Expedition to the Cloudbreak Islands

by Starglider

Escape

Azure Feather took to the air, wings almost buzzing, flying towards the still-imprisoned Cloud Cutter as fast as she could manage. As she feared, the unicorn only made it half way before the alien force returned, pulling at her wings and dragging her down to land heavily next to the purple pegasus. Cloud Cutter's expression was hard to read; a hint of relief, shaded by annoyance? "We can't break them all." she said, unnaturally calm given the circumstances, "We have to find a way to disable the magic."

Perhaps thirty metres away, Grenelda continued to score lines into her trap with her claws, while Reef Skimmer was making only slightly more progress smashing at the crystal with his hooves. The alien flying machine loomed behind them, seconds away now. Much smaller than the EAS Harmony, it was nonetheless menacing, sporting what Azure recognised as a ballista at the front, manned by a little green biped that seemed eager to shoot. The wooden hull was scarred and patched, covered in a patchwork of irregular steel plates and rusty spikes. Two propellers whirred at the sides, driving the thing forwards, while much larger rotors intermeshed overhead, keeping it aloft.

Azure stared at the oncoming ship before stomping a hoof in frustration. "I know that thing over there is the core now, it's the real problem, but... it's too far, my magic isn't enough to break the chains!" The unicorn grunted and tossed her head. "I can't figure it out! And now we've got these... creatures aiming a ballista at us... I'll try and deflect it!" 'Heck of a leader I'm turning out to be...' she thought unhappily, trying to focus on where they were aiming the weapon, her magic charged and ready...

Cloud Cutter shook her head at the desperate unicorn, now trapped in the same enchanted crystal bowl as her. All she could do was continue trying to break the trap; backing up to the edge, she reared up on her hind legs and brought down a pair of ironshod hooves, driving them into the smooth surface as hard as she could. Tiny cracks crazed outward from the impact points; another five minutes of this should destroy the trap, but it didn't look like they had five minutes. "Thank you for defending me!" she called out to Azure, "..but maybe we could use their own weapon against them? If I dodge at the last moment, and the bolt hits the crystal..."

In the time it took Cloud Cutter to say this, the native craft had flown right past the rock they were trapped on, turning to circle the group. Another ballista was revealed on the stern, manned by a second biped, while two more crouched on the central deck. The pony's sensitive ears could actually hear the crew over the whup-whup-whup of the rotors; "Not one but two griffons, full-grown and a young one! And two sheep! What a catch." came one voice. "Those aren't sheep, you idiot! Sheep are white with no wings. They must be goats!" came another. "I saw a black one once." came a muffled voice from the stern. "I don't care!" shouted the first voice "Take down the griffons first, we can collect the lunches later."

Azure had a stunned look on her face after Cloud Cutter's suggestion. Was the purple pegasus really offering herself as live bait? Either Cloud Cutter knew something about her powers that Azure wasn't aware of... or she was betting on these creatures being as stupid as they sounded; never a safe bet in combat with a novel enemy.

"Wait, it's too dangerous..." she began, "...I did see something when I broke my bowl... let me try one more thing first..." That glowing structure on the top of the core... was that the power source for the traps? Too far for simple telekinesis, but perhaps if she combined it with her newfound command over the air... With no time to lose, Azure hefted a sizable rock out of its mossy resting place, holding it in her magic as she prepared another blast of elemental energy. In seconds her horn was stinging hot with as much energy as it could hold, and with another grunt she released, flinging the stone as hard as she could at the distant spires.

Azure's hurled rock glided in a long flat arc, quickly exceeding the range of her telekinesis but sustained by the focused blast of air it was riding in. The projectile smashed into one of the delicate metal spires projecting from the top of the larger mass with a loud 'sprang!', causing it to vibrate faster and faster in a rising metallic howl before literally shaking apart into a rain of steel shrapnel. The remaining two spires warbled and flash as well, overtaxed and battered by debris. The force binding the pony's hooves weakens, while the battered crystal under Reef Skimmers hooves shatters completely.

He enjoyed a few seconds of freedom, spreading his wings joyfully, before the first voice shouted "The big one is getting free! Shoot it, noooow!" With a clatter the forward ballista fired, flinging out a tough rope net ringed by heavy weights. The big grey griff instinctively screeched as he was covered and entangled by the net. "Got it!" the forward gunner shouted, while the one at the rear of the craft was more interested in Azure's activities. "It's breaking the trap! The flying goats are breaking the trap!" she screamed.

As much as Azure was overjoyed to finally do some real damage to the core, her joy was quickly cut short as she watched her hippogriff squad-mate entangled under the heavy net. She shot the creature responsible an angry look as her horn began glowing brightly again. "No more games." she muttered, aiming a wind blade directly at the gangly biped struggling to aim the second ballista at the pool she was sharing with Cloud Cutter. They wouldn't get off another shot if she could help it.

