Yearling headed straight for the Storm Queen’s vessel, eyes focused towards the bow. The source of the lightning was the Storm Queen herself – or rather the Control Ring floating over her head. She seemed preoccupied with the horizon ahead, as if awaiting the first sight of land. Behind her, still bound, was “Azazel,” who had taken on a defiant look.
“Storm Queen!” Yearling bellowed, flying before her.
The Storm Queen’s eyes nearly popped from her head. “What? How are you still alive?” With a snarl, she grit her teeth. “No matter – you won’t be for long!”
Yearling rolled out of the way of a blast of wind that ruffled her shirt and whipped at her tail. She dove as a flash of light filled her vision and a bolt of lightning roared over her head. She flew along the port side, dodging blasts of wind.
“Beelzebub, now! Grab her!” Yearling called, ducking another lightning bolt.
The ropes snapped in a burst of red fire as Beelzebub pounced with a hissing snarl. The Storm Queen was taken completely by surprise as the changeling, now twice her normal size, pinned her down. The surprise didn’t last, as the Storm Queen fought to be freed.
“Guards!” she howled.
Yearling swooped in and took a steadying breath. She closed her eyes and focused on her magic like Azazel had said. A tingling sensation spread from her wings down to her forehooves, and she reached out with her bracelet hoof.
She felt a little tug in the tingling, and there was a soft clink. She opened her eyes to find one of the Tears had lodged into her bracelet’s slot. She grinned in triumph.
At that time, the Storm Queen had finally thrown Beelzebub aside and looked up in horror. It quickly turned into rage as she let out a bellowing howl. “You insolent little thief!” she bellowed, firing a lightning bolt at her.
Yearling arched backwards, shutting her eyes against the blinding light as it narrowly missed her. The close contact made her hair stand on end as she flew backwards.
“Beelzebub! Go free Celaeno’s airship!” Yearling called over the roaring thunder as she ducked and dodged more bolts.
Beelzebub rolled to her hooves and gave a nod, flittering across the deck towards the stern. A few of the Storm Queen’s creatures finally made it above deck and stood in her way, but she dodged their grabbing claws and flew past them.
Yearling finally got a respite from the lightning to check which of the Tears she had managed to snatch. Her face fell a little when she realized it was pale blue with a frosty sheen over it.
“How am I going to use snow?” she thought to herself.
Her ears perked up and she rolled out of the way of another gust of wind. She gained altitude, looking for more space to evade.
Beelzeub smacked some of the beasts aside as she landed onto the airship’s deck. Some fell overboard, others stumbled back onto their own ships. She raced to the door to the captain’s quarters and threw it open. “All hands on deck!” she called.
Celeano burst forward, her cutlass in hand as she charged onto the deck and scanned her surroundings. The rest of her crew was close behind, some brandishing weapons of their own.
“Captain, Yearling’s fighting the Storm Queen on her ship. She’s got one of the Tears, but we’re headed for Equestria – the Queen plans on razing it,” Beelzebub hurriedly explained.
Celaeno frowned as she surveyed her ship. “Well, we can’t sit idly by…” Her eyes fell onto the stern. “The aft towing harpoons! We could at least slow her ship down with them, but we need to be free first.”
“I’ll see if Yearling can help with that,” Beelzebub said with a nod, hurriedly flittering back to the battle.
“Avast, you landlubbers!” Celaeno called as more of the Storm Queen’s beasts emerged from below decks on their ships. “Protect our ship! Keep ‘em off!”
The crew gave a hearty reply and charged the enemy, and their captain was quick to join them.
Yearling surged some of her magic into the Tear, trying to get some sort of response. All she got were wispy puffs of clouds that dissipated as quickly as she conjured them. She huffed, nearly getting buffeted by a gust of wind and dropping out of the way.
“Come on… come on…” she panted, her wings aching as she ducked and dove around the Storm Queen’s assault.
The Tear glowed a little brighter, and a small burst of ice crystals shot out like pellets from a shotgun. Yearling blinked in surprise.
