Dear readers—
Three days into his recovery, father remains deathly weak and ill. He can barely eat, let alone move, and his voice, once so commanding, is now feeble and raspy. And yet, for all that, he remains determined to not only survive, but contribute to this tale once more—a far cry, methinks, from how reluctant he originally was to pen his own entries in this tome; ‘tis certain I had to prod him repeatedly to describe the Loyalty’s departure from Stalliongrad some chapters back!
‘Tis an odd thing that this recounting of the conflict has become his primary motivation to see his recovery through rather than getting to fly again. But as we found out during the war, the desire to fight on can come from some very surprising places. And as badly as I want him to get better, ‘tis certain I will not question it!
Father will indeed be contributing to this tale again, both in this chapter and as oft as he wishes going forward. Though he is presently unable to write or focus his eyes enough to read for more than a few seconds, he can still dictate. Gavian, to little surprise, has volunteered for the task of taking down his words—indeed, to his credit, he has barely left his grandsire’s side these past three days.
Ambassador Kaval and Marquess Ampok have departed for now. They are going with Princess Celestia to receive Queen Jeyenne, regent of the Gryphon Kingdom on an official state visit, who will be arriving at Polaris Base by one of the Kingdom’s own naval airships today. My herd has been invited to receive them, and though others of my herd may go, I have respectfully declined. I will see the Queen later at the state dinner, but for now, methinks my place remains here with my father.
‘Tis hard to believe that the tale of the Epsilon battle is nearly at an end, but much remains of it to be told as we found ourselves on the cusp of rescue but still facing annihilation from a skilled and determined foe.
—Firefly
‘Tis a very hard thing, one must understand, to go from expecting and even accepting death to suddenly learning one might yet live.
‘Twas an unexpected lesson I had come to learn as I went from lying paralyzed and helpless on the dusty floor of the cavern, awaiting the Raven blade slash that would end my life, to suddenly seeing and hearing the arrival of the Royal Navy outside, witnessing their guns open up and their soldiers storm the cavern through the same skylights the gryphons had used, coming to our rescue.
Methinks I knew not how such a thing was possible—I knew from Father that the Loyalty and her escorts were based in Stalliongrad, twelve hundred miles away!—but ‘tis certain I only accepted that what was happening was real when I was passed a communication gem by the air wing leader and I heard Captain Shady’s voice for the first time, calm and commanding that she was. Perchance ‘tis just as well that ‘twas not Father that answered my call; methinks I’m not sure if I could have avoided breaking down completely if he did!
Even so, ‘twas very hard for me to suddenly start thinking tactically and giving orders again. Indeed, I was trying to roust myself back to action as I was still reeling from the lightning bolt that had struck me and my near-death experience afterwards. Fortunately, others were able to pick up my slack and a visibly wounded Fell Flight took up the task in my absence. She directed our combined forces into a battle line and formed a defensive perimeter around the tunnel entrance, which had now become our escape route and loading area for the lifeboats.
Methinks I was no less stunned than you at the turn of events, Captain, even without being struck by lightning! I cannot say I was intentionally ‘picking up your slack’, as I knew not your status then; I was simply doing what I saw needed to be done. Though methinks I had no authority to issue orders to the Naval troops, they obeyed me all the same, perchance because between my large bloodied form and predatory appearance, they were afraid not to!
—Fell Flight
Perchance you are right, First Lieutenant. Indeed, ‘tis certain that ‘doing what needed to be done’ has always been the signature of your service, both in war and in peace. ‘Tis to your immense credit, as well, for as it turned out, we would need that defense you set.
I understand you will be likewise leaving to receive the Queen in your role as Thestral Emissary and note that you have already dressed for the occasion. My apologies for the speeches and ceremonies you must endure, as I know your disdain for them.
—Firefly
Fear not, Captain. For I am to give a speech of my own, and there is a side benefit this time—as a gryphon ship is coming in, that means there will be much meat available for me and my bat-pony brethren at the state dinner!
—Fell Flight
And you are welcome to it, my old friend. Methinks that this time, you do not have to save any for me!
Attending the Queen’s arrival in my place will be Blindside and my herd’s beloved stallion, who, despite the belief he stated whilst we awaited the final gryphon attack that morn, has become a fine sire to say nothing of a very loving and attentive mate.
‘Tis to him I pass the quill now, with apologies for leaving him in the proverbial lurch with respect to the reception.
Worry not, my wife. Believe me when I say I endured far worse than an occasional state dinner whilst serving as a Celestial Guardspony. And even with those, they were no fun, as all we could do was stand at attention and observe, not allowed to partake of the Princess’ hospitality ourselves!
Greetings to all who read this. I am Cirrus Stormrunner, former Celestial Guardspony and founder of Dominion Academy, a combat school open to all races designed to teach friendship through fighting.
‘Tis a concept that leaves some scratching their heads, but ‘tis one I find a surprisingly powerful and harmonious way to create mutual bonds and respect. ‘Tis my new career, as I left the military when the war concluded, finding myself with not one, but two mares who wished to herd with me and bear my foals, both fellow Bolt Knights!
Recalling my failures as a herd stallion before, I was reluctant, but they were persistent, and we finally wed not six months after the war. Our ceremony was presided over by Princess Celestia herself, who told us all that our greatest duty to Equestria was not to die in war, but to live so that we might establish a line and pass on our legacy.
‘Twas a duty we saw to quite quickly, as it turned out, as within a year, Firefly had birthed a son and Blindside, a daughter, and more followed over the next decade and a half as we did our part to replenish our nation’s losses, with two more mares joining our herd. Despite the lost battles and battle wounds I endured, methinks the greatest lesson I took from the conflict—and from my future mares themselves—was to appreciate what I did have; to respect both friend and foe, and learn to turn loss or even crippling injury to my advantage.
As fate would have it, I would have to begin learning that lesson quite quickly when the Loyalty battle group appeared and our evacuation began. ‘Twas certain the gryphons would not let us go so easily, however, and I regret I forgot myself and my duty when one in particular appeared.
—Sergeant Major Cirrus Stormrunner (ret.)
Headmaster
Dominion Academy
Canterlot
Outpost Epsilon
Storm Cloud Vault
Pony/Gryphon Border
September 2nd, 1139 AC
0548 hours
“Centurion Nael!” I shouted into my blue gem as I beheld the Fortis Knight who had slandered Celestia in my presence, and who had then offered me a duel to settle such insults to honor.
Perchance if I was unwounded or calmer, the pain from the spearhead still lodged in my side a constant presence I couldn’t ignore, I wouldn’t have reacted so badly to the sight of him or risked my life—to say nothing of the evacuation—in a rather foalish confrontation, leaving the remains of my platoon behind just to try and slay one gryphon. But I’d been intent on the idea of dueling him since first meeting him, and suddenly, the opportunity to do so was in front of me.
“For the honor of Equestria and Celestia herself, I challenge you to single combat! Face me as you promised, so that I may end your life now!”
“Master Sergeant!” I heard Firefly’s voice call out from her own blue gem behind me. She was only just starting to organize the evacuation; the higher-pitched hum of lifeboat propellers making themselves known as they neared touchdown. “‘Tis not the time! Pull back, now!”
I knew she was right, but at that moment, either due to my wound, the insults to My Princess or all the losses my platoon had suffered over the past day, methinks I did not care. In fact, methinks I did something I never had before—disobeyed direct orders, ignoring her to walk right through our freshly formed battle line, my gaze never leaving Nael’s, whose eyes narrowed at the sight of me.
Somewhat remarkably, it worked, as he ordered his century of advancing troops to stop, to the shock of many, most notably the Ravens at the vanguard. “As you wish, Guardspony.” He announced his acceptance of the challenge, and then marched forward to meet me, leaving us facing each other but twelve paces apart.
“What are you doing, Centurion?” One of the Ravens, a sky gryphon tiercel, shouted in shock, going up to him. “We have no time for this! They’ll escape to the ships outside if we let them!”
“That matters not,” Nael grated out. “‘Tis a question of honor, not that I would expect an assassin to understand! I did indeed make him such a promise. And by my warrior blood, I cannot go back on my word!”
“You fool! You would let them go just for your honor?” the Raven asked derisively in Aeric as the battalion behind me took advantage of the reprieve to begin loading the wounded onto the Loyalty lifeboats, all keeping a wary eye on the standoff in back of them. “Methinks ‘tis your idiotic honor that cost us the chance for an easy victory here in the first place!”
Methinks I wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but Nael’s only response was to lash out, quick as a manticore stinger, to grab his supposed ally by the throat with his metal-gauntleted talons and shake him hard. “I suggest you mind your tongue, assassin! Try to stop me, and I will crush your throat right now!” he promised, clenching his fist harder for just a moment, letting the grey-dyed warrior know he could do it.
“But sir—!” some of his Knight underlings were no more happy about that than the choking Raven was, who was either unwilling or unable to break free. “Let us at least engage his compatriots!”
“No! I said stand down!” He then flung the choking Raven aside, his emotions looking barely under control. “You may not attack them unless their vanguard flees! I promised him a proper duel! And so he shall have it!”
With that, he marched forward to face me. “Your challenge is accepted! The battle now turns on us! So present yourself, Guardspony!” he ordered, switching from Aeric to Equish, hefting his heavy, double-bladed battle axe. “For your dishonorable tactics this night, methinks your death and ruin is assured!”
“And for your slander of My Princess and unprovoked invasion of our lands, methinks I will take your life here and now!” I answered him attitude for attitude, a white-hot rage taking hold of me as methinks that at that moment, my entire world was reduced to him.
“We shall see, so-called Guardian of Celestia!” he promised, then pointed the business end of his double-bladed axe at me. “I am Centurion Cassian Nael of the Fortis Knights! And know that this duel is to the death!”
“I am Master Sergeant Cirrus Stormrunner of the Celestial Guard! And I would have it no other way!” And then without any further preamble, we launched ourselves at each other, weapons wielded, the first clash of our blades sending a shriek of metal upon metal echoing throughout the cavern.
Methinks that to this day, I am uncertain whether you were more brave or foalish to make that challenge, my stubborn but stalwart stallion. By rights, you should have been struck down right then and there, and ‘tis no doubt that naught but a little deeper into the war, such a scene would not even have been possible—perchance in part because this one happened.
But methinks I cannot deny that it worked out for us, given that Nael halted his attack just to fight you. Nevertheless, it did come at cost.
