Yearling groaned awake, slowly blinking her eyes open. The world around her swam, and a cold wind buffeted her face. As she slowly regained her senses, she realized her wings and legs were bound, and a solid weight behind her prevented her from moving. She was at the bottom of Celaeno’s ship, near the loading bay.
Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Elytra, tied up in a similar way as her. “Glad you’re awake,” she muttered bitterly, glaring past Yearling.
Yearling turned to see Azazel tied up across from her. She struggled in her bounds, her ring casting a soft glow around her. An imposing, cloaked figure stood next to her, grinning between the Pegasi.
“Who are you?” Yearling demanded, shrugging at her bonds.
The figure drew back the cloak, revealing she was much like a large monkey with ash grey fur. She wore dark armor, with a familiar cyan, pronged symbol made of two lines. Atop her head was a horned crown. She glared down at Yearling sky blue eyes.
“I am the Storm Queen,” she sneered. “And I have been waiting a long time for someone to finally find these islands.”
“Where are the others?” Elytra demanded, struggling against her bonds. Yearling swore she heard ropes start to fray from her struggle.
“The good captain is in her cabin, along with the rest of her crew,” the Queen purred. “And they’ll remain alive as long as you remain a good little bug.” Elytra snorted angrily, but stilled herself.
Yearling growled. “What do you want from us?”
“It’s a bit of a lengthy explanation. You see, my beloved King found these islands a long time ago. It’s where he got his staff, I’m sure you’ve seen it.” She growled. “The one that could contain the power of alicorns, four of them to be precise. We could never open those stupid temples because we weren’t Pegasi. But he thought the staff would be enough if he could get those accursed princesses…”
As she trailed off, Azazel gasped. “That staff… the Control Rod—!”
“Silence!” barked the queen, sending the Pegasus cowering away from her, before turning back to Yearling. “He took most of our forces with him to conquer Equestria. It took too long for me to learn what we became of him.” She clenched her fists. “And I have been waiting, so, so long for my revenge.
“Now that I have those gemstones, those Tears of the Clouds, I’ll do more than what he started. I don’t want to rule that accursed land—I want it wiped from the map!” Her roaring voice echoed around the hollow ship. “And it will be sweet irony that the Pegasi’s ancient power is what will make you ponies pay. Especially that hornless traitor.”
Yearling scoffed. “As if you can use them. Those things could only be touched by a Pegasus.”
The Queen chuckled, a smug smirk crossing her face to replace her snarl. “You’re quite right. Which means I’ll need this.” And with that, she snatched the floating ring from Azazel’s head, the Pegasus’s head jerking to follow it, before the Queen set it over her own head.
“I must thank you, before you go,” the Queen purred as she stalked over to her. “I couldn’t have gotten this far without you. I owe Equestria’s undoing to you.”
She slammed a fist aside Yearling’s head, knocking her out and sending her crashing to the floor. With a snarling laugh, she kicked the unconscious Pegasus out of the loading bay, taking the tied up Elytra along with her.
Elytra struggled against the ropes as the wind buffeted around them, nudging at Yearling. “Wake up, Daring!” she pleaded. “We need to get out of this.”
The Pegasus only groaned in response. Looking at her with wide eyes, elytra gave a soft, pensive sigh. “Guess I have no choice…”
Crimson fire burned away her wings and tail, revealing great leathery wings like those of a dragon and a thin tail with a barbed tip. The ropes snapped away with ease, and the changeling raced down to catch the Pegasus by the barrel. Halting their descent, Elytra scanned the skies before picking out a nearby floating island.
Yearling started to come to as they landed, grumbling at the feeling of yet another headache. Her vision slowly came into focus on the purple blob in front of her. “E-Elytra?” she mumbled.
“Not quite, Miss Yearling,” came the sheepish response.
Yearling quickly blinked her eyes into focus, scrutinizing the changeling from head to tail. “Wait a minute… I know those wings and tail…”
With a sheepish smile, crimson fire burned away at the rest of Elytra’s form. She grew in height, and her regal appearance vaguely reminded Yearling of Queen Chrysalis. Her body was whole and sleek, chitin red and eyes crimson. Her membrane mane was ivory, along with a pair of white, curved horns. A pearl necklace with an ornate fly pendant emerged around her neck.
“Yes, I’m a demon,” she admitted, her voice no different. “My name is Beelzebub.”
Yearling blinked. “Another one, huh? Have you told the crew? Captain Celaeno?”
Beelzebub shook her head. “Not yet. Honestly, I felt bad enough for raiding Princess Luna’s ship that I… hesitate to do so.”
She turned back towards Celaeno’s airship. It was flanked on either side by the smaller Storm Queen ships, their propellers whirring. The larger ship floated ahead of the bow, its broadside pointing at the pirates’ airship.
“What do we do now?” Beelzebub asked Yearling.
“We need to get back onboard for starters,” Yearling said. “Then we can plan our course of action with the others.”
Beelzebub nodded. “Are you alright to fly?”
Yearling nodded, taking one step forward—and promptly wobbling on her hooves. Beelzebub reached forward and caught her, shaking her head.
“I suppose I’m flying then,” she said, grabbing her around the barrel and taking flight with a flap of her great wings. Yearling grumbled, but protested no further as they made their way towards the stern of Celaeno’s airship.