“Run that cable to the housing! Ratchet it down you sods!” Topsail shouted at his crew, voice booming. The pegasi in question were wrangling the broken cord that attached the bag to the ship, attempting to feed the torn ends into a ratchet box to re-connect them temporarily. Ordinarily a difficult task made even worse by the battle raging around them.
The third junk skewed itself hard, angling its front cannons on the Break of Day and fired again. They were so close, Topsail didn't even have the time to call for a brace before they hit. One round struck the hull square and burst into a cloud of cyan sparks. The other hit the deck obliquely and skipped off, sliding to a halt on the reardeck and spinning like a rampant firework. Topsail swore and dove at it, crudely kicking the spell off the deck before the fuse triggered and blew another hole in the ship. The bomb fell below the ship and detonated against a mountain face. Topsail nodded grimly and stalwartly ignored the terrible burn on his leg from hitting the thing as he resumed evasive maneuvers.
A flash of light came to his left and he jumped, reaching for his crossbow. Twilight Sparkle reached out a hoof and shouted. “Topsail, it's me!”
“Get down.” The Pegasus gruffly ordered as he pushed her to the deck. Not a second after another pair of blasts rocketed from the third junk, splashing fire against the starboard-rear of the Break of Day. “They've been shooting every forty seconds like clockwork. Gun crews on those things are unreal.”
“R-right. Thanks.” She stuttered back, soft tone lost to the tumult of the fight.
“Captain still climbing down?”
Twilight shook her head. “No, he boarded the Junk directly aft of us.”
“Hmph.” Topsail grunted, seemingly unperturbed by the news. “That explains why that one stopped shooting.” He shoved her into cover. “Stay here and stay low.”
Twilight did no such thing and bolted towards the rear of the ship. Topsail shouted after her but was forced to turn back to the wheel to guide the ship. Twilight slewed to the side as the ship rolled but managed to keep her hoofing. She slid to a halt next to the crawling blaze of color that was engulfing the back of the ship.
Rarity telekinetically flung a bucket of sand onto the fire and dipped it back into the barrel to reload. She turned to her friend and shouted “Twilight, are you alright dear?”
“I'm fine. Where's Spike?”
“Helping with the fire.” Rarity pointed into the blaze and Twilight squinted to make out the small silhouette of the baby dragon standing at the edge of the inferno. An instinctive trill of panic tore through her and she reached out to him for a moment before remembering his draconic immunity to heat. As she watched, Spike inhaled hard and funneled great plumes of the blaze into his mouth, clearing away a great swath of the chromatic flames.
She dumped another bucket of sand on to the flames and shouted. “Help Twilight! If we get this fire under control, the crew can shoot back with the deck cannons.”
Twilight called forth a forcefield dome and locked it over a section of the burning deck, smothering the fire down. Between the three of them and the rest of the crew, progress was being made at fighting back the blaze.
The air shook as the Junk's cannons roared again, streaks of fire flying towards the same spot they'd been hammering. Rarity let out a sharp yelp and dove into cover alongside most of the crew.
Twilight saw the shots, focused, and let out a cry of effort as she conjured up a triangular moment field the size of a sail. One of the arcantrik rounds bounced off the surface, skewing towards the ground far below. The other burst against the field, filling the air with multi-colored sparks and tongues of fire.
Twilight panted and swayed on her hooves. “Not... not bad.”
The crew hastily returned to clearing fire off the deck, making rapid progress without two more rounds adding to the blaze. After a few seconds, a squad of sailors lifted an enormous, mechanical thing from the bowels of the ship, a thick hose trailing back down into the vessel. They dragged it to a section of deck that had been aflame moments ago and spiked it to the floor. One of the crewponies kicked a lever and the whole thing sprang up on a swiveling armature. They pivoted the weapon, locked it in place, and lowered the wand to the firing rune. Twilight hastily laid a forcefield over her, Rarity's, and Spike's ears but she still felt the cannon's basso report shake her bones and vibrate her coat. A lance of fire trailed towards one of the Junks and exploded against the hull in a burst of color, flinders of burning debris flying off it in smoking arcs.
Before the noise had finished echoing off the mountains, the crew had already spun the cannon around and were stuffing reagents down the barrel for another shot. Further back, a pair of sailors ran channeling cables up for another pair of cannons the rest of the crew were struggling to get up the steps.
