"Get that pipe sealed off!"
"I need a wrench over here, hurry up!"
"Goddamn Catbirds ripped us a new one! I need some help over here!"
"Green pony! Bring me that blow torch!"
I huffed and huffed as I limped across the walkway, said blow torch in my magical grasp. "I got it!" I yelled, bringing it over to the human. I almost tripped over a bucket, but I managed to make it over to him. I levitated the blowtorch into his hands, he flashed me a thankful look before putting on a pair of goggles and turning on the device and going to work. Sparks started flying as he welded the metal back into place, and more humans ran around, trying to repair was what broken and damaged during the fight.
"Heartstrings! Over here, I need your help!"
I groaned under my breath, turning and hobbling down the walkway. "I'm coming!" I yelled as I passed by a human child holding a broken arm and gritting his teeth as he tried to fight the pain, and my eyes misted over from the intense heat of the workers inside of the massive airship. Orders were yelled and people ran across the walkways, I heard the ship groan under pressure as we gained altitude, or tried to anyway.
It was hard to do when parts of this thing were on fire.
Up ahead, down the walkway I saw the familiar white shade of Vinyl Scratch up ahead, the unicorn was attempting to lift something off of a human, when the smoke cleared a bit I saw it was one of the support beams for the cat walkway above. It was still holding strong however. Using my magic, I helped Vinyl lift the beam off of the human, and moved it to the side as more humans came over and lifted it back up and quickly started welding it back into place.
Vinyl helped the human sit back up, and started tending to him with what little medical supplies she had on her. But she was out of bandages. "Shit, I'm out of wrappings!"
"I have some," I told, opening up my own pack and pulling out the wrappings from a shirt covered in an antibiotic that acted as bandages. I gave it to her, and we began to heal the human. "What a day." I muttered as I checked the man's eyes, they were bloodshot.
"Tell me about it." Vinyl replied to me, grumbling under her breath as the smoke started to clear up.
A sigh escaped me as i thought back to that day, when me and my friend were basically foalnapped by these humans...
-----====0000====-----
One Month Ago
I was walking down the path towards Manehattan, saddlebags secured on my back and filled with certain supplies I needed for my trip. My lyre, some food and water, and a few music sheets for my performance in Manehattan. Along with some pain medicine, I had sprained my ankle sometime ago and needed to stay off of it... so, that begs the question as to why I'm walking instead of taking a carriage to the city... simply put, I'm broke, I spent the last of my bits on some food for Bonnie's shop, so I couldn't afford the trip.
So I had to walk, yes my ankle was in a lot of pain, but I could bare it.
The path was clear of debris, and was mostly smooth save for the occasional rock or pebble, so my ankle wasn't in much pain. I had expected to enjoy a nice walk to the city with only minor discomfort from my ankle. I had managed to secure a rather nice paying gig up in the city, supposed to be paid a nice sum for three different performances for the nobility in the city, just enough to pay for a certain something I've been wanting to buy for Bonnie for three years.
Of course, it would have to wait until I get this gig done, then... finally I can do it.
My night actually got a little better with the arrival of somepony.
"Hey hey! If it ain't Heartstrings!"
My ears perked at the sound of the ever so familiar scratchy voice, when I turned around I came to the sight of none other than Vinyl Scratch, otherwise known as DJ-PON3 by most of Equestria. I smiled when she approached from one of the paths that connected to the main road. "Hey Vine," I waved with my good hoof, putting all of my weight on my bad ankle was a bad idea, but I managed to suppress a a wince and keep the smile on my face. "Where have you been the past month?"
A grin was my answer, "been hitting up the clubs down south, I gotta tell ya, those places are crazy good with the music." She chuckled as she joined me on my walk. "Got drunk, got laid also, so there's something." She laughed, I just shook my head.
"Cute guy?"
"Yeah," She waggled her eyebrows at me. "He was fun~"
I sighed, oh Vinyl. "I bet he was, he the same colt you've been dating?"
She nodded. "Yep, didn't expect him to follow me down south a ways, but, he did." Her grin seemed broader somehow, "glad he did, gave me a chance to blow off some steam after my second to last gig."
I returned her nod, and we walked for a bit in silence, Vinyl's head bobbing to some unheard beat in her head. Vinyl and I were longtime friends from the music academy, I met her during class, after I had woken up. We were both pretty lazy during class and, well, we ended up sleeping a lot during our studying. We became pretty good friends after that, and kept in contact.
After some time, I asked, "you headed to Manehattan too?"
"Mmhmm, got me a gig down there, playing at some concert hall for some nobles." She frowned, biting the inside of her cheek.
I hummed in thought, "Huh, so am I, I wonder if its the same one?"
"Is it the one on seventh street?" Vinyl questioned me, tilting her head at me.
I nodded. "Yeah, it is!"
