A Night Guard's Fight

The day started out quite normal, really. As Elita went through her standard morning routine, with Seafire crashing into her room (again). The two had a standard breakfast, before Rolling Thunder and Halberd came aboard for a tour.

Stormchaser, Dawn, and Tornado had met up in the Blue Moon Cafe to...well...gossip, like all mares.

"Oh, so you managed to save good ol' Brimestone?" Stormchaser asked.

"Only because I don't like Princess Luna...."

"Oh? You know the fandom is going to kick your ass until you explain your logic, right?" Tornado took a sip of her jasmine tea. "Even then, a lot of them will still hate you."

Dawn ducked her head. "I'm sorry, but...our relationship...it's just broken."

"She's only been back for two decades, how did she manage to cross you?"

"Oh, it's a long story..."

Elita's mother gave a warm smile. "You don't have to worry, you can tell us."

"No...it-"

"She doesn't mean to pry." Tornado chugged her tea. "Ack. Not strong enough. THREE SHOTS OF VODKA!"

As the three mares in the cafe continued to talk, Elita was still showing the two stallions the latest tech in the fleet.

"Well, we do tend to rely more on the flyers now. I just feel sorry for the zebras. Their skyships don't even have anti-flyer guns on them."

Halberd laughed at that. "Wow! That-"

"-Is just freaking stupid!" Rolling Thunder finished as he slapped his old friend's back. That was stopped when the lookout burst into the room.

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"Griffins on the horizon!"

"FULL REVERSE, GET US OUT OF HERE!"

"AURORA contacts!"

"Action stations!"

Thunder and Halberd looked at Elita with looks of anticipation.

"At the wheel, dad! Thunder, man the J-STARS!"

"Yes ma'am!" They shouted in unison as Elita turned away, trying not to think that she just gave an order to her father.

They closed in. Bombs fell just where the Ignus was a moment ago. G-Rockets streaked in, the smaller Admiral class destroyers ripped apart instantly. The massive Queen Adora V class Super Dreadnoughts took more before they, too, fell to the preying birds of war. The Subjugator class actually had more Anti Flyer Point Defense guns than the specifications asked for, and the Ignus found itself in a stalemate with the marauding griffins.

More ships were blown up. Solstice Crown and Seafire ran up the pagoda mast to Elita's station.

"What's going on?" Seafire practically screamed in Elita's face.

"It's a surprise attack, courtesy of the damn griffins! I need you to follow Tyranis and keep some of the griffins away, all clear?"

"Got it!" Seafire's elliptical wing wasn't the only thing that was special about her. Her wing's thickest point was the middle, allowing her to go faster. Separate feathers, while they were good for slow speed maneuvering, tended to rip off at high speeds. If Rainbow Dash had Seafire's wings, she could probably make a double rainboom.

The alicorn and pegasus  took off, quickly catching the attention of several griffins.

"Break left, I'll take right, Solstice!"

"You got it!"

They crossed paths, the griffins following. "Okay, I need you to fly over the north sector, I'll check the south. Try to stay alive, I need you to play chicken later!" Seafire ordered.

"It's you who needs to worry!" The alicorn stallion called as he did as he was told.

Seafire rolled inverted and pulled up, then pulled out (upside down) over Victory Lane. Merchants dove for cover as griffin tracer fire shot up fine silks and food. "Hey!" A voice came over the communicator crystal. "Looks like you're in a pickle?"

"Celestia dammit you, Moskit! I don't have time for this!"

"Oh come on, we're just trying to help you!" Another voice came over the crystal.

"If you want to help, Razor, get some guns in the Canterlot Tower!"

"That's a lot of stairs..." Moskit muttered.

"Don't worry, I won't be there for a while!" Seafire answered as she pulled back up. The griffins close behind, she turned back. "Solstice!"

"Yes?" He asked.

"Break when I tell you."

"Got it." He gritted his teeth. "Now?"

"Not yet..."

"Now?"

"Wait....wait..."

"Please?"

"Aaaand...NOW!" They turned into each other, barely missing. The griffins weren't so lucky. Several were downed by their gunfire and being rammed,  but one still stuck true to Seafire's tail. "Razor, you better be ready in that tower!"

"We do, get over here now!"

"I am, I am!" The pegasus turned to the watchtower, still dodging the tracer fire. "Hnnnngggg..."

"Hold your fire..." Moskit ordered. "Hold your fire..."

Seafire swung around.

"FIRE!" The griffin was torn apart by the group of changeling fire from the tower and slammed into a ship hangar with a Fletcher Shock class escort destroyer. The magazines ignited, creating a massive fireball over the city.

"Let's head over battleship row!"

