Sounds of a chaotic battle echoed through the thick mists, rattling off each bulkhead and length of pipework.
Whony, Swab, and a gaggle of other colts scampered anxiously down a stretch of rusted decks. They panted and panted, their hearts jolting from each pronounced shriek and yelp rolling across the southern strut.
Finally, as the bedlam reached a crescendo, the group scuffled to a stop at a dead end.
“What the...?!” Whony grimaced.
“Dude!” One of the colts frowned at Whony from behind. “How did we end up here?!”
“We thought you knew all of the shortcuts like the back of your fetlock!”
“Hey! Give me a mucking break!” Whony spun around, frowning. “It's a lot easier running across this shit without the fart gas!”
Swab tugged on his tail.
“Yeah, what is it?”
“Uhm...” Swab's ear flicked as he pointed back the way they came. “We should have taken a left turn two decks ago.”
The colts groaned—the loudest of all Whony.
“Why didn't you say anything?!”
“I-I didn't want to steal your th-thunder!” Swab said, trembling.
“For muck's sake! This is all your thunder!” Whony's voice cracked. “You started it!”
“I-I'm not used to you believing in me!” Swab gulped. “Just days ago, you tried feeding me to a fearsome monster!”
“Eeeugh...” Whony face-hoofed, grumbling. “Yeah, well, now things are different.”
“Shhhhh...” Another colt squatted low. “...speaking of monster. Do you hear that?”
Whony turned around, squinting into the mists. “Hear what?”
“Exactly.”
The fog drifted over them in dead silence.
“Did...” Whony fidgeted. “Did the monster and the griffon beat up all the dredgers?” He turned towards Swab, speaking in a hushed tone. “Ya think?”
Swab pointed at the earless half of his head. “You're asking me?”
“I dunno... figured you two had—like—some spirit link. Like with a dog, y'know?”
“Rainbow Dash is a living, breathing pony, Whony.”
“I wasn't calling her the dog, sea foam.”
“Shhhh...” Another colt pointed down the foggy decks from which they came. “Seriously. I hear nothing.”
“This might be our big break.”
“Yeah... probably so...” Whony nodded. He trotted bravely forward, leading the group of orphans down the strut. “Goddess, this pea soup shit is thick. How long do you think until the steam tanks empty?”
“Uhhhhh—”
Swab spoke up. “Probably five minutes or so, judging from all the vents we've opened.”
“Then we haven't got much time to get out of the heat of battle,” a colt said.
“Then there's no time like the present.” Whony motioned. The colts broke into a collective gallop. “If Quint's legacy taught me anything, it's to be courageous and seize the moment—”
“Hold it right there!” A stallion's grimy face emerged, followed by a crossbow aimed at Whony's lithe figure.
“Sonuvabitch!” Whony hissed, scuffling to a stop. Swab shivered behind him and the other colts as they held up their tiny clubs and shivs. “Okay, pal! Step aside!”
“Huh?!” The dredger blinked, then frowned. “You little shits! You're in on this, somehow, aren't you?!” His nostrils flared as he cocked his crossbow. Klk-KLK! “How much does she care for you, huh? I bet spilling her blood will send the monster darting this way!”
“And who's gonna take her out, huh?! You?” Whony spat, smirking as he brandished his blade. “You're not even a match for us, old stallion.”
With the reverberation of hooves against rusted metal, two dozen stallions emerged from the mist, standing angrily beside the dredger with the crossbow.
“... ... ...” Whony blinked, tonguing the edges of his muzzle. “...uh huhhhhh...”
“Out with it, muckstains!” The lead stallion grunted. “Which one of you let her free?! Huh?! What has she done with Nixkit?! Did she kill the griffon or didn't she?!”
Swab gasped, pointing with wide eyes. “Behind you!”
“Hah!” The stallion with the crossbow smirked. “Nice try, kid. Like I'm really gonna fall for that one—” WHUDDD! A blue body landed in the small of his back, plowing his muzzle and body to the deck. Grunting, Rainbow Dash swung both hooves out, punching the stallions on either side of her. She grabbed one body—heaved—and tossed it violently into the gasping dredgers gathered at her side.
“Dumbass,” Whony exhaled.
“It's her!” One dredger picked up the fallen leader's crossbow and aimed. “Kill—!”
