Valey blinked, a desperate golden griffon suddenly hurtling toward her and her group. She tensed... but Meltdown was up front, and the bird seemed to have eyes only for her.
The griffon had a sword, and prepared a slice. Meltdown set her hooves and turned a shoulder, preparing to catch the swing in her radiator blades. Valey took a step back; this shouldn't be her fight... and suddenly blinked, eyes widening as the griffon drew close enough for her to recognize the sword in the night. Black blade. Triangular hole in the hilt. How? It didn't matter. That sword could cut through any armor like it was air, and she had less than a second to act.
Swooosh! Valey flapped and shot past Meltdown with a burst of speed that took both her and the griffon by surprise. Her cutie mark flared, slowing time... This griffon was Belinda, one of the pirates. The ones Gazelle had sent packing, and she had met in the tavern. Good. She owed her a punch or two.
Valey threw herself into a forward-moving backflip, hind legs coming up from below and smashing into Belinda's belly, ruining her trajectory. With slow-motion-enhanced precision, she saw the blade swinging for her face, whipped her forehooves to the sides, brought them around... and clapped the sword, catching it by the flat of the blade between her hooves. Time returned to normal, and she finished the backflip, suplexing the sword to the ground and kicking Belinda aside, wrenching it from her grasp.
"Pfeh..." Valey spat, getting up and kicking the sword up into a wing grip. She turned and glared at the surprised Meltdown. "Not a sword you want to get hit by."
Belinda was already struggling back upright, one shoulder clearly wounded a while ago. She screeched, and Meltdown frowned, her giant radiator fans starting to spin a little faster.
Flash! There was a surge of sapphire magic, and Shinespark was there. "Stop fighting!" she commanded, hitting the ground with an armored thud. "We're trying to get out of here alive, not make more enemies!"
"Sparky?" Valey blinked, then gave a crooked grin, spotting the matching sheath on her armor. "Hey, long time no see. You really need to take better-"
"SCRAWWWWW!" Belinda barreled toward Meltdown again in a reckless three-legged charge, propelling herself with her wings and raising her good talon to slash with.
Meltdown's fans roared, causing Belinda to wince and stagger, a few wisps of smoke suddenly curling from the tips of her feathers. Even well out of her line of facing, Valey cringed from the heat. "Ow, bananas, what the...?"
The assault lessened, but didn't abate, Meltdown slowly clanking forward toward the overheated griffon.
Belinda faced her with an expression that was anything other than accepting death with serenity, and tried again to force herself upright. Meltdown didn't even lift a hoof to strike. Valey sat by Shinespark's side, silently passing back the sword and wondering if she was about to watch someone be lit on fire with a stare.
Neither of their parties, batponies or Golbez's crew, moved to get closer. Belinda staggered, panting. Meltdown held her position, alarms blaring in the background... and suddenly there was a shattering sound far above, and Valey's cutie mark instantly registered a warning stab. She ducked with Shinespark out of the way of a quick rain of shards, glancing up at the hole in the observation window under the bridge and the dark shadow soaring from it. Swooosh!
With catlike silence, Gazelle was there... and suddenly, he was very loud. "Wait! Wait wait, wait wait wait." He landed between Meltdown and Belinda, back to the pirate, smiling disarmingly with a full set of jagged teeth. "Pause! What was the safe word again, Melty?"
Meltdown's fans slowed. "Hello, Gazelle."
Belinda took every advantage of the respite, straightening up and drawing a scimitar, then brutally chopping toward Gazelle's back with a silent, stealthy scream.
Smash! Gazelle lashed out with one hind leg, slamming a paw into Belinda's neck, not even bothering to look at his adversary as she was hurled into the cabin wall. "Tsk tsk." He shook his head. "Trying to attack me while I'm bailing you out. Pirates' stupidity is so amusing, sometimes."
"Nghkk..." Belinda winced, her throat sporting four pricks of blood where Gazelle's claws had hit her.
Valey stood her ground next to Shinespark, trying not to draw attention to herself, but she needn't have bothered. Gazelle turned to Belinda with a purr, then back to Meltdown. "Spare that one, if you would? She's feisty." He flicked his tail. "I think she hates me, too. I was hoping to see her barge in someday yelling challenges toward me, not meet her end so soon and ingloriously..."
"Very well." Meltdown shrugged in her armor, then backed off.
The tension radiating off both sides made Valey wince. Her batpony pirates would be fine... probably? Gazelle had left them to her, and Meltdown hadn't tried to stop them from following. But the crew that had been with Shinespark had a vendetta against their species. Belinda was down for the count, the captain was still up but looked injured, Howe could always do something stupid... Her cutie mark tingled with the sensation of a fight that could still nearly begin.
"You're not a very smart rival," Gazelle purred, focusing again on Belinda. "Please run? Please? I'm practically drunk with anticipation, and not about to sacrifice my wonderful sea battle just to get you out of the way. The rest of your friends, too." He blinked across at Golbez, Howe, Neon Nova and Grenada. "Go on. Shoo! Take a hike! Get... Hmm?" His pupil slits narrowed in interest, blinking between the pirates and Shinespark, and he grinned. "What's with the identical manestyle, ladies?"
Grenada froze before the sphinx's sharp grin. "Err... n-nothing?"
Valey internally groaned.
Gazelle was by Grenada's side in a heartbeat, suddenly coiled around her and humming. "You know each other, don't you? I can see that look." He winked back at Shinespark. "She's scared that I'm here. Huh! She must have something to be afraid of." He was suddenly back by Shinespark. "I'm on your side, you know that? The Empire is my empire! You came to clear up that confusion about Ironridge! You know that." He nudged her armored side. "You don't think we'd sacrifice someone who's definitely not your friend to Garsheeva for piracy, would you?"
"...You're not doing a very good job of inspiring confidence in that," Shinespark sighed. "Yes. Grenada is my friend. And if you're going for her, you're going to have to go through me."
"How bold." Gazelle stuck his face straight in hers, then paced happily back to a neutral position. "Don't worry. I wasn't thinking of that at all. But since you brought it up..."