Surviving Sand Island

by The 24th Pegasus

Pones vs Zombies

Black Flag came to a stop as the two possessed ponies at the other end of the catacombs began to advance. The rest of the survivors and Hayseed stopped as well, and the six tightened their ranks as the moonstruck zombies slowly marched on them. Behind those two, two more passed through the remains of a giant door and continued into the interior of the temple. Whatever they were doing, Flag knew that he and the rest of his team would have to deal with the first two before they could stop them.

Ratchet moved next to Flag, his weapons ready. “Any ideas on what to do?” the older stallion asked.

“Shoot them until they’re dead?” Flag suggested. “A good bullet to the brain ought to take care of them, even if the moon magic makes them immune to pain.”

“I don’t want to kill my crewmate,” Ratchet said, eyeing Blow Off. “We need to find a nonlethal way to take care of them.”

Black Flag raised an eyebrow and scoffed. “Nonlethal? You have fun with that. You’ll be one of them faster than you can blink.” Disregarding the look of protest on Ratchet’s face, Flag immediately turned to Hayseed. “Champagne mentioned something about bats attacking the other two before they got zombified. Now would be a good time to have a shield ready in case they try something like that.”

Hayseed rolled her eyes. “I swear, one of these days you’ll tell me to get a shield ready and I’ll actually get to use it.” Nevertheless, she imperceptibly widened her stance to a casting stance and nodded to the side. “Maybe the other hornheads can help.”

“You need a shield?” Clever Ruse asked. “A shield’s simple enough. Where do you want it?”

Hayseed looked at him, blinked, and shivered. “Right under my tail.”

“Around us would be more helpful,” Flag harshly amended. “If we can stop the bats from reaching us, then they can’t turn us.”

“What about them?” one of the other survivors asked, raising a shaking forelimb in the direction of the two possessed ponies who had already covered a surprising amount of ground. “If they can blow up a door, they can blow up a shield!”

“I’ll take care of this,” Black Flag said, reaching for his pistol.

He was stopped by Ratchet. “We can’t just shoot him,” the survivors’ leader insisted.

Flag drew his pistol and pointed it at Ratchet. “It’s us against them, you fucking idiot!” he shouted around the piece in his mouth. “You wanna take them alive, you fucking figure it out!”

Ratchet swallowed and stepped back, even as the rest of his crew reached for their weapons. “We’re armed too, you know,” he cautiously warned the pirate.

“What, you’re gonna fucking fight us right here, turn this six against two into an even match for those zombies?” Flag shoved him away and took aim at the first pony. “I always thought you were a bitch, Matchlock…”

He fired once and Matchlock’s head cracked backwards. The mare fell into the water from the force of the shot, but slowly, like a horrifying lunar phoenix, she rose from where she’d been struck down. The bullet had destroyed her jaw, but she didn’t seem impaired by it in the slightest, not even when a chunk of it fell into the water.

Fresh Linens screamed and immediately vomited. The morbid scene sent unnerving chills down everypony’s spine, and Flag holstered his pistol in frustration and reached for the next.

“The tomb is open,” Blow Off said, while Matchlock growled and gargled through her mangled muzzle. “Blood has been given. The seal has been broken, and he shall return.”

Their eyes flashed, and the unicorns of the group all immediately threw up shields at the screeching noises of bats beginning to fill the catacombs around them. But even as they did, Flag found he couldn’t look away from their eyes. They hypnotized him and his companions, and he took a few unwitting steps forward, closer to their glowing eyes. He felt like he could see the cratered surface of the moon within them and all the power it represented. Around him, the shields began to fail as the unicorns became similarly enthralled.

But then there was a yell and a blur of rainbow light. In the blink of an eye, a blazing trail of rainbow had sent both moonstruck ponies to the ground, breaking their eye contact with Flag and the survivors and ending the spell. The bats started to dissipate on their own, and Flag rapidly shook his head from side to side to try and cast off the enchantment that had slowly been sapping his willpower. Once he could comprehend what he was seeing again, he saw a blue pegasus trying to shove Matchlock’s head under the water while two more ponies quickly approached from the rear.