She cringed as a stray lightning bolt licked at one of the masts, narrowly missing her.
“Hold still!” the Storm Queen roared. “Pesky bug!”
“I take offense to that,” Beelzebub panted as she caught up with Yearling. “Captain Celaeno can use her aft harpoon guns on this ship to slow it down, but she needs help getting the other ships off first.”
“Let’s trade places then,” Yearling huffed with a nod. “Keep her busy.”
Beelzebub nodded, and smirked as she turned her attention below. Yearling flew off towards Celaeno’s ship as the demon stuck her tongue out at the Storm Queen.
“I bet you couldn’t hurt a fly with those things!” she taunted.
She vanished in a burst of crimson fire as a lightning bolt roared past, buzzing around as a tiny fly before turning back to normal.
Yearling left the angered shouts of the Storm Queen behind her as she approached the enemy airships. Below, she could see Celaeno and her crew dueling with the Storm Queen’s beasts, doing their best to toss them back onto their own ships.
She flew just short of one of the enemy ship’s vertical propellers keeping it aloft and concentrated on the Tear yet again. Wispy, cloud-like magic spun from the Tear and onto the propeller, coating it in a thick layer of ice and locking it up.
Smirking, Yearling deftly flew to the other propellers and iced them over one by one. She looked down to Celaeno’s airship and noticed it seemed to only be connected to the other ships by mooring lines tied to its railings.
“Cut your ship loose, Captain!” Yearling called as she enemy ships began to lose altitude.
“Gladly! You heard her, mates!” Celaeno said with a salute to Yearling, slashing one of the lines with her cutlass.
One by one, the other lines were cut and snapped, just as the two airships plummeted out of sight with their crews.
Yearling gave a wave to Celaeno before turning back to the last remaining airship – and the sounds of the infuriated Storm Queen.
“Hard about, mates!” Celaeno called. “And ready the aft harpoons!”
The Storm Queen heard the commotion of her ships’ crews and peered over the side back at them. She snarled as they vanished through the clouds below, turning her anger towards Beelzebub as Yearling rejoined her.
A smirk crossed the Queen’s face. “Looks like the pirates are betraying you like they betrayed me!” she called smugly.
“Not quite,” Yearling replied.
Just then, the Storm Queen’s ship lurched, nearly throwing her to the deck. A pair of harpoons jammed into her ship’s stern, connected to Celaeno’s by sturdy chains. The pirates let out a whoop of victory.
Vibrating with rage, the Storm Queen let out a bellow of rage and stormed to the stern, the Tears in her Control Ring glowing brightly.
Beelzebub quickly figured out what she was aiming for. “NO!” she cried, racing downwards.
The Storm Queen howled and launched a lightning bolt directly at the balloon of Celaeno’s airship – which instead struck Beelzebub directly in the chest.
There was a brief flash of light, and a smoldering, crimson form limply fell from the sky.
“No!” Yearling called after her, before turning her sights on the Storm Queen, who was smugly watching her first victim plummet.
Gritting her teeth with a snarl, Yearling dove for the Storm Queen. Ice encased her hoof, but she barely felt the biting cold. The Storm Queen took notice of the golden missile aimed at her, and fired off two more lightning bolts.
Yearling angled her wings vertically, narrowly missing both bolts with only the faintest notion of the static effect it had on her hair. The bolts instead struck the two propeller-bearing masts, snapping them like twigs.
Yearling’s momentum carried her straight to the Storm Queen, and her ice-encased punches, shielded from the lightning of the Control Ring, knocked it from the Storm Queen’s head and sent the Storm Queen to the ground.
Continuing, Yearling rolled to her hooves upon landing and grabbed the Control Ring, now defunct without a master. With a flap of her tired wings, she was airborne again as the Queen’s ship began to sink.
“Cut the lines!” Yearling heard Celaeno call, followed by the rattling of chains going limp.
The Queen groaned as she got to her feet, wobbling as her ship began to dip towards the bow. “Curse you, Daring Do!” she bellowed, shaking her fist. “Curse you!”