“Haaaugh!” Keris leapt down from above, leg first. He kicked across one dredger's chin, yanked the crossbow from him, and fired through the fetlock of another. Schlunkkk!
“Aaaaah!” The dredger clutched his impaled leg and hobbled back—just as Keris threw the crossbow over his mane like a javelin, knocking the skulls of two other stallions together.
Whony and his friends blinked—some of them cooing with wonderment.
“Rrrgh!” Keris finished kicking another dredger. Panting, the griffon stared down at the colts. “Little ones! You've helped enough! Now run! Due east!” He ducked the swing of a shark prod and parried with his good talon. Cl-Clank! “Gnnghh...” He ducked and rushed forward, headbutting the next stallion and shoving him back with a lion's paw. Whump! “Leave the rest to us!”
“No way!” Whony pointed at his and his friends' weapons. “We can fight too!”
“Not happening!” Keris side-stepped another dredger's attack and used the stallion's own momentum against him—shoving the gasping pony into a set of pipes. WHUD! Hisssss! The mist grew denser as he spun towards the foals once again. “Your place is back with the innocent citizens of Red Barge!”
“Says who?!”
Keris pointed behind him. “Says her.”
“RaaAAAAaaaaugh!” Rainbow Dash barreled her way viciously through six stallions with a flicker of ruby light. All of them fell hard to the ground—only to be kicked and punched in the chests as the pegasus cartwheeled over them and then propelled herself thunderously into a pair of stallions, shattering their shark prods to a hundred clattering pieces. WHAM! Smack! WH-WHAP! POW!
Every colt flinched—except for Swab.
“Uhhhh... hey guys!” Whony looked over his flicking tail. “Let's go and check up on the mares and children!”
“Yeah!”
“Sure thing!”
“Yes! Let's get out of here!”
“F-for glory!”
The colts collectively scampered off, following Whony's lead.
Swab lingered behind, blinking nervously at the battle.
Wh-Whump! Two more stallions fell unconsciously across the deck. A prismatic figure blurred in and out of the mists. Keris saw Swab gazing into the fray. “That means you too, child.”
Swab bit his lip.
“Fear not.” Keris smiled under his beak. “I shall watch out for her.” Just as he said this, a pair of bruised stallions got up and rushed his side with desperate shouts. The griffon dodged their attacks and backstepped, squaring off from the pair.
With a shudder, Swab took one last glance at Rainbow's rushing figure in the distance... then galloped off through the steam.
An uneven pair of eyes watched the foalish retreat.
“... ... ...” Skagra hung from a lofty set of bulkheads positioned above the messy scuffle. He propped himself in the niche of two conjoining hulls, his limbs coiled tightly as he sat in wait like some steam-scalded spider.
His vision followed the battle as it unfolded more and more. Even as his own stallions dropped hard to the rusted decks, he remained still, waiting, watching, calculating.
A stallion charged Keris' blind side, swinging a staff. The griffon side-stepped, but not without his injured limb being grazed by the dredger. Wincing heavily, Keris stumbled, and the stallion prepared to shove the shark prod deep into the griffon's flesh.
Thap-thap-thap-thap-thap-thap! Rainbow charged across the deck, plowing into the dredger's side. She mounted him, giving him three hard punches to the gut before bicycle-kicking off his chin with a reverse somersault. WHAP! She landed in a slide, ducked a final dredger's attack, then vaulted him over her flank just in time for Keris to get back up and punish the stallion's plummeting figure with an uppercut. WHAM!
And just like that, the last company of dredgers had fallen to the deck of the steamy battleground.
Keris panted and panted, looking every which way with twitching hawkeyes.
Rainbow—in the meantime—didn't take the time to catch her breath. “Good job, girls! You did great!”
Skagra's eyes narrowed.
“Just what we need. Quick wits! We're doing this!”
Skagra's nostrils flared. Schiiiiiiing! He quietly drew his dagger, holding it over his head. Preparing to throw.
“I think that's all of them,” Keris said, his body in open view of Skagra from above. The griffon's tail flicked. “Should we start pressing towards the central platform?”
“Yeah, probably,” Rainbow murmured. “I just don't want to draw the battle to where the families are holed up—” She suddenly froze, all limbs locking up.
Skagra blinked, freezing as well.
“... ... ...what kind of metal, Rarity?” The pegasus glanced left. “Oh yeah? Where at, Fluttershy?” She jerked suddenly.
