//------------------------------// // Fly Away, Ponies // Story: The Olden World // by Czar_Yoshi //------------------------------// A blast of ocean air greeted Valey as Shinespark lifted her and the rest onto the shipdeck, the stars shining around them. The sky was devoid of batponies; the only souls in sight were them and Puddles and Meltdown, staring each other down a few yards away. "Bananas," Valey grunted, landing on the deck and releasing Grapejuice so the mare could gasp down some cool air. There wasn't a heavy breeze, but her coat practically straightened in relief after the inferno Meltdown had used to subdue the pirates below. "Ughhhh. We're out. Sparky? You good to carry us now, or are we waiting until everyone who can feels up to flying?" Shinespark panted, wiping her mane out of her eyes and letting her horn spark for a moment. "I'll be good. I just need a moment. Just one-" Flash! An ice spear shot out of the ground, and Puddles clasped it in her mouth. "You wanna tango, fire mare? I could surrender, you know. My conditions aren't all that unreasonable, when you think about them." "I have no interest in hearing it," Meltdown replied coolly, fans spinning menacingly. "You know things that are dangerous to the Empire I protect. Your existence was permitted only through a gross violation of various rules. Lacking any better options to exorcise or repair you, prepare to die." Puddles winced, moving a hoof near her stomach and then standing straight. Meltdown's fans began to spin up. She planted her hooves, and Puddles planted hers. Valey's cutie mark suddenly tingled, and her eyes widened as she realized just how big the blast radius might have the potential to be with both of them going all-out. "Uh-oh. Uhh, we might want to move a lot farther away..." "Really. You think that's a good idea?" Gazelle groaned from the floor, having been lifted out by Shinespark as well. The furry prince got unsteadily to his paws, side gashed and bleeding, and spread his wings, drunkenly stumbling toward Valey and the others and pushing them further back. "It'll be quite the show," he purred. "Stay a while and watch..." Meltdown's fans spun faster. Ice began to form around Puddles' hooves, latent energy discharging into the wood and causing it to distend and buckle. Shinespark needed no urging to run, helping everyone along and taking cover behind a metal bulkhead. Valey waited until everyone was down, daring to look... FWOOOOOOOM! A pillar of fire exploded its way from Meltdown's fans, looking less like she was blowing it and more like the air between them had just decided to burn. Puddles' eyes widened in shock and she dropped the spear, slamming the ground in a desperate counterattack. "Hiyaaaaa!" Spikes of ice raced forward toward the flames, manifesting in a giant wave like the head of a dragon breaking the surface of the ocean. The elemental pillars collided, wavering and buckling like they were pushed together by sheer force of will, and then exploded at the bases, wrapping together and cancelling each other out in a whirlwind of embers, sleet and steam. Wind tore over Valey's head, and she ducked just in time to avoid her ears getting taken off. The pressure didn't abate for seconds, and she leaned into the barrier, unsure if it was burning with hot or cold as she fought to keep it from blowing away as well. She was the second to lift her head, Gazelle beating her with a hiss and a wince. The steam rapidly cleared, revealing Meltdown and Puddles still standing... but not for long. Energy gathered at Puddles' hooves again and surged, a spire of ice forming beneath her and propelling her forwards at unstoppable speeds. In response, Meltdown's fans roared again, switching direction and blasting backwards with streaks of glowing air. With a jet-engine roar, Meltdown flew, extending a metal hoof as Puddles countered with an ice-armored fist of her own. This time, when they collided, Valey could watch, though the forces pressing them together as each sought to out-punch the other still generated a maelstrom of wind. Hoof met hoof as Meltdown's engines shrieked, Puddles' ice pillar pressing her forward in return. The bones in Puddles' leg shattered from the pressure, teal energy crackling all over it to knit her back together and keep from falling under the assault. Skrash! Fully airborne, held aloft by the power of her fans and the air that was being heated through them, Meltdown flipped her hind legs forward, iron tail extending in a fired grappling hook that sheared through Puddles' ice. Her resistance gone, Puddles was helpless before Meltdown's momentum... but Meltdown had thrown herself into a spin, and they broke apart with a punch from Meltdown's other hoof, sending Puddles rocketing into the deck with a board-breaking slam. Meltdown