Beyond the third door was another long hallway lit by the dim light of flickering blue light. As expected, it ended in another huge empty space, lined by columns framing views of the sky outside. Azure Feather waited patiently as the mist formed and congealed into cloud, becoming solid and vivid as the illusion took hold.
Her initial impression was of a jagged wound torn into the landscape, filled with the trappings of industry and creatures tasked with digging out the fruits of the earth. Ridges and gullies of broken orange rock, rising for tier after tier along a concave cliff face forced into retreat by sustained labour, criss-crossed by rickety ramps, bridges, stairways and catwalks.
The air rang with the crack of picks against rock and the rumble of carts trundling along rusty rails, carrying away spoil. The mine was cut out of barren land, dotted with a few twisted little trees and hardy shrubs; though rainfall was still sufficient to turn much of the choking dust into clinging mud, sticking to the hooves and coats of the miners.
The butterfly-winged unicorn's breath caught as she got a good look at the mine's inhabitants. Hundreds of brightly coloured equines laboured under the watchful gaze of pointy-eared bipeds, using their magic to swing picks and levitate rocks, trudging in and out of the tunnel entrances dotted around the cliff face. A moment's study confirmed that this wasn't a voluntary arrangement; the drow stalked the catwalks and lounged in guard towers, crossbows and spears at the ready.
Every last unicorn bore a heavy collar, shown to be no ordinary yoke when one unfortunate cream stallion displeased one of the guards. The creature raised a pronged device and pointed it at the pony, causing the victim's collar to crackle with energy. The poor stallion screamed with pain, falling to his knees, his field winking out and scattering rocks all around.
The weather made the place look even less inviting: early morning light diffused through a thick layer of cloud broken by only a few scattered rays of sunlight. Traces of mist clung to the mine, mixing with the smoke rising from dozens of crude torches and the chimney of a steam engine, which clanked and hissed as it pumped water from the lower tunnels. A row of squalid, broken-down stabled near the bottom no doubt served as shelter for the ponies - when their overseers permitted them sleep. A small fort on an adjoining cliff probably acted as the local base of the drow.
Azure's own position seemed to be a stream bed, currently dry, creating a small shrub-filled depression that allowed her to survey the site without risk of immediate detection. She managed to tear her gaze away from the sad scene of enslaved unicorns to see... yes, once again two allies had joined her in facing the trial.
To the left, the brown-furred, gold-scaled form of the kirin engineer, Nutmeg Inferno, staring in disgust at the mine. To the right, a lanky green form was crouching in the gulley, shot-gun in hand, glowering at the hated enemy. The troll Abernathy, no doubt ready to take down some dark elf scum, Azure thought warmly.
Azure blinked, trying to make sense of this... a mining operation? It didn't seem so bad, until she saw the collars, then got a good look at the guards... oh no. Not... not this. Not again. She'd seen something very like this before, and although this time there were no familiar faces, frustration grew in her heart and determination filled her mind. At least her allies were impressive.
The master inventor, Nutmeg Inferno, ready to assemble futuristic weaponry at a moment's notice. The first ally they'd found in Skylands, somepony who'd resisted the drow for years: Abernathy the troll. She'd seen the effectiveness of that weapon he bore, blasting away the giant chompy-spawner.
Mentally making note of their combat abilities, she addressed them grimly. "Good to see both of you... it's been too long. Situation report. Anything to note beyond... the obvious?" Frustration showed again. Enslaving ponies on an industrial scale: how dare they?
"Holy Troll!" Abernathy swore, dropping to one knee. He was not happy about being the tallest among them right now. "No time for a situation report. A hundred or more drow, and we don't have long before they spot us!"
Nutmeg looked almost as angry as Azure. "Here's your situation report: the drow don't take any chances when it comes to slave-driving." She gestured to the towers that have a great view of the mine and surrounding territory, then to the drow guards carrying crossbows and electric shock devices.
"Not a chance that we'll be able to stage a rebellion with those collars working, and the moment we try anything brave we'll get pelted with bolts. We're pretty much holed up here if we want to stay unpunctured. It's sickening, but on some level, impressive."
At Abernathy's remark Azure sank to her belly, hoping they could retain the element of surprise. As for Nutmeg's report... the unicorn nodded and whispered back. "As expected. A stealth strike is our only hope. Though... I may have an idea." A slight smile. "Tell me if those collars have a power source... and if so, if that power source is out in the open. The weather may be in our favour if both conditions are true." Think like a pegasus, right?
"Oooh, I like the way you think." Nutmeg chortled. "Okay, let me think for a moment." She paced back and forth, muttering - that was what brilliant engineers did when they were trying to make genius happen, right? Occasionally she stopped to peek out of the hollow, watching the drow use their devices on the collared ponies.
"So, bad news: looks like there's no centralized system to strike." The kirin pointed at one of the drow as they raised their device and shocked a unicorn who'd taken an unauthorised break. "Those 'guns' somehow induce an electromagnetic current in the collar they're pointing at. Likely fiddling with one or the other could make it useless, but I'd need a closer look... and I don't think you'll get any quick fix for the whole mine."
"They'll see me before I get close enough to get a shot off," Abernathy complained, glaring over the lip of the depression they were hiding in. "We're hidden by the mist and shadows here, but as soon as we're in the light of those torches, their sentries will pick us off like chompies."
"Damn. I was thinking, make a lightning bolt, overload those devices, trigger a pony stampede... but if they don't run off a generator..." Azure snorted in frustration. "No sense charging in without a plan, it'd be a slaughter. I'm learning how to control the weather with these wings but... I can't distract all the guards at once, at least not without hurting ponies or making myself a target."
"Drow are cheap trash, just like everything they make," Abernathy said in disgust. "Those collars are just twisted up wires, so that they can electrocute any slave they point their toy gun at. There's nothing powered about them; not like a top quality Troll collar." He shook his head dismissively. "There must be plenty of ways we could sneak in there. Just have to figure out which one and we can end this madness."
