Several hours ago…
Celestia coughed hard, smoke and dust mixing with the last swallow of coffee she’d had before leaping off the HMS Corona. The gunpowder and other accelerants the minotaurs used in their airship mounted missiles didn’t taste good—not even when mixed with the Neightucket Blend from her warmug. She hacked, her eyes watering and wished she’d had the forethought to grab a filter mask from the ship. But then again, she’d only barely made it in time to detonate the explosive before it careened into the village below.
Celestia wrinkled her nose and hoped no pony was watching as she gagged on the thick smoke and spit. Holding her breath to keep the acidic taste at bay, Celestia powered her wings in a few quick flaps to disperse the surrounding haze. A hoofful of yards under her position, the slat and thatched roofs of the minotaur village were intact, if peppered with the smoldering debris of the exploded missile. Just a bit beyond that, dozens of minotaur faces stared up at her and the warships above in literal shell shock. Several of the faces belonged to children. Living children.
Celestia breathed a sigh of relief and turned her gaze to follow theirs. Above her there was a fading rainbow contrail that led straight from the Corona to the minotaur vessel. The airpony it belonged to, Semaphore Communicator Rainbow Dash, was hovering just outside the minotaur’s bridge view ports angrily flashing their earlier message of peace with snappy wing movements.
She also appeared to be screaming at the minotaur crew that had launched the ship’s ordinance.
“Well, there’s no excuse that they didn’t see the message now.” Celestia smirked, summoning her warmug through the aether with a thought. She took a palate coating chug of coffee and dismissed the hot mug back to the Corona a moment later. She chuckled when she saw Rainbow Dash flash semaphore code of some rather choice language before launching back towards the Corona.
The airpony left behind a group of very startled looking minotaurs to choke on dust and another multicolored contrail. It appeared that Rainbow Dash was in fact as fast as stated, and watching the pegasus’ streak away made Celestia wonder just how much longer she’d keep her own speed record. With one last glance at the village below for injured and unintended destruction, Celestia grinned.
“Let’s see if the old girl still has it in her…”
The force of her ascent pushed the remaining smoke clear of the village and the entire mountainside. Where once the alicorn had hovered was a blurry afterimage, her own pastel rainbow-hued streak marking her trajectory back toward the Corona’s rear communications deck and Airpony Dash’s own end point. The air around her screamed in her ears sharper and louder then she liked. Squinting, Celestia folded her ears back, cutting down her resistance as much as she could. Ripping apart the atmosphere to let her pass made her wings burn as muscles put to pasture decades ago struggled to meet the demands she placed on them.
The impromptu raced lasted just long enough to catch the other semaphore airpony’s attention, the stallion leaping out of the way just as their outstretched hooves passed the edge of the deck. A moment later, Celestia lifted her head out from the tangle of limbs, gear, and netting that was the result of their simultaneous crash. She chuckled lightly, lifting one wing to smirk at an upsidedown but otherwise unharmed airpony.
“That was close.”
“Ugh..” Rainbow Dash pulled herself out from under the Princess, kicking one leg that was caught up in the deck netting. “I coulda won it. Next time we’ll have to make a real race out of things, Princess! I’ll wager a whole month’s bits on it.”
“I do believe, Airpony Dash, that gambling is against Equestrian Navy rules.” Celestia smirked, climbing to her hooves and smoothing back her mane. “I should know. I wrote most of them.”
“Then you know that only matters when on duty.” Rainbow Dash returned the Princess’ confident smirk and turned it up several notches. “I’ve got leave coming up. Just name a place and I’ll be there to put you through your paces.”
“Assuming we make it back to Equestrian airspace from this operation.” Celestia shook her head, but patted the mare on the shoulder comfortingly. “In which case, you are on. I rarely get to go all out these days.”
Celestia drew herself to attention as the the two semaphore ponies gathered themselves, sober once again at mention of their purpose in the skies above the northern mountain ranges. As one, they all turned and looked at the minotaur ship. One of the gigantic propellers, each on either side of the minotaur zeppelin's envelope, was starting to reverse. The other airship’s forward momentum kept it moving, but it was beginning to turn off a direct intercept course.
“Thank you for your brave service.” Celestia murmured quietly, looking back at Airpony Dash. “Quick thinking is just as important as quick wings. Flying into the horns of a potential enemy takes heart.”
“Hey, I couldn’t just let those idiots hurt us just because we spooked them.” Rainbow saluted and flashed another smirk. “I like my assignment here, Princess. I’ve got friends on this boat.”
