“Are you sure you don’t want me to handle the wheel? It looks like you need some help.”
“No! This is my ship! The Hindentanic is MINE!” Mark hissed, hugging the ship’s mast protectively as Sperze continued to ‘teach’ Mark how to properly captain a vessel. The ship, in response, shook slightly as it had been doing for the entire period of Mark’s driving.
At the moment, only he and Mark were on-deck, since the others were resting and preparing for the impending battle in the ship’s luxury cabins...Well, except for the pink one with fluffy hair, and the small changeling. Those two were outside but not “on-deck” as it were since Pinkie was using Mimzy as an 'improvised' flying backpack. Both seemed to be having fun. Other than them, Sperze would only occasionally spot one or two of the others leave their cabin to get some fresh air, check on their progress, or complain to Mark about things.
The mercenary and ex-pirate took a swig of whiskey before tapping his beak thoughtfully, a mischievous grin playing across his scarred face. “And that name...well, nevermind the ship’s name. But really, you should turn leeward and lessen the strain on the brails, then raise the height so that the keel doesn’t hit anything...Unless you were planning on having us belay so you could careen the ship.”
Mark stared at the griffin as he tried to process what was just said. It took about a minute before he was able to respond with one of his ever clever retorts. “Umm...get off the uhh...poop deck?”
“HAHA! You wanna be a ‘sky-pirate’ but you’re a landlubber through and through,” Sperze managed to bark out before going into a fit of drunken laughter.
“I never said anything about being an actual pirate,” Mark objected before mumbling quietly, “I just wondered if it would be any fun.”
After his laughter eventually died down, the mercenary attempted to take another drink from his whisky, only to find that the bottle was empty. Burping loudly and tossing his sixth bottle of the day overboard, Sperze patted Mark on the back. “Just try not to crash us before we reach Canterlot. I’mma explore those kegs I saw in the hold.”
“Are you kidding? We’ll be there in less than thirty minutes and you want to get drun- even more drunk?” Mark asked incredulously.
“I know, right? Outnumbered and a plan with little chance for success, gets my blood pumping every time! That and the booze,” Sperze bellowed, giving Mark a harder ‘pat’ that knocked the wind out of him. He then went on his way with only a slight stumble that almost caused him to crash into the changeling queen who had arrived to see Mark.
“So, I assume that he’s everything you thought he’d be?” Chrysalis asked with a smile, not hiding her mocking tone as Mark regained his breath.
“A raging alcoholic pirate who only sobers up on special occasions and who seems to get a boner from fighting? Not exactly, but then again, not far from it. He did teach me a catchy tune to whistle though,” Mark said with a pep in his step as he started whistling said tune.
Chrysalis’ eye twitched. “Stop. You’ve been doing that at any and every possible moment.”
“It’s catchy,” Mark stated with a shit-eating grin as he leaned over the wheel and continued whistling.
“I don’t care if it’s catchy. If you keep whistling I’m going to-”
It was at that precise moment that Aurora casually flew by, enjoying the fresh air before the inevitable battle while whistling the tune Mark had gotten stuck in her head.
Chrysalis’ eye twitched and her horn began to glow with a green aura.
“Halfway there-HIC Ah shit. HIC-CAW” Using his personal and sometimes working method of getting rid of hiccups, Sperze lifted the barrel of Griffonian Brandy he’d cleaved the top off of, chugged about a third of it and then began rapidly pounding his chest until he released a large guttural burp. “Ha! ‘Scuse me, but that was great. I bet I made the whole ship shake for a second there, don’t you think? Or was that Mark again?”
His question hung in the air of the hold, the only sound being the sloshing of the mercenary’s drink as it rocked along with the ship.
“Ah come on, don’t be shy! Come out and drink with me. I wanna see if you can outdo me.”
Once again, there was no response. There was however just enough movement for Sperze to catch sight of and he looked directly at its source.
“Ya don’t need to hide from me since you aren’t here to kill us or anything. If you were, you’d have already done it since you’re so good at staying unseen. Hell, I didn’t notice you till maybe an hour ago.”
