//------------------------------// // Chase Is On // Story: The Olden World // by Czar_Yoshi //------------------------------// "Oh, uhh... they're gone?" Valey blinked, glancing around at the interior of the darkened room. Her eyes narrowed at the broken light on the floor. "Hooold up. What did you guys do?" Maple froze, slinking backward a step with her ears folded and a scared grimace. "I-I thought..." "They escaped," Starlight said for her, looking frustrated but with her voice level. "It was an accident. And the leader stole my saddlebags and everything in them. She said something about whispering." "Oh bananas." Valey froze too. "Whispering? Ohhh bananas that's bad. I put the stupid Nightmare Module in there! How long ago was this!?" She dashed to the window and threw herself against it, planting her hooves on either side of the round frame and smudging it with her nose. "That's really bad!" Maple gave a soft eep, and Starlight blinked, frowning. "Nightmare Module?" "Look." Valey got back down and glared at them. "Super evil magical artifact Puddles let me steal probably because she was planning on cornering me into using it so she could see what happened, since she legit didn't seem to know what it did. Only activates for batponies, apparently, and makes a connection with the same kind of mind magic or whatever that dusk statues use, so if they didn't know what it was, they'd think... Probably think turning it on and seeing what happens is a good thing. Before you ask where they come from, it's, like... made from moon glass, or something. And while it technically asked me if I wanted to use it when I got it, it also said something about mandatory physical changes and..." She sat down, slumping, running a hoof over her sweaty brow. "A whole crew of incompetent pirates, yeah, I can kick their rears. Not sure about some sort of magically-enhanced monster." Maple's ears pressed down harder, distraught. "I'm sorry! I didn't even think about that! We just remembered the sound stone was in there, and-" Valey hit her head against the wall. "I'm so sorry..." Maple whispered. "For all I know, they could do anything." Valey's face briefly shadowed. "Even... give you a cutie mark for being invincible in combat, or something. But anyway! Too busy trying to fix this to be mad or point hooves right now." She jumped upright. "Get to the bridge. Birdo and Slipstream should be there; they're hauling back up the supplies that were almost looted from the boat I broke. Other boat, the pirates flipped upright and used to bail. I'm gonna get a read on their direction, and we're going after it. Hunting pirates. Now!" Maple didn't argue as she vanished out the window, the damaged light fixture still laying in darkness on the floor. The pillar of light from the partly-open doorway illuminated only half of Starlight's face, and Starlight was frowning as well. "What have I gotten us into..." Maple whispered, trembling, the stashed windigo heart slipping free from her cutie mark and rolling to a stop against Starlight's hoof. Starlight blinked at her, levitating the heart into a position where it wouldn't roll around. "What do you want me to say?" she asked. "Nnnnnngh..." Maple whined, voice growing tight and high-pitched. "I knew that would happen! I had been warned... Wallace told me all about the time he tried to find good in even one pony of a crew of pirates, with his wish to Garsheeva from winning the tournament riding on the line! Why didn't I listen...!?" Then Starlight was at her side. "It'll be okay," the filly squeaked back, her own stress evident in a crack in her voice. "We should get to the bridge." Maple's tension cracked, and she fell halfway before catching herself. "We just talked about how I'm the one who's supposed to say that," she mumbled, eyes on the ground. "We'll... We can find some other time that's safe to talk about it. If such a time exists at all..." On the bridge, an air of festive good cheer pervaded the brightly-lit room, Gerardo strolling back and forth as Nyala stayed plugged into the ship and Slipstream and Sirena both smiled awkwardly, trying to convince themselves nearly being abducted by pirates was a thrilling adventure. "On the plus side," Gerardo was narrating, gesturing with a talon for flair as he talked, "I discovered these new padded earmuffs I bought to aid in unnatural sleeping times work exquisitely well! Alas, our good Valey seemed unable to appreciate this when she discovered me while cleaning up, and instead of consoling me for missing out on such an epic, gave me something of a black eye..." He drooped, being theatrical for the sake of raising spirits, knowing fully well that his eye hadn't been touched. "But now, everything has been recovered, and we even gained this from looting the broken boat engine! Ha-ha!" He waved around a half-spent mana core, grinning... when the door slammed open, and Valey stepped through. "Power up! Now," Valey snapped, strolling straight to the captain's chair and dropping herself in. "We gotta chase those dudes, and their stupid boat is fast enough that if I fly to catch it, it's not gonna be pretty. I hope this thing's as fast in water when you push it hard as it is in the air...!" "We do?" Sirena blinked, a rush growing in the distance as Valey turned the ship and Nyala powered the engines without question. "How come?" "Because I left the first three I beat up to be prisoners for Starlight and Ironflanks..." Valey gritted her teeth. "And they stole something super important, super dangerous, and maybe some other stuff too. Get this thing moving! Once