"Right on! Maybe it won't be so boring after all, we can hang out afterwards, catch up some, get cake, tell stories, get drunk, eat cake, pull some pranks, cake."
I chuckled under my breath. "You said cake three times."
She gave me a pleading expression, lower lip quivering. "I desperately want some cake right now, I saw so many different kinds in this neat little shop, and ugh... I was out of bits." She frowned, kicking a pebble across the ground in anger.
"Maybe we can get some after our gig in Manehattan," I suggested, trotting over and bumping her flank with my own. "Get some chocolate cake, hang out in my room, recount the stories of our adventures throughout Collage," I smiled, "it'll be fun!"
The unicorn next to me nodded her head, grinning again. "Sounds like a plan Ly~" She laughed, and I joined along with her.
We both shared a hearty laugh at that, it was no doubt going to be fun. I was looking forward to this performance for some time, I really needed the bits for what I was going to buy Bonnie come our anniversary. I knew for a fact she was going to love it. The walk down the road was quiet, save for the chirping of some night lurking birds, and the hoots of owls nearby. It was peaceful, and I enjoyed it. Vinyl, despite being somepony obsessed with loud techno music, seemed to enjoy this as well, if her smile was anything to note.
Manehattan was a nice place, I knew because I had been there several time in the past to play in the concert halls or clubs, and despite the dreary atmosphere it was a nice place to visit.
"So how are you and Bonnie doing?"
I was about to answer, and even tell Vinyl about what I had planned... but unfortunately, it was at that moment that fate decided it had other plans for me.
I saw some ponies up ahead, but I paid them no mind. I turned to my friend with a smile, "Well, I'm go-"
I heard a gasp from ahead, followed by, "OMC, is that who I think it is?"
Oh no... no no no... anypony but them... I chanced a look ahead of us, and saw somepony I never wanted to meet in the dark...
It was none other then one of my rivals in the classical music industry...
Lady Diva.
Need I explain more?
"If it isn't Lyra Fartstrings!" She squealed in disgust, I saw her standing beside two stallions, with an entourage of mares behind her. "Hehehehe, and why are you out here? Hmm? Hmm? Hmm?" She demanded to know, sneering as her one of her eyebrows arched up, and her lips pursed.
Goddess she's so ugly. The gaudy unicorn was dressed in a tacky bright blue/red frilly dress that hugged her body, specifically her flanks o the point where it accentuated them far too much. Her face was covered in makeup, lipstick, mascara, eye shadow and eye liner... in short, she looked like a slut, and a nasty one at that. And yet she was all over magazines in Canterlot, Manehattan, Ponyville... it sickened me to no end. "Its none of your business what I'm doing out here," I told her, frowning as Vinyl lowered her shades, blood red eyes peering out and staring at the group.
"And you are...?" Vinyl started, raising an eyebrow.
The lavender colored mare in front of us scoffed, flipping her mane back. "I am the one, the only, Lady Diva!" She responded, eyes twinkling.
Vinyl's mouth was stuck in a fine line, her eyebrow only going higher. "... and...? Should I know you?"
Another exaggerated scoff. "Excuse me hillbilly, how can you not know of the great and wondrous Lady Diva?" She questioned, her face scrunched up in annoyance as she trotted over to us, getting up in our faces.
Oh geez, her ego is bigger then Trixie's. I had thought, she was worse then Trixie, and I've met her. "Not everypony has had the honor of knowing you." I replied, a frown set on my face. If there was one pony I couldn't stand in all of Equestria... it was Lady Diva, she was rude, obnoxious, and an outright slut! Being stuck with her in a room would be my worst nightmare. I thought...
And it was at that moment... that my nightmare came true.
All of us heard something... a distant boom sounded, and my ears twitched... I didn't know what it was at the time, but Vinyl did.
"Incoming!" Vinyl screamed as she yanked me to the side, pulling me to the ground and shielding me as a whistle sounded, followed by an explosion near us. It was too close and I heard screams, one of them being the loud Diva. My ears rung from the explosion, and I felt something in the air, my horn tingled and I felt Vinyl pulling me up. "Come on!" She yelled to me, pulling me along with her. The two of us ran down the path, and when I chanced a look behind us I saw Diva staring at what remained of her entourage, they had been blasted by an explosion and they laid on the ground, missing limbs and screaming for help.
"Shit shit shit!" I cursed as more thuds sounded from above, what was that?! Suddenly I felt something hit my nose, and looking up I saw thunderclouds already brewing up a storm. This is bad! So so bad! Further into the sky I could make out what looked like an airship, one flying Griffon colors. The Griffons? What the fuck?! I galloped after Vinyl, the two of us running down the path and away from the cannon fire. Why were the griffons here?! And why were they attacking?! We were on good terms with them!
