Sunset woke with a start, looking around the darkened cabin. Aiko stirred restlessly next to her in her sleep.
Unable to shake her feeling that something was wrong, Sunset hopped out of bed and trotted over to the patio. Looking out over the night sky blanketing the sea below them, the stars were twinkling in the mostly clear night, a few scattered clouds billowing out around them as they made their way towards Equestria over the Ocean of Peace.
The beautiful sight settled Sunset’s nerves, calming her down as she gazed out at the crescent moon’s reflection in the ocean’s waters. She sighed, smiling, then turned to re-enter her suite and go back to bed.
Something caught her eye as she turned, the briefest sense of something not quite right as her gaze passed over the sky while turning back towards the door. Having learned from her previous assignments to alway trust her instincts she turned back, scanning the sky again.
There! Not too distant from the port side, a cloud was gaining slowly on their ship. Wait, what? Gaining? All the other clouds were gently drifting back from them as they used the ship's engine to move faster than the surrounding winds. But this cloud wasn’t matching the rest of them. This cloud was slowly closing the gap.
“Crud. That can’t be good,” thought Sunset. She watched for a few more moments, wanting to be sure she wasn’t imagining things, but the cloud continued to gain on them. Sunset returned to the cabin and gently shook Aiko awake.
“Aiko, wake up,” she called out quietly. Aiko woke up sleepily and looked at her friend.
“Sunset, why aren’t you in bed? What’s up?” she mumbled.
“I think someone is staging an attack on our ship. I woke up, feeling odd, and as I was looking out over the water to try to relax, I saw a cloud moving up on our ship. All the other clouds are moving away but that one is moving towards us,” said Sunset.
Aiko was instantly awake. “Yeah, can’t say I have ever seen a cloud go off and do something on its own. What should we do?”
“Get ready for battle. Gear up, grab you katanas. I’m going to try to see if I can get onto that little cloud and see what is going on. After you are geared up, try to raise the bridge on that communication thing and let them know what is going on,” Sunset explained.
“How do I do that?” asked Aiko. “I don’t know the numbers to punch to do that.”
“I don’t know either. Try picking it up and talking into it, maybe someone is listening that can help. Or if that doesn’t work, try to find a porter and have them show you how or do it. I’m sure they all know how to reach the bridge,” answered Sunset, pulling on her saddlebags. “Okay, I hope it’s just random weirdness, but I don’t have a good feeling about this. Back in a few, I hope.” She stepped back out to the patio to get a bearing on her little errant cloud, only to see in shock it was already almost to the ship. “Damn, it sped up,” she muttered. She disappeared with a flash of teal and a pop.
Invisible, Sunset settled down gently on top of the cloud, listening carefully.
“Did you feel that?” a voice whispered below her. “I swear I heard something pop, and felt something bump the cloud.”
“I didn’t hear anything. Come on, we’re almost there. Shut yer yap and keep flapping,” replied another voice. Poking her head partway into the cloud, she saw a rowboat full of explosives being pushed by twelve griffons towards her ship.
“There’s some pony up there!” called out one of the griffins. “I just saw a pony’s face silhouetted in the cloud top! Haul flank! Secure the package and light the fuses!” She launched up at where Sunset was standing, her sword out and slashing. Sunset teleported several cubits further down the cloud from her position as the griffin shot through where she was with her sword swinging wildly.
From below, there was a crack as the boat slammed into the side of her ship, pikes driven quickly into the ship's wood to hold the boat in place. Griffins shot down out of the cloud, heading under the ship as Sunset teleported into the boat. Looking around, she saw the fuse just finish burning into the powder kegs below her.
“Ah Crab Nuggets!” she swore as the boat exploded beneath her.
Aiko tried lifting the receiver on the unit again and again, getting no response. Frustrated, she placed the receiver back on the cradle and was heading towards the door when the communicator rang. Racing back and picking it up, she answered.
“Hello! Anyone there?” she called into the receiver.
“Hello miss,” said a voice over the device. “We noticed you were having issues with your internship communications device. Do you need room service?”
“No! I need the bridge!” called out Aiko. “We saw..”
“Ma’am, no need to demand to see the captain, I’m sure whatever you need we can send right up,” soothed the voice.
“No! You don’t get it. I don’t need anything, you need to be aware someone is sneaking up on the ship. We think they are staging an attack. I need to let the bridge know we are under attack,” informed Aiko.
“Ma’am, I’ll pass on your concerns when my watch is over. Please go back to sleep now, okay?” consoled the voice.
“What are you not getting! Please put me in touch with the bridge now! This isn’t some game!” growled Aiko.
“Ma’am..” Just then, an explosion sounded and the ship rocked under her paws.
“Bacca! They’re here. Damnit! Call the bridge! Someone just breached the ship on the port side!” Aiko hung up the phone in disgust and stormed out of the suite, lopping towards the staircase to the ships deck.
The explosion blew away not only the lifeboat, but the enclosing cloud as well. Sunset, wrapped in her shield, was launched upward by the force of the blast, teleporting to the deck once her head stopped spinning with her ears still ringing from the force of the blast. Running to the side of the deck, she looked down to see the last of the griffins flying into the now gaping hole in the side of the ship. With a growl, she leapt over the side, then teleported into the hold after them as she shot past it.
It was a supply room, definitely past tense, as the supplies had been blown to pieces by the force of the blast. The door had been shattered, and there was no sign of the griffins. Racing into the hallway, Sunset looked both ways but saw no sign of her quarry. Reaching a hoof out to the wall, she stretched out her senses and felt for any magic around her. She felt twelve individuals, moving tightly together through the ship towards the centerline. She gasped.