Twilight looked out at the Junk trailing behind the Break of Day, flurries of movement visible on the deck but it was impossible to make out any detail at such a distance. She bit her lip, and hoped that Raj was okay.
* * *
Raj was not having an easy time of it.
He jumped up, rolling over a charging bull as it tried to bear down on him. He hit the ground and pivoted into a downward swing, both his axes sinking into an unlucky goat holding a gaffe hook in its mouth. No sooner had that one hit the ground than another goat rushed at him, a spear loaded into a holster at his side. He swayed around the speartip but was unprepared for when the goat butted him in the hip with all of its momentum. He took the hit and toppled onto his back.
The huge bull turned around and reared up, intent on bringing all of weight down on him. Panicking, Raj brought his hands up to defend himself and swore as he caught the beast's hooves in his palms, his strength keeping the giant cow from crushing his chest. The bull bellowed something and staggered forward, pressing more of its weight onto him. The goat with the spear bleated and bounced around, clearly wary of getting so close to the bull's bucking head.
Straining, Raj adjusted his grip on the bull's hooves and brought them down to sides of his hips, giving himself a faceful of musky chest. With a disgusted grunt, he curled his legs up, planted his feet on the thing, and exploded upwards, the deckboards beneath him sagging from the force of it.
The bull went flying, bellowing a cry of surprise. Raj rolled, came up in a crouch, and sprang towards the goat that was staring after the airborne bovine. The creature let out a brief bleat of surprise as Raj's fist struck it in the neck and it collapsed, head twisted on a broken spine. An instant later, the bull hit the deck with a resounding crash, the whole foredeck rattling with the power of it.
Further down the ship, what was left of the crew stepped back hesitantly, fear painting their faces. Nine of them had fallen to the boarder so far, counting the recent bull and two goats. Any outrage they felt about having their ship invaded was washed out by a healthy dose of visceral terror at seeing so many of their comrades cut down.
The Rakshasa, however, hadn't moved an inch. The thing's only movement was a rhythmic drumming of its twisted fingers against the grip of the scimitar. Its eyes hadn't left Raj for an instant since he'd landed on the ship, it just stared with unnerving intensity.
One of the goats hopped up on a barrel and shouldered a bulky crossbow, every part of it exaggerated in size to compensate for a wielder's lack of fingers. Raj went into a dive but still felt a hot line of agony flare up along his hip as he took a graze. He ignored the hit and rolled, coming up with a discarded spear. He cocked his arm back and launched it forward at the reloading goat that wasn't even aware of the projectile flying at it.
There was a blur of gold and a shattering clang that stung Raj's ears. The broken bits of the speartip clattered to the deck, the targeted goat bleating in surprise at the sudden rescue. The Rakshasa rolled the scimitar in its hands, snarling something incoherent at the crew who then cowered towards the rear of the ship.
Raj took a tentative step back. He wasn't throwing at a goat that was anywhere near the thing, but it had still blocked it. Somehow, the Rakshasa had covered the width of the deck in the time it took for him to roll and throw the spear.
“I admit to being intrigued.” Snarled the Rakshasa, startling him with its suddenness. The words came out slightly muffled, like they didn't fit the creature's mouth. “I'm curious about any creature that could diminish my numbers by itself.”
“Finally ready to deal with me yourself?” Raj taunted as he retrieved his axes and backed up, hoping the reprieve would let him catch his breath. His boarding had already been a success; the Junk had stopped firing once he was aboard, giving the Break of Day the chance to rally and fire back at the only remaining vessel that was threatening them. Now, he just had to find some way to get off the boat.
“I can hardly afford to lose any more crew if I'm to keep to the air.” The creature purred. “Though I have to wonder what a beast like you is doing on an Equestrian skyship in the first place. Are they you're slaves? Did you have your dirt ponies make those axes for you?”
Raj sneered in disgust. “No.”
“Pity. What then?”
“We're here on a survey mission.” He threw out fast.
“A lie. Try again.” The thing said flatly.
“We're searching for a downed craft.” He said back equally flat.
“Another lie.”
“Well that's all your getting out of me.”
“Yet another lie.” And then the thing was upon him, brilliant golden scimitar flashing and striking.
The initial melee was fierce, at least two ringing impacts every second as scimitar met ax. The Rakshasa struck rapidly, using the longer reach of his sword to strike Raj at a range he couldn't engage at, trying to wear him down. Raj kept his axes close and defensive, trying to get a feel for the cat-headed monster.
