The Grave Escape
Rainbow Dash immediately flew as high as she could afford without becoming swallowed up by the darkness. It was the safest place for her to be, and she knew it. Out of foreleg’s reach of the ground, she felt marginally safer than if she’d been stuck wading through the water like the rest of her companions. But that was hardly a consolation; she knew that she was screwed if she couldn’t find the way back out.
Of all the things and hardships she imagined she’d have to deal with when stranded on a deserted island, fighting off a zombie apocalypse was the absolute last thing she would’ve expected.
And the dead weren’t just complacent to fence the survivors in and scare them witless. They moved at a steady march, only slightly held back by the thickness of the water and shadows swirling about their bodies. They surrounded the party on all sides, some much closer than others, but that was going to change soon. Unless they found their way out of the temple, Rainbow knew they were all going to die and likely join their ranks. And she had no intention of becoming a moon zombie.
“Where’s the exit?!” she screeched, trying to fight off the urge to fly forward through the darkness until she found it. She knew that the moment she lost sight of the unicorns’ lights, she’d never find them again. “We have to get out of here!”
All she received in response was panicked and confused yelling from below her as her companions tried to scramble this way and that. But apart from moving away from the closest zombies, they couldn’t make up their minds about which way to go. Instead, they ended up chaotically bouncing about the hall, retreating from one group of advancing zombies only to run into another.
Several pistols cracked off shots in the darkness, and Rainbow saw some of the zombies topple over or go flying back as heavy lead balls ripped through their bodies, but they almost always invariably stood up again. Unlike in the movies, these ones didn’t even seem to care if they lost their heads; they merely continued to march on regardless as frightening headless corpses. And given the sheer numbers swarming in around them, Rainbow knew that fighting them off only wasted time that could be spent running or looking for an escape.
“Shadows!” Ratchet shouted from below her. “Look for its shadow! Rainbow!”
“What?!” Rainbow whipped her head around in confusion. “What do you mean?!”
“The stairs!” Ratchet said, darting backwards and trying to fend off a zombie with his hooves. “Find them that way!”
Rainbow started chewing on her hooves as she peered through the darkness. What did Ratchet mean? She knew she had to figure it out quickly, because the longer it took her to find the stairs, the worse off her companions would be. They were already running out of room to flee toward, and the snapping teeth of the moon zombies were getting awfully close to their throats.
But then she saw something: blue lights, or rather, a marked absence of them. Far down the tunnel, she saw the line of glowing blue eyes, but it was interrupted in the middle by bleak, black emptiness. It didn’t take her too long to realize that the reason she couldn’t see it was because something was blocking it. And the only thing that could possibly be blocking the glow of those eyes was a staircase descending from the ceiling.
“There!” she shouted, pointing into the dark. “The stairs are that way! Come on!”
She started flying off in that way as fast as her companions could follow her through the water, knowing that they relied on her for guidance. For her part, Rainbow wouldn’t even hazard taking her eyes off the stairs; she feared that the moment she did, she’d lose them, and she couldn’t afford to get lost again. But it was still a grueling flight, for no matter how fast her companions could push through the water and oily black shadows, it seemed like the zombies continued to close around them.
But then by some miracle, she saw the ghostly reflection of a tiny candle of light on stones rising up in front of her. Flaring her wings, her hooves touched the stairs, and she quickly figured out her balance before enough light had even been shed on them to allow her to see the individual stairs. “Up here!” she shouted. “The stairs! Come on!”
She looked back in horror to see the other six ponies barely pushing through a small knot of open space to make it to the stairs. Even as Black Flag touched the first stair with a hoof, the zombies finally closed in on the survivors, flinging their blighted weight on them all. She heard struggling and screaming as the horde fell on them like a wave, and she saw somepony’s hooves slip into the water as the zombies fell upon them.
Perched on the stairs, Rainbow tried to shout encouragement down to her companions urging them up the stairs, but her eyes widened when Black Flag suddenly stopped and pulled out a pistol, pointing it in Rainbow’s direction. Alarmed, Rainbow dropped low right as Flag fired, but instead of hitting her, she heard the bullet shatter bone behind her and something fell off the stairs and into the water with a moan. Spinning in place, she saw a few zombies shuffling down the stairs from above, and she realized they likely had to be coming from the room that they’d opened on the way down. Now she was thankful that they hadn’t opened both doors, or else there’d be even more coming down the stairs at them.
But there wasn’t anything she can do now about that except try to fight her way past them. They were already starting to clog up the exit and if she didn’t move quickly, they’d all be trapped between two different hordes. So, screaming, she launched herself at the zombies, summoning memories of her fight against the changelings at the royal wedding years ago. Spinning, kicking, biting, and dodging, Rainbow gradually fought her way up the stairs, trying to fling as many of the zombies off of them and into the water below as she could manage. And though she made good progress against the largely lethargic and clumsy dead, she didn’t manage it without suffering some blows. Jagged teeth sliced at her flesh and drew blood, but with sheer determination, Rainbow soon fought her way to the top of the stairs, Black Flag at her side as she cleared a path.
And then they were through, or at least had opened up enough of a hole to make a break for safety. Wasting no time, Rainbow darted through the gap, though she lingered to see who else of her companions made it up the stairs with her. Flag galloped past her and to the safety of the open sky, and after a few moments he was joined by Clever Ruse and Ratchet. Several more pistol shots cracked off the walls just down the stairs followed by a feminine scream, and then a moonstruck corpse shambled up the stairs and howled at Rainbow. Rainbow swallowed hard and immediately took off for the opening when she realized that nopony else would be joining her.
Her blood ran cold as she fled to the open ground above. Ruse, Ratchet, and Flag were the only ones who made it out of the swarm. Bearings, Hayseed, and Straight Edges all fell somewhere in the chaos. What had started as seven ponies had dwindled to four. And Rarity still was nowhere to be seen.
Rainbow knew that if any of them survived the night, it would be nothing short of a miracle.
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My guess? They were the moon god's loyalists, all mummified and ritualistically buried, so that they'd be here specifically for this event.
This is the temple in His honor, after all.
More casualties....this is not what we need right now!
No no no, these are mummies, not zombies, Rainbow Dash. Totally different thing.
8780138
Dash, watcha' doin'? These guys do not use doors!
Oooo...
Now this story is a thriller!!
Gonna be surprised if they make it out of this without the survivors hating Rainbow and Rarity intensely.
Also surprised Luna can't feel this moon god's awakening.
They died doing what they loved...
Wait, no, I meant the opposite of that.
That's not good...
Not good at all!
8779556
But didn't they made this tomp to prevent him from ever gaining power again?
(At least that's how I understood it.)
8780997
To be fair, the two moonstruck pirates vanished earlier. I have a feeling this was going to happen anyway.
8780997
But the island is still warded, and if the power of the enchantments binding the moon stallion is any indication, there's a good chance she felt nothing, or dismissively little.
I'm sure noone could have expected that. Considering how things went in the beginning, that's probably the most unexpected a plot twist could be without anyone calling it bullshit. It's totally out of the left field, yet it makes too much sense! I'm really impressed! (And quite freaked out by now… I really hope this insanity overload ends soon.)
Goodbye broken isles hello zombie island