And with that, the Storm Queen and her ship vanished out of sight below the cloud sea.
Yearling stared at the ship-shaped holes in the clouds before her ear flicked towards the sound of someone calling her name.
“Y-Yearling!”
She whirred around to see Beelzebub, a scorched mark across her chest, but somehow weakly keeping aloft with a smirk.
“Beelzebub!” Yearling called, flying to her. “How are you alive? You took a bolt of lightning directly!”
“Well, I’m tougher than I look,” Beelzebub wheezed with a weak chuckle. “But let’s not push out luck and get back to the ship, shall we?”
“Let’s, we need to get back to the islands,” Yearling said, looping one of Beelzebub’s legs around her own shoulders to help fly her back.
Flying just above and south of the central island, Yearling stepped up to the starboard railing of Celaeno’s ship, clutching the Control Ring, her bracelet, and the Tears slotted into each of them. With a sigh, she cast them overboard, watching their glints vanish towards the sea below.
“Well, that’s the Tears taken care of,” Yearling remarked to Celaeno and Beelzebub beside her. “But how in Celestia’s name are we sinking those islands?”
Before anyone could offer a solution, there was a bright flash of light from somewhere far below. As the trio peered over the side of the ship, a whirling vortex of clouds, like a raging hurricane, swirled up from below.
Lightning, fierce winds, hail, and rain launched from the vortex like lashing tentacles, striking at the underside of the floating islands. Rock crumbled from the onslaught, and one by one, the islands began to break apart and sink.
“What in the seven seas?” Celaeno gasped.
“Azazel is still in the Central Temple!” Yearling exclaimed over the deafening roar of a hundred storms.
Beelzebub grunted and flitted into the air, rocking away towards the Central Island before either of them could protest. Celaeno ordered her ship as close as they could get, but the crewmate at the helm struggled against the fierce winds.
Yearling focused on the crimson dot as it disappeared into the maelstrom near the sinking Central Temple. Slowly, the temple, and the rest of the islands, vanished into the raging clouds below.
After a tense moment, Beelzebub reemerged, struggling with carrying a white form in her forehooves. Celaeno reached out as far as she could and helped them both aboard. Beelzebub sprawled out on the deck, panting and wheezing, while Azazel looked back where at the islands with amazement in her eyes.
“Thank you,” Azazel said with a grateful, if sad, smile towards Yearling. “For doing what your ancestors could not.”
“What was that?” Celaeno exclaimed.
“We threw the Tears overboard,” Yearling said.
Azazel nodded. “The sea water most likely made them overload, too much material to work with. They are likely no more after that outburst.”
Yearling hummed. “I guess since the islands were cloudwalking, the Tears knocked the hooves out from under them by striking their bottom.”
“Most likely.” Azazel sighed, sitting back on her haunches. “It has been countless years since I flew in Equestria. I am not sure what I should do now.”
Yearling walked over and set her hoof on her shoulder. “I happen to know there’s some other ancient ponies in Equestria, so you’re not alone, that’s for sure.”
Azazel smiled and nodded, setting a hoof on Yearling’s. “I never got your name. We were ambushed before I could find out.”
“A.K. Yearling, though some know me as Daring Do,” Yearling said with a smirk.
“You are a brave warrior, Daring Do,” Azazel said, rising to her hooves.
Celaeno huffed as she set her hands on her hips. “Well, Miss Yearling, I certainly hope this expedition covers my community service.”
Yearling laughed as Azazel moved on to watch the crew worked. Among them was Beelzebub, who assisted in retying some ropes. Celaeno nodded in approval.
“Not to worry, Captain,” Yearling said. “I’m more than sure Princess Celestia will forgive you.” She huffed as she looked back out on the horizon. “The real problem is: how in Tartarus do I write this into a story?”
It was Celaeno’s turn to laugh, and she gave the Pegasus a hearty pat on the back as they flew back towards home, the sun setting off in the distance.