Libi was bored.
She'd spent the bulk of the ride goading Reaper Of The Weak until he'd finally succumbed and put the hood back on, this time with the gag attached. Despite the satisfaction of seeing him lose control, she almost regretted it; the short rubber-coated metal rod forced her jaws open and they pressed against the edge of the hood quite uncomfortably. Shackled, hooded and gagged she'd spent the rest of the seemingly endless trip plotting ways to get even with the gryphon once she could get free.
Her mood wasn’t helped by the fact that her bladder was full. Again.
As was normal these days, Junior took that opportunity to flex and stretch his legs, placing more strain on her already thin patience. I'm starting to hate you, she thought at the foal, the sooner I get you out of me and in some foster home the better. He twitched again, almost as if to punish her for her thoughts. Much more of this and I'll just go on the deck. Her lips curved into an indistinct smile around the gag. What a fantastic idea, that was sure to annoy the barbarian carnivore.
Just as she was trying to decide if it might annoy him a little too much, Libi heard movement and talons unclipped the hood from behind her mane, removing the fabric cone and its attached gag. Working her jaw to get the chemical taste of the rubber out of her mouth, she wiped drool from her muzzle and glared at the gryphon. "About time. Listen, you useless excuse for a bird, unless you want to get out a mop, I suggest you let me use the facilities."
Reaper looked unconcerned and just smiled at her. "We've arrived," he said, "and some of your friends have come along to play." He stuffed the hood in an equipment locker, then undogged the big sliding hatch that occupied half of one wall. Icy-cold air rushed in, ruffling his feathers and blowing Libi's mane and tail around wildly. The gryphon hooked one foreclaw around a grab rail, then leaned out to glance around the sky.
Libi dearly wished she was free to move so she could kick the arrogant bird out the door. It wouldn't hurt him, but at least he'd have trouble getting back to the aircraft. She craned her neck to look through the door, eyes narrowed against the harsh wind. Actually, there are engines at the ends of those stubby wings, if I could just get it right he might... Libi's fantasy became more and more bloody, only halting when Reaper come over and gripped her throat lightly with a set of talons.
"As fun as it's been, it's now time for us to go our separate ways," he said.
"Good riddance. I'll be sure to mention your name to the international criminal court," she growled back.
"Perfect," he chuckled, "I think you'll do very well. Now I'm going to unstrap you; don't do anything stupid, the doors to this compartment are locked and we're at ten thousand metres. If it comes to it, I'll toss you out."
Equilibrium hesitated at that; she'd intended to do her level best to buck the gryphon somewhere sensitive, but he did seem very serious. Perhaps he's not that keen on keeping me alive after all? "I'll be good," she groused.
"Good. Now, we must be quick; the pilot tells me that your friends are getting nervous and might be on the verge of doing something silly." With that he unsnapped the restraints and pulled Libi away from the wall, one foreclaw wrapped around the harness still clipped round her withers.
Stumbling, Libi complained loudly as she was dragged to the doorway, falling silent as the opening loomed large. She'd never been that scared of heights, but the lack of a railing -- and the ground being so far below -- made her stomach turn somersaults. They were above a layer of puffy white clouds, the sort beloved by pegasi as building material or simply to play in, high over a patch of mountains that seemed to stretch to the horizon in all directions except the south, where it was interrupted by a similarly endless expanse of ocean.
If it wasn't for the noise and cold it would have been a beautiful view, one striking enough to distract even Libi's bitter mind, if only for a minute. The aircraft banked slightly, the sun pouring in and making her squint. Off in the distance a pair of somethings moved, tiny slender darts coloured the same pale blue as the sky, scratching white contrails across the flawless horizon. One of the darts came closer, close enough that she could read -- if not understand -- the cryptic markings on its wedge-shaped tail. It looked a little like a long-winged bird, a narrow body with slender wings and tail, all the parts twitching like a live thing. Once in awhile she even saw the wings flap.
It reacted to her presence next to the opening, seeming to shiver slightly before waggling its wings at her. Libi turned to Reaper and scowled. "I thought you said I was going home. How am I going to get home in one of those?"
"Oh, you're not going home that way. Look over there." Reaper waved one talon negligently out of the opening.
Libi leaned forward cautiously, poking her head out into the slipstream. Through watering eyes she could just make it out: an ovoid of darkness looking like a marrow floating amid the clouds. Airship? she thought. "Is that the Canterlot Dreaming?" she said accusingly. "You said you shot it down!"
