Codex Ponera - Cliffside Eyrie

Chapters

Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty One
Epilogue
Prologue
Chapter Ten
Chapter Nineteen

Chapter One

The yellow filly blew her bangs out of her eyes. The rest of her red mane was tied back with a fuchsia ribbon tied in an enormous bow. She tilted her head and considered the apple tree before her, taking a few steps around the trunk before stopping. With one last look at the tree, she nodded to herself before turning her back and drawing back to deliver the strongest buck she could.

THWACK!

The filly turned around just in time to watch a number of apples fall from the tree and into the three waiting baskets. With a satisfied nod she turned to watch the orange mare, bearing a three-apple cutie mark and a wearing a brown stetson, standing before another tree. The filly watched the mare narrow her green eyes and mutter something under her breath at a wood fury in the form of a collie dog, flickering in and out of visibility in the upper branches. One by one, the branches of the tree twisted and bent their way into the airspace above a series of baskets. Once in position, each branch shivered, dropping its apples into the baskets, before making way for the next branch.

“I think that’s the last one, Applejack,” said the filly.

“Nice work Apple Bloom,” replied Applejack. “Now let’s give Big Mac a hoof and load these baskets.”

A slight tremor in the ground heralded the arrival of a large muscle-bound red stallion, hauling a massive wagon already heavily loaded with apple baskets. When he pulled up to a stop the tremors ceased, and the stallion detached the wagon from his horse collar to help the other two load the baskets onto the wagon.

“Why are we bringin’ in the harvest this early, anyways?” asked Apple Bloom while they worked. “I reckon most of these apples need another month before they’re properly ripe for eatin’.”

“Countess Coloratura put in an order,” replied Applejack. “She said she don’t care if they weren’t quite as good as usual, but she needed ‘em Ay Ess Ay Pea. Somethin’ about the usual food shipments from Jewelport bein’ late.”

“I guess starvin’ ponies don’t mind nearly-ripe apples if they don’t got anythin’ else to- wait a minute,” Apple Bloom interrupted herself. “Countess Coloratura? Ain’t she was a duchess?”

“Eeyup,” agreed Big Mac.

Applejack blinked in confusion. “Huh. You’re right, she is. Dunno what I was thinkin’. Sounded right though.”

“Tell that to her next time ya see her,” teased Apple Bloom.

Big Mac’s eyes widened at that suggestion. “Nnnope.”

The wagon now fully loaded with the apple baskets, the trio made their way toward the barnhouse occasionally visible through the trees of the apple orchard, chatting and teasing as they went.

The orange-coated pegasus filly brushed her purple mane out of her eyes and concentrated on the coloured glass orb. It was an ornate thing, blown into the shape of a red apple, complete with brown stem and two green leaves. As the filly twitched a wing, bright light came forth from somewhere inside the apple, illuminating the workshop. With a smile and a nod, the filly twitched her other wing and the light went out.

With a minor effort of will, the filly said, “Light on.” Again, the glass apple filled with light. “Light off.” And again, darkness.

The filly added the lantern to a pile of them by her side, and reached out for the next one. Hoof moving back and forth in confusion, the filly looked to the pile of glass apples awaiting their fire furies, and found none left. Looking back to the pile of completed lamps, she swiftly counted them.

“... nineteen, twenty. All done. Finally.”

She stood up on all fours, stretching all six limbs after sitting still for so long, and started packing all but two of the lanterns for transport. Her ears pricked at the sound of voices approaching the workshop.

“Mac and Rara, sittin’ in a tree,” chanted two of the voices. “K, I, S, S, I, N, G,”

“Nnnope,” responded the third, masculine voice.

The owners of the voices entered the workshop, slightly sweaty from a day's work of harvesting apples.

“Hey guys,” called the filly. “I’m almost done here. Oh, and Applejack, Big Mac? I kept these two to replace those cracked lights in the living room.” She gestured at the two unpacked lamps sitting aside.

“Thanks, Scootaloo,” replied Applejack. “I don’t know what we’d do without you.”

