To the complacent alicorn-pets of the village below, the New Pegasopolis looked like little more than an especially surly storm cloud.
To the Crimson Bolt Company, it was both home and war machine, a masterpiece of nephotecture optimized for rapid raids on a populace that got fatter and slower every year.
Captain Vermilion Bolt, the grandson of Crimson herself, peered through his spyglass at the village. Dirt horses with their dirt houses, and a scattering of unicorns who seemed no better. A few kelping boats on the sad little docks just asking to be swallowed by a storm surge. Easy pickings.
"I expected more gold and jewels on the pinheads," said Fulgurite, his second-in-command, pointing her own lens through the same slit in the battlecloud. Like Vermilion, she was a lean and toned creature, stripped of all superfluous extravagances that the mutant sisters had used to entice the nation and totally silence the voices of true pegasi. Unlike his own striking coat, hers was mottled with greys and beiges that blended with the New Pegasopolis until she seemed part of the ship.
Vermilion spat to the side. It was good manners on the ship; every bit of moisture helped. "Probably left them all at the mutants' hooves before going off to scrape dirt with the other flightless serfs. Figures they would only recognize the superiority of wings if they came with a horn."
Fulgurite laughed, a chattering cackle that had more crow in it than pony, before marshaling herself. "Doesn't mean there isn't still plenty of plunder to be had. Standard plan, sir?"
He gave the skies another scan to be sure before nodding. "Not seeing anything in the air. They must get their rain from some wandering cloud-herder. Colt!"
A runner still growing into his legs, nameless until his first battle, stumbled up to the front of the bridge and saluted. "S-sir?"
"To the engine room with you. Full speed ahead, and start winding up the lightning. I want plenty of shock and awe for this one."
The runner saluted again, nearly braining himself with his own hoof. "F-full speed and lots of bolts, sir. I'm—"
"Hold, colt," said Fulgurite, still peering out at the target.
Vermilion snarled as he turned to her. "You had best have a good reason for gainsaying me, Ful."
"Is spotting the fliers you missed good enough reason, sir?"
Shock outweighed anger at the insubordination. "What?" He scrambled for his own spyglass, then stopped when he spotted the other pegasi with his naked eyes. "Where did they come from?"
"Lifted up from the town like a flock of startled birds, sir," said Fulgurite, "save for how they're flying towards us. Got a flag with them too. May be looking to parley."
Vermilion snorted at that. "You know the traditions as well as I. Tartarus, even the colt knows them. What did our first captain teach us about parley, colt?"
Another near-concussive salute. "Th-there will be no negotiations with those who fly the flag of the mutant sisters, sir!"
"Well said." Vermilion's lips peeled back in an eager grin. "Let me know when they're in bolt range, Ful."
She shook her head. "Captain, you're going to want to take a closer look."
"Why, so I can appreciate all the shiny metal armor that will draw in the lightning?"
"No, sir. So you can confirm what I'm seeing." Fulgurite leaned closer to the viewslit. "Because that is not the Equestrian flag."
"What?" That detail was still too far away, even for pegasus eyes. Vermilion pulled out his spyglass and focused on the banner. A head with closed eyes, spread wings, a field of stars... "Medusa's blood, that's the flag of Pegasopolis!"
"And if I recall the traditions," said Fulgurite, "we do negotiate with those who fly that."
Vermilion nodded. "Aye, we do. Colt."
"Sir?"
"Get Wind Shear up here. If he's not in his quarters, he'll be enjoying the privileges of rank with the female crew. If he wants to stay second mate, he'll mind the bridge while we see what the Equestrians want enough to fly a true nation's flag."
The runner finally clipped himself with that salute. "A-aye, sir."
By the time Wind Shear had composed himself enough to not completely disgrace his ancestors, the diplomatic contingent had flown so close that Vermilion and Fulgurite barely had to leave the ship to meet with them. The captain didn't bother holding back his sneer as he took in the gaudily armored troopers before him. If they could outpace a concussed duck in all that gear, he'd kiss Celestia's hooves himself.
