//------------------------------// // Chapter Five - Battle For Baltimare, Part II // Story: A World Of Open Skies // by NeverEatTheLemonsAlone //------------------------------// Rarity scraped her eyes open, groaning through an incredibly rough throat, and realized she was sopping wet. "For the sky's sake," she heard an aggravated and equally rough voice from under her, "what have you been eating, Rarity? Bricks?" A ghost of a smile crossed Rarity's lips; that phrase, in that voice, in that tone, could only come from one pony. "I am a Duchess," she croaked, voice hardly even conveying the crooked grin on her face, "and will be addressed with respect. Not that you'd know anything about that, though, Rainbow." Rainbow grunted, trotting laboriously up the beach. As soon as she was away from the tide, she abruptly pitched to one side, dumping Rarity unceremoniously on the sand. She was rewarded with a hoarse, choking yelp and a slew of very, very unladylike swears that had her grinning wanly. "Who knew the Dutchess had that kind of vocabulary, huh?" She was rewarded with a malevolent glare from the unicorn, who now lie on her side, partially buried in the soft, powdery sand of the Horseshoe Bay coast. "Anyway, you're awake, which means you can walk. Get up. We need to get back to the city." As Rarity opened her mouth in response, there was a boom like distant thunder from Baltimare. Even from nearly entirely across the mouth of the bay, Rarity could still see the thick columns of smoke. She shivered, though the breeze blowing the smell of salt and oil across her was warm. Grimacing with effort and displeasure but managing this time to remain silent, she hauled herself to her hooves, shambling into some sense of order with half of her body carpeted in a thick caked-on layer of sand. Rainbow just tapped her hoof on the sand. The shifty nature of the ground made it far less effective than it might have been on stone or tile, and yet somehow, Rarity found herself just as irritated. "Where's Lyra?" she asked, even if only to distract herself and forestall her imminent throttling of Rainbow's neck. Rainbow pointed to Baltimare. "She took off for the city as soon as we crashed, maybe a few minutes ago. You're the only one that passed out. Wasn't a cakewalk stopping you from drowning, either." She looked pointedly at Rarity. "Oh, very well," the unicorn replied. "Thank you for saving me from imminent ocean-based death, Rainbow." Rainbow looked at her steadily through half-lidded eyes, and a moment later, she sighed. "Fine. Thanks, Rainbow. I really do appreciate it." Rainbow smirked. "Now was that so hard?" No response. Her smile winked out, and she pawed the ground for a moment. "Anyway, now that that's done, let's go. We've got a lot of ground to cover before we make it back to the city. I just hope it's not too late for those poor sods." That said, she began to gallop across the sand, down near the water where it was compact enough to run on properly. Nodding once, more to herself than to Rainbow, Rarity followed in silence. --- The airdock had been nigh-obliterated. The bombardment from the airships had reduced it to rubble, leaving only a stub of stone cantilevered out over a hundred-foot drop. The Alliance supporters had dispersed from the dock, taking shelter wherever they could find it. Blast found herself crouching against the remnants of a brick wall crumbled nearly to dust, her teeth gritted. The stolen revolver was awkward in her hoof, and it only had one or two bullets left in it. Half a dozen superficial wounds covered her body. She'd lost both of her hind sabatons, blasted off by a particularly powerful buck in the face of a New Harmony officer. "Damnit damnit damnit," she muttered, almost in a mantra, "where are you, Lyra?" The last she'd seen of Thirty-Four was a shadow sliding over the edge of the airdock, and she hadn't seen Torque since it was blasted. She could only assume the worst. Oak had flown his pegasi on the airships hovering low in the sky, and the fighting had gone silent a few hours ago. There were a few airships that hung crippled in the sky, and one lay forlorn, impaled on a tall spire as it belched smoke and fire, but that was the last she'd seen of their efforts, and once again, it was safest to assume that the worst possible outcome had happened. With a quick prayer to Celestia, she dove out from behind the wall, a spray of autogun fire skating off the stones by her hooves. A sudden pain came to her as a bullet skimmed by, gouging a bleeding trail out of her hindquarters. She gasped reflexively and dropped low, skidding into the cover of the next fragment of wall. "In retrospect," she grunted to herself, spitting blood out of her mouth, "staying on the airdock was a really stupid idea." She briefly inspected the wound. It wasn't deep, but it was painful, and made it more difficult for her to run. That in itself was basically a death sentence in her current predicament. Put simply, immobility was death. She wasn't sure how many ponies, exactly, were taking part in her firing squad, but however many, it