//------------------------------//
// Against The Wall 
// Story: The Olden World 
// by Czar_Yoshi 
//------------------------------//

Melia and Grenada kept their horns lit as brightly as they could, forcing back the shadows and preventing the enemies from sneaking so long as they weren't offered cover. But it didn't matter: packed thick enough that some had to fly over the shoulders of others to fit, a disorganized, chaotic mash of pirates plugged the passage, the dark greens and blues and violets of their coats blending together in a dusky writhing of fur and leather.

"No, you eat a sock!" Valey twirled, slipping herself within a hair's breadth of three swords at once, dodging and defending and keeping the mass from bearing down on her allies. Shinespark wasn't able to help; this was the end of the reinforcement line, and the moment they had stopped moving more batponies trickled out of nowhere to pile on and join the fight from behind them. Whizz! Slash! Gerardo's sword flew, but at best, they were holding on both fronts and making no progress on either.

Valey hit the floor, sliding along the rough boards and smashing her hooves into a stallion's leg, dropping him. Before she could even try to grapple him or use him as a weapon, a thrown dagger forced her to flatten her ears to avoid losing them, and she brought her hooves up instead to intercept a peg-leg aimed for her eye. She reared up and flapped her wings, forcing back the peg-leg pony's charge, but had to bring up her hind legs too to kick away a slash aimed at her belly and the stallion easily forced back the power of her wings alone.

"Nnngh!" Valey spun in midair, landing on her forehooves and countering with a powerful rear-legged smash to the attacker's face. He was bowled backwards, taking out two opponents in his fall, but there were still fliers coming. She didn't even have time to take a breath before launching herself to face them.

"Hey... Sparky!" she grunted, punching and pinning a stallion's wing to the roof before slapping him and thrusting him into another. "You gotta push, and while you're at it, throw the ones you're done with over this way! We gotta clog the passage with bodies!"

Morbid as the thought was, it was her best hope: between the big peg-legged stallion and everyone she had felled before, the floor was starting to get too filled for anyone to approach her on hoof. Some of the batponies had started hauling away their injured companions, though the effort was hindered by there being nowhere else in the corridor to put them. At this point, she wasn't sure they could get through the passage even if they did take out every last enemy there.

"Ask Puddles!" Shinespark snapped back, a loud clang of metal against armor ringing out. "I'm very busy not dying, here! Gaaaah!"

Valey winced, but there was nothing she could do to defend that flank. "Puddles, you wanna do something!?"

"Why Puddles...?" Puddles moaned, staggering up beside Valey and immediately getting impaled by a rapier. She stared at it with wide eyes.

"Woah!" Valey didn't give herself time to gasp, coming down with balled forehooves on the pirate who had done the deed, then shoulder-slamming them for good measure. That opened her up to a swing from the pony she had been fighting, though, and she had to block it with her hoof, earning a painful chip and a suddenly bad position. "Puddles, don't...!" She rolled, trying to be anywhere but on her back against a wave of foes.

Puddles looked at the rapier in shock, then in anger, immediately lucid and standing straighter. "You hurt Puddles," she whimpered. "You hurt Puddles. Don't you know that's rude?"

The rapier forcefully ejected itself, its wound crackling and sealing with teal energy. Puddles glared at the wall of batponies, then tapped the ground with a magic hoof, and a forest of ice spikes burst forth and rose all the way to the ceiling.

Chaotic screaming rang out from the pirates as everyone was either impaled or sandwiched against someone else who was. Puddles' eyes flashed, and she stuck her tongue out at a mare who was caught midway up, one of her extended wings ran through.

Valey stumbled backwards, actually nauseous from the sight. "Woah. That's... okay, one way to... We're still gonna need to get through there, you know..."

She shook herself out of it, whipping around to Shinespark now that Puddles had this side. Her armor was scratched and one of her cheeks bleeding, and she waved Gerardo's sword threateningly before a pack of terrified opponents, though far fewer than Puddles was now holding off... and she didn't see any trace of stunned or limp ponies for them to be terrified of. What?

"Uhh." Valey took a single step closer, raising an eyebrow and taking the badly-needed time to pant.

Suddenly, a single batpony screeched and hurtled toward Shinespark, snapping from the tension. Swish! The blade flew crosswise, but they were ready and ducked. They weren't ready for it to loop around and catch them from below... and it did, earning a spasm before flipping around in midair and plunging into their back, dispersing them into a fading cutie mark and a cloud of dull gray ash. The sight made Valey's blood freeze, and she only regained movement when she realized Shinespark was crying.

"Alright, idiots," Valey snarled, stalking forward and putting herself between her friend and the terrified army. "What's it gonna take to make you realize we're not worth messing with? Grapejuice, translate!"

Grapejuice barked something in Sarosian. They had the pirates' attention, however tentative it might be.

"Well?" Valey stomped a hoof, plainly aware of the icy, grisly sight they could see behind her.

"You speak in a sacrilegious tongue!" a mare from the crowd hissed back. "And invaded our ship! You have every right to die painfully!"

Valey gave her a deadpan stare. "Yeah, you're pirates. You messed with my ship first, and I'm here 'cuz I chased you back after kicking your rears. You idiots brought me on yourself, so what are you willing to do to make me go away? Now! I'm in a hurry!"

The pirates who could understand her snarled, and those who couldn't looked even more scared as Grapejuice continued translating. Valey didn't stop there, taking another aggressive step forward. "Force isn't working. You can't beat me. And my friends are strong too. You see how many dudes are messed up back there? You really wanna throw your lives away for this? Just let me get me way! Bananas, I order you to stand aside and leave me alone by virtue of being the strongest pony here!"

Another mare glowered, pointing a hoof at Grapejuice. "She's not accurately translating," she snarled. "She's saying you're a herald of the Night Mother and have her divine power!"

"Huh? You mean a Nightmare Module?" Valey shrugged with imposing nonchalance. "Yeah, I've messed around with those before. Didn't really think I needed them, though."

Eeeing broke out as a stallion loudly protested something, and was suddenly punched by another. Ears flicked and several strong rebukes sounded, and faster than an avalanche could appear, the pirates were fighting each other in a desperate melee, quite a few trying to run. Valey gave Grapejuice an incredulous look. "Your dudes have problems."

Grapejuice gave a cheeky grin. "Uh huh. I might'a said a little extra here and there, but who cares, am I right? Also, you might wanna pay attention to the weirdos in the ice again."