Kickass: A Quest for Treats

The pair of pegasi made their way out of the room, their sights set on finding the mercenaries and finding the case. Exiting the room, they turned down the hall heading right to where the mercenaries were allowed to stay, as Dustchu informed the mare beside him, mercenaries were not exactly a common sight in Ponyville.

Obvious reason being Ponyville had no use for them, or certain parts of Equestria for that matter.

Eventually, after passing by several doors they came across an archway that led to what appeared to be a large hangar for airships. Over on the far right side there was a massive opening that led into the skies of Ponyville where one could see several pegasi flying about. In the hanger itself were some small airships, made of wood and were sitting off to the side waiting to be used.

However, one airship stood out among them all.

The airship Dustchu was leading Firefly to was large, larger than the ones that belonged to Twilight Sparkle, and was made of different material such as metal and had a large balloon held together by ropes and chains, and two large propellers each on two wings that jutted out from the sides for propulsion. The length of the craft was easily seventy feet, and thirty feet wide, it was a sleek craft built for speed and agility.

It looked fucking awesome.

“Is that where the others would be?” Firefly asked Dustchu, looking at the aircraft with wide and curious eyes as the craft hovered in place, held down by ropes to keep it from floating off.

Dustchu nodded his head as he gazed at the craft, “Mmhmm, that’s The Howling Pearl.” He smiled, chuckling slightly as if he remembered an old joke.

On top of the ship, one could see Filly C chasing around BP. “DIE YOU HARLOT!” The tiny filly bellowed, once again.

Firefly giggled upon seeing the tiny filly chasing around the older mare. “I have a feeling that Filly C has a small anger issue.”

A laugh from the stallion next to her. “Yeah! Me and her are alike, we both got major anger issues… are you no doubt witnessed back there.” He coughed awkwardly after finishing his laugh, his stomach hurt but in a good way. “Anywho, we should see if they’ve got a bead on the case.”

“Okay,” The pegasus spread her wings and began to fly over to Filly C and BP, wondering what had made the filly angry this time.

“Oi!” An older mare’s voice suddenly cried from the helm of the ship, “No killin’ anybody on my ship ye little twat!” She yelled. “Sick of th’ blood stains getting on my deck!”

The orange pegasus landed on the ship as the duo ran by, sweeping her red, slightly curled, mane past as the older mare glared at the two.

“Hi Firefly! Bye Firefly!” BP hollered as she ran by, Filly C in hot pursuit. For a pony with short legs, the filly was keeping up quite well.

“I’m going to skin you alive! and eat your insides!” Filly screamed as the mare at the helm sighed, rolling her one eye.

Firefly grabbed the filly as she tried to run by, “Calm down Filly C, what did Blast do?”

Filly C growled and struggled against the mare’s hold as Dustchu flew onto the ship’s deck, landing near the two. “She threw a firecracker on my mane and ALMOST SET ME ON FIRE!“ She screeched as BP hid behind the older mare who had the look of someone who wished they didn't have to deal with this crap.

“Oh come on now Filly~” Firefly tightened her grip slightly, making sure the filly didn’t escape, “I’m sure she didn’t mean to~ Right Blast!?” She said the last words loud enough, to make it clear that she wanted an answer from Blast.

The darker grey mare made a humming noise, then cackled before winking away, her last words being. “lol nope!”

“LET ME KILL HER! I’LL MAKE IT QUICK!”

Firefly had to put all her weight on the tiny filly, as the pegasus tried to hold her down. “What the-?” The orange mare asked, as she started to float off the ground.

Filly C huffed as her horn started to glow a brilliant golden color, and lifted not only herself, but the pegasus on top of her. “REVENGE IS MINE!” She cried.

“Filly C! Calm down! She’s not worth it!” Firefly tried to calm the small unicorn, as her legs flailed in terror, not used to being moved by magic.