“You’d probably fumble around in the dark, breaking your legs trying to come down the stairs,” grinned Scootaloo while she sealed up the last lantern, not noticing Apple Bloom glaring at her. “How about you guys? Bring in all those apples?”

“Eeyup,” answered Big Mac.

“Yep, all done,” agreed Apple Bloom, before turning to Applejack with a hopeful grin. “So can we go now?”

“Please?” Scootaloo asked, purple eyes opened wider than should be possible.

“Alright you two, go on,” smiled Applejack. “Go find your cutie marks.”

“Yeah! Cutie Mark Crusaders go!” cried the two fillies as they rushed outside.

“Heh. Remember when we used to be like that?” asked Applejack.

Big Mac just looked at her, raising an eyebrow.

“Okay, remember when I used to be like that?”

Big Mac merely chuckled as he packed the boxes of lamps into the wagon alongside the day’s harvest.

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo made their way through the rolling terrain of the north-east orchard, throwing ideas back and forth.

“How about bowlin’?”

“No, we tried that last week. Ooh, beekeeping?”

“No thanks, I know how they make honey. What about flower arrangin’?”

“Ugh, boring.”

The conversation between the pair of fillies slowed when they ran out of ideas, and they slumped down in the shade of the trees at the furthest reaches of the orchard. Just beyond the fenceline that delineated the edge of the farm, the land dropped away in a cliff-face over one hundred ponylengths tall, facing its twin nearly two hundred ponylengths away, across the salty spray of the channel below. This was the Cliffside Canal, the massive earthcrafted passage that connected the Great Northern Ocean to the Dawn Sea. The fillies watched a ship making its way south through the canal, passing well below a narrow rope bridge that spanned the wide gap.

“I guess that’s everything then,” said Scootaloo, head down. “We’ve tried everything we can think of. I guess we’ll never get our cutie marks.” She flicked her wing, and a burst of flame shot out from it, forming into the shape of a chicken. The fire fury pecked at the ground here and there, leaving scorch marks in the soil.

Apple Bloom watched Scootaloo pet the fury, not bothering to hide the jealousy from her face. “At least you can furycraft. I can’t even call the lights on.”

“Come on, AB,” said Scootaloo. “Who ever heard of a pony that couldn’t furycraft? You just have to get your furycraft eventually.”

“Easy for you to say,” shot back Apple Bloom. “You’ve been firecraftin’ with Elizabeak there for three years now. And you could get water flowin’ out o’ the taps for years before that! I can’t even do that much! Who ever heard of somepony who can’t even talk to workfuries? I keep tellin’ ya, I’m useless. I’m a furyless freak.”

“Don’t say that,” glared Scootaloo. “Maybe you can’t craft yet-”

“Maybe I’ll never craft,” muttered Apple Bloom.

“Maybe not,” continued Scootaloo, “but you are not useless. Hay, it was your idea for me to make those furylamps, and Applejack said that by selling those Sweet Apple Acres is making bits even through the wìnter, when most farms and orchards would be toughing it out.”

“Yeah, fine. I get an idea every now and then,” conceded Apple Bloom, rolling her golden eyes. “A whole lotta good that does me when I ‘fumble around in the dark, breaking my legs coming down the stairs.’”

Scootaloo winced at that. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that before.”

“It ain’t your fault, Scoots,” sighed Apple Bloom. “I just don’t see how ideas help me when I can’t do anythin’ with ‘em.”

“Aw, come on AB, things will get better.” Scootaloo paused, twitching her ears before swivelling them to the south-west. “Hey, can you hear that?”

“Hear what?” asked Apple Bloom, before her ears twitched as well. A buzzing sound was just now becoming audible. “Wait, there it is. What is it? Those bees you wanted to keep?”

“Sounds too deep to be bees. Almost sounds like a pair of… are those fury engines?” said Scootaloo.

