Codex Ponera - Cliffside Eyrie

by Pepperbrony

Chapter Ten

After a few hours of travel, when the sun was low in the western sky, Big Mac came to a halt. He tapped the ground thrice, eyes closed in concentration.

“Big Mac? What is it?” asked Scootaloo.

Rainbow, alerted by Scootaloo’s question, sat up and looked to the stallion.

After a moment, Big Mac spoke. “I’m not sure. Felt like an earthcrafter.”

Rainbow’s ears fell. “I hope that doesn’t mean what I think it means,” she said with a twitch of her wings, communing with her own fury. “Which way?”

Big Mac silently pointed a hoof ahead of them, and Rainbow willed Tank to her wingtips and she held them to her face. With the aid of a farseeing windcrafting, Rainbow sought out signs of trouble. She found it very quickly.

“Ponyfeathers! It’s Octavia and the twins!” she cried. She drew in her fury, accelerating her perceptions in preparation for battle.

Big Mac gestured to Scootaloo to stay with the wagon as he too readied himself for a fight, drawing on the strength of the earth. Scootaloo stood on the wagon, recalling her newest firecrafting technique in case she needed it, and glanced around in case anypony else was sneaking up on them.

“Aw horseapples,” she said, looking behind.

“What is it?” asked Rainbow, attention forward on her former mentor.

“Oh, nothing much,” replied Scootaloo, panic creeping into her voice. “Just a pirate airship!”

“What?” Rainbow looked behind, quickly spotting the approaching Soaring Scavenger descending from the clouds. “Aw ponyfeathers.”

Big Mac looked back to see what occupied his winged companions, and paled at the sight of the airship closing on them. “You two handle that,” he said, returning his attention to Octavia and her unicorn lackeys. “I got these three.”

“Remember, she’s earth and wood, the other two are metalcrafters,” called Rainbow. “Squirt, saddle up. Let’s take this fight to them!”

Scootaloo instead opened up several of the lantern boxes and drew out their apple-shaped contents, focusing upon each furylamp for a moment before moving on to the next. “Big Mac, the lamps!”

Receiving a nod from the red stallion, Scootaloo quickly jumped onto Rainbow’s back and held on tight.

“What was that about?” asked Rainbow.

“Just a little- Look out!” Scootaloo ducked her head down to avoid one of the mercenary pegasi swooping down at them, dodging his spear. “Never mind that now, let’s get in the air!”

Rainbow opened her wings and willed Tank to launch them straight up into the air like a firework rocket, quickly zooming up to twice the altitude of the airship. Scootaloo didn’t waste time either, aiming and throwing several blades of flame at the airship’s envelope.

Two of the enemy pegasi broke off their attack on the piggyback pegasi to use their wind furies to counter Scootaloo’s firecraft. Her burning blades erupted harmlessly into flares of flame, too far from the airship to even scorch the envelope. Meanwhile, the third zoomed right at them, aiming his spear directly at Scootaloo.

Rainbow rolled on the spot before deciding that a moving target would be harder to hit. She set off at high speed, zig-zagging at random while Scootaloo conjured up flares to divert and distract the pursuing pegasi.

---

Big Mac felt like he was caught between a rock and a hard place. Octavia and the twins were approaching from ahead, while the pirates descended behind. Big Mac let the ship approach until it was low enough for a few pirates to leap from the deck to the ground, earthcrafted strength protecting them from harm, before he whirled to the wagon and hefted two of the lanterns Scootaloo had unboxed.

Taking a moment to aim, he drew on his own earth fury and threw the glass apples, one after the other, at the deck of the airship. The first lantern soared through the air to smash into the quarterdeck of the vessel, immediately bursting into flames which caught on the wooden deck. The second impacted on the mast, and the resulting fireball set the underside of the envelope aflame. The crew cried out in shock and panic, the captain calling for the helmspony to pull up out of Big Mac’s range and for firecrafters to deal with the fires.

Big Mac took the last lantern, throwing it to the ground just ahead of the newly landed pirates where it too burst into flames before they could get too close. He then returned his attention to the now furious and rapidly approaching Octavia.