In a puff of jet black smoke, the mare that was at the helm of the ship appeared next to Filly and the pegasus, the heavily garbed mare stared at Filly and frowned. “Put down th’ lass, fer ya go and splatter th’ both of ya on one o’ th’ masts, I ain’t cleanin’ it up!” She ordered.

With a growl, Filly’s magic dissipated, dropping both herself and Firefly to the deck. “FINE! GAH!” The young filly stormed off, fuming all the while.

Firefly landed heavily, and breathed deeply as she calmed down, “I definitely did not like that…”

The mare chuckled heartily, “Aye I could tell,” She said, grinning as her one blood red eye locked on Firefly’s. “Fer a wee six year old child, she’s volatile with her magic.”

Letting out one more breath, Firefly was finally able to answer, “I could tell. I’m Firefly~” She held out a hoof to the older mare.

With a chuckle, the mare took her hoof, Firefly’s becoming somewhat cold after taking the mare’s. “Aye, nice ta meet ye, name’s Captain Black Pearl.” She introduced, the mare was dressed in heavy pirate like clothing. A large thick looking black coat covered her body, under the coat was a crimson red shirt and a necklace wrapped around her neck, where a few scars were visible amidst the black coat of her fur. An eyepatch obscured her right eye, where a long diagonal scar was seen under her tri-pointed hat which also matched her coat, and a black horn poked through under the large unicorn’s hat.

Firefly didn’t mind the cold feeling she got from the mare’s hoof. “Are you the one who named this awesome ship~?”

A hearty chuckle as Pearl retracted her hoof, “Nay child,” She told her, a few more titters leaving her as Dustchu smiled at the two, eyebrow raised. “This ship named herself, for th' wicked song she sings in th' cold of night amidst th' darkened skies~” She grinned.

Firefly tilted her head a little, not understanding one bit what she had just said, so instead of admitting that fact, she smiled and said, “Cool~”

Another chuckle, “Ye did not understand a word I spoke did ye?” Without waiting for an answer, she said, “You’ll understand in due time,” Turning around, the mare stalked towards her cabin, saying, “Welcome aboard lass, mind your step~”

“Oh, thank you~” Firefly responded, while prancing around some of the bumps on the ship. She looked around for Dustchu, unsure of where to go now.

Dustchu came up beside her, nudging her with his wing. “Best head down below deck with the others,” He told her, gesturing to the open hatch in the middle of the ship.

“Oh! Thank you again~” The orange pegasus then fluttered over to the hatch, and after peering down into it, trotted down.

Dustchu followed her soon after she descended, casting one last look at the vanishing form of the captain before heading into the depths of the ship. The two ventured down the steps, coming into an open room that had two halls to the back leading to different rooms, and another pair of steps leading further down. Ahead of them on either side were two open doors, where light conversation could be heard.

Firefly looked around, her wings shuffling awkwardly, unsure if she liked being in such an enclosed area. Looking back at Dustchu, she asked, “Where to?”

Dustchu pointed ahead of them with a wing, “follow me.” He started forward, his hoof steps sounding somewhat loud on the wooden floor of the ship’s innards.

“Okay,” Firefly responded, her ears pressing against her head slightly to the noise of their hooves. The orange pegasus followed, but had a sense of dread overcame her as it seemed the walls were closing in around her.

Heading into the room, Dustchu and Firefly entered the room where they came across the rest of the mercenaries. Freeze, BP, Fuse, Filly C, Tipo were gathered around a large table in the room, and there were three other ponies in the room Firefly did not recognize. Upon coming into a larger room, Firefly let out a small sigh of relief, then looked at the three ponies she didn’t know, and smiled.

“Where’s Heartlock?” Dustchu asked, looking but not seeing any sign of the mare inside.

BP pointed to the large map they had sprawled out on the table, and at first glance it didn’t seem that important… until Firefly glanced down at the map, only to find it’s a layout of the castle they were in, “Huh? Why do you have a map of the castle we’re in?”