“I think they’re headed this way,” said Apple Bloom

The fillies exchanged a glance and sprang into action. They quickly climbed the nearest tree and looked around for the source of the sound. Before long, they spotted an airship descend from the clouds to the south-west. The airship was three decks deep, and looked about seventy ponylengths long by about twenty wide. The envelope was slightly larger, and coloured a dark, dark grey. The ship was propelled by two large black and brass fury engines, one held out on each side of the aft end of the cedarwood hull by a pair of thick wooden spars. Visible along the side of the airship were a number of closed hatches, concealing something from view. The ship held a heading of north-east, passing almost directly over the fillies before crossing the canal. The fillies whirled to keep watch, and saw the airship slow to a stop only a mile or so past the far side of the canal.

“What are they up to?” wondered Scootaloo.

“I don’t know,” replied Apple Bloom. She grinned. “But I’m havin’ one of those ‘ideas’ you were talkin’ about.”

The fillies looked at each other, sharing a mischievous grin before descending from the tree and making their way to the rope bridge suspended over the canal.

Chapter Two

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo galloped towards the canal, vaulting over the boundary fence before pulling up to a stop at the rope bridge. They inspected the ropes and wooden planks comprising the structure.

“Looks good to me,” said Apple Bloom, taking her first steps onto the bridge.

“I don’t know…” said Scootaloo. “Are you sure?”

“Come on, Scoots, or the ship’ll be gone before we get there!” encouraged Apple Bloom.

“It’s just so far down,” said Scootaloo.

“Yeah, it is,” Apple Bloom said, suddenly shocked at how far below her the water was. “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after- wait a minute.” She blinked and twitched her head before glaring at Scootaloo. “You’re doin’ it again, Scoots. Cut it out.”

“What are you- oh. Sorry AB,” said Scootaloo. She focused her will on Elizabeak for a moment, watching Apple Bloom relax when the fear pushed on her by the fire fury relented. “You know how I get with heights.”

“Yeah, a pegasus scared o’ heights,” teased Apple Bloom.

“A flightless pegasus,” replied Scootaloo. “No wind furies, remember?”

Apple Bloom jumped up and down a few times, shaking the bridge. “Still feels fine. Well, if you’re not comin’, I’m goin’ on without ya.” She continued across the bridge.

Scootaloo closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath. She released it and stepped onto the first plank. Opening her eyes, she took her second step, then a third. Once her weight was entirely on the bridge, she felt more confident with the structure and set off after Apple Bloom.

Scootaloo caught up in short order, and soon the fillies were cantering their way to the far side of the canal. They stopped when they reached the far side.

“And now we’re in the Grifflands,” said Apple Bloom. She looked around at the trees of the forest. “I thought it’d look different, somehow.”

“I know what you mean,” replied Scootaloo, “If we hadn’t just come over the bridge, I’d think we were just outside Sweet Apple Acres.”

“I suppose that makes sense, if ya think about it,” Apple Bloom said. “The canal wasn’t always here; they earthcrafted it open years and years ago. Once upon a time, this land really was just outside Sweet Apple Acres.”

Sure enough, the pine forest looked the same on this side of the canal as it did back over on the Poneran side. The path coming from the bridge led into the forest, roughly in the direction the airship had gone. Trees blocked the airship from view, but the fillies decided not to let that stop them. They set off to investigate, making their way along the path.

“Who do ya reckon they are?” wondered Apple Bloom.

“Maybe it’s griffon spies,” said Scootaloo, “reporting in on what High Mare Granny Smith had for breakfast!”

“But griffon’s can’t furycraft any more than I can,” Apple Bloom pointed out with a small wince. “So how could they make an airship fly? I reckon it might be ambassadors from Equinopolis, tryin’ to make a deal to sell apples to the griffons.”

As they continued along the path, the fillies suggested various ideas about the possible identity and purpose of their quarry, each more exciting if less likely than the last. After a mile or so, they started seeing the occasional glimpse of the airship through gaps in the trees, so they slowed their progress.

“We’re getting close now, Scoots,” said Apple Bloom. “It looks like they’re in that clearin’ up ahead.”

They moved into the forest to the right of the path, and made their way around the treeline bordering the clearing as quietly as they could.

