“Digiff!” Nixkit hollered over the struts. He and several other dredgers flanked the bridges leading towards the central platform. Side by side, the defenders parried the attacks of the pirates rushing over—before retaliating with polearm pokes and shoving the enemy back. “Dammit! Move your mucking ass! The attackers have moved in! You're gonna get surrounded—”
“Somepony's gotta clear the canals!” Panting, Digiff retracted the dripping harpoon back into his tower's turret. With a slap of the hoof, he primed the steam hydraulics and aimed the weapon once more into the glowing waters. “Dammit... where does Mudtop get off hiring fish horses?!” He aimed the turret at a concentrated school of glowing figures in the deep. “Got ya now, ya friggin' sushi—”
Before he could fire, a pegasus pirate swooped down and grabbed his shoulder. “Time to fly, Skag Chunk!”
“Gaaugh!” Digiff fought and wrestled with him. “Get your hooves off me you filthy piece of—” The pegasus overpowered him. The dredger gasped, limbs flailing as he was lifted up off his turret. “Grnnngh... n-no!”
“Digiff!” Nixkit yelled from a distance. Thwooosh! A red-and-brown streak ran past, blowing at his and other dredgers' manes.
Grunting, Keris scurried his feathery way up a stack of crates, leapt off the side of a bridge, and dove high. WHUMP! Keris plowed into the pegasus, freeing Digiff while slamming the pirate into the deck below the guard tower.
“Ooomf!” Growling, the pegasus punched Keris' beak and rolled the two of them over so that he was on top. “Wanna dance, bird brain?” Schiiiing! He aimed a dagger at the nape of the griffon's neck. “Better learn to sing first—”
Keris shoved his beak forward. Thunk! He twisted—then yanked back, dribbling the pegasus' eye loosely from his mouth.
“Aaaaa-aaaaaaugh!” The pirate howled. He rolled across the deck, clutching his bleeding face. “Mmmmmnnghhh—Goddessss!”
Keris stood up and spat the meat out. “...hearing is overrated.” And he slammed the guard in the lungs, silencing him. Spinning about, he rubbed the blood from his chin and shouted at Digiff. “Mr. Dredger, we're in a bad spot!”
“Tell me about it!” Digiff pivoted the turret and finally got his shot off, launching the harpoon into the nearest canal. The glowing figures expertly dodged the projectile, and he punched the edge of the guard tower, cussing. “Muck! They sure did launch everything at us, didn't they?!”
“They're too headstrong,” Keris said. The loud echo of cannonfire fluttered at his headfeathers, and he glanced northwest at the ensuing naval battle. “They might still have some dredge coal, but we've got an even better resource.”
“Oh yeah?!” Digiff braced himself against the tower's ladder and slid briskly down, landing beside the griffon. “What's that, birdo?”
“Time,” Keris said. “This is a battle of attrition that the pirates can't win. Now—quick—let's head to where the rest have retreated and—” The Lieutenant froze in place.
“Yeah?” Digiff squinted, his bearded face scowling. He was oblivious to a series of glowing beams in the water behind him—intensifying like headlights. “And then what—?”
“Down!” Keris yanked the dredger to the deck. Both hunched low as—
SPLOOSH! Six seaponies leapt out of the canal, swept the strut, and landed in the waters on the other side. All the while, they dragged thick nets behind them. Three defending dredgers were instantly swept up, being dragged to a screaming, drowning death. A length of netting caught Keris' leg.
“Guh!” Keris' beak clattered as he found himself being yanked briskly across the deck. He kicked, thrashed, and pecked at the fibrous strands, but to no avail. His hawkeyes twitched as his body plunged into the drink across the way—
“Hrnnngh!” Digiff lunged forward, swinging a pirate's bloodied machete. Sl-Sliiink!
He sliced the netting around Keris' paw, freeing him.
“Ooomf!” Keris clawed the deck, anchoring himself before he could plunge. With Digiff's help, the two stood up once again, catching their breaths. “I thank you kindly,” the Lieutenant wheezed.
“Don't.” Digiff shuddered. “I was aiming for your ankle.”
“Yeah...”
The two watched as the lights swung around, diving beneath the struts yet again.
“Can we please do something about these bastards?” Digiff spat.
“Can these struts still be moved?”
Digiff nodded. “You bet. They're not as bad off as the western decks right now.”
“What will it take to move them?”
Digiff spun. He caught a pair of dredgers on their way towards the inner platform. “Hey! Hold up!”
“Hold up?!” The Red Bargers gawked at Digiff. “You crazy?! We're fish food if we stay here! And we've got winged pirates on our flanks!”
“Yeah, well, you wanna stick it to the guppies?”
“Pffft! Hell yeah!”
Digiff pointed to opposite ends of the strut. “Get to motor stations! The griffon here has a plan.”
“Hrmmmf...” The two galloped in separate directions. “So long as it works.”
Digiff spun towards Keris. “What now, birdo?”
“Now...” Keris slapped Digiff's shoulder. “We distract them.”
Digiff blinked. “What.”
“Come on!” Keris yanked the dredger after him as he broke into a full sprint. More loud booms echoed from a distance, and the griffon glanced aside to see smoke rising from the northwest sea.
P-POWWWW! A solid stream of cannonfire sent a second pirate ship splitting in half. Privateers shrieked, hollered, and dove off the side in a hurry.
It didn't stop Monket's steamship from roaring straight past the collapsing vessel. The stronger ship's wake sent the sundered pirate ship keeling over, sinking fast. As Monket's ship came about, the slaver perched close to the bow, peering into the smokey seascape.
“Sister ship's coming about, Master!” a crew member hollered.
