//------------------------------// // Dig the Trenches and Brace Yourselves // Story: Surviving Sand Island // by The 24th Pegasus //------------------------------// “The island is lost. We’re too late.” Rarity blinked in surprise, her mouth slightly agape. “Lost? What do you mean?” Melody sighed and let her gaze fall to the sand. “Exactly that. When I got to the home island, I found Gyro floating in the currents on a raft. She told me exactly what happened. The mummies attacked the home island and they took Hot Coals. The place is crawling with them, and where they are, I fully expect their master to be with them.” Rarity slapped her tail through the water, using the corner of her flipper to anxiously scrape through the sand just below the waves. “And what about the others?” she asked. “Ratchet, Ruse, Gauze, even that dreadful pirate, Flag… what happened to them?” “If I were to take a guess, they’re trapped in the shrine beneath the island,” Melody said. “There’s only one way in and one way out. If the moon god’s avatar blocked the entrance after they were inside, they aren’t coming back out.” “They might be able to fight their way out,” Rainbow Dash said, off to the side. The ponies had all gathered on the beach, the three pegasi surrounding Gyro as she shivered and tried to steady herself now that she was safely away from the mummies and back on solid ground. Rainbow in particular had her wings wrapped around Gyro to try and calm her and be supportive, while Champagne and Stargazer lent their company as well. “How would they fight their way out of that?” Champagne asked. “I was down there with you. It was just one long and narrow hallway after another. The rocks collapsed in the middle would be easy to defend from both sides.” Rainbow helplessly shrugged. “I don’t know. But they helped fight off the mummies when they almost got out of this tomb! And Flag’s a pirate, he has a lot of experience fighting and killing stuff?” “But how do you kill something that’s already dead?” Stargazer asked. “When we fought the mummies, smashing their heads in only slowed them down.” “Then… I don’t know. But they have to have thought of something!” Melody shook her head. “In any event, we can’t afford to count on it. We can only rely on what we know and what we can do from here. I think… I think this is it. Whatever happens tonight is going to determine if we live to go home or die before darkness swallows the world.” Rarity felt her scales crawl. “That’s… certainly one way of putting it without laying on the pressure, isn’t it?” “I think it’s good to know where the stakes are,” Melody said. “I’ve waited decades for this opportunity to leave. One way or another, I’m just happy to finally have it resolved.” “Yeah, but like, while that’s nice and all, what’s the plan?” Rainbow Dash asked. Her ear flicked as she looked back and forth between the two towering sirens in front of her. “What do we do next? Did you guys figure out anything interesting while you were at the atoll?” “A few things, but not much,” Rarity said. “We saw some panels that depicted how the figurines were made. They harvested some essence of each race into the figurines, and they used the old avatar’s head to make the crystal one. But I’m not sure how that helps us.” “It helps us in that we know what this new avatar is trying to do,” Melody said. “The essences of the different pony races went into crafting those figurines. Now all those figurines are back in one place, but nothing has changed. Obviously, we were missing some ingredient, and I think the avatar knows what the solution is. That’s why she stormed the islands… and it’s also why nothing has happened yet.” Rarity tried to think about what it could mean, but to her surprise, Rainbow Dash was the first one to perk up in sudden realization. “She needs us for it,” she said. “That’s gotta be what it is.” “Hmm?” Rarity cocked her head to the side. “Whatever do you mean?” “It’s like in a Daring Do book,” Rainbow said. “All sorts of places like this need pony sacrifices, right? And if the four statues were made with the ‘essence’ of each race, I’m betting that there was some blood involved.” “It’s blood magic?” Stargazer asked. Realization and worry dawned on his face as well. “And there were earth ponies and unicorns back on the other island, and if the mummies got the old avatar’s body from the atoll…” “We’re the missing piece,” Champagne concluded. She looked at Rarity in horror. “Soft Step needs us to finish whatever it is she’s doing.” “That’s what I believe,” Melody said. “At the very least, it makes the most sense. Which also means that the others on the island should be safe for the time being. The moon god’s avatar isn’t going to start the ritual until she has everything she needs, otherwise it wouldn’t work. Which means she’s going to come for you.” Rainbow Dash shuddered as Melody’s eyes fell on her. “I guess even dark moon spirits want my autograph, too.” “I think they just want your blood, Rainbow,” Stargazer said. “Maybe your heart.” “So what do we do?” Rarity asked. “How do we stop her?” Melody