—Firefly
You do not have to remind me of that, my dear and oft-undiplomatic wife. Indeed, ‘tis certain I am reminded of it every time I look in the mirror. But nor would I take any of it back, even now. For in the end, it worked out for all concerned. Save the Imperials, of course.
—Stormrunner
‘Tis certain that Celestial Guardsponies are versed in far more than standard Guardspony combat techniques.
As our charge is to protect both Canterlot Castle and Our Princess herself, we receive much more training in close combat and melee situations, leaving us equally able to counter ground and airborne threats alike. We are strong, we are swift, and only the best of us ever receive the golden armor of Celestia’s personal guard.
On the gryphon side, Fortis Knights are masters of ground combat and heavy weapons; elite warriors who are also surprisingly formidable in the air despite their smaller wings and all the armor they carry.
They are the shock troops of the gryphon military to this day, and they take their title from the one who once saved the gryphon nation from the Cloven of the Sun, uniting the formally feudal society under a single banner against them. Their tradition is a long and proud one, and even the least of them are not to be trifled with in combat, let alone one who rose to the rank of Centurion!
But none of it mattered to me then. Had I been thinking clearly, I would have kept the battle in the air where my greater speed and maneuverability would tell. Had I been thinking clearly, I would not have demanded a duel at all, wounded as I was. Indeed, had I been thinking clearly, I would likely have forgone the challenge and ignored Nael’s presence to instead help Fell Flight command our battle line against the fresh force he led, buying time for the evacuation to proceed.
But ‘tis certain I was not thinking clearly then, and to this day I can only marvel at the outcomes. Determined to avenge an insult to Celestia’s honor, I ignored my future wife’s orders to demand a duel. Determined to beat the Centurion on his own terms, I then engaged him in ground combat, where the advantage was unquestionably his. And last but hardly least, he was unwounded whilst I was most certainly not, granting him an additional edge.
And yet, here I stood, ready to throw everything away to fight him; even willing to die in defense of My Princess’ honor.
Methinks that despite those outcomes, none here would say ‘twas your finest hour, Sergeant Major. In fact, ‘twas one of the most foalishly impulsive moves I’ve ever seen. And perchance you might consider that coming from me, ‘tis certainly saying a lot!
—Osprey
Thank you for your candor, Colonel. Though if you wish to talk about ‘impulsive’, perchance we may speak of your teenage son, Bat Hawk? Just last week, he tried to convince my youngest daughter to navigate the Castle Run with him at night with her eyes closed, and followed that up by drinking a bottle of Rainbow Factory Hot Sauce in her presence on a dare!
—Stormrunner
So I learned, as he was very sick afterwards and took several days to regain his sense of taste, to no sympathy from me. As she had done the hot sauce dare herself as a teen, Fell Flight then openly wondered if he was somehow her foal instead of mine!
—Osprey
Outpost Epsilon
Storm Cloud Vault
Pony/Gryphon Border
September 2nd, 1139 AC
0551 hours
“Die, Centurion!” I shouted on my first pass only for my initial blow to be turned aside by his axe head, which he reversed to bring the heavy hilt down on my shoulders; a blow that could be crippling to a pegasus. But plenty of combat spars with Firefly herself meant I was faster than that and dodged it easily, attempting to use my superior speed and agility to rapidly reverse and bring my other wing up and then down in a sudden circular arc on the back of his neck.
Unfortunately, Nael was no neophyte in the realm of combat either, as he simply shifted his stance so that my wing only caught the top of his heavy Fortis Knight shield, still strapped to his back, and allowed his axe to come back into play, bringing it up almost as quickly as I had brought down my wing. A second wing-rattling collision occurred between our respective weapons, but his heavier one got the better of the exchange, knocking me askew and threatening to damage my wingblades.
Having gotten me off balance in the air, he followed that up with a simple blow from his talons, showing he could wield his heavy axe with just one set of them whilst curling his second set into a fist that connected with the side of my head, knocking me to the ground not far in front of his compatriots, who might have slain me easily right then and there.
None moved, however, as their discipline held, to the great and visible disgust of their attached Ravens, who were all but grinding the upper and bottom portions of their beaks together as they were held back from their killing work for reasons I can only imagine they thought as utterly stupid.
Nevertheless, Nael was their commander, and they obeyed his orders. “Killing me will not be easy, Guardspony. The Elder Rams learned that long ago,” he informed me in Equish with a smirk, replacing the axe on his back and then slowly marching towards me, having never taken flight in the opening moves of our battle himself. “Now get up! I would be disappointed if this ended so quickly!”
“What are you doing? You have him down! Now finish him!” The Raven leader demanded again as behind me, the first lifeboat lifted off and I saw that Swift Strike had joined our battle line, perchance on the commander’s orders, to some whispered words from his Raven counterparts.
“Shut up!” Nael snarled back at him. “He wishes satisfaction? He shall have it, and so shall I!”
Methinks the Raven was now actively considering striking me—or Nael!—down himself, judging by how his talons kept moving towards his blades, and ‘tis certain I was not the only one to notice. “Whatever you’re thinking, assassin, don’t. This Guardspony is mine!” Nael further warned, then raised his voice further to address the entire gryphon century.
“Listen and take heed, my fellow warriors! If the Ravens interfere in this duel, kill them!” he then ordered his Knight comrades in a booming voice, who looked unhappy but politely warned their erstwhile allies to stand down; I caught one saying that they did not wish to, but they would carry out their orders if they had to.
I would not wish to place odds on the outcome of a battle between a score of Ravens and four score of Fortis Knights, as much as I might have enjoyed the spectacle of an internecine conflict between them. Perchance if I had been in a less bloodthirsty or more clever frame of mind, I might have tried to take advantage of such a potential schism by goading the two sides against each other. But at this point? I regret I was too far gone, and yet… ‘twas hardly my original intent, but the duel ‘twas serving the purpose of allowing our evacuation to proceed as a second lifeboat lifted off and another landed in its place.
I dimly realized from the sounds of fresh battle outside that delay would work against us before too long, but for now, I had to keep this duel going for another minute, at least, for the final lifeboat to be loaded. One minute, I thought, in which I had to occupy and then slay Centurion Cassian Nael.
That, I decided as I pulled myself back to my hooves and cricked my neck twice to shake off his blow, ‘twould be a pleasure. “You are a true warrior, Centurion. But worry not about satisfaction. Worry about your life!” I told him as we began circling each other on the ground.
“I could say the same for you, Guardspony!” With that, he reared up to take a classic Fortis Knight combat pose, holding and then whirling his heavy axe in both sets of talons. “The only satisfaction I will have is in seeing your evil and insane princess fall!” This time, he goaded me, and I’m sorry to say, I fell for it.
With an angry snort, I bared my blades again and launched myself at him in another airborne pass. I cannot say how many times I’d been told over the years to never attack in anger, even by Still Way himself, and ‘tis a lesson I constantly teach as well at my combat academy.
‘Twas only here, however, that the truth of the lesson was finally driven home as he kept his wits about him and parried all my increasingly wild slashes with his spinning axe, aggravating me further by never leaving his hind legs to enter the air, using his wings for balance and rapid shifts of stance only.
Nor was I able to force him to do so, as only once did I find an opening to land a hard hoofstriker hit on his chin, which to my shock, did not even faze him as he shook off the blow with nary a grimace and then used my own momentum against me, grabbing my arm with his free set of Talons and flinging me up, head over heels.
I intended to use that tactic against him with a rapid midair spin that would give me fresh momentum and enable me to attack his head again, this time with far more wingblade force. Enough to allow me, I thought, to penetrate his helmet and end this fight in one blow. But ‘twas a dangerous choice of tactics as it meant I lost sight of him for a critical half-second whilst I completed my midair flip, and ‘twas only when I found myself staring his approaching axe blade in the face that I realized he’d predicted my strike, and I’d made a terrible mistake…
All this flashed through my mind but a quarter-second before it hit.
To this day, I do not recall the exact moment the axe struck me, and perchance ‘tis for the best. And yet, I can recall seeing the axe blade’s approach in uncanny detail, accompanying my realization that Nael had anticipated my move and that I had no way to block or prevent his counterstrike. It connected with my head and penetrated my helmet, despite it being even stronger than the Guardspony norm. It broke through the enchanted steel and knocked my head askew, shortly followed by knocking myself to the ground, sending me bouncing twice, helmetless, before I slid to a stop in the soft dirt.
Stunned, my vision went blurry, then black on the right side, not leaving me immediately aware of what was happening until I tried to rise only to falter again, a warm wetness telling me there was blood streaming down my cheek.
I could not see, but I heard the approach of Nael, as well as the horrified shouts of my own side. “Your challenge is met, Cirrus Stormrunner! The duel is mine! Now die, feeble excuse for a warrior!” the Centurion told me as he stood over me, then reared up to bring his axe down onto me with both sets of talons, intending to finish the job. And though I knew not the extent of my injuries at the moment, there was nothing I could do to stop him.
The blow never landed. “Gavian!” I dimly heard Swift Strike’s panicked call and suddenly, the next thing I saw—through my left eye only—was a blur of blue and brown as our young gryphon friend intervened, slashing off the top of Nael’s axe with his sword, sending it spiraling away.
“You dare, traitorous runt?” Nael called out in Aeric to outraged shouts from the gryphon side as I lay stunned and unmoving on the ground, only starting to understand as I tried and failed to rise again that I was, in fact, badly wounded, even if I knew not yet how.
The next words were Gavian’s, strong and sure despite the danger he was now in, and were the last I heard before I passed out from shock and a sudden surge of blinding pain. “I dare, Centurion! For the title of warrior and the life of the Master Sergeant, your next challenge... is me!”
As Osprey said, ‘twas not your finest hour, my dear Stormrunner, either in judgement or in battle. Methinks you knew better on both counts, and yet, ‘twas only through challenging the Centurion and delaying his assault—through not one but two duels he felt he had no choice but to fight—‘twas our escape allowed, and sufficient time bought to evacuate.
And yet, as I read through this account now, having not been able to watch it? I find it remarkable that every major decision and move you made here was wrong. Not the least of which is that instead of taking the fight into the air, you tried to best Nael on his own terms as an earth gryphon and failed, succumbing to his superior strength and surface fighting skills. Even now, all I can say is: surely you knew better?
—Firefly
I do now, my wife, as I paid the price and bare the scars of it to this day. But perchance I made up for it later? In any event, I regret I must depart now, as Queen Jeyenne’s airship will arrive shortly, and both Blindside and I will be part of her reception. Please give Father our regards and regrets the next time you see him, but we did not wish to wake him during the short time we were here.