“Good! Bring us together! Share the same wake!” Monket shouted and pointed, his dreads whipping in the salty breeze. “We'll plow through the currents and split apart to take them from opposite sides!” He pointed at the three pirate skiffs struggling to form a line, aiming their broadsides at the two steamships. “Chandler thought he could give them explosives! Well he forgot to give them balls!” He turned and shouted at the slaves. “Move your mudflanks! A pony who doesn't know how to fight shouldn't bother with knowing how to eat!”
“Sir, our port side hull is dented! We're dragging, sir! Our sister ship's outmatching our speed!”
“Signal her to slow down so we can coordinate an attack—”
“Master!” A slave hollered, squinting down a spyglass. “Winged ponies! Taking off from the skiffs!”
“Yeah?!” Monket frowned. “What about them—?”
“They're flying right towards us!” The slave pointed up high. “They're carrying something!”
“Give me that...” Monket stomped across the deck, grabbed the spyglass, then looked for himself.
Through the foggy sights, he spotted three pegasi struggling to carry a pair of thick black barrels, sooted with dredge coal. The flying pirates strained, flapped their wings harder, then approached the two steamships from up high. Once they were within screaming range, they dropped the barrels with a gasp. The black objects plunged like an anvil, and they disappeared underwater just as quickly.
“... ... ...” Monket slowly lowered the spyglass. His pale red eyes twitched, and he hollered: “Depth charges!” He flashed a look at the sistership—which had pulled far ahead of his. “Hard to port!” He dashed towards the side. “Hard to port! Evasive maneuvers you idio—”
POWWWWW! A veritable mountain of boiling water exploded upwards. The sister ship ramped high over the frothing waves...
...and directly into the cannonfire being launched from the three remaining pirate ships.
The projectiles shredded the steamship apart, showering splinters and shrapnel all across Monket's deck. Crew members fell to the ground, their bodies sliced to ribbons as they gargled their own blood. Monket winced, falling back and twitching. Then, within the space of three thunderous seconds—
—the sister ship's engines exploded, dousing the other vessel in flames.
BOOOM!!!
The burning plume from the explosion was so intense that its bright firelight washed across the decks of Red Barge. Shadows from every bulkhead stretched and danced.
Nixkit and several other defenders stationed in the central platform squinted.
Digiff scuffled to a stop in mid-sprint. He turned to gape at the northwest seas.
A burning mess of sinking metal and thick black smoke was all that was left of Monket's armada.
Keris slapped a talon across Digiff's shoulder. “Focus! We still got a job to do!”
Digiff gulped. “Right... s-sure thing...” He turned and ran after the griffon.
“Are your dredger friends activating the motors or not?”
Just as he said that, the decks beneath them shifted. With underwater bursts of steam, the welded hulls shifted east, closing up the water gap between it and the central platform.
“That answer your question?” Digiff's voice cracked.
“Good. Have an eye on the sea ponies?”
Digiff looked to his left. The glowing light intensified beneath the waves. “I think they have their friggin' eyes on me.”
“Good.” Keris gripped Digiff, forcing the two of them to stop. “Then now's our chance. Stand here.”
Digiff's eyes bulged. He gawked at where he and Keris stood on the very edge of the strut, right before the widening canal. “Are you crazy?! They'll slice our legs out from underneath us!”
“Oh, I highly doubt that.” Keris courageously stood on the very ledge of the strut, facing the waters. “Now, stay still. Look meaty.”
“Ah jeez...” Digiff gnashed his teeth. “Ah jeez...”
“Steady...”
The glowing lights grew brighter and brighter. Six sets of beady eyes came closer, piercing, hungry. Fins kicked and lashed at the depths.
“Steady... ... ...” Keris clenched his beak.
Digiff held his machete tight, wincing.
At last, the sea ponies' headcrests pierced the watery surface—
“Fall back!” Keris yanked himself and Digiff down. “Now—!”
“Grfff!” Digiff plunged along with the griffon. Both flattened themselves against the surface of the deck.
SPLOOSH! The six remaining seaponies leapt over the strut, dragging sawtooth blades that sliced the air just inches above Digiff's and Keris' bodies. Trailing droplets of liquid, the six aquatic pirates plunged into the canal on the other side...
...only for the canal to completely vanish. Clannggg! With an intense metal thud, the strut collided solidly with the central platform.
Th-Th-Thappp! The seaponies landed wetly, meatedly. They dropped their weapons, gills fluctuating as they flopped madly across the solid surface. They collided with one another, eyes bulging while their limp fins flickered with crimson panic and horror.
Digiff and Keris stood up, catching their breaths.
“See?” Keris exhaled. “Good. Now we can take them in for questi—”
“Gut them!” Digiff snarled. Schiiing! He galloped forward with his machete. He wasn't alone; dozens upon dozens of dredgers hopped from the central platform to that strut—where they all converged on the helpless sea ponies, hacking and slicing and ripping them to bloody shreds.
“Wait! Wait!” Keris outstretched a talon, sneering. “Dammit! For Verlaxion's sake—we can at least use them as leverage against—”
A hoof gripped the griffon's shoulder. “Give it a rest, Birdie...”
Keris turned around.
Skagra blew his bangs out of forehead and droned, “Let them have their seafood platter.” He gazed across the platforms—littered with bodies, mostly those pirates. The remaining invaders had gathered in a tight cluster, huddled two struts to the west and attempting to form a new front. “You've done enough, but this dance ain't over yet.”
Nixkit and a few other dredgers marched forward, joining the Red Barge leader and the Lieutenant.
“What are you thinking, boss?” Nixkit asked. “We hole up here like the griffon suggests? Or we bring the fight back to them?”
Skagra's bad eye squinted across the seascape. He focused on the three pirate ships as they cruised past the smoldering wreckage still pumping fumes and flames high into the sky. “I'm thinking... ... ...”