Giving up on destroying the bowl while they were under attack, Cloud Cutter instead hunkered down and hooked her forelegs over the edge. Even if it resulted in her being dragged back down a few seconds later, hurling herself off the edge seemed like the surest way to evade an incoming net... or harpoon.

It was a tricky shot at the circling, bobbing copter, but Azure's magical projectile managed to clip the drow's shoulder, knocking her back to slam into the railing at the edge of the deck. The gunner crumpled down, bleeding, while the shock of her fall triggered the mechanism, launching the second weighted net into empty space. "What in the underworld was that?! I didn't see a weapon?" came a surprised shout from the foredeck, as the first gunner struggled to reload his weapon while the other two bipeds just stared at the ponies. "Killer chaos goats!" the smaller one shouted hysterically, before the larger one clouted him around the head. "Bows out! Take them down!"

Meanwhile Reef Skimmer continued to struggle and squawk under the net, while Grenelda just glared at the enemy, still stuck in her crystal bowl and shouting "Get me loose so I can take these jerks down!"

"You ask, I deliver..." Azure smirked; with the trap weakened, she should able to fly closer to the central spires and give them a much more direct application of "rock meets stupid mechanical thing that doesn't like rocks". Now she understood the mechanism, it should be easy to get another ally... a very angry ally at that... up in the skies and ready to destroy the enemy. Struggling and straining her butterfly wings, the blue unicorn managed to lift off, coming into telekinesis range of the larger island just as the drow flying machine finished wheeling about. A swift application of magic and the over-stressed, under-maintained magical transmitter was reduced to sparking junk. Finally, things were looking up, she thought.

"No!" shouted the lead drow, "Kill it! Kiiilll it!" Arrows leapt from two drawn bows, flying straight at Cloud Cutter, but with the trap deactivated she simply jumped over the edge of the bowl, falling into open air and spreading her wings as the arrows clattered into the shattered crystal plate above her. Finding herself free to maneouvre, she pulled out of her tumble and shot forward, wings blurred with rapid beats, streaking towards the drow ship in total, eerie silence.

As the spire flickers and flails, Grenelda gave a malicious gape of her beak. "Oh, you are all going to FEEL it now. You're gonna wish you never built this junk!" With a powerful beat of her wings she leapt into the air, an incarnation of rage rendered in tawny fur and grey feathers rising from a now-deactivated trap. After soaring practically vertically she nosed over and put on a burst of speed, heading straight for the copter with claws and beak brandished.

"Hey, hey guys!" came a muffled shout from inside the cabin, as in their haste to take down the 'chaos goats' none of the drow on deck had been watching the griffons. Meanwhile the remaining gunner managed to fire the forward ballista at Azure. This time the weapon spat out a harpoon, which trailed a thin rope in its wake as the projectile streaked towards the butterfly-winged menace.

Azure Feather knew all too well that an angry gryphon can be worse than any pony in a fight, and knew all too well that Grenelda was not just angry she was furious. What she didn't account for, however, was her conjured wings exploding into puffs of magic as the harpoon passed straight through them, sending her plummeting down. "Ah... you can't take me down that easily..." Closing her eyes and ignoring the spinning horizon, she focused and recast the very spell that granted her the mark on her flank. "Time to go Skyborn!" With that her wings reformed, good as new, and the unicorn pulled out of her dive and headed straight toward the enemy copter. "Hey Grenelda, leave some for me, huh?!" she called out, thinking 'Oh, this will be glorious...'

Grenelda's eagle eyes darted around as she keep an eye on the ballistae and the enemy crew as she closes on the copter, pitching over and converting altitude into momentum for the final approach. She had one of the archers in her sights, and simply slammed into him with claws outstretched, smacking the unfortunate creature down hard onto the deck. Her claws tore deep gouges in his flesh before she leapt away, looking for her next victim. She gave a harsh laugh at Azure's call out; "Alright, you get the captain! You deserve it!"

Meanwhile Cloud Cutter was taking advantage of the distraction; while the creatures focused on Grenelda and Azure, she flew silently under the ship before wheeling around and landing on the stern. Crawling up over the railing, she passed over the fallen drow by the spent ballista and made straight for the hatch, quiet as a mouse. With a quick, empty-eyed glance to reassure herself that her friends had the situation in had, she eased open the cover and descended into the hull, seeking any reinforcements that might be lurking within.

Some way behind now, Reef Skimmer had finally found a use for his ornate wing blades: the hippogriff's struggles had sliced at the net around him to the point that it began to disintegrate. He strained to open his wings until the restraint burst apart into falling fragments of rope, then the enraged eagle-horse took to the skies, flapping after the fleeing copter.

Two of the small green bipeds were left on the forward deck, clad in mismatched pieces of armour, faces half-concealed by the black clothes wrapped around their heads. The male had been operating the ballista and looked frightened out of his wits at the sudden appearance of the eagle-lion chimera, while the female who'd been giving orders seemed to be made of sterner stuff. "Surrender or die, griffon!" she spat, as both of them drew long curved blades.

