//------------------------------// // Apotheosis // Story: Surviving Sand Island // by The 24th Pegasus //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash glared at the two pirates standing across from her. She’d expected she’d see them again at some point before everything was all said and done, but not here, and not like this. Seeing the pirates and the survivors of the Concordia working together surprised and confused her. But even if the two factions had started working together to deal with whatever was happening in the tomb, that didn’t mean she trusted or even forgave the pirates for everything they’d done to her. Ratchet quickly stepped forward to intervene before the situation spiraled out of control. “Rainbow Dash, we’re under a truce of sorts with Black Flag and Hayseed,” the engineer said. “Champagne rallied us all together to help fight what’s happening in the tomb after she saw… well, this.” He pointed at the two moonstruck ponies standing off to the side, still as statues apart from the casual rise and fall of their chests. The cloth around Matchlock’s head was already covered in blood, and it dripped in steady streams from her mutilated jaw into the water below. Shuddering, Ratchet looked away and focused his attention back on Rainbow. “At any rate, we’re working together now. The extra edge to our numbers will be a lot.” “I don’t think it will mean all that much if those two get to wherever they’re going,” Black Flag said. “I have a feeling that something bad will happen when they do.” “You have any ideas what this could all be about?” Clever Ruse asked. “Anything we can get a hint from?” Rainbow glanced at Bearings and shrugged. “This place is a tomb and temple dedicated to the Ponynesians’ moon god, which apparently was their interpretation of Nightmare Moon. Whatever is going on here has to do with him, and from what spooky Blow Off said, ‘he shall return’ or some crap like that.” “Is it really just their interpretation of Nightmare Moon?” Ratchet asked. “Whatever is happening out there has tangible magic behind it. Something was controlling these two, that I can tell.” Black Flag shrugged and paced over to Matchlock. Before anypony could react, he drew his sword and split open the mare’s neck. The pirate gagged and flinched but stayed standing for a remarkable amount of time before her legs finally gave out and she collapsed to the ground, dead. Frowning, Flag sheathed his cutlass and turned back to the rest of the ponies. “I guess they can die.” “What was that for?!” Rainbow exclaimed. “She was one of your crew!” “She was enchanted or something. She wasn’t going to help us.” Shrugging, he added, “besides, I shot her jaw clean off. She would’ve died from blood loss. No need to prolong the agony, if there was anything of her left inside.” Rainbow’s face screwed through several different expressions before she finally settled on begrudging agreement. “Yeah, sure, fine. Whatever. But what are we going to do about him?” she asked, her hoof pointing at Blow Off. “Is he just gonna, like… stand there?” “I wouldn’t be surprised,” Ratchet said. “He hasn’t attempted to break free of his restraints since we got the cover on his head. At the very least, he is still tied up, so he won’t be able to go anywhere or remove that cover from his head.” “If you say so.” Rainbow shook her head, then worriedly looked over her shoulder in the direction of the destroyed door. Cursing, she snapped open her wings and took flight, already anxiously darting down the cavern in quick little bursts. “We gotta go!” she shouted. “We’re wasting too much time shooting the shit out here!” She didn’t even bother to wait and see if the rest of the team was following her. Rarity was on the other side of a pair of moon zombies and she did not want to leave the poor fashionista to fend them off on her lonesome. Especially not if she had to deal with their spooky moon eyes and evil bats. Rainbow redoubled her pace when she realized that if she wasn’t quick enough, Rarity could end up like Blow Off and Soft Step. And considering she didn’t even know if it was possible to reverse what had happened to them, Rainbow didn’t even want to let it come to that. She had to stop the other two before they got to Rarity. Now that the door had been blown apart, it didn’t provide much of an obstacle to Rainbow, and she flew right past it and into the next chamber. Apart from some pointless statues and decorations, it didn’t look like it served much purpose, and more importantly, nopony was in sight. But there was a hallway leading out of it, and flapping her wings, Rainbow flew down it as fast as she could—at least until she realized the ceiling descended until it sank beneath the water ahead of her. Frowning, she anxiously hovered in place while she decided what to do. She could hear the splashing of her companions behind her, so