After a minute of this treatment, the Rakshasa swept its weapons sideways but Raj stopped it on the haft of his weapon. The creature cocked its wrist and stepped forward, gliding the flat of its blade along the Apple Ax in a curving thrust. Raj ducked to avoid it but took a glancing hit on the forehead, tearing a narrow line through his eyebrow. He cried out and swung wildly at the thing, trying to ward it back. The Rakshasa hopped back agilely and laughed.
Raj brushed blood off of his face and sneered. Not enough time had passed for bloodloss to be much of a factor, but that's all it would take; time. Within minutes his eye would be useless and he'd be woozy, which meant he'd be dead.
With that in mind, he charged at the creature in a stoop. At the last moment he sprang up and kicked off the wall, coming at the thing along its side with a brutal cross chop. The Rakshasa positioned its sword to block both strikes and grunted from the force of the hit, their blades locking together. Shouting wordlessly, he pushed forward, driving the monster against the wall of the foredeck. Its back hit the wall and Raj wrestled the things arms up and over its head. He pinned the thing to the boards by its wrists with one hand and drew a single ax back to strike.
Then, the creature's form rippled, warped and all of a sudden he was clinching with a fifteen foot crocodile.
Understandably surprised, he was not ready for the now reptilian beast to undulate and sweep its scaled tail under his feet to knock him to the deck. The giant lizard landed and twisted around lightning quick, snapping its jaws at him. Raj rolled away shrieking terror as the crocodile chased after, snapping and growling.
Raj's back hit a wall and he could retreat no more. The crocodile lunged at his leg with terrifying speed. He pulled back but the thing still caught the bare edge of his thigh and tore into him. Screaming rage, Raj grabbed forward and clamped his hand down on the thing's snout, holding its shut with a small bit of his own meat inside. The thing writhed and clawed backwards, dragging Raj along.
They slid past one of his discarded axes and he snatched the thing up. He managed to get his feet underneath him and hauled on the thing, lifting its front off the deck. Before it could writhe free, his ax flashed in and cleaved through its face, taking nearly a foot off both it top and bottom jaws. It hit the deck with a meaty thud, a welter of black spraying from its face.
Before he could even feel a moment of triumph, the thing rippled and shimmered again and a silverback gorilla had punched him in the stomach.
Raj felt himself lift clear off the deck and crash into the midship pylon. He tried to groan in pain but was unable to find the air, so he settled for staggering on the ground breathlessly for a moment. By the time he'd gotten to his feet, the Rakshasa had shapeshifted again.
It had transformed back into a shape similar to a man's and recovered its sword, but it no longer wore the head of a tiger. Instead, it had a black furred gorilla head, though the eyes still bulged out madly. It idly flipped his disarmed Apple Ax, testing its weight and balance. “I think you weren't telling the truth before.” It droned, voice completely unchanged despite the different head. “This ax reeks of dirt pony craft.”
Raj tried to say something in reply, but all that came out was a coughing wheeze.
The Rakshasa shrugged and muttered “Eloquent.” It then flipped the ax one last time and hurled it at Raj's head.
Scowling, Raj swayed to the side and reached up, plucking the Apple Ax out of the air. He stumbled, leaned into it, and broke into a loping run at the Rakshasa. The Rakshasa laughed and flourished its scimitar, grinning with sharp teeth.
Raj vaulted off the railing of the ship and came down at the thing with a two-fisted swing. The Rakshasa shuffled out of the way and whipped its blade at the back of his neck. Raj caught it on the head of his ax and stepped into a rising chop aimed at the thing's groin. The Rakshasa narrowly swiveled out of the way and hooked at leg behind his before driving a wrong-facing gorilla palm into his throat. He sputtered and sprawled when the thing hooked its leg back and killed his balance.
His newly reclaimed breath whooshed out of him as Raj hit the deck flat on his back. Grunting with effort, he pulled his legs up and rolled back away from the thing. As soon as his feet hit the deck he sprang forward, hoping to catch the Rakshasa by surprise with the aggressive move.
It did not work, and the thing sidestepped his mad lunge with almost casual ease. As Raj sailed by, the thing lifted its sword up and brought the jeweled pommel down directly on the small of his back. Raj let out a sharp cry and hit the deck limply, sliding a few feet before groaning weakly.