"Or what's left of it..." Seafire was right. Queen Adora V, Prince of Whales, and the Subjugator class cruiser Cloak had left along with several Admiral class destroyers, leaving Triton, Utahana and Arakia to their demise. The Big U had completely rolled over, and the latter had blown up in the center, killing the crew instantly.

The ponies who were still alive cheered as they saw the two ponies shooting back at the griffins.

"Yeah! Get those bastards!"

"How you like somepony shooting back at you?"

"SHIT!" Elita yelled as she saw the griffin Ibis class battlestations Atlantia and Pacifica poke over the mountain. "All ahead, flank speed, full starboard!"

"Anton and Bruno turrets aim for the Pacifica! Ceaser, Dora, go for Atlantia!"

The turrets aimed at their guns at their targets...and fired.

"We can't stand toe to toe with two battlestations, Elita!" Dawn yelled. As the Ignus II flew over the city proper earlier, the crew dropped a line for the three mares to climb up.

"Solstice, Seafire, do you copy?"

"Yes, loud and clear!"

"Return to ship, NOW!"

"Got it!"

"Incoming warheads!" The two griffin ships had fired their missile compliment.

"Come on...come on..."

The rockets closed in.

"Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittttt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"They're on, they're on!"

"Teleport us out, anywhere!"

The white energy enclosed the Ignus, and in a loud electrical fizzle, it shrunk. The rockets barreled through where the ship was only a second ago, late in doing their deed.

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"Move!" Twilight pushed through the Skyship Celestia's flight deck. Fluffle Puff, Dan, and Chrysalis where following close behind.

"Hey, Twilight!" A southern drawl called out.

"Oh, Applejack, I'm so glad you're okay! What happened to the other girls?"

"For all I know, Rainbows still trying to buck those griffins. Everypony else is on the Detrot Cruiser."

"So, Rainbow's gone, but everypony else is okay?"

"Eeyup." Big Mac came around the corner. "Rounded up half of Equestria onto these ships."

The princess looked out at the anchored craft. "Captain!"

"Yes?" A yellow earth pony with a brown mane walked over. "Can I help you?"

"Have you contacted to every surviving Equestrian ship?"

"These here are the civilian ships, the Ignus and the Wraith are being towed to the city outskirts. They should be he-and here they are."

Two grey balloons, one with a phoenix, the other with Ceberus. Their gleaming golden hulls outshone the other ships in the fleet, and the Skyship Celestia, once the greatest warship in the spiral, found itself humbled by the mana tubes proudly displayed on the Ignus' flanks.

The Wraith was pulled alongside the Celestia, and a white pegasus came down the gangplank.

"Light Shine..." He whispered. "The legend?"

"That would be me, yes." Said pony answered.

Sunbeam nodded. "Princess, I am formally ask you to re-commission the brig-sloop-of-war Wraith and frigate Ignus."

"Granted."

"Thank you, ma'am."

"Lieutenant commander?" Light asked. "The Skyship Celestia is in much better condi-"

"There's no time to transfer the guns, Shine. Besides, where would it go? Celestia is classified as a zeppelin; a ship in the sky with no magical assistance. It takes much more helium to keep it up. There's no way it can hold up these guns."

The earth pony sighed. "True...Well, we do have a pair of twenty millimeter Buckors anti-flyer guns, so I guess that's enough..."

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The Ignus' bridge was a bustle of activity, Sunbeam at the center, shouting orders. Razor and Moskit were helping him with the workload of re-converting the craft back into a warship.

"Sir, engine room reporting a go." The latter changeling reported.

"Very well, start up the engines, Mister Moskit. Let's give her a small nudge, see if she's still the ship we love." Sunbeam smiled.

"All ahead, half speed!" He grabbed the throttle marker, pulled it back, then pushed it to the appropriate mark.

The two paddle propellers, a last minute add-on before the Second Griffin War ended, began to spin for the first time in over two decades. The warship began to push forward slightly.

"If only Elita was here to see this..." Sunbeam mused.

"Yes..." Razor sighed. "She was a good mare, wasn't she."

"If only I was brave enough to ask her to a date..." The Lt. Commander sighed.

Grey smoke began to pour out of the cowling nacelles, trailing out behind her like a ribbon.

"Wraith reports ready!"

"Tell them to start up as well."

"Yes sir!"

The rest of the fleet drew up their anchors; The Cloud Nine, which was built out of the wrecked Cloudstation Nine, leading the formation. Ignus and Wraith hung at the middle, the Ignus' flyers and Goldendart Mk. IX's coming out of her belly flight pod. After they launched, it retracted back into it's hull.

"83 knots, sir!"

Sunbeam smiled. "Very well. Take her out, Razor."