“Ugh, I’m starving,” muttered Octavia. “I hope they have some food for me.”
Octavia rode an earthcrafted wave, propelling herself at high speed away from Cliffside Eyrie alongside Cliffside Canal. She had been moving non-stop since Coloratura’s guardsponies had tried to arrest her, and had therefore skipped breakfast. The sun had passed its apex some time ago, and Octavia was feeling hungry.
Finally, her destination came into view. Soaring Scavenger still sat upon the ground, though her envelope appeared to be fully inflated. Flim and Flam stood with a group of pirates, apparently arguing over a pile of twisted metal, but the group fell silent when they saw Octavia arrive.
Octavia wasted no time, not even acknowledging the questions the twins asked of her. She drew on her earthcrafting and jumped straight from the ground up to the deck of the airship, nearly ten ponylengths above ground level. Rolling to spread out the force her landing, she trotted directly to the poop deck where Captain Black Strap was speaking to Improper Place.
“Captain, things have not gone according to plan,” Octavia said.
Turning to her with eyebrows raised, Black Strap said nothing.
“Where is Moondancer?” asked Octavia.
Black Strap ignored Octavia’s question. “Do we have a problem?”
“Rainbow Dash somehow managed to get to Coloratura,” explained Octavia. “I had told the duchess that Rainbow was an assassin, but my former apprentice still managed to speak to her, and now the duchess is preparing the city for attack. I need to speak to the griffons, so I ask again: where is Moondancer?”
“She’s down at the base of the cliff,” said Improper Place. “She said something about wanting to be around the water.”
“What about our part in this attack? How does this affect us?” asked Black Strap.
“It doesn’t,” replied Octavia. “You’ll just have to make sure we don’t get seen on our way in, maybe watch out for windcrafter sentinels. Otherwise, we continue as before. The griffons, on the other hoof, need to be warned.” She leaped over the gunwale down to the ground, using Evans to encourage a nearby tree to catch her and ease her descent.
Octavia stomped on the ground to commune with Kazumi. Her earth fury reported no pony presences at the base of the cliff, so Octavia walked to the edge of the cliff and looked down at the canal, dozens of ponylengths down. She saw a yellow unicorn mare moving about underwater, far faster than would normally be possible. Octavia waited for several minutes, but Moondancer did not surface to breathe.
With a snort of frustration, Octavia tapped the ground. The ground beneath her hooves descended, lowering Octavia to the surface of the canal. When Moondancer continued to ignore her, Octavia willed Kazumi to drop a chunk of rock from the cliff face into the water.
Finally noticing Octavia’s presence, Moondancer watercrafted a wave that delivered her to the patch of ground Octavia had lowered, drenching the gray mare in the process. While Octavia tried to shake herself dry, Moondancer spoke. “Yes?”
“I need you to contact the griffons for me,” Octavia said.
Shrugging, Moondancer dipped a hoof into the water. After a minute or so, a mass of water rose from the canal in the shape of a miniature griffon. The griffon grew a little, reaching the height of Octavia’s knees before stabilising. “That’s as good as it’s gonna get,” grunted Moondancer. “He’s a long way from any furies I’m used to dealing with.”
“Octavia? Is that you?” asked Garry’s image. “What is it?”
“We have a problem,” replied Octavia. “Cliffside Eyrie knows we’re coming.”
“Wonderful,” said Garry. “Now what?”
“I was thinking about Plan B. Can we make it work?” asked Octavia.
Garry settled back, shifting his weight onto his paws. “Hmm… I think…” he muttered before grinning. “Actually, I think that can work.”
“Plan B it is then,” said Octavia. “We’ll see you in Cliffside.”
Garry nodded, before Moondancer withdrew her hoof. Without the unicorn’s watercrafting to maintain the connection his watery image dropped into the water. Octavia turned to Moondancer, but before she could speak a gust of wind heralded the arrival of Striking Viper.
“The captain says it’s time to get moving,” he said. “If you’re coming with us, get on board.” Message delivered, he spread his wings and jumped up, carried into the air on a tightly focused windstream.
“Shall we?” asked Octavia.
In reply, Moondancer dove into the water, only to be shot up by a watercrafted fountain that delivered her to the top of the cliff.
Rolling her eyes, Octavia called to Kazumi. The fury lifted her back up to the top of the cliff in seconds, and she used the speed of her ascent to launch herself up onto the deck of Soaring Scavenger.
Glancing around to ensure Moondancer was aboard, she called to Black Strap. “Let’s go, captain. And have somepony bring me something to eat.”
The clouds in the eastern skies were lit red by the sun setting in the west, and the city of Cliffside Eyrie felt tense. Much of the windcrafting citizenry had gathered behind the makeshift cliffside barricades, ready to whip up the airspace into a turbulent maelstrom. Most of the soldiers had gathered in Fort Eyrie, and were ready to defend it from attack. Citizens who had volunteered to help protect their city, including Applejack and Big Macintosh, had lined the streets leading to Cliffside Bridge. They were led by the remainder of the city’s complement of soldiers, ready to rush to trouble spots in the city proper in case any griffons managed to get past the turbulent air. Duchess Coloratura was leading Scootaloo over the bridge to Fort Eyrie when the sound of shouting from the city docks drew Scootaloo’s attention.
“Scootaloo, are you even listening to me?” asked the duchess.
“Huh? Oh, sorry, I wasn’t listening,” said Scootaloo. “Those ponies from those ships sound angry about something.”