BP grinned, then a buzzing noise sounded, followed by a voice. “Heartlock here, I found out where their keepin’ th’ case!” Her voice declared.

Firefly looked around the room, unsure of where Heartlock’s voice was coming from, she looked almost freaked out by the voice.

Freeze Frame tapped a moderately sized box device sitting on the table, gesturing to it for Firefly’s convenience before he grabbed a small corded object and pressed the button with his magic. “Do you believe you can get to it?”

A crackle. “They don’t call me Heartlock fer nothin’!”

“Radio.” Dustchu whispered to Firefly, “let’s us talk to people who are really far away.” He explained as Navi hovered above the table.

“Oh, thanks~” Firefly whispered back, looking relieved.

Freeze Frame looked up from the map, smiling at Firefly. “Welcome aboard Miss Firefly,” He greeted. “To answer your question, we are attempting to steal the case from where the princess is keeping it.”

“Oh, okay, that makes sense,” The mare answered with a small smile, but to those who knew her long enough, it was obvious she was tense.

“While we wait for our thief to obtain our objective, how about I introduce you to the three other members of our group?” Freeze asked in a fatherly tone as Filly C punched BP in the foreleg.

Firefly nodded, glancing at Filly C and BP. “Sure~”

Nodding his head, Freeze pointed to the lone pony standing in the shadows. At first glance, it appeared to be a dark colored pegasus. “That is Blade, Captain Pearl’s first mate, and the only one she trusts to head the ship in her stead.”

Said pony nodded, stepping into the light and revealing, that, it was in fact, not just a pegasus, but a lunar pegasus. Or, in other terms, the pony was a bat pony. The bat pony was cloaked in a mask, and had piercing golden slitted eyes that peered out at Firefly. At the mare’s side, there were three long looking blade sheaths tucking under her leathery wing, almost the length of her body.

Firefly smiled at the bat pony, nodding in greeting to his own nod, “Nice to meet you, Blade~”

“...” Blade said nothing, only nodding before stepping back.

Freeze then nodded his head over to another pegasus sitting by Fuse’s side. This one was a sky blue coloration, and surprisingly enough, had a tri colored red, blue and yellow mane. “That fellow is Prism, he’s one of our fast attack fliers.”

Firefly said again, this time to Prism, “Nice to meet you, Prism~”

Prism smiled, smiling broadly. “Howdy ma’am! Nice ta meet ya!”

The mare smiled even brighter, as she nodded back to Prism. Her head turned to the last pony, curious as to who she was.

“And finally,” Freeze started as the final pony stepped forward, this pony being a very very tall Unicorn. At first glance, she could have been an alicorn with her height, and horn length, but she lacked the wings. The tall purple coated, brown maned, mare eyed the pegasus. “This is Bobbi.”

Firefly nodded, then tried to think of a new greeting, “Uh, um… Hello Bobbi~” She tried to change it up.

“A pleasure.” Bobbi smiled before stepping back.

“The pleasure’s all mine~” She responded, happily.

The radio crackled once more, followed by, “Son of a bitch!” Heartlock cursed into the radio.

“Heartlock?” Freeze asked into the radio, worry in his tone.

Firefly piped in, “You okay?” Worry also in her own tone, as she shifted how she was sitting.

“Guys, we got a problem.” Heartlock spoke, obviously ticked off.

“What is it?” The orange pegasus asked.

Everyone leaned in as Heartlock said the one thing no one wanted to hear.

“The case is gone.”

Dustchu cursed under his breath, muttering something about Twilight and a steel chair. BP frowned, saying, “Great!” Before shaking her head. "Fantastic."

Freeze Frame sighed, saying, “Looks like we’ll have to go to the lab then.” He told them all. “Heartlock, come back before you get caught.”

“Yeah yeah, just lemme grab a few things~”

“Heartlock...” Freeze started, his tone flat.