"There's still time," Reaper mused to himself. "Fog of war, my dear. Maybe it was a different airship."
Equilibrium sniffed in disdain. Why I ever believed this barbarian I'll never know. It's obvious you can't trust anything any of them say. She paused that line of thought, getting more cheerful. At least I get to go home in style. She pulled her head back in, grudgingly grateful for the gryphon's tight grip on her harness as the aircraft dipped suddenly and headed over towards the airship. They lost height and were soon flying only half a kilometre or so above the glossy black upper surface.
The Canterlot Dreaming was a bit of a monster as far as airships went, with only some of the cargo blimps being larger. A tapered cylinder, but this profile was modified and turned into a work of art by fanciful shapes and streamers, making her look more like some tropical fish. These all had practical uses, of course: as tail fins, control surfaces or mounting points for the three giant fans that were mounted around her tail end. The hull was coloured with a similar varied set of abstract curves and patterns, making her an impressive sight from the ground.
From above the effect was spoilt a little by the solar panels integrated into her upper surface; here efficiency was king and they were the flat black of the best -- and lightest -- power sources Equestrian magic-enhanced science could produce. She sipped water from clouds and processed it to hydrogen, fuelling the monstrous propellers that moved her around the world. With the ability to fly above the clouds there was no lack of sunlight and the Canterlot Dreaming could stay aloft indefinitely.
Libi doubtfully eyed the little landing strip running down the middle of the airship's back. The envelope was big, but obviously not very strong; there was no way this aircraft was going to land on that without breaking the airship's spine. She felt the harness bite into her flesh as Reaper tugged her off her hooves.
"Hay! What do you think you're doing?" she yelled.
Reaper smiled back in satisfaction. "You've no idea how much I've wanted to do this," he said, taking a step closer to the hatchway.
Libi's eyes widened as the opening yawned beneath her hooves, then started to struggle, trying to get her forelegs around Reaper's foreleg. He was ready for this, and quickly thrust her out of the opening.
The aircraft flicked up and away like it had been jerked up on a bit of elastic, then she started to tumble. With each turn the body of the airship grew bigger, then flashed past, seemingly close enough to touch but forever out of reach.
===
Feldspar watched the approaching dot of the Razorclaw aircraft with trepidation. He sat in his crow's nest high on one of the tail fins, stubby telescope resting unused on their mount in front of him. He was a little unusual for the Dreaming's crew; an earth pony with outside duty. He'd requested it, told his supervisor that he enjoyed the endless vistas and quiet. The job would have been boring to many, but for a pony content to watch the world go past from such a vantage point, it was paradise.
It was rare but not unknown for passengers to visit the upper hull. In a way it was the flyers that were the worst: they assumed they were safe. What they didn't realise was that the Canterlot Dreaming was deceptively fast for such a massive vehicle. While even an average pegasus could outpace the airship over a short distance, flesh and blood wings would tire while the Dreaming's motors would not. If unnoticed a pegasus could be left behind, a lonely fate if the airship was mid ocean.
Rubbing one hoof along his muzzle, Feldspar leaned forward and placed an eye to the eyepiece. The thing had gotten close enough that he could make out the shape now. It looked a little like a beetle; a flattened ovoid with an armoured look. There were four wings, two front and two rear, each with a boxy engine at the tip. The earth pony shifted position, leaning forward against his safety harness and brushing the hood of his padded jacket back to free his ears. Yes, he could hear it now as well; the high-pitched scream of turbines clearly audible over the low thrum of the Dreaming's multi-metre fans.
Eyes still on the approaching aircraft he studied the shape, trying to match it against what he knew of the gryphon air force. The Dreaming had detected the vehicle some time ago, but its sensor suite was only designed for navigation and hardly able to pick out a shape from the radar return. The Captain had called it in anyway; with all the trouble in this area she was taking no chances.
There had been threats and orders from various gryphons claiming authority: do not approach this area or that, do not exceed this speed, do not pick up any Razorclaw citizens. The Captain had obeyed as best she could, and the few hours it should have taken the Dreaming to clear international airspace had stretched to more than a day. They'd already had to fend off small groups of marauding gryphons, including a number who had claimed to want asylum. None had carried any real weapons, and the airship's security force and been able to deal with them.