Celestia opened her mouth to reply, but snapped it shut a second later when a blaring siren rang out over the HRMS Corona’s deck. She widened her stance, while the communication ponies automatically grabbed the railing an instant before the ship’s engines roared to life and the whole vessel rocked into motion. Looks like Luna has us on a course. I need to get back up to the bridge.
She held her position, watching the village and airship above it start to sink away. When we make it back...I am going to have to have a long talk with the Collective’s elder council. Sending out Cadance to gather information paid off...this time. Celestia frowned, turning over the other information her niece had passed back along to her in the previous years. The rumors of a secret airbase this far out into the Collective’s territory seemed all but confirmed now.
She squashed the line of thought and pulled her warmug through the aether to herself full of steaming coffee. After snapping a salute, she took her leave of the rear communications deck, sipping black Neightucket Blend. When she rounded the tail end of the Corona’s wheelhouse, she looked forward, out over the prow. The airship was pointed between two imposing, snow-covered peaks and right into what looked like an enormous bank of ash grey clouds. As she watched, Celestia tracked flashes of lightning within the storm.
“Looks like this is going to be a bumpy ride.”
The Present
Cadance’s horn was starting to throb along with her heartbeat. Keeping the hefty iron firearm pointed and the hammer back, while also suppressing the sound and glow of her aura was already starting to tax her sleep-addled mind. If Twilight had been doing it, Cadance was sure her protector could keep up the feat for hours on end.
Or just blast the intruder with her own horn canon. Cadance’s grimace turned up at the edges. The thought of her Twilight making short work of whatever was trying to get the drop on them gave her the resolve to push away her concerns and focus.
The whatever in question moved into the room proper, tip-hoofing forward. Its silhouette turned a little, looking this way and that as it navigated the cramped space. As it got closer, vague details started to come through the oppressive gloom of the room. Black stripes alternated with a pale white on its side, and a hint of gold flashed as it found a tiny shaft of light mid-way through the room.
Cadance sighed, releasing the breath she’d been holding since the door opened. Gingerly, she lowered the gun and eased the hammer into the half-cock. She let her magic surge, the glow and light hum pushing back the darkness and most of the hut’s creaking and groaning. “Oh sweet Sisters, Zecora! You almost gave me a heart attack!”
Cadance groaned, raising her head up to regard the old zebra. Behind her, Twilight shifted a little, the rhythm of her breathing becoming unsteady. She kept her voice soft, not wanting to disturb her protector’s rest. “What were you doing out?”
Zecora froze when Cadance’s aura light highlighted the alicorn and blinked at the sudden intrusion of illumination. She sighed a second later and relaxed slowly, keeping her own voice low and throaty. “Bathroom. I didn’t meant to wake you, Princess.”
Cadance nodded, her ears turning forward to focus on the mare in front of her. She stretched out, lifting her wing off Twilight and the hull-breacher at the same time. She tried to make the movement look casual as possible. “Well, it’s a good thing I saw you. A blast from this will fill the whole hallway, so taking cover would be advisable.”
Zecora raised an eyebrow, green eyes tracking the floating canon. “That’s...good to know. But I’m tired. The weather here is hard on these old bones. So, why don’t we get some rest while we can?”
“Sounds like a plan.” Cadance nodded again, her eyes flicking over Zecora’s shoulder. Down the hall, there was another flash of black and white as a second Zecora dived awkwardly into another room of the caribou structure. As soon as the last hoof was out of the line of fire, Cadance dropped the hull-breacher gun level, muzzle pointed directly at the zebra’s chest. “You first.”
She clamped her eyes shut as the gun went off, filling the room with more light and sound than her magic could have. It also filled the Zecora in front of her with dozens of lead pellets. The force of the blast sent the mare up and over backwards down the hallway, landing in a crumpled pile of limbs and fur several paces away. Her ears ringed painfully, but Cadance pushed herself to her hooves. Weeks of practice under the old minotaur armsbull, Iron Bullet, kicked in, her aura going for more grapeshot and powder in her pack. She was yelling as she moved, her lips forming obscenities in a dozen languages, though all she heard was muffled mumbling mixed under the ringing from her gun’s thunder.
Out of the corner of her eyes, Cadance saw Spike and Twilight moving, startled out of their slumber. Spike’s scales and green frill were standing up, vibrating in surprise as the more beastial instincts inside the dragon came up claws and fangs first. Twilight wasn’t far behind, surging to her hooves, horn lowered to gore even as the battlemage fired up her own spells. Cadance stepped forward, following her target as powder and a hoofful of iron shots packed into the barrel and the pan of her weapon. She leveled the weapon again, taking careful aim, and unleashed Tartarus again from point blank range.
“I am really starting to hate these changelings!”