Surviving Sand Island

by The 24th Pegasus

Saying Hello to Old Friends

Rainbow Dash glared at the receding archipelago in frustration. It didn’t feel right to sit this one out. An important fight that would decide the fate of the islands and the rest of the world was about to happen out there, and she was stuck on a raft, missing it. It didn’t seem right to be trapped out here, unable to help Rarity and Melody fight off a very, very dangerous foe.

But they were sirens, right? Surely they had to be able to handle a rogue alicorn without all of her powers. Rainbow didn’t know what a siren like Melody could do with her songs, but it had to be something that could stop Soft Step. After all, she’d seen her shape stone with a few notes like it was nothing. What could she do to an alicorn with an entire arrangement?

Forget actually participating in the fight; now Rainbow just wanted to push the raft closer to the sirens so she could watch the concert.

Still, that did little to stop her internal bemoaning of the here and now. They didn’t even have their oars with the raft—Gyro and Coals had forgotten them in their desperate bid to escape the island—and so were at the mercy of the currents. Right now, the currents pulled them away from the archipelago, dragging them closer to the stream that ran through the islands from north to south. Rainbow wondered if they’d make it to the atoll or even past it by the time the sun rose and the threat was over. She certainly hoped that the sirens would be able to rescue them after fighting Soft Step. Otherwise, she didn’t know what would happen if they drifted to the barrier surrounding the islands. Of course, by that point, they could just fly to the nearest landmass, and the three of them with wings could carry Gyro between them. It would just be terribly inconvenient to do so.

Sighing, Rainbow took some of their water and stole a quick sip, then rolled onto her back on the raft. Thankfully, since she and Rarity had used ten tree trunks to make it, it was more than spacious enough to fit four ponies. Maybe she could try and catch some sleep—though she knew there was almost no chance of that happening. She doubted she’d be able to sleep until daybreak, for only then would it finally be safe enough to do so.

Hopefully Rarity would be alright. Melody, too, but Rarity was the one Rainbow was more worried about. Not only because she feared for her lover, but doubly so because Rarity didn’t know how to fight as a siren. Unfortunately, the fashionista’s surprising experience with judo and other martial arts wouldn’t help her that much without her legs. At least she had siren song to compensate for it.

Growling, Rainbow shut her eyes and tried to meditate. There wasn’t anything she could do from here; all she could try to do now was wait and rest.

-----

Soft Step settled down on a mound of sand overlooking the edge of a ruined camp. She’d never seen the pirates’ camp in her past life, instead retreating the opposite direction with the other survivors when it was clear they couldn’t hold His tomb anymore. But it was in a very sorry state after the rest of the survivors had raided it following Squall’s death. The simple huts and lean-tos the pirates had constructed had been destroyed, and sand covered everything. A great fight had taken place here, and Soft Step knew that it had to have been legendary to cause a unicorn with such a command over magic to fall.

She closed her eyes and felt with her magic, quickly locating the corpse she needed. Once she did so, she used her magic to push aside the sand and drag the body out of the ground. It had just started to rot and go foul, but most of the musculature was still intact, apart from growing areas of decay around the mare’s injuries. Soft Step idly spun the body this way and that, noting how much damage the mare had absorbed. She’d even cauterized a deep wound during the middle of the fight by the looks of it, before a well-placed pistol shot had finally brought her down. She had been a tough and stubborn fighter, that much was for sure. That kind of resilience would make her an excellent servant of His army.

There was no ceremony or ritual for what happened next. Soft Step’s eyes glowed with powerful magic, and the pirate’s body began to twitch. Dead muscles started to pull at seized joints, and still lungs hacked up sand and silt. The unicorn body growled and moaned, and slowly began to clutch at the magic holding it aloft.

Soft Step unceremoniously released the reanimated corpse onto the ground, where it slowly began to stand. Glassy eyes blinked, and the mare held a leg in front of her face. After staring at it for several seconds, she summoned up words in a gravely, hoarse voice. “Everything is so cold…”

“You will find the warmth in His service,” Soft Step simply stated, eyeing the mare over. “He has need of you.”

The mare coughed again and slowly moved. “Why am I alive?” she asked. “Why am I back?”

“You had only recently died,” Soft Step said. “Dragging your soul back was trivial. Now, His magic flows through me, and it binds you to this world in His service. I have need of your magic.”

Squall frowned at her body. “And what if I tell you to fuck off, you two-bit Nightmare Moon wannabe, and just let me enjoy being fucking dead?”

Soft Step frowned at the mare in front of her. She had expected her to be more grateful for using His magic to reanimate her. Perhaps she had expected too much from a thug. “Then I rend your soul into dust and you will embrace oblivion,” she threatened. “There will be no afterlife for you. Yet, if you serve Him and aid me, then you will be amply rewarded.”

Squall rubbed the back of her neck, her hoof catching on the bullet hole in her flesh. “Help me fuck up those cunts who killed me,” she said, a grimy smile forming from her split lips and spotted gums, “and I’ll serve this god of yours as long as he fucking wants. I can see a lot of advantages to being an undead pirate.”

That brought a fierce smile to Soft Step’s muzzle. “But of course,” she said. “He will have great use of you. But before we help you with that, I need your help taking down two bigger fish.”

Squall walked across the camp and let her horn crackle and glow, and a few seconds later, a knife flew out of the sand and into her grasp. “The fuckers took all my weapons, but they forgot one. It’ll work. How big we talking?”

“The biggest.” Soft Step let her fangs part for a moment. “Two sirens.”

“No shit?” Squall grinned and flipped the knife around. “Always wanted to kill one of them. Never got the chance. So, where are they?”

Soft Step beckoned with a wing. “Come,” she said, walking through the jungle. “I will show you.”

Comments

[bahatumay]

There's that knife! I've been waiting for that one to appear again.
Oh also this isn't good

[RoboRed]

...someone's definitely going to die by the time this is all over with...

[Merula]

This will not end well.

[PonyDragon]

8974036
8974146

I have nothing to add.

[Eroraf86]

This is seventy kinds of not good.

[FloydienSlip]

Oh dear.

[Sidetrack]

[Circut Breaker]

8974283
Eighty.