“Ah crap, they're heading straight for the bridge!” She ran after them down the halls, quickly realizing she was not going to beat them to the bridge that way. With a teal pop, she teleported.
Running over to the port side, Aiko looked down over the railing and saw smoke and papers streaming out of the side of the ship.
“Ah crud, that’s not good!” she called out. She looked up as she was about to spin around and head back down the stairs only to see fifty or so griffins flying at full speed towards the deck, still several hundred cubits out. “And that’s even worse! Watch! We’re under attack from the port side! Pirates to port! We are under attack!” she called out, looking around for the watch. Not seeing anyone, she ran back down the stairs, locking and barring the door to the deck behind her, then shooting down the halls looking for someone to report they were under attack.
Sunset popped into the bridge, looking around quickly to get her bearings. There was frantic activity all around her, with the XO sitting in the captain's chair conferring loudly with several officers of the watch. “XO, we’re under attack!” Sunset called out.
The XO looked up from her conversation and noticed Sunset in the corner of the bridge. “What are you doing here, Miss Shimmer!? Yes, we know we’ve been attacked, we felt the explosion. We’re polling the watch now to find what happened.”
“Sorry, I just witnessed the breach. The port side supply room was breached by a boatload of explosives, then twelve griffins boarded the ship through the breach. They are armed and moving fast towards this location. I had to get her before them to warn you, which I’m doing now,” informed Sunset.
The XO bellowed out, “Battle stations! Sound the alarm! Arm the crew! Lieutenant, take a squad and guard the door. Batten it down!”
Sunset moved quickly over the XO to give her report. “I came across them as they were making the breach. They anchored a lifeboat to the side of the ship then moved under the hull. I dropped down into the boat to see what they had done just in time to get blasted off the boat when the fuse ran out. By the time I got back into the ship they had moved off and were heading here, to the bridge.”
There was a loud slam against the bridge hatch, followed by the sound of gunfire as the door was fired upon. The firing stopped, followed by the sound of something being slapped onto the hatch echoing through the bridge, followed by the sound of creatures running away quickly.
“We’re about to be breached!” Sunset called out, teleporting to stand before the door. Her shield flared out just as an explosion rocked the bridge.
Aiko ran through the halls below deck, looking for anyone to whom she could report what she had seen. As she rounded a corner, she saw a porter running down the hall ahead of her.
“Porter! Hey porter!” she called out as she ran. The porter looked over her shoulder. “Sorry! I can’t help you now!” the porter called out as she continued to run.
“No! I am helping you! Wait up!” called out Aiko, catching up to her. “I just came from the deck. There’s about fifty or so griffins heading in from the port side! I barred the hatch to the deck, but we have to let the bridge know!”
“Come with me!” the porter called out, continuing her race down the hall. She turned into a Staff Only room, and picked up the communications device, punching in the code for the bridge.
“Bridge here, watch officer. What do you need?” asked the answering voice.
“Say what you saw!” said the porter.
“Aiko here, one of the Equestrian Samurai on board! I was just on deck and saw a horde of fifty armed griffin pirates approaching from the port side. I’ve dogged the deck hatch, but they are likely already on the deck by now. We need reinforcements!” called Aiko into the receiver.
“Acknowledged,” said the watch officer. “We’ll..” Just then Aiko heard Sunset yell something out, and there was an explosion as the line went dead. Aiko screamed in frustration.
Sunset’s shield kept the force of the blast from entering the bridge, but the hatch was definitely gone. With a flash, her sword appeared before her as she lunged at the first griffin darting through the shattered door, cutting her down as she entered. Standing before the door with her shield raised, there were several flashes as a storm of gunfire peppered her in the doorway, then another griffin tried forcing her way through to be dispatched just as quickly.
Seeing they were not going to be able to push their way through, their attackers changed tactics again. A hastily bundled handful of sticks of dynamite bounced off of Sunset’s shield then fell to the floor before the door. The short fuse lit off the sticks, the flash temporarily blinding the bridge staff. But when the stars cleared, Sunset was still standing before the door, another griffin body on the floor before her.
With a warbling battle cry, a griffin hen strapped with explosives launched herself at Sunset, holding tightly to the sides of the door as Sunset hacked at her. With a blinding flash, her vest exploded, knocking Sunset back out of the doorway as the remaining eight griffins of the attacking force rushed through the now cleared door, guns and swords drawn.
Aiko ran from the room back towards the hatch to the deck, preparing to defend it. As she rounded the corner there was another explosion. She heard griffins shouting then the sound of gunfire and screaming. Peering around the corner, she saw the griffins were going from room to room, killing and looting the guests as they worked their way down the corridor. She ducked back before she was seen and headed back to the room the porter was still in, looking out through the door towards the sound of the explosion and fighting.
“What’s going on?” she asked, clearly terrified. Aiko gently pushed her back into the room and shut the door behind them.
“Call the bridge, the pirates have breached the deck and are executing the guests,” answered Aiko. “We need to report, and we need those reinforcements.”
The porter called the bridge again, paw shaking in fear as she dialed the numbers. She gave the receiver to Aiko.
“What do you need?” a whispered voice called out from the phone.
“Aiko reporting again,” she answered. “The pirates have breached the deck and are executing the guests. We need reinforcements, please advise,” she stated calmly.
“We’re not in a position to help,” the voice answered. “The pirates have breached the bridge and we’re fighting them off right now.”
“Where’s Sunset? Where is the other Samurai?” asked Aiko.
“She’s fighting them right now. Look, we can’t help you. Do whatever you can,” said the voice, then they hung up.
“Crud. They breached the bridge. We’re on our own,” groused Aiko.