“There they are,” said Scootaloo, pointing with a wing at the airship. It was hovering about fifty pony lengths above the ground at the far side of the clearing. “I think I can see some ponies on the ground below it.”

“I think I see ‘em,” replied Apple Bloom. “Come on, let’s get closer and see what they’re up to.”

They began to slink their way around the clearing, making their way towards the hovering airship. Having been raised on an orchard, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo had plenty of experience moving around trees, and knew how to keep very quiet. They made it to the far side of the clearing without incident, where they hid in the shadows behind a wide tree set back a little way into the forest. They peeked around opposite sides of the trunk to see and hear what was happening.

There was a small crowd of ponies on the ground, loosely organised into two groups. A sleek-maned earth pony mare with a grey coat and a violet symbol of some kind for a cutie mark seemed to be in charge of the first group, her companions taking their cues from her. Standing with her was a pair of yellow coated unicorns wearing striped shirts, with identical red-and-white manes and tails, distinguishable from each other only by one having a moustache while the other was clean shaven.

A little apart from those three stood the second group, apparently led by a huge dark gray earth pony stallion. His head was bald on top, surrounded by a long black mane sprinkled with gray. His cutie mark seemed to be a belt of black leather. At his side stood a lanky unicorn, coloured blue, with an orange mane and tail. His cutie mark was of a book and quill. His job seemed to be clarifying the earth pony’s orders for the benefit of the others, a trio of pegasus stallions. One was brown-coated, one red, and the last was a light green colour.

“How much longer are we supposed to wait?” demanded the grey stallion.

“Relax, captain,” replied the posh voice of the gray mare. “We got here ahead of schedule, remember.”

“That’s right, sir,” said the blue unicorn. “We had favourable winds after we passed Oats, and made excell-”

“Stow it, Improper Place,” barked the gray pony, “before you bore our colts here to tears and they fly back to Scavenger without you.”

The pegasi chuckled as Improper Place fell silent. Suddenly, the chuckles stopped and the pegasi whirled their heads towards the eavesdropping fillies.

Apple Bloom was about to run for it, but then she saw that the pegasi weren’t looking directly at her and Scootaloo. They instead seemed to be focusing on something off to the side, up above the treetops. “Easy there, Scoots,” she whispered. “They ain’t lookin’ at us.”

Scootaloo didn’t look too sure of that herself, but before she could bolt she heard what had attracted the attention of the pegasi - the sound of flapping wings approaching from the east. Shortly, four griffons arrived from over the forest, landing in front of the waiting ponies. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom exchanged intrigued looks, before returning their attention to the meeting taking place below the airship.

“Octavia Melody,” called one of the griffons while the others assumed positions of attention.

“Garry,” replied the music-marked mare.

“I represent the Effai Clan of griffonkind in these matters,” said Garry

“And I represent Duke Svengallop of Jewelport in these matters,” responded Octavia Melody. Scootaloo’s eyes widened when she heard Svengallop’s name. “Now that the formalities are done with, let’s get to business.”

“Agreed. This is the ship that is to call the spirits against our foes?” asked Garry, glancing up at the airship.

“Yes, it is,” Octavia replied. She gestured to the grey stallion. “This is Captain Black Strap. The ship is his, and his crew will furycraft against the defenders. That should level the playing field for you.”

The three griffons behind Garry grinned at each other at that, before Garry clacked his beak and the trio resumed their alert poses. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo exchanged confused expressions, wondering why these ponies were apparently planning to work with the griffons.

Garry tilted his head at Black Strap. “And your ponies will willingly call the spirits against your own kind?”

“It wouldn’t be the first time,” drawled Black Strap. “If they know what’s good for them they’ll craft at anypony I point them at.”

Garry looked up to the airship again, apparently considering what he had heard.

“They’ll fight on your side, Garry, don’t worry about that,” said Octavia. “Does Svengallop have a deal? If not, we can all go back home right now. Or, you agree, and this airship and her crew will assist the Effai Clan in their invasion of Cliffside Eyrie, returning the city to its original owners. Then, when things have settled and everypony and everygriff has accepted the new status quo, the Effai can start trading with Ponera through Svengallop’s city of Jewelport. That way, Svengallop gets to embarrass Coloratura before the Stable, and he gets extra trade revenue. Meanwhile, the Effai Clan improves their standing with the griffons and the Poneran market opens up for you. We both get what we want. What do you say to that?”

