Soft Step stared down at the dais in front of her. Four islands, each perfectly carved, stood up from the raised surface, perfect down to the last detail—at least in how they had looked centuries ago. Time and the elements had taken its toll on some of the islands, but their representations were still mostly right. Almost perfect. Just like her new body.
Her slit eyes narrowed on the representation of the archipelago. She found herself cursing fate and her luck. By some unfortunate twist, all the pegasi had doubled back to His tomb after she had already brought all of her forces out of it. Here she was, with nearly everything she needed to complete the ritual, but now she was one critical piece short. How could she come so close only to fail right at the very end?!
She hissed and turned around, glaring at Ratchet. The stallion’s breath was labored and his limbs spasmed, though no harm had been done to his body. His body was the important part, but his mind meant nothing. With His power, it had been trivial to tear through his memories until she found the plan he’d crafted with the rest of the wretched cattle before the moon had risen. Now, Soft Step knew exactly where the pegasi had gone, but that didn’t make things any less complicated.
It had taken all the previous night to march her thralls out from the archipelago and to the sunken temple, and even longer to move them here. The group she’d sent to the temple still had yet to return with the previous avatar’s corpse, but she could sense that they were getting close. It would probably take another half hour for them to arrive, and then the body would be safely inside the shrine. She could sense that there still had to be another four hours of moonlight left before the horrid sun would strip away His power again and leave her and her army helpless for the day. But it was too late to go back now. She’d already made her presence known and had most of what she needed to complete the ritual. If she took too long, then it would all be over. Those sirens would kill her while she was helpless under the sun, and then He would never be able to be reborn.
But what did she do? Though she could hear His voice whisper in her mind, He hardly gave her any concrete directions or plans. The initiative to act was all on her, and she knew she couldn’t afford to fail him. Logically, the safest plan would be to take some of her army and attack the archipelago, hopefully distracting and overwhelming the sirens so she could pluck two pegasi from their midst. But she didn’t have the time to bring them back with her. It would take them far too long. Herself, on the other hoof…
She tapped her chin in thought. With His powers, traveling to the archipelago and back would be trivial. The downside would be that she would be all by herself versus two sirens and three pegasi. If it had just been the pegasi, there would have been no difficulty in taking them on by herself. But the sirens necessitated extra force. And if she was leaving her army behind in the sake of speed…
An idea struck her, and she smiled, revealing all of her sharp teeth. With His power, she didn’t need to bring her army with her, only make a new one on the archipelago. And though she had emptied the tomb of all of His faithful soldiers, there were still plenty corpses left on the archipelago that she could raise. There wouldn’t be many, but there would be enough to catch the survivors by surprise. They were expendable, and it was all she needed to complete her plan.
Yes… that would work perfectly…
“Keep an eye on them,” she ordered her thralls, gesturing to her captives in the room. “If they move, break their legs. If they talk, rip out their tongues. Just don’t kill them. I need them all.”
She began to walk down the hall, stopping when she heard water beginning to lap at the stairs below her. That was good. If the tide was coming in, then that would help hamper any escape or rescue attempts. And, if worse came to worst, she had an extra unicorn beaten down and secure above the island. Unfortunately, the other earth pony had gotten away, but she was a cripple. Dragging her back later wouldn’t be too much of a problem. But that was at least comforting to her; she had a spare each of the different races, and her own blood would be enough to complete the ritual regardless. There was no stopping her now.
Grinning, her body dissolved into the shadows, until only the ghostly glow of her eyes and teeth remained. Then those too disappeared, leaving nothing but the pitch darkness of the hidden shrine behind.
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Gyro wasn’t sure if she preferred riding the raft with Rarity or with Melody. While Rarity’s method of propulsion had certainly been unique, Melody simply powered through with sheer muscle force alone. In the end, they both moved the raft at roughly the same speed, though Rarity’s was probably smoother than the rhythmic rocking of the raft as Melody paddled her tail to move it.
Over the course of the journey, she’d managed to calm herself at least somewhat with regards to Coals. Though it had pained her beyond measure to simply leave without him, she at least tried to take solace in what Melody had said. Soft Step and the moon god needed Coals for their ritual, and it wouldn’t be complete until they had some pegasi to perform it with, right? Until then, he would be safe. But if Soft Step managed to get ahold of two of their pegasi, of Rainbow and one other…
She pushed those thoughts away. She couldn’t think about them now. All they’d do is sap her strength and leave her even more of a shivering wreck than she already was. Coals was gone, but he was hopefully safe. All she needed to do was persevere until she could find herself in his arms again. It was all she needed to do, and Celestia willing, she could find the strength to do it.
But it would be even better if Celestia herself could somehow magically appear and solve all their problems for them…
Yet Gyro knew that would never happen. The stakes were clear, and the situation had been carved in stone. They were on their own until they solved this one way or another. Until that barrier fell, all of Equestria would think they were dead. There was nothing they could do about it. Maybe one day she’d see home again, but that day was not today.
“We’re nearly there,” Melody announced, and Gyro turned her attention from her hooves to in front of her. True enough, the mountain of the archipelago loomed out of the sea, and if she squinted, she thought she could see Rarity’s glowing white body in the light of the moon. It at least let her relax some. If she was here, then she was safe enough for the time being. There wouldn’t be any moon mummies ripping her brains out or strapping her down to some sort of stone altar to meet her end on the tip of a bloody knife. She had survived the horrors of the home island, and now she could reap her reward: safety and a chance to rest and relax, however brief it might be.
It wasn’t that much longer before Melody beached the raft on the sand, and Gyro loosely dragged herself off. Almost immediately, she was beset by the worried embraces of the pegasi who had flown to the island. They all asked about what had happened to her, where Coals was, what the situation back home was. But she couldn’t answer that. Only Melody could, for Gyro was too busy trying to hold back a fresh wave of tears and remain strong enough to resist crumpling into a tiny ball of misery.
And then Rainbow Dash held her and told her it would be alright.
Gyro wasn’t sure if she could believe her… but she was at least willing to try.