“Do you have any idea what you just did?” she cried.

“What did they ever do to you?” asked the clean-shaven twin.

“It’ll take them ages to repair all that damage,” noted his mustachioed brother.

“Eeyup,” replied Big Mac.

Octavia looked up at the fight happening in the sky, eyes narrowing when she recognised both Rainbow Dash and the filly on her back. “Those fillies are his,” she told the twins. “Kill him!”

Big Mac’s eyes widened as the twins approached, spears at hoof. He stomped a hoof to the ground, and the twins promptly sank to the barrel in what had been, and instantly resumed being, solid rock. One of them threw his spear at Big Mac. It fell harmlessly to the ground after soaring barely its own length towards him.

Big Mac shook his head in disgust. “You can’t throw worth a crabapple.”

Looking back at Octavia, the twins spoke simultaneously. “A little help?” Octavia used her own earthcrafting talents to release the twins from their rocky prison, and they resumed stalking toward Big Mac, the moustachioed brother reclaiming the spear when he reached it.

Big Mac stomped both rear hooves on the ground, willing his earth fury to launch the wagon up into the air. He rolled backwards underneath it, before whirling around to buck it directly at his opponents.

The twins reacted almost as fast as Rainbow Dash could fly, rolling to the side out of the way of the ballistic wagon. Octavia simply stood in place, delivering a withering punch to the wagon with the full force of her own earthcraft, shattering it into kindling. This broke the still packaged lanterns that remained, and although Scootaloo had not converted any of them into dedicated firebombs, the newly-released fire furies still ignited the wreckage. Octavia was caught by surprise at the sudden inferno she found herself engulfed in, and rolled away before she could be more than slightly singed.

Big Mac again tried to hold the twins in the ground, succeeding long enough to seize the spear of the nearest metalcrafter before Octavia again released them. Big Mac thrust the spear with all his fury-assisted strength at the unicorn, digging the point into his shoulder and shattering the bones beneath. The unicorn hissed with pain as he used his other foreleg to swat the spear from Big Mac’s possession, then focused on his metalcraft to dull the painful sensations coming from his wound.

Octavia willed her earth fury at Big Mac, forcing him to respond in kind. The ground rippled savagely as the furies engaged in battle, before they both submerged underground. The unhurt unicorn took the opportunity to thrust his spear at Big Mac, expecting the earth pony to be weakened by the absence of his earth fury. Big Mac simply caught the shaft on his hoof, swatting the spear to the ground and stomping on it so hard that it snapped in two. “Nnnope.”

The unicorn blinked at the remains of his spear. “How did you do that?”

“He’s a farmer, you dolt,” said Octavia. “He probably pulls heavy loads like that wagon every day, both with and without his fury. Of course he’s going to be strong.”

“Eeyup,” agreed Big Mac.

“Flam, finish him already!” Octavia ordered, leaping off the path into the forest where she promptly vanished.

Big Mac had seen Applejack pull that trick enough times to recognise skilled woodcrafting at work. He gulped as he moved away from the treeline, aware that woodcrafted invisibility required nearby vegetation to work.

Flam called to his brother, who threw his own spear over. Flam caught the spear, and began circling Big Mac, trying to force him toward the forest.

Big Mac refused to move towards the hidden Octavia, and instead backed away, towards the fire still holding back the force of earthcrafter mercenaries. He looked to the sky, hoping that Rainbow and Scootaloo were able help him.

---

Scootaloo had felt through Elizabeak that Big Mac had used her lanterns-turned-firebombs, and both she and Rainbow had noted the smoke billowing out from under Soaring Scavenger’s envelope. Unfortunately, they were unable to capitalise on the opportunity to disable the ship due to the defensive efforts of her crew.

“Squirt, we’ve got to take out that airship,” said Rainbow. “If they get away, they’ll use it to help the griffons tomorrow!”

“I’m open to ideas,” replied Scootaloo. “Every time I throw flames at the ship, one of those pegasi blocks it.”

Rainbow rolled to dodge a blow from a passing pirate pegasus. “I have an idea, but it’s risky.”