—Stormrunner
I will. And indeed you did, if much later, both on the battlefield and in the bedroom! But the former is beyond the scope of this action, and the latter… well. Some conquests are best kept private!
As for myself, I was still overseeing our evacuation at the vault entrance and knew not what was happening at first, able only to dispatch Swift Strike to reinforce Fell Flight’s improvised battle line whilst I directed our remaining forces to escort the lifeboats along with the fresh naval troops. I shortly realized you were dueling Nael, and though at first blush I thought ‘twas a cunning move on your part to buy time even as I prayed for your victory, ‘twould seem it only worked out that way on accident!
What happened next was no accident, however, and though my heart dropped into my stomach to see it, ‘twas indeed the right move to make, and all honor belongs to the one who made it. For it, the quill is now yours, my brave and loyal son.
—Firefly
Thank you, Mother. And greetings to all yet again. I write this from the room where Grandfather rests and I keep vigil over him, hoping that the scratching of my quill will not disturb him. I, too, will meet the Queen eventually and am even scheduled to paint her portrait tonight; an enormous honor that will accompany her officially returning my gryphon citizenship and inviting me to Aresia to be received at her court.
She will do so over objections, as there are those even to this day that believe I am unworthy of it for siding with Equestria during the war, and once in a while I must still fight a duel for it.
I care not, as they, just as Nael did, learn that my size and upbringing does not mean I am unable to fight! In fact, I am told now that my hybrid style of combat is being adopted by smaller gryphons, who are no longer turned away from the military or combat schools because of their size. In many ways, I consider that my greatest accomplishment, even more so than my art!
On this first night of war, however, such days were unimaginable; I only wished to fight and die at Mother’s side. But as the Royal Navy improbably reached us and Swift Strike was ordered to our defensive line, I joined him without telling her, as I had already fought to defend Mother and I believed that the new point of greatest danger was where I belonged, this time with my Mentor.
I observed the latter half of the-then Master Sergeant’s duel with Centurion Nael, and with one Fortis Knight headfeather already to my name, I found myself with regret. Deep regret that I could not face the latter myself given how he’d insulted me earlier, telling me I could never be a warrior because of my size.
A regret that was quickly ended when Stormrunner fell and I saw Nael announce himself the victor, raising his axe with the intention of delivering the killing blow.
—Gavian
Outpost Epsilon
Storm Cloud Vault
Pony/Gryphon Border
September 2nd, 1139 AC
0553 hours
‘Tis difficult to describe what went through my mind at the moment I saw Stormrunner, a mighty Celestial Guardspony and one of the few on base who could ever best Mother, felled by the Fortis Knight with an axe strike to his head that knocked him hard to the ground; one that left a large and bloody gash centered on the remains of his right eye.
Horror at the ugly wound. Dread as Nael marched up to Stormrunner, promising to finish him and the duel with a single slash of his massive axe, at which point I knew the cavern battle would erupt anew. Shock that I was shortly going to be witnessing my friend’s death. Disbelief that he’d had fallen so easily and he’d performed so poorly—my apologies, Father, but it’s true! Regret that by the rules of the duel, I could not save him…
And then I realized: What did I care about those rules? What did gryphon rules of honor mean to me anymore? I lived by pony rules of honor now, and they did not allow me to stand by whilst a good friend was slain! And thus did I act, leaping out from beside Swift Strike with nary a word to mark my decision; the only sound I made was to draw my sword as I flew towards Nael, and slash the top of his axe off as it reached the apex of his swing.
In truth, I must admit I wasn’t actually sure I could do it, but my perfect form combined with my finely-made and enchanted Raven blade was sufficient for the task, as my blow sent the double-bladed axe head spiraling away, landing hard on the ground several yards away, burying itself halfway in the loose dirt.
Methinks I could have tried to take his head instead, but I did not, for two reasons: first, I wanted Nael and all present to acknowledge my skill in battle—for his claiming that I could never be a warrior, I wanted to prove I was by beating the Centurion fairly! And second, I knew that if I did that, there would be nothing preventing the Knights and Ravens from attacking again. One duel had stalled them, but not enough as our escape to the Royal Navy airship overhead—methinks I did not even know such vessels existed before the Loyalty appeared!—was still not assured.
“Gavian!” I heard Swift Strike and several others call out behind me as I entered the improvised duel arena; I can only imagine what mother’s reaction must have been to hear my name called!
“You dare, traitorous runt?” Nael rounded on me, accompanied by outraged shouts from the gryphon side and shocked noises from the Equestrian one.
“I dare, Centurion! For the title of warrior and the life of the Master Sergeant, your next challenge... is me!”
Nael’s laugh was straight from the belly. “A duel? With you? Do not make me laugh! Methinks there is no honor or challenge in fighting one such as you!”
“Then methinks there should be no difficulty in killing me!” I shouted back, now standing over a twitching, bleeding Stormrunner, reared up with my sword drawn and taking an upright combat stance. “He is my friend! For his life and the escape of all Epsilon, I challenge you to single combat! You said I was no warrior? Prove it!” I goaded.
“Enough of this!” Once again, his Raven comrades were less than pleased and tried to dissuade him; I remember it struck me at the time how they seemed the most sensible ones there and the only ones to truly understand what was at stake. “Our time runs short, Centurion! They already have their wounded out! You need not face him, as slaying traitors is our job! So let us kill this refuse and be done with it!” The Raven leader demanded again, and for a moment, Nael wavered.
Fortunately, I knew my own kind well enough to know exactly what to say in response. “I see. So you will let the Ravens fight your battles for you?” I smiled sweetly at the Centurion, causing him to gnash his beak and growl. Having now two battles under my wings, and having slain a Fortis Knight in one and proven I could even hold off Ravens in the other, I was feeling far more confident in my abilities, and for it, the flow of words came easy.
“Do as they say, and methinks you will have a hundred witnesses to you declining to face a traitor but a third your size who insulted you to your face… you prissy, prancing peacock!” Methinks I said that last line with far too much glee as Nael instantly snarled and took a step towards me with pure murder in his eyes.
“Ignore him! We have but a minute left! Order us to attack!” The Raven pleaded again, only for the Centurion to violently shake his head, now looking barely in control.
“No!” he hissed out through a clenched beak. “Traitor though he is, he is correct—if I decline this challenge in front of an entire century of troops, I will become a laughingstock! And then, ‘tis certain that no honor can be attached to my name!”
With that, he discarded his broken hilt and was tossed a second, nearly identical axe by one of his compatriots, spinning it in a wide arc around his head before bringing it down hard, cleaving a large stone in two. “You had a chance to escape! But no longer! For taking my weapon and your insults to honor, you die here and now!” he promised me.
With that, I likewise spun my blade once and then pointed it at him, now speaking formally. “I am Gavian Ravenoff, an artist, son and warrior! To earn the title of the latter and to save the life of my new friends and family, I will defeat you! If I win, both I and our entire battalion leaves unhindered! Do you accept?”
“No!” The lead Raven couldn’t believe what he was hearing, only to be ignored again.
“And I am Centurion Cassian Nael of the Fortis Knights! Veteran of the war against the Elder Rams, and survivor of six campaigns! As they will never come to pass, your terms are acceptable! For the honor of the Empire and myself, I will end your existence, and shortly that of your so-called family!”
“We shall see! Now have at thee, coward!” I called, and with that, we shot towards each other, ready to end each other’s life.
With apologies, I must lay down the pen for now, as the presence of myself and Mother is shortly required at Canterlot Castle for my presentation to Queen Jeyenne, followed by a state dinner and my subsequent painting of her portrait.
‘Twould be a lie to say I am not nervous as I glance at my formal attire in the mirror, knowing that I will soon face the Queen of my race and successor to my parent nation for the first time.
In seeking some balm for my sudden surge of anxiety, I find my thoughts falling back to that long-ago day, when I faced my gravest test. And I tell myself that when compared to that, a royal visit is not scary at all!
—Gavian Ravenoff
Head Instructor
Celestial Art Academy
Canterlot
Thank you, my son. We are both off now, leaving Father behind for a few hours as much as I may not wish to.
But perchance the timing is fortuitous, as Father has awoken, and all but demanded the quill again. Though I would normally say he should not be straining himself, as weak as he still is, I also recognize that in the end, he is as stubborn as I am, and that his desire to keep contributing to this tale is part of what drives his recovery!
Please do not push yourself too hard, Father. Methinks I will be most upset to discover you died with a quill in your mouth in my absence!
—Firefly
Fear not, my overly-attentive and anxious daughter. In fact, I feel that you have the worst of this evening, as you must listen to endless interminable speeches whilst I just get to lie in bed and write!
In truth, ‘tis certain I wish I was there, greeting the gryphons in the Loyalty instead of leaving it to my second, Vice-Admiral Starlight Schooner. I admit the slow pace of my recovery is frustrating, and I find the inability to get up and walk under my own power utterly galling.
It should start getting better within a few days, I am promised, but my body’s natural magic and healing abilities must remain suppressed for now. And thus, I remain very tired and barely able to lift my head. But at least I finally have enough energy and muscle control to write, if given frequent breaks.
—Admiral Tailwind
Commander, Royal Navy
Polaris Base
Canterlot
EAS Loyalty
Airspace over Outpost Epsilon
Pony/Gryphon Border
September 2nd, 1139 AC
0543 hours
‘Twas with some relief that I accepted command of the Loyalty in the Captain’s stead.
Methinks I was still very embarrassed at that point over my earlier outburst; my desire to challenge the Captain for reasons I finally understood to be short-sighted and selfish. ‘Twas certain I had no right to call her a coward simply for thinking strategically; for attempting to find the best balance between preserving the ships of the group whilst still finding a way to rescue the Epsilon garrison.
Methinks further she would have been well within her rights to relieve me at that moment, but she had not despite my grevious insubordination, recognizing it as an outburst born of fear over the fate of my family.
‘Twas during my second sojourn to the upper deck that I reviewed my actions and refocused my mind, recognizing that the Captain was right—that no matter how much I may love them, to save Firefly and Gavian was not the objective here. ‘Twas to extract the garrison, and then ourselves from occupied territory, rescuing the battalion and then running for home—a task that became nigh impossible if we arrived before the raid began, and with no more fuel for our engines.
Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed, and my loyalty to Shady only grew for it. I swore I would not let her down again, nor allow my emotions to get the better of me, and ‘twas only then I returned below decks and gave a second apology. ‘Twas in front of the entire bridge crew that I offered to write myself up for gross insubordination and conduct unbecoming; even to resign from my post if she wished.