“I don’t want to die,” cried the porter.
“Relax, we’re not dead yet. I have an idea. Come on,” said Aiko, taking the porter by the paw and leading her out then down the hall away from the pirates.
Sunset came to, realizing she was on her back flat on the floor with a griffin hen hacking brutally at her, trying to get past her shield to kill her. She quickly rolled out from under the attack then spun and bucked the hen across the bridge. Looking around she saw the remaining seven griffins surrounding the rest of the bridge crew, who were in a ring around the XO.
“No reason for you all to die today, mates,” one of the griffins called out. “Lay down your weapons, and you live to tell the tale of this day.”
In response, one of the deck crew leapt at them slashing with her sword, and was quickly cut down by gunfire. “Any more brave fools?” asked the griffin. “We brought our guns to your little knife fight. I’m sure you realize how that will end?” Another kitsune lunged for the griffin and was also cut down. The griffin looked disappointed. “So, we just end you all then? Okay,” she pointed her machine pistol at the XO. “Let’s end this.”
“No! Everyone, drop your arms!” called out the XO. “I’m not willing to see my entire crew slaughtered! Take me as your prisoner and let them go.” She placed her sword on the deck, looking around at her crew. They dropped their swords, then dropped to the deck in surrender.
“Good choice,” nodded the griffin. Behind her, Sunset popped away in a flash of teal.
Aiko and the porter were in the access space between decks, working their way through the pipes and fittings towards the bridge. A glaring alarm rang out, then the voice of the XO could be heard through the ship's speakers.
“Attention guests and crew of the Yūgana Ahōdori. This is your XO speaking. The pirates have taken control of the ship. Please stop fighting and give them what they want. They have promised to spare our lives if we cooperate. Lay down your arms and surrender now. That is all.”
Another voice came on after that. “Aye, that’s right mates. We come for your wealth, not your lives. Though we’re happy to take both if you fight us. Lay down where you are, and you can live to see another sunrise.” The line went dead.
“Change of plans,” called out Aiko. “We’re heading back to my suite. We need to meet up with my partner, and the safe bet is that’s where she’ll expect to find me.” They turned around, making their way back towards the deck access and the top class suites.
Aiko looked out the glass from their patio, the porter trembling beside her as they hid behind a potted plant. She could see the tail end of the pirates’ ship, a traditional gas bag airship, lashed up against their ship as more griffins scrambled on the deck, moving looted treasurers back up onto their ship.
More disconcerting was that she had heard several kitsune calling out in terror as they were hauled onto the ship as well, either for ransom or sale as slaves was Aiko’s best guess.
She wasn’t too worried about being discovered, as their room had already been ransacked when she arrived. Anything of obvious value was already missing with everything else thrown around the room as they searched for treasure everywhere. Aiko was very glad she had her kitana’s on her, as those were the only things of value she had that she would miss greatly if taken.
“So what do we do? Do we just hide here until they leave?” asked the porter.
“No. We are waiting for Sunset. She’ll have a plan,” answered Aiko.
Sunset popped into the engine room, teleporting there from the now very hostile bridge.
“Sunset? What’s going on?” called out the startled crew member at the watch station.
“Thaddeus?” replied Sunset, surprised. “Yeah, pirates. The ship has fallen.”
“Fallen!? What do you mean fallen?” asked Thaddeus in concern.
“I mean..” Sunset started, only to be cut off by the XO’s announcement.
“Yeah, that,” finished Sunset.
“The hell with that! I’m not letting these assholes take my ship,” growled the todd. “What are we going to do?”
“No idea yet. I’m thinking. There has to be some way to turn this around,” mused Sunset. “I’m going to look for Aiko, then come back. Can you secure the station and hide somewhere you can see me when I return?”
“Yeah, I can do that,” agreed Thaddeus. He started locking down the settings, then locking down the station itself as Sunset popped away in a flash of teal.
Sunset teleported into their stateroom, quickly looking around at the mess. “Well, that happened,” she sighed. She spied Aiko looking around the plant on the patio, waving her over. Sunset stepped out to the patio and noticed the porter huddled behind the plant.
“You brought a friend,” she smiled. Aiko smirked.
“Sorry, I would introduce her but I didn’t catch her name. Sunset, tell me you have a plan, right?” asked Aiko hopefully.
“Ah, not really. Don’t surrender? How’s that?” asked Sunset. “I’m working on one, I have a few ideas, but to be honest it’s not looking all that good. Whoever planned this definitely believed in the concept of overwhelming force. They have armament and numbers on their side. And now they have hostages too, making the situation even more bleak.”
“Ah, yeah, but from what I could hear on their deck from here while we were hiding, waiting for you, they are being a bit disingenuous about their claims to just rob and leave. I heard several very upset and terrified kitsune being dragged onto their ship. If I had to guess, I would say slaves or ransome, either of which doesn’t bode well for a fair bit of the crew and guests. My bet is we would top their must have guest list if they could find us just by being guests in these suites. And there’s no way in hades I am going back to being a slave,” answered Aiko.
“Me neither,” agreed Sunset. The kitsune cowering behind the plant nodded her head in emphatic agreement.
“Okay. No sense hanging out here. Come on, I’ll take you to engineering. Thaddeus is there, we can work on a plan with him,” said Sunset.
“Take me too!” begged the porter, reaching a paw out to Sunset.
“Of course! All able bodied fighters are welcome,” agreed Sunset. Placing a hoof on both of them, the three of them disappeared in a flash of teal.
And reappeared in the engine room, now locked down and completely abandoned.
“What was that? Was that teleportation? I’ve never felt that before,” shivered the kitsune vixen with them.