was too many. They weren't even putting in the effort to rush her; they knew there was nowhere for her to go, and were content to wait. They were professional soldiers, these; they weren't the type to expend effort where unnecessary. They knew their limits, and that of their quarry. It didn't help matters that, with her busted-up eye, she could barely see for lack of depth perception. Her prosthetic had been kicked hard, and it sparked occasionally, prompting concerned glances down every time. If it gave out in the middle of this, things would be bleak indeed. With no warning, there was a loud thunk, and the sounds of autoguns discharging from her pursuers. She chanced a glance over the wall, at nearly fell over from surprise: AJ was standing over the unconscious forms of three pegasi, shaking her hooves out where they'd just inflicted a righteous beating. Her brow was caked in sweat and blood, more trickling down from a long cut on her forehead. She was breathing hard, and her coat was ruffled and dirty. It looked rough. "Why are you here?" blurted Blast before she could stop herself. AJ met her eye. "Look, I know y'all don't like the NH much, and don't like me cause I don't wanna fight 'em. That still stands. But there's a point," she began to quiver with anger, and Blast found herself wondering exactly what she'd seen, "where you gotta stand up and realize that this is wrong." She trotted over, holding out a hoof. "C'mon. Let's go show 'em what some good strong earth ponies can do." Blast suddenly found herself grinning, despite everything. "Now you're speaking my language," she laughed, walking over and patting AJ on the shoulder. "Get your buckin' hooves ready, because we're gonna tear this place apart!" The two bolted off, diving into the mazelike streets. --- "Rear Admiral! We've located one of the fugitives, sir!" Storm Sliver galloped over to the gunner in question, looking around. "Where? Where did you see her?" His abdomen twinged, and he winced. The gunner didn't notice, too preoccupied with pointing to the pair of ponies running through the city. They were galloping straight through the alleyways, obviously more preoccupied with speed than with stealth. "There she is, sir!" He nodded once, a single, acute motion. "Good. Fire on her!" "But...sir," the gunner began, looking at the houses around them, "there are innocent ponies—" "Did I or did I not just give you a direct order, soldier?" Storm spat. "There's more at stake here than you think! Now, get your heaviest munitions and fire on her!" The gunner hastened to obey, and a moment later, a shell flew through the air, descending from the gunship, and slammed into the house behind AJ and Blast, exploding in a conflagration of orange flame. --- "What in the Sky's name?" AJ swore as the building behind them erupted into fire. Blast was already scanning the sky. "There," she grunted out, pointing at the ship. "That ship, right there." Right on cue, another sky-shaking thump issued from the ship's cannon and the dull metal gleam of another approaching shell caught the muted sun through the heavy clouds that were beginning to overtake the city. She tacked AJ to the ground, and the shell smashed into the building directly in front of them, scattering fragments of brick and mortar about them and casting them in a cloud of red dust. A chunk of brick smacked AJ in the ribs and she wheezed as her breath left her. Blast coughed, covering her mouth and nose with a hoof as she helped the other pony up. "C'mon, AJ, up and at 'em. We're a good distance away from Fleur's mansion yet." She motioned at the hilltop fort, and dragged AJ behind her as they once again resumed their dogged run. Shells exploded around them, and a few minutes later, the shells were joined by the brief concussions of chattering autocannons as their high-caliber rounds skated off of the crumbling masonry, knocking chunks out of the brick. BOOM! With a blast wave intense enough to force them backwards, a shell collided with the road just in front of them. It erupted in debris, and with a juddering crack, the rest of the weakened road collapsed into the tunnel system, leaving them standing before a massive gulf that consumed the street. Blast picked herself up first, extending a hoof to hoist AJ to her hooves as well. Bullets pinged around them, and she gasped in pain as one inevitably hummed its way into her rear leg. Teeth clenched and eyes watering, she pointed with her good arm, shouting over the thunder of the shells, "into the tunnels!" before she dropped down. AJ's eyes widened at the blood pulsing out of Blast, and she didn't argue, rapidly following suit. After the roar of the outside world, the dull rumble of the guns audible from beneath the streets was eerie, like being in the eye of a storm. Blast leaned heavily against an old brick wall, gasping in heavy breaths as she tried to staunch the flow of blood from her shoulder. If it had been an autogun bullet, that would've been one thing, but a bullet from an airship-mounted autocannon was another beast altogether. It had punched a massive ragged straight