Azure Feather was now close enough to hear the enemy leader threatening her ally, along with Grenelda's response: a cocky chuckle, followed by "Your cluelessness amuses me, biped!", her down feathers bristling up as she taunted the drow. Before the creature could make a move, she had another wind blade charged up and ready to fire. It shot forward and smashed into the scrappy armour covering the creature's chest, hurling her back into the craft's hull. Her helmet cracked as as it bounced off the wooden planks below the cockpit and she slumped to the deck, leaving just the dagger-wielding male facing the angry griffon. Azure was pretty sure who was going to win that fight.

Grenelda let out an exultant screech at Azure's swift takedown of the enemy captain, before turning to face down the last drow still standing on the forward deck, showing no signs of fear at the long dagger he was brandishing. Though she wasn't used to this kind of fighting, her instincts were sound, and her plan was simple: charge in, bait out a swipe, leap over it and take him down from behind. With her powerful limbs and wingbeats, she can change direction on a dime, like the terrifying rampaging raptor she was, and attack from any angle!

The griffon's plan seemed to unfold perfectly, the inexperienced drow reacting just as she expected; a wild lunge, easily dodged by a wing-assisted leap, then the younger drown was down on the deck, armour torn asunder, chest covered in gashes that bled out onto the deck. Grenelda stood over him, crowing at her victory, oblivious to the figure creeping out of the cockpit, dagger raised as she lunged at the hen's flank. It seemed the rear gunner had come around and managed to sneak into the cockpit, waiting for an opening to strike the boarders. The griffon let out a pained screech as the blade stabbed into her wing muscle, before skidding sideways as the whole copter lurched and turned about. The pilot opened up the throttle, pointing the small vessel back towards the central island and accelerating as hard as she could.

Intense pain filled her breast and shot through her wing every time she tried to move it, but Grenelda paid it little heed. She was angry before, but now she was fury incarnate, leaping at her attacker in a blind rage! The drow's dagger was no defence against the ravaging claws and beak, and the poor creature was torn apart in a frenzy of vicious swipes and bites. Even Azure, coming in to land just behind Grenelda, was shocked by the violence of it. Grimly she regarded the three drow bodies; one clearly dead, one severely wounded, with the leader knocked unconscious. "That doesn't look good, Grenelda..." she muttered, seeing the blood dripping from the griffon's wound.

"I've had worse," Grenelda spat through her clenched beak. Her injured wing drooped down to the deck while the other remained firm and strong. The hen's adrenalin was still pumping and she kept herself in an aggressive posture, ready to spring and unleash havoc, watching to see if any more of the creatures would come out of the hatch. Azure shook her head, though her mood improved a little when she caught sight of Reef Skimmer, flying like the wind and about to catch up with the copter.

Below deck, Cloud Cutter found an engine room barely merited the name: cramped and dark and extremely noisy with the clatter of poorly maintained gears and drive shafts. The pegasus advanced into the narrow space, only come to come face to face with a spindly green creature, clad in only a loincloth and head wrap. "Argh! Get out, uh, I mean, stay back! Help, some help down here!" he shouted desperately, looking out of the forward hatch only to see the fallen, bleeding bodies of his comrades.

Eerie light limned Cloud Cutter, as she advanced silently forward. The spindly drow backpedalled away from the engine, tripping over a pipe and falling on his ass, yet still trying to push himself away from the purple death goat. "No! No don't take me, it's not my time! I can pay, I mean my clan, they'll pay my ransom... look I can get you anything you want, anything, JUST PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!"

Something heavy hit the back of the ship, making it buck and toss in the air. The pilot was fixated on the scene of carnage on the deck in front of her, so it came as a total shock when the aft cockpit door burst from its hinges and a giant eagle head thrust through the splintered frame. Puffed out grey feathers framed the huge, sharp, gaping open beak. "This vessel is taken! Land on the large rock, or meet your end right here!" the creature bellowed, right in her face. Shaking and scared out of her wits, the drow could barely keep the copter steady as she complied.

The sudden buck of the ship startled Azure, before she chuckled. "Oh... I think that puts the ship under our control... let's see if we can find any supplies, to try and patch up that wound..." she muttered, looking around the deck for anything suitable. Seeing no further adversaries, Grenelda managed to relax a bit: "Alright, do what you can." she says gruffly, keeping a close eye on the downed drow while Azure searched.

Meanwhile Cloud Cutter found herself sitting in the belly of the engine room, staring at the floor, alone.

The drow copter came in for a rough landing next to the sparking remains of the magical transmitters, bouncing and skidding as its terrified pilot tried to keep it under control. No sooner had the vessel come to a stop than Reef pulled his head out of the cabin and clambered around to the foredeck, eager to inspect Grenelda. "Straight into the pectoral, looks like the tip hit the keel..." he muttered. "It's ok Grenelda, you'll be fine, just... don't move your wing, and try to stay awake." The hippogriff began taking first aid supplies from his saddle bag, focused entirely on his patient.

