The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi

Party's Over Already

Valey stiffened. She was awake, and her cutie mark was tingling.

She could feel the bed beneath her, still, and also Maple and Starlight. They were both asleep, their breathing soft and slow and peaceful. She could hear lapping... no, proper waves against the hull. They must have reached the sea during the night. Holding completely still, she kept her eyes closed and her breathing regulated as well, not in nearly enough peril to dodge an attack.

Why now, of all times? After such a long conversation about not worrying and feeling safe and letting guards down, any sort of peace and tranquility could at least have had the decency to wait until morning. Whatever she was feeling, she was going to knock its block off for daring to interrupt her now. And whatever it was, it would not wake Maple and Starlight.

A soft thud echoed from the deck overhead, and she consciously kept her ears neutral. She didn't need to listen when she could feel. The danger wasn't immediate...

And then it increased, slowly and linearly, exactly the way it would if someone was walking up to her. But she hadn't heard the door open. Her frustration mounted, and she fought to keep from opening an eye... and then the danger spiked. That was an attack; she could feel time slowing to allow for a reaction. And that was past time for playing nice.

Poff!

Without even a whisper, Valey opened her eyes and exploded from the bed, taking her few free seconds to survey the situation. Batponies. Three of them, two stallions and a mare, and the stallions had a net that was in the process of being thrown over the bed. Seriously?

As little time as she had for her reaction, they had even less. Valey cannoned into one of the net-throwers, hooves hitting the ground at an angle and skidding as she grappled and picked him up. With a single spin, she hurled him like a missile into the other, snapping the net back from the air with a deft wingtip and causing them both to hit the wall with a resounding crash. So much for silence.

"Alright," Valey demanded, landing upright and facing the last intruder with a death glare and a sleep-frizzed mane. "I don't know who you are or why you're here, but you idiots picked the worst possible time to mess-"

FLASHHHHH!

There was an eruption of light from the bed, and Valey's cutie mark was the one thing that saved her from being blinded. When she removed the wing guarding her eyes, Starlight was standing, still half asleep but just as furious as she was, and half the room including all the intruders was covered by a deep, faceted pile of jagged crystal. A few tiny plasmatic arcs crackled along the length of Starlight's horn, and she frowned, clearly ready to do it again.

Valey blinked between her and the frozen ponies. "No, hang on, that doesn't-"

The moment the enemy mare recovered from her surprise, she shadow snuck, scooting along the floor beneath the crystal: all the normal rules about having a big enough shadow went out the window when dealing with surfaces covered in a transparent substance. But Valey knew exactly where she would appear, jammed a hoof in, and struck.

She was answered with a cutlass, and again her cutie mark was the only thing giving her the reaction to kick it to the side. This caught the mare off guard, and in that split-second of indecision Valey grabbed her, jumped, flapped and suplexed her against the ceiling, throwing her back to the ground and dropping on her with a fierce impact. Heavily winded, she was still losing her breath when Valey's hoof hit her head, landing with a precise strike and knocking her unconscious.

"No crystal," Valey instructed as Starlight struggled to wake up and Maple joined her, rubbing her eyes and looking around the room in uncertainty and building fear. "Too easy to shadow sneak through. Now drop it and save your energy so I can go get those two."

It took a second, but Starlight did as she was instructed, and Valey pounced, knocking the still-recovering stallions together. "We need a light," she announced. "I dunno why these losers are here, and I'm beyond ticked about it, but it doesn't matter how easy they are to bust up if there's no way to restrain them. Ironflanks, does this room have a light switch?"

Maple worked her jaw, still blinking and folding her ears. "I-It does, but unless Gerardo turned the power back on... He was keeping it off to save energy." She pointed at a spot on the wall.

"Snazzy." Valey jumped over and hit the switch. Nothing happened. "Not snazzy. Alright, then, guess I gotta get to the engine room or control room or whatever, and depending on why these dweebs are here, I'd say there'll be more of them here, soon, too. How are you guys gonna stay safe?"

Maple and Starlight looked at each other, both shaken. Valey sighed; she had to take charge. "Okay. Starlight. Crystal the crack beneath the door, and all of these three by it, and then sit there with your horn glowing bright enough not to leave any shadows to swim through, okay? You guys are staying safe in here. I'll go out through the window; I should be able to fit. If any more try to break in... Uhh, bananas, what's a good weapon for fighting batponies..."

Her eyes lit up in realization. "Yo, is my stuff in here? My saddlebags from Stormhoof?"

Maple swallowed, and pointed to a small cabinet. "In there, along with your bags you were wearing when you got back."

