Black Flag stopped his party at the edge of the temple ruins, where the trees and undergrowth of the forest gave the pirates enough cover to stay mostly hidden. In front of them lay columns of crumbling stone and old rubble, the sight of several fights that felt like ages ago. Flag had lost brothers- and sisters-in-arms assaulting those ruins under Squall’s command, and now he was back, despite every fiber in his body screaming at him to leave. But the Sonic Rainboom had happened right over these ruins, and that meant the survivors from the Concordia were up to something.

“See anything?” he asked his brother as the pegasus peered through the ferns at his side. “What are they up to?”

“I can’t make out anything,” Jolly Roger said. “They aren’t even in sight. They’re either deeper in the ruins or in the tomb itself.”

“They wouldn’t have gone into the tomb, would they?” Hayseed asked, worry painted on her face. “Even they have to know that it’s fucking cursed.”

“They’re stupid and desperate,” Flag said. “They might do something like that.”

“And we’re stupid and desperate just being here,” Roger retorted. “Nothing good is going to come from this. They’re going to get themselves all killed and then us along with them.”

Flag furrowed his brow and tried to peer out across the ruins. Nothing about them had changed since last he’d seen them, except for one glaring detail: a wide, gaping abyss opening up in the earth under the ruins. As soon as he saw it, he swallowed hard and rubbed at his eyes. “They actually got the tomb open,” he said. “What are they doing?”

“They got it open?” Hayseed asked, trying to peer over Flag’s shoulder. “Then fuck, what are we doing here? That fucking thing is gonna come back. It wants the tomb open!”

Black Flag backhoofed the mare hard enough to make her nose bleed. “You’re the only one who insists that she saw something in that cloud of bats that attacked us that one time. I know you can sense evil magic here, but that’s different. Nopony else saw it but you.”

“Nopony else was looking but me, you jackass!” Hayseed spit back. “I know what I saw. And if they opened that tomb up, we’re all screwed!”

“We should close it,” Jolly Roger said. “Close it before it’s too late.”

Black Flag let out an exasperated sigh and glared at his brother. “Not you, too. Yes, we should be cautious, but you’re worrying about nothing.”

“Fine, fuck you,” Hayseed spat. “Even if you don’t think there’s some sort of spirit or monster around here, then closing the tomb traps them all inside. They’ll fucking starve and die and they won’t be our problem anymore.”

The pirate captain nodded. “Now that is an actual good idea. We can slash their numbers without firing a shot. The only question now is how.”

“They cleared the skies for a reason,” Roger said. He pointed a cutlass to the stars. “They’ve got clear skies for a few hours yet. If they’re worried about losing moonlight, how much you want to bet they’ve either got a lookout keeping an eye on it or will be out of the tomb before morning?”

“If we kill the lookout then they won’t know when to leave,” Hayseed said. “The tomb will close and they’ll be trapped down there! Perfect!”

“And if they just plan on leaving before morning, we can ambush them at the entrance and maybe keep them from escaping. Then the closing tomb will trap them inside, and that’s that.”

The whole situation still rubbed Black Flag the wrong way. “I doubt it’s going to be that simple,” he said. “They have more ponies than we do, and they have to know that. That’s been true for a while now. They probably left a couple of lookouts above ground to keep an eye on the sky and keep an eye out for us. So if we’re going to move in, we need to do it smart.”

“Or fast,” his brother said, letting the moonlight flash off his weapons. “They’re slow civvies. We can jump ‘em quick and be done with it.”

“‘Slow civvies’ who have gone hoof to hoof with our experienced crew and whittled us down bit by bit.” The earth pony glared at his brother. “Don’t underestimate them. We’ve done that too much already.”

“So what the fuck are we gonna do?” Hayseed asked. “Pussy out now? I was promised a fight, and I’m gonna get it one way or another.”

“We fight smart,” Black Flag said. He turned to his brother and pointed to the treetops. “Get some air and try and spot them from afar. If you get in position to get behind them or get a kill shot on them, take it and hide. Confusion and harassing tactics are our best bet right now.”

“Easy enough,” Jolly Roger said, spreading his wings. “They won’t know what hit them.” Then, with a single flap, he was gone, disappearing into the dense jungle trees around them.

“What about me?” Hayseed asked. “Got anything fancy in mind?”

“We need a shield,” he said. “As strong and sturdy as you can make it.”

Hayseed blew air out of her muzzle and nonchalantly waved a hoof. “Shields are easy shit. Especially if it’s just stopping projectiles; I don’t need any weird spells for that.”

“You might need one,” Black Flag said. When she raised her eyebrow, he explained. “We need it to be invisible. They can’t know we’re protected.”

“And why the fuck is that?” Hayseed asked. “We should at least give them the common courtesy to let them know they’re fucked before we rape them.”

“That’s just the thing. If they know we have a shield, if they know we’re protected, they’ll try something else instead of attacking us outright.” He gently clopped his hooves together for emphasis. “If they can’t see the shield, they’ll try to take shots at us when they think they have the jump on us. That’ll burn a few of their shots before the fighting even really begins, and they won’t be able to reload them once everything breaks loose.”

Hayseed shrugged. “Alright, if that’s what you want. I can’t make it as strong if I’ve got to make it invisible,” she said. “Can’t weave the mana too thick. I can probably block one pistol shot. Maybe two. Anything more than that will make it break.”

“One or two shots should be all we need,” Black Flag said. “As soon as they attack us, drop the shield and gut them. We’ll need to take the element of surprise while we can.”

The mare nodded, and after once more checking that his weapons were readied, Black Flag took a few steps out into the moonlight around the temple ruins. “It’s do or die time, now.”