“‘Tis not necessary,” she told me with a smile, then reminded me that I would be needed to command the ship whilst she took the role of the absent Commodore Catamaran to direct the entire battle group in the engagement to come.
In the final half-hour of approach, we reviewed procedures and likely orders, as well as wargamed contingencies and what we would do for them. The other two ship commanders were in on our discussions, as were the respective bridge crews, as ‘twas good for them to hear what orders might be issued as well.
And thus did our twelve hours and circuitous fifteen hundred miles of approach to Epsilon reach its culmination on our final descent over the last twelve miles, the sun peeking over the horizon at our backs, just visible through the lingering fog and moisture in the air. ‘Twas agony to be told the final gryphon attack was going in and we were to allow it to happen, but ‘twas indeed the right decision. For it both saved us some fuel and allowed us to successfully ambush their ground forces, which were intent on their quarry and not so much on a potential threat closing from their rear.
As the Captain states, the sight and sounds of our guns opening up; the Royal Navy unleashing its might and firing its cannons in anger for the first time in half a century was a great moment of pride for us all, doubly so for the effect it had! Entire formations of gryphon soldiers were pulverized under the onslaught of our magical ballistae; I watched as two mages foalishly sought to challenge the Loyalty’s arsenal with lightning spells, only to be reduced to red mist by a subsequent volley which crushed their shields and annihilated them in an instant.
Our new magic-firing artillery, courtesy of the EIS’s Office of Magical Research, did their job well whilst our more conventional cannons cleared the topmost skylights for entry by our own forces, gaining us the initial advantage as the remaining gryphon soldiers scattered in confusion and fear.
Such would not last, however, as they circled out of range, trying to reorganize themselves and call in additional forces to challenge us. I did not hear Firefly’s initial call to the Captain, as the latter deliberately kept me out of that loop, perchance worrying that I might not be able to obey orders instantly if I started conversing with my daughter. I did, however, hear the order to launch lifeboats, which meant that against all odds, the battalion had survived and there were soldiers to be rescued!
I could not dwell on that fact or my fervent hope that my daughter and grandson were amongst them, as I kept our gunners busy and listened to our first casualty reports; the air wing had already lost a dozen flyers and one of the Magus lightning bolts had speared through one of our belly hatches to knock out the gun and its crew stationed there.
Healer teams were dispatched whilst I listened to Flash Fix frantically exclaim that the drain on the central crystal was worse than expected—“I dinnae think we can maintain charge for more than another two minutes, sir!”—forcing me to order the magical ballistae to shut down and the conventional cannon to take over the bulk of our barrage, saving our biggest and best guns for later.
Unfortunately, that was soon the least of our worries as lookouts reported a large force of Talons inbound from the south. But before I could warn the Captain, Lieutenant Commander Sterling Silver, acting Captain of the Duty, beat me to it as her transmission was overheard on the bridge.
“Ma’am? We’ve got trouble!” she called. “Fresh Gryphon cohort approaching from the south!”
“I see them,” Shady acknowledged evenly, having never once raised her voice whilst giving orders in the opening stages of the battle. “Commander Tailwind, they’ll be going for our ballonets. I believe you know what to do?”
I could all but hear the smile in her voice, which ‘twas one I now shared. I did indeed know, as ‘twas one of the scenarios we had planned for. “’Twould be my greatest pleasure, ma’am!” I answered, then issued new orders as Ensign Kusema reported the first loaded lifeboat was taking off; its crew warning us it was full of wounded and immediate healer support would be needed for several critically injured ponies.
“Inform sickbay to stand by. They’ll have to perform triage right on the boarding decks. All crew, clear the upper observation platform and head below decks! Flash Fix, prepare to silence our ballistae on my orders and redirect the full power of the armament crystal energy to dirigible defenses!”
“Full crystal power to the dirigible defenses? Are ye daft sir? We’ve never tried that!” He sounded shocked, and this time, he wasn’t just affecting airs. “The overload could burn our ballonets to a crisp!”
“And so could mages with fire and lightning spells!” I rejoined as the call from Shady came in again.
“All ships! Gryphon counterattack imminent! Cohort inbound from the south! Take defensive posture and prepare to repel boarders!” her voice sounded over general quarters.
I let those words sink in for a moment. “You heard the Captain, Commander! ‘Tis certain our standard defenses will not suffice against such numbers! Transfer power to the dirigible balloons on my orders, and then take up arms! Protect engineering and the main power crystal at all costs!”
“Aye-aye, sir!” he acknowledged unhappily. There was a brief pause, and I could then hear him hissing out his next words through gritted teeth, which I took to mean he was now wielding his broadsword in his mouth. “They won’t take down my bairns, or this ship!”
“Good stallion,” I unconsciously echoed Shady’s usual compliment to him, deploying my own wingblade for my good left wing. “Mister Sora, using lateral propellers, rotate ship twelve degrees clockwise and dip us fifteen degrees to starboard! Let’s bring all our port cannons to bear! We’ll give them one final volley of our magical ballistae before shifting power,” I informed all, waiting for Sora’s acknowledgment. I couldn’t see his face, but I could hear a slight tremor in his voice as everypony but him stood up from their stations, ready to enter combat the instant the first gryphon figure was seen breaching the bridge doors.
That done, ‘twas time for more direct action. “All port guns, target the inbound force with starburst shells, conventional cannons fused to detonate at 100 yards and magical ballistae at 200 yards! Lifeboats and air wing, hold position below the Loyalty until volley released!” I further ordered as I heard Shady instruct the Duty and Vigil to increase speed and circle the Loyalty at slightly different altitudes, keeping the skies above it clear by catching any attackers in a crossfire that would also keep the two smaller ships out of the line of fire from each other’s guns.
Acknowledgements were received, and I waited until I saw the lifeboats stop and the gryphons had closed to within one hundred yards. “All port guns! Fire!” I ordered, and our guns answered instantly with another deafening roar that shook the ship as well as the air around us; a series of physical and magical projectiles bursting among the surprised gryphons to good effect.
Starburst shells were—and are—cannonballs that could be rigged to explode at a certain range, though that was more a function of time than distance, as the fuses had to be cut to a certain length in order to gain the effect. Even the magical ballistae had a variant of it through means I didn’t entirely understand, but they worked quite well as the lead gryphon forces were hit hard and then tried to scatter, our barrage sending nearly fifty occasionally badly mangled bodies raining to the ground below.
Despite their losses, they did not break their formations for the most part, half heading for the ballonets and the remainder trying to invade our various decks. “Flash Fix? Transfer power now!” I ordered as the first calls came in of gryphons on the upper decks.
“Transferring power… now!” he called back, and then I heard him give one last order to his crew to cover the doors to engineering before his connection was cut.
The mythril filaments that were woven around our ballonets instantly crackled with raw magical energy. They served two purposes: one was defensive, to channel a shield spell to protect our dirigible balloons; the incantation normally powered by energy from our engines and sufficient to deal with saboteurs or perchance even more minor raids like the Harpies might launch. I ordered the protection level ramped up here with additional power fed from our main armament crystal, to as yet unknown danger. And the other purpose?
As a damaged-but-intact two centuries of Talons descended on the ship with half headed for the ballonets, giant pink sparks erupted from the intersections of the filament web that covered them, magical electrical discharges that automatically reached out upwards and laterally for conductive bodies, whether they were living or metal, acting as what Corps weather teams would call scattershot bolts that made a very effective close defense. A few sparks even scoured the upper observation deck where I’d spent an hour or more earlier, slaying any gryphon soldiers unfortunate enough to have landed there.
The upper gryphon century recoiled en masse, with a score more falling wounded or dead to the ground. A lookout reported that an attached Magus Knight attempted to strike back with lightning of her own, but the enhanced shield spell prevented damage and the eruption of more sparks in its wake forced her to retreat, her own shield spell barely surviving the onslaught.
Still, I saw—and smelled—the mythril filaments starting to smoke, so I ordered Flash Fix to drop the crystal feed to quarter-power, hoping that the object lesson we’d given the gryphons on the danger of attacking our dirigible balloons directly would discourage them from trying again. I got only a very terse acknowledgment back, at which point I had no more orders to give.
For the entire bridge crew was shortly fighting for our lives against the Talon boarders.
As we return to the naval hospital late this night, I find you have written this, Father, and that the effort apparently exhausted you as I came in to find you lying on your back with your head propped up and the quill and parchment lying on your chest, the former having fallen from your open muzzle. The attendants also tell me you elected to forgo your dinner to write. I know you are an Admiral, but methinks you cannot simply order away your body’s needs!
But I am impressed with your latest entry, which shows much of how Naval ships operated back then, and even now. Joining me is Gavian, fresh from having his Kingdom citizenship returned. The Queen seemed very interested in him, and the fact that Ambassador Kaval personally presented him silenced much of the neighsaying about him, as my good friend and former foe pronounced him both a skilled artist and a mighty warrior, claiming that “there are few more honorable than he.”
The Queen then asked to interview Gavian alone, which she did. I am not privy to what was said, but Gavian must have impressed her as he emerged with not just his citizenship returned, but a preliminary sketch of her, which he promised he would turn into a full painting ‘in all her regal glory’ before her departure in three days.
But as Gavian has returned along with me, he wishes to continue his tale of the battle, and the duel he fought with Nael. Somewhat surprisingly, he tells me that he drew inspiration from that battle as he was speaking with the Queen, and wishes to explain why in further detail here.
—Firefly
Thank you, Mother. For the inspiration, methinks it goes back to what I said earlier about recalling the courage and confidence I felt at that moment as I faced mortal combat, and then simply drawing upon it again as I faced the Queen of my race and attempted to perform my art for her.
Out of respect for her station and the honor she showed me, I will keep what was said between us private, except that she wished to know—from my own beak—my story. She was impressed by its telling, and in the end, after testing both my sword and my pen, said she found me worthy of both my heritage and blade!
The duel with Nael was neither the first nor last time I fought in the war. Far from it, in fact. Yet ‘tis the fight I remember the most, for in my mind, in many ways ‘twas my most perfect battle, for the reasons I will now describe.
—Gavian
Outpost Epsilon
Storm Cloud Vault
Pony/Gryphon Border
September 2nd, 1139 AC
0554 hours
Methinks ‘twas only when Nael approached me that I understood how big he truly was.