Azure racked her brains, considering the spectrum of weather conditions she might create. Thunderstorm? Lightning was unpredictable and the ponies were wearing metal collars; likely they'd get hit instead of the drow. High winds? Tornadoes? Still too much risk of hurting the enslaved unicorns. Although...
"What about a hailstorm... ever had a hoofball-sized ice rock hit you on the back of the head?" She grimaced. "But... I'm not sure I have that kind of control... even if the ponies take shelter, we'd be pinned down as much as the drow..." Her frustration continued to rise. "There's gotta be something I'm missing, some tactic I haven't thought of yet... maybe simple fog would be enough?" she ventured.
Nutmeg mused over the possibilities Azure had presented, her own mind rolling along. An air elemental could create any meteorological phenomenon, right? "Yes, that sounds like the safest plan: we just need some cover to negate their crossbows, keep them guessing. A nice thick fog fits the bill: no side effects, just awful visibility. Then we just keep moving and don't let them corner us."
Azure nodded. "Yes... keep it simple. Fog is our best chance: it's already misty and cloudy, so it shouldn't be too hard to create a proper fog bank, thick enough that the Drow won't see us coming. Need more of a plan than that though: I can't just buck dozens of armed drow, and we're only a squad of three," she admitted.
Nutmeg just grinned, suggesting "Not just a squad of three if we start freeing ponies. Once they have a full-blown breakout on their hooves, they have more to worry about than lil' old us."
Azure smirked at the kirin's plan. "See, that's why I love being in a squad. Three heads are better than one... roll in the fog, then Abernathy and I draw the guards away while you disable the collars. Let's get started." With a nod of approval, the unicorn slowly spread her gossamer wings, pushing magic outward through them. Much as she wanted to take off and hover closer to the clouds, she couldn't risk drawing attention to their position. Reaching out, she could feel a decent amount of moisture already in the air; it wouldn't take much more to hit the dew point...
Azure closed her eyes and concentrated, trying to affect the huge volume of air over the mine. It was a strain, but slowly she managed to pull down vapor from above while also chilling the air just a couple of degrees, enough that the few traces of mist hanging in the ravines grew and merged, forming a blanket of fog covering the whole area.
The scattered torchlight bloomed into eerie glows, while drow and unicorns alike looked nervously around at the sudden change in the air. Visibility steadily dropped until it was twenty metres at best, but the guards seemed wary, alert to the possibility of a canny unicorn taking the opportunity to make a break for it.
"They're not dumb, they might even suspect this isn't natural... let's move fast and be ready to retreat, this won't last forever!" She looked to both of her allies, nervously asking "Weapons ready?" This was it...
Nutmeg levitated her oversize wrench out of its sheath with a dramatic fwoosh, the tip sparking and crackling as she gave it an intimidating swing. "Yep, ready!" she grinned. "What do you say, boss? Should I help distract the drow, or get straight to freeing the unicorns? If you want a distraction, that steam engine looks mighty explodable..."
"That's solid cover, but now I can't see the targets," Abernathy grumbled. "Think we can make this work though. I can't sneak worth a darn, but you two can. Just let me know when you want me to make some noise, and I'll keep them guessing. They don't know how many of us there are." The troll flourished his shotgun, which had inexplicably changed from double-barrelled to pump-action, and gave it a one-handed jerk, chambering a round with a dramatic ka-chunk.
"Nutmeg, that's absolutely brilliant, blowing the steam engine combined with Abernathy kicking up ruckus is going to be more than enough craziness for us to free enough unicorns, get them to free more, and so on until we have that stampede! No time to waste: let's go!" With that the three would-be liberators surged out of the stream bed, Azure leading the charge. Nutmeg just needed to take that steam engine out, then the real fun can begin.
The kirin picked her route carefully, trying to remember the terrain between them and the engine. "Tricky business but I can do it, boss. Be ready to make good use of the opportunity!" With that she peeled away from the others, cantering lightly over broken stone on her cloven hooves. Nutmeg disappeared into the fog and skirted the edge of the mine, keeping clear of the guard towers. A few confused unicorns were left murmuring to each other in her wake, but no time for that yet - she had to stay focused, the drow weren't fools and might sense out something was afoot.
She made it to the steam engine and studied it quickly, then used her wrench to force the air intakes fully open and the release valves shut. It wasn't long before the boiler began to creak and distort, building a dangerous head of steam that had no way to escape. Alas there was no way to keep that quiet, and the nearest guards had already started to converge on her position.
"Hey!" - "No collar... escaped unicorn!" - "Don't touch that!"
The roar of Abernathy's shotgun spun them in their tracks as he emerged from the fog, kicking a dead drow aside and taking aim at another. More ear-splitting reports followed as they fell before him like flies. "Get freeing unicorns!" the troll called out, dodging left just as a crossbow bolt hissed through the air and nearly impaled him. "They can't see me in this fog, but they can sure hear me! Can't keep an assault like this up for long!"
The overstressed boiler cracked and groaned as the pressure continued to build. Two drow had made it to the controls, but it was too late...
"What's going on-" - "It messed with the valve! We've gotta-" - "Run! It's too la-"
With a dramatic boom and hissing roar of escaping steam, the boiler bursts open, spraying scalding superheated water and cast iron shrapnel in all directions. Several guards and, sadly, several unicorns are caught in the explosion, with injuries ranging from burns and cuts through to instant evisceration.
Screams and fearful whinnies mixed with alarmed shouts all over the mine, as several groups of unicorns begun to stampede randomly. Guards started using their shock devices, causing more screams as unicorns tumbled and fell, twitching in pain. All the while the blasts of Abernathy's shotgun reverberated off the cliff face, adding to the confusion.
