside our past differences for a few hours and go kill some moon zombies, right?”
“We aren’t killing them,” the stallion insisted. “They’re a part of my crew, and if any of them can be saved—!”
Black Flag marched forward and put his hoof on the older stallion’s chest. Everypony around him tensed, but Flag just laughed and shook his head. “Whatever they are, they’re not your crew anymore. Two of my crew got shot by two of yours, and instead of dying, they just put your friends under the same spell holding them. If we don’t cut them down where they stand, then we’re all going to join them.”
He pushed off of the older stallion’s chest and returned to Hayseed’s side. “I don’t think we have much more time to waste now, do we? We should probably get moving before the moon falls or our moon thrall friends finish whatever it is they’re trying to do. I guarantee you they’re trying to do something, and we probably want to stop it.”
The stallion slowly nodded his head in agreement. “Right. If you’re ready, we’ll move out immediately.”
“If I’m ready?” Black Flag feigned astonishment. “How courteous. Yes, me and Hayseed are ready. The better question is are you ready?”
“We’re as ready as we’ll ever be.” The stallion nodded and turned to his crew. “Let’s move. We don’t have time to waste!”
The seven ponies set out as one, with Black Flag confident that his brother still flew somewhere above them to scout the land. That was one card he didn’t want to play just yet. A surprise attack from a hidden pegasus could quickly turn a betrayal into a counterattack and rout.
Hopefully he wouldn’t need it. He already had too much to worry about with whatever was happening at the temple.
-----
Rainbow Dash paced in front of the split door. Nearly five minutes had passed and she hadn’t heard anything from Rarity. She told herself repeatedly that her marefriend was just exploring, but surely she would’ve found what she was looking for by now, right? Rainbow knew she had to be worrying unnecessarily. Right?
Stargazer chuckled as he watched the mare march back and forth. “You want to take a break from that?” he asked her. “You’re likely to trip over something hidden beneath the water.”
“I can’t stop,” Rainbow muttered. “If I stop, I think too much. And I don’t need to think and worry myself.”
“There’s nothing to worry about,” Bearings assured her. “If something went wrong, I’m sure we’d hear it.”
“Yeah, but the silence is killing me!” Rainbow groaned and pressed her cheek against the door again, staring through the split between the two doors. The entire chamber was pitch black on the other side; Rarity must’ve already moved on and taken her light with her. But still, shouldn’t she have seen a residual glow off the walls or something? Just how deep into this tomb had Rarity gone?
“You alright, Rares?” Rainbow yelled through the door, her worry finally getting the better of her. “Need any help?”
“Like we can do anything from out here,” Stargazer muttered.
“Shut up,” Rainbow growled at him. When she didn’t get a response from the other side of the doors, Rainbow fidgeted and worriedly twitched her wings. “Rares? Rares, you there? Rares!”
The lack of a response also caught the two stallions’ attentions. Both turned in Rainbow’s direction and waited for a response that didn’t come. “Where is she?” Bearings asked. “How far into the temple did she get?”
“I don’t know,” Rainbow said. She began to prance in place and once more tried to wedge her face into the small split between the doors. “Rares, answer me, come on!”
Instead of Rarity answering them, however, the distant screeching of bats echoing up and down the catacombs caught the three ponies’ attentions. Flinching in surprise, the three looked back the way they came just in time to see several torches erupt in blue flame, casting dim light on their surroundings. Bit by bit, the lighting torches worked their way down to the three ponies at the end, a pair lighting on opposite sides of the cavern every few seconds.
All three Equestrians immediately stood up and knotted together in a small group. “That… does not look good,” Bearings said.
“Something’s coming,” Stargazer said, peering into the gradually lessening darkness. “Somepony, even!”
Rainbow likewise squinted, but the figures were so far away that she could hardly make them out. One thing for sure, though, was that they were growing closer. And with the torches lighting in spooky blue flame as they passed them, Rainbow quickly decided that she didn’t want anything to do with what was coming their way.
“We need to hide,” she said. “We need to hide now.”