A sigh, followed by, “fine, Heartlock out.”

Firefly sighed, and crouched down slightly, her ears drooping as she realized that she may have to see her parents again for the first time in over 7 years.

Everyone began to disperse, beginning their preparations for departure. While they trusted Heartlock to not muddy up her escape or leave any trail, they wanted to be able to leave as soon as possible.

“Blade, see to it the captain is informed of what has transpired.” Freeze asked nicely, the lunar pegasus nodded and walked away, heading towards the captain’s cabin.

Noticing her discomfort, Fuse fluttered over and landed next to her. “Problems?”

“Uh, n-no…” Firefly made a terribly obvious lie.

Fuse rose an eyebrow, looking at the others she nudged the fiery pegasus until she stood up. “Come on.” She said, urging her to follow.

Firefly nodded and stood up, following Fuse out of the room, looking back once to the larger room, before heading into the smaller corridor.

Fuse turned around to face Firefly, her look morphing into one of slight concern and curiosity for the younger pegasus' actions. “I can tell something is bothering ya, what’s wrong kid?”

The pegasus sighed, “O-okay… just please, don’t take it upon yourself and worry too much, okay?”

Fuse nodded, saying, “Okay, now what’s bothering you? Is it the lab or something?”

“Well, that’s a part of it, and the feeling that these walls are starting to crush me, and the fact that I haven’t seen my parents in over 7 years…” Firefly looked away, her wings shifting uncomfortably.

“I know that feeling,” Fuse nodded, “claustrophobia, feeling like the walls are closing around you… suffocating you… But they’re not, it’s… just a psychological thing.” She explained quickly. “And your parents, for 7 years?”

“Still doesn’t make the walls stop closing in…” Firefly murmured to herself. “Yeah, it’s been 7 years…”

“Ouch,” Fuse winced. “You a runner?”

The pegasus nodded, “Yeah, I ran at age 10, I just couldn’t handle the experiments anymore.”

Something snapped in Fuse’s eyes, the mare flared her wings out suddenly before forcing them close, she shook slightly before uttering, “Experiments?”

Firefly jumped back, “Y-yeah, the parasprites weren’t the only guinea pigs, per say.”

Fuse realized she must have scared her a little, and sighed. “Sorry, I… let’s just say you and I… as well as my sister have something in common.”

“Oh… I’m sorry to hear that,” Firefly looked down at the ground, gently kicking the floor, unsure of what else to say.

“There’s a reason my sister is covered in scars and has a prosthetic leg.” Fuse muttered darkly as said unicorn passed by them, happily trotting without a care in the world as her metallic leg seemed to sound louder than a normal hoof fall. “Bastards...”

“I got more of the medicinal and psychological experiments. And it seems she’s taken the same approach as that I’m trying to do,” Firefly looked enviously after the unicorn.

Sighing heavily, Fuse watched as Powder entered one of the rooms, closing the door behind her. “It was physical for the two of us, a training program for special soldiers. Tried to turn us both into unstoppable killing machines,” Fuse looked down at her hoof. “They failed, of course… we managed to escape, been on the run since we were little fillies… younger than you even.”

“Well, I’m glad they failed, you guys are really nice~” Firefly smiled at Fuse, trying to cheer up the other pegasus.

“Hehehe, don’t get me wrong… we both have some screws loose, just ask Dustchu.” Fuse chuckled, “We’ve almost killed him a few times, but...” A sigh. “He’s always forgiven us… he cares too much.”

“Aww, that’s so sweet. But everyone has a couple screws loose, oh man if you could see me alone, I can never keep anything clean. My… uh… bad days, I don’t have a room to return to, since it’s destroyed.” Firefly rubbed the back of her head, as she smiled awkwardly, realizing she’s never even dared to tell anypony this before.