"Sabotage!" - "Attack, we're under attack!" "Sounds like a-"
Nutmeg's ears flattened at the sheer volume of the explosion, but she stopped to grin at the results. The power of technology, exemplified! With a quick hoof-wave to the troll, she dashed off towards the nearest tunnel entrance, looking for a unicorn with a shock collar. Hopefully she could figure out some simple modification that would render it ineffective - ideally one that the unicorns themselves could learn from and duplicate. Sure, with her tools she could just cut or wrench it off, but there were too many prisoners for one kirin!
The shotgun boomed again, then a distant bell began to clang, as drow in the fort raised the alarm.
Azure was already bucking the nearest drow... but then blinked as she realised that making too much of a ruckus may have worked against them. In any case, now the alarm had been sounded... time was running out! They'd lost a few unicorns already, but sometimes losses couldn't be helped in battle... as much as Azure hated to hear her Lieutenant say that. Ignoring the drow, she took to the air, seeking out the nearest group of unicorns.
"Who are you?" - "What's going-" - "Are you hear to rescue-" - "She can fly! Is she a princess..."
Azure ignored the babble, concentrating on one lime green mare; in particular, the rough wooden collar around her neck. It looked like it was screwed together; from the fur rubbed away around her neck it probably hasn't been taken off since she was imprisoned. Loops of copper wire were wound around the collar, connecting to a pair of foil pads at the nape of the neck that administered the shock.
The thing was crude but heavy, resistant to an average unicorn's hooves or telekinetic pull; careful application of a wind blade could probably saw through it, but it would be a delicate operation; a little too much power and she'd decapitate the wearer. Frantically, she thought it through. Maybe just cutting the wires would disable it?
Just as Nutmeg reached the mine tunnel, a grey stallion ran out and bumped into her. "Run! Run while you c- hey, what happened to your horn? you... no collar! Are we- is this an escape?" No time for small talk; the kirin instead focused on his collar. Yep, simple loop aerial, buildt up a voltage and applied it to those prongs... anything conductive should short out the circuit, render it harmless. Something like... that rusty nail down there. She telekinetically grabbed it and jammed it into the collar. Disarmed, easy-peasy!
Nutmeg grinned at the stallion. "Boy do I have a job for you." She indicates the impromptu nail surgery she just did. "Any pony who stabs something conductive into their collar's wires will short it out - make it harmless." She looked positively giddy at the next part: "Then we'll be kicking some drow ass."
Azure's solution was equally effective, if rather harder to duplicate; a low-power casting of the familiar wind blade, a sudden burst of energy leaping from her horn to the collar, a flinching mare wondering what this crazy butterfly-corn was doing to her, and a thoroughly disabled collar.
From Abernathy's position came another shotgun blast, followed by a cry of pain as he failed to spot a drow archer in time; a crossbow bolt cut across his side before he could dodge. Grimacing in pain, he tried to put the ruined boiler between himself and those damned sentry towers, his back pressed against the twisted steel shell while enraged drow hunted through the fog for any target to fire at, with little regard for their own kin.
A lone guard had found Nutmeg and her new friend. "Hey! What are you- it's the saboteur!" He raises his shock pistol, a scrappy looking assemblage of copper, glass and wood parts connected to a backpack by a frayed rubber cable, and clicked the trigger. Sparks danced around the device's prongs, but absolutely nothing happens to the unicorn. The drow stared in shock, before shouting "The weird one is breaking the collars! Over here, get some archers over here!"
"OK, get to work, unicorn!" A grin was plastered on the kirin's face as she brought her wrench to ready position. "Sorry!" came her battle cry, as she sprang forward, electrically-charged tool swinging down. Foe despatched, she called out into the fog: "Azure! Anyone can disarm a collar themselves by stabbing a nail through it. Let's get these unicorns free before the drow can stop us!"
The stunned stallion watches the dragon-unicorn goddess of war charge forward and strike down one of the hated slavemasters, before turning tail and galloping off to free his fellow ponies. Unfortunately between Nutmeg's jubilant shouts and the dying screams of the slaver, a dozen more drow warriors were able to converge on her position, some loosing crossbow bolts that cracked into the rocks next to her while the larger specimens advance with spears.
Weird one? Yeah, being called a goat, deer, llama and more, hearing a kirin described as a 'weird unicorn' was amusingly tame. Azure nodded and told the mare she'd just freed: "Find nails - rusty, clean, doesn't matter - stab them through your friends' collars - let's get our kin free and fight back against these slavers!" With that she was back to fighting drow, losing at wind blade at the nearest slaver's neck - she'd be taking no prisoners in this battle.
In a sudden moment of self-awareness, the phantom of Nutmeg managed to regret the total lack of inhibition that Azure had imagined her with. She flinched as another crossbow bolt smacked into the rock just behind her, eyes darting wildly as she leapt for cover behind an upturned mine cart. "Alright, if I'm going down..." A guttural yell escaped the fluffy mare's throat as she arched her body, blazing in pink fire from head to toe. The kirin was gone... instead it was a nirik that leapt out, ready to go on a rampage. "...you're all going down with me! And you're going down... in flames!"
The guards shrank back from the demonic avenger come to punish their enslavement of its worshippers, the jet-black equine shrouded in eldritch fire descending on their ranks with supernatural fury. One, two, then three drow were screaming their last as the thing's fangs tore into them, its unnatural flames spreading to consume their body and soul alike. A huge drow tried to bring an axe down on the kirin, only to be run through by an enormous wrench that hurtled out of nowhere to embed itself in the goliath's chest.
Alas, one nirik could only do so much. A lucky bolt caught her in the stomach, throwing her to the ground. Nutmeg's flames flickered and died as reinforcements closed in, thrown spears arcing through the air towards her prone form. "Huuurk!" she cried out dramatically as her fire is extinguished along with her life. Her impaled body collapsed to the ground, a leg twitching before she lay still. How tragically heroic! And heroically tragic!
On the other side of the destroyed boiler, Abernathy looked like he was about to meet a similar fate, putting down two drow before an empty magazine left him vulnerable. A particularly cunning specimen managed to creep around behind and was about to leap with dagger outstretched, when Azure's wind blade cleanly decapitated it, the dark elf's head rolling to a stop at the troll's feet.