"Greetings," said the one in front, some orange stallion playing at being a flying lump of ore. "I am Lieutenant Flash Aegis."
Vermilion rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes. Captain Vermilion Bolt speaking. This is my second, Fulgurite. Now, you lot flew a proper flag, so we'll hear what you have to say, but we don't have all day for empty pleasantries. "
To his credit, Aegis didn't seem to mind that. "Very well. Do you want the official version or the more personal one first?"
The captain chuckled. "Oh, by all means, let us begin with all the officiousness you can offer."
Aegis pulled a scroll out from somewhere in all that metal and unrolled it. "By order of Their Highnesses Celestia and Luna, Princesses of Equestria and Commanders of its armed forces, the crew of the cloud vessel New Pegasopolis is requested and required to cease all raids forthwith, on pain of elimination from Their skies."
After a few moments of silence, Vermilion raised an eyebrow. "That's it?" Even the section of scroll Aegis had open seemed three times too long for that message.
"That's it," the lieutenant said as he rerolled the missive.
"I see. And if I were to note that the Crimson Bolt Company, as the last true pegasi, spend as little time in the much vaunted princesses' skies as we can manage?"
Aegis grimaced. "That actually leads nicely to the more personal version."
"Oh, do tell," Vermilion said with a chuckle.
"You've already hit that village. Twice."
That took a few moments of contemplation. "What?" Vermilion turned to Fulgurite, who shrugged.
"We've been keeping track of these attacks since they began," Aegis continued. "The first raid was just under forty years ago, with another seventeen years ago. You're basically circling Equestria once every generation."
"All well and good," said Vermilion. "What's your point?"
"We've also kept tabs on the state of the New Pegasopolis. It's half the size of when it first struck Hinnysmouth, and even from here I can tell it's desperate need of a good skydock. You and your first mate look like you haven't had a decent meal in..." Aegis looked them over, and Vermilion's hackles rose at the other stallion's pitying expression. "Well, ever."
The captain snarled. "Just because we haven't grown fat and lazy on alicorn-given pap doesn't mean we aren't fighting fit. You're just not used to looking at true warriors."
Aegis shook his head. "And you're not used to fighting all three tribes at once. As I said, you've hit that village twice, and earth ponies have long memories for grudges."
"I'll fear earth ponies the day they walk on clouds."
"Unicorns can do that."
Vermilion narrowed his eyes. "And I suppose you'll airlift them?"
"If that were the plan, yes. But the plan they've concocted is so much worse than just boarding your vessel." The lapdog actually looked afraid. "Please, this doesn't have to end in bloodshed."
"Oh, I quite agree," Vermilion said with a smirk. "Never heard of anypony who bled from a lightning strike."
"I see." After a sigh, Aegis steeled his expression into something halfway respectable. "So you're going ahead anyway?"
Vermilion drew himself up with all the dignity he could muster. "When Hurricane abandoned his honor and let himself be collared by the flightless, our grandparents left your soft lands with the true legacy of Pegasopolis and Spurta in tow. When he ceded what authority he had to a pair of mutant fillies, we swore we would never set hoof on Equestrian soil again. I will not be remembered as the captain who sacrificed everything we fought for out of fear."
"Very well then."
"Indeed. This parley is over."
And with that, Vermilion and Fulgurite both swooped back towards home, just before the bolt crews let loose some warning shots. In the sense that anypony who survived would consider themselves thoroughly warned.
"Damn, damn, damn, damn!" It took everything Vermilion had to not slam the deck. The bolt crews didn't need the interference.
"Well, we know their armor resists lightning," said his second mate, brushing back a mane that seemed slick and greasy no matter the humidity. "Valuable tactical information."
"Shut up, Wind Shear."
A runner half-galloped, half-flew onto the bridge. "Captain! Engine room says if we keep up this speed for much longer, we'll tear apart!"