“Yes, that was a local teleportation spell. It takes some getting used to, but you shouldn’t feel much but brief mild disorientation. It will pass,” answered Sunset, looking around.
“Psst!” came a hiss from the grating above them. “I’m in here. The access is behind the engine. I’ll meet you there,” called out Thaddeus. Sunset, Aiko, and the porter crossed the workspace and headed behind the Stratos engine. A panel in the wall behind it popped out, and Thaddeus grinned out at them.
“Come on in, this should be a safe place to hide. I grabbed the ship's manuals so we can look at the maps while you strategize,” greeted Thaddeus. Sunset, Aiko and the porter slipped in behind him and he fastened the panel back into place. “This way,” he whispered, leading them back into the pipes and around to the front of the engineering workspace, where they could look out over the workstation from a duct he had removed from its grating. Looking out through the grating, they could see the workstation, still abandoned and locked down. In the crawl space, there was a small workbench by the wall down from the grating laid out over the piping.
“Welcome to my hidden study area!” greeted Thaddeus. “Never thought it would be getting this kind of use though,” he laughed.
“Fortune favors the prepared,” nodded Aiko, looking around at Thaddeus’s hidden study area.
“And the bold,” agreed Sunset, looking at their still trembling porter. “Hi, we never actually got introduced. Sunset Shimmer, Equestrian Battle Mage,” she bowed to the porter.
“And I’m Aiko Adobaizā, Battle Mage in training,” bowed Aiko.
“You know me, Emi. Thaddeus, glad to see you with these two and not missing,” Thaddeus nodded.
“I am 絵美 悦子 (Emi Etsuko), porter. I am honored to meet you,” the porter bowed to them.
“So, Thaddeus, don’t suppose you have anything to eat or drink back here?” asked Sunset.
“Nope. I usually bring a snack and a flask of tea if I plan on studying, but don’t keep any supplies here,” answered the todd.
“No worries. I guess I can try to liberate something if we need it,” responded Sunset. “Just getting a bit thirsty, and not sure how long this will take.” She placed a hoof on the wall, stretching out her senses. “I just need to get a feel for where everyone is now.” She could sense that currently everyone had been gathered into the main dining room, bunched together towards the backside of the room, while smaller groups of two or three were placed near the doors. She could detect groups of others still moving through the ship, likely the raiding parties still looking for stray guests and staff and any further loot to be stolen.
Sunset turned to Thaddeus. “Where is the kitchen?” she asked. “I’m going to run a quick raid there to get us some supplies, or at least something to drink.”
He pointed to the book spread out on his workbench. “It’s right here, just behind the main dining room,” he informed her.
“That works out well. I can peek in on the guests while I’m there to see how they are being treated,” nodded Sunset. “Okay, be right back.” With a teal flash and a light pop, she disappeared.
She appeared in the kitchen behind one of the workstations.
“Hey, what was that?” called out a griffin voice on the other side of the room. Sunset dropped down, immediately going invisible.
‘What was what?” asked another griffin.
“Did you hear that pop?” asked the first.
“No, but we’re in the kitchen. Probably a stove or something cooling down. Who cares?” asked the second.
“I guess. I keep waiting for that damned mare to pop out again. That pony gives me the creeps. Did you see the way she cut down Glen and Gretchen? She was freaking smiling! What kind of pony smiles while they cut someone down?” said the first.
“Whatever! You smile when you fight, so what’s the big deal?” the second voice asked.
“I’m a griffin. We’re supposed to be all violent. Ponies are supposed to be crying and running away from a fight, not enjoying it! It’s not natural. I bet she’s really not even a pony at all,” answered the first.
“Dude, you’re just being weird. She’s probably just used to fighting. That’s very speciest to think ponies can’t be fighters,” replied the second. “Have you finished filling those pitchers yet? If we don’t get back out there the commander is going to skin us alive.”
“What the heck does that even mean, speciest? I’ve never even heard of that word,” asked the first as he finished filling the pitchers.
“It means discriminating against others because of their species. Which you would know if you were raised somewhere with an actual civilization,” responded the second, taking some of the full pitchers in claw.
“Well sorry for growing up in the cradle of our civilization, Griffenstone,” growled the first. “Where other species are properly considered to be what they really are. Prey.”
“As if! Bet you wouldn’t be quick to assume that everyone else is prey if that mare were here now,” laughed the second. “Come on, let’s get these out.” The first grabbed the remaining pitchers and they left back out the double doors to the dining room.
Sunset smirked as she rose from her hiding spot. “No, I bet he wouldn’t,” she agreed quietly, looking around the room for something to carry some water in herself. She spied two more pitchers next to a pantry door across the room. She crossed over to them, opening the pantry to look inside. Seeing several bags of bread, she grabbed those, as well as the two pitchers. She set them to fill in a nearby sink, slinking over to the double doors to peek out into the dining room from the circular windows in the center of each one.
Looking out, she saw three dead vixens in the middle of the room, clearly tortured, with the rest of the guests and staff gathered up against the wall she was looking out from. On the other side of the room, three teams of griffins were gathered, one team by each door. A fourth team was in the middle of the room, discussing something, while the two buffoons who had just been in here were moving amongst the prisoners, giving them sips of water from two of the pitchers.
Sunset moved back to the sink, gathering her two full pitchers in hoof with the bag of bread clenched in her muzzle. With a flash of teal and a light pop, she returned to the engineering crawl space.