Not for the first time Feldspar wondered if this visitor was anything to do with their recent influx of guests. The tattered band of ponies had pulled themselves into the upper hangar deck half a day ago, assisted by a fresh contingent of the Dreaming's crewponies. He'd been on watch at the time, although the battle had been little more than a series of dots moving in complex curves at this distance. It had been an amazing escape; there were plenty of injuries, some pretty severe -- especially among the Dreaming's security -- and more than a few pegasi had been killed, their bodies left to the mountains they'd died over. The real miracle had been Ambassador Paperchase; despite his brutal attack, it looked like he'd pull through... although he'd have an interesting set of scars to live with.
"This just keeps getting better and better," he muttered, then tapped the intercom with one hoof. "Lookout to bridge," he said.
"Lookout, this is the Captain. What have you got for me, Feldspar?"
"Sorry Ma’am, it's a Shredder-class gunship." There was silence at the other end of the intercom; even the subdued chatter he'd normally be able to hear was gone.
"You're sure? Sorry, of course you are. Thank you, Feldspar, keep me informed of any developments." The Captain sounded tired, as well she might with the weight of all those passengers and crew on her withers.
Feldspar grimaced and turned back to the eyepiece. He'd had a little recognition training when he'd taken the job as lookout -- really he was there as a backup, made pretty much unnecessary by the modern electronics carried by all flying craft. When he'd seen this year's cruise routes he'd decided to spend a few extra hours brushing up on the various gryphon kingdom's military vehicles; obviously nopony thought there'd never been any trouble in this part of the world, but he'd discovered an interest in these ugly killing machines.
This was one of the troop carrier variants, more lightly armed than the assault models, but not by enough to make much difference. The thing fairly bristled with gun turrets; he could count eight little point defence gatlings and at least two bigger cannon, along with the normal array of missile launchers. They were nothing like the elegant Equestrian military aircraft, but they had a kind of brutal directness that he thought quite appropriate for the average gryphon's personality.
There was a thunderous double bang somewhere overhead, loud enough to make him jerk back in surprise. Sonic boom, he thought, twisting his head this way and that to scan the sky. There... two fast-moving dots at the head of contrails, curving around to intercept the Shredder. These were the ones he'd been expecting, although he'd definitely hoped for more than two. Gryphon Shredders were notoriously hard to stop, built with multiple redundancy and armour more suited to a land tank than an aircraft.
He watched for a few minutes more, then saw the troop door on the side of the Shredder open, a pair of figures in the gap. He frowned, fiddling with the focus to get the image into sharp relief. A gryphon and... a pony, yes definitely a pony. Looked like an earth pony, but the range was a little long to be sure. He tapped the intercom and reported his findings to the bridge.
The Shredder came closer, actually passing no more than half a kilometre over his head, giving him an excellent view of the missile launch bays -- now thankfully closed. That's a troop carrier, he thought uneasily, are they going to try to commandeer the Dreaming? It kind of made sense; with a hostage on board the fighters would be reluctant to open fire, and once the troops were among the passengers it would be well nigh impossible to get them out without terrible bloodshed. He reached for the intercom again, but caught a glimpse of white figures in gold armour standing inside the hangar. The Captain has done what she can, he thought, perhaps it will be enough. From what he'd heard from the crew rumour mill the Guards had been real terrors during the breakout from the Embassy.
Craning his head to keep the telescope on the Shredder in its awkward position, he almost missed the tumbling figure. One instant there had been two people in the opening, then only the gryphon. Gasping he tore his head away, seeing the flailing pony drop away from the Shredder. The sight was so unexpected that he froze for an instant, then his training took over and he stabbed a hoof through the glass cover to press the alert button beneath.
"Pony overboard, port side, four hundred metres!" he yelled into the intercom, the activated alarm automatically connecting him to the bridge and rescue stations.
The response was immediate. Somepony on the bridge had hit the all-wings signal and the fittest and best trained pegasus crewponies would be galloping for the nearest external hatch, followed closely by their non-flying colleagues who'd act to keep the braver passengers inside the Dreaming and out of the way. All along the sides of the airship little winged shapes appeared, folding themselves into streamlined arrows and diving after the falling pony.
===
"This is the Royal Equestrian Airforce Loup-Garou Red One to the unidentified Razorclaw Shredder. What are your intentions?"
"Ah! It speaks. I was beginning to think you were a drone. I am Flight Leader Reaper Of The Weak, of the Office of State Security. To whom am I speaking, please?"
The voice was smooth, almost oily. Echelon took an instant dislike to the speaker, rolling his eyes at the other's pompous manner. Still, if he wants to chat... "I am Pilot Echelon. What are your intentions towards the Canterlot Dreaming, Flight Leader Reaper?"
"I just want to drop off a little package."