through her leg. While it had missed any major blood vessels and thus wasn't quite enough to be life-threatening, it was awfully painful and made it nigh-impossible to move quickly. "Oh Sky," AJ swore, moving to start dressing the would. "No," gritted Blast. "I'll be fine, I've been through worse." She motioned with her prosthetic hoof. "Much worse...Hehehe..." she lapsed into a fit of coughing at the end of the laughter, then stared intensely at AJ. "Alright, change of plans. This is important. Do you think you'll be able to find your way back through to our base?" AJ shrugged. The tunnels were a maze, and she honestly had no idea. Blast rolled her eyes. "Well, whatever. You remember the code, right?" A nod. "Good. Here's the important bit: when you get there, hit the button on Torque's machine. The one on the wall. You'll understand when you get there. Got it?" AJ nodded once, decisively, and turned, bolting off into the darkness. Blast limped away from the explosion-carved hole, face written with pain and determination. "As for me," she muttered to herself, "I've got a visit to pay to an old friend." --- Arctic was beside herself. She'd never seen direct combat, and jumping straight into full-scale warfare was a bit of a shell-shock to her. She'd done her job maintaining the ships during combat with the brigade of pegasi, frenetically dashing back and forth between parts of the ship as they were destroyed and doing her best to make sure the whole thing stayed operable. She and the rest of the engineers had succeeded; Skyslicer still flew, though it listed slightly and one side issued a small trail of smoke as it roared over Baltimare. Beneath her, the city had devolved into chaos; the streets were crammed with Alliance and Imperials as they vied for dominance. The Imperials were most definitely winning. Using any artillery had become counterproductive after the initial bombardment, since as many or more NH soldiers would be struck by each blast than Alliance, so the airships had settled into an uneasy wait. She stood by the port railing, looking dazedly over the crumbling city. I...I wasn't ready for this, she thought, feeling as though she might vomit. She jumped as a hoof landed lightly on her shoulder. Wing Commander Thunderlane stood there, wearing a most uncommon expression for him: compassion. "I gotcha, kid," he said. "First time in combat, right?" She nodded numbly. "You get used to it after you see a few fights. It's not always this bad, either." It was his turn to cast his gaze over the battlefield, a brief bitterness entering his eyes. "This is my hometown, you know. Damned mess those Alliance made of it." He shook his head sadly. "Anyway, Ensign, at ease. Your job is done for now. Go belowdecks and take a rest, you've earned it. The rest can handle this now." With that, he trotted off. She looked after him and saluted wordlessly, then turned back to the city, watching the carnage. Was this necessary? She was hardly paying any attention to her surroundings. That's why, when the jolt came, she didn't have time to react as she flipped over the railing and into the open air. She snapped open her wings as she dropped, heart pounding as she navigated her way back up to the ship. Then she saw what had caused the jolt. The deck of the ship burst into panic like a colony of ants, and she watched the thick column of smoke trail skyward from the gaping shell hole in the side of the airship. She only realized she was fainting after she began to fall. Dimly, she watched the Skyslicer recede. The last thought she had before unconsciousness was: where did the shell come from? --- "Get offa me, you cowards!" Torque spat. His limbs were restrained, and his prized revolver was lying in the hoof of a dull-gray NH officer that inspected it coolly. Though it was invisible beneath his dark fur, his entire face was a single enormous bruise marked with at least four individual's hoofprints. He was in the foyer of a lavish building. He didn't remember how he'd gotten there; the last thing he remembered was a booming sound as the stones beneath his hooves began to crumble. He'd thought he was about to die, but apparently not; maybe a pegasus had caught him or something. Either way, now he had a problem; his capture. Nopony had actually expected them to totally destroy the airdock; it was such a huge part of Baltimare's livelihood that it hadn't even been considered. It was like shooting yourself in the hoof. Then again, he thought with grim amusement, these NH ships ain't from here. Whole place'll go up, and just see if they care! Somehow that was comforting to him; at least the empire that had taken away his freedom would lose a good amount of economic influence for his death. Without a sound, a large door on the other side of the foyer glided open, propelled by an older stallion holding a silver platter in one hoof. Through it, ever the icon of grace, stepped the Colonel-Governess of Baltimare: Fleur de Lis. Her cold purple eyes regarded him as though he was an object that she could do what she pleased with. For the briefest