Aces of the North

by Skystriker

An Unfair Fight

Chapter 3: An unfair fight

"Pony on the deck! Take it down!" A Griffin soldier yelled, as he pointed an outstretched claw at Blaze.
"Fuck, so much for the element of surprise." Blaze thought as he darted behind the nearest cover he could find.
"Face us you coward!" Another soldier squawked, as she unleashed a volley of bolts that embedded themselves in the panel Blaze was crouching behind.
"Why don't you g-whoa!" Blaze yelped, after firing a burst at them, as he barely got behind cover again in time.
"Fuck I'm pinned.... come on there's gotta be something I can do. Think Blazing Glory think." He thought to himself as he tapped his hooves off the side of his helmet.

Blaze cautiously peered out from behind the armor plate he had hidden behind, and was shocked at what he saw. There was half a dozen griffins clumped together in a group not 20 feet away, and all of them were wounded. Their wings were punctured, their armor pierced, and one was even missing her entire wing. The tenacity of the griffins was something to behold, they were severely wounded, and bleeding out on the deck of the airship, and yet they were determined to fight on till they breathed their last. Blaze was running out of options, if he tried to flee he would be shot to pieces, and if he jumped out and opened fire for more than a second he would also be shot to pieces. He slammed his hoof against the armor plate that was protecting him and realized that it was the mount for a large cannon that he could only assume was for dragon slaying. He frantically fiddled with the controls for the anti-dragon cannon, and managed to swing the cannon around toward the griffin soldiers. Bolts from their crossbows pinged off the barrel and mechanism as the cannon swung down, aiming right at the center of the squad. The single winged griffin began to scream something as blaze bucked both his rear hooves against the trigger lever, breaking the safety that normally would have prevented it from firing at that angle, and with a deafening report, the cannon fired. The airship shuddered violently, and listed to the side as an enormous hole in the wing now stood where the wounded squad once had, not a feather, nor glistening shard of armor remained. Just as Blaze reached up to wipe the panicked sweat from his brow, he heard a loud whining cracking noise that gave him a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. He looked at the hole again, and watched a wide splintering crack snake across what was left of the wing, and the span began to sag. Blaze galloped as fast as he could toward the gap, and lifted off just as the wing gave way sheering cleanly from the rest of the ship and falling down end over end onto the jagged rocks below.

"Hey buddy, you still alive down there?" Crimson calmly and confidently inquired, his voice crackling a bit in the cheap headset inside of Blazing Glory's helmet.
"Yeah, you okay up there? What happened to Misty? I heard her scream, then the connection fizzled, is she okay?" Blaze asked as fast as he could, his heart was still racing, and his breaths were short and quick as he looked back at where moments before an entire wing, and a heavy anti-dragon cannon had once been.
"Misty got hit... guns... she popped her cloud though, she's gonna be okay, it’s us I'm worried about." Crimson replied, his skyshredders opening up on another griffin upon his command.
"I just took out a squad of ‘em, and you're picking them off left and right, we've got this Crimson." Blaze boasted, trying to emulate Crimson's confidence, but then he heard a roar come from the main deck of the ship, and looked up to see the biggest griffin he had ever laid eyes on, wearing a set of armor that looked eerily similar to the one the griffin painted on the underbelly of the ship was wearing, and it was even shinier than it looked in the mural.
"I'm gonna have to call you back..." Blaze said with a gulp as he and the enormous griffin locked eyes.

The griffin reared up, and flared his wings out wide, making it clear he was at least one and a half times bigger than the biggest griffin Blaze had ever seen. His armor was plated with gold and platinum, which gleamed and glistened in the sunlight, almost seeming as if the light were emanating from him rather than just reflecting off of him. The leading edge of his wings had razor sharp blades upon them from wing base to wingtip, and his tail tip had a multi-bladed mace over it. The griffin’s armor looked like it could shred anything it touched, with blades and sharp edges covering nearly every inch of the armor. It made him look almost demonic, and that look coupled with his size, and that intimidating roar had Blaze wishing he had that anti-dragon cannon once more. Then he looked down at his side, and realized he still had something he could use, the rocket launcher. Blaze flipped the safety off, and took careful aim at the massive griffin just as he lifted off the deck, flying straight for him. He squeezed the trigger between his teeth, and felt a little jerk at his side as the rocket roared out of the tube and streaked across the sky, flying straight and true right for the heavily armored behemoth. The griffin narrowed his eyes, and with a near effortless swing of his wingblades deflected the rocket sending it toward the aft section of the airship, where it blew off part of the tail section. Blaze’s eyes went wide, and his pupils shrunk as he watched his only rocket be so easily deflected, not even phasing the griffin. As if the armor, which Blaze was certain could puree him if the griffin simply bumped into him, was not enough, after deflecting the rocket he unsheathed a long, slender, and gently curved sword that had an odd red glow that ran up the engravings upon the blade. Blaze regained his composure just in time to leap out of the way of the first slash, which sliced the rocket launcher free from his PICS, and trimmed several of his feathers far too close for comfort.