“You saw me and you didn’t do anything? What if I did intend to harm you or the others?” The stowaway responded with annoyance whilst staying deep in the shadows.
A large grin spread quickly across the griffin’s face. “It speaks! Come on over here so we can talk properly, we’ll be at Canterberry-”
“Canterlot.”
“-soon and I gotta say, you are one interesting gal.”
“You didn’t answer my question,” The feminine voice responded with increasing anger.
Sperze scratched an itch on his back. “That’s cause you’re skulking about everywhere. Come out and we’ll have a proper conversation.”
Silence once again hung in the air until the figure sighed and a clack of hooves against wood was heard. She then stepped out of the shadows none-too-happy with the appraising look Sperze was giving her.
“Fine...we’ll talk.”
Mark opened his eyes and blinked before immediately regretting it when some kind of liquid hit his left eye.
‘Don’t panic, but that wasn’t water.’
“Ah-OW!” Mark shouted, trying to roll in pain but only managing to shift a little due to some kind of weight on top of him.
“Good, you’re awake, I timed the spell right.”
Keeping his left eye closed and tilting his head upwards, Mark was met with the sight of Chrysalis at the wheel of his ship. It took him only a couple moments to remember exactly what happened. “You...You knocked me out! The hell was that for?!”
“You didn’t stop whistling. You and that batpony.”
“Aurora? Yeah but you didn’t…” Mark’s expression went flat as he looked down at the weight that was on him. There, Aurora laid, her mouth agape and her tongue lolling out in what seemed to be peaceful sleep. Shaking his entire body as much as he could, Mark finally managed to rouse her out of her stupor.
The thestral yawned, then stretched before deciding to take note of her surroundings and looking down at Mark’s face. “Morning Mark, did we beat the changelings yet? I think I fell asleep during the middle of it.”
“Not yet, but would you please-GAH!” Not a moment after lifting off the floor, drool Aurora hadn’t wiped off her mouth fell into Mark’s other eye. Without the weight the bat pony to hold him back this time, the unicorn started yelling and rolling around in pain.
“Oops.” Aurora scratched her head sheepishly. “I’ll uh...I’ll go check the ship? Right, that’s it! I’ll go check the ship!” The batpony affirmed before tossing herself overboard and away from Mark.
Blinking rapidly, Mark once again opened his —now bloodshot— eyes and glared harshly at Chrysalis whose body shook as she held back her laughter. “You happy now?”
“N-No-pfft! Not at all,” Chrysalis responded, the ability to suppress her laughter becoming more and more difficult to maintain.
“And what if one of us fell off the ship from your spell and were too unconscious to do anything to save ourselves?”
‘Neither of you would panic or even care since you’d likely stay unconscious till, you hit the ground.’
Chrysalis’ voice was filled with mirth. “I might decide to catch you. The real question is, would you do the same if it was me?”
“Wanna test it?” Mark asked in annoyance as he began intensely rubbing his irritated eyes, he heard the sound of Pinkie’s shouts getting closer and closer until there was a nearby thunk and vibration, telling him that she’d finally landed.
“Hey Markie! You should try this, it’s SO much fun!” Pinkie said, exuberantly hopping in place.
Though he couldn’t see him yet, he could clearly hear a tired groan from Mimzy who had to be standing nearby. “I...I don’t think I can keep going on much longer,” The small changeling said, Mark opening his eyes in time to see an exhausted, sweating Mimzy flop down beside him.
‘No retort? You ignoring me again?’
Sighing, Mark picked himself up, removing his cloak so that he could dust it and himself off, and continued to ignore the voice in his head. “Pinkie, as much fun as it looks, you can’t be tiring out the combatants.”
“Combatant?!” Chrysalis suddenly shouted, leaving the wheel and storming up to the ponies. “Mark, Mimzy’s a drone. A labourer. He doesn’t have any training nor does he-”
“I volunteered for this,” Mimzy spoke up.
“What? To fly her around like her own personal slave? To be thrust into the middle of a battlefield with only a lance to protect you?” Chrysalis snapped at the drone.