moment, there was silence as the two stared at each other, each with thoughts racing through their heads. Then, screwing up his face, Torque spat at her, nailing her right on the point of the muzzle and prompting a surprised sneeze. He laughed mockingly for a moment before being painfully cut off by the muzzle of his own pistol against his back. "I wouldn't recommend doing that again," droned a monotone mare's voice. Torque couldn't look behind him, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. Something about his trusty revolver being turned against him was the worst part of this whole debacle. Face molded into a glassy smile of total insincerity, Fleur reached up a dainty hoof with a kerchief, wiping the saliva away. "Now, now, Maud," she chided, "you mustn't be so impolite to our guest." Her smile grew wider, less controlled. "After all, we have so much to talk with him about." Torque's face twisted into a snarl. "I ain't telling y'all nothin'!" Fleur laughed. "'Ain't,' 'y'all'. It's always so amusing to hear you mud lickers from the west!" Torque's brow furrowed angrily and his teeth gnashed against each other. He raged impotently, the gun barrel in his back reminding him every time he moved that the first time he made a wrong move would be the last move he ever made. "Still," mused Fleur, "I can't have you around here. Far too high maintenance." Torque closed his eyes. This was it. His death was coming. "So, I think I'll send you to Devil's Gulch!" Scratch that; something worse than his death was coming. As he was dragged off, he called out a final parting phrase: "Don't you think you're safe, Fleur de Lis! We're gonna come for you, and you're gonna beg for the end before we're done with you!" The smile had left her face. "How droll," she sighed. "How many ponies will tell me that?" She turned to the pony by her side. "Platter, how many ponies have told me that?" He smiled politely. "I couldn't say, ma'am. Many, to be sure." "Hmm," she mused, as Torque's ranting figure was taken from the room. "You don't say." --- "Hreshhhhh!" Thirty-Four raged against his unreachable restraints. After he'd bitten through the first rope, they'd bound him in places where his steel-strong mandibles couldn't reach, and while he was wiry, he didn't have the raw bulk to try to break through the ropes by sheer force. The captain of the airship he'd been brought to stared at him. "What on Equus is that thing?" He was met with Thirty-Four's bitterly hateful glare. "Not a thing am I," he hissed, his clicking mandibles mangling the words as little wavering strips of shadow peeled away from his coat. "Pony am I." He was met with a scornful laugh from the captain. "You're a pony? Likely story. I don't know what you are, exactly, but you're not one of us. I dunno how the Alliance got something like you on their side, but it's irrelevant now." Thirty-Four's ears flattened and he looked at the ground, face describing some kind of complicated amalgamation somewhere between anger, pain, and despair. "Pony am I," he said again, this time quieter, more to himself than anypony else. --- By the end of the day, the battle for Baltimare had gone about as well as expected; New Harmony had utterly crushed the Alliance. Their airships remained in the sky, watching oppressively over the citizens as they attempted to rebuild their decimated livelihoods. Most, close to all, of the Alliance in Baltimare had been slaughtered. All things considered, it was a highly successful operation for Storm Sliver. Sure, Canterlot would have to fork over several million bits for repairs, but he wasn't the budgeting type; manners of money had never interested him. He was a soldier. And yet, he was unsatisfied. None of the four that had landed him in the infirmary had been killed or captured. When he found out that they'd assaulted the fleet and had somehow escaped, he had raged for over an hour. The one that he'd seen—Applejack, he thought—had also escaped. She'd just been too far away for anything approaching accuracy, and that incompetent gunner had provided them with the ideal escape route. Two earth ponies wandering through the defunct Baltimarean sewers would take weeks to find, and many ponies combing the subterranean passageways. It simply wasn't worth it, and the idea that he could be so easily outplayed boiled his blood. "Fools," he murmured as he watched a line of Alliance prisoners-of-war marching through the cratered streets, "what were they hoping to accomplish by trying to fight us head-on? They made it too easy." Then, out of the corner of his eye, something down on the beach around Horseshoe bay twitched. He peered down at it, then grinned as it resolved into a mint-white unicorn galloping towards the city. "Lyra," he said softly. Further up the beach, two more of the fugitives were also running. It was Dutchess Belle and the pegasus Rainbow Dash. His grin widened. They were gift-wrapping themselves. "Freeze!" he barked to Flash Freeze, the captain of the small craft he'd taken up as his unofficial station, "take us down to the beach. I've got some ponies to..." he