She nodded. "Da. It has been three months. There were twenty of us. I am only one left." She looked down at the pony she had been about to devour, salivating slightly. "Do you have food? I am very hungry."
"Da," Azrael replied. "U nas yest' mnogo. And I can speak in your tongue, if you so wish." He had two friends that, when combined, spoke nearly every language known to Equus, including dog, as shown very early in the play. Of course he picked up a few.
She shook her head. "Is not necessary. I speak the pony." A quick search of the rest of the ship revealed no more survivors, and after getting cleaned up and fed back on the team's airship, the diamond dog introduced herself as Olga. "We came here to find special plants. There were twenty. Twelve ponies, three zebras, my four brothers, and me. There was big storm when we land. Lasted many days. We tried to keep warm. Kept the boiler going, much too hot. It exploded. Killed two ponies, and one brother. Other ponies froze. Zebras froze. Dogs did not freeze. Brothers went to find food. Never came back. Now I am only one left."
*The shadow reared up, and grinned maniacally, revealing a sharp-toothed, devious smile, as it jumped out of the way, barely.*
Silver grinned slightly. "I see you, beast." It had made a huge mistake in revealing itself. Silver was widely considered the best swordspony in Equestria, and the creature was within easy reach of his blade. He aimed a lightning fast thrust at the creature, intending to fully impale it on the blade.
Cannonball, after hearing her story, nodded. "Your brothers. When did they leave?" "Forty-three days. They did not come back. They are dead." She said it without emotion, stating a simple fact. They would not have left her behind. "Damn. Sorry. And the others? The... bodies?" "There was no food. If I do not eat, I die. I do not wish to die." "Alright. Shady, you and Flair go take care of the dead." Nightshade nodded. "Like we did in Manehatten? "Yeah. Better take Olga with you, help her get her stuff."
"Not unless you want to haul bodies." Cannonball had asked Nightshade to deal with the dead because he knew that she wouldn't be disturbed by the task.
Azrael tilted his head. "I've a horn. Only need a soul to absorb power from, and I can use magic to move them."
*Before being hit the creature cackled, a grim and unsettling sound, chilling to the bone, and split into two, then four, then eight, each time glowing with a corroded golden light, with each copy cackling, and the first vanishes as soon as it is hit with the blade.**
"Interesting." Silver was unfazed by the creature's attempt to frighten him, but it did give him another clue to what he was dealing with. He glanced at the crystal on the sword. A slight glow, indicating it had absorbed at least some energy. Hopefully, it would be enough. Keeping an eye on the creatures, he walked up to Rep and pressed the flat of the blade against Rep's forehead. "Lapis mortem, reverto!" The energy the blade had drained from the creature flowed back into Rep. It wasn't his full power, but it should be enough to wake him up. ********************************************************** Nightshade shook her head. "Sorry, no souls to drain here. Unless you want to move them by hoof."
Azrael shrugged. "I'm sure I can carry quite a few. And Cannonball, do keep in mind. The Dead seldom bother me. Can't fear my own kin."
Olga gathered her few belongings and brought them to the team's ship, while Azrael and Nightshade uncovered the bodies of Olga's comrades and loaded them on their own ship. When they were done, Flair cast a powerful fire spell at the doomed airship, and the whole thing was quickly reduced to a pile of ashes, which Flair then scattered with a wind spell.
Nightshade shook her head. "It's better this way. We couldn't take them back with us like they were, and we couldn't give them a decent burial here." "Besides," Flair added, "that thing wasn't going anywhere without the boiler."