A smile broke out on Fuse’s face, “Well… you’d be welcome with us, we’re all just a bunch of misfits to be honest.” She told her. “We all have some kind of problem or thing that makes us stand out too much in a crowd, Dustchu brought us all together.” She added, grinning as she sat down on her haunches.

“Yeah, the only problem is this ship… It’s a really nice ship! Just…” Firefly glanced at the walls, and shifting her weight from hoof to hoof to hoof to hoof.

“Close quarters don’t do it for ya?”

Firefly shook her head quickly, then closed her eyes and took deep breaths.

Taking pity on the mare, Fuse took Firefly’s hoof and led her out of the hall and eventually to the stairs. Once they arrived at the stairs, Fuse carefully led the younger pegasus up the stairs until they were topside on the deck. “Well, let’s stay up here then, you look like you’re about to pass out.” She chuckled.

Letting out a sigh of relief, the younger mare took deep breaths of the fresh air, and even flared her wings. “Thank you, Fuse~” She looked a lot better now, being out of the somewhat tight confines of the ship alleviated her claustrophobia to a degree.

Fuse cast a glance over to Firefly.l “Hey listen,” The mare started, pushing yellow/black bangs out of her eyes. “Don’t worry too much about the lab, just stick with us and you’ll be fine, eh?”

Firefly let out a small sigh, “Okay, well good thing is, last I heard they kept my room window unlocked all these years, just in case I decided to come back.” She shrugged, looking away and gazing at the ship's deck. It was smooth, polished black wood that almost had a shine to it. She idly wondered who kept it this clean.

“Huh… weird, but whateves, I can work with that.” Fuse told her before heading towards the hatch, “I gotta go gear up, I’ll be back in a sec.” She told her, disappearing below the depths.

After the pegasus disappeared, Firefly was looking around when a flash of beige fur darted up to the mare. After the blur solidified, a beige furred, dark brown maned colt sat in front of her. “Hello Fly! I’m Peaky!” The earth pony colt said in a childish tone of voice that was just oh so adorable.

Blinking, the mare regained some of her composure to greet him. “Oh, hello there,” Firefly looked at him curiously.

“Are we gonna be takin’ off soon? Cause I need ta know, just to make sure that I don’t get caught sneakin’ around!” Peaky told the very confused pegasus. “Oh! Someone’s comin’, gotta go!” And so he went, going just as fast as he came, leaving Firefly even more confused somehow.

Advancing up the steps, Fuse reappeared up top, this time donning an odd pair of saddles. Upon seeing Firefly’s confused face, Fuse asked, “something wrong? Ya look like you saw something weird.”

Taking a moment, Firefly turned to Fuse. “Uh… how do you guys feel about stowaways?” Firefly answered her question with a question from herself.

“Stowaways?” Fuse hummed as she walked over. “Heheh, truth be told, Pearl gets a bit wonky bout em. Actually, a little story, me, Powder and Dustchu were Stowaways on this ship once, that’s how we got Cap on our side. Course, she was pretty cool about it after we bribed her with several kegs of rum… hehe.”

“Oh, alright, and yeah, I’m fine~” Firefly returned to normal, acting as though nothing happened.

As soon as Fuse sat down next to Firefly, Heartlock appeared near the entrance of the hanger bay, and she was galloping like a bat outta hell. She ran straight for the ship, and in a surprising feat for someone of her species, leapt up twenty feet into the air before grabbing onto the edge of the ship. “Fuck fuck fuck pull me up an’ get this bitch movin’!” She cried, scrambling to climb up top.

Firefly was already flying over, her need to help her friend driving her to help. She wrapped her arms around Heartlock’s waist and lifted her up before she placed the pony on the deck, “There ya are~”

Fuse was about to ask why Heartlock was running, when she spotted several guards at the entrance. “Son of a fat mother-” Fuse turned to the unicorn at the helm and bellowed, “Cap we gotta go!”