Grenelda beak gaped! "Oh, Reef Skimmer! You're a sight for sore eyes, right now." She tried to extend her limp wing, wincing a bit before seeing the folly of her ways and letting it hang limp. "Sorry, doc." She tilts to one side to give the hippogriff a good view of the wound, trying to breathe more slowly and relax. "Do what you have to."

Reassured to see the squad's medic taking care of the injured griffon, Azure nodded softly. "Thanks, Reef Skimmer. I'm going to go find Cloud Cutter..." She must be on the ship, not on the fore deck or in the cockpit... that didn't leave many other places on the small vessel. Azure decided to check below before proceeding to the aft deck, and sure enough she found the pegasus down in the cramped, smoky engine room, sitting on her haunches beside an unmoving enemy.

A raggedly dressed and conspicuously unarmed enemy, slumped against a wall and staring off into infinity. "I didn't mean to," Cloud Cutter said without turning around, "There's something... wrong with me."

"Wrong?" Azure quickly came up to Cloud Cutter's side, for one moment forgetting about the dead drow. "What do you mean, wrong?" She tilted her head, worry on her face; her closest ally had a problem...

Cloud Cutter continued to turn away from Azure as she approached, refusing to make eye contact and saying quietly, "I never killed anything before, and... now I do. It just keeps happening. It... came out of me, and took his life away. Something strange. All I could tell him was to run. But there was nowhere to run. From me." Azure turned to look at the fallen form of the mysterious biped, and one thing she could see was that it had no wounds, abrasions, or apparent injuries of any kind. Just a death-mask of fear, frozen on its face.

And Azure tilted her head, staying by her ally's side and thinking for a moment before speaking up: "Listen, Cloud Cutter... you and I have similar problems, in a way, but I'm sorry... we don't have time to compare notes right now. We have to fly this thing back to the Harmony: we've neutralized the enemy, but with their home base nearby, and Grenelda injured... We've got to get out of her, right now, and this ship is our best and fastest way back. But.. I'm up for a chat once we get back?" she suggested, smiling and trying to reassure her ally.

Cloud Cutter had been hanging her head, but she responds to Azure's urgent need, turning to face the unicorn at last. "Fly the ship?" she said. "I... might be able to do that. You're right. We need to hurry." She stood up and unceremoniously strode up the stairs, before pausing just outside, framed by the hatch opening. "That chat would be nice too," the empty eyed pegasus said, smiling weakly before continuing on, without waiting for a reply.

Just as Azure started to follow, a male voice came from the deck outside: "Azure! It seems we have a new problem, if you'd care to take a look..." Reef Skimmer shouted.

"A big bucking problem coming right at us!" Grenelda cut in.

The unicorn trotted out onto the deck and sure enough, the two griffs were staring into the distance at a flicker of motion, over by the central island. Azure's gaze wasn't as keen as theirs, but she could see something pulling away from the island; something much bigger than the craft they'd brought down, more on the scale of the airship they'd come from. "Blighters must've noticed the disruption to their traps." Reef muttered; he was glaring fiercely at one of the fallen drow even as he bandaged the creature's wounds. "This one should live; those two... not looking good... and that one... already gone."

"Cloud Cutter! Get this thing off the ground, we got pursuers!" Azure ordered, staring at the incoming airship. "I've got one thing that might work on something that size... but last time I tried it, it left me... well..."

The enemy pilot took that moment to make her move, nervously biting her lip and looking between the larger griffon and the butterfly-goat, trying to work out who was in charge. She settled on Reef Skimmer. "Look, my clan is on the way, and your daughter can't fly can she? The Manticore will blast us all to bits, unless... you let me negotiate. If you fight in the arena, willingly... then we'll keep her alive, I mean, look after her. And your pets... friends... whatever, we'll let them go. How does that sound?"

Grenelda had been inspecting Reef's patch job on her injury. "

"Daughter?!" Grenelda squawked, before clicking her beak and smirking, looking at the bandages Reef had placed over her injury. "Arena combat, is it?" she said eagerly "I get to pick on more of these weaklings? I'm down. Even down a wing... you have no idea what you're signing onto."

"Arena combat..." Azure sighed; under other circumstances, she might relish the practice, but this proposal was basically slavery, and with one of her team already injured... "I really hope not. Cloud Cutter, it's up to you."

---

Back on the EAS Harmony, it seemed like the time for negotiation was over. The purple draconic intruder had made her intentions clear: kidnap the chief engineer, for 'the greater good', whatever that entailed. Nutmeg Inferno had declined the offer, lodging her objection in the form of a blast of scalding steam from a loose pipe. The dragoness vanished in the billowing cloud, which didn't seem to cause her any trouble breathing (she was a dragon after all) but did disorient her and gave the kirin a chance to bolt into her office, slamming the heavy door behind her.