"Thanks!" Abernathy said, kicking the head up to knock out the other drow who was sneaking up on his left. Then he ran galumping back into the fog, unaware of the terrible fate of his other four-legged companion. One ally saved... but Azure had heard Nutmeg's last stand. Losses were a part of battle, but when it's a close friend... Azure still hadn't quite figured out how to deal with that. She moved slower now, distracted and distraught but determined to finish this.
And so the battle went on, Azure flying up to snipe the drow with wind blades, crossbow bolts whizzing ineffectively past her darting, fluttering form. The two rescuers had to buy time for the unicorns to free themselves; the odd flash and crack in the fog marked a particularly defiant pony taking care of one of the oppressors. Alas, the mist began to thin before she could mop up the last stragglers, and Abernathy paid the price, taking a dagger in the back from a drow that leapt on him as he passed under a catwalk. The jubilant grin of his assassin turned to horror as she saw the knapsack bulging with spare ammo and explosive charges... and the extremely short fuse he'd just lit. "My brothers, I'm coming!" he shouted, before detonating himself, seventeen evil drow, and a few curious unicorns but who was counting?
After that it was just mopping up. The last few drow decided discretion was the better part of valour and retreated to their castle, leaving the unicorns to escape. The slaves were freed, but at great cost: Nutmeg was gone, Abernathy blown to pieces and dozens of unicorns lay dead, hit by stray shots, speared by guards or caught in the explosions
Azure just shook her head at the scene... no. No, she couldn't accept this. Even if technically this was a victory, in her heart, it wasn't even close. Yes, the slavers were defeated. But Nutmeg's motionless form, Abernathy's defiant suicide, the sight of so many dead ponies... "Don't you dare call this a victory." she said coldly to no one in particular. "The Winds may accept this as a victory, but I can't. Do the Winds want a hollow champion? One that only learns half of a lesson?"
A small group of unicorns had gathered around her, their colourful fur muted by clinging mud and bloodstains. They stared at the strange pony; it fell to the boldest among them to ask "Not a victory? What do you mean, Princess? I know we lost some... but... Princess, what are we going to do n-" He didn't get any further before everything faded to blinding white.
In a literal flash, Azure found herself back in the gully, staring at the mine, with a miraculously restored Nutmeg and Abernathy to each side. She stumbled at the sudden transition, sighing as she shook herself out. That ending had hit her hard.
"Holy Troll!" the reincarnated troll swore, dropping to one knee. "No time for a situation report. A hundred or more drow... huh. Yeah, taking them on head on isn't going to end well."
As for Nutmeg, she looked a little... concerned? Baffled, more accurately. She didn't have the words to describe the foggy memory of her dying breath, or the glimpse of her own fleeting un-reality. All she could do was turn to Azure and wait for instructions. "What's the plan, boss? These drow are... Ok, ok, I'll let you think."
"They'll see me before I get close enough to get a shot off," Abernathy complained, glaring over the lip of the depression they were hiding in. "We're hidden by the mist and shadows here, but as soon as we're in the light of those torches, their sentries will pick us off like chompies. My shotgun is the loudest, flashiest thing out here, so even waiting until nightfall won't help much."
"That boiler needs to be the last thing that goes: we can't endanger ponies... no matter how big a target it is." Azure said flatly. Frustrated, she once again ran through the list of weather effects she might bring to bear. At last she smiled. "Ready for a storm? Those torches won't last under heavy rain. Add some hail and not one guard will want to stay outside."
"Once the coast is clear... gather as many nails as you can, we can destroy those blasted collars by driving a single nail into each. We free the unicorns first, get into position. Then once the battle begins, I'll take care of that damned alarm bell, and any slaver who dares to show their face to me. Again, nail through wires equals destroyed collar and freed pony. Got it?"
"Nails? So we can... short them out, clever! I should have come up with that." Nutmeg said happily. "Ooh, a hailstorm. The drow are going to hate you so much, Azure. You got this!"
Once again, Azure Feather's wings glimmered with magic; the clouds began to churn, the few rays of sunlight disappearing as the storm started brewing.
"So what, I'm supposed to fight with rusty nails now?" Abernathy said, shoulders sinking, "Why'd I bring this along then?" He tossed his shotgun to the ground in disgust.
"Oh, keep the gun, Abernathy. Have patience... once we're ready, you'll have plenty of targets." Azure grinned. Confident in her abilities now, she angled her wings for maximum effect and pushes out waves of invisible energy. The magic radiates up into the clouds, increasing surface tension, turning mist into spray into drops that begin to rain down. "The drow are going to hate me? That's... just fine. Because I hate them too. Slaver scum, the lot of them." Staring up at the sky, she repeated: "No mercy."
Nutmeg cocked a grin. "Never said you were in the wrong about that. Make 'em pay, Azure."
"Right, I was just testing you," Abernathy said, trying not to show his troll blush as he stopped troll pouting and picked up his gun again, "Totally fine firing this gun. Blowing them all to bits."
The temperature dropped, forcing more and more water out of the air and chilling what had already condensed until it turned to sleet, pelting down on the mine. Add a little wind and there... it drove straight into the faces of the guards, soaking their weapons and chilling their silly furless fingers. Torches spluttered and died as drow and ponies alike bolted for shelter, the former in their elevated shacks, the latter huddling in cave mouths and whatever dry spots they could find.
Nutmeg shivered: "Brrrr. This is some really convincing weather-pony stuff." A long exhale, then "Ok, what do we do now?"
Water dripped from Abernathy's nose as he looks up to the clouds, saying "That was quite a feat. I suppose things will just get wetter from here."
"And look at that... everypony huddling up in a few spots." Azure crowed. "That'll only making things easier, we can free whole groups at a time." Her gaze went to the guard shacks, then at the distant fort with its bell. "I need to destroy them, too... but first things first. We have to free those ponies. You know what to do. I'll take out the alarm bell, then come back and help with the guards. Sound good?"