Appearing before the startled porter, Sunset handed the vixen the pitchers, then dropped the bags from her muzzle onto the floor. “Put these somewhere, will you?” she asked, then turned back to Aiko and Thaddeus. “It’s not good. To pacify the guests, they tortured three older vixens to death in front of them. It’s also clear they have harvested some of the guests. The ones left are mostly younger males, and older couples of more common bearings. The dearth of vixens concerns me. I suspect I know where many of those young vixens are heading.”
Aiko growled. “Not on my watch. Tell me you have a plan to put a stop to this.”
“Not yet, but we will, I promise. We’ll figure something out,” agreed Sunset.
The porter set the bags of bread on the workbench. Sunset reached into one, pulling out several loaves and tossing one to each of them. Tearing into hers, Sunset looked over the ship's schematics again, hoping for inspiration.
Flipping back and forth through the ship's diagrams, Sunset hummed quietly to herself as she thought. After several minutes, she sighed. “Okay Aiko, I’m definitely going to need your help on this one. I need you to learn invisibility. I am certain you have the magical capacity for it now. Do you mind if we enter your dreamspace? It will be easier to explain and show how it works there.”
Aiko nodded. “Sure, whatever you need, Soni.” She loped over to Sunset.
“Okay, Let’s do this,” She touched Aiko on the forehead with her hoof, then caught her as she dropped, laying her gently down on the floor. She snuggled down next to her, then placing her hoof on her friend, closed her eyes.
Thaddeus and Emi watched them for several moments, then Aiko radiated an amber glow, disappearing before them. Sunset opened her eyes, looking over to where her friend was. She could still feel her in her grasp, but she was completely invisible.
“Well done, Aiko! You now know invisibility,” smiled Sunset.
“Thanks! It seemed simple enough once you explained it and showed the spell matrix to me. Though how spell matrices even make sense to me is a wonder, as I’ve never studied them before. How does that even work?” came Aiko’s voice from next to Sunset.
“I imparted the knowledge directly to you using another spell in the dreamscape. I can teach you that one too someday, but we have more pressing things to worry about for the moment,” explained Sunset.
Sunset rose to her hooves, and Aiko reappeared. “Wait, I know teleportation too?” she blurted out. “What else did you stick in my head?”
“Just those two, you’ll need them for what we have to do. But you’ll need some practice with teleport to be fully proficient,” corrected Sunset.
“That was trippy. Okay, so what’s the plan?” asked Aiko.
Sunset replied. “The biggest issue we have at the moment is we don’t know where all the hostages are. We need to find where the captain is, and where all the prisoners are they have taken on the other ship. I’m going to teleport over to the pirate ship and look around there, while you scour this ship for the captain. I already know from the last time I looked that all the guests are now in the dining room or off the ship, and a few crew members are hidden around the ship, likely as we are. The rest on the ship are just teams of griffins looting everything in sight. I suspect that the captain is hiding in a warded hidden room somewhere near his quarters. Thaddeus can help you scan the diagrams for where it might be located, but you’re going to have to go to his quarters and look around yourself.
“While you do that, I’ll be looking around the pirate schooner to locate all our missing guests and crew, as well as find out just how many more pirates are holed up on their vessel. Once we know where everyone is and what numbers we are talking about, we can come up with a better plan on how to deal with them,” finished Sunset.
While Thaddeus and Aiko looked over the ship’s diagrams for clues to the whereabouts of the captain's hidden room, Sunset ran a quick final scan over the ship to verify everyone’s locations. She was unsurprised to find a single griffin stationed in the captain’s quarters, likely to sound an alarm if the captain did return. As that would hamper Aiko’s efforts to examine his quarters for signs of the hidden room, Sunset revised her plans to allow the both of them to take out the pirate first, then leave her to her examinations. She finished her scan then trotted over to Aiko and Thaddeus.
“Okay, change of plans. There’s a griffin guarding the captain’s quarters. I’m going with you to take them out quickly before they sound an alarm, then I’ll leave you to search while I go examine the pirate’s schooner,” Sunset explained. “So any ideas on where the hidden room might be?”
“We have a few ideas, assuming the room even exists,” confirmed Thaddeus.
“It exists, I’m sure of it. And that’s one of the most logical places for it,” assured Sunset. “We have to start somewhere.”
“Okay, then I know where to start looking. How are we going to take out this griffin before they sound an alarm?” asked Aiko.
“Here’s the plan,” Sunset outlined, explaining it to Aiko.
In the captain’s quarters, a bored griffin hen was swinging her sword side to side, pretending to fight with an imaginary foe. She spun and wheeled, slashing and hacking the air around her as she played at her mock battle.
As she was imagining herself thrusting her foe through and him dropping to the beach with a gurgle, she heard a pop behind her. Spinning around, she saw a kitsune vixen coming straight at her with her Kitana drawn, and a pony and todd running off to either side. Wheeling to face the immediate threat of the vixen, she was shocked to be dropped dead by the mare’s sword, which she had flung across the room, impaling her. She dropped to the deck gurgling, then died.
“Okay, you got this. Meet you back in engineering,” assured Sunset as she yanked her sword back out of the dead griffin and wiped it on the griffin’s garments. Placing a hoof on the body, with a teal flash she and the dead griffin disappeared.
Aiko started checking the places where they suspected the entrance to the hidden room might be located.
Sunset appeared with a flash under the pirate schooner, letting the griffin’s body drop from her as she pushed off from it. Teleporting again, she appeared in the rigging of the pirate’s ship, looking over the remainder of the rigging for any scouts or lookouts. Seeing only one in the crow’s nest, Sunset teleported behind her, wrapping her throat and beak with her forelegs before teleporting back away under the schooner. There, as the griffin hen bit and fought against her hold, she cut the hen’s throat then kicked her away, letting her drop to the ocean below while she teleported again into the rigging.