‘That’s certainly a harsh way to put it.’
Mimzy gulped and slowly lifted himself off the floor. “N-no! Well...sorta. The flying was for training,” The changeling responded meekly. “Ev-Everyone’s going to be putting their lives on the line and I don’t want to be a burden like I was for my unit before.”
“There is a time and place for matters like this. You don’t know how to fight and…” Chrysalis stopped as Mimzy nervously made circle patterns with his hoof and tried not to make any eye contact. He obviously had something to say but didn't want to say it. “What is it?”
Still avoiding eye contact, Mimzy slowly revealed one of his recent activities. “Sir Edge has been giving me tips and showing me techniques with my lance when we’ve had free time.”
A shadow fell over the young changeling and he took a step back as Chrysalis drew terrifyingly close. It wasn’t until Mimzy was cornered at the ship’s railing and his Queen towering over him did she speak again in a slow, contemptuous manner. “A few new techniques won’t make up for your utter lack of experience. Do. You. Understand?” Chrysalis asked, her horn and eyes aglow in a green light to add to the intimidation effect.
There was a satisfied smile on her face as Mimzy meekly nodded.
That perfect moment between changeling queen and drone was interrupted however, when Mark interjected his opinion. “But it’s enough for his basic self-defense and thus enough for what I need him for on this mission.”
‘Don’t panic, she’s gonna yell, glare, or knock you unconcious again. Oh, and phrases involving panic are my new thing until I get bored. That or until something serious happens, but whatever, it’s not like you’re listening to me right now anyways. Jerk.’
Chrysalis frowned, only somewhat amused when Mark started to tap his head, annoyed by something. “I don’t like it Mark.”
“I know, but at this point, we don’t have a choice,” Mark said firmly. He cracked a smile in hopes it’d get Chrysalis to as well, but was unsuccessful. Seeing that it didn’t work, he tried the next best thing. “If everything goes according to plan then he and Fluttershy will be perfectly safe.”
Chrysalis nodded slightly in acknowledgement, remembering Mark’s plan, but still having some reservations about it.
Meanwhile, Pinkie had her lips pursed as she racked her brain. “Hmm...What was the plan again?”
Mark sighed in exasperation. “Pinkie, I went over it before we left, were you even listening?”
“Nnnnooope!” The pink pony responded cheerfully.
‘Don’t panic, but you’re gonna get a headache at this rate.’
“Of course.” Mark said, lightly facehoofing and shaking his head. “Okay, I’ll summarize, first we fly into Canterlot, completely surprising the soldiers who don’t see us. Then-”
Mark suddenly jumped and let out a squeak when he was suddenly poked in a ticklish spot on his side. Turning his head, he found that Aurora had returned, a puzzled look on her face. “Hey Mark?”
“Aurora, it can wait,” Mark responded, still a bit irritated from eye-spit incident and more so at being interrupted whilst re-explaining his plan. He was about to start when he was suddenly poked in the same spot and gave the same reaction as before. “Aurora! I’ve got to explain the entire plan to Pinkie in the span of approximately two minutes because once we get in that shield, mission is a go, it can wait!”
The batpony shook her head. “I’m not sure it can wait.”
“What could possibly be wrong right now? I bought us all new equipment, they don’t expect us to enter their ‘impregnable shield’, we’ve got two high-class veterans with us and if I’m not mistaken, that’s Celestia and the Royal Guard waiting outside the shield and ready to assist us when we bring it down!” Mark emphasized by pointing at the mass of specks beside the city. “What is so important, that it cannot wait until later?!”
“Well, you know how you told Razor and Mimzy to coat the ship in the changeling slimey jelly stuff?” Aurora asked, making sure that he remembered.
Mark rolled his eyes, ran a hoof through his mane, and nodded. “Of course I know. This plan basically hinges on that and I made sure to double-no-triple check it. The entire ship is coated, even the ropes, and it’s got a nice green tinge on the paint now, so please get to the point.”
“Well the ship’s entirely covered, but I was wondering if the balloon would be okay.” Aurora said, pointing upwards at the large balloon that kept the entire ship in the air.