"Uhhhhh..." Valey instantly got to rooting through, and in a few seconds found what she was looking for: the flash club gifted to her by Kero's mercenaries in Ironridge. She broke into a smirk. "Bingo."

"Valey?" Maple looked over at her, hugging Starlight to her chest even as the filly crystalled the door and did as instructed.

"Here. Use this." Valey pressed the club into Maple's hooves. "It hits stuff and lights up. Great for flushing them out. And if you have any questions about why this is happening, the answer is that the world is a jerk, but still no match for me. Don't worry about this. I've got us covered."

Maple grabbed her shoulder with a look of fearful understanding. "Be safe, okay?"

"I will. Now..." Valey blinked. "Oh, hold on, just thought of something really nasty. One sec."

She flitted back to the cabinet. Was this Maple's normal room? Her and Starlight's saddlebags were there too. Quickly, she dumped out all her other stuff, getting the sound stone and mana battery and her hat and most importantly, the Nightmare Module. That wasn't something she could risk anyone finding, especially if these invaders, as batponies, were capable of using it.

"Ninety-nine percent odds we're getting pirated," Valey guessed, packing it back into Starlight's bags and presenting them to the filly. "Pirates steal stuff. Don't want any of this getting stolen. So, hang onto it however you need to... but maybe don't use your cutie mark for it, Ironflanks." Valey nodded at Maple's mark. "Some not-so-special stuff in here I think I told you about last night. Starlight, you can fend for yourself. Keep this safe?"

Starlight nodded, and took the bags when Valey held them out. "Awesome." Valey stepped away, getting up and looking to the window. "Now, time to go see just how big of a mess we're dealing with and kick a whole lot of tail."

---

Valey flipped through the window and clung to the Dream's outer hull, taking stock of her surroundings and danger level. She didn't see any boats to their starboard, but that was only one side of the ship... and batponies could fly. Stupid pirates. There were more on the deck just above; she could tell just as much from the soft eeeing of conversation as the lingering tingle in her flank. It sounded like they were speaking another language... A scan of the skies spotted at least two scouts, though none saw her yet. Jerks. She probably had her dark coat to thank for that.

Silently, she crept up the wall until she could see through the railing. At least eight batponies were loitering on the deck, mostly stallions but with a few mares. They didn't seem particularly concerned about resistance... and the door to the bridge was open, with more movement coming from inside. She frowned. Of course Gerardo would get jumped first. How bad was it...?

Four more pirates strolled out, two carrying a netted Sirena with some sort of clamp over her horn and a look on her face that was almost more cross than panic. Slipstream came next. Valey frowned harder. She'd save them, of course, but where was Nyala...?

Taking wing, she soared around to the prow, hiding just below the windshield. There was the boat they had ridden in on. Two skiffs, looking built for speed above all else and barely suited for the open ocean, let alone a storm. They probably kept those near a bigger ship, or land... or just for a place to rest between flights, or even cargo. Should she sabotage those, or would she need them to send the pirates packing? Probably sabotage. She checked the windows to the bridge, first, just to make sure.

Nyala was... pretending to be powered down. Three more batponies were curiously examining her, one poking a wingtip into her empty eyeslits, but none seemed to realize she was anything more than an inert suit of armor. A fourth was sitting in the control seat, spinning in place and looking slightly giddy at the array of controls. What a dunce. Valey's opinion of these pirates' competence was lowering by the second, and her eyes widened as a mare stepped back from admiring the armor, threw him out of the seat, and sat down herself with a far more professional demeanor.

"Sister," a voice whispered from the front of the ship, slightly below where Valey hovered.

"Buh?" Valey blinked, flying down to investigate. It was an embedded loudspeaker, shielded against water and spray... and it was talking with Nyala's voice?

"I don't know if you can hear me. I can't see or hear you from there," the speaker continued. "I saw you in the window, though. Listen! They're pirates, but they don't know I'm alive or connected to the ship, and don't understand that the reason the controls aren't working is because I'm stopping everything they try to do. I'm afraid they'll figure it out or unplug me, but until then, they can't do anything with the ship. Can you get rid of them by then? Please!"

Valey nodded. "Yeah, I'll do that. Yo, can you turn the power and every light in the ship on to full blast? It'll hurt these guys a lot more than me, and will help keep our friends safe."

No response. Valey growled, remembering that Nyala had just said she couldn't hear her... The ship must not have had microphones on the outside. Oh well. She needed to get to the bridge and clear everything out there, or another part of the ship that did have working sound. Whatever half-power state it was in was clearly enough for audio, but not light... Frustrating. She shook her head. She had a bridge to-

A bound bundle was flown down to one of the waiting skiffs, and her eyes widened. Nope, she couldn't wait. It was time to deal with those first, immediately.