I don't think so, the pegasus thought. "If you attempt to close with the airship we will fire upon you," he said.
"Like I need to get much closer," the gryphon said, amusement obvious even over the radio link.
Echelon ground his teeth, then killed his external feed to talk directly to his weapons officer. "What do you think, Willow? If he goes all-out, can we stop him?"
The mare made a strangled noise, then sighed. "If it's just the missiles, then I can probably field most of them with telekinesis, assuming they don't do anything fancy like shoot them off with odd firing solutions. The guns... well, the main railgun has enough range and I'd have to use a force bubble to block them, and you know what that would mean."
Echelon grimaced, then cursed under his breath. Can't fly in a force field, he thought. The instant the field came on he'd lose all manoeuvrability, the Loup-Garou's sleek aerodynamic shape covered by a sphere of impenetrable force. They wouldn't fall out of the sky, but they would slow to a stop very quickly and the Shredder could just move past them to get its shot. If he was the gunship's crew all he'd have to do was keep one of the gatlings on the fighter, make them keep the force field up just to stay alive. Force fields had their uses, but mostly as last ditch defences or for momentary parrying of an attack.
"Well, Pilot, I think you need a little confirmation of the package I intend to deliver. If you want to get a little closer I'll show you. Pull up along the port side and I'll open the hatch."
Echelon thought about that for a second then slumped slightly in his harness. It's not like getting closer will change things for the worse... might even get me inside the reaction time of their point defence rotary cannon, he thought. "Willow, get the missiles into dogfight mode, if he's telling the truth I want to be able to put a shot through the open hatch." Through the hatch and more importantly past the armour...
Echelon was close enough to read the maker's plate on the Shredder's engine pods when the big port side hatch slid open. Quite what he'd expected to see he wasn't sure, but it wasn't a lone gryphon holding on to a single pony. His wings twitched, sending a shiver through the airframe, then he turned his surprise into a wing-waggle to show the pony that he or she had been seen.
"Fine. Hold your position and we'll send some ponies over to collect your guest."
"So you can get some of those Royal Guards on to my flight deck? Exactly how stupid do you think I am? No, we'll drop her onto the airship's upper deck on a line."
Echelon watched the Shredder nervously, keeping pace with the bulky machine and maintaining his firing solution. Having the thing this close to the airship made him doubly worried, but in reality there was little extra risk. With no troops on board the gunship couldn't take over the Dreaming, and if they were at fifty or five thousand metres of range it wouldn't change anything if Reaper decided to open fire. I doubt that thing has that much airtime left, he thought, I know they don't use levitators so those engines must really drink fuel to keep it up. Whatever the gryphons were going to do it would be quick.
It was. The gunship came to a stop relative to the Dreaming and paused. Echelon studied the scene, wondering what was wrong with it. There's no winch gear at that hatchway, he thought suddenly, how in Luna's name do they intend to drop the mare off without a wire? At that point the gryphon picked up the pony and held her out of the hatch, paused for a second, then let go.
Echelon folded his wings and goosed the engines to full power, curving away from the airship and diving after the pony. "Willow, get ready to catch--"
"Hold on chief, I think we should let the Dreaming's rescue teams do their job," she said, as above them the airship started to shed winged shapes like a dog shaking water from its fur. "Also, the Shredder is on the move."
He cursed, realising she was right. They were high enough that a pony-powered capture was relatively easy and, while the Loup-Garou's kinetics could be used for this kind of operation, it would effectively prevent the fighter from engaging the gunship. He twisted his wings and sent them arcing around in a loop and pointing back at the Shredder.
"Control, Red One. Permission to engage," he snapped down the radio link.
"Negative, Red One. Repeat, do not engage. Maintain CAP around the Dreaming."
"Dammit, Control!"
"Stand down Red One, that is an order."
"Acknowledged," he said bitterly. Echelon fumed, but realised it was probably wise. As much as he wanted to lash out in revenge at that callous action, there was a real risk of damaging the Dreaming even if the Shredder didn't turn its guns on the airship deliberately. He reduced power to the engines and started to circle, watching the insectile gunship slowly shrink into the distance.
High overhead a string of sonic booms announced the arrival of the rest of Rainbow Squadron.
===
Panic overwhelmed Equilibrium. The rage she'd been feeling against a world that had left her trapped in this awful country was completely subsumed by the visceral panic of a land-bound creature plummeting through empty air. She'd stopped screaming, having run out of air, and now stared in horror at the sight of the landscape coming up to meet her.