Looking around, she confirmed no one had noticed her attack, and started picking off the griffins on deck in the same way. First, she teleported behind a griffin that was standing next to the focsle, looking over the deck from its shade. They popped away, and a few moments later Sunset was back in the rigging, looking for her next target. She was able to pick off the outliers in this way, but had to wait for some of them to move or turn as she worked her way inward. When there was only the innermost group left, she abandoned that for a bit, deciding to look into the focsle to see what was going on in there.
Teleporting down next to it, she placed her hoof on the wall, sensing the occupants of the quarters. Two griffins were in the room, apparently hunched over a table examining something. Not seeing any better way to deal with the pair, she teleported right behind them. She immediately wheeled and bucked the leftmost while she impaled he one on the right with her sword, swung in her telekinesis. She then ripped the sword from the body of the one she had just impaled and cleaved the head off of the one she had bucked into the table. Grabbing both bodies and the head, she teleported away.
A few moments later, she was back in the cabin, looking over the documents on the table that had captured the interests of the two previous occupants. It was the passenger manifest of the Albatros. Apparently the griffins were making certain they had captured all of the high profile targets. Shaking her head, she gathered up the documents and magiced them away to review later. She quickly scanned the rest of what was clearly the captain’s quarters, finding nothing further of note, then teleported back outside of the focsle. She saw a grate nearby, and from the cover of a nearby barrel, looked down into the lower deck through the grating.
She saw members of the pirate crew securing the treasures they had stolen from the Albatros, boxing them and lashing down the larger items to keep them from shifting. Seeing a crate in the shadows of the hold, Sunset teleported down behind it to continue her investigations.
A crew member looked up and over on hearing the pop, but seeing nothing went back to his work, lashing a tarp wrapped painting down. Across from them, Sunset could see the steep stairs to the lower deck. Placing her hoof on the deck, she stretched out her senses, confirming there were no griffins near the entrance to the lower deck. She quickly teleported over to it and quietly descended to the lower deck.
She teleported behind a crate across from the bottom of the stairs and examined the layout of this hold. There were cages lining both sides of the ship, full of battered and bruised Kitsune. Two vixens were laying in the middle of the hold, clothes torn and shredded, clearly beaten and used. Sunset couldn’t tell from this distance if they were dead or just insensate from the beatings and abuse they had suffered. At the far end of the hold was a table with a muscular kitsune vixen stretched out on it, lashed down to keep her from moving or escaping. She was bruised and bleeding but clearly breathing. Sunset teleported behind the table she was splayed out on.
Looking down at the vixen before her, Sunset was shocked to recognize the XO. “XO, what happened to you?” she whispered into the vixen's ear, still hidden behind the table.
“Shimmer, is that you? What happened? Tell me they didn’t find my husband,” whispered the XO from her swollen muzzle, her eyes looking around for Sunset.
“Yeah, it’s me. Husband?” asked Sunset. “I’m hiding behind the table, that’s why you can’t see me. I don't want everyone to notice me and start screaming at me to let them out. One samurai can’t take on an entire ship no matter how good they are.”
The XO grunted in assent. “Yeah, the captain. My husband. We’re married,” explained the XO.
“They’re still looking for him,” assured Sunset. “They haven’t found him yet. Aiko is looking for him in his quarters now. We’re working with Thaddeus on a plan to take back the ship, and have locked down engineering. Aiko and I took out the griffin that was searching his quarters, and I left her to search while I came over here to check on you and the rest of the guests and crew. Are there any griffins down here I should know about before I move on?”
“No. They are coming back later, but they gave up on trying to torture the location of the captain’s safe room from me. They took a break to finish lashing down everything they stole from the ship,” explained the XO.
“Yeah, I passed them all up on my way down here. One sec then, I’m going to unbind you,” Sunset warned. She sliced through the bindings with her sword, and the XO rolled from the table, collapsing down to the floor.
“Ouch,” she grunted. “Feeling that now.” She worked off the rest of the ropes, rubbing her limbs to get some circulation back into them.
“You gonna be okay, XO?” asked Sunset from her place behind the table. The XO rolled to her paws and crawled behind the table with Sunset.
“Yeah, I’ll be fine. What’s the plan now?” she asked.
“First thing I want to get you back to the captain. One sec,” Sunset placed a hoof on the XO, and with a pop and a flash of teal, they both disappeared from the hold.
And appeared back on the Albatros in the captain's quarters.
The XO loped over to the closet where Aiko was searching. “Here, let me help,” she said, gently moving Aiko aside. She then rotated the closet crossbeam in a series of movements, and a panel opened up in the bottom of the closet. “Babe!” she whispered into the dark opening.
“Honey, is that you?” called out the captain’s voice. His head poked out from the darkness, and seeing the XO, he scampered out from the hole and wrapped her in a tight hug. “Oh sweet goddess of the hunt! I was so worried I would never see you again!” he breathed, holding her tight.
“Me too, babe!” She hugged him back.
Sunset and Aiko smiled warmly at the reunion. Another face poked out from the darkness. “XO, that you?”
“Yeah, come on out,” called the XO, breaking off from her hug with her husband. The todd exited from the hole into the room, followed by another todd and two vixens. “Wow must have been a tight fit in there with your entire protection detail,” mused the XO.
“Yeah a bit cramped. But we were busy trying to figure out a way to take the ship back,” answered the captain.
“We were working on that as well,” replied Sunset. Aiko nodded.
“So what did you come up with?” asked the captain.
