Surviving Sand Island

by The 24th Pegasus

A Wildcard in the Mix

“He’s gone,” Flag said, managing to sit upright.

“What do you mean ‘he’s gone’?” Rainbow asked, frowning hard at the pirate. “Where the crap is he gonna go?! What happened between you two?”

The pirate shrugged, one of his forehooves idly tracing patterns in the sand. “We had a fight. The hangovers didn’t help. But there was a very heated disagreement about how we’ve been getting along with you so far and then the topic turned to our late mother. He flew off and I didn’t bother to see where.”

“Flew off?” Rarity asked, her eyes already wandering over the skies to try and spot the renegade pirate. “Do you mean to somewhere else on the island?”

“I already told you I wasn’t paying attention,” Flag growled at her. “He could be anywhere for all I know. I certainly don’t care enough to find out.”

“But he’s your brother,” Gyro said. “I would’ve thought you’d have some compassion for each other, even if you are filthy pirates.”

Flag shot her an irritated glare, no doubt exacerbated by his hangover. “He’ll either get over himself or he’ll get himself killed. He’s always been a raving, murderous lunatic who’s so paranoid others will try to kill him in his sleep that he’d rather murder everyone around him just to be safe. When our mother was dying, he was having too much fun killing and raping his way across the skies to be bothered to come home and take care of her in her final months.” He fell silent for a moment, but soon declared, “A pony like that doesn’t deserve a real family.”

Rainbow winced; if she had siblings, she didn’t think she could be so harsh or callous toward them, even if they weren’t… exactly all there or the best individuals. Still, though, Black Flag’s parting with his brother was both a good and a bad thing. Good because it split the dangerous pair up, but bad because now there was nothing to temper the more dangerous and unpredictable of the two. Rainbow didn’t know whether to be thankful for the current situation or worried. “That sounds kinda harsh, dude.”

“Whatever. It is what it is.” Black Flag’s ears momentarily perked as Champagne arrived with a bowl of oats, and he took it from her hooves with a surprising lining of gentleness to his gruff and irritable pirate exterior. After a moment to gobble down some food, he grimaced and lowered the bowl. “Fuck. Never liked plain oats that much. You sure there’s no brown sugar or something for these?”

Champagne rolled her eyes and walked away with a huff. “Some ponies…”

Rainbow could only slowly shake her head. “We got what we got, dude. Brown sugar wasn’t on the list, apparently.”

“I’ve never had sugar before,” Melody said, her hoof scratching her chin. “There are a lot of pony foods I’ve only heard about before but never had the opportunity to try. It’s fascinating how two different sapient species could be so polarly different and unknown to each other, right?”

Rarity grimaced and squirmed in place. “As a person who has experience with both cultures, I’d say they don’t cross with good reason.”

“So, it’s true that you really were a pony before all this?” Black Flag asked, pointing to Rarity. “I heard something like that, but I didn’t think it was true.”

“It is,” Rarity assured him. “My name is Rarity Belle. Maybe you’ve heard of me. Maybe we even had an encounter on the archipelago before Rainbow and I vanquished Squall. I was at the camp the night before, and I think I remember your voice amongst those who chased me across the island.”

“That was you?” Flag asked. When Rarity nodded, he shook his head. “Then you’re due more credit than we’d given you. You were clever to lose us in the channel like that. And you’ve got some big fucking stones for a mare to go fight Squall and come out on top of that.”

“I hope that’s not a super big problem or anything,” Rainbow said. “To be fair, she was the one who wanted blood, not us. Can’t help it if she’s the one who ended up drowning in it.”

“Squall got what she deserved, in the end,” Flag said. “I never really liked her much as a pony, to be honest, and I was her right hoof aboard our barge. But she was a good captain, and she kept us together and kept our raids profitable for all the years we served under her. I’d say she’s in a better place now, but I know for a fact that bitch went straight to Tartarus when she died.” He eyed Rainbow and Rarity. “I’m just amazed that two civilians like you were able to bring her down.”

Rainbow shrugged in response. “It’s better to be lucky than to be good, I guess. Plus, I had a bone to pick with her after all the friggin’ torture you all put me through.”

After a few seconds of pregnant silence, Flag shrugged. “If you’re expecting me to apologize for all that, then I’m sorry to disappoint. From the moment I bashed you over the head and hauled you back to camp to the moment you escaped, you’ve been nothing but trouble.”

The pegasus blinked and rubbed a sore spot on the back of her head. “You did that? You friggin’ asshole…”

“You should just be happy I recognized you from the airship,” Flag said. “I knew you were worth something so I didn’t just kill you immediately under Squall’s orders. It’s the reason you’re still standing here today.”

Rainbow Dash silently grumbled to herself. “Fine, whatever. We’ll just write it off as water under the bridge or something.”

Flag slowly nodded his head once. “I suppose now that everyone is back from the other islands, I should ask what the current plan is. Did you get everything we needed to go home?”

“Well, we thought we did,” Rainbow said, tapping her hooves together. “But the reality is a lot more complicated than that.”

“Complicated? How?”

“We got all the figurines we needed to lower the magical wards around these islands,” Rarity said, “but nothing happened when Rainbow positioned them where they were supposed to go. We concluded that there had to be some piece of a ritual we were missing, so we’re going to be splitting up to figure out what that is.”

“I’m taking all the pegasi back to the archipelago to search the tomb there,” Rainbow said. “Rarity and Melody are going to the south to check out the underwater ruins on the atoll. Everypony else is gonna hang out here and do some searching of their own. I was hoping to have your brother on my team to help cover the tomb entrance so the moon can’t hit it when the next full moon comes around, but if he’s just flown off somewhere…”

Flag shrugged. “He might be back. He might not. I suppose we’ll figure that out in a few hours.”

Rainbow sighed and nodded. “It’s not really ideal, but whatever. We’re gonna start moving out in the early afternoon, after lunch and stuff. Give everypony a chance to get organized before we go and do our things. If you wanna help, you can talk to Ratchet about it. He’ll get you sorted out.”

Stretching her wings, Rainbow flopped onto her back, sand sliding through her feathers. “I’m gonna chill on the beach for a bit before I get everypony together. I need to rest my wings a bit longer after all this flying back and forth flying I’ve done the past few days. Feel free to do… whatever.”

Flag nodded and turned his attention back to the oats in front of him. “I suppose having a plan and doing something is better than sitting around doing nothing all day…”

Comments

[Eroraf86]

Flag, you're alright. Good to still have you on board.

[Merula]

Hey, maybe Black Flag can be of some use after all

[Snowdrifter]

8919435
D: Oh, I agree. It was bad, and I should feel bad. Strangely, I don't. Good puns are a Rarity these days.

[ry_fluttershy]

I think Black Flag can be redeemed. Obviously, he won’t be the best person, but at least not a detriment to the crew. Jolly Roger on the other hand...

[Lexiebommel10]

8924537
My motto playin games is no resource is more important then people
Black flag has redeemed himself many times over hes not the friendliest and doesnt have the best track record but hes willing to work with the group and give the benifit of the doubt
Jolly on the other hand has shown no such thing but fuck its such a waste of a good pony to kill him could the survivors even manage that and itd be a major waste of resourses to jail him wish they could just get him to listen that they arnt gona kill him do some trust exercizes or something