"We'll have to be quiet... and this thing is just a fancy club if I can't make noise," Abernathy said, swinging the shotgun to demonstrate. "Just be careful Azure. If we attract too much attention too quickly, it's gonna be game over for us."
"Easy!" Nutmeg gave an enthusiastic salute, then dashed off through the rain and wind to carefully skid and clamber her way down to the tunnels, the clattering of her hooves lost in the storm. She quickly located a bunch of nails and set to disarming the unicorns' collars, telling them to spread the word as quickly as possible. They babbled excitedly, wondering who this strange equine was, but she just flashed a friendly smile and told the ponies there would be time for answers once they were free of their oppressors.
The stunned unicorns were eager to accept any hope of escape, even if it did come from a strange-looking scaled deer. Abernathy had a harder time of it, the ponies cowering in fear before the advance of an even taller green gun-wielding biped, but after he'd shown a few how to short out their collars they nodded silently and dashed off to spread the word. The plan was distributed along with the hack; neutralise the shock collars, stay away from the boiler, get the sick and wounded out of sight, strongest unicorns make ready to attack the drow with everything they have, as soon as the princess gives the signal.
Azure headed for the fort, a ramshackle structure of stone and bound logs squatting on the top of the cliff forming the far side of the mine. After a difficult flight through sleet-filled skies, she found the great bell sitting on the roof, flanked by a pair of ballistae. The weapons were unattended, their operators huddling inside the building; only one unlucky sentry was left outside, peering at the mine through the water dripping from her hood, spear cast aside as she shoved her hands into her tunic for warmth.
One miserable little drow to take out, then they could get the party started... Azure hovered in place and aimed carefully: a quick wind blade to the neck would deal with this, then on to the wooden frame supporting the alarm bell. The concentrated magic whistled through the air, not quite decapitating the enemy this time but easily severing her spine. The ill-fated lookout crumpled without a sound, then with a dull thud and clank the bronze bell joined her on the battlements. Check and check: Azure smiled, hovering a little higher to watch the chaos about to unfold below.
Abernathy was locked and loaded, ready to start firing if something goes wrong, but so far so good; most of the guards huddled in their shacks, and the rest were more concerned with keeping the sleet out of their eyes than any trolls that might be sneaking around. Moving carefully between cover this time, Nutmeg made it to the steam engine undetected. She brought her wrench to bear, once again priming the boiler to explode!
With steam valves fused shut and the air supply to the firebox fully open, the pressure built steadily; the nearby drow were too busy trying to relight torches and keep their hands warm than to watch the gauges. Nutmeg and a few of the braver unicorns had plenty of time to find a good vantage spot, giving them a great view when the pressure vessel finally burst. The blast of steam and shrapnel completely destroyed the shack where the more technical-minded drow had been sheltering, raining down splintered wood and mangled green limbs in equal measure.
Abernathy had been waiting directly under a guard tower. As soon as he felt the ground shudder, he casually fired up into the rickety shack at the top, before the drow inside could even react to the boiler explosion. The blast of buckshot blew out the floor: bleeding bodies tumbled down through the disintegrating planks, landing in a bloody, broken pile before the rest of the tower creaked, shuddered and collapsed on top of them. Abernathy didn't even look back; he was already reloading and moving on to the next one.
The other guards make it only slightly further, boiling out of huts and guard posts with spears raised only to run into a hail of magic and levitated projectiles, seemingly coming from all directions. Desperately they waved their shock devices around, firing wildly and trying to make out the faint horn-glows of their tormenters through the driving rain, but the hateful devices did absolutely nothing. Soon drow are falling left and right, unable to retaliate in any meaningful way.
"Give 'em hell, ponies!" Nutmeg yelled, thrusting her wrench in the air! On her own, she was overpowered by the drow - but with a whole stampede of unicorns, galloping through the mine and running amok; that spelled sheer overwhelming victory by numbers. The kirin lead by example, rushing out of the mine tunnel where she'd been sheltering. Any drow who get close to her would get an electrified wrench to the face; she smirked with rebellious glee at the sight of slaver reinforcements quaking before a horde of angry, shouting, freshly freed unicorns.
She glanced up at the fort; the champion was still hovering there, and behind her... siege engines moving, crew loading spears, tracking... "Azure, look out! Ballistae aiming for you!"
Azure Feather's reaction was immediate. Easiest way to avoid a hit? Don't be there. Her wings folded in for a moment, dropping her to a deck, then began to glow as she looked to the clouds... no, tempting as it was, calling down lightning was too dangerous with so many ponies running around. She'd have to take care of this the hard way. She channelled energy to her horn again, aiming for the ballista itself. It was hard to be precise while dodging, but she'd just keep firing until she took out the crew... or at least keep them suppressed until she could get in close.
A flurry of wind blades streaked down, one slicing through the rope connecting the shuttle to its arms. The weapon had been tensioned and ready to fire; the cut rope lashes back and smacked one of the gunners in the chest, knocking him flat on his back. The remaining guards abandoned the wrecked device and even the second, intact siege engine, judging their enemy too close and too mobile for any chance of a hit. Instead they scrambled for spears and crossbows in a last ditch attempt to stop the avenging angel that had wrought ruin on their mining operation.
Slavers... worthless pieces of donkey dung. The drow fought for their lives, but it was futile. Trying to stare up into the stinging sleet, freezing fingers slipping on soaked weapons, they had no chance of striking down the unicorn before a swift application of focused Air ended their miserable lives. Ruthlessly, Azure pressed her attack, picking off the yelling, disorganised guards with a relentless hail of wind blades. The last pair tried to retreat back into the fortress, but she cut them down in their tracks. After what she'd seen here... she wasn't leaving a single one standing.