Coloratura glanced over at the port. “Those two ships sailed in earlier this afternoon,” she said. Raising a hoof, she willed a farseeing windcrafting into existence and peered at the flags the ships were flying. “Looks like the late food shipments from Jewelport finally arrived - see the gemstones-on-wave designs on the flags? Anyway, with everypony either ready to fight or safe at home, there’s nopony to unload their cargo. Don’t worry about them, the harbourmaster will keep them in line.”
With a final glance at the ships, Scootaloo shrugged. “Okay. So, what were you saying?”
“I was saying that if I know you, you’ll probably find a way to get into trouble if we try to keep you somewhere safe, away from the fighting,” said Coloratura. “So instead, Applejack and I have decided to give you a very important job.”
“And that’s why we’re crossing over to the fort?” asked Scootaloo.
“That’s right,” Coloratura said. “I’m not an expert at fighting, but I am the duchess of this city, and that means I should defend it from the front. So I’ll be at Fort Eyrie, ready to lend my furycraft wherever Captain Sentry thinks it will do the most good. You are going to be right next to us, ready to send any messages we need sent. Understand?”
“I suppose,” replied Scootaloo. “But wouldn’t a windcrafter be faster?”
“Windcrafters can fly fast, yes,” said the duchess. “But light from a firecrafter’s flame is even faster. Can you use your fury to make different colours of fire?”
Scootaloo flicked out a wing and narrowed her eyes. “I haven’t done this very often,” she said, before half a dozen separate flames sprang into being, each one on the end of a different feather, and each one precisely matched to a different colour of Rainbow Dash’s mane. “But I think I can manage it.”
“Impressive,” said Coloratura. “Our signals are all one colour at a time, so it looks like you should do well.”
Coloratura taught Scootaloo some of the various signals that the military used while they made their way into the fortress and up to the top of the keep. There they found Rainbow Dash and Captain Flash Sentry waiting for them, along with a brown-coated unicorn mare Scootaloo had not met.
“Your grace,” greeted the captain and the mare, while Rainbow nodded at them before looking back out to the skies.
“Captain Sentry, Earth Knight Stance,” nodded Coloratura. “Anything yet?”
“No ma’am,” replied Stance. “Though Miss Dash here is less sure.”
“What is it, Rainbow Dash?” asked Scootaloo.
Rainbow was looking around, as though trying to see something hidden. She said, “I don’t know, but the air feels… I don’t know. Weird, somehow.”
Coloratura lifted a hoof into the air and closed her eyes for a moment. “Hmm. Something is different, but it’s probably just the city being ready for a battle. Usually there’d be ponies flying around, disturbing the air. Tonight everypony is on the ground instead, not flying, so the air is smoother than normal.”
“But that’s just it,” said Rainbow. “It isn’t smooth. I can’t put my wing on it, but something…” Rainbow’s eyes flew wide open and her ears drooped as she whirled around to face the city. “There!” she cried, flicking out a wing to cast a windcrafting. A blur leapt from her wing out into the space over Cliffside Bridge, where it somehow stopped in mid-air. A huge patch of sky rippled and shimmered, before Soaring Scavenger faded into view.
“Scootaloo, signal!” snapped Coloratura, thrusting out a hoof and throwing a burst of fire at the airship. “Airborne threat, behind us!”
Scootaloo flicked out her wings and crafted up a bright red flare, followed by a blue one. She glanced around at the rooftops of the fortress, pleased to see the knights and soldiers atop them turning around and reacting to the airship, several fire knights throwing massive fireballs at the airborne vessel. “Got that signal right,” she muttered to herself.
The mercenary firecrafters aboard Soaring Scavenger were quick to react, blocking the blasts of fire thrown at the ship and burning to ash the arrows loosed at them by woodcrafting archers. Suddenly, a dozen ponies leapt from the deck of the airship down onto Cliffside Bridge, not far from the city end of the span. Even from so far away, Scootaloo had no trouble recognising Octavia and the twins Flim and Flam as part of the group.
“Octavia!” snarled Rainbow, ready to leap out and attack her former mentor.
“Rainbow, no,” said Stance. “You’d be ridiculously outnumbered.”
Growling, Rainbow settled down. They watched Octavia tap a hoof against the bridge a few times, before she reared up and stomped down hard with both forehooves. Suddenly, a dozen barricades sprang out of the bridge, blocking the road leading from the fortress to the city.
The defenders in the city, having realised what was happening, started ringing the bells in alarm. Scootaloo could see the reinforcements gallop up to the bridge, ready to fight the mercenary forces before they could make it into the city proper. Seemingly out of nowhere, there came the sound of thousands of voices sharing a battlecry. An enormous group of armour-clad soldiers poured out of the two ships that had arrived in the afternoon.
“Wait,” gasped Scootaloo. “Rainbow, duchess, look!” Scootaloo pointed out the heavily armoured soldiers swarming their way up the carved tree of the cliffside portion of Cliffside Eyrie. “It’s the griffons!”
Rainbow and Coloratura each called up a farseeing crafting, easily making out the half-eagle half-lion forms of the soldiers just beginning to reach level ground. Some of the griffons engaged the militia in battle, while others instead made their way along the bridge. They leapt over the barricades with help from their wings, trying to claim as much of the span as they could, intent on holding the bridge against the pony soldiers now trapped on the wrong side of the canal.
“Oh, ponyfeathers,” gasped Coloratura.