Meanwhile Summer Scribe was already in the process of bringing a wrench down on the intruder's head; the sudden cloud of steam prevented her from seeing the blow connect, but she could feel the impact through her magic. The dragon's limbs seemed to spasm as she fell flat on her belly. For a second there was a blurry vision of flapping bat-wings and half-concealed lizard, before she'd scrambled back to her paws, rage written on her face. The jet of steam died down as the pressure fell, the cloud the steam rapidly dispersing into the rest of the compartment. The dragon's eyes were wild, searching the space for any sign of the kirin; finding no sign of her quarry, her gaze settled on Summer Scribe. "How dare you!" she hissed, with rather more electric crackle to her voice than before.

"That's for not asking nicely!" Summer Scribe smirked! "We might look cute, but we're not going to be bossed around by any dragon, including you!" She took a defensive stance, backing up a step, wrench still held in her telekinesis and ready to parry any counterattack. "If you want Nutmeg so badly, then you'll have to get through me, first!"

Enraged, the dragoness opened her mouth, revealing a bright blue-white glow in her throat. Her answer came as a fan of crackling electricity... which was immediately drawn to the iron deck plates. The lightning flashed down and grounded out just in front of Summer, flowing into and through the deck, the pipes, the machinery and pretty much everything else in the engine room. Everypony within the space was treated to a stinging sensation in their hooves and involuntary spasms in their legs, as the energy arced from pipe to railing to lever. Gauges surged, fuses blew and light bulbs shattered as the Harmony's already abused electrical system took another blow. The madly flickering light, combined with the clouds of steam, treated Summer to a series of flash bulb images of screaming ponies dashing about and desperately trying to get out of the engine room.

Summer Scribe winced, her ears flattened as the lightning surged and crackled all around her. She felt the tingle in her hooves, her fur standing on end, her legs twitching involuntarily as she staggered in place. The wrench slipped from her magical grasp and clattered to the floor as she closed her eyes and fought to remain calm. Overwhelmed though she was, she barely managed to avoid panic and register what just happened.

After a few seconds of chaos the blue unicorn had regained her footing and opened her eyes, levitating the wrench again and growling at where she thought the dragoness might be. "OK, now you're going to get it!" she cried out, leaping forward and swinging the wrench wildly in the general direction of the she-dragon's face. Summer's dazed mind had a vague notion of smashing her in the snout then bearing her down to the floor, heedless of the difference in size, armour and natural weaponry.

The purple dragon's face went from snarling to... an odd expression, not fear, frustration perhaps? She looked genuinely concerned by the screaming ponies, as if this wasn't supposed to happen. Now that she was facing Summer, the unicorn's shouted threats and lingering dizziness gave her ample time to dodge the incoming wrench. The dragoness stared at the little unicorn, cocks her head in incredulity at the boldness of the attack, before... vanishing. All that remained was a fresh cloud of purple smoke that mixed with the steam and further reduced the already minimal visibility in the engine room.

Summer screeched to a stop where the dragon had been standing and clumsily turned around, coughing and waving the wrench in front of her, futilely trying to disperse the smoke. "Okay, okay, I know she teleports when she does that... so where is she now?!" But with the poor visibility, all she could do was spin in a circle and look around desperately... Realising she was a sitting duck for another lightning strike, Summer made a dash for cover instead, leaping over a couple of supply crates and hunkering down to peer around the side. Sweat foamed on her flanks as she waited tensely for the intruder to make a move.

For a few seconds... which felt like an eternity to the unicorn... Summer could see no sign of the dragon. Then her position became apparent, as the hatch swung open and she was briefly silhouetted in the doorway, surrounded by sunlight streaming in from outside and steam flowing out. The scaly creature emerged on to the upper deck, just as Set Sail fluttered down, crewmates in tow. The brown pegasus found herself face to face with a sizable, on-edge dragoness, sparks still crackling around her muzzle.

Summer Scribe perked up, scrabbling around the crates and heading for the hatch, seeing the dragoness and Set Sail staring at each other. "Look out: she breathes lightning and she's pissed!" Summer called out, galloping clumsily and groggily towards the opening, legs still protesting from the electric shock.

Out on the deck, Set Sail emitted a bleating noise and toppled over while her crew advanced forward, glaring menacingly at the intruder. "Why don't you see how many of us you can beat, before we take you down?" growled the griffon, Gustus. A hefty earth mare beside him effortlessly shouldered an iron anchor.

The dragoness screamed in frustration, took two steps forward and disappeared again, leaving the ponies coughing and blinking in yet another burst of purple smoke. Summer dashed out from the engine room just in time to see the intruder reappear in mid-air, now some way from the ship and dropping rapidly, pink wings folded tightly against her serpentine body. Within seconds she is lost to view, sight line blocked by the bulk of the ship.

Following just behind Summer a red, brown and gold kirin came charging out, with some sort of jury-rigged contraption crackling with electricity strapped to her back. Looking around wildly, Nutmeg shouted triumphantly, "Okay, where's the dragon??"

