"Bananas." Valey gave the suddenly-brawling pirates a flat look. "Seriously, what is it with you guys? I punch and kick you all I can, but the moment someone says 'Nightmare Module,' that's what gets you? Maybe I should switch to that as my primary weapon instead! Nightmare Module! Nightmare Module! Nightmare-"
Her ears suddenly flicked as the residual chill from the nearby ice spikes gave way to a toasty warmth against her back. "Uh-oh."
Behind her, batponies squabbled, a few sawing and hacking at the ice with whatever weapons they possessed to free their friends, but most trying to climb over their allies to charge toward Valey and the others. Only... they were running. Those who made it out ignored them completely, only to run into the brawl and freeze, screeching, looking for a way out.
A red glow appeared distantly on the other side of the spikes, and that warmth tripled in intensity. Valey winced, already sweaty from the fight. It didn't take a genius to figure out who they were about to run into.
Fwoooosh! The ice spikes collapsed under a jet of boiling air, and most of the batponies collapsed in its wake, forming a limp pile three to four bodies high. Valey couldn't see past the pony wall, and she definitely couldn't fly: it was all she could manage to remain on her hooves, feeling her hairs curl from the heat. A wet heat, full of moisture from the melted ice. She could barely breathe.
The heat felled most of the fighting pirates in the other direction, and of her friends, only Shinespark and Puddles were left standing. "Nnngh!" Shinespark winced, mane already matted. "Hotter than the Flame District on a bad day in here..."
"Surrender!" Meltdown's voice barked from down the corridor, far more distant than the heat felt like it was coming from. "Your dying day doesn't have to be today, heretics!"
A few pirates also managed to stir. Puddles was hissing, covered in a layer of frost from the moisture as Meltdown's heat clashed with her magic. Valey gave her a desperate look. "Puddles, break the ceiling! We'll have to make a way out of here!"
"No. Better way..." Panting, Shinespark gripped Gerardo's sword in her teeth and attacked the wall, three giant slashes carving a triangular hole that she threw the weight of her armor into. With a crack, the wood broke free from its place and collapsed inward, leaving a hole for them to drag themselves through.
Gasping, Valey pulled herself through, feeling a wave of relief at the cooler air that hit her face... smelly air. She almost instantly choked at the overwhelming scent of sweat and unwashed manes, quickly recognizing the area as an empty bunk hall. Must have been where they stuffed everyone who didn't believe in bathing...
Nevertheless, Valey took in as much relief as she could, helping Shinespark and Puddles' wonderfully-cold body through the hole. The moment they were in, she jumped back, feeling herself instantly start to heat again as she tried to fan Melia and Grenada into wakefulness. Grapejuice crawled along the ground, smart enough to drag herself toward safety.
"I got you!" Shinespark's magic flared, lifting Grenada and pulling her through. Just as the wind began to blow again with another wave of heat, Valey got Melia over her shoulders, the mare moaning weakly as their coats curled harder. What was Meltdown trying to do, light the pirates on fire? The moisture was gone from the air now, dry, desertlike winds ignoring even the normal ocean humidity to assault them. Valey winced, reluctantly leaning Melia into it like a shield, and managed to throw the two of them through the entrance.
Flash! Puddles iced the hole behind them, but it instantly began to melt. She frowned, still looking nauseous. "That's not good..."
"Bananas." Valey flopped down on the sticky, dirty floor, panting and nearly hyperventilating. "Someone... nngh... try to lift that piece of wall back into place..."
No one was strong enough to, sweat streaming from Shinespark's brow and Puddles sending pulse after pulse into maintaining her wall. "Come on, Puddles!" Valey growled, trying to goad the mare into doing more. "Is that seriously the best you can do!?"
"Puddles doesn't want to steal cute Valey's show!"
"Yeah, sure you don't!" Snarling, Valey pushed herself back upright, grabbing the wall chunk herself. It was annoyingly heavy, even if she had been fresh and healthy, but she tipped it upright anyway, slamming it against the hole. Puddles re-adjusted her magic, holding it in place, and breathed easier.
"We can't stay here," Shinespark managed, mane plastered to her skull. "This isn't working..."
"Ya think?" Valey growled, looking around at her friends. Grapejuice was laying on her back, pupils pinpricked, little chest moving way too hard and way too fast... With her tiny body, the heat must have been far harder to handle. Melia was slowly coming out of a daze, and Grenada's teeth were gritted as she wobbled on her hooves.
"We're basically wiped, here," Valey panted, moving over and putting a comforting hoof on Grapejuice. "You still wanna try to beat every last thing in this place and get all those Varsidelians to a merchant ship? Come on, tell me you're fine with doing what we were doing to those pirates for that."
Shinespark looked haunted. The iced-over wall shook, but she ignored it and said, "N-No. I'm not. But you think they're going to do anything better to each other if we don't do anything?"