Pearl looked down off the side, and murmured, “Eh? Oh shite!” With a blast of her magic, the ropes holding the ship down snapped in half as the guards started for the ship. “Batten down th’ hatches an’ get yer arses away from th’ edges ya twits!” She yelled as a few pegasi guards tried to fly on board. Firefly looked down at the hatch with some fear, then looked back at the guards, unsure of what to do in such a situation.

“Halt!“ One of the pegasi guards yelled, brandishing his spear towards FIrefly, Heartlock and Fuse as he landed nearby.

Fuse however leapt in front of Firefly, and deftly reached into her saddlebag before throwing down a small ball in front of him. Before anyone could even begin to wonder what it was, the object exploded in a flash of bright light, Fuse blocked the light with her wings so Firefly and Heart wouldn’t be blinded and closed her own eyes.

Cap wasn’t so lucky, however. “OI YE TWAT! YA TRYIN’! TA BLIND ME?” She yelled as she rubbed her eye. “I only got th’ one eye, an' I kinda need it!”

Turning, Heartlock glared. “Just get this thing movin’!” Heartlock screamed as she shot up and darted away.

Fuse turned to look at Firefly. “Firefly! You don’t have to go down but you shouldn’t be out in the open!” Fuse told her as one guard threw a spear, which grazed Fuse’s cheek and would have impaled Firefly, if it had been thrown a bit higher. “AHHH!” Fuse cried as she held her cheek, which now had blood covering it.

Firefly pranced backwards, then flew upward, closing Emerald’s saddlebag and making sure the cat wouldn’t go flying if things got rougher. She looked at the guard who threw the spear at her friend, and was able to dart behind him, and slam her body into the guard. The guard however, did not move and turned towards the smaller pegasus, who looked at him terrified. She then quickly darted away before he had a chance to grab the orange pegasus.

Slowly but surely the ship began to move, lurching forward as the propellers started to spin rapidly and propel them forward. The captain held the wheel tightly and steered them towards the exit, her one red eye glaring with a slight glow. “Come on girl.” She urged the ship quietly as Blade, Dustchu, Filly C and Prism made their way up top.

“Fuse! Firefly!” Dustchu called out, looking for the ponies, Fuse winced at her new wound, turning to face one of the other guards as she waved Dustchu off.

Firefly was up high, above the ship. “A little help!” The pegasus, Firefly, then cried out, and upon looking up, Dustchu could see that she was being chased by the guard she had tried to ram into.

“Shit.” Dustchu flared his wings out and took flight as Prism, Filly and Blade took to fighting off the guards who landed on the ship. Dustchu flew towards Firefly and the guard, and once he was close enough, he spun in mid air and slammed his leg into the guard’s neck before grabbing both of his fetlocks and spinning him around, ending the attack by throwing him towards a small group of other pegasi.

Firefly looked back at Dustchu, looking embarrassed, “I-I tried… but he didn’t move…”

“No worries,” Dustchu chuckled with a grin as he took her hoof and led her back to the ship. “Just stay next to Pearl, she’ll keep ya safe, stay out of the fight.” He told her, a bit worried for the younger pegasus.

“A-alright,” The mare nodded, and flew back down to the ship. She managed to land with no incident luckily, and was soon standing next to Pearl.

The older mare in question looked over at Firefly. “So ye can’t fight eh?” She asked, steering the ship to the left and finally exiting the castle hanger, soon enough the ship began to ascend into the skies.

“N-no, but I’ve never needed to before,” Firefly explained, still looking embarrassed at her attempt at fighting.

“Hahahaha! I was like that once my lass,” Pearl commented happily, her accent somewhat soothing when she wasn’t screaming your ears off. “But that was a long time ago,” Looking out ahead, she spotted a small airship blocking their way bearing the mark of Twilight. “GET OUT OF TH’ WAY YE BASTARDS!” She yelled, and then slammed the bow of the ship into the side of the other.

Everyone on board lurched forward, except for Pearl. Filly C head butted the guard she was fighting, on accident, and screamed. “YOU’RE ON MY SHITLIST PEARL!”