“Of cour…” Mark stopped, and immediately looked upwards at the balloon that though made of and protected by a magical, elastic, metal-like substance, was not protected by the changeling resin. His eyes wide and mouth agape, Mark then turned to Chrysalis whose face was just as surprised and full of terror as his.
‘And this is the part where we panic.’
**************************************************
A bit earlier……
Celestia stared at the green shield that separated her and Equestria’s capital city. Other than the sightings of a couple of changelings flying within the perimeter of the shield and the beams of magic powering said shield, there was no sign of activity within. Not breaking her gaze, she addressed the pony beside her. “Ironwing, is there anything new to report?”
The General snorted in frustration. “No. We’re still attempting to breach the barrier, but there hasn’t been any success so far. One of my corporals had an idea and- there he is now.”
Ironwing pointed to a heavily armored pegasus who was divebombing the shield, spinning to add an additional drill-like effect to his lance. The moment he made contact with the shield however, there was a brief, but loud crackle, and he was sent careening in the opposite direction with a smoking trail behind him. Just like the other two soldiers who tried to force their way through before him.
“Is he going to be okay?” Princess Celestia asked, wincing as she watched the soldier hit the ground and roll into a tree.
“He’ll be fine,” Ironwing responded gruffly. “Princess, is your magic really not enough to break through?”
“General, the amount of magic it would require for me to tear down that shield comes with a price I don’t often pay. That being said, I’ve already put one of my duties on hold so that I might channel that exact amount.”
Ironwing briefly glanced at the sky. “I thought this morning seemed to be dragging on.”
“Before I do this however, I still hope that this can be resolved without bloodshed.” Celestia said, sighing before she took a deep breath and proceeded to speak in her Royal Canterlot Voice. “CHANGELING QUEEN, FOR THE SECOND TIME YOU DARE TO INVADE EQUESTRIA’S FAIR CITY AND ULTIMATELY WISH HARM UPON ITS CITIZENS. SURRENDER NOW OR YOU WILL FEEL THE WRATH THAT WE CAN AND WILL BRING DOWN UPON YOU!”
There was a moment of silence after Celestia’s declaration until a figure in the distance emerged onto balcony outside of the castle’s throne room. The appearance was soon followed by a laughter that equally reached across the city. “YOUR WRATH? HAH! I WAS WORRIED THAT YOU HAD GONE OFF TO HIDE AFTER HEARING OF MY ARRIVAL. I AM NO QUEEN BUT A KING! EVEN MORE POWERFUL THAN MY PATHETIC SISTER WHO EVEN MANAGED TO DEFEAT YOU! WHAT HOPE DO YOU OR YOU’RE FORCES HAVE AGAINST THE MIGHT OF MY KINGDOM? THE ANSWER IS NONE, AND YOU NOW HAVE FRONT ROW SEATS TO WATCH THE FALL OF EQUESTRIA TO KING MORPHOS!”
There was a sudden pressure in the air as the an angry Celestia shown with a brilliant light and her royal guard were forced to turn away and shut their eyes or risk being blinded. Then as quickly as the light had appeared, it ended as the Sun Princess took a deep breath to calm herself.
“I’m sorry for that everypony,” Celestia said, addressing the royal guard. At that time, Bastion stumbled his way forward, having closed his eyes a little too late, until he stood alongside the Princess and the General. “As you’ve heard, our enemy wishes no peace, only our destruction. We will not give them that satisfaction. It is time for us to defend our homes, our families, our very way of life! Are you with me?”
A roar of cheers and shouts of affirmation met Celestia’s brief, but motivational speech. Slowly Celestia’s horn began to glow brighter and brighter as she prepared her spell. “Bastion, Ironwing, remember your orders, I want the safety of all the civilians prioritized first and foremost.” Celestia’s horn shone brighter. She was almost finished with the spell. “If what he says is true, then he may prove too much for the both of you so I will handle him personally.”
Bastion nodded, keeping his head slightly turned and one of his eyes closed so he wasn’t blinded again. “As you will Princess. However, some of Ironwing’s forces will accompany you to guarantee your safety.”