Grinning still, the Rakshasa stalked over to him and reached down, grabbing him by the back of the head with its over-sized ape hand. Raj was lifted bodily off the ground until he was resting on his knees, still too dazed to move, his barely open eyes swimming listlessly. The Rakshasa growled out “Now, let's see what you're hiding Captain.”
The Rakshasa threw its head back and Raj's eyes suddenly went electric, his whole body tensing powerfully as something painfully invasive happened to him. It felt like television static, the thrum of a subwoofer, and a screaming baby were pounding along every wavelength he could hear while a million tiny ants marched along every synapse in his brain. He pictured, no, saw a mad cascade of images flicker past his eyes. It was like every frame of a movie had been switched with another one, resulting in an incoherent smear of sight tearing past his eyes.
When he came out of it a scream was still bubbling out of him, his voice hoarse from it though he felt like no time had passed. The Rakshasa's hand let him go and he wobbled on his knees, everything blurry and formless. The Rakshasa laughed, “Well, that's quite useful. Goodbye my friend.” It raised the scimitar, ready to impale him through the back.
A whine like a bullet sounded for an instant before two blue hooves crashed into the Rakshasa's ape-face. There was a terrible crunch of shattering bone and the Rakshasa went flying over the side of the ship.
The Break of Day loomed along the side of the Junk, the smaller ship looking like a toy so close to the massive dreadnought. A line of crewponies with crossbows bristled along the side, taking aim at the scrambling goats and bulls. Even over the distance and roar of the engine, Raj could hear Topsail bellow out “First rank, fire!”
“Get down!” shouted Rainbow Dash as she tackled Raj to the deck and into cover. Razor sharp quarrels thudded into the deck and crew, shattering any discipline or resolve they managed to muster. After the volley was over, she grabbed him by the head and shouted. “Raj, Raj! Are you in there? Can you walk?”
“Blue... horse?” He muttered dumbly, pawing uselessly at her face.
“Okay, you're out of it. Applejack!” When she yelled, the mare in question popped over the railing of the airship with a hook and a long coil of rope. She gave the rope a spin for a second and launched it, easily clearing the distance to the Junk. AJ whooped and managed the rope, not pulling too tight or letting out enough slack that would drag it off the boat.
Rainbow Dash grabbed Raj by the hand and hauled him up to his feet, grunting with strain. “Alright big guy, lets go. Time to leave, on your feet.”
A warbling chirp drew her attention to the other side of the Junk. Perched on the railing was an enormous, golden-brown bird, easily as tall as she was. It cawed again and flared its wings before hopping to the deck.
Rainbow was about to turn her attention away when the form of the thing flickered and there was suddenly a massive gorilla charging at her, screaming at the top of its lungs. Rainbow let out a startled scream and tried to push Raj towards the hook faster.
“Second rank, fire!” shouted Topsail and every single loaded bow on the Break of Day unloaded on the gorilla. It stumbled at the bolts burrowed into it, some sinking all the way to fletching where they hit a soft spot. The transformed Rakshasa hit the ground and rolled, clutching at the bolts impaling it.
Rainbow gave up on moving Raj to the hook and decided to move the hook to Raj. She rushed over to it, grabbed it in her mouth, and looped it around Raj as fast as she could. She hooked the rope on itself and suddenly Raj was yanked over the deck and swung under the Break of Day.
Looking below himself and seeing nothing but half a mile of air and then jagged stone terrified him back to reality and he clutched at the rope, swearing and sputtering. He cried out pitifully, his head swimming and guts churning. Above him, the cannon doors of the Break of Day hinged open and nearly a score of cannons readied to fire. Across the gap, a blue figure zipped back to the Break of Day as the Junk listed to try to elevate out of the arc of fire.
“Captain!” he heard a voice slur. “Captain Rajrishi!” he cracked one eye open and saw the Rakshasa standing at the deck, one half its face slack and a pair of crossbow bolts still protruding from its torso. It yanked one free and tossed it over the deck before shouting. “My name is Bakasura, Son of the Asura. Remember it while I take your skin!”
An instant later, a dozen and a half lances of fire crashed into the Junk, covering it in a wild inferno of color. The boat groaned and drooped, the gas cells in the bag heating up and cooking off like popcorn before it crashed into the mountainside. The impact breached the arcantrik engine and set off an explosion of colorless flame and whistling pops that made Raj skin ripple and his bones shake.
After that, Raj's nervous system decided that was enough stimulus for the day and he passed out, dangling beneath the ship like a puppet with just one string.