//------------------------------//
// Worse Than War 
// Story: The Olden World 
// by Czar_Yoshi 
//------------------------------//

Slash!

Shinespark cleaved a sarosian lance in two, brushing the attacker's chest with her sword and causing them to become downcast. "Grenada, how many more?"

Grenada peered around a door leading off from a hallway, some sort of break room beyond. "Three," she whispered back, using her magic to make a sharp snapping noise. The batponies within frowned, and yet another got up to come check, though his last two companions were suspicious enough of three former guards leaving and not coming back that they soon followed as well.

With a last double-swish, they were finished as well, Shinespark pushing their sad figures to the side of the hall so they wouldn't be in the way. "Right. Where to next? The harpoons have to be close. We need to free that ship they're currently raiding so we can use it to get everyone out!"

Belinda shook a sarosian she was carrying with her, a mare who had come off a sword swing still feeling slightly talkative. "Well? Which way, bat?"

The sarosian sighed, looking like she really needed to curl up in bed with a blanket and something warm to drink. "Straight ahead and up the stairs to the right," she muttered, defeated.

They set off, the harpoon squad consisting of Shinespark and Golbez's pirates, sans Puddles, who had been left to guard the Varsidelian crew. Howe trotted cheerfully alongside Belinda, eyeing up the sad sarosian on her back. "Ho there, sister," he offered, finally trying to introduce himself. "You look... uhh... smitten by misfortune! Hanging in there, our loyal guide?"

"I don't know," she murmured, accent heavy. "I should be fighting you. Not really feeling up to it. Sorry, whoever cares."

Shinespark slowed just a little to listen, curious about just how the sword seemed to be affecting ponies. Howe seemed to be thinking on the same track. "Because you were dealt an eldritch blow by mine companion's sword of darkness? Better than spilling your blood, no?"

The batpony didn't have it in her to be curious. "I don't know..."

"You don't know, or you don't care?" Howe raised a black-and-red eyebrow. "Far be it from me to think you a villainous damsel in distress, for you are our enemy! But you're also... well... clearly in distress! Is such a fate not as merciful as we've been thinking?"

"It matters not whether it be merciful, lad," Golbez interrupted, putting a lid on the conversation. "They be easily defeated, and any manner of that be a boon to us. Besides, I don't be carin' for the well-bein' of sarosians any time soon."

"At least she's not heavy," Belinda grunted, still hobbling on three legs with her wounded shoulder bound. "Not making herself a nuisance."

Shinespark sped back up. Whether or not she knew how Gerardo's sword worked, it was an unblockable yet never-lethal weapon she could control with her telekinesis, and made incredibly short work of the batponies. It wasn't like she'd have been able to spare them using conventional methods of combat, anyway... and she still wasn't sure whether she wanted to, when they had fired on an airship with cannons and were in the habit of imprisoning armies and raiding other ships. She shook her head. Pirates weren't nice.

After minutes more of following the captive's directions and several more skirmishes with patrols, the harpoon room drew into sight. One floor below the deck of the ship, it had a large, closable window, the weapon presently fired and embedded into the nearby ship's hull.

Shinespark gave the surprised crew a slightly-apologetic glance, lifting the sword. It hadn't even been a battle to get here. This thing made what would have been a daring rescue almost too easy...

Swish! A second's pause for them to run at her, one broad stroke, and all but one stopped in their tracks, defeated and downcast. Shinespark shrugged at the one she had missed, still clambering over the bodies of his companions to get a shot at her, and brought the sword around for a finishing slice. As usual, it passed through with no resistance whatsoever, sending him slumping backwards... but also hit the stallion beneath him, already struck once and cowed.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then the second stallion shivered, spasmed, glowed brightly... and in a heartbeat turned gray, featureless and burst into a puff of ash and dust. The flakes drifted on a faint invisible wind, seemingly melting into nothing seconds after touching the floor. Where his heart had been was a faint, floating image in the shape of his cutie mark, and that slowly lost its luster, drifting down through the floorboards and out of sight. Before Shinespark's wide eyes could blink again, there was no hint he had ever existed.

"Uhhhhhhh." Howe gaped.

Shinespark brought the sword up before her and examined it with pinprick eyes, its black, polished surface reflecting a colorless version of her face. "That's... new?"

All the other batponies, despite being in a funk, recoiled in fear, pressing against the edges of the room. The one on Belinda's back actually slipped off, bolting down the hallway. Shinespark blinked, and Grenada blinked back.

"Give me that sword, lass," Golbez advised, holding out a talon. "Ye look like ye've got thinkin' to be done, but we be on a mission."

She didn't resist as he took it. Instantly, the captain went to town on the harpoon apparatus, first severing the rope, then smashing the winch and launcher it had been connected to. The blade made smooth work of its task, and with a few slices the harpoon gun collapsed on itself in a mess of frayed rope and split wood and metal.

Golbez regarded the sword as well, strolling back toward the entrance. "I suppose we be needin' to find the other on our own, then," he sighed. "Come along, lass. Ye look undone."

"R-Right." Shinespark snapped out of her stupor and reaching for the blade. "Can I...?"

Golbez shook his head and sighed. "Ye never been in a war before, have ye?"

Shinespark gave him a flat look.

"If ye had, ye'd know there's no easy out for this sort of thing. Dispatchin' yer foes." Golbez kept the sword out before him as he advanced down the corridor. "Ye look shocked that ye had to do it. Like ye trusted too much in this thing to give ye some idealistic outcome. Arrr... Take it from someone who's fought everything, lass. It don't work that way. Weapons are for war, no matter what."

Shinespark swallowed, following. "I know that. I'm not new to having blood on my hooves. But..."

Golbez raised an eyebrow. "It was ruthless? Unexpected? There be no buts about it, lass."

"No." Shinespark shook her head. "I just also know a thing or two about magic. There are weapons for things worse than war, like windigoes and moon glass. And that sword clearly does something worse than I thought it did. Would you... mind if we stopped using it until I can press a friend of mine harder on exactly where he got it?"

Golbez frowned, but Belinda shrugged. "It's not like we're running into a lot of enemies, Captain. You could humor her. That was a creepy way to die."

"...Fine." Golbez sighed, offering the sword back to Shinespark. "Here be-"

The alarms finally began.