"Get the cannons ready! Bring up the shields!" Killikle declared. "We'll show these idiots why no one ever attacks my airship!"
"Aye, captain!" the sailors all declared loudly.
Twilight watched as the griffins formed chains and started bringing up sheets of black metal they would lock into place by way of wingnuts screwed into the deck. Puckle guns were set up through small holes in these shields as well and held up via two arms locked into the black metal plating. She could hear the rumbling of heavy wheels below and the telltale sound of rusty metal screaming as the hatches are forcefully moved aside.
"What's happening?" Twilight asked. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
Killikle shook his head. "No. Just sit back and let us do our job."
The pirate ship was smaller than the captain's and more maneuverable. Additionally, the balloon it sported was seemingly armored judging by the thin sheets of metal covering it, but the mare was unsure how that would work. Before she had time to register what was going on, the pirate ship had spun around and launched a bevy of cannonballs at its target. Twilight screamed in fear when they hit the hull, producing loud banging sounds similar to thunder cracks. Noticing Twilight's distress, Spike stopped staring at her and gazed at the ship flying around through the air taking potshots at its vessel.
Plumes of smoke emerged from the side of the vessel, bringing with it the familiar stinging of its form in the nostrils. It was quickly followed by burning orbs of slag that cut and sliced apart the pirate ship in small bits and pieces, but it wasn't enough. It was clear that they were experienced in this kind of warfare and the captain knew their maneuvers well enough to be able to minimize damage to their vessel.
"They're tenacious bastards, I'll give them that," Killikle said. He rushed to the helm and pushed the helmsman aside. "I'm sailing the ship. Keep me appraised of where they're going."
Curious, Twilight followed him and watched the pirates fly away in an arc to dive bomb the captain's ship.
"Why don't they go underneath?" she asked.
"Mistake of new airship sailors. The balloons are the most important parts of the vessel. Going underneath means they could scrape their prey and pop, letting them plummet to their doom." He watched the pirates stay just high enough that his own cannons wouldn't be able to reach them. "If they still go through with that then it means they're desperate and want to capture the ship for future usage. Unless...Take cover!" the griffin shouted.
The sailors yelled the warning to their fellow, several screaming as the pirate ship dropped multiple bombs onto the deck, denting and scorching it, and throwing several sailors in all directions. Several pirates, ranging from ponies to kirin to other griffins had made landfall and were grinning ear-to-ear at their soon-to-be victims.
"Kill them all and take the ship!" a kirin ordered. "Captain wants us to capture this ship and all its treasure."
Killikle slammed his claws on the steering wheel and brought his gauntlets to bare. "Get these parasites off my ship with broken wings!" he ordered his crew. "Let them plummet to their deaths and make sure it's slow enough that they have the time to regret their decisions."
"Is there anything we can do to help?" Twilight asked.
The griffin pushed her back. "You stay up here." He looked up at Spike and grimaced. "I'm pretty sure your creation will end up doing something eventually."
Twilight didn't understand what exactly Captain Killikle meant by that and watched as he jumped from the railing to land, with his claws dug into the heads of two pirates on deck. She instinctively put a hoof to the top of her head and felt herself starting to shake again. She didn't like hearing the sounds of battle. The clanking of metal, the screaming of battle, the tension of life and death. Her assistant put a hand on her shoulder, and she leaned her head into the massive limb, doing her best to try and tune out everything going on around her. The fighting continued, and while the pirates were stubborn, they were losing ground. Their crew was larger than they expected and Killigan's airship was stronger as well. That's when one of the ponies let loose a flare that brought in a second ship hiding behind a misty mountain. The extra threat rushed straight for the vessel, not bothering to deal with any cannon fire. Its bow was armored like a ram, and when it crashed into Killikle's ship, it threw everyone to the side but didn't penetrate the thick, metallic hull. Still. It gave the pirates the bridge they needed to board the vessel and help their fellow outlaws.
While Twilight watched, a few decided to climb the steps to reach the wheel and end up face-to-face with the lavender unicorn after striking down the helmsman trying to keep the ship stable. The mare expected witty banter, but they made for her directly. Of the five, Twilight managed to incapacitate two of them using her magic. She had destabilized the connection their souls had to the physical plane, producing a repeating, transparent image of themselves overlayed on their body before collapsing on the ground after yelling loudly for several seconds, foaming at the mouth. Spike took care of the remaining three. One strange bipedal avian creature with colorful plumage attempted to stab it, but the undead crushed the blade at the same time as it crushed her arm, incapacitating her. A pony was grabbed and launched into the docked pirate ship, flying clean through the hull and out the back.
The last was a minotaur wielding a large, two handed mace. It rushed the undead and swung the weapon at its head, only to miss when Spike ducked right before it hit and thrust a fist forward, hitting the minotaur in his solar plexus. The pain and impact caused the bull to drop his weapon, but minotaurs were stubborn beasts, and he recovered from the impact even if he was sweating from the pain. He and Spike locked hands and started pushing against each other, but although the minotaur had an imposing physique, Spike didn't have to worry about stamina. The exchange went as Twilight expected: With her assistant overpowering its aggressor. The pirate grunted in pain, struggling to push back and failing miserably. He found himself falling to a knee, then both, as Spike pushed harder and harder and its face got closer to its opponent's.