With both of us reared up, he stood nearly twice as high as me, and even not counting his heavy Fortis Knight armor, he likely outweighed me four to one. ‘Twas certain as well that the difference in strength between us was enormous—he swung his massive axe with ease even though ‘twas certain I could barely lift it. Its shaft was as long as my entire body; each of its blades larger than my head.
And yet, I did not flinch, for I knew I could avoid it. Its large length meant there were only a limited number of means by which he could use it; mostly an overhead strike or a sideways swing. He could also thrust it, as it had a pike on the end, but I considered that less of a threat. Compared to the speed that the wingblades of Mother or Mentor could strike with, it may as well have been moving in slow motion.
I dodged his first strike with a backflip, then brandished my blade, speeding in to land an initial strike of my own; a ranging attack that struck but did not penetrate his armor and was more meant to determine his reaction times and how he would respond to the blow. He was not able to dodge or block it, but nor did he try, instead whipping his axe over to bring it down on my head. But I saw it coming ‘a mile away’ as I’d heard another earth pony term given, and darted behind him, following that up with a rapid succession of whirling slashes, each hitting progressively further up his metal-clad body.
Once again, none penetrated his excellent armor, though they certainly rattled him, and I was greatly gratified to see a look of genuine surprise on his face as he beheld my true speed and striking power; one Swift Strike had so carefully cultivated within me. Even the Ravens looked impressed, as several were speaking to each other in low tones, perchance discussing how best to slay me themselves.
If I had my way, they would not get the chance. But Nael this time surprised me as he was able to bring his axe around on me far faster than I thought he could—he’d been holding back!—whipping it backwards so I was forced to take the blow against my blade braced by my arm. I just barely hung onto my sword as I was knocked nearly ten paces back, but kept my balance.
“Die, traitor!” Nael pressed his advantage by charging in and taking to the air briefly for the first time to add momentum to his axe, bringing it down hard on the place I’d just been. But I once again escaped, using a single wingbeat to dart away laterally, intending to strike again whilst his weapon was down. But even in that short space of time, Nael was already bringing it up and around for a second strike, forcing me to dodge once more. He launched a forward slash, and then immediately reversed into a backwards one, forcing me to take the blow on my sword again, leaving me praying my Raven blade would hold.
It did, but I was once again knocked backwards and this time, flat on my back, forcing me to hurriedly flip up and away with my wings to take me out of his striking range. Once I’d recovered my bearings, I reversed course and charged him at full speed—or so I let him think.
I sped up even further just as I reached him, disrupting his timing and making his latest strike find only air whilst I went for his unprotected head, landing two strikes to both sides of his skull, the first rattling it through his helmet and second penetrating his armor at the very edge to reach his upper cheek below, a line of red quickly forming there.
“Die, murderer!” I rejoined, and knowing that I finally had him off-balance, I went for the knees of his hind legs next, trying to get them to crumple. They did not, but they disrupted his stance enough to preclude another axe strike, and this time I attacked upwards, my sword tip carving a furrow in his chest armor and then striking his chin, leaving a bloody cleft before I flipped in the air and dove on him again, this time landing a strike near his shoulder, trying to cripple a wing.
I was now fully confident in the fight outcome—perchance overconfident. I was indeed ‘running rings’ around him and his clumsy axe couldn’t find me. I hadn’t scored a truly deadly blow on him yet, but I was chipping away at his armor and my blade would find a way through it eventually. ‘Twas then he brought his axe around in another broad lateral swing I could easily avoid, which I did, leaping over it and readying to strike again. But I realized too late ‘twas a ruse as he’d swung it in one set of talons to free up his others; his left talons curling into a fist and finding the left side of my forehead, just missing my eye.
I was just barely able to turn away so my helmet took the brunt of it, but it was knocked off as I was sent sprawling, the powerful blow sending me twenty paces backwards through the air, stunned and bleeding from a fresh wound on my head.
“Gavian!” This time, I heard Mother’s call as she was now watching. With the evacuation of the battalion’s wounded and non-flyers completed, their withdraw left under the protection of Osprey’s platoon and several squadrons of naval pegasi, she had joined the cavern defense. She had planted herself in the middle of the pony battle line, to no surprise, intending to retake command to help fight off the Knights herself.
If all went well, ‘twould not be necessary. “Stay back, Mother!” I told her as I picked myself up again, blood from the wound flowing in a narrow stream down the left side of my face, bracketing my eye. “He is mine!”
“Mother?” Nael repeated derisively, to equal sounds of revulsion from the assembled Knights. “You call a leaf-eater pony your mother? How disgusting! Then you truly are unworthy of your race!”
The initial response I gave to that is too profane for these pages, so I will only repeat what I said after. “Disgusting, you say? My real mother abandoned me for being too small! Forced me to steal and scavenge from age six! Left me cold and hungry and wondering what I did to deserve it! Eventually forced me to whore myself out to a raider mistress!” Methinks my voice got louder and eyes blazed brighter with each phrase I spoke. “But the ponies took me in! Cared for me! Gave me a place and a purpose! Let me know family and friendship!” I told not just Nael, but them all.
‘Twas then I switched to Equish, wanting my next words to be understood by my pony friends.“You want to know why I side with them, Centurion? ‘Tis because they fed me! They schooled me! They let me become an artist and find a place amongst them! They even taught me the very combat style I’m now using against you! Let me become the warrior I always dreamt!” ‘Twasn’t entirely true as Swift Strike would say I developed my hybrid style on my own, but ‘twas also true that I couldn’t have developed it without him or all the practice I got with him, Mother and others.
“Methinks they have earned my loyalty, whilst all the Empire did was treat my life and talents as worthless! So as far as I am concerned, Centurion, you have it backwards! I am not unworthy of my race! My race is unworthy of ME!” I proclaimed to outraged shouts from the Knights who understood me offset by cheers from the Corps and Naval soldiers; the contest between our two sides now reduced to myself versus Nael.
With that, I resumed my guard stance and beckoned him forward with a goading motion of my talons. “So let us finish this! The sooner I slay you, Centurion, the sooner I may leave with my mother and all my friends!”
Nael was now seething. “Impudent young cub! Neither you nor your so-called ‘mother’ will leave this cavern alive!” With that, he charged me and our battle resumed once more.
Methinks I can only marvel at the turn of events, Captain, but perchance ‘twas indeed for the best, as it gave us a chance to deal with the outside forces. Trying to evacuate you in the chaos of the gryphon counterattack would have been a bloody and likely failing proposition. Which was not to say that our victory was assured without it!
‘Tis now noon the next day. I am shortly returning to Stalliongrad along with the Loyalty, which remains the flagship of Battle Group Capricorn to this day. ‘Tis a strange feeling indeed to find ourselves anchored in the air beside a gryphon airship, the GKS Arnau and her escorts, which brought the Queen and her court to Canterlot. I can remember many such instances during the war where such proximity would have meant we were exchanging cannon volleys and attempting to bring down the other, but now?
Now, we tour each other’s ships and our crews engage in some friendly but intense competition, whether aerial duels between our air wings or contests of cannon accuracy.
Here at the start of the war, however, ‘twas only Equestrian airships in the skies, and despite all the Royal Navy’s inexperience and oft-times questionable combat worthiness, those ships and their crews would become an integral part of the war effort, starting on this bloody second morn of war.
—Commodore Shady
EAS Loyalty
Airspace over Outpost Epsilon
Pony/Gryphon Border
September 2nd, 1139 AC
0556 hours
“All ships! Gryphon counterattack imminent! Cohort inbound from the south! Take defensive posture and prepare to repel boarders!” I called out over the general quarters crystal.
Methinks I’d been getting pretty good at switching crystals rapidly, though I also began to wonder then if the Office of Magical Research could come up with a way for single crystals to cover all communication channels instead of just two or three. In any event, there was little time to consider such things, and no more orders I could give as the cohort descended; ‘twas now in the hooves, horns and wings of the individual ship crews.
Which was not to say the numbers couldn’t be whittled down. I listened in satisfaction as Commander Tailwind took care of that on his end by turning and tilting the ship to bring all the port guns to bear, whilst I ordered our air wing to stay out of the line of fire. “Lifeboats! Cease approach! Hold position by the cavern entrance! 1st and 4th groups! Stay clear of the Loyalty! Protect the lifeboats but be ready to attack the gryphon formations on my signal! Duty and Vigil! Increase to half-speed and orbit the Loyalty at a distance of 500 yards; the Duty at 200 feet higher than the Loyalty and the Vigil at 500 feet! Target any gryphons who attempt to hit us from above!”
I waited for acknowledgements and the ships to start visibly obeying my orders before shifting crystals again. “What’s the status of the cavern battle, Phantom Flight?” I asked next, wondering why I wasn’t hearing much from there.
I was half afraid she wouldn’t answer because she was dead, but her voice came back immediately, if somewhat quietly, like she didn’t want to interrupt something. “Uh… methinks you’re not going to believe this, ma’am, but… we’re not fighting! We’re watching a duel!”
“A what?” Of all the answers I might have received, methinks ‘twas the least likely short of the gryphons inviting us to settle our differences over tea and crumpets! “Between who?” I asked, only to have the answer drowned out by the roar of the Loyalty’s guns as they opened up again on the approaching gryphons. “What was that? Repeat your last, Lieutenant Commander!”
“I repeat, the duel ‘tis between my son and the gryphon commander, Captain!” A very terse Firefly answered in Phantom Flight’s place; methinks I could hear the fear in her voice. “He convinced their Centurion to fight him! We cannot leave until the battle is decided, or the Knights will attack and my son will be slain! The terms of the duel are such that if my son wins, we will be allowed to leave the cavern unmolested—if they keep their word!”
“Understood,” I answered equally tersely, wondering how in the name of Luna’s moon he pulled that off and if such an unlikely deal could even be trusted. “Commanders, the gryphons are counterattacking our ships! Our time runs short, so prepare to withdraw from the cavern on my orders, regardless of whether the duel is done!” I told both Firefly and Phantom Flight, and then prepared myself to meet the gryphons, looking around to see my improvised personal guard also ready to receive them.
“Aye-aye!” the pair of acknowledgements came back as I watched the gryphons recoil from the volley but then quickly reform their ranks, if down a tenth of their numbers, a century each heading for our escorts. Of the remainder targeting the Loyalty, half went high for our ballonets and the other half attempted to storm the ship directly.
‘Twas not the tactics I would have used in their place, as they were splitting their forces and hitting us from the flank, instead of concentrating their landings against our more vulnerable bow and stern, but perchance they were simply uncertain of what our weaknesses were and sought to hit everything at once in hopes of finding one.