Summer Scribe perked up as the creature teleported again! "Where is she now?" she called out, racing over to the railing, hoping the dragoness is in full retreat by this point... Her suspicions were confirmed when she caught sight of the flyer, still dropping rapidly. "Well, this is no good; our would-be kirin-napper's still on the loose, and we haven't settled the score!" She thumped a hoof against the deck, thinking dark thoughts, glancing back at Nutmeg and noticing that... imposing looking makeshift weapon.

Summer's jaw dropped, as she pointed a hoof into the sky. "If you think you can make THAT shot, go for it!" Maybe it's not over yet after all! She watches with bated breath...

...but before Nutmeg has any chance of making the shot, they watched as the dragon's dive flattened and carried it out of sight, beneath the nearby island. "Shoot! I mean, don't shoot, the other kind of shoot." Summer facehooved and laughed, the nervous energy getting to her.

Nutmeg peered over the side, saying "Yeah, it's not a homing missile or anything, needs line of sight." She sounding remarkably casual for a mare who'd just avoided being kidnapped, with a heavy and dangerous looking device strapped to her back.

"Okay, so we might have a little bit of a persistent dragon problem." Summer said, between deep breaths. "Nutmeg... think your new weapon can take her down? I'm sure she'll be back, probably when we least expect it." The unicorn researcher continued to admire the device, a puzzled expression on her face, as if to say 'what does it do, exactly'.

Looking to Summer, she lifts a hoof, saying "It's just that this lightning gun wasn't going to cut it against a freaky dragon that breathes lightning, so then I rigged it to use the lightning to accelerate these uh... these biscuits I had lying around. Don't worry they're pretty much inedible."

"Ooh!" said Summer, nodding. "Yeah, if Plan A for surprise dragon attack was the lightning gun, I guess a proverbial wrench got thrown in your plans!" She chuckled "But this looks super cool, too!"

Nutmeg's piece starts beeping then, causing the kirin to blush and say sheepishly, "Sorry, I gotta go unplug this thing before it, uh... explodes." With that she backed into the engine room and disappeared leaving the ponies on deck to wonder whether it would have exploded after she fired.

Summer just stood there blinking for a moment, saying "Please do not explode that thing around me, Nutmeg." to empty air, before shaking her head and trotting after the kirin. She wanted to head back into the engine room anyway, to check on everypony caught in the dragon's lightning... then she should debrief Set Sail (once the pegasus came around) and check that she was ok too!

Trailing behind Nutmeg was a cord, which she followed back into her office; it ended at a power socket, plugged in next to a lamp now missing its own power cord. The kirin pulled the plug out and the whirring, crackling hum of the apparatus on her back slowly died down. "Okay, so far so good," she said distractedly, looking back at it as the hardtack vibrating in the centre ceased to be surrounded in blue glowing energy, and settled to the bottom of the tube which has been duct taped to the rest of the thing. At last satisfied, Nutmeg turned back to Summer, saying "No it is pretty cool! I had the idea when... well uh... I've been having a lot of ideas lately. It's kind of weird actually. But this's one of those things we could defend the ship with, and uh... wasn't intended to be mounted on me, to be honest."

Summer Scribe clopped her forehooves in giddy excitement. "Oooh, that's awesome! Yeah, we can mount this on the railing! Shoot it at that dragon if and when she comes flying back? Now we're talking! I guess even if this ship can't fly, we can at least make it into our fort, huh?" The excited unicorn grinned with enthusiasm. "Though, I guess we'll need to figure out what to do while you're out and about, too. That dragon's not gonna be easy to take down, even with your super-electric-hardtack-launcher!"

Smiling at Summer's enthusiastic appraisal of her work, Nutmeg replied "Thanks! It'll probably be more helpful than that uh... self-actuating automatic toaster I threw together. But would you like to come look at this other idea I had, for a ship that floats without a balloon?"

Summer Scribe gaped! "Without a balloon?" She thought for a moment. Maybe you just magically propel... no, wait, this is Nutmeg who came up with it. She somehow looked even more excited! "How? I wanna see!"

Unshouldering her device and leaning it against the wall, Nutmeg said eagerly, "C'mon! I'll show you the prototype! It uses virtual momentum to..." and still explaining, the kirin lead Summer to look at the little toy ship on the kirin's workbench, hovering serenely right by a detailed schematic of it.

Summer's ears perked: "Wooaahh! You already have a scale model?" She had to gloss over the technobabble; this was definitely not her field; but to see it in action was amazing! "So, we gonna try to make full scale ships out of this?"

"Well I dunno about that," Nutmeg replied cheerfully, "You need more than just scrap parts to make a full sized ship. But it's a super neat idea. See how the propellers... they're just prop propellers but they'd propel it forward, while..."