tilted her head back and narrowed her eyes at the moon hanging overhead. “They’re all thralls of the moon,” she said. “I don’t know for certain, but it would at least make sense that the avatar derives her powers from the moonlight and the night sky. If the moon goes away… if we survive until daylight…” “Then she’ll be weakened!” Rainbow exclaimed. “She’ll be weakened and we can deal with her easy! And once we do that, we don’t have to worry about any of this crap ever again!” “But we’d need to be able to take care of things when the daylight comes,” Stargazer said. “If she merely goes into hiding when the moon goes down and we can’t find her, then she’ll come back tomorrow night and we’ll be doing this all over again. And I don’t know about you, but I don’t think we can keep this up for very long.” “Right.” Melody frowned. “As the night goes on, we’ll have to start looking into finding where she is. We need to know where she retreats to when the moon goes down so we can deal with her then.” “And what if she just comes right to us?” Rarity asked. “She likely knows where the pegasi are if she’s taken the others captive. Do you think she’ll risk everything and come here?” “The way I see it, she’s already gotta,” Rainbow said. “We thought she couldn’t escape that tomb until the full moon came again, and she proved that wrong. She’s shown us that she can still do stuff, and all she needs is the moon. Right now, she’s got the drop on all of us, and if I were her, I wouldn’t want to waste this opportunity. I probably wouldn’t get another one.” “So we can expect her to come here in some fashion,” Melody said. “If she does, then we have to deal with her. Whatever happens, we can’t let her get any of the pegasi. If she does, it’s game over.” “What should we do, then?” Rainbow asked. “Fly away,” Melody said. “Fly someplace safe. It’s our only chance.” Rarity knew immediately how Rainbow would take to that, even before the pegasus balked and bristled at the suggestion. “You’re saying we should just run away?” she asked, taking her wings off Gyro and standing up. “While you go and deal with her yourself?” “That’s exactly what I’m saying,” Melody said. “Between myself and Rarity, I think we can keep the avatar contained. But if she gets ahold of you, it’s all over. There’s nothing we can do.” “But we can’t just fly away,” Stargazer said. “Our wings our exhausted. We won’t even be able to make it to the next island over before we collapse into the sea.” “Couldn’t you hide on the clouds?” Rarity asked. “With the moonlight on our backs?” Champagne asked. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Soft Step could sense where we were then.” “And we can’t shape them easily,” Rainbow said. “We can’t even craft a little platform under the clouds to hide from the moon in. It took us a crapload of effort just to break a piece off to try and cover the door.” Gyro suddenly perked up. “We have the raft,” she said. “You could use that to get away from here.” “It’s true,” Melody said with a nod. “All I have to do is push you out to sea a bit, and then you can wait it out over there. So long as you stay beneath the clouds, you should be fine.” Rainbow still frowned down the length of her muzzle. “I don’t like running and hiding. We should be helping you somehow.” “You’ll be helping us by not being here,” Melody said. “We can’t let you get caught.” Rainbow opened her mouth to protest, but Rarity leaned forward and lowered her head to Rainbow’s level. “Please, just do as Melody asks, darling,” she said. “It’s the only way to do this safely. Her and I can handle Soft Step and whatever else she throws at us.” “I don’t like it.” Rainbow huffed and refused to meet Rarity’s eyes. “If something happens to you—!” “We’ll be fine, Rainbow,” Rarity cooed. “I promise. Just… do this for me… won’t you?” Rainbow chewed on her lip while everypony else watched her. Ultimately, however, she sighed and let her wings droop. “Okay, fine,” she said, reluctantly agreeing. “I’ll do the stupid plan. But if something goes wrong—!” “We won’t put our lives in any more danger than we have to,” Melody said. “All we need to do is keep the avatar delayed and occupied until the moon goes down and the sun comes up. If we can do that, then it’s over. We’ve won.” “It’s our only chance,” Rarity repeated. “And our best one. You don’t have to like it, but I’m going to trust Melody. I know she’ll get us through this.” “I… I guess.” Rainbow hung her head. “Just be super safe and stuff, ‘kay? I don’t want anything bad to happen to you.” Rarity smiled and moved her beak in to gently rub against Rainbow’s cheek. “I will be,” she said. “We’re going back home together, I promise.” “I’ll… hold you to it,” Rainbow said. Taking in a shuddering breath, she closed her eyes and leaned against Rarity’s snout. “I love you, Rares.” “I love you too, Rainbow.” They held the tender moment, and then Rarity reluctantly pulled her head away. Then, pointing to the raft, she nodded. “Let’s get this loaded up and out to the sea. We likely don’t have that much time before Soft Step gets here.”