‘Twas then that the dirigible defenses were activated with a crackling sizzle; from the pinkish hue of the arcing bolts and faint wisps of bluish smoke coming off them, twas clear that Tailwind had—very dangerously—ordered the full power of our armament crystal diverted to them.
I could only imagine the fit that Flash Fix was throwing over that, but ‘twas a necessary risk given the several gryphon mages and several hundred Talons they were throwing against us, and I found myself praying that the mythril filaments woven around the dirigibles could take the overload.
To my relief, they did, as another score of gryphons were caught by the bolts and sent plummeting, paralyzed or dead from the electric shocks whilst the Magus attacks failed to penetrate the ballonets’ magical shields. Abandoning their efforts to take us down by destroying the dirigible balloons, they then attempted to board us with all their remaining troops.
“Air Wing! 1st and 4th groups! Engage the Talons! Use your speed and whittle down their numbers with crossbow shots and hit-and-fly attacks; do not try to fight them squadron to squadron! And do not rise above the level of the Loyalty decks!” I told them, awaiting acknowledgment from the group leaders, who came out from behind the Loyalty from below, avoiding the still-sparking ballonets above. That gave them a disadvantage as they would not be able to dive on the gryphons, but I hoped their crossbows combined with the disorganization wrought by our guns and defenses would allow them to drop a few more decades.
They had mixed results; as I watched, fifteen gryphons but an equal number of our troops fell in seconds before an 80-strong century turned on our air wing, trying to clear the sky of them whilst the remaining troops streaked in towards the Loyalty and began attempting to storm our upper decks.
The former was met by the outside platoon of Corps soldiers, who proved far more deadly to the Talons in aerial combat than our own, whilst the latter encountered a barrage of unicorn arrows and spears lancing out from cannon ports and hatches. The return fire from their crossbow bolts didn’t find much through the narrow openings, though they did finally drive our archers back.
‘Twas then that a gryphon turma noticed us on the lower decks, and guessed from my formal Captain’s attire and escort that I was somepony important. At their Decurion’s order, they made for us and our unicorns opened up first with their longbows, as I reared up and drew my sword.
Only one arrow struck home, sending a low-ranked Talon spiraling to the ground with a wounded wing, whilst the rest launched a crossbow volley that hastily raised unicorn shields but barely deflected.
“Get back, Ma’am!” A voice said from beside me. Its owner was Cutlass Cleave, acting as my personal bodyguard and armed to the literal teeth with multiple blades strapped to her side, loaded crossbows on each of her forehooves, and her namesake in her mouth. Four burly earth ponies, two mares and two stallions armed with spears, swords, and crossbows accompanied her—‘twas certain she’d never been one to coddle colts; if you worked under her, you were expected to be able to fight—as well as four hoofpicked unicorns she promised me were both steady under fire and deadly accurate.
Methinks I was given cause to wonder how true that was when their second volley found no targets and one stepped forward only to slip hard and hit her head; her shield faltering and longbow falling to the ground with a clatter.
‘Twas then I realized—’twas my doing! My bad luck was infecting them, I knew beyond any shadow of a doubt, and thus, my only option was: “No! All of you get back and stay back!” I ordered them, stepping forward out of their protective umbrella.
“But ma’am—!” Cutlass Cleave was shocked. “They’ll kill you!”
“It matters not!” I shouted back. “No time to explain, but do not try to defend me! If they want me, I’m here! I will be the bait; strike targets of opportunity and defend the hatches! Do not let them reach the bridge!” I instructed, not knowing my orders were already too late and the bridge crew was now fighting for their lives.
Methinks at that moment, I was making what I felt was a necessary sacrifice to keep the rest of my crew from dying in a futile attempt to save me. I believed that Commander Tailwind could take over in my place and my final act would be to spare my ship and crew the seeming bad luck curse that had haunted me my entire life. I did not yet know its nature or how it could also work for me, but an education was shortly to follow for both pony and gryphon alike.
‘Tis now evening as I finish penning this latest section, and ‘twould seem our return to Stalliongrad will be delayed. The Arnau’s commander has publicly challenged the Loyalty to a war game; a dawn duel in front of our respective regents!
‘Tis an offer we can hardly decline and even the Admiral, infirm though he is, demands a front-row seat. Methinks he cannot easily be accommodated right now, but we will try to arrange it so he can listen in on our crystal communications, at least. And ‘tis to the Admiral that I now pass the quill again, having written the last section in his presence and now recording as he narrates the next section to me as Gavian sleeps.
Even aside from our difference in ranks, ‘tis the least I can do for him after all he did for me.
—Commodore Shady
Thank you for continuing to humor me, my old friend and Captain, and for continuing to provide me company. Perchance ‘tis a measure of my progress for me to say that I am now thoroughly sick of the hospital and its food, as well as being confined to my bed.
The steady stream of visitors makes it tolerable, at least, and being able to work on this gives me something productive to do. In truth, part of me now wishes I had delayed the procedure until after the Queen’s visit, but then ‘tis certain I would have been distracted by my anticipations and fears still longer.
As I reread the still-swelling contents of this chapter, I can only marvel at all that was happening; battles on so many different fronts that ‘tis hard to keep it all straight in our heads. ‘Tis certain we know our own fights well enough, but trying to piece all of them together into a single coherent retelling has, at times, required at least a modicum of guesswork to determine what came first.
Imperial accounts of this action, I am told, will be shared later by Ambassador Kaval, but he insists that for now, ‘tis the pony side that should be heard exclusively here.
—Admiral Tailwind
EAS Loyalty
Airspace over Outpost Epsilon
Pony/Gryphon Border
September 2nd, 1139 AC
0557 hours
It had been the Captain’s hope that we could get in and out in five minutes; get the battalion aboard, recover our air wing, and then flee the scene. Unfortunately, the enemy gets a say in such plans, and to their credit, the Talons were reacting quickly to our unexpected appearance, their reserve cohort unflinching before our airship guns and preventing us from recovering our lifeboats.
Despite their losses to our guns and dirigible defenses, they began storming our ship from multiple directions, perchance looking for a weakness they could exploit or a critical point they could hit.
The bridge was certainly the latter, with its concentration of officers and ship controls—the ship could technically be flown and fought from engineering, but ‘twas hardly a first choice as it lacked the visibility of the bridge—and Flash Fix, who was actually third in command, could not both tend the engines and main armament crystal whilst simultaneously directing the ship. He had subordinates, of course, but in the end, ‘twas certain he trusted nopony but himself to do the job.
In any event, his sole task was now to protect engineering and keep the ship flightworthy, whilst I did the same for the bridge. “Sentries! Take up spears and flank the main hatches!” I ordered our earth pony naval guards first, who hastened to obey, covering the large doors in back of the bridge. “Crossbows! Cover the other entries! Longbows! Take positions on the flanks!” I pointed to various spots on the bridge away from hatches and windows, dispatching our pegasi and unicorns in turn before turning to the helm, where Lieutenant Sora could not leave his post.
“Mister Sora, lock the ship into a hover and draw your sword! Do not let them take the helm!”
“Aye-aye, sir!” he obeyed, slapping a control and then reaching for the blade on his back, drawing it and rearing up in an old neighponese sword stance whilst I brandished my wingblade, awaiting the first intruders onto the bridge.
We did not have long to wait. I had armor-piercing bolts notched in the one-shot crossbows strapped to my foreleg wrists, as I thought an explosive bolt was a bad idea in the close quarters of the bridge. Unfortunately, the gryphons were not so restrained as a series of them blew open the forward starboard hatch, which was one of two that led downstairs to the forward observation deck. I feared that meant that the Captain and her security team had already been overrun, but methinks I couldn’t worry about that now.
Even as I raised my crossbow, a longbow arrow whistled past my ear, fired from the opposite side of the bridge. It impacted the first gryphon in his eye, causing him to slump forward, but then a series of gems were tossed in after him.
“Down!” I shouted as the first two went off—flash gems—which made me panic for a moment, worrying there were Ravens amongst the invaders, in which case we were as good as dead. But two more Talons came through instead, only to meet an immediate wingblade slash from Aries Azimuth, who caught the crossbow arm of one and sliced it clean off through his leather vambraces, to an immediate shriek whilst she and her compatriot fell to a pair of earth pony crossbow bolts in turn—they clearly had not expected our soldiers to be armed with them!
“Get clear, Lieutenant!” I called as more gems were tossed in. But this time, our now-alert unicorns magically grabbed them and tossed them back where they came, causing a series of explosions within the passage followed by several screams. The corridor filled with smoke and I thought maybe we’d driven them off…
Until suddenly the mangled body of a slain Talon was thrown through with several armed and glowing gems secured to his body!
Recognizing the danger, we dove for cover, including me behind my command chair, as a hastily erected unicorn shield contained the explosion. But the effort overwhelmed its caster as Ensign Carrack collapsed to the deck with a cry of pain and a cracked horn, which also took us down one longbow. Taking advantage of our distraction, the remaining six Talons of the decade charged out of the passage with a raucous battle cry, and the bridge became a battlefield.
I immediately leveled my left crossbow and fired, hitting the ranking Talon—a Decurion—in the foreleg, who cried out but still urged his force forward; I knew just enough Aeric to recognize he was telling them to concentrate their fire on me as the evident commander! ‘Twas then that our spear-wielding earth ponies entered the fray, a thrown lance impacting a torso with enough force to impale itself in its owner’s heart, whilst the other was used to drive another Talon—a sky gryphon—up into the ceiling, and then thrown into his comrade, where Aries Azimuth and Sora combined to strike them down. That left three, two of which engaged me blade to blade and the third going for Sora, attempting to destroy the helm, only to find our helmspony was every bit his equal with his Neighponese blade.
For myself, Methinks I was decent enough with a wingblade; I’d even had to come up with my own independent combat style to accommodate my lack of a working wing, but I was still hard-pressed by two scimitars wielded by trained soldiers...
Until a knife with some sort of snare attached suddenly impacted the closest gryphon and somehow stuck, penetrating his armor like old paper before yanking him backwards towards its owner—a hard-eyed Ensign Kusema, who used her earth pony-like strength to her advantage.
She made a motion that caused the strange blade to pop free, and then she whipped it in a wide arc to bring it right down on his helmetless head with a sickening sound whilst I took the final gryphon myself, surprising her with my second crossbow on my right wrist, firing it right into her chest. Her beak gaped open in a soundless scream, as my bolt had penetrated her lung, and no longer able to draw breath, I ended her life by slicing open her throat whilst beside me, Sora slew his adversary, overwhelming the sky gryphon tiercel with his ancient but effective sword style and finishing him with a slash across his chest.