Summer Scribe nod nodded, peering closer. "I see, I see!" Alas, she missed the extremely beautiful underlying theory that no one present but Nutmeg was qualified to understand. "Yeah, it sounds like it'd be a lot of work, but maybe we could make a little one, just for a couple of ponies?" she pondered out loud.

---

In the cockpit of the commandeered drow vessel, Cloud Cutter found herself staring at the controls. The copter was a whole different deal to a full-size airship, but there wasn't that much to see. Two control sticks, and a throttle lever. Not a lot different than a pony helicopter, but no pedals... and no tail rotor, so yaw must be controlled by one of the sticks, she thought. She'd only had basic training, enough to take the odd unicorn or earth pony researcher up to the cloud observatory, but...she pulls the lever, and the rotors begin to turn. Left control stick back... nothing, must be the pitch for the propellers, right stick back... the ship quivered and began to lift off, that must be the collective.

A twitch of the left stick and everything tilted as the ship wheeled around. Simple! Assuming nopony had fallen off at that little flight test, that is. Out of time for further experimentation, Cloud Cutter opened up the throttle and ship surged forward, rapidly gaining speed and altitude as it pulled away from the wrecked magical trap.

Azure seemed nervous, standing on the lurching deck and watching the massive enemy airship following behind. She couldn't help but think of the rest of the crew; the civilians, back at the Harmony; leading this battlewagon to them would be... awful. There was a good chance she'd lose a lot of friends if that thing got their ship in its sights. Not that being thrown in a fighting arena wasn't just as dangerous... but if they couldn't get away... she was a fighter. The drow didn't know about the Harmony, they could just pretend they were on their own. There was a chance she could survive and escape... as could the rest of her squad. But what if the creatures forced them to fight each other?

Reef staggered and spreads his wings for balance as the ship lifts off. Glaring daggers at the conniving drow pilot, he turned to Azure and pushes his head close to hers. "We need to get Grenelda back to the Harmony as fast as we can, one has done what one can in the field, but without proper treatment there's a risk she could lose use of the wing." he said, his pink crest feathers tossing wildly in the downwash from the rotors. "What about these creatures though?" he asked, gesturing with a wing at the three injured drow.

"Their best hope is probably with their kin, but..." He looked at the distant airship, which was ponderously picking up speed. The distinctive shapes of cannon muzzles poked out of each side and a giant barrel extended from a superstructure on the bow. "...one hopes we have enough of a head start to outrun tha battlewagon, but do we have time to stop and drop the enemy casualties on one of the platforms?"

"On the one hoof, we could drop them off and risk the fight... but the amount of armour on that thing, my strongest blast might just bounce off. Even if they don't catch us, once in range of that central gun... I can't see this flimsy little ship surving even one direct hit." Azure's voice hardened, her decision made: "If we run now and don't stop, we stand a much better chance of living through this. It's their lives or ours, doc. That's what it boils down to, if you ask me."

Reef gave the winged unicorn a hard stare, locking eyes for a long moment, before ducking his head. "Very well, if you insist. I'll... tie them up then. I won't have any killing in cold blood."

Azure nodded to the doctor. "In the long run, more lives are saved this way." she concluded, before dashing up into the cockpit, where the purple pegasus was still piloting the copter. "Cloud Cutter. This ship's a little fish compared to that behemoth behind us. Looks like we're faster, so we can get away... but if that thing finds the Harmony, it's a lot more trouble for everyone. Our only advantage is, they don't know we came in a bigger ship, for all they know we came from one of the islands. So do you think you can outrun them without giving away the Harmony's position?"

"Oh, I hadn't considered returning to the Harmony," Cloud Cutter said in surprise, turning away from her forward vigil to regard Azure, "We shouldn't lead them to it, you're right. But what direction should we go? Aside from towards the warship, of course."

Remembering the map, Azure nodded. "We could circle around, head north and lead them on a goose chase... if you think we need more time to get out of sight... but if you think we might run out of fuel... then south. The Harmony's to the east by south-east." Azure froze for a moment, unsure what to do, before her gaze settled on the injured griffon sitting just outside the windows. "Take the south route. It's faster and with Grenelda injured, time's not on our side." she said firmly, before placing a hoof on her friend's shoulder. "You got this, Cloud Cutter."

"South it is," Cloud Cutter says in relief, not changing course since they were already heading more or less directly south. "I don't know how much the ship can take," she admitted, fiddling with the throttle, "But pulling this lever up seems to make it go faster. Unfortunately I've only had a few trips in helicopters and... had to rescue ponies from them on a couple of occasions.... so this is a bit new to me." Nonetheless, she managed to guide the alien craft with increasing confidence as it whirred away from the shattered island and its murderous inhabitants.

---

The Wyvern's Sting (as the pilot had called the copter) easily pulled away from the ponderous ironclad, heading south with the throttle wide open. It was a mere twenty kilometres to the nearest landmass, a collection of sheer, broken rocks taller than they were wide. They formed a maze of aerial canyons, swept bare on the outer faces but with the sheltered interiors covered in hanging greenery and filled with flocks of colourful birds. Cloud Cutter carefully maneuvered the drow copter between the cliffs, threading through until they passed out the far side, now thoroughly out of range of the enemy.