“Do you know who you have insulted this day? Do you have any idea who I am you cowardly pony?!” The Griffin spat out in his booming deep voice as he swung at Blaze again.
“Nope, not a clue, you know in my country we introduce ourselves before asking somepony a question. My name is Blazing Glory!” Blaze said in a cocky tone, trying to get the griffin angry enough to make a mistake, before firing off a burst at him. “What’s yours?”
“I am Jarl Razorwing of the clan Goldentalon, and you shall show me respect you whelp!” Razorwing responded, unfazed by the burst from Blaze’s light machine gun.
“Ooooh is Jarl griffin speak for barber, I’ll have a shave and a haircut please.” Blaze said and tossed out two bits, hitting the griffin in the beak, which made his face turn bright red with fury.
“You dare disrespect my regal title?!” the Jarl squawked angrily, and then drew his sword back as far as he could and swung as hard as he could.
“Now Now, that’s no way to treat a guest.” Blaze cockily retorted, as he ducked the swing from Razorwing’s sword, which embedded itself in the mount of one of the smaller cannons.
“You disrespectful, featherbrained, inferior....pony” He growled as he tried to yank his sword free from the mount.
“So you’re running out of names to call me already? Jeez, and here I thought this was going to be an intense battle of wits.” Blaze said dismissively, and blew a raspberry at the infuriated griffin.
“I shall skin you alive! Tan your pelt! Then wear you as a belt!!” He yelled in a half feral roar.
“You know that sounded alright until the part about being a belt, now if you were gonna make me into a hat that would have been awesome, but a belt? Now I have to kill you.” Blaze sarcastically said as the griffin nearly dislodged the sword from the mount.

Blaze reared up and firmly planted both of his hooves on the griffins face knocking him away from the sword and onto his back a few feet away. Razorwing shook his head, dazed and shocked that the pony had actually laid a hoof upon him. His anger rose higher as he felt the small caliber rounds pinging off of his thick armor plate. Blaze took notice of how long it took him to get up with all of that heavy armor on, and hoped that he would live long enough to exploit this weakness as the griffin lunged at him again.

“Skyshredder ammunition reserves almost depleted.” Crimson’s PICS chimed into his ear causing him to swear under his breath as he dodged a flurry of bolts from the griffins on his tail.
“I haven’t got enough ammo to take all of them.... gonna have to get creative.” Crimson thought to himself as he scanned the skies around him, ant then inspiration struck him.

He saw a group of large grey clouds floating nearby, and a small grin appeared on his face as he saw his opportunity. He poured on the speed as he flew towards the storm clouds then landed on the closest one and ducked down, hoping that his armor would deflect the bolts he was sure to take as the griffins closed in. Shot after shot deflected off his armor taking deep gauges out of it, and bruising him up even worse, as he sank into the cloud. The griffins surrounded the cloud and aimed their auto crossbows in, thinking that they had Crimson cornered and cowering, and were determined to finish him. Crimson smiled and sent up a silent prayer that his plan wouldn’t backfire horribly before kicking the cloud from within, sending lightning arcing out in every direction at the metal armor clad griffins. They squawked and shuddered violently as the electricity coursed through their bodies, and half of them fell unconscious, their armors scorched black. One of the few who didn’t fall pulled the trigger and held it down, spraying the cloud with bolts. So many bolts at such close range was too much for even Crimsons armor to handle, and one of them pierced his armor, and buried itself into his hip, making him yelp loudly in pain and jump out of the cloud. Just as it looked as if Crimson was about to become a living pincushion, a burst of fire rung out from on high ending the griffin that had put the bolt in Crimson’s thigh. The griffins all looked up, and they saw the lumbering form of Heavy Lift as he descended upon them firing a long burst from his PICS, while radar chimed in with the mounted medium machine gun mounted on his PWACS skywagon. Two more griffins fell from the sky, and the final one fled for his life down into the cloud layer.

“Sorry we’re late boss, had to pick up a little extra cargo.” Heavy lift said and nodded his head back to the wagon, where radar was performing first aid magic on misty.
“You alright Misty?” Crimson asked as he studied the wounded mare.
“I’ll live, but I’m going to kill Sunrise and Cloudburst... well kill em or make em include me in the next all nighter... Where’s Blaze?” She said with a small smile as the boys chuckled a bit.
“Why won’t you fucking die?!” The four of them heard crackle over the radio at once, Blaze’s voice was beginning to sound desperate, and the sound of gunfire, and a low angry roar filled the background.
“Gale Team move out!” Crimson ordered and shakily took off toward the airship, Heavy lift following close behind.

Blaze ducked and strafed around Razorwing, firing at every opportunity as he tried to find a chink in the griffin’s magnificent armor. He began to grow worried when he noticed the griffin was no longer an easily dodged ball of barely aimed fury, he was calmer now his strikes were getting closer and oddly enough he even seemed to be enjoying himself.