From beginning to end, it had taken but thirty seconds, and though I feared a second strike from the boarders, suddenly our air wing combined with the surviving Corps soldiers were swarming over the exterior, chasing the remaining Talons away and killing the ones aboard. ‘Twas that moment that the forward port hatch opened and… in strode the Captain, looking unharmed except for a few spots of blood that I could not tell if belonged to her or those she had fought, accompanied by Cutlass Cleave and most of her security detachment.
“Captain!” we all cried out, but she simply went to her chair and sat down despite the blood spatters there, magically shifting a gryphon body away.
“As you were,” she told us calmly despite the carnage, and then spoke into her communication crystals again. “Lifeboats, dock immediately! Air Wing! Continue to guard them until disembarked, and then fly combat air patrol in standard patterns! All ships! Set course for Royal Navy Base Ursa and prepare to go to flank speed!”
Methinks I must apologize for delaying your departure, Commodore, but simply ending my fight with the Centurion unfinished and retreating ‘pell-mell’, as I have heard it termed, was out of the question. Perchance ‘tis just my gryphon blood speaking, but my sense of honor and warrior spirit would not allow any outcome to the duel but victory or death, regardless of your orders.
In any event, ‘tis time to complete the battle’s account. Grandfather, I note, wishes very much to see it finished, having not been able to bear witness to it. And thus, at his bedside, I pen my final section of the story.
—Gavian
Outpost Epsilon
Storm Cloud Vault
Pony/Gryphon Border
September 2nd, 1139 AC
0558 hours
“So let us finish this! The sooner I slay you, Centurion, the sooner I may leave with my mother and all my friends!”
Nael was now seething. “Impudent young cub! Neither you nor your so-called ‘mother’ will leave this cavern alive!”
“We will see.” I echoed the words and intonations of my Mentor; ones he had spoken to a Raven who had challenged him in the raid they’d launched to kill me so many months earlier. Methinks at that moment, I was aware of nothing except Nael; my entire life’s work reduced to but a single purpose:
Slaying him and saving my family.
True, I knew I was between two opposing battle lines that might engage each other—and me—at any moment, and I knew there was an airship outside waiting to whisk us to safety whose departure could not be long delayed. But I cared not. All I did care about was my sworn oath to repay my blood debt; to defend Equestria… and prove to this veteran Fortis Knight that I was every bit the warrior he was.
The warrior he claimed I could never be.
A proof that could only be offered with my victory, in a duel which still very much hung in the balance. “I will see that you die!” he retorted, and with that, he charged me and our battle resumed again.
To the likely horror of my mother, I didn’t immediately move this time as the Centurion bore down on me, bringing his massive battle axe to bear in an overhead strike yet again.
“Gavian! Move!” I heard Swift Strike shout in a rare note of panic, but I didn’t, deciding I’d take this blow head on just to prove that I could. I saw the smile on Nael’s face as he recognized my intention, believing his strength would overwhelm me…
But whilst an earth gryphon’s strength is in their legs and torso, a sky gryphon’s is in their wings. Though mine had been severely stunted until recently due to malnutrition, they had filled out nicely in the course of the past year, and the daily exercise and sparring sessions I’d been through had made them as strong as any Wind Knight. So, I simply added their force to my upward block; the impact of metal on metal ringing out loudly but, to the astonishment of Nael and his compatriots alike, my sword parried his axe! I even caused him to lose his iron grip on it briefly!
‘Tis certain that I, too, was knocked back, but the audible gasps I heard from the gryphon side were music to my ears as they finally understood that I was, in fact, every bit their equal or even better! So were the cheers and sounds of astonishment from my own side; the former coming from the Corps troops who knew me well and the latter from the Navy troops who were getting a rapid education.
Nael quickly regained his grip and tried another single-paw sideways swing, but to his annoyance, I simply hopped over it again, using the flat of his axe head as a springboard to launch myself skyward and dodge the follow-up fist he’d floored me with before. I then rolled forward in a spinning slash aimed at his head—an attack I’d invented and was now trying in combat for the first time. He flinched in the face of my rapidly spinning blade and turned away, bringing up the staff of his axe to guard his head.
‘Twas but a feint, however, as I instead attacked his wrist and my spinning sword got through, slicing right through his armor and embedding itself an inch in his flesh, causing him to lose his grip with a sharp cry of pain. I then knocked his axe away, disarming him for a second time as I pushed back off his own chestplate to dodge his retaliatory swipe. Shaking off the blow—methinks he was nothing if not incredibly persistent!—he drew a throwing axe from inside his armor with his good set of talons and sent it whirling my way.
I deflected it with my sword, but ‘twas soon clear ‘twas just a ruse as he used my distraction to rush me on all fours and then take a flying leap, swiping hard with his claws in a slash that would have eviscerated me if I hadn’t leapt back myself with a single beat of my wings to give me added momentum—I’d gotten very good at using my wings to move myself along the ground as well as the air, thanks to innumerable drills and sparring sessions with my mentor. Pushing off with my hind legs and wings, I struck his right arm and scored again, sending a spray of blood off his penetrated upper arm and rendering it useless.
For the first time, he staggered back and was unable to bite off his cry of pain, able to make only a half-hearted swipe at me as I passed.
“The duel is mine! Now die!” I shouted triumphantly in Aeric as I swooped up and then over, reversing my grip of my sword so it was now held in my right set of talons with my thumb on the hilt and the blade pointed outward. I then dove on him with all my acquired speed, adding it to my strike against his throat. Visibly exhausted and his reaction times slowed, he tried to raise his good arm but my blade found its mark and penetrated his weakened neck armor. There was a sharp gout of blood as Nael staggered back in agony and disbelief, clutching at his ruined throat to no avail. For a moment, he tried to clamber after me, but he faltered and finally fell over hard, his lifeblood spilling out on the ground around him.
With that, I sheathed my sword and turned to the stunned Knights. “The duel is mine! Unless any now present object?” I smirked at them all. “And by its terms, all may leave unmolested.”
“No!” The Raven commander shouted. “You broke the terms of the first duel by interfering! Therefore, the duel agreement is invalid! Knights! As the Centurion has fallen, I am now your commander! By my orders, attack!” he demanded, but only his fellow Ravens began to obey as Mother and Swift Strike stepped forward to flank me and the Naval troops leveled their crossbows; the warriors of shadow quickly halting their advance as they realized the Knights were not following them.
“Hold!” the Naval commander, Phantom Flight shouted along with mother to prevent a volley from being launched. “Regardless of his actions in the first duel, my son offered the terms to your Centurion and they were accepted! We kept our side of the bargain by staying when we could have withdrawn!” the latter spoke on my behalf.
“She is right, First Spear,” an eagless Knight that bore the rank of Optio stated in Equish in mingled resignation and disgust. “Even in death, the Centurion’s orders and his acceptance of the duel terms stand. As the duel is done and he only told us to prevent you from interfering in it, we will not stop your teams if you wish to attack. But nor will we help you.”
“Very well! So what is it to be, First Spear?” Mother challenged the Raven with a smirk. “If you and your fellow assassins wish a suicidal fight against my one hundred and twenty soldiers, feel free to attack! But to get to Gavian, you will go through me,” she warned, brandishing her wingblades as the rest of the battalion likewise lowered their heads, snorting and pawing at the ground in warning. “You may slay some of us. Perchance even myself. But ‘tis certain you will not survive. And you will not prevent our escape!”
“Methinks your overconfidence is your weakness, commander!” the Raven said through a clenched beak. “This isn’t over yet!”
“And methinks your faith in your so-called friends is yours!” Fell Flight retorted. “We’re done here, ma’am! We can kill them another day!”
‘Twas at that moment the Naval Captain’s voice was heard again over the communication crystals, ordering an immediate retreat to the airship. “Methinks you are correct, Master Sergeant! Battalion! By the Captain’s order, withdraw to the airship! Naval Troops! Cover our rear! Keep crossbows trained as you withdraw, but do not attack unless they do!” Mother ordered, though she did not immediately move. Before she could give an additional order, Sky Sentry flew out to pick up an unconscious and gravely wounded Stormrunner, blood still dripping off his head.
“Everypony gets out!” he said through tears as he hoisted his fellow Guardspony on his back, repeating his own words like a mantra. “Everypony gets out!” he said to himself again as he flew out the opening of the emptying vault and up to the waiting airship.
We waited another thirty seconds before withdrawing the Naval Troops as well, Mother and Swift strike along with Phantom Flight commanding our rear guard as the cavern was evacuated once and for all.
Well fought, my honorary nephew.
I suppose I might be more annoyed if the outcome had not turned out so well for us all. I wish very much I had gotten to witness your battle, but ‘twas certain enough that I had my own to worry about at that point. I have saved that tale for last, not because I wish the spotlight, but because I consider it less important than the previous actions. For regardless of what happened to me, ‘twould all have been for naught if the other fights had not been won.
I complete this following section just before leaving for the Loyalty, which awaits its aerial duel with the Arnau over the Naval drill fields of Polaris Base. The Captain of the Polaris, Prince Blueblood himself, is said to be insulted that his flagship was not selected, but ‘tis certain the Loyalty is the most famous ship of the Royal Navy, and for it, ‘twould be just as much an insult now as it was then to not meet the gryphons with our best.
—Commodore Shady
EAS Loyalty
Airspace over Outpost Epsilon
Pony/Gryphon Border
September 2nd, 1139 AC
0554 hours
As I ordered my security team back and stepped forward out of their protective umbrella, ‘twas certain I thought my life was to be measured in seconds.
I heard reports of boarding actions across all three ships, and alternately frantic, panicked, and triumphant calls of officers leading the defense, but there was nothing more I could do except defend myself. I thus reared up and drew my sword, taking what is, for a unicorn, an unusual posture in reflection of my equally unusual swordfighting style. ‘Twas a blade art developed a century earlier by a unicorn who had lost the ability to levitate, and though I was not quite in that camp, my strangely stunted aura could not wield or swing a sword with any real speed or power.
My custom saber was designed to be worn on the right forehoof and fought with in an upright posture, whilst the opposite forehoof was used for balance, held behind and above the head, and I did not have long to put that style to the test as the first Talons streaked in, crossbows leveled.
I faced them calmly, expecting a crossbow bolt to impact my head or chest at any time, and indeed, a few bolts were loosed. But none hit, one whistling past my ear and the other, striking the deck between my hind legs!