Ironwing grunted in agreement.
Celestia smiled warmly at the pony, “Thank you for worrying about me Bastion. But what about you?”
“No long term damage, my eyes will recover in a bit and then I’ll be ready to fight,” Bastion responded. His ears twitched as he heard a large buzzing sound get louder and closer.
In response to the royal guard’s cheers and Celestia’s spell preparation, swarms of changelings clad in armor arose out of the city and settled just inside the shield. Both sides glared at one another, awaiting the impending incursion.
Ironwing set his helmet on firmly, a predatory smile across his face. “Here we go-”
“What’s that?” One of the guards shouted, pointing at something he could see through the shield.
Most of the changeling soldiers, thinking it a childish trick, remained vigilant and stared forward at their enemy. Celestia, and the rest’s eyes widened in surprise as an airship emerged from behind the mountain, Canterlot’s natural blind spot, and turned directly at the city and more alarmingly, the shield.
“What is it?”Bastion asked, squinting to see what the blob in his vision was. So far, only his shortsighted vision had returned.
“Ironwing, send your fastest flier and stop them!” Celestia said urgently, gritting her teeth as she tried to maintain her focus despite the sudden distraction.
Ironwing stood where he was, stone-faced, “It’s on the other side of the city, they won’t even make it halfway before the ship makes contact.”
As much as they wanted, no one could close their eyes or look away. They could only watch in horror as the ship moved closer and closer to it’s doom. The moment the ship touched the shield, the breath was caught in their throats and they expected a crash or even an explosion. They got none as the ship harmlessly passed through.
By now, everyone including the changelings were watching the ship in disbelief.
“How did they-”
The changeling who had spoken didn’t get a chance to finish when a loud, crackling, grating noise echoed throughout the city and the balloon, rather than enter with it’s ship, began scraping against the magical barrier. The noise was so piercing that anyone and everyone within earshot, stopped what they were doing in favor of covering their ears. This included Celestia whose progress and magic spent on the spell was now lost.
For a couple more seconds, that seemed to last hours, the material that made up the ship’s balloon raked across the green barrier until the moment of bliss when it finally stopped and the ship rested comfortably close to the port.
The ropes and straps that, through a series of complicated mechanisms attached the ship to the balloon, then chose that moment to finally snap from its strain, allowing the balloon to wander the stratosphere on it’s own and the ship to crash through the roof of the building it hovered over.
In addition to its appearance, a voice coming from the ship’s direction surprised the two armies. Not nearly as loud as their leaders’ voices, but loud enough to hear and echo off the buildings.
“Holy- Wow! That turned out so much better than I expected! Talk about adrenaline rush...and look! Not even a scratch on it.” Due to their point of view, Celestia and the others couldn’t see the speaker, but did recognize that the voice belonged to none other than Marked Defiance.
“Aaah! I think my ears are bleeding.” The next voice was unfamiliar, but it was feminine and had the lisp that bat ponies sometimes possessed due to their fangs.
“Urp...Remind me ta never, ever, let you drive anything ever again.” Celestia’s eyes widened, that voice belonged to Applejack which could only mean…
“Mark are you crazy! We just- Why are our voices echoing?” Twilight asked.
“Huh? Must have activated that speaker tome I bought from Anna. How far do you think the volume on this thing reaches?” Mark asked.
“AND WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!”
“Gah! Sorry about that little guy. That pretentiousness surprised me.” Bastion facehoofed. He knew the voice of his 'best friend' anywhere.
“It’s okay, I’ve been covered in things worse than...alcohol.”
“He does sound pretentious though, doesn’t he? If I didn’t know better, I’d assume he was some other prick like Blueblood.” She couldn’t see him, but Celestia could practically feel the distaste just from Mark’s change in tone. “Here ya go Chrissy, Hivemind may be fancy, but you don’t get to use one of these often. It’s like using RCV without having to try!”
“Mark I-” There was a resigned sigh before the next speaker starting her own speech, her tone full of royal authority. “Morphos, you have not only threatened the world, but the subjects you as a royal changeling are supposed to protect, surrender yourself and your troops to the council’s justice before more harm is done.”