“That’s it, hit me whelp! Show me what you’ve got! Make me work for it!” He yelled as he swiped a scant inch away from Blaze’s muzzle.
“You asked for it!” Blaze yelled, and faked going to the left, then darted right and landed another buck right into the griffin’s exposed face, and blood began to trickle down his beak.
“You even managed to wound me, finally one of your kind worth my time!” He almost jubilantly yelled as he swung his wingblades low, cutting Blaze’s leg guards off cleanly, and leaving a deep gash in his right foreleg.
“Agghhh! Sweet Celestia... fuck..” Blaze yelped and began to limp backwards a bit, before aiming his last few rounds up at Razorwing’s exposed face, the final shot grazing his face, and leaving a shallow but quickly bleeding wound upon his cheek.
“You even managed to give me a battle scar, you have proven yourself a worthy warrior, but this game is over!” Razorwing growled and reached out, talons extended and grabbed Blaze by what little of his battered battle barding remained.

The powerful griffin cut away Blaze’s weapon and tossed it overboard, leaving the pegasus with only the shreds and loose plates that were left of his armor to protect him. Blaze was cut up, bruised all over, and all that was keeping him from falling limp in the griffin’s grasp was pure adrenaline. His heart pounded and he panted hard, sweat rolling down his neck and back as he literally stared death in it’s bloodied face, and yet he could not understand why Razorwing hadn’t finished him yet. Then he began to speak.

“A worthy opponent is such a rare find among your kind, found my weaknesses and used them against me. Used your superior speed to outflank and even bloody me... I am almost tempted to throw you back to the winds so we may fight again.” Razorwing calmly said, showing a note of respect Blaze was not expecting in the slightest.
“W-what?” Blaze asked, dumbfounded.
“It is a shame such a powerful warriors spirit was born into such an inferior body. You could have made a fine griffin... I shall make it quick.” Razorwing said with a twinge of regret and raised his talon.
“Wait!” Blaze yelled.
“If you dishonor yourself by pleading for your life, I shall make this slow and painful.” Razorwing growled.
“Might I have a last request, since I.... was such a worthy opponent?” Blaze asked with a little smile, his lip bloodied.
“Speak.” Razorwing replied.

Blaze’s eyes darted all over, to the griffin’s sachel he had slung over his shoulder, to the open hatch they stood before, and he very quickly formed the most haphazard plan he had ever slapped together.

“Could I have a smoke?” Blaze asked.
“A smoke?” Razorwing asked in response, the request catching him off guard.
“I’ve heard that the tobacco of your land is the richest in all the world. I always wanted to give it a try, and I guess this is my last chance.” Blaze said, trying to keep his calm smile.
“I can allow this, you shall have one of the finest in all of the world, a cigarette i rolled myself, using stock from the high king’s private reserve.” Razorwing said as he reached his free talon into his sachel, and blaze saw the cluster of high powered blasting sticks, their fuses all tied neatly together at the top.
“So... that plan B?” Blaze asked as he nodded down to the wired up explosives.
“This was my plan A, I wasn’t even going to use the cannons. I wanted to fight my way to the center of the complex myself, and destroy it the old fashion way.. I prefer to look my foe in the eye when I end them.” He said, as he pulled his lighter out as well.

Blaze bit the cigarette between his teeth and Razorwing lit it, the very tip of it sparking wildly as he took a nice long drag. Blaze bit the tip off of the hand rolled smoke, and took some of the bitter tobacco into his mouth as felt Razorwings grip tighten, and he knew it was now or never. He spit the still burning cigarette into the satchel, lighting the blasting sticks. Razorwing’s eyes went wide and he glared at Blaze, who then spit a mix of the bitter griffin tobacco, blood, and smoke into the griffins eyes, blinding him. He dropped Blaze to the deck, and brought his talons up to his eyes trying to rub the irritating mix from his eyes, only to receive a swift two hoofed buck to the face, sending him reeling down the stairs into the powder magazine of the airship. Blaze shakily stood up just as Heavy Lift landed the skywagon on the deck of the ship, Crimson hovering beside the landed cart.

“Go Go Go We need to get out of here now!” Blaze frantically screamed at the large Pegasus buck pulling the wagon as Radar helped Blaze into the wagon.
“What about that big guy ya just bucked down into the hold?” Heavy Lift asked.
“He just fell into the powder magazine with a satchel full of lit blasting sticks... We need to go now!” Blaze said and flailed his forelegs around frantically trying to get him moving faster.

Heavy didn’t need to hear another word, with a flap of his powerful wings the buck lifted himself, and the heavily laden wagon off the deck. He flew as fast as he could toward the nearest mountain, trying to put something solid between them and the eminent explosion. Deep in the bowels of the airship Razorwing sat up, and watched as the fuses disappeared into the blasting sticks.

“What have you done?! You Fool!” He screamed in his final seconds.

The explosion was so powerful, that the shock wave slamming against the mountain they hid behind caused an avalanche. Shards of the airship rained down upon the roof of the skywagon, as the ponies inside held their hooves over their heads. Including one very interesting bit that sliced right through the roof of the skywagon, and embedded itself in the floor. Razorwings ornate enchanted sword vibrated as it stood strait up between the three of them. Despite being violently blown free of the airship, it glimmered in the sunlight coming through the hole it made, and looked remarkably undamaged.

“Dibs!” Blaze cried as he wrapped his hooves around the hilt, then passed out over it.