Weren't we?
Another explosion happened behind me, nearly throwing me off of my hooves. The entire road behind us was being bombed! I then heard whistling sounds, and something hit the ground in front of us, arrows, flaming arrows I might add. Looking up, I could see the huge griffon airship firing arrows from above, dozens of them being fired from Griffon archers and landing on the road in front of us. I think they had small glass jars of something attached to them, because the entire path in front of us was engulfed in flames.
We were trapped.
"Into the field! Into the field!" My friend yelled to me, turning us towards the field next to us. It was a wide open space, damn it!
"We can't run into the field! We'll be cannon fodder!" I argued, if we ran out there we'd be giving them a clear shot!
"No choice!" Vinyl told me, pushing me forward and forcing me onto the field.
I whimpered in fright and slight pain as something in my ankle started to flare up. Vinyl galloped in front of me, her magic holding onto m and forcing me forward, I had no choice but to run with her despite the pain. The cannons kept firing, blowing up what little trees were sitting around and turning them into splinters. The grass everywhere quickly caught fire, and when I looked back I saw Diva was running into the field too, though she was running on the far left side away from us.
The airship loomed overhead, its massive sails and wooden frame intimidating to say the least. The flag of the Griffon Armed Forces flew high and proud in the storm, the crossed spears behind the raised black talon fist over the red background. Why wee they attacking us?! We didn't have anything worth much on us!
A loud thunder crack sounded, followed by several more, then the winds picked up and something hit me in the side. It was Vinyl. "Get down!" She yelled, pushing me to the ground and covering me as something exploded. I saw Vinyl throw up a shield around us, it was one side but it was strong enough to deflect the debris being throw at us, unfortunately it didn't go up fast enough and something had hit my sore ankle, I could see it was already beginning to swell and it was burning.
"We have to keep moving!" Vinyl told me.
"My ankle!" I winced as it started to throb, "I can't walk on this, let alone run!"
My friend cursed under her breath, looking out into the field as the airship started to turn towards us. I saw cannons on the front of it facing us, and no doubt they were being loaded... I thought that was going to be the end of us. I saw Bonnie in my mind, and she was smiling at me, I was going to die and she was going to be all alone.
Bonnie... I closed my eyes awaiting the inevitable...
*CRACK BOOM BOOM BOOM*
I waited and waited for the boom... the searing hot pain and then the cold embrace of death... only, it never came. I didn't hear anything, except Vinyl's breath.
"Holy shit..."
I opened my eyes, looking up at my friend, and eventually past her. My eyes opened wide and my jaw dropped as I saw what she was looking at, up in the skies, flying straight through the storm and lightning, was another airship... only this one was a lot bigger and looked very different. The massive airship flew right through the storm, and I couldn't believe what I was seeing. The airship, was not alone either, I saw other smaller airships following it close behind, these looked more like the ones that Equestria utilized.
I saw a few small objects falling from the larger airship, and... flying? Whatever those things were that had fallen were taking flight! I saw a few of them flying in formation, and started going after the griffon airship, loud cracks from the aircraft sounded as parts of the bigger airship had smoke rising from it. The griffons fired on the larger airship as arrows were fired at the smaller aircraft, the arrows hit but they didn't seem to do anything.
"What in the hay is going on?" I wondered, watching as the airships battled each other. Cannons fired, lightning cracked and danced across the massive airship, static sparks covering the ship. Who were they? It wasn't Equestria, that was for sure, their ships weren't so... rusty looking. Those other airships, despite being smaller, attacked the griffons head on, going all out with whatever weaponry they had on board.
Vinyl yanked me to my hooves, and I had to stay off of my bad one seeing how it was swelling up, damn it! "Let's go, now!" She turned and was going to move, if a cannonball hadn't landed nearby and thrown her back against one of the few trees left standing. She hit it hard, her shades flying off as she slumped to the ground.
"Vinyl!" I yelled, I limped over to my friend and checked her. She was still breathing, and her pulse was low, but thankfully she was still alive, just knocked out. I nudged her. "Come on wake up!" I shook her again and again, but she didn't budge, she was out cold. "Fuck!"
In the distance I heard another explosion, followed by the sounds of rotors. Turning my head I saw something odd approach. It was big, colored a rusted shade of orange over yellow, and charred black pieces, four weird looking wheels were on the bottom and there was metal plates all along side its windows, and on the door on the side. On the top I saw a large balloon tethered to the frame with ropes and chains, and rotors on the far sides attached to wings that looked welded onto the sides and top.
The door on the side slide open, and I saw something I never thought I would see ever in my lifetime... they were only legends and myths, something I only read about in books...
Humans... they were humans, dressed in weird jumpsuits and armor, and carried strange weapons. I was about to question what was going on, but something exploded beside me... and I fell unconscious.