“Again?” Pearl questioned with a tilt of her head, ”I thought I was already on it lassie~”

“GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

Firefly giggled at that, covering her mouth with a hoof. She looked back at the closed saddlebag as a muffled meow came from it. “Hang on Emerald, just stay in a bit longer,” The pegasus reassured her pet.

“Oi, who’re ye talkin’ to?” Pearl questioned, narrowing her crimson eye at the pegasus beside her as she blindly drove the ship into yet another ship, crashing into it and sending Filly into another intense rage fit.

“Oh, just my pet cat~” Firefly answered after laughing a little bit.

“Ye have a cat in yer bag?” The captain seemed confused, but shrugged it off. “Aye, strange that be, but I won’t say nothin’.”

“Well, she’s the main reason why I came to Ponyville to begin with~” Firefly explained with a small smile.

"Ahh, interestin'." Pearl nodded as she side scrapped a small patrol airship.

Filly C had taken to using her magic, and was lifting herself up and slamming herself into the other guards on board, screams of rage leaving her tiny lungs and sounding like an enraged child who lost her favorite toy. “I’M GOING TO EAT YOU ALL!” She bellowed.

Prism and Blade were fighting side by side, one using three different blades at once in a deadly dance of steel, using the flats of her blade to deflect attacks and counter others. And the other doing some form of pegasi boxing, throwing swift punches, bobbing and weaving, he fought like a champ. Dustchu was flying fast, darting in and around the ship and delivering swift strikes to some of the pegasi guards, albeit they were not fatal hits, but they were still enough to send them packing.

Firefly watched the battle, sighing a little as she wished she could convince the guards to stop fighting.

Soon, the fight had dulled down until both sides retreated. Most of the guards were on one side of the ship, and the mercenaries on the other. And they were about go at it again, intent on ending the fight... that is, if a rainbow hadn’t shot out of nowhere and landed on the ship, in the form of a cyan colored pony with a striking rainbow mane that belonged to one pony, and on pony only...

“Oh buck.” Pearl cursed under her breath. “An Element.”

“An element?” Firefly asked, as she looked down at the rainbowed maned mare, unsure as to what Pearl meant.

“Element of Harmony, agents o' th' crown o' Equestria.” Pearl hissed as she saw the Rainbow mare standing tall on the ship, magenta eyes locked forward in a glare befitting one who was used to dealing with many a threat. Many of the guards had backed away, giving the mare space to work.

“Oh! I know of them~” Firefly said, and suddenly flew down towards the cyan mare, a smile on her face. Pearl tried to stop her, but was abit too late.

"Balls." Pearl hissed under her breath.

The rainbow mare turned to glare at the Fiery pegasus, giving her a quick look over before turning her attention back to the group in front of her… specifically Dustchu.

“Hello~” Firefly said, trotting in front of the rainbow pony.

“Who are you?” The rainbow mare questioned, her tone a bit icy as her eyes switched from Dustchu to Firefly.

“I’m Firefly, and you’re Rainbow Dash, right?” The smaller pegasus wanted to make sure.

Rainbow Dash nodded stiffly, turning her gaze back to Dustchu. “I am...”

“If you don’t mind me asking, why are you here?” The fiery pegasus tilting her head to the right slightly, curious.

Rainbow did not answer at first, instead staring. But after some time she said, “I’m here because of the group you’re with.” She said, growling slightly.

“Firefly,” Dustchu started, his tone different then before, it sound dark. “Get back, okay?” He told her, worry and concern in his eyes as he locked eyes with Rainbow Dash. “This is between me and Rainbow...”

“Well, I had heard that you’re pretty fast,” Firefly smiled, not answering the stallion behind her. “I was hoping for maybe a quick race~”

A snort from the mare as she flared out her wings, “Sorry, but I have things to deal with first!” Without waiting for an answer, Rainbow Dash moved with such speed she blew past Firefly and after Dustchu, who had already taken off, leaving behind an static laden trail of smoke in his wake. Panic flared in Firefly, as she took off after the two.