Ratchet immediately seized the initiative. “Now!” he shouted, galloping forward. “Tackle them down! Cover their eyes! Whatever you do, don’t make eye contact!”

With a valorous yell, the other five survivors started galloping forward, leaving Flag and Hayseed to linger behind. Together, the six ponies plus the three that had appeared from deeper within the catacombs pounced on top of the two moonstruck zombies, struggling to subdue them and get cloth covering their eyes. But the possessed pair thrashed and fought back, leveraging superequine strength against their nine assailants, lashing out with powerful legs and even snapping with vicious teeth. Flag saw Fresh Linens gasp and stumble back out of the brawl, clutching at her throat for a few brief seconds before falling down, spreading blood in the water, but soon the rest of the survivors managed to secure the upper hoof. Finally, leveraging their combined weights to force the possessed ponies to the water, they managed to cover their eyes and bind up their legs with some rope somepony was carrying, hauling the two back out of the water before they could drown.

Black Flag and Hayseed finally trotted up in the aftermath, noting that even though the two zombies were bound, they seemed to stop struggling now that they’d been defeated. They simply stood like statues and ceased resisting. Still, Ratchet shot the two pirates a disapproving look as they joined the circle. “So much for your assistance.”

“I lent my assistance by shooting my bitch of a crewmate,” Flag said. “You’re the one who wanted to take them in alive. And speaking of alive…” he pointed to where Fresh Linens still writhed in pain, her neck already painted red with blood. “You might want to get her taken care of before she bleeds out. That might’ve nicked an artery.”

“Shit!” Ratchet gestured with his head for somepony else to take a look at her, as he was too preoccupied with making sure the two bound ponies didn’t go anywhere. “Somepony get her back to the camp! Have the doctor take care of her!”

“I can do it,” one of the pegasi said, stepping out from the back of the group. He quickly hoisted the mare onto his back with soothing words and started for the stairs. “Nice timing on the arrival, you guys, but we’re not done yet. Rainbow can tell you more!” And then, spreading his wings, he took off down the hall as fast as he could manage.

Ratchet nodded and turned around to where a rainbow pegasus and another unicorn stood on the opposite side of the group from the stairs. “Rainbow? Bearings? Glad to see you’re both still alive. But where’s Rarity?”

Rainbow panted and pointed deeper into the catacombs. “Back there,” she said. “We gotta go help her. Two more of those ponies went through the door. She’s back there!”

“Then I guess we should get moving,” Black Flag said. “What do you want to do with these two?”

“I doubt they’ll go down if we club them over the head,” Ratchet said, “But they’re not resisting. Leave them with one pony and let’s press on.”

“Yeah, whatever, we gotta go!” Rainbow insisted, already taking wing. But her eyes fell on Flag and Hayseed and she fluttered back a few paces. “But what are they doing here?!” she asked, pointing an accusatory hoof the pirates’ way.

“Hey, bluebird,” Hayseed said, winking at Rainbow. “You miss us?”

Comments

[RoboRed]

“You need a shield?” Clever Ruse asked. “A shield’s simple enough. Where do you want it?”

Hayseed looked at him, blinked, and shivered. “Right under my tail.”

>implications

Also, rip Linens.

[Aurora Dimmet]

8770309

I forgot, does Clever have an incredibly sexy voice or something?

[Merula]

Rainbow should know: The Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend.

[Admiral Q Ponyform]

Doesn't look good for the zombie ponies returning to normal.

[zaponator]

Well now if they do manage to break the spell possessing these ponies, Matchlock is going to be rather unhappy...

[Neece]

8770696
considering the amount of blood she'll loose without assistance, she'll be dead.

[SIGAWESOME]

8770372

Rainbow should know: The Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend.

Nononono. The enemy of my enemy is my enemy's enemy. Nothing more or less.