Rock Hard Bod
Bit by bit, Rarity drifted back into the painful world of the living.
For several minutes, she merely hung in a nearly senseless void, the only stimuli assaulting her brain being her own nausea and an ache in her side. Her world was a painful haze, and it prevented her from even seeing straight. Her body swayed every time she moved it, and it felt like somepony kept a vice grip locked on her flank, making her lower body difficult to move.
Wincing and groaning, Rarity managed to open her eyes. Her forelegs dangled past her muzzle, hooves resting on nothing but the open air, and the sight finally kickstarted her brain back into gear when she realized she wasn’t standing on anything. Squealing, she began to flail her legs and twist her body around, but it took her another few seconds to realize she wasn’t falling. Instead, she appeared to be hanging about fifteen feet above the ground by something, perhaps whatever it was that seemingly held onto her flank with an iron grip.
Grunting and twisting her sore muscles, Rarity managed to look back over her shoulder, only for her eyes to widen in shock at what she saw. Her skin and pristine white coat turned to stone near her cutie mark, where she’d inadvertently teleported her flank an inch deep into the stone of a stalactite hanging from the ceiling. That alone seemed to be keeping her in the air, and the cold lack of sensation near her mark started to unnerve Rarity even more than the grotesque fusion of flesh and stone at her side.
Shuddering, she let her body fall limp once more, simply trying to process her current situation. At the very least, she hadn’t teleported herself more directly inside the stalactite. If she’d shifted her teleport by another few inches, it could’ve struck deep through her body and she almost certainly would’ve died. As it was, it was only a flesh wound, but still deep enough to be problematic. And she was not looking forward to the pain that would come when she tried to separate herself from it.
While she steeled herself for the inevitable, however, she allowed herself to get a look at her surroundings. Even though her horn hurt, she forced some light into it so she could see where she was. Its blue glow revealed a twisting passage beneath the earth, rising up around strange rock formations as it turned out of sight, while below her, a pool of stagnant water waited. Over her shoulder, she recognized a flat wall that led back to the strange altar and the dark spirit about fifty or sixty yards away. She’d at least gotten some desperate distance with her last jump, and nothing had tried to kill her while she was unconscious from the exertion and pain. But now she had to get out of here and find a way back to Rainbow and her friends.
She once more regarded the stalactite embedded in her side. She didn’t want to simply tear herself off of it, because she had a feeling that would take a long and painful time. If she was going to separate from it, she wanted to do it as fast as possible so the pain didn’t linger. Thankfully, she realized she still had her cutlass and pistol on her, so she drew the former with her magic and bit her lip. Resting the tip on the line between flesh and stone, she floated the pistol to her mouth so she could bite down on the wooden body and thrusted with her sword.
The extreme pain seemed to only be made worse by the knowledge she was inflicting it upon herself, but thankfully, once she put some force behind it, the cutlass sliced cleanly through her flank. Though the pain left her shivering and trembling when she finally finished, she didn’t give herself any time to try and rest and relax. While she still had adrenaline in her veins, Rarity made two more painful cuts and yelped when she suddenly broke free of the stalactite and fell into the murky water below.
She splashed back to the surface of the small pond with sputtering gasps and quickly dragged herself out of the water. She stuffed a tiny piece of cloth she had on her into the wound in her side to try and stem the bleeding, and after making sure it was secure, she stood up again and started to limp out of the tunnel. She was free, so that was the first part finished, but now she had to find a way out while barely able to move her left hind leg. And even if she made it back to camp and her friends, she knew her struggles weren’t over yet. She still had to contend with the risk of infection, and if her wound began to fester, she might as well already be dead.
That wasn’t something she could worry about now, though. As it stood, she was trapped deep beneath the earth with only a single hope that the twisting tunnels she now found herself in led to a way back to the surface. With any luck, they wouldn’t take too long to navigate, and she could be back in front of the temple again to find Rainbow and the rest of her friends, assuming nothing bad had happened to them. What she saw of Soft Step and the other pirate worried her, especially given that they had to come through Rainbow and Bearings and Stargazer to even get to her in the first place. Were they alright? She had no idea.
Limping along, she started to cross the slick stones around her, eyes straining by the feeble light of her horn to look for anything resembling an exit.