With threats above and below defeated, Azure reached out with her weather sense again, calming the storm. The rain spluttering to a stop as the air warmed; indeed with so much moisture drained away, the clouds soon cleared, bathing the mine in sunlight for the first time. The scene was one of ruin and carnage... for the oppressors. Every single unicorn was there to cheer their princess as she descended, with the troll and the kirin at the head of the crowd. "AZURE... FEATHER! AZURE... FEATHER! AZURE... FEATHER!" they chanted, stomping their hooves and crying with delight as the object of their adoration drifted down to land by her allies.
Nutmeg stomped her hooves in a raucous cheer as well! "Azure! Feather!" she couldn't help but shout along, before happily throwing herself against Azure for a hug. "That was awesome! You did something none of us could have on our own. You saved everypony!"
Azure smiled as the kirin went in for the hug, but shook her head modestly at the unicorn's cheer. "Not without your help. I don't deserve all the credit. But... thank you. I... I still have much to learn, though." They'd won, but... with so much killing, even if they were slavers... and the sight of her allies losing their lives still haunted her. There was no warm feeling of accomplishment this time, just tired relief.
Looking a little mussed, but none worse for wear, Abernathy approached the triumphant winged unicorn, shotgun now slung over his shoulder. "Don't beat yourself up too much. This was your doing. You made good use of your skills and your allies, and took the right actions to win the day. And all because you followed the #1 rule of sneaking missions, which is-" Before he could finish, the whole scene dissolved to pure white.
Azure Feather re-emerged into the central chamber, where little had changed since her last visit. Summer Scribe was still messing with the magical board game and arguing with the young male griffon, while Amber was enjoying a comforting wing-hug from her father. Gustus and Emerald were comparing Equestrian vs Cloudbreak griffon culture, at least until they broke off to stare up at the winged unicorn, anxious to hear of her progress.
Summer huffed after her third consecutive loss to the unstoppable Mecha-Chompy. "How is this fair!?" she complained. "I have to find a piece that's better than yours to be able to keep up? It's just too strong! I mean, it's realistic but..." She looked up as she hears Azure's hooves touch down. "Azure! How'd trial three go?" Holding off on the congratulations until she gets the all clear...
Sprocket was helping Summer disassemble - no, examine! - the board game. "Maybe if you try maximizing the—oh!" she looks up to see the purple haired, blue unicorn descending on her butterfly wings. Her ears went down at Azure's obvious weariness, but she didn't know what to say, and didn't know the mare very well to be perfectly fair.
"That's... that's three..." Azure sighed, nodding to Summer before turning to stare at the last door. "...Hardest trial yet. I can't rest now. I have to finish this up. We'll talk later." The unicorn looked tired, physical and emotional fatigue setting in... what the heck was waiting for her in that last challenge room? Still, she couldn't stop now, she had to push through... her wings buzzed again as she headed for the final door.
Concern was written all over Summer's face; she wanted to offer a hug and a round of encouragement, but it looked like Azure didn't want to slow down: "Good luck!" she called out.
"Hey... hey! Are you ok?" came an avian voice... Indigo, one of the native griffon. "Don't you want to-" It was too late, the pony had already flown straight into the final door without stopping to rest.
"You can do it!" Sprocket offered, trying to sound supportive as the pony flew to that final door. It might've been more useful if she'd said it loud enough to be heard. Some part of her was glad that Azure was doing all of this for them. If that unstoppable pony tackled this fourth challenge, then they'd soon be returning to the copter, and from there back to the Harmony, where all their friends were waiting. Sprocket hoped Nutmeg and Gearshift would be back by the time they returned.
A final hallway, one last column-lined chamber, this one built in the form of an amphitheatre. Semi-circular tiers stepped down to a broad, flat stage backed by ornate columns, light streaming in from the blue sky beyond. Azure flew resolutely down to land in the centre of the stage, ready for the final challenge. Unnatural clouds rolled in for the last time, forming a convincing pocket reality for the champion's ultimate test.
Azure found herself transported to the edge of a cliff, looking out on a hellish vista. A once pastoral landscape lay in ruins, fields churned up and stone cottages crushed beneath the treads of an enormous mechanical monstrosity. It resembled nothing less than a castle rendered mobile, stone walls and towers riding on a mesh of girders below which many giant steel treads crawl forwards. Steam and smoke rose from the entire contraption, while every so often one of the cannons lining the walls went off, a gout of flame and smoke followed by the whistle of the shot then another tree or building exploding into ruin.
On top of the towers, trebuchets released their payloads of greek fire to set alight anything remaining intact, while ballistae stood ready to run through any fliers that might challenge the mobile fortress. Cracks and scars along the walls and chassis bpre witness to the local's attempts to resist the invader, but the many broken bodies and smashed war machines that littered the landscape make it clear how futile that effort had been.
Between the setting sun, the scattered fires, columns of smoke and the pendulous clouds gathering overhead, the entire landscape took on a hellish, burnt orange cast. The air was warm, humid and gusty, pregnant with a storm that had yet to be take form. From this distance, Azure could just make out the creatures patrolling the battlements and operating the machinery of the fortress; green bipeds, possessing a single grossly overgrown eyeball where a face should be. As for the blasted wasteland around the construction, a few brown creatures were still alive and moving, mostly huddled behind damaged walls and darting from one piece of cover to the next, trying to hide from the invaders.
Glancing to each side, Azure was relieved to find that as before, she would have allies for this final challenge. To her right, a powerful draconic shape with sharp-beaked face and a covering of flame-like feathers: Sunburn, the Skylander, somehow following her to this ravaged place. To the left, an enormous eagle was joined to the hindquarters of a lion, her stare fierce and her tufted tail lashing behind her: Grenelda the griffoness. The two battle-hungry avian hybrids stared at Azure, ready for her direction.
"This is it," Sunburn said, the bird-like dragon veritably glowing in the auburn light, "We take out this mobile fortress and the campaign is over. Everyone back home is counting on us to do some serious damage to this thing. Are you ready to hit it with everything you've got?"
Grenelda nodded: "If you hold anything back, you're just going to become another casualty. So, what can you do about this, Azure?" Her beak gaped open to admitt a bloodthirsty cackle! The griffon hen was so ready for this.