“We figured the first thing to do was to find what we were up against, and where everyone was,” answered Sunset. “The good news, such as it is, is that there are only about seventy total pirates, most of them currently in two griffin raiding teams ripping through the Albatros looking for things to steal. This is the ideal time to thin those numbers. If we can get you and your team back to engineering to work on the plan to take back the ship, Aiko and I can work through the raiding teams and thin them out like I did earlier. Then we can get our passengers and crew back.”
“Sounds good to me,” agreed the captain.
“We’ll have to make a few trips. Aiko, can you teleport yourself to Thaddeus’s study spot? I’ll ferry the rest of the crew here,” asked Sunset.
“You got it. See you there,” agreed Aiko. With a flash of amber, she popped away.
“Wow, never seen a kitsune teleport before,” noted the XO.
“She’s got talent. She’ll make a great battle mage,” agreed Sunset. Okay, Captain, XO? Let’s go.” Sunset placed a hoof on each of them, and they disappeared in a flash of teal. A few moments later, Sunset was back for the next set.
Two trips later, they were all gathered in the crawl space behind engineering gathered around Thaddeus and his workbench.
“Nice little unauthorized workspace you have here, Thaddeus,” snarked the XO.
“Uh, thank you ma’am,” gulped Thaddeus. “Just glad you’re here ma’am.”
“You and I both,” grinned the XO. “So what’s the plan?”
“It’s a work in progress. Let me show you what we’ve thought of so far,” explained Thaddeus.
“Pardon Aiko and I. We have some hunting to do. We’ll be back after we’ve thinned the pack,” commented Sunset, pulling Aiko after her and bowing.
The captain and the XO nodded, listening still to Thaddeus as he explained their plan. Sunset placed a hoof on Aiko and together they teleported out.
The two griffins were exiting the stateroom when two pops went off to either side of them. Two swords flashed out before they even got a moment to blink and they both dropped to the floor dead.
“I got these two, just drag this junk back into the room and I’ll be right back so we can take care of the next set,” whispered Sunset. She placed a hoof on both bodies, all three of them disappearing in a flash of teal. Aiko dragged the fallen treasures back into the room they belonged in and shut the door.
A moment later, Sunset reappeared in the room next to her, and placed her hoof on the wall. “Okay, we have our next target. Ready?” She reached out her hoof.
“Second verse, same as the first,” agreed Aiko, stretching out her paw to touch her friend's hoof. There was a flash of teal as she drew her paw back, and they both disappeared.
About thirty odd minutes later, Sunset and Aiko reappeared back in the engineering crawl space with a pop. Both were looking a bit ragged and blood spattered, but were grinning ear to ear.
“We got them all. The only one’s left are the crew still on the schooner and the guards with the guests in the dining room. We should take care of the crew on the schooner first, before they realize no one is coming back and start killing off hostages or sound the alarm,” noted Aiko.
“I think we probably need to do the guards in the dining room first though,” suggested Sunset. “They are right in the middle of the guests, and they could start killing them at the slightest provocation. The crew on the schooner would have to travel down two decks to get to their prisoners, so that buys up a few seconds there.”
“Okay, so we do the dining room first. How can we take them out before they start shooting into the crowd?” asked Aiko.
“Let me check on something. Just a sec.” Sunset put her hoof to the wall, eyes closed. “Okay, we might be in luck. They still have the prisoners all up against the back wall, and are all forward from them in the other half of the room. If you line up behind me, I can teleport in with a queued fire spell, and take them all out with an oversized fireball while you protect the passengers from anyone who runs by me. Sounds like a plan?” They all agreed, so Sunset spun up the fire spell while they all put a paw on her, then with a flash of teal, Sunset, Aiko, and two of the security team disappeared while the remaining two, the captain and XO remained with a startled Thaddeus.
“What happened?” he asked.
In the dining room, there was a flash of teal and a pop, then a very angry mare appeared, fire launching out from her hooves incinerating the griffins in the forward part of the room while Aiko and the two guards ran back to protect the passengers. Sunset ran to each group of burning bodies, quickly teleporting them off the ship to freefall into the ocean below them, then dousing the flames in the carpet with a freezing spell. When she had eliminated all the dead griffins and extinguished all the flames, she called out to Aiko.
“I’ll be right back! I’m going to get the Captain and the rest of them.” She disappeared in a teal flash.
“Sorry about that!” called out Sunset as she reappeared in the crawlspace. “I didn’t have enough magic to get the entire set. Let’s head out.” She placed a hoof on the shocked Captain and XO, then disappeared again with both of them. A few moments later, she was back. “Don’t worry, I didn’t forget you. Grab hold!” Thaddeus, the two remaining guards and the porter put a paw on her, and they all disappeared this time.
And reappeared in the dining hall, where two griffins were making their way through the guests, offering water to anyone thirsty.
Aiko laughed. “Yeah, right after you left, they came back in with pitchers of water. Apparently they missed all the fun. They were sent to get more water for the prisoners and came back in after it was all over.”
“That’s fine,” laughed Sunset. “I’m actually kind of glad those two didn’t get their chips cashed in. They might be okay, I think. Keep them busy here though,” she advised the XO. “I’ll be right back.” She disappeared again in a flash of teal.
She was back up in the rigging again. The crew below were clearly getting worried. One of them exited the focsle. “They’re not in there. Where do you think they went?” he said, walking back to the others who were now gathered in a circle in the center of the deck. Sunset took aim, and with a mighty crack a wave of lightning washed over the group of them, dropping them all to the deck burnt and twitching. Teleporting down to the deck, Sunset pitched them all over the side of the ship into the ocean below. Reaching out with her senses, she confirmed that the only ones left on the ship were the prisoners in the lower holds. She teleported back into the dining room.