searched for a phrase, and his grin grew again, stretching cruelly across his face, "...talk to." A few minutes later, the craft mobilized, carrying Storm down to the beach. It landed a few hundred feet in front of Lyra, who looked at it quizzically and, puffing, slowed to a walk as she approached it. The gangplank clattered down, and Storm stepped out, flanked by a few soldiers on either side. His teeth were bared in a wolflike smile. Lyra's first reaction was to unsheath her sword, bringing it to bear in the blink of an eye. Her gun followed suit. Her keris remained locked in her belt, something Storm didn't let pass. "Poor unicorn," he said, walking slowly towards her as he ripped the keris away from her, drawing his own sword in turn as his blood began to pound, "not enough focus to work three at once?" She snorted. "I don't need three weapons to end you. I already practically did once." Her levitated gun primed itself, manafilaments burning blue. He looked at it coolly. "Ah yes, the gun that brought me to the ground. There's something you're not considering, though." He motioned, and the soldiers swarmed forward. Lyra's sword flashed forward. It laid two of them on the ground, but the others were unaffected. Noting their heavy armor, Lyra drew her sword back for another cut, but had to dart it forward again to block Storm's. He slowly advanced on her, pounding her under a flurry of quick, savage strikes as the soldiers pressed forward. "You," he said, each word punctuated by another slash, "should've stayed with your friends!" The last strike was heavier than the rest. The heaviest he'd ever had to deliver, in fact. Lyra stared in disbelief at the two halves of a sword. "Zivel..." she whispered, as the blade tumbled to the ground, burying itself in the sand with a shhhk. The soldiers finally reached her, and she was tackled to the ground. Her gun dropped from the air as a suppressor ring was forced onto her horn and she whimpered; it hurt to be cut off from magic while actively using it. It was like something within her had broken. "Lyra!" The shout came from a distance as Rarity and Rainbow dash came hurtling towards the little group. "Let go of her, you creep!" Rainbow snarled, running fast enough to leave both a rainbow contrail and Rarity behind. A smile on his face, Storm waited until she was close, then pulled her into him, flicking the keris down to Lyra's throat. "Rainbow Dash, if you take one more step towards me, I'm going to ram this knife right into your friend Lyra's neck. You don't want that, do you?" The pegasus came to a skidding halt on the sand, staring at him with a hateful glare as she pawed the ground, snorting loudly. "Let her go, you stinking coward!" He tutted. "Coward? Coward is the word that foolhardy imbeciles like yourself use to describe those of us smart enough to use discretion. He turned away from her as Rarity cantered up, herself also in a high dudgeon. "Ah, Dutchess Belle. So nice of you to join our little soiree. We were just about to get to the main event." He drew himself up. "I am Rear Admiral Lower Half Storm Sliver. By the power given to me by Her Leadership, the Lady Steward Twilight Sparkle, I place you all under arrest, for charges of mass murder, disturbing—" Rainbow flicked her tail impatiently. "We get it, we get it! Big bad pony thinks we're just gonna sit down and do what we're told. Buck that! I've got better things to do than listen to you blow hot air. Now get out of my way!" The keris tightened on Lyra's neck, and she let out a cry as a little trickle of blood began to make its way down her coat. "Rainbow, dear," muttered Rarity, "he isn't bluffing. One more outburst like that and Lyra is going to die." She raised her voice to carry to Storm. "I, for one, surrender." Storm shook his head. "Not you. The Lady Steward has decreed that as long as you resume your tenure as her personal aide, your sentence will be dropped and no charges will be brought against you." She shrugged, face an impassive mask. "Very well, then. I accept those terms." Rainbow cried out in protest. "I thought you would," said Storm, smile tight and hard. "Now, you two," he said, turning to Rainbow and Lyra, are coming with me. There's somebody who wants to meet you." Rainbow glared daggers at both him and Rarity, but allowed herself to be bound alongside Lyra and shuffled onto the small airship. The altitude engine gunned, and the ship rose off of the sand, bearing the trio back to Baltimare. Rarity, the only one of them not bound, stared down in horror at what had been wrought on the city. The roads were hardly intact; in several places, there were huge chunks of rubble that had fallen down into the sewers. Many of the close-set brick houses had become bombed-out shells. Peaceful ponies, those who were simply trying to exercise their everyday lives, were crying in front of what they'd worked for their entire lives. Loved ones comforted loved ones, and all too often, figures draped in black fabric lay where ponies had once stood. The entire scene was blanketed not only in the ordinary gray smog of