-----
Rainbow Dash came to a stop at the top of the temple stairs, where the rest of the survivors who escaped the tomb were all catching their breath. Wheezing, she put her hooves on the stone wall and doubled over, trying to shift as much oxygen to her muscles as she could. Nopony said anything for several seconds; they were all too frightened and tired.
Champagne emerged from the darkness around them, a worried look on her face. “What’s happening down there?” she asked as soon as she saw the four ponies standing in the moonlight. “It sounds like something awful!”
“Zah… Zombies,” Rainbow said, swallowing hard and wiping some blood off her muzzle with a wingtip. “Whatever Soft Step and the others were trying to do, they did it, and now all the bodies in the tomb are coming to life.”
Champagne’s eyes shrank to pinpricks. “Oh no,” she breathed. “We’re all going to die, aren’t we?”
Black Flag coughed and looked back at the entrance to the tomb. “They haven’t gotten out yet,” he said. “And the moon’s almost set on the tomb. See? Look at the shadows.”
Rainbow pivoted her head about and saw that he was right. Within the next fifteen minutes or so, the door to the temple would lose sight of the moon, and would hypothetically close. She didn’t know if it actually would, but if Black Flag was right, then she knew what he was suggesting. “If we keep the zombies from getting out of the tomb for fifteen minutes…” she began.
Ratchet picked up on what she was saying. “We can keep them locked in the tomb!”
“How are we going to fend off that many zombies?” Clever Ruse asked. “It’s just five of us against a horde!”
“We have to try,” Rainbow said. “Even if we delay them, we can stop the entire army from getting out. If we can stop the army, then we have a chance to make it.”
Ratchet and Champagne nodded, and Champagne fluttered down to the stairs with them. “Take up a line by the entrance,” Ratchet said. “Get ready to fight.”
Instead of doing that, however, Black Flag trotted away from the doors and turned his attention skyward. Rainbow raised an eyebrow at him and stepped over. “What are you doing?” she hissed. “We need your help!”
“Getting reinforcements,” Flag said, and he stuck his hoof into his mouth and let loose a shrill whistle into the night.
Moments later, feathers fluttered and another pegasus flew down out of the skies. Rainbow stepped back in surprise and widened her eyes. “You had a pony of your crew out here this whole time?” she asked in shock.
“I didn’t know if I could trust you or not,” Flag said. “He was my backup plan.”
The other pirate scowled at Rainbow. “I don’t even want to know what you all have done for Flag to call me down,” he said. Then, turning to the captain, he raised an eyebrow. “What are we doing?”
“Holding the line,” Flag said, and he immediately turned to gallop down the stairs. Both Rainbow and the other pirate watched him go, then exchanged looks at each other.
“We need your help,” Rainbow said, already running down the stairs after Flag. “I hope you’re ready to fight!”
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owwww. Man Rarity and Rainbow are gonna be scarred after this
Damnit Flag. I want you dead, don't start sounding like an Imperial Guard Commissar like that, I love those guys.
8781481
They'll be changed forever, that's for sure. But they'll have survived... and they shall have each other in the end.
8780997
Agreed how is this not getting her attention.
We Left 4 Dead Now.
8781611
Probably the same thing preventing her from finding Rarity and Rainbow Dash's dreams.
With that chapter title, I was hoping Bulk Biceps would appear to save the day.
8781628
...More than 4 of 'em left though. That just won't do at all!
8781611
It may have and we just have no way of knowing. Might also be he gets power from the moon but not in a way that "feeds back" that Luna could feel. Like a solar cell getting power from the sun doesn't affect the sun itself.
Now if only we had trenches and gas masks, it's be perfect!
great read so far
8781641
According to the chapter 'Ancient Comic Books', the victorious sun god and his followers defeated the moon god when they dueled, and took his body to a temple rising from the water - a temple not on this island. As such, it is unclear based on the carvings what the purpose of this temple is, since the final engraving at the shrine near the entrance had eroded away to nothing.
It's possible that this temple was constructed by the moon god's followers, especially given the reverence of said god in statues, usage of obsidian, and themes of night and darkness. The horn was possibly the only piece of their god they managed to salvage from the conflict between brothers, and the door within the temple didn't specify anything detailed aside from the horn being severed. Was it recovered, perhaps?
*shudders*
In that case this plan had already failed.
8783213
That would be a possibility.
Oh mare, poor Rarity. I wonder if her left mark will ever grow back?