Group by group, Chrys and Gust freed the captive griffons. Most of them were members of Gust's pirate crew, veteran raiders, fliers, mechanics of various ages. They were a motley group, but loyal to Gust; at the end of the day, their sky marshal took care of them, and they remembered that fact. Others freed were dissenters, protestors, reformist griffons that had been imprisoned for decades. It seemed a bit odd to Chrys.
"I have to ask, Gust."
"Shoot."
"Are any of these birds we're freeing like... actual criminals?"
Gust stared back at her, wide-eyed. "Uhhhh...?"
"Where do you keep griffons that don't fit in with society? Like, murderers, arsonists, lunatics?"
"Uhhh...?"
Chrys nodded slowly, beginning to understand. "Right, that should've been obvious, I guess." One of the griffons they'd just freed happened to run back by them, a light orange female with a yellow head. "Hey, could you wait just a minute?"
"Not really."
"Hang on, just- what were you locked up for?"
"I told the king to eat a dick," she said. "I've been in prison for six years."
"But, you're like, sixteen."
"I'm fifteen," she said.
"Damn, that's... yeah, you go. Get out of here."
She looked at Chyrs for a brief moment, said nothing and left.
The prison was actually the oldest building in Lavertica. The griffons had an odd history with theft and crime. Originally, theft was punished harshly. The cliff-dwelling griffons strung heinous offenders up by the neck, let them hang for all to see so all would know the consequences. But the nature of griffons was something that was hard to control. The world, being what it was, had different plans. Hanging griffons, keeping them in birdcages between the great pillars grew and grew, until the criminals began to outnumber the citizens in the cliffs and rocks. The cages grew more numerous and larger until they were a hanging island unto themselves.
Thus, the hanging city of Lavertica was born. Centuries had fed its growth, as well as legends and rumors surrounding it. Tales of hidden treasure, stories of how the real royal family was locked up or could trace its lineage back to the first prisoners. Entire families had been locked up; it was partially a penal colony because many griffons just did not want to deal with all the criminals. Despite the cages and bars, the most effective(and most corruptible) security were the prison guards, who usually used nets, ropes and smoke bombs to subdue escapees non-lethally.
Times changed and the thieves began to run things. Pardons were given to the more 'exceptional' pirates. Now, piracy was part of griffon society.
Floor by floor, they freed the griffons. They assembled at the bottom of the prison, where the birdcages dropped from the floors above and were raised to the appropriate level when filled. All the griffons in Gust's pirate crew stayed for Gust and Chrys, and even a few other prisoners that had nowhere better to go.
"Alright," Chrys turned, looking out at all the pirates assembled before her. "...Crap, I don't know what to say. I'm not good with like... leadership stuff."
"Didn't you used to be a queen?" a griffon in the front row said.
"What do you mean "used to?" Chrys snapped. "I've almost got my own kingdom. Probably a good bit more than the trinkets you've gotten from not-Jack Sparrow here."
"Chrys," Gust took her hoof with a claw. "Ima have to ask ya to dial it down a notch or a dozen."
"...Alright, I'm sorry."
Gust cleared his throat and stood up. "Listen up, lowlifes! We're getting outta here. Our ships are still docked, the stations haven't changed, so Clutch is taking the Rage, I'm taking the Yes and... I guess Becky and Chelsea have the What."
The two "BFF" griffies exchanged a glance. "Wait, so we have to SHARE a command?"
"Screw that, Gust, I'm stealing my own ship."
"Oh, like you're going to find a better ship than a carrier, Chelsea."
"I could find a better ship with my eyes closed!"
"Girls," Chrys stopped them, "shut up. Gust, I'm gonna take the third ship back to Equestria. We need you to take the other two and find where that Griffon Gear went and what it's next target is."
"Um," Gust raised a talon, "I already know that. Those... both. Both those things."
Chrys turned to him. "Wait, how do you know that if you were locked up? Why would they tell you?"
Gust averted her gaze, looking away just a bit. "Well, I can... kinda be pretty sure where they're going next. And what there target is."
Rubbing her chin, Chrys was beginning to catch on. "You're acting like this should be obvious."
With a shrug, Gust confirmed what she thought. "I mean, there's only one real target that would be of interest to that many griffons. And that we'd need this much firepower for, and this many raiders, and why secrecy is so important, and why-"
"What. Is. The. Target. Gust?" Then, Chrys' eyes went wide. "Wait..."
"Well," Gust swallowed. "It's..."