“Surrender yourselves!” The head guard yelled, brandishing a spear.

Not surprisingly enough it was Filly C who charged at them. “EAT MY ASS!” She bellowed as she blasted a somewhat weak but still potent wind spell at them, the rest of the group charged with her, fighting off the guards.

Meanwhile, up in the skies, two trails were intersecting back and forth next to one another, one of rainbows and the other a sort of wispy static trail. In the background was Firefly, as she watched the two fly at speeds she could barely comprehend. They moved like a blur, and it’d require a trained eye to make out the forms of two pegasi fighting it out above.

Realizing there was nothing she could do, Firefly began to fly back down to the ship, glancing up at them every now and again, a feeling of helplessness overcoming her.

The fight raged on, with most of the guards being the victim of Filly’s rage, Blade’s swords, or BP and Fuse’s combined explosive attacks. Eventually, after a time they all flew away, leaving only Dustchu and Rainbow the only ones left fighting in the sky. But now that fight, was too coming to an end.

Looking up into the skies, they could see the rainbow blur had tackled the white blur, and they were both flying towards the ship. Sensing a crash, the captain yelled. “OI, HIT THE DECK YA WANKERS!”

Firefly looked up, and saw that they were headed directly towards her, an inner battle raged in her, but she decided to do something selfish for the second time in her life, and got out of the way, barely making it in time.

The two pegasi crashed onto the deck of the ship with enough force to crush bones, making it rock violently as the intense gale force winds of their speed sent the ship sailing forward much faster than it did in cruise mode. The ropes holding the balloons creaked, and a few of them snapped loose as dust flew into the air, and smoke covered the scene of the crash.

Fuse shot up from where she was knocked over, looking over at the standing form of a pony standing over another. Eventually the smoke dissipated, and it revealed it was Rainbow Dash was the victor. Dustchu was lying on the deck, being held down by the rainbow mare, the former having several cuts and a bleeding nose.

“You’re not him.” Rainbow hissed, pushing down on his throat. “You’ll never be him!” She growled, murderious intent in her eyes.

Seeing this, Firefly darted down, using the force of gravity to propel herself forward and add onto her attack as she slammed into Rainbow Dash, protecting her friend from Rainbow's intent.

Falling back, Rainbow crashed down onto her side before quickly recovering with a quick flap of her wings. She glared at Firefly, wings flared out in anger before she snorted in defiance. She gave one last look at Dustchu, who was looking over at her in hurt. “Don’t ever come back to my town... you'll regret it...” She threatened, taking flight and flying away, leaving behind a battered crew.

Firefly had been standing between Rainbow and Dustchu, with her wings flared out, and her breathing deep and ragged. After Rainbow had left, the smaller pegasus looked back at Dustchu, and held out a hoof for him. Shakily, Dustchu took her hoof and was helped up, the stallion groaning in pain before spitting up blood on the deck. Fuse and BP worriedly made their way over, along with a somewhat battered Filly C.

“Are you okay?” Firefly was the first to ask, as she looked at him worriedly.

A wince as he held his chest, he looked like he had been thrown down a hill and into a tree. “I’ve been through worse,” He admitted as Fuse gazed at him with a scared and furious expression.

But, before she could say anything, Pearl had made her way over to the pony. “Aye lad, that ye have.” She told him, frowning at the pegasus. “Go get yerself cleaned up in my cabin, lad, yer a mess.”

Firefly looked at him, “D-do you want some help?”

Dustchu groaned again as he stood, body shaking. “I-I think I can manage… but thank you, Fly.” He told her before limping off, head hung low as he made his way over to the cabin.

Firefly watched him leave with concern deep in her eyes, wishing she could have done something more to help.