went flying upward, propelled by the sheer force with which she threw Puddles. Midair, she reversed her course, turning her fans slightly lower and hovering in place like they were a jetpack. Valey saw Puddles climb out from the crater, glowing teal with healing injuries, another spear clenched in her grasp... and Meltdown dropped, falling into a cannonball attack where her own weight was all she needed as a weapon. "They're going to destroy the ship," Shinespark whispered, shaking with wide eyes. "We... I'm ready. We need to go. Who am I carrying?" "Think I'm good." Valey swallowed, flexing her wings. "We're just leaving her?" "Buddy, point me in a direction and I'm gone." Grapejuice gave the horizon a painfully-eager look. "Carry me? Are you leaving!?" Gazelle looked downright incredulous. "This is the main event! How could you miss this?" Valey gave him a look. "Well, sorry, but we're done. This is a huge mess and it kind of stinks but I don't even know how many pirates are on this ship and we thought the last few chances we had to turn back would be our last ones. We're tired, beaten up, out of resources, and need to bail. You wanna be a hero or something, do it yourself!" Grapejuice frowned. "Yo, I think he's watching this for sport." "Correct!" Gazelle gave a fanged grin, patting Grapejuice on the head with a bloody paw. "It's a necessary pastime. I'll tell you all about it sometime. Have fun running, pirates. Who knows? Maybe you won't be tried on the mainland for heresy!" He blinked. "And if you were wondering, this boat is supposed to crew two hundred, but they probably overcrowded it." "Forgot about thaaat..." Valey groaned, then spread her wings. "And gonna forget about it again, because we're outta here! See ya, prince dude." With a powerful flap, she was off, Shinespark rising into the air close behind. The pirate frigate receded into the distance as Shinespark flew, Valey leading the way towards Starlight's scent on the horizon. Already, they were high enough to see the Dream in the distance, its cabin lights out to make it less-visible to eager pirates. Not that that mattered any more. There wasn't a sentry to be found, everything the batpony army had dedicated to fighting the Varsidelians. Maybe they could have made a difference if they stayed. Maybe things could have been different. Valey's heart burned as they glided for safety, the rest of her friends and the friends of her friends clutched in Shinespark's aura. She knew Shinespark felt the same, the Varsidelians she had promised to help leave now backed into a corner with no chance of survival. Bangs and crashes still echoed on the air behind her, bright flashes of light coming from the frigate as Puddles and Meltdown traded attacks. She doubted Puddles could win. If she somehow gained the upper hoof, Gazelle was there, and she had no way to leave the ship even if she won... Was she really upset over leaving Puddles? Puddles had been a jerk. Caused her so much emotional hardship. And she still wasn't sure what had happened with Melia, or how Puddles had found her, or... anything, really. She folded her ears and growled. She wasn't leaving anything behind! She didn't have any unfinished business! She even brought Grapejuice! ...The pirates. Her mind flicked to the batponies, the ones she had just been punching for her life, while Puddles gored them with icicles and Shinespark did whatever Gerardo's sword did now. And then to the ones who had boarded the Dream, with their strange, almost silly antics and instant devotion to her once something had happened. She still wasn't sure how she had done that, but it wasn't fair. It wasn't fair that they got to ruin her species' reputation in the Empire for her. It wasn't fair that some of them might listen if she tried to lead them better. They had listened, even, and she wasn't even giving them a chance! All she had done was shouted something about a Nightmare Module and... "Oh bananas." Valey swallowed, realizing what saddlebags she very much wasn't wearing. "Uhh. Hey, Sparky? You see the ship from here?" Shinespark turned, raising an eyebrow, horn straining from the weight of lifting so many ponies. "Yeah? Why?" "...I think I kinda forgot something." Valey gave an abashed grin that quickly crumbled into dead seriousness. "Kinda the most important thing I could forget." Everyone but Grapejuice gave her an apprehensive look. "Look, it's..." Valey swallowed. "I gotta go back. I'll take care of myself. Sparky? Get these loons to the Dream. Including Grapejuice. That's an order." "Valey..." Shinespark's eyes turned downcast. "Hey. I've made it out of tough spots before. I'll be careful." Valey gave her a reassuring grin. "You'll see me again." Without waiting to see if she had permission, she turned and bolted back for the frigate.