she knew they’d be with her in about a minute of trudging through the water-filled cavern. At the very least, she could press on ahead and hope they would catch up. She knew it wasn’t wise to go and fight the zombies off alone, but Rarity was in there alone. Emotion overrode instinct, and after a second to suck down a deep breath, Rainbow flipped about in midair and dove for the water nose first. She cried out in surprise when it felt like she slammed her face against glass. Rainbow rolled onto her back and clutched at her muzzle, with her nose bleeding and maybe a little broken. She didn’t understand what had happened. She looked down at her tail and saw she was just sitting on the surface of the water, which she noticed was unnaturally still. Climbing to her hooves, she cried out in frustration and started jumping on it, but she couldn’t force her way through. “What is this?!” she hollered and yelled. “What the crap! Let me through!” By this point, the rest of her companions caught up with her, and they all stared in disbelief at what they saw. “Rainbow?” Ratchet asked, quickly galloping closer, the water splashing around his legs. “What’s going on? What’re you—oof!” The stallion grunted as the water he’d been galloping through suddenly became quite solid and rigid. It was like he tripped over a step, and he fell on his chin in front of Rainbow, on top of the water. He blinked and looked down, then smacked at the glassy water several times to no effect. “What is this?” “It looks like a barrier,” Hayseed said. “A strong one, too.” Ruse whistled and nodded. “That’s some impressive stuff right there. Maybe I can work it into a show.” Rainbow growled in frustration and continued to jump on the water. “Well, you’re friggin’ unicorns! Do something!” Their horns lit up, but to no avail. After several seconds of trying, they both gave up on their magic. “Whatever put this ward here is strong,” Ruse said. “And I’m willing to bet it’s the same thing that can make magic powerful enough to control ponies like that.” “Gah! Useless!” Rainbow continued to jump and slam on the water but couldn’t even chip it in any way. “Rarity’s through here somewhere, I know it! And now she’s all alone with those, those… monsters!” “Maybe we can find another way through,” Ratchet said, already turning around. “We just need to—!” A mare’s scream shook the tomb to its core, cutting him off, and darkness smothered them all. ----- The horn called to it. It beckoned it onwards, forcing its body to move despite the damage inflicted to it. When it had once been a mare, it would have cared about the pain wracking its limbs. But now there was nothing, only a few confused motes of a soul and mind wheeling endlessly inside its skull, powerless to reassert her authority over her body, much less call herself a pony. She was simply an it now, a tool to be used as seen fit by He who wielded it, a vessel to complete a ritual. It moved to one side of the altar, and the other tool moved to the other. There, with perfect precision, they placed their hooves on runes carved into the altar and began to chant. It didn’t know what the words were; it wasn’t the one speaking them. It was merely a tongue that waggled as commanded. Darkness oozed from the cracks in the chamber walls, pooling thick and heavy across the floor of the room. Both tools raised their hooves and touched the shackles binding the horn to the altar. The metal glowed white and fizzled away, boiled into nothing by impossible magic. But now the horn was free, and again the two tools moved. It placed its head down on the base of the altar and spread its wings, while the other tool took the horn in its own magical grasp. It knew it had been chosen because it was once a pegasus. Now, it could become something more. It would be a vessel for His influence. The other tool placed the horn against its head, and it was overwhelmed with a sensation of raw power and personality funneled into its skull. The tiny pieces of what was once a pony named Soft Step formed together long enough to scream, and from that nucleus of a pony, His power and influence grew. The shattered remains of a mortal were glued together with the power of a god, and the longer she screamed, the thicker the shadows fell from the walls. When it was finally over, the mare convulsed, her wings twitching and her forehead burning from the new bone fused to it. But, little by little, she recovered, and was finally able to lift her head. A twisted and corrupted alicorn of the night stared back at her off the polished surface of a shield on the far wall. For a second, Soft Step recognized herself beneath long limbs, dark coat, fanged muzzle, and twisted horn. For a moment, she remembered who she was, where she was, and what had happened to her. And then her new horn flared to life of its own accord, and the mare drowned in shadow.