The door to the ship's dungeon swung open, and any traces of a murmur on the other side instantly dulled to a scared silence.
Shinespark blinked. Row upon row of cages lined both walls, stacked two high, with wooden floor separators and walls and no balconies, clearly designed for fliers. Each had iron gratings and a light in the roof to prevent shadow sneaking, but the pirates needn't have worried about that: the occupants were almost universally unicorns, all muscular and with a cowed, once-proud demeanor that suggested they had once been soldiers. They were packed four or five to a cage, and beside her Grenada instantly wrinkled her nose at the smell.
"Eee?" Five guards, one of whom wore spiked armor that looked more for intimidation than purpose, looked up from a table in an alcove by the door. Shinespark frowned.
The battle was over in a flash, Shinespark barely even needing to lift her sword as Neon Nova dazzled them and Golbez took advantage of the distraction to fell them like a whirlwind. The captive unicorns' eyes widened, and they rustled in their cages with interest. "Please..." one of the closest ones called in a daring whisper. "Hey, you! You're not batponies! Are you here to rescue us?"
"Are we?" Shinespark tilted her head and trotted up to his cage, Puddles still balanced on her back. "Who are you, and how long have you been here?"
Puddles kicked her flank. "Cute unicorn, no getting distracted! Puddles says go further in!"
The stallion in the cage ignored her. "We're Varsidelian soldiers! Please, you have to help us! We used to staff trade airships between Varsidel and the Griffon Empire so our ships could sail straight into the war zones with supplies, but the Stormhoof province betrayed us and confiscated our ships with imperial sanction! We tried sailing to get back home, but were overran and no match for this many batponies!"
Shinespark blinked at him, then at her pirate allies. "Could... you all hold on for just a minute? If you're against the batponies, we're here to help you, but I want to fully scout out this room first."
There wasn't anything he could do to stop her, so he nodded and she moved on. "Heee..." Puddles breathed in her ear. "Good idea, cute unicorn! We should free them too! Then we'll have to take over the whole ship, because they can't fly out and you won't leave them behind, right?" She took a deep breath, nose sniffing. "Oh, and our target is right over there!"
Shinespark reached the end of the room, a single door opening into another, smaller room with bigger and more luxurious cages. Most were dim and empty, but when she reached the one at the end... "...You?"
A lime-green mare looking more dejected than the sarosians hit with her sword sat slumped over a tiny, tearstained table, the unbrushed remains of a stylistic endeavor in her mane where it had once been tied in a bow. Shinespark's eyes traced their way down her flank to her cutie mark: once musical, it was cracked like a dinner plate, spiderwebbed and barely still held together at the center, as if the image could shatter from so much as a careless touch.
Without even thinking, Shinespark lit her horn and swung her sword, effortlessly lopping off the iron grating and stepping through the hole she had made. "I remember you!" she breathed, eyes widening, trotting quickly to the mare's side. "You're one of the Firefly Sisters! The one who disappeared! How...? What are you doing...?" She glanced up at Puddles. "How in Ironridge did you know she was here?"
"I cheated," Puddles sang contentedly. "Not telling."
Melia flicked her ears, then looked up, her eye liner a ghastly, ruinous mask. "Huh?"
"You!" Shinespark almost grabbed her shoulders, then remembered that armored hooves might not be the most comforting. She gave a hopeful grin instead. "Need a way out?"
Melia's golden eyes registered Puddles and constricted, and a hiss of fear built in her throat that clashed with her previous despair. "Morena's daughter...!"
"Hee! Calm down, cute unicorns. Puddles has this." Puddles slipped off Shinespark's back, landing with a confident swagger, and walked straight up to Melia and kissed her on the lips. Melia's eyes bulged.
"Hey, don't-!" Shinespark futilely reached with a hoof.
"Heehee." Puddles blushed. "Sorry about the cold. Puddles ate a super-evil magical artifact and is still trying to metabolize it. Want a rescuuue?"
Melia shifted backward an inch, stupefied, as Puddles went at her makeup-stained cheek with a friendly nuzzle. "Well? Want one?"
"Puddles, what is...?" Shinespark shook her head and coughed. "What's going on, here?"
Puddles stuck her tongue out, swinging a casual foreleg over the stunned Melia's shoulder. "Meh. Puddles already told you. She's a harmonic life-form now. That means she can act however she wants, even seeing if it's fun to be the good guy. Did she?" She tilted her head. "Maybe I told cute Valey instead. Huh. Whoopsie! Cute unicorn, help Puddles cheer up the other unicorn with cuddles!"
"You..." Shinespark blinked. "Wanted an audience, so you captured Valey and lied to bait me along... to watch you rescue her?" It finally clicked in her mind that Melia had vanished before Puddles broke free; all of the prior happenings in Izvaldi were muddled in her brain, especially since she hadn't been there for the introduction and had to guess what everything was. "I don't believe it. I..."
"Oh, you better believe it." Puddles' voice deepened. "Because this is the halfway point, Shinespark. We saved the girl. Now we get to make our way out. Ready to rumble?"
"I..." Shinespark waved a hoof. "One moment."
Puddles' voice returned to normal. "Hmmph. Fine. Hey, singsong unicorn! Cheer up, please! Or Puddles gonna kiss you again!"