This... this vast machine. A massive, rolling castle, with nothing less than Kaosians patrolling it. Things only Sunburn had fought. Azure Feather looked... intimidated to say the least. Thankfully, Sunburn was right there with her, but she couldn't take heart in Grenelda's words. This outright warfare on a scale far beyond any of the former challenges: three creatures against a whole army.
"I... I've not fought anything like this... Sunburn, you've fought these, I remember what you told me when we saw that ship, but... how do we take this... this castle down? Especially when it's manned by these creatures?" She looked to Grenelda: sure the griffon was enthusiastic, but they needed more than that: they needed a plan. "What... what do you think? Got any ideas?"
Grenelda simply crowed, "Fuck 'em up, is what I think. You've got the storm at your command - so show 'em one." The hen impatient, eager to see a real show of destruction!
"You think there's something special to being a Skylander," Sunburn said, shaking his head in bemusement, "I'm not one for finesse. I go in hard and burn it to dust. That's how I blew up that cyclops blimp; any true elemental with a decent amount of battle experience could do the same. This thing is just a bit tougher - and less mobile. You may not have the secrets of Fire at your disposal, but I think you can make do. The sky is at your command, and it has a fire of its own, if you know were to look."
Azure looked up, understanding now that the clouds were also her allies in this battle. She would gather them over the towering structure - simple wind blades wouldn't do it this time. No: lightning would rain down. Gales to blow away defenders. Tornadoes to tear apart the towers. Vortexes, as she used against the bats but on a larger scale... but she needed to start by releasing the energy up there... only then could she truly unleash the fury of the storm.
Grenelda watching the encroaching and darkening clouds with gleeful interest. This would be good.
Pushing the magic out through her wings felt almost natural now... almost. Azure felt the muggy air, boiling with energy, with... potential. Triggering condensation... easy. Rain began to pour down, dampening the fires around the rolling fortress, sizzling on the hot metal of its smokestacks. Lightning... what was lightning? Not wind, not fire... charge, it was electrical charge. The clouds had it in abundance, pushing the droplets apart, a crackling tension between the top and bottom layers, waiting for something... now how to trigger the strike?
Sunburn didn't wait, leaping forward into a long dive as the storm gathered above them. Trailing fire in his wake, he was a being of fury and flame. Explosions rang out when he hit, but the fortress was so huge they looked like a mere annoyance. A gout of flame belched out from a gunport as he continues to employ his flames from within, fighting through a tower and out the other side. Beams of evil lanced past him as he returned to the sky and circled around. The smouldering ruins he left in his wake were quickly doused by Kaosians spraying foamy fire retardant. Perhaps they'd grown wise to his tricks. Perhaps he has more, but this iron-and-stone fortress seemed tailored to resist his destructive flame.
High above, Azure Feather wondered about lightning. Sure, she'd read about pegasi weather workings, but their talents seemed to work by feel more than book knowledge. The charge was there, ready to go, but how to set it in motion? Was she overthinking this? Just pick a target, concentrate on the clouds, try and to use her new magic to will the electricity down to the enticing iron of the oversized crawler...
The unicorn concentrated, but this was nothing like a horn blast, or a simple levitation. The scale here was kilometres across, how could she... maybe she could... and in a flash of realisation... yes, it really was that simple. Just grab some charge and pull it down like taffy, stretching out into a thin streamer of-
BANG and there was the lightning as the energy bridged the final gap and released in a white hot streak of millions of amps of flowing charge. Azure felt the flow for the first time, the heat and intensity of it... and it felt good. The blazing bolt smote the fortifications atop the mobile castle, blasting out a whole section of wall as the metal inside flash-vaporised. The ease of directing such energy was a thrill like nothing she'd experienced before.
Hovering near the overlook, Grenelda squirmed in place, beak agape at she watched the cacophony of destruction pour from the heavens. "Oh, yes. That was amazing. More! More!" she egged Azure on!
Azure's eyes lit up as she not only created a lightning bolt... but annihilated part of the structure! "Oh... I'm not sure pegasi can do this back home!" Sunburn was keeping them busy down there... alright, it was time to bring the true storm. Charges were everywhere, and it was just a measure of pulling them down onto the fortress! Almost like theater curtains. after her final song.
Sunburn had been rampaging across the roof, sending flaming bodies flying everywhere he went. He paused in bending rods of an energy projector inside out, to look up at what was happening in the sky. At the sight of the tower exploding, he kicked out urgently, feathery wings beating hard as he flew free of the fortress, hovering there and just... gazing up in awe. This was a power he hadn't seen in a very long time, a harmony with the storm that had been unmatched since the calamity that decimated their people and set their temple on the path to ruin. This was more than a trial. It was a miracle.
Bolt after bolt seared down, smashing into the giant war machine, shattering stone superstructure and causing electricity to arc around the lower chassis. Within the structure, cyclopses were shocked by suddenly electrified floors and walls. Circuits blew out and linkages melted. They had to act fast to save their stronghold. Every intact weapon swivelled upwards, seeking out their tormentor, while more cyclopses poured onto the deck, heedless of the whipping rain and lightning that continued to rain down onto the upper towers. Shafts of steel and beams of magic lanced out, filling the sky around the whirling, doging Azure Feather.
Woah! Azure might be brave enough to stand in front of such an onslaught, but Grenelda quickly returned to the overlook, taking cover behind a nearby outcropping. "Might wanna deal with those weapons before they shred you!"
"Don't you worry, I've got this!" Flying erratically, Sunburn and Grenelda may have noticed the wind picking up as Azure's wings glowed brightly. With the storm at her full command, hail, rain, lightning... not enough. It was time for a full-blown tornado. As much of one as she could muster: once she was in the eye of the whirlwind, no weapon would be able to reach her. She would bring this monument to evil down in ruins... but how to strike the finishing blow? She tried to grab the air, force it to spin, but at this enormous scale she could produce little more than a stiff breeze. There had to be a way...