Both ponies and changeling soldiers alike gasped in surprise, that was a changeling’s voice, and given the previous context, could be assumed as not only Morphos’ sister, but the same changeling queen from the wedding.
Her voice didn’t just get the armies attention however, windows and doors opened in Canterlot as more changelings, civilians this time, stuck their head out to listen. Celestia could even see some tears of hope and relief from the closest ones.
“Seriously! You’re giving him a choice? I don’t even think he’s gonna-” Rainbow Dash’s brief cut in was drowned out as Morphos began laughing louder and louder.
“This is too rich, not only do you serve yourself on a silver platter to me, but you even have the gall to challenge me. I’ve already beaten you once without the orb’s power, now that I’ve used it and gathered all this love there is nothing you can do to stop me!”
“What’s Mr.High-and-Mighty going on about an Orb?” Mark whispered.
“Must be the Orb of Thorax. One of our hive’s old relics. I thought didn’t function anymore,” Chrysalis whispered back
“And why does he have it?” Twilight added in.
Chrysalis sighed. “All the hive’s artifacts were made and used by the royal changelings in the past. My brother may be an idiot, but he did have a special interest in archeology surprisingly.”
“I CAN STILL HEAR YOU,” Morphos stated in anger and indignation.
“Oh, right, the speaker tome. Can’t even whisper on the side? How do I turn this thing off?” Mark said sheepishly.
“Enough! Chrysalis, how do you expect to do to stop me? I am supreme and you’re just trash left to ‘clean up’.”
A growl came from the other end, but it wasn’t from the changeling queen. “Because she has us, you *BEEP*” Mark almost shouted, his voice cold and harsh. There was a pause before he spoke again in confusion. “What the *BEEP*, why is it beeping?”
“Cause it’s rated PG, see right there on the cover.” It was the batpony’s voice again.
“The *BEEP* is a censure doing in this? *BEEP* isn’t even a bad word. Rude maybe, but not like *BEEP* or *BEEP*- OW! Applejack, don’t *BEEP*-ing hit me!”
“What’ve ah told ya about watching your mouth?”
“You’re not my mother! Anyways, when I get back to Manehatten, I’m getting a refund!”
“No refunds, right there on the back.”
“*BEEP*-OW!”
It sounded like Mark was about to say more, however he suddenly became muffled as if something was shoved in his mouth. Then Chrysalis spoke once again. “So be it, brother. My subjects, flee the city. Return to the safety of our home while I deal with this traitor.”
There were shouts of joy as every changeling civilian leapt into the air from wherever they were and took to the skies. Flying away from the armies and gathering into a swarm as they began to head south.
“Get back here!” Morphos ordered, the very city shaking a little from the anger in his voice. None of the changelings listened, continuing on their way as fast as they could away from the impending battle and most of all, away from their mad king. “THEN I GUESS AN EXAMPLE NEEDS TO BE MADE!”
A green light grew in luminescence from the balcony where Morphos stood. Then, in the blink of an eye, it turned into a beam of light that ripped through the air at the fallen aircraft. Upon contact it caused the exterior of it and the house it landed on to start disintegrating to ash before the interior ultimately exploded.
Morphos began to laugh wickedly as screams of terror and panic circulated through the swarm of changeling civilians. They, in turn, quickly dispersed towards the ground to hide in whatever homes or kind of shelter they could find.
“Mark…” Bastion whispered, his expression frozen in shock.
Celestia turned her head away, the tears beginning to gather from the loss of not only Twilight, but of the others who-
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! MY SHIP! YOU *BEEP*-ING SON OF A *BEEEEEEEP*! YOU BETTER *BEEEP* HIDE ‘CAUSE I’M GONNA SHOVE A *BEEP* SO FAR UP YOUR *BEEP* THAT *BEEP* WILL *BEEEEEEEEEEP* AND *BEEEEEEEEP* UNTIL YOU *BEEEEP* CEREAL *BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP* YOU CHINCHILLA *BEEP*!”