Northern Equestria, Crystal Empire borderlands
Aboard Griffon Kingdom skyfortress New Libertalia
"This is Crystal Empire air patrol to unidentified vessel, please respond, over! Repeat, this is air patrol Crystal-"
"Cut that noise off. Aren't we supposed to be jamming communications?"
"Aw, awful sorry, sir. Thought you might've wanted to eh... mess around wit 'em a lil bit 'fore we rob 'em," the radio griffon said.
"Yes, you 'thought.' You'll know not to do that again, Crowsby," Gauss said. He leaned forward so that the radio operator could feel his breath. "You don't get paid to think."
Field Marshal Gauss von Gandering Ganderson De Guass, or just Gauss, was a silver-gray griffon that adorned himself in gold jewelry. He had a wide-brimmed hat adorned with jewels and gold, had gold earrings, gold rings on his talons and gold necklaces hung around his neck. The only piece of jewelry that didn't contain gold was an eyepatch, recently placed over his empty left eye socket.
Grasping the top of his golden cane firmly, he pushed himself out of his command chair. "Distance to target."
"Twenty kilometers and closing."
"Gunships report sightings by civil air patrol. No engagement yet."
"Crystal ponies? Crystal pegasi?" Gauss asked to clarify.
"Aye, sir."
The radio operator turned. "They're still trying to contact us."
"Let them. Let us see how long it takes them to guess our intentions." The crew chuckled at the comment. "Ready the guns! Deploy all raid squadrons! Tell them to be ready for a busy day, gentlemen, for today we take the biggest prize of them all: the Crystal Empire!!"
Cheers and light applause followed that announcement. Since its reappearance near the Griffon Kingdom's own borders, the Crystal Empire has been a tempting target for griffon and zebra alike. With a staunch alliance and membership into the greater Kingdom of Equestria, such hopes of easy conquest were dashed. But the allure of giant gems, shiny, glorious crystals and lights so bright they lit up the sky drew the griffons' eyes towards the Empire. Reality, however harsh, could not quash a dream.
And Gauss De Gauss was determined to make that dream a reality. The top griffon pirate before Gust Grasp, De Gauss was a master of using magnetism to steal things. Usually metal, but some gems were just as magnetic. Gauss intended to steal every gem the Crystal Empire had; he had a reputation to uphold... and to repair. There was a reason Gust was the 'pirate king' now and not him, and that reason had name: Daring Do.
Daring Do and The Sky-Thieves of the High Seas featured Gauss De Gauss as the villain, a role which De Gauss relished until Daring eventually got the drop on him. His original flagship, Ebony Talon, had been destroyed by Daring Do during the climax. Parts of the vessel were salvaged and converted into a passenger liner, on which Gauss spent quite a long community service sentence. That probably would've been his only punishment, but he would later appear as a villain in several Daring Do sequels. As with all Daring Do novels, they were based on true stories.
Gauss had been imprisoned in Bursavis among a gallery of other Daring Do villains. But, with the planet being reset, he and the other villains found themselves with newfound freedom. So why waste it?
Gauss ran his talons over his eyepatch. "This time... no meddlesome little Indiana Jones-wannabes to get in my way." As a final insult in their last battle, Daring smacked him so hard with an anchor that it broke his gem eye. The memory of the pain still burned, raging in his mind.
"Distance to target!!"
"Fifteen kilometers, sir!"
He sneered angrily. The skyfortress New Libertalia was the same size as Cloudsdale, but built for griffons out of brass pipes and ballasts. Like a steampunk Cloudsdale constantly leaking steam. It had originally been created out of a fit of envy over Cloudsdale by a few griffon scientists, but since became a mobile griffon trading port. Usually, it just traveled around griffon territories trading but now, it was being used to steal an entire Empire. Unfortunately, damn thing was slow.
Gauss scraped his talons on the wooden bannister of the command station. "Send the gunships ahead."
"Contact sir! We have a response."
Even as the radar operator said it, it was plain to see from the bridge. A ball of light shot up from the Crystal Palace and burst high in the sky. The sky momentarily took on the same violet color, and then a dome of magic appeared and encompassed the land. The Crystal Empire was protected by a shield spell.
"Ah, look at the little ponies and their spells. So cute. So quaint," Gauss remarked. "Deploy the machine. Burst their bubble."
"Acknowledged, Marshal. Alpha-one deployed."
The Griffon Gear was released from the skyfortress. Its head bobbed about for a moment as it adjusted its wings and got its bearings. The machine was covered with a hood when it wasn't in use or it would remain active. It sighted its target: the Crystal Palace. The gigantic metal griffon's engines roared to life and it jetted towards the shield at high speed.