Cloud Cutter brought the little ship around in a slow arc, drifting further south before flying east, skirting another more contiguous island formed of dark grey basalt. Jets of flame shot up from the hundreds of pools of lava dotting the landscape; there was a glimpse of crumbling stone towers and impossible floating platforms, shrouded in heat haze, but right now nocreature felt like getting closer to check them out. All the time Reef Skimmer did his best to keep the strange bipeds, or 'drow' as the pilot called herself, alive. Despite his efforts one passed away before they even reached the cliffs, and another, his chest crushed by griffon claws, breathed his last as they pulled away from the volcanic island.

By this point Cloud Cutter was starting to have serious trouble with the controls; the craft felt sluggish and was losing speed despite the throttle being firmly in the wide open position. Yanking the collective, she struggled to keep their altitude up as the copter made the final leg north towards the twinned masses of Blissful Pastures and the stranded Equestrian airship. It was late afternoon by the time they finally made it back to their home ship, with the copter's engine spluttering and the craft lurching heavily through the air. The drow pilot begged to take the helm, but the two griffs stared at her coldly while Azure encouraged Cloud Cutter one final time (although, in all honesty, Reef's wings were tensed in case he had to haul Grenelda out of an imminent crash).

Pony head poked out of tents and over the ship's rail, drawn by the sound of the rotors while sheep scattered in every direction to get out of the way. The copter came down hard but intact in the meadow, skidding to a stop near the pony encampment. With a crack and wheeze, clouds of smoke blew out of the lower deck, as the over-stressed engine gave up the ghost. Deep in the Harmony's engine room, Nutmeg and Summer lifted their heads up at the muffled impact of the crash, abandoning their discussion on autolevitation and galloping out to see what had happened.

"Just enough to get us back to base and in the fastest way we could. Cloud Cutter... that was amazing. Thank you." Azure seemed absolutely pleased with how things went in the cockpit, even if she had no idea what was going on outside. "Now how about that little chat?" she said, smiling to her friend.

"I um..." Cloud Cutter looks down at her hooves, kicking a foreleg shyly as she watches its very important motion. "I suppose so..."

"Azure, wait... what about them?" said Grenelda, gesturing at the two surviving drow, sitting tied up and blindfolded in the shallow cargo hold under the forward deck. "Over the edge or... you feel like asking some questions first?"

"Good idea. The questions, I mean." Azure said, though in truth after the various threats the horrid creatures had made she wouldn't mind tossing them over the edge of the island. A long silence, then "I suppose we can start with figuring out a little more about the islands surrounding their home base... right? Some information on the general area would be a good start."

At that point Set Sail came trotting down the Harmony's gangplank, staring at the new arrival in the meadow before shouting up at the creatures on its deck: "What the hay was that?! What the hay is this?!"

"Sails!" Reef Skimmer shouted down. "I mean, Captain. Oh, the heart warms at the sight of you. Safe and sound, I mean. So... yes, erm, I realise this must be a bit of a shock, but I want to start by saying everycreature performed above and beyond the call of duty, commendations warranted all round, and truly... they started it!"

A few flaps of her wings and the green-kerchiefed captain had swooped up onto the copter's deck, landing and looking around with eyes wide. "Is this... is this a ship?" she said incredulously. "Where's the balloon? Where did you get this?" Behind her the rest of the Harmony's crew was approaching the little ship, their expressions showing varying degrees of curiosity and dread.

"Would love to explain, but I regret to say, I do have a casualty here needing immediate treatment, so..." Reef said, gesturing to Grenelda. The griffoness had a substantial dressing sitting behind her shoulder and her left wing tightly bound up to her side with rope; she was carefully climbing out of the ship, annoyed at being unable to fly. "...if you wouldn't mind postponing that discussion until after I've gotten her to the sick bay?"

"No, no not you," Set Sail cautioned, holding a hoof to Reef Skimmer's chest, "You don't explain anything. Just go do your thing. I'll ask somepony else."

Author's Note:

This story is a collaboration between myself (playing Reef Skimmer), Ferret (playing Nutmeg Inferno, Set Sail and in this session, Cloud Cutter), Patashu (playing Summer Scribe and in this session, Grenelda) and Spearmint (playing Azure Feather), based on an online RP.

This chapter is based on the seventeenth session, with me as the GM. A significant escalation of the stakes; the combat and aftermath here was enough to move the story from 'everyone' to 'teen' rating. The drow were prepared to capture a couple of griffons, but a bit of pony magic was enough to completely ruin their day. Next time likely won't be so easy though. As for Cynder, she wasn't joking when she implied that the whole crew combined would have a hard time taking her down, but fortunately she decided not to chance it.