In an attempt to dissuade a pursuing mercenary Scootaloo crafted a flare so close that it singed their tails. “What, and this isn’t?”

“Good point. Okay, hold on, we’re gonna strafe it.”

Rainbow swooped down towards the airship’s envelope, aiming to fly along its length. But before she could get close enough, the three enemy pegasi crafted a massive vortex at her, sending her tumbling through the air, away from the vessel.

“Hold on,” cried Rainbow, willing Tank to stabilise her flight. Once she was able to keep the sky above her and the ground below, she glanced around before grinning. “New idea,” she said, launchingd herself straight up as hard as she could get Tank to push her, before she willed Tank to stop the windflow. “Fire away, Squirt!”

As Scootaloo threw a few more fireblades at the airship, Rainbow pushed Tank ahead of each one, trying to use her windcrafting to counter the pirate’s attempts to block the flames. Two blades made it through to the envelope, but by the time they had reached it they were so far away from Scootaloo that she could no longer keep the flames focused. The fiery blades simply dispersed themselves against the envelope, scorching the fabric but causing no more damage than that.

“We need to get closer,” said Scootaloo. “I can’t control them from this far away!”

“No problem, I think,” replied Rainbow. “Tuck in close, I have another idea.”

At the apex of their ballistic trajectory, Rainbow angled her wings to guide them towards the port side of Soaring Scavenger. She willed Tank to build up their speed, before switching her efforts into a windcrafted invisibility veil. Once she and Scootaloo were hidden from view, Rainbow angled her wings to roll left and aimed for the starboard side of the airship.

Unfortunately, one of the pirates, a green pegasus with a serpent for a cutie mark, seemed to anticipate Rainbows actions and sent his wind fury to stir up the air over the airship’s starboard side. Rainbow once again lost control of her flight.

Rainbow dropped her invisibility crafting to recover level flight again, and Scootaloo spotted Big Mac facing off against one of the unicorn twins. The other unicorn was limping his way to join his brother, but Octavia was nowhere to be seen. Meanwhile, the pirate ponies who had jumped to the ground were nearly done dealing with the fire Big Mac had started with Scootaloo’s makeshift firebomb. “Rainbow, I think Big Mac might need help.”

Rainbow glanced down, and came to the same conclusion. “Give it to him then; I’ll handle the Scavenger.” She dropped Scootaloo to the ground, but before she could return to the skies another windcrafted vortex disrupted her windstream, sending her tumbling to the ground. “Okay, we’ll both help him,” she said, rolling to her hooves.

Looking around for Octavia, Rainbow realised that Big Mac was keeping his distance from the forest. “She’s in the trees, isn’t she?” she asked.

“Eeyup,” came Big Mac’s laconic reply.

“Squirt, the canal trick!” called Rainbow.

Scootaloo blinked in confusion before grinning as she understood Rainbow’s intentions. She willed Elizabeak to throw a large burst of fire towards the forest, and Rainbow crafted a gust of wind to blow the flames deep into the trees.

Their pyromaniac efforts were rewarded with the shocked shrieks of Octavia, who flickered back into visibility when her woodcrafting efforts fell apart under the distraction of being caught in her third conflagration today. She bolted out of the forest, rejoining the twin unicorns as they approached Big Mac, Rainbow, and Scootaloo.

Looking behind them, Rainbow saw that the ponies Big Mac had distracted with the last firebomb had finally smothered the flames and were moving to surround them. The airborne pirate pegasi remained in the air, maintaining aerial superiority. While they were in the air, Rainbow would not be able to take to the skies herself unless their attention was directed elsewhere.

Scootaloo threw her blazing blades at the circling ponies, but they simply ducked down, before rising with gauntlets of earthcrafted rock on their forelegs, catching subsequent firecrafted attacks on them.

Big Mac felt his earth fury return to him, but it was drastically weakened after fighting with Octavia’s fury. His crafting would be impaired for several hours at least.

Soaring Scavenger, her crew having realised that no more firebombs would be coming, was again descending, bringing reinforcements to the mercenaries already on the ground.

“I think we’re in trouble,” said Scootaloo.

“Me too,” agreed Rainbow.

“Eeyup.”