That got Melia's attention, though it took until Puddles' lips were within an inch of her own. She squirmed, twisting her head and taking the kiss with her cheek, then blinking and shaking herself, causing her bowtie mane to collapse a little more. "This is a rescue? From... you?"
Puddles booped her nose. "Heehee! Yup! Aren't you proud of good guy Puddles? Hug?"
Melia glanced forlornly down at her flank. "But..."
"No hug?" Puddles looked hurt. "...Chin scratches? Ear rubs?"
"Puddles, not helping." Shinespark stepped forward, taking charge. "Miss Melia! It looks like we're here to rescue you. Will you come with us? I can carry you if you need it, and we can worry about anything involving your career or Izvaldi later!" She gave Puddles a glare telling her she could very much walk on her own.
Melia sighed down at her flank. "...Yes. Take me out. I won't be very good at advocating for myself, right now."
"All the invitation I need." Shinespark's horn lit, and Melia was lifted gently onto her back, shifted to make sure she was properly balanced. "Comfy up there?"
Melia made no response.
"Right. Let's go!" Shinespark beckoned for Puddles to follow, and charged back through the door to the main cage room.
The cages had no doors or locks, designed to be entered through shadow sneaking with a passenger. As Shinespark whizzed her blade through the bars, severing them to create more ways out, she recalled that the door they entered through had been locked, figuring someone else had made this ship for a different purpose and then had it stolen. That must have been a battle worth seeing.
"Thank you! Oh, thank you!" The Varsidelians climbed out of their cages, all taking a moment to stretch and enjoy the increased room to move. "So how did you get here?" one asked. "Do you have a ship? Can it hold all of us? Will you be able to get it away from their harpoons?"
"We'll have to attack and take out the harpoon cannons," another added, growling in thought. "Those were what did us in. There's no sailing away while those things are active."
"Hey, miss! That mare on your back looks in bad straights! Need a hoof with her?"
Shinespark happily passed Melia off to the soldiers, demanding that Puddles walk on her own and Howe and Neon Nova keep an eye on the singer. "No ship," she replied, shaking her head. "Ours got destroyed in the approach. But when we boarded, these batponies were in the process of robbing a large merchant ship. It should still be tethered here. I don't know what their crew will think of this, but if they're missing all their goods, they should have plenty of room to take you!"
Another Varsidelian tapped his hooves in thought. "We haven't been fed well. Less than a quarter of us are in fighting condition, so we'll need to hold the line at a safe area for everyone to rest until we have a route to the other ship! Is here good?"
"Lass." Golbez appeared at Shinespark's side as the discussion broke down into a forest of murmurs. "A word, if ye please?"
"Sure?" Shinespark lifted an ear, following him off to the corner where the sarosian guards had stood.
"Even with a force this big, ye be havin' to do the bulk of the fightin' yerself to clear out a ship this big. Ye might as well be up against infinite reinforcements." Golbez nodded as he spoke. "Now, ye can somehow fly, and between the lot of us I be helpin' Belinda and those other two be seein' to themselves. Catch me drift? Ye've got yer' unicorn lover, and the windigo mare, and now this new pony ye busted out. Ye can somehow fly, but think ye can carry all three of them at once?"
Shinespark reddened. "Grenada is my sister!" she loudly whispered, making sure Grenada was out of earshot.
"Arr." Golbez folded his talons and looked down. "Well, more often than not heresy like that be why otherwise-decent folk turn to a life of piracy. A shame about all this. Ye would have made an honorable addition to me crew."
"N-No!" Shinespark's eyes widened. "She has... Look, that's not important right now. Yes, I can carry three ponies. Where are you going with that?"
Golbez nodded. "Apologies. My mistake for assumin'. Lass? This be quite the military endeavor ye be tryin' to spearhead, gettin' all these Varsidelians out alive. And just think about it: relations between the Empire and Varsidel be a little strained right now. What I be sayin' is that ye've got friends who no longer be welcome in the Empire on account of heresy, and now ye be makin' friends with some ponies the Empire be on poor terms with... Well, unless ye have plans for findin' Garsheeva and talkin' her into forgivin' yer sins, ye might want to think about whether this means yer side be with Varsidel once and for all."
Shinespark swallowed, watching the soldiers. They were industrious, coordinated, looking out for their own weak points and helping one another... Varsidel was a war zone, and her friends had unanimously voted against going there. But with how everything in the Griffon Empire was going...
"I'm not running, if that's what you mean." She straightened up, meeting the griffon's gaze. "Taking just my own acquaintances and flying away. Besides, if these pirates are... as strong as they are..." She trailed off, thinking. "If they're that strong, it would do the entire Empire a favor if they weren't raiding the seas any more. I have no idea how to accomplish that. Even if I incapacitate each and every one of them, I'd have to either convince them or imprison them or do something even worse to keep them from coming back. But... I don't know. If you guys have been up to pirate activities, I need some sort of pardon for Grenada. I won't stand for not having it. And whatever I can do to get in the Empire's good graces could come in handy."
"Arrr." Golbez stood up. "I been tryin' at that by fightin' sarosian pirates for me entire life, lass, and be no closer than when I started. But best of luck to ye in yer' endeavors. Don't lose that optimistic streak of yers. It goes a long way toward providing' motivation in these waters. Now let's see to these soldiers and plot up a plan for kickin' sarosian tail."