-----====0000====-----
Present time.
I was eventually brought on board the airship and tended to, along with my friend Vinyl. We were taken care of, and from what I heard, the griffon airship was destroyed. Only two of their planes were lost during the fight, but they were retrieved along with the pilots who were in the medical airship... the one we were in right now. Days passed before we woke up, and we brought before one of the humans who was leading this fleet of airships.
He was a strange man, but he was nice enough... I guess, he informed us of what happened when we were out. The griffons had attacked the humans as soon as they appeared, and he had ordered they be shot down. It only took seconds with their weapons, some of them were more powerful then griffon artillery. The airship fleet had left Equestrian airspace sometime after we were in medical, and we were flying over the ocean right now, hovering a thousand or so feet above the sea.
When I asked if we could go home... the man, who introduced himself as Neo, told us we couldn't go home... not yet anyway. He said there was some kind of war going on between the ponies and griffons, and he wasn't going to get into the middle of it just to get us home. I couldn't believe that, war? In Equestria? What had happened while we were gone? Everything... everything was fine when I was walking through Ponyville and towards Manehattan.
I didn't believe, I didn't want to believe it and I wouldn't, not unless I had solid proof.
Over the next month, Vinyl and me, along with Diva - yes, they picked her up to - all lived in the skies on the medical airship. We didn't do much, just sitting around until we either got attacked, or called to help with something. Being a unicorn was a blessing and a curse in this fleet, the blessing being that we had various spells that these people could benefit from, the curse, well, there were some people on board this ship belonging to a group that was obsessed with gathering and protecting rare and very advanced technology, and I guess me and the others fell into the category.
They were nice enough about it, a few of them anyway, the Scribes I think they were, and a few of the Knights. The Paladins and initiates were kinda... hostile, but manageable at least. We were studied like insects were, they took blood samples, fur and hair, even our spit! I'm just glad they were not trying to take... other samples from us. I don't think I could deal with that embarrassment. We were taught about a little about the fleet, and where they hailed from and what happened to them. It was... dark, their history I mean.
Coming from a world that was... burned by their own weapons, all because of a war over a resource that was becoming scarce and hard to find. It was two hundred years since their world was burned, and billions of people were killed. They were the remnants of a massive group of people that hid somehow. We didn't get any farther then that before we were attacked by griffons airships.
It was a tough battle, and I thought we were going to get our asses hoofed to us, but these humans were a lot stronger then they looked. The airships they all flew in were two hundred years old, covered in armor they scavenged and made from scrap and maintained through sheer will and manpower, the others were built out of nothing but junk and old vehicles and even boats and ships that ween't meant to fly, and the main airship... the big one, that was a marvel, built over a period of ten years, using parts from planes and blimp parts. It was something... inspiring really...
This entire fleet had airships in it that weren't meant to ever leave the ground, and yet here we were, hovering over the ocean by about a thousand feet or so. These humans were very inventive, I've seen it first hoof right here on this ship. The medical airship was one such ship that shouldn't fly, but it was. The Airship, called Paradise, was built from the frames of two jet airliners and welded together, bolted together and welded again for good measure, and held aloft by several large balloons with chains and ropes keeping them attached.
It was a miracle this thing was flying to begin with, but I didn't question it... much, that is.
This thing had three stories, the top being the deck which was opened on top to all fighters to shoot their guns and gun emplacements at enemies, the second deck which acted as both a hospital and sleeping quarters for the crew, and finally the bottom deck which was storage and a bomber. A hatch on the bottom opened up and people would drop bombs down from it, big ones from what I saw down there.
Right now the Paradise was flying next to the Victory, the capital ship of the fleet and the biggest, it was a monster. I didn't know for sure what all went into making it however, but I knew it was something to be feared. I was on the second deck, sitting in one of the window seats as the humans moved around, carrying weapons or supplies to help the injured. I stayed out of the way unless I was needed. Medical personal did their best to keep the injured alive, but sometimes you couldn't save everypony.
I heard somepony coming up and when I looked, I saw Vinyl approaching me. The mare looked better, her shades were forgotten during the fight, left behind and no doubt shattered. Her red eyes looked tired, her fur was dirty and caked with blood, and her mane and tail had grown out longer then she preferred. I knew because she didn't like having her mane out that long.
"Vine." I nodded to her, moving over so she could sit down next to me.
"Hey." She muttered, shaking her head. "How are you holding up?" She asked me, her voice was more scratchy then usual, I chalked it up to being tired and aggravated at our current situation.
"Tired... and I want to go home." I sighed, rubbing my aching fetlock. The damned thing had swollen still, I needed to get it fixed, but every time I try to rest it I'm thrown back into a situation where it gets fucked up.
"Same Lyra... same." My friend nodded as we both looked out into the skies.
They were so blue...