Baltimare, but in a thick layer of smoke where airships had burned. As she watched, the storm broke, and torrential rain began to whip the already-battered city. Rarity covered her mouth and felt revulsion rise in her throat as she considered all the ponies that had died or lost their homes because New Harmony had decided to bring heavy artillery against what amounted to a riot. Storm saw the gesture and parodied it, patting her on the shoulder and ignoring her flinch. "I know. It's terrible, isn't it? This is what happens when you put your trust in the Alliance." His cold, bright eyes bored into her, and her bile rose again. Disgust overtook her as she considered the...beast that was standing next to her, and the fact that she had to agree with him. She molded her face into a plastic mask of a smile and nodded, voice barely audible above the rain. "It certainly was a mistake." Her voice rang hollow, and they both knew it, but as Storm turned away, he smiled wolfishly again. It didn't matter what she thought; it mattered what she did. And what she'd done was to leave for dead the two ponies that were tied together on deck. Rainbow was glaring at him with undisguised hatred, and Lyra was practically catatonic. Occasionally, she mouthed the word Zivel, but that was all. Before long, the airship landed again, this time at a lavish mansion atop the hill. Rarity trotted off, and the other two were dragged. They entered the building, and to go from the sodden, smoking world outside to the perfectly silent, immaculately kept mansion of rich wood and velvet carpets was quite the transition. "Ostentatious," Rarity muttered under her breath, eyeing the mahogany paneling and overabundance of red velvet and satin. "No class at all." They were led, or dragged, through a pair of large double doors, and found themselves in a small parlor-esque room. Two ponies immediately caught their attention. First, Torque was there, looking much the worse for wear and with a permanent scowl affixed on his face. He was tied to a chair, one much too large to be reasonable. He looked at them and shook his head. The second was a tall white unicorn with pale pink mane and tail. Rarity immediately recognized the statespony smile on her face; she'd used it just a few minutes ago herself. "Allow me to introduce myself," she began, voice pleasant and neutral. "I am Fleur de Lis, the Colonel-Governess of Baltimare. I have been given the privelage of overseeing this beautiful city by the Lady Steward, and I've been doing so quite well." Her voice began to grow steadily colder, less pleasant. "So, when I discovered that the Alliance had decided to make a mess of things again, well, I just couldn't let that stand, now could I? I decided that it would be best for all parties involved if I were to ask for some reinforcements directly from the Capitol." Her voice had become chilling, and the smile had left her face. She'd taken on a look of abject fury. "Now look at my city. Half of it is in ruins. Ponies are dead, homes are destroyed, and the entire airdock has been blown to pieces. All of this could've been avoided if you'd just accepted peace for what it was and let it lie!" She was shouting now. "But no! No, you had to bring your chaos to my city! You had to—" "Oh, shut your mouth," broke in Torque in a weary, long-suffering voice. "Y'know full well we didn't do any of that. That was all your buddies from NH. We didn't harm a single bystander. We didn't touch an innocent pony, and we certainly didn't blow up no buildings. If'n you actually cared 'bout any of the ponies in this city, you wouldn't be takin' their side." A soldier stepped forward and struck him across the muzzle. He didn't react, instead opting to stare straight at Fleur. She'd calmed down. Her voice had become a placid pool, calm and inscrutable. "Regardless, you began the fighting. This pony here," she motioned to Torque, "already knows his fate. Has anypony told you two yet?" Rainbow shrugged, insofar as one can shrug when tied to another pony. "Search me. Mr. Happy-Cheer-Joy over there," she tossed her head towards Storm, "just said you wanted to meet us. What's going on?" She nodded. "I thought as much. Well, allow me to elucidate your fate for you: you, Lyra, Torque Wrench and, as soon as we find them, Applejack and Blast Furnace, are going to be incarcerated in the prison of Devil's Gulch. You should be thankful you aren't being sentenced to death." Rainbow's eyes went wide and the breath rushed out of her. "No," she replied weakly, "death sounds pretty good right about now." A fabricated laugh from Fleur later, and they were returned to the airship. "Well," Torque said laconically, "guess we'd better settle in for the ride." He stretched out, bound joints cracking. "'Least they haven't got Blast." "Or AJ," muttered Rainbow. "Fat lot of good that's going to do us. Stupid pony doesn't know a tyrant when she sees one." Torque shrugged. "Well, no use thinking about now." He sucked in a long, ragged breath, staring off into the distance. "After all, we're gonna need all out strength for what's comin' up."