In an explosion of flame, Sunburn materialised near Azure, rain hissed and steaming as it cascading off his form. He faced the fortress, releasing a blazing stream of fire from his beak. The enemy's steel bolts melted and broke up under his blistering assault as he shouted, "I'll cover you, Azure! Blow that thing to kingdom come!
The unicorn thought back to all those books on pegasi she'd read: they made tornadoes all the time, to bring water up from the ground or when pressed to drive off aerial foes. Back then she could only dream of having the wings to do it herself, but she'd studies the techniques.... convection. It was all about convection cells, pressure differentials, using the energy already present in the air... Now it was swirling, a sudden focused downdraft... Azure's flanks were foaming with the effort of forcing the storm to her design, but there, the funnel was fully formed now and there would be no stopping it...
The tornado roared into life, its swirling base balanced directly on the deck of the giant war machine. 200 kph winds proceeded to sweep the hulk clean of creatures, weapons and structure of every kind, blasting stone and twisted metal out in every direction, scattering the upper parts of the machine around the surrounding landscape. Only the scarred foundation remained, an enormous steel box holding the engines and fuel, gargantuan tracks clanking and creaking under the sheer force of the wind.
Grenelda peeked out from behind the rocks and beheld the majesty of the storm unleashed at its full potential. Her beak hung open in wonder: so beautiful. Taking wing again to fly up to her ally, she chirred: "Say, Azure... those engines, boilers, coal bunkers... looks explosive to me." The griffon's voice dripped seductive, violent eagerness.
Azure's eyes were wide open as she tried to catch her breath, drunk on the possibilities of her new abilities. Already her success had outstripped her wildest hopes, and now all she needed was to finish it... thanks to the tornado the tank was a sitting duck. "Oh, you want to see this ruin truly turned to scrap... hah. You got it!" Sitting in the eye of her very own storm, the winged unicorn resumed her assault, massaging the remaining charge and pulling down lightning with even more force than before.
With the defences shattered and ripped away, Sunburn closed his wings and streaked down to the foundations of the thing. Circling around it, the air fed his fire on an immense scale, the magical flame flaring up like never before in the blindingly powerful draft. Fire spread up into the tornado, filling the cyclone with flame until it was a roaring, howling firespout baking the chassis of the doomed war machine.
So many blinding bolts hammered down on the clanking engine that the clouds above lit up with continuous sheet lightning, as the depleted charge was forced to replenish from outlying cloud banks. Cast iron cracked and split asunder, letting in the superheated firestorm that blasted through every internal space, burning up everything within. With the controls destroyed and overheated drivetrains seized and melting, the crawler shuddered to a halt, popping and cracking as steam and smoke poured from the wreckage.
Finally the overstressed, overheated boilers reached their limit, bursting in a rapid chain of powerful steam explosions, adding even more chaos to the churning column of fire, wind, rain and lightning that was rending the once proud mobile fortress into molten scrap and charred wreckage. A final deafening, blinding cacophony of light and heat, and at last the storm was spent. The fliers looked on as the tornado slowly dissipated, the lightning petered out and the air gradually slowed until the gale had been reduced to a warm breeze. Of the unstoppable war machine, there were only a few twisted girders and red-hot links of track remaining, sitting at the bottom of a newly blasted crater.
Grenelda whistled, beak gaping. "Now that was awesome, Azure. How you feelin'?' She peered down at the ruin below, cocking her head with interest... and mirth! "Damn, there's hardly anything intact in that wreckage. It's like an act of Celestia hit it!"
Azure gave a tired nod, adrenalin draining out of her form. She drifted down to land; the storm was spent, and so was she. At last, the fight was over, and the trials complete. She was victorious, but still nervous at the thought of what would come next. Images of the doctor's painful transformation returned unbidden to her mind; was that really what the Elements did to creatures? It didn't inspire confidence... but still, Grenelda's crowing did warm her heart.
"You... you weren't kidding... that truly felt like I was channelling energies only Princess Twilight could handle... I've never felt anything like it. How am I feeling?" She slumped to the ground. "Coming down from the high, and now just... worried? I don't know what's next. I've seen what happened to the doctor. You'll forgive me if I'm not the most confident."
A flash of flame appeared from nowhere and Sunburn burst out from it, looking down at the smoking rubble. "That was... that was incredible," he said quietly, "This was a trial of endurance and you succeeded in nine minutes and twenty seven seconds. The last one to pass took nearly a day to complete this. They take longer every time." With a much more modest and deferential look than the real Sunburn would ever have, the phantom turned to Azure and said, "Is it true? Have the Skylanders really returned?"
Azure stared at the feathered dragon, trying to understand the implications of what she'd just heard. "The Skylanders... but you're one of them, you're..." He was the battle master, the one she looked up to... but there wasn't any denying what just happened. She did in nine minutes what others took hours, days to do. The unicorn looked lost for words for a moment... until a shrill and playful from Grenelda's pulled her back to reality.
"What comes next? What do you think?" The griffoness looked genuinely satisfied. "You think you're going to turn into some writhing abomination? No? You're the Champion of Air. You've already made the power yours. Now you just need to... collect your prize."
"My prize?! But you... you saw what happened to the doctor. He's still not fully recovered from it all and I don't blame him. I haven't seen any other experiences of this, and I'm about to go through the same process! I don't know what to expect!" It was clear that despite truly proving herself an elemental champion... there were still a lot of questions she had no answer to.
Two sets of avian eyes gave her sympathetic looks, but before they could offer any further explanation Azure Feather found herself talking to wisps of cloud, the scene dissolving in the midst of her plea. The winged unicorn was alone again, standing in the empty marble amphitheatre, looking out through the columns at sunlit ruins beyond. With an exhausted sigh, she turned away and walked slowly back towards the entrance. That last challenge had consumed her final reserves of strength, and she could only hope to find answers not enemies in the central chamber.