we're going, I can try and fly out to catch them!" The boat accelerated with enough of a rush that those who were standing had to catch their balance, and Gerardo grabbed Slipstream when she started to fall over. Valey wheeled it sharply into position, looking satisfied when she had found her direction. "Snazzy!" She hopped out of the pilot's seat and waved the flash club in her hoof. "Hold that course. I'm gonna fly ahead and try to jump them, and I'll flash this thing back at you every ten seconds or so, so if I can see them and you can't, use me to adjust course. I told Ironflanks to get up here, but she's not here yet..." She growled and gritted her teeth. "Just, like, be prepared for mare angst, because I've got bigger stuff to deal with. Wouldn't be surprised if she stuffed up and let them go. Now, moving!" Valey leapt for the control panel, hitting a small area at the top of the windshield that was shaded from the roof-recessed lights, and shadow snuck, slipping through the glass and blasting away in a streak of green, leaving everyone left behind blinking and staring. Flashhhhh! Valey lanced across the night sky, catching up with the speeding pirate skiff in under an hour. The boat's engine was roaring so hard, nearly half of the prow was fully out of the water from momentum even when overloaded with ponies, and gave her serious consideration as to just how powerful the mana core she had stolen from the other ship really was. She soared ahead, flipped in midair, and dropped, slamming down with all four hooves balanced on the foremost point of the speeding ship. "Yo!" she bellowed over the wind, drawing aggressive stares from the massive pile of defeated batponies. A forest of fangs greeted her, and she knew they were eeeing in their weird language behind the rush of wind. So tightly were they packed that stallions slumped halfway out over the sides, dragging their forehooves in the spray, and everyone else was pressed together in a pile on average two ponies deep. A fight here would be completely impossible without them doing more damage to themselves than Valey could, and everyone knew it. "Saddlebags!" Valey roared, tapping her sides and drawing a circle around her barrel for emphasis. "From the filly! Which one of you morons stole them!? Give them back, or I'll break this boat's engine too and toss you overboard one by one until this boat is clear enough to find it!" The eeeing started to grow uncomfortable, and all the mares who could understand her suddenly looked unnerved. They were also pressed together at the very stern of the boat, all together and keeping the stallions everywhere else. Perfect. Valey jumped. The boat was moving so fast that she didn't even need her wings to reach the stern from where she stood; wind resistance was enough. Wham! Her hooves struck the engine casing as she landed atop it, within punching distance of the mares. "You lot," she growled, close enough that they couldn't possibly mishear. "I know this thing's weakness. One of you stole my saddlebags. I want them back and everything in them, or the engine is the first to go." "What kind of demon are you?" a mare hissed back, one of her fangs chipped from a prior encounter and a flat scar on her neck like someone had once tried to slit her throat. "You're untouchable, and don't hail the moon!" "Not as bad of one as you're gonna be dealing with if I don't get my bags back," Valey growled. "Literally. Which one of you stole my bags from the filly!? Encased in crystal? She and an earth pony were guarding you? Two stallions with you?" The mares glanced between each other, and more mumbling started up, until a wave of conversation washed over the entire boat. Valey listened to the volume flow; downwind, she could hear better... and finally a report seemed to make its way back to her, and the mares fearfully shoved each other until one had to speak up. "K-Kayshe didn't make it back! Her squad say they left her and ran first! There was a mare and a filly with crystals!" "Not here...?" Valey's frown turned harder. "Bananas, that's not good enough! You're sure!? Where are my saddlebags!? The stuff in there is dangerous!" She stomped a hoof for emphasis, landing squarely on top of the motor chassis. The pirates' eyes widened, and the mares started shoving the stallions, trying roughly to force their way away from her into the center of the ship. "You're terrified of me!" Valey stomped again. "Don't hide stuff from me! They've gotta be here! They need to! They couldn't..." Her ears fell, and not from the wind. "No! That stuff is important! Do you guys have any idea what a Nightmare Module-" At those words, the mares looked even more stricken, hissing in panic. Some tried to bow. Two started punching each other, and then three more broke it up. Valey groaned. "Bananas, what now...?" "Spare us!" one of the mares wailed over the wind. "Avenging angel!" "Night Mother!" "What the...?" Valey blinked, then stomped again. "Okay, you guys have heard of those! Give! Me! My! Bags! Because if they're that important to you, someone else stole one and bad stuff is gonna happen if I don't get it back!" The mares' ears all folded as a group, and Valey wondered if she was finally getting through to them... all but one, the one guarding the rudder. She was still focused on maintaining course. Slowly, Valey looked back. The Immortal Dream was a speck of light on the horizon, and the shoreline was now out of sight. Where were they even... She craned her neck to look ahead, at the sight finally revealing itself around the boat's raised prow. "Oh bananas."