//------------------------------// // Chapter 26 // Story: My Little Destroyermen: Walker on Water // by The Atlantean //------------------------------// Grik bodies in varying states of dismemberment littered the deck, some crushed, some mangled by bullets, and some burnt by magic. Most didn’t move. Those that did were swiftly stopped. Wreckage was strewn all over the ship. Frayed stays and splintered wood surrounded the crispy stumps that used to be the mainmast and mizzen, while the masts themselves hung over the side, causing a severe list to port. Yardarms and other recognizable and debris had impaled the deck on their way down, making a mini forest of tiny naked trees near the poop deck. A Guard next to her cried out in pain and dropped. Twilight whirled around and saw a crossbow bolt sticking out from his now-still chest. She clutched covered her own chest in surprise. A couple of degrees off, and it would’ve hit her. She guessed at where the bolt had come from, but there was nobody on the deck other than her swarming Guards. A head poked up from a hatch near the stern. She blasted a bolt of lightning at it, but it dropped from a longbow arrow before her magic reached it. A stolen glance to the left told her that Verun-Kanas’ felucca was approaching from the stern, and her backpack-burdened exec stood next to its corvus, bow in hand. A few seconds later, she bounded between the two ships, adding to the cluster. “I’m glad you made it!” Twilight yelled over the storm. “Top deck should be clear now. I need you to get some guys down the hatches and take the next deck. Here,” she said removing four precious grenades from her belt, “Have Mr. Felts and Mr. Donaghey use these. Don’t forget about dropping down both hatches!” “Yes, Mother,” Verun-Kanas quipped in surprisingly good English as she accepted the grenades. “You take officer area. Go!” Twilight waved to three Guards and dashed up to the hatch where the Grik had poked his head. Like she’d used modern explosives her entire life, she pulled a pin and popped it down the hole and ducked. A red cloud of downy fuzz erupted with a small chorus of wails. The three Guards covered the entry and nodded. Twilight grimly unbuckled her mage-blade scabbards to get them out of the way, kicked the hatch open, and jumped into the fray. ------------------------- “I understand your concern, Shining Armor. Rest assured that I have my top researchers working on a way to bring Twilight back to Equestria. It may take years to fully translate both the spells, context, and ritualistic systems of Star Swirl’s library, however.” “Use a translation spell!” “Translation spells only work on spoken language and pronunciations. Ancient archived spells are neither.” “It’s been months! Surely, you’ve found something.” “We have, although admittedly, it was Twilight’s own research. She can still send letters using the ambient magic of the world she’s in, and that has significantly sped our progress because we now know what to look for. If we can find the spell used to create Star Swirl’s mirror portal, we can possibly calibrate it to reach her. Until then, you need to trust me. Twilight has faced adversity before, and she has a highly advanced crew to look out for her. I’m sure she’s safe.” ------------------------- I’m gonna die! Twilight internally screamed as a Grik slipped on the bloody deck and tumbled, almost impaling her with its wicked claws as she twisted out of the way. She gasped in pain when a long, jagged splinter from the grenaded table stabbed through her armpit and up into her shoulder blade. Her left arm dropped like a marionette with its strings cut, and her right let go of her sword. Another desperate twist saved her by the skin of her teeth again as the Grik slipped on a rapidly-growing dark pool of newly-added blood. CRASH! The Grik that was attacking her howled in pain. It swiped wildly at the new combatant--a Guard, from his tear-blurred appearance--but was quickly cut down. Its final screech ground the inside of Twilight’s ears like nails on a chalkboard. “Princess!” the Guard said, and reached down to her. She threw her right arm at him, which he caught, and let herself be pulled back to her feet. “Are you alright?” “My arm… I can’t feel my arm…” She started to pull the splinter, but the Guard stopped her. “Don’t touch it. We’ll get you out of here.” “No… No… I… I stay here.” She fought the fuzzy, shocked feeling growing in the instinctual part of her mind. “Ma’am, you’re bleeding out.” “So are you.” Twilight gestured to his many cuts. “I can feel my arm.” “No! I have to finish this!” “Ma’am, you cannot use your arm!” She carefully placed her palm on the injury and let magic surge through it. The electrical shock burned her flesh, but she gritted her teeth and finished cauterizing the wound. The world felt almost dizzy. “Well, I'm not bleeding anymore. I told Matt I’d take this ship when we saw there were three.” Twilight picked her sword off the bloody deck and stabbed it into the dead Grik. “ And by Celestia, I’m gonna do it.” She removed her sword from the Grik. The muffled bam-bam-bam of Donaghey’s BAR and sharper brap-bap-bap of Felts’ Thompson sounded through the forward bulkhead, as well as the loud BANG of a grenade. The Guard swallowed. “Yes, ma’am.” “Leave no room unchecked.” Twilight made her way to the back of the room. She threw open a door and charged through with a blood-curdling scream to match the equally frightening screech of a surprised Grik on the other side. A few seconds later, her sword met fleshy resistance, and the Grik was dead. Then, ignoring the other noises that rang through the ship, she looked around. This was the Captain’s quarters, if she had to guess, and also a study of sorts for its occupant. Tablets and charts were scattered along the shelves, next to… skulls. Animal skulls. Twilight immediately thought of Fluttershy and how she would completely melt down at the sight. But she couldn’t take her eyes off the most prominent and common skull--that of a Lemurian, from its shape. She felt the rush of blood to her head and forcibly calmed herself. Then she saw a mostly-empty bottle and a crudely painted sun on the tablet resting in the middle of the desk near the stern windows. The sun was half red, half yellow. The bottle contained a shred of black leather and an assortment of red and gold hair. “No… please… anything but that…” She dropped her sword and dashed to the desk, her heart pounding. “Sunset Shimmer! No! It can’t be!” But the crude sun looked like a near-perfect replica of Sunset’s cutie mark, and the hair, upon closer inspection, was in fact real. So was the leather. It felt like Sunset’s jacket… “Sunset!” There was no stopping the rush of blood and adrenaline this time. Her vision darkened to a deep crimson, and the world fell entirely out of focus. Her brain filtered out everything that wasn’t her. She felt herself pick up her sword, but no longer felt in control. She fiercely twirled around at the first prick of her ears and nearly stabbed the Guard who’d tried to get her to go topside. He backed away, fear in his eyes. That look, one of scared betrayal, flooded her rage with remorse. The red faded from her vision, and her sword clanged back down to the deck. Finally, she dropped to her knees as her mind went into overdrive and the shock actually hit her. Her voice wasn’t even recognizable when she spoke again. “Sunset…”