Below her was one of those fluffy, almost solid looking clouds beloved of pegasi. She'd visited Cloudsdale during one holiday, sightseeing around the ancient but ever-changing cloud city with its towering construction so different from that made by land-bound ponies. There she'd been using one of the certified cloudwalking enchantments -- the surface always reminded her of a giant bed -- but even then you had to step a little carefully. Clouds were fragile things, even when augmented by magic. Jump up and down on the same spot for too long and you'd find yourself falling through, magic or no magic.
She reached for that half-remembered spell, holding the arcane pattern in her head before trying to imbue it with power. If this worked she’d need that fragile cloud nature; a sudden stop would kill her just as surely as if she hit the ground. The gap where her magic was yawned at her, the smooth sense of waiting energy replaced by jagged little barbs of sensation, like the dregs of a badly blended wheatgrass smoothie. She reached for them anyway, trying to modify the pattern on the fly to fit what she was able to fill it with.
The mental exercise took her mind away from the fall, so much so that she forgot the biting cold wind until she was suddenly surrounded by fog, rain drops pummelling her fur as she fell through the turbulence. Too late, she thought, letting go of what little arcane force she'd been able to gather. With the rage and spite that had filled every part of her being neutralised first by terror and then by a sudden ice-cold soaking, Equilibrium could think clearly again. Relaxing as best she could she closed her eyes and directed her thoughts inwards, reaching out to the foal that nestled, now doomed to never be born, in her belly. I'm sorry, Junior, she thought, I tried.
Tender thoughts of her foal let her mind drift back to thoughts of her mate. You'll never know what happened to me, she thought, picturing Neighmann in her mind, I'm so sorry to have to leave y--. Seeing his orange fur suddenly brought back other memories that had been carefully hidden in seldom used parts of the Libi's brain; little flashes of orange and chestnut moving in synchronisation in a darkened room, terrible images playing in the depths of hypnotic eyes.
The rage flooded back in and the evil memories locked themselves away into their little nest of neurons, sealing themselves off and disappearing so completely that she wasn't even aware they were there. Libi screamed again, but this time full of the foulest language she could manage, cursing Neighmann, the Princesses and every single gryphon on this side of the planet. She was still cursing when two pairs of hooves wrapped themselves under her belly and a warm body pressed against the length of her back.
"Got you!" a voice screamed in her ear. "Brace yourself!"
The breath whoofed out of her lungs as the pegasus opened his wings and started to curve their ferocious vertical velocity back towards the horizontal. She started cursing again -- this time at her rescuer -- when he let go with one hoof, but stopped when he clipped a thick webbing belt under her forelegs. A little more gymnastics and there was a mesh of plastic straps tying them together, at which point the other pony let go of her entirely. By now the plummet had turned into a steep glide, then with wings whirring they actually started to gain altitude.
"There, only a matter of minutes until we get you safe onboard the Dreaming. I'm Cloud Runner, sorry we couldn't meet under better circumstances," he said, voice showing a little strain from the effort of carrying her weight.
"Libi," she replied shortly. "You took your time catching me."
"Sorry, we had to wait until you were clear of the cloud layer before we could reach you," he said, sounding hurt and confused.
" 'Sorry' won't save me from the nightmares; I'll be talking about this with my lawyer."
"What!"
"I'm sure we can come to an agreement -- and if you pay the claim without contesting it I won't need to file the sexual harassment charge," Libi said smugly.
"Excuse me, princess, what in Tartarus are you talking about?"
"Don't think I can't feel that you are enjoying this... intimate contact." Nothing was further from the truth, of course, but the mare was sure she could describe the flex and shift of the other pony's well muscled frame against her back in enough detail to convince a jury. Such things were very rare among ponies; the scandal alone would be a wonderful threat -- and who would disbelieve a mare of high standing like herself?
"Listen you stupid mare, I can drop you off right here if you don't like the transport arrangements--" he yelled back at her, furious.
"You heard that, didn't you? He threatened me!" Libi said, turning her head to the other pegasus that was silently shadowing them.
Cloud Runner glanced over his shoulder, a look of panic replacing his anger. "She's mad, been accusing me of harassment, for Luna's sake!"
The other pegasus looked back sternly. "We'll sort all this out back at the Dreaming. For now I suggest you keep your mouth shut and fly. That goes for you too, earth pony."
"Who are you calling a 'mud pony', you feather-brain," Libi snarled at the other flyer.
The argument continued all the way back to the Canterlot Dreaming.