"And what will you do?" Valey countered, fanning Grapejuice with her wings. "Just convince them to go and live their lives as model citizens? How are you gonna do that!? They might think I've got something to do with their goddess, but I definitely don't have a way to command them all to shape up and get them to listen! Either we kill these dudes or they kill the Varsidelians, or we pull off a miracle and they kill someone else! I saw you with that sword!" She pointed an aggressive hoof. "Forget how it does something like that, I saw you! I know you're not okay with this!"
"Well, what do you want me to do!?" Shinespark raised her voice, beyond tense. "Valey!"
"At this point?" Valey matched her tension, though she continued tending to Grapejuice rather than taking an aggressive stance. "I think you should teleport us all out of here and then fly us back to the Dream, and we acknowledge that the world is garbage and bad stuff happens and go hide and see to ourselves for a while! You wanna know what I was doing when I got awakened by my cutie mark with a pirate ready to toss a net over me right on your ship!? I was keeping Starlight and Ironflanks company because they're not okay and I'm not okay and we needed it! Bananas, forget the Varsidelians! I wanna get out of here while we're still alive!"
Grenada stood shakily, facing Shinespark. "I... I know... I am sorry for not speaking up more against us coming down here, or going on once we found them..."
"Puddles votes run," Puddles groaned from a corner where she was repeatedly icing and thawing herself.
"You're not Varsidel's hero," Valey sighed, feeling the toll everything had taken on her as well. "You don't owe them any-"
CRACK! The fixed wall segment exploded inward, and Meltdown stepped through in a determined prowl, fans spinning and Gazelle coiled in her metal tail. She looked ready to attack for an instant before recognizing who was there, turning, and blocking the door instead.
"Uhhh..." Valey wilted, but threw herself between Meltdown and Grapejuice regardless.
"Hmm." Meltdown gave the wall hole a sharp look, then lowered the speed on her fans, setting Gazelle down on the floor. The sphinx looked giddy with shock, and a long gash ran down one of his sides, all the way through a hind leg right below his cutie mark.
"Oh bananas." Valey gave them a wide-eyed look. "You two got routed too?"
Meltdown gave the hallway a final look. "We should be leaving. I think Gazelle was distracted by the presence of you all. There will be enough explaining and damage control to do when we get back as-is, ignoring the fact that we won't be able to save the Varsidelians. I'm very... frustrated."
Shinespark's ears folded, blood still dripping from the gash on her cheek. "What's their status? The Varsidelians."
"We met up with the advance group." Meltdown nodded. "Helped them fight their way backwards. Gazelle hurt himself rushing ahead. We pushed back down the main corridor their reinforcements were coming through. It should be enough for them to fall back to the prison room where they can try to hold, but they won't be pushing again and will eventually be overwhelmed. I tried to bring down the sarosians' morale earlier, but it hasn't worked."
"So you're leaving." Shinespark drooped. "Even with whatever you can do, you think it's a good idea to leave too?"
Meltdown turned. "As I said, I'm very frustrated we haven't anything to show for our numerous setbacks." She surveyed the group one by one, noting their exhaustion and incapacitation, eyes finally settling on Puddles. "It would make things a lot better if I had at least one thing to call this trip worthwhile for."
Puddles grinned nervously. "Why are you looking at cute Puddles like that?"
"I'm not talking to Puddles," Meltdown said, stepping away from Gazelle and toward Puddles. "I'm talking to you, windigo. I'm not sure you're smart enough to realize how dangerous you are. In the name of the Empire, you can't be free and running around."
Her fans started to speed up. Valey gulped.
"Heh. Oh well." Puddles tossed her mane with a hoof, pupilless eyes suddenly sparking. "Looks like it's time to see how well all that acting paid off!"
With a roar, Meltdown's fans suddenly reversed, blowing backwards and propelling her toward Puddles with a rocketlike hoof outstretched. Puddles countered with a double-hoof smash to the ground, icy runes erupting in circles around her... and those turned to pillars, rising like geysers and smashing through the roof before a larger one took her with it. "Hahahahahaha!" Puddles cackled, lifting herself away and out of Meltdown's reach.
Fwooooosh! A blast of fiery air washed in all directions as Meltdown reared back, coiling her hind legs and jumping into the shower of debris. Her spiked metal hooves latched onto the pillars, and she rose with Puddles out of sight.
"Nnnnngh!" Valey threw herself over Grapejuice and winced as splinters of wood peppered her body. Further away, Shinespark lowered her head and stood over Melia.
Grenada managed to duck out of the way altogether. "Everyone?" She pointed a hoof back at the hole in the wall, where more overheated pirates were starting to collapse and spill in. "We have company!"
"Sparky!" Valey reached downward with her wings, grabbing Grapejuice and holding her against her belly, not having time to properly pick up the mare. "Fly us out! All of us! Now! This is about to go from bad to worse faster than you can blink!"
Instantly, blue magic surrounded her. "Even him!?" Shinespark threw a scared glance at Gazelle, who was starting to pull himself to his paws, tongue lolling and side dripping blood.
"Who cares?" Valey growled. "He'll make trouble for us either way! Dream! Now!"
With another pulse of magic, they started to rise, soaring upward through the hole Puddles had made, all their friends in tow.