The looks of confusion that Apple Bloom and Scootaloo had been sharing became expressions of horror at what Octavia was offering to the griffons. Any griffon attack on Cliffside Eyrie could result in the deaths of hundreds of soldiers on both sides, but ponies had the help of their furycraft and would easily hold the city against even a large number of griffon invaders.

On the other hoof, if the griffons were backed up by furycrafting ponies of their own then a surprise attack could potentially breach the city’s defences and the battle would take to the streets of the city. Such a battle would end the lives of thousands of innocent ponies, not to mention the destruction of a sizable portion of the city.

Garry narrowed his eyes. “I cannot guarantee any specific trade agreements at this time,” he said. “But otherwise I believe that, in principle, we can work with this arrangement. We have a deal. The attack will begin tomorrow evening.” Garry extended a claw, and shook Octavia’s hoof.

“Scoots, we hafta warn somepony,” whispered Apple Bloom.

“Yeah. Let’s go before they spot us,” replied Scootaloo. She backed away from the clearing and took her first steps toward the rope bridge. She kept an eye on the ponies and griffons in the clearing, and so wasn’t paying attention to where she put her hooves. Which is why she made the mistake of stepping on a stick.

CRACK!

“Who was that?” roared Black Strap. “Find him and catch him before he gets away!”

Without hesitation, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom bolted out of hiding. Scootaloo continued making her way around the clearing at top speed. Apple Bloom, however, was on the other side of the tree and in her panic she galloped the wrong way. By the time she realised her mistake she was too far away from Scootaloo to do anything about it. Looking about for her fellow filly, Apple Bloom instead found four griffons flying after her at top speed. With a yelp, she turned and ran deeper into the forest.

There was a massive gust of wind, followed by a few thumps and muttered curses. Apple Bloom chanced a look behind her and saw three griffons on the ground nursing battered wings. The fourth griffon seemed to be entangled in the branches of a tree. Spurred on by the sight, Apple Bloom picked up the pace. Ducking and weaving around the trees, she glanced back again and saw the griffons were now pursuing on the ground. With a grin, Apple Bloom poured on the speed. No griffon on paws and claws could keep up with a pony galloping all out.

Apple Bloom tried to think of what to do next. She decided that once she was sure she was safe from pursuit, she would circle around, try to find the bridge, and get home. Applejack and Big Mac would know what to do. She swerved around a few trees, trying to break from the griffons line of sight. The calls and cries of her pursuers gradually faded away.

After a few minutes of galloping for all she was worth and hearing nothing from behind her, Apple Bloom figured she had shaken her pursuers. She slowed to a trot for a moment to relax, and tried to figure out which way she needed to go to reach the Canal. She made her best guess and set off in that direction.

That was when she rounded a tree and collided with a griffon.

Chapter Three

Rainbow tried to quietly stretch her legs. She had been hiding in the rigging of Soaring Scavenger’s envelope for almost a full day, and was trying to avoid cramping up. The airship had finally arrived at its destination ten minutes ago, but other than a few ponies disembarking nothing of note had happened yet. She kept an ear on the sound channel she’d had Tank create when the ship had finally come to rest.

“Stow it, Improper Place, before you bore our colts here to tears and they fly back to Scavenger without you,” came the voice that Rainbow thought belonged to Black Strap, captain of Soaring Scavenger. Rainbow rolled her eyes. Black Strap seemed to believe in exercising his authority through volume, intimidation and humiliation. She had heard at least half a dozen similarly themed outbursts ever since she stowed away the previous day, and they were beginning to rub her the wrong way.

Rainbow’s attention was piqued when she heard the sound of several fliers landing on the ground. She could tell that the newcomers were not pegasi from the repeating sound of their flapping wings; no windcrafter actually needed to flap their wings to fly. From by the sound of talons and paws touching down Rainbow concluded the new arrivals were griffons.