Skagra blinked. Taking a deep breath, he quietly sheathed the dagger. His limbs shifted.
“... ... ...for real?” Rainbow looked straight up...
...and she saw an empty niche between two bulkheads, just beyond a thin veil of steam.
The mare's ruby eyes narrowed.
“What?” Keris leaned in, squinting up. “What is it?”
“I... I'm not sure,” Rainbow shuddered. “The girls—they sensed something just now.”
“Was it another attacker?”
“... ... ...”
“Miss Dash?”
“I think we've used enough of the steam to our advantage,” Rainbow said. She turned about. “Let's make a break for—”
Just then, the mists shifted, rolling past them as if from a sharp breeze.
“...?” Rainbow spun around.
Keris looked left... then right...
The mist blew past them faster, taking on a golden sheen.
“Do you see that—?” Rainbow jolted in place. “What, Twilight?!” Her eyes widened. “Jump!” She hollered, already backflipping.
“What—?!” Keris was too slow. FLASSSSSH! A yellow beam of magic ROARED down the southern strut, blowing away a solid swath of steam—an the griffon in turn. “Oooomf!” He grunted as his body pinballed down the line of bulkheads.
Rainbow's body spun like a pinwheel in mid-air from the manablast. She dragged both sets of feathers out to balance herself—instantly wincing from her left wing. “Grnnnngh!” Nevertheless, she kicked off a bulkhead and landed on the deck with a slide, gnashing her teeth. “Mrmmnnggh—Twilight! Where's it coming from—?!”
FLAAASH! Another beam of golden magic rippled down the decks.
Rainbow grunted. She turned-tail and attempted to out-gallop the sphere of pulsating golden mana. Along the way, she saw Keris struggling to get up. With strong hooves, she shoved the griffon into a safe niche of metal before kicking off opposite bulkheads on either side of her. “Rrrrnnngh!” She backflipped, glided upside-down over the blast, then landed once again.
FL-FLASSSH! Another manastream shot at her, aimed high this time.
Breathless, Rainbow slid under the blast, grabbed a fallen dredger's polearm, then swung it like a javelin the moment she got back up. “Haaaa!”
The staff sliced its way down the clouds of mist. In a blink, Rainbow saw a unicorn's figure flinching from the incoming projectile. A pulse of energy shot out of the pony's horn, levitating the polearm in place.
Rainbow was already charging, jumping, and coming down with a drop kick. “Rrrrgh!”
SMACK! The unicorn dashed backwards, just in time to release the shark prod. Rainbow kicked through it, littering the rusted deck with metal shrapnel. Landing, Rainbow spun and glared across the empty pocket of blown steam. “Okay! Whoever you are, it's time to drop the magic act—Hello.” The pegasus' blue jaw dropped.
Longaze stood several meters away from her. The tightly-suited mare panted and panted, her horn glowing a bright piercing gold as she glared through a few tussled bangs of blonde mane hair. “The Rainbow Rogue, I presume?” She huffed, tossing her head back and tucking the bangs back in with excess magic. “Playtime is over. My boss has come to collect, so it's time for you to go back into your cage.”
Rainbow Dash stared and stared, ruby eyes wide. Slowly, her muzzle moved from left to right, pronouncing a prolonged word that rhymed with “haaaam.”
Longaze's brown eyes narrowed. “Did you hear me, creature? It's time that you surrendered yourself to me.”
Rainbow's ears twitched, the fuzzy lobes turning red at the end. Then redder. Suddenly, she jerked. “Uhhh! Uhhhhh—it's n-nothing, Pinkie! Just... uhm... s-surprised to see a unicorn out here. Yeah. That's all.”
“Hmmmmf...” Longaze exhaled. “I see the muck's had it's effect on you.”
“Yeah. Among other things.” Rainbow gulped. “Say, could we just cut to the quick and have you walk away, defeated? 'Cuz it'd be a real friggin' shame to have to kick your teeth in—”
FLASSSSH! With a grunt, Longaze fired another golden blast at her.
Rainbow sighed. “Figures...” WHAM! She took the blast hard, tumbling back past Keris before recovering with a breathy grunt. “Yeah... Yeah it's okay, Fluttershy. It's okay.” She came charging back, hissing. “I've so go this.”