Amazed at my own good fortune—so different than what I’d known my entire life!—and ignoring Cutlass Cleave’s renewed plea to step back, I marched forward to expose myself further as the Talons began to swoop down, blades leveled. But the lead one misjudged how much space he had between the deck and ceiling to hit his forehead hard on an overhead beam, the speed of his own passing and eagerness to slay me knocking him out to say nothing of head over heels, sending him hard to the deck. He slid along the wooden floor until he ended up right in front of my dumbfounded security detail, who slew him with ease after.
Two more Talons then appeared, crossbows armed, targeting me. But the lead one’s weapon all but exploded in her grip as the drawstring snapped upon release, badly bloodying her talons and causing her to drop the weapon with a cry of pain, whilst the second landed on a splintered board the first dead Talon had left when he fell hard there and caused it to give way, sinking into the surface. Stunned and off balance, she was swiftly slain by my sabre via a stab through the neck.
At that point, I might have had an inkling as to what was happening, but I could give it little real mind as a fresh decade of Talons appeared. Approaching more carefully now, several lit onto the deck, trying to bracket me with their crossbows only to be cut down by unicorn longbows fired from the hatches behind me that they had been unaware were there. And when the rest of the decade backed off and tried firing explosive bolts from range, forcing me to withdraw, the explosion of the first against the side of the ship sent debris into the path of the others, detonating them prematurely, though they still made my ears ring and sent some fragments into me; a couple spots of blood appearing on my white dress uniform.
Perchance ‘twas then that I realized—’twasn’t just ridiculous luck. ‘Twas me! ‘Twas the seeming jinx that haunted me all my life turned into a weapon not against me, but against my foes! I had never even imagined such a thing could be a boon to me, but the evidence ‘twas there before me as I not only survived, but my adversaries were falling at my feet, my sword and the projectiles launched from behind me finding their marks with uncanny precision as Talons simply blundered or slipped into my path or each other, leaving them easy prey.
Cutlass Cleave performed brilliantly, taking on two Talons at once and slaying each in turn, whilst the rest of the security detail suffered minor wounds but no deaths, their sheltered position combined with my unnatural luck enabling them to account for several more gryphons.
Newly confident and feeling strangely untouchable, I engaged the remaining Talons directly as they landed. I whirled and sidestepped, slashed and thrusted, confounding and surprising the Talons if their disbelieving looks were anything to go off of.
Their surprise was short lived upon seeing the first of their group fall from a slash to the throat, and two on either side of me attacked at the same time, hoping to overwhelm me and find an opening. Normally, such a tactic among those who train together would be sound and efficient, but they clearly didn’t know about my odd abilities. The first Talon’s blade was blocked by the flat of my own, and before she could attempt a second strike, her partner tripped on an uneven plank, his momentum and blade point going at just the right angle that a hop to the side by me ended with him impaling the eagless in the chest.
He stared at his now dead partner for a moment in horror, realizing what had happened. He turned towards me, only for me to stab him in the neck before he could free his own weapon from her chest. Again, the Talons could only gape at the sheer unlikelihood of what they had witnessed.
One of the Talons eventually shook herself from her stupor and barked out a command in Aeric, and the rest moved to attack me once more. I continued to dance and block their strikes, and after another instance of a gryphon somehow cutting off one of his comrades claws, as well as a few trips and falls, within a minute, a score of gryphon regulars were down and the rest retreated as the ship repulsed the attack; I heard an infuriated call from Flash Fix that engineering was safe but “they smashed my still!”, swearing bloody vengeance on the gryphons for it.
The lower observation deck clear except for corpses, and the bridge now apparently secure after a brief but sharp battle, I ordered my team to reinforce them, deciding I would command the rest of the battle from the bridge, heading up the port side passage.
“Captain!” came the cry as I entered to find another half-dozen dead gryphons there along with two wounded crew; my second and the bridge officers had clearly given a very good accounting of themselves.
“As you were,” I said as I magically tossed a slain Talon off my command chair. “All Corps forces, retreat to the Loyalty! Lifeboats, dock immediately! Air Wing! Continue to guard them and then fly combat air patrol in standard patterns! All ships! Set course for Royal Navy Base Ursa and prepare to go to flank speed!”
I heard some acknowledgements come back, and then the main hatches behind me opened to reveal…
“Father!” A pegasus mare in Guardspony armor that I could only assume was Firefly shouted, all but launching herself at Commander Tailwind and hugging him hard. “You came for us?” She asked through tears.
“Not by myself, my daughter,” Tailwind sniffled back. “You may thank Captain Shady for this rescue.”
“‘Tis good to finally meet you, but reunions can wait, commander,” I told her. “We’re not out of this yet!”
“Ma’am! Report from the loading deck: all lifeboats are docked, and our squadrons are pulling back!” Ensign Kusema reported, her odd weapon still impaled in the head of a gryphon corpse by her station, but she gave it no mind. “The cavern is evacuated and all Corps forces are now aboard!”
“Then let’s waste no more time. Tell the Duty and Vigil to form up!” I instructed to her, then turned to Sora, whose own bloodied blade had been replaced on his back and who was ignoring a wound to his hind leg. “‘Tis time to leave! Bring us around on a heading to Royal Naval Base Ursa, and order the group to flank speed! Get us out of here, Lieutenant!” I shouted, scarcely able to believe we’d pulled it off.
“Aye-aye, ma’am!” he replied, and then spun the ship’s wheel around whilst pulling on it at the same time. We heard the thrum of the propellers increase in volume as we made our way into the air, clawing for altitude, turning about to leave the border behind.
“Ma’am!” Kusema called, suddenly shocked. “The Vigil has formed up as ordered, but the Duty is holding position!”
“What?!” I barely restrained a curse, and tapped one of the gems on my chair. “Shady to Duty! Sterling Silver, what in Luna’s name are you doing?!”
“Apologies, ma’am,” came the resigned reply. It sounded somewhat distorted, as though the communication gems had been cracked. “Magus Knights hit our engines with a lucky shot. We’re dead in the air and being overwhelmed by boarders. Even if we could still repulse them, we can’t attain flank speed. Given that, I made the call to stay here and buy you more time.”
“Lieutenant Commander—” I began, but was cut off.
“Captain, with due respect, you can’t afford to slow down for our sakes. If you do, you won’t escape gryphon pursuit,” Sterling Silver pointed out. “We came here to rescue the Epsilon garrison, and that’s what you need to do. Compared to them, an old escort full of half-trained greenhorns isn’t worth much. The Duty is lost, and in accordance with Naval General Order Number Five, I’ve already given the orders, ma’am.”
Several emotions whipped through me at that; dread, horror, and disbelief were chief among these. “Sterling…”
“I know I’m not much of a mare, ma’am,” she said with a resigned air. “Methinks I’ve had a silver spoon in my mouth since the day I was born. Like so many other nobles, I joined the Navy purely to claim military experience. I never expected to make rank, let alone be part of all that’s happened here.” Her voice suddenly firmed. “But I’m here, and I’ll be damned before I let these overgrown chickenhawks have their way with us! Get going, ma’am! And don’t let us die in vain!”
I let out a long breath and nodded to Sora before I spoke again. “Celestia light your path to the Summerlands… Commander Sterling Silver.” I put enough emphasis on the word to make sure she understood that my omission of the ‘Lieutenant’ that should have been the first part of her rank was no accident.
There was a slight pause from the other end. “And may She watch over you, Captain,” Sterling replied, a hitch in her voice at the last-minute promotion. “‘Twas an honor to serve with you.”
There was a sudden cacophony from her end, as though something had just exploded. There was some rustling and shouting, followed by a gurgling shriek, and then a male voice, tinged with a gryphon accent, could be heard. “How valiant of you and yours, Captain,” the unseen tiercel drawled. “Defending your posts down to the last pony. A pity ‘tis all for naught!”
There was a pained snort. “Ah, but I must rebuke you, Optio,” Sterling replied through a cough, seemingly not caring that the vocal channel was still open. As she spoke, I tapped more gems, until there was a projected display of the rear of the Loyalty, and the Duty behind it, shrinking as we pulled away. Gryphons were swarming the doomed and visibly listing escort, even as some that had been pursuing us turned back, unable to keep up with our engines. The gryphons were determined to claim at least one prize this day, even as Sterling’s voice continued. “There are no ponies or gryphons here! Only a series of walking corpses!”
A noise of confusion was quickly overwhelmed by a klaxon, loud even through the distorted communications. “Wha—? What have you—?!” The Optio seemed lost for words as he realized her intent.
Sterling, however, wasn’t. “When you get to Tartarus, tell them Sterling Silver sent you,” she said coolly. “And then apologize on my behalf for the inconvenience!” There was an audible click, and then the channel cut off as, on the display, the Duty was consumed in an explosion of magical energy as the ship’s crystal power core detonated. The ship itself was vaporized from the massive release of magic as were all the gryphons unlucky enough to be near it at the time. We could feel the pressure wave from the explosion rumble through the floor beneath our hooves, shaking the ship.
There were several moments of silence, as all the officers on the bridge bowed their heads out of respect for the lost ship and crew. Then a voice I’d heard only recently spoke up. “Why?” Firefly asked, looking to my eyes more than a little shell-shocked. “Why did she do that?” she continued, the heavily bandaged one-eyed mare next to her seeming no less lost.
“Standard Naval protocol,” I said heavily. “By Naval General Order Number Five, if a ship is in danger of imminent capture by enemy forces, the commanding officer is to destroy it, even if nopony has managed to evacuate yet. That’s been the dominant rule since Luna’s time.”
“But—” Firefly couldn’t seem to accept the rationale, so I continued.
“The Royal Navy has long been the testing ground for new military technology, Master Sergeant. Anything that the rest of the military uses, it likely went through us first. As such, our airships have advances that the rest of the military doesn’t.
“If the Duty had been captured by the enemy, the gryphons could have analyzed and formed countermeasures to our new communications gear and weapons,” I explained. “We couldn’t allow that. Sterling Silver knew the risks when she took command, remote as they seemed at the time. We all did.” I placed a hoof on the other mare’s neck. “'Tis a heavy loss. But we cannot flinch from it. We cannot let every casualty get to us, Commander. If we do, we’d break down completely, and never recover. Now let us see to it that we do not join them, and that their sacrifice was not in vain!”
“There aren’t any great men. There are just great challenges that ordinary men like you and me are forced by circumstances to meet.”
—Fleet Admiral William “Bull” Halsey