“It’s done. The pirates are all dead. Your passengers need to be rescued. They are on the lower deck, and some of them will need help getting back over onto the ship. A few of them can’t even move by themselves,” advised Sunset.
“Crew, form up on me. Rescue mission, let’s go!” called out the XO as the guards and captain followed her out of the dining room and up to the deck to rescue their guests and missing crew. Thaddeus joined them, determined to help out.
“Ugh! I wish this wasn’t a dinner, so I could wear the veil again,” groused Sunset as she slipped into her formal outfit, ironically the one she wore while masquerading as a pony servant while sneaking around Yokeo.
“Who are you and what have you done with my friend?” snarked Aiko. “Seriously Soni, when have you ever passed up a chance to toot your own horn a bit?”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. But we are supposed to be keeping a low profile to keep your family's honor. Taking credit for all this and marching around in front of everyone is the opposite of low profile,” explained Sunset.
“Which is why the captain and XO agreed with your plan to just join in the festivities as part of the crew responsible for the guests' liberation, instead of being feted as their actual liberators. It won’t be that bad. We just have to smile and look adorable while the Captain and the XO stand in the limelight. It would be beyond awkward if we just bowed completely out. Celebrate with them. This is big! We all survived a hard core modern pirate attack, with automatic weaponry. We all deserve a little fun after all that,” reminded Aiko.
“It would have been true fun if so many hadn’t died. Seven of the guests. Nine of the crew. And all but two of the pirates,” stated Sunset. “They aren’t coming back.”
“Okay, the two ex-pirates are crew now, thanks to your recommendations. And no, we can’t bring them back. But we can honor them by celebrating those who survived, which includes you and I. And if I ever buy the farm, I expect you to have a huge party in my honor. None of this mopey dopey stuff,” said Aiko.
“Yeah, you better not be buying any farms. And as for those two, I was shocked to learn they were press ganged. Who does that anymore? I really have to talk with mom about the insane stuff going on in Griffinstone. How is it they are considered our allies with all this happening?” commented Sunset.
Aiko shrugged. “So how do I look?” she asked, back in her vixen on the town ensemble, twirling before her friend.
“Like a Slumbering Flower,” snarked Sunset.
Aiko gave her friend a stink eye. “Really? You really are a brat.”
Sunset laughed. “You look great, Aiko. You wear it well.”
“Thank you, Shimmering Sun,” teased Aiko back. “You look fetching as well! Fetch me something to drink, please.”
Sunset smacked her friend on her haunches. “Ha ha ha, fetch it yourself, oh maiden.”
Sunset looked out their patio window, the pirate schooner in tow behind their airship taking most of the view. “At least the salvage on the ship should cover the costs of repairs for the Albatros,” observed Sunset.
“Okay, ready. Let’s go,” said Aiko, loping over to the door and holding it for her friend. “Don’t want to be fashionably late to this party.”
“No, we don’t,” agreed Sunset. “Not when we’re sitting at the table with the captain.” She trotted out the door, Aiko shutting it behind them. They headed down the hall then entered the ship's dining hall, a special table set up at the head of the room for tonight’s dinner, as the captain and XO would be joining them all tonight.
As they headed over to the table, they noted that everyone except the captain was already seated. Bowing to the XO and the rest of the crew at the table, they sat at the end by Thaddeus and Kōshitsu.
“Well you clean up nice,” smiled Sunset to Kōshitsu as she sat down next to her.
“And happy for that, because while I was sitting in that cage after being pawed by those jerks, I thought I might never be clean again,” sighed Kōshitsu. “I like being wanted for my intellect, not my biology. I hope I never have to go through that again.”
“You and I both, sister,” said Sunset, giving her a hug. “Not ever again.”
Aiko gave her a quick hug as well before sitting down on the other side of Sunset. “So I heard the captain authorized some leave once we arrive in Manehattan. You down for a little sightseeing, my treat?”
Kōshitsu turned to Thaddeus. “I could use the break. What do you say, Thaddeus? Down for some sightseeing?”
“I go where you go, oh fearless leader,” smiled Thaddeus. “Sounds good to me.”
“And after that, I would love to introduce you two to mom. And Twilight. Especially Twilight. She will geek out hard finding out that you both work on the Stratos engine, and that I got to see one before she did,” Sunset laughed.
“So that’s how it is?” teased Aiko.
“What? She’s an even bigger magic geek than I am. You’ll love her,” laughed Sunset.
“All rise for the Captain,” called out the door watch. Everyone rose as the captain loped in and joined them at the table.
“Good evening everyone!” called out the captain, taking his seat. “Please, be seated.” Everyone sat, and the captain continued.
“I am thrilled to be here with you tonight, especially after the horrors we survived today. While our hearts are saddened by those among us who lost their lives today in this senseless attack, we are reminded by their loss and our survival just what a precious thing life really is. So to honor our fallen friends and guests, we join together here in celebrating surviving for another day, living again to see another sunrise, and to remember another day those who have fallen before us. To life!” the captain toasted, raising his wine glass.
“To life,” the room called back, raising their glasses. The captain drank his toast and everyone joined him.
The crew served up the soup and salad, Sunset being served both as her waiter gave her a wink, then onto the main course when that was finished. They shared small talk with one another and enjoyed being able to enjoy the dinner together. After dinner and dessert, there was dancing, with a live band playing contemporary favorites. Aiko and Sunset joined Thaddeus and Kōshitsu on the dance floor, all of them having a wonderful time. As the evening wound down, Thaddeus and Kōshitsu excused themselves to get some rest before the next watch. Making their own excuses, Sunset and Aiko stole away as well, retiring to their suite for a warm bath, their ablutions, and a well earned good night’s sleep snuggled up together in bed.