"Tell them they can let the thing rest," said Fulgurite. "We may overshoot the target if we're not careful."
Vermilion nearly shouted her down, but then he realized just how quickly the trees were going by beneath them. He gave a grunt and a nod. "We need lightning more than anything. Dismissed, colt."
"Aye, sir!"
Even as the colt ran off with whatever other messages he had in tow, Wind Shear spoke up again from the watch post. "Captain?"
'What?"
"I think they're performing some kind of unicorn witchery on the town, sir. It's going dark down there."
"Then we'll light it up by sparking a few fires." Vermilion jabbed a hoof at an idle runner. "You there, filly."
"Aye, sir?"
"Make sure the ground crews are ready to deploy. We'll be dropping them soon." They were going to get something out of this, so help him.
"Aye, sir." The filly ran off, much more confident than her peers. Gods, what Vermilion wouldn't do for more of that competence.
"Deep breaths, Captain," said Fulgurite. "They want you angry."
He shook his head. "No, they think they want me angry. I'll show them what a mistake that is."
"Captain..."
"What now, Wind Shear?"
Shear hemmed and hawed for a few moments. "You'll have to see for yourself, sir. I don't know what I'm looking at."
Vermilion shoved him aside. "Useless sack of..." He trailed off. He'd never say it out loud, but he wasn't sure what to make of it either.
The entire town was covered in unnatural darkness at this point, a circular pool of shadow in early afternoon. But around the inner edge of that circle, unfamiliar glyphs glowed with with a bloody light. And then the center of the shadow bulged and rose up like a living thing.
Vermilion didn't even look away as he shouted, "Runner! I want every scrap of lightning we have running through that thing!"
Even as he heard hooves pounding cloud, he could tell it was too late. Some of the bolt crews were already sending their payloads at it, either anticipating his orders or just acting out of fear. But the lightning passed through the thing's surface without resistance, sank within, and faded into the vast darkness, leaving no sign of damage.
The shadow gained more and more definition, resolving itself as some impossibly huge pony, reared up and forelegs wheeling. And Vermilion felt a terrible premonition.
"Reverse!" he cried. "Full reverse!"
"No runners on the bridge, sir!" said gods-bedamned Wind Shear.
"Go yourself! By the gods, get out and push if you have to! Quickly, before—"
The great shadow slammed its hooves down, and the New Pegasopolis dispersed like so much mist.
Flash Aegis sighed. Such senseless loss of life. Such horrible magics. And he certainly hadn't helped, even before he was stuck in a healer's tent. Even with his armor's wards, they'd had to shave off half his coat, scorched to charcoal by the battlecloud's bolts. At least his wings were intact.
"I think that went rather well," said Weight Fee, the unicorn stallion who'd helped organized the... whatever that had been.
Obelisk, his earth pony partner in crime, shook her wizened head. "It's foul stuff, what we did, but it did stop fouler. Mind yourself from here on, colt."
"Colt?" The grey in Weight's beard certainly justified his shock.
She gave a near-toothless grin in reply. "When you're a hundred and seventy, we'll see how good you look." The grin became a wrinkled scowl. "But necromancy's a dangerous thing for a unicorn. Us earthfolk can tell when we're going too far. I've seen more than a few of your ilk go off the deep end because they couldn't tell when enough was too much."
Weight rolled his eyes. "Superstitious old crone," he muttered.
"I believe you two came here to report on the battle?" said Flash.
Obelisk nodded. "Like I said, they're dealt with, by all the pain and agony they've caused us over the years."
"And this does go to show that earth ponies and unicorns can lend a hoof in defending the nation," said Weight, puffing out what little chest he had. "No need to put all the burden on a single tribe."
Out loud, Flash said, "We have earth ponies and unicorns in the guard, though not many in command positions. I'll discuss this with the higher-ups when I can move my legs again."
But he thought, I just pity whoever comes to Equestria and only expects to fight pegasi with spears.