It started with several grunts and multiple successive snorts, then a strained squeal, then an outcry of pain. The minotaur's knees had broken and he had collapsed in a slump onto the deck as Spike picked him up by his hands and threw him against a group of pirates. Spike hopped over the railing in front of the wheel and landed with a thud on the deck, denting it with his weight. Twilight popped in next to him and gulped nervously.
"E-everypony," she started. "Could you please stop this? There's no reason to fight, and I just--"
A loud bang reached Twilight's ears, interrupting her. The whole world seemed to be moving in slow motion as she turned her head towards a spark of light that caught into the side of her vision. A metal ball was quickly approaching her, ready to carve her into small pieces. Instead, Spike pushed her out of the way and caught the cannonball in one hand, but even an undead has its limits. The dragon found itself flying backwards through the sheer strength and weight of the metal orb.
"Spike!" Twilight cried out.
When the dragon flew off the deck, Twilight concentrated harder than she had ever done before and teleported the dragon back on deck. She did this several times in a row until the kinetic force that the cannonball had dissipated enough for the undead to be able to push against it.
"Are you okay?" Twilight asked the undead. She patted his legs and looked at his arms, terrified. "I don't know what I would do if I lost my number one assistant," the mare panicked. "Are you sure you're alright?"
Spike ignored her and tightened its grip on the ball. Under the gaze of the sailors and pirates, Spike threw the cannonball back at the other ship still flying around taking potshots at its vessel. After a few seconds, the ship exploded, leaving behind a black cloud and showering the mountain in wreckage and shrapnel. The undead had managed to hit the internal furnace of the annoying sloop and caused a rupture that engulfed all the coal on the vessel. The pirates watched, dumbfounded, as the coal within blinded everyone from the flashes of light they produced every time they ignited in the air. All heads turned to Spike and Twilight actively looking over it for any 'wounds' that it was 'hiding'.
"I'm not fighting anymore," one of the pirates said.
He turned tail, accompanied by several other pirates in their attempt to get onto the ramming vessel and escape, but Captain Killikle wasn't about to let their aggression slide. He and his crew tackled as many of the pirates as they could and invaded their ship, taking everything over and getting a bunch of personal 'loot' to go with their prize.
Killikle laughed jubilously as the crew looked over the other vessel before deciding to either sink it or capture it to sell later. "That was the best attempt at boarding I've ever seen!" he cheered. "Thank you very much, necromancer." He looked to the pirates being rounded up with a large grin. "I wonder what we should do with them now?"
"We could break their wings and throw them overboard," one of the sailors mused. "That's always good for a laugh."
Killikle nodded in agreement. "True. If it were any other situation I would have agreed, but we have a unique scenario presented before us," he said. "Could do more with them than just throwing them overboard."
Twilight hummed pensively. "You could have them work in place of the sailors," she suggested. "They'll fix the ship and you can tow theirs with you."
The captain's smile grew larger. "That's an excellent idea!" He approached the weeping minotaur being watched by two sailors and poked at his knee, inciting a pained grunt. "They'll be able to pay us for the damages, and..." He looked at Spike who was staring at Twilight again. "They wouldn't want to incite the ire of that undead creature now, would they?" he wondered aloud. The pirates all shook their heads in unison. "Good." The captain's amusement faded almost instantly when he looked at the damages to his vessel and his wounded crew members being set aside. "I'll need the medics on board to take care of them." He scratched his neck and cast a side glance at the pirates. "I would be extremely irritated in normal circumstances, but we at least have voluntary labor for my ship."
"I can help with healing," Twilight said.
The captain scoffed and waved her off. "I don't need undead crew members. This isn't a ghost ship."
"No! I was learning how to be one when..." Her eyes started going wide and she began to drift into her fears when Spike shook her 'awake'. "I mean, I was learning and teaching the doctors how to reattach and restore lost limbs."
The captain faced Twilight completely and listened to his crew mumbling to each other. "I suppose that means we need magic."
Twilight nodded. "Unfortunately, yes. I only know how to do it myself." She paused, deep in thought. "I can always show your medics how to do it, and if you find out how to use magic or a tool that does the same thing, then they would be ready to do everything already. That would be valuable, no?"
Killikle was starting to be overwhelmed by the mare. She already voluntarily tried to make herself helpful and helped them fend off a pirate attack. Now she proposed to aid them with their medical recovery. It was such a bizarre contrast with usual necromancers that the griffin wasn't entirely sure if she qualified as one anymore.
Twilight, however, never felt more comfortable. The only ponies she had encountered during this brief trip were aggressive pirates, and she and Spike helped to demoralize them completely. She felt this would be an interesting trip. Would it be possible to grab the corpses of the pirates and perform her experiments on them, however? Twilight hadn't forgotten the reason she was taking this trip and absolutely couldn't let her skills rust. She had already suffered a major setback when she was at the Crystal Empire, after all.