Rainbow listened in on the conversation below, wishing she still had her notebook and pencil. Unfortunately they had been taken from her when she had been captured, so instead she did her best to commit to memory the details of the deal being brokered on the ground. When Octavia spoke about a joint attack on Cliffside Eyrie, Rainbow decided it was time to take subtle action.

She plucked a feather from her wing and willed Tank to hold the air around it still. The feather stiffened as the wind fury solidified around it. Rainbow used it to poke through the fabric of the dorsal side of the envelope, then tore at the hole, widening it. The wind furies contained within would gradually find their way out through the opening, leaving the airship crippled until the damage could be repaired and the envelope refilled.

“Who was that? Find him and catch him before he gets away!” roared Black Strap. Rainbow jumped at the shout, and peered over the top of the envelope to see what was happening. She saw two fillies shoot out from behind a tree at the edge of the clearing, running in opposite directions. An orange pegasus filly was headed roughly in the direction of Cliffside Canal, and was being pursued by three pegasi and the unicorn twins Flim and Flam. A yellow earth pony filly with an adorable fuchsia ribbon bow in her red mane was galloping the opposite direction, with four griffons in close pursuit.

Rainbow used her wind fury to rip open the damaged envelope as loudly possible, before calling him back to her wings. She shot up and over the airship and zoomed towards the pegasus filly at top speed. Rainbow willed Tank to send the most turbulent gust of wind she could manage toward the griffons pursuing the earth filly, and was rewarded with the sound of four impacts followed by several exclamations of pain.

Rainbow soon found the pegasus filly’s pursuers had changed their priorities. All three pegasi were now flying directly at her, alerted by the sound of ripping airship envelope fabric. Rainbow rolled over and over, willing Tank to twist her windstream into a vortex before she spiralled between the trio. The twirling windstream blew two of the pegasi downwards, one of them smashing leg first into the ground so hard that Rainbow could clearly hear the snap of breaking bone, but the third was able to keep himself airborne. Rainbow was about to send a gust at him, but decided not to bother when he ignored her in favour of attending Soaring Scavenger’s damaged envelope.

Rainbow flew to the pegasus filly and hovered at her side. She quickly crafted up another gust of wind, aiming at Flim and Flam. They were lifted up off the ground and blown back to collide with Octavia and Black Strap.

“Rainbow!” Octavia roared, while trying to disentangle herself from the mustachioed unicorn.

“Tavi,” called back Rainbow, sketching a mocking salute, before turning to greet the filly. “Hey kiddo. What’s up?”

“What… who… what’s going on?” stammered the filly. “Who are you?” She stopped, her eyes widened as she looked around. “Wait, where’s Apple Bloom?”

“Earth pony filly, yellow coat, red mane, pink hair bow?” asked Rainbow. “I saw her going the other way with some griffons after her. I blew them out of the sky, wrecked their wings and flight feathers. Don’t worry about her; even a filly can outrun a griffon on the ground.”

“We have to help her!” cried the filly.

“Slow down there, squirt,” replied Rainbow. She pointed a hoof at the ponies still in the clearing. “We have our own problems.”

Black Strap and Improper Place had made their way to the downed pegasi, who lifted them into the air and toward the slowly descending airship. Octavia and the twins, however, began stalking towards Rainbow and her new companion.

“The twins are metalcrafters,” said Rainbow. “They’re good with those spears at close range but-” She was interrupted by the clatter of a thrown spear falling to the ground well short of them. “But they can’t throw worth a crabapple.”

The filly shook her head at the pathetic attempt of a ranged attack while Rainbow continued. “And Octavia,” she said through clenched teeth, “has earth and wood furies. You should get in the air before she tries some kind of earthcrafting at you.”

“But I’m not a windcrafter, I can’t fly,” replied the filly.

“Oh. Well, that’s no problem,” said Rainbow. “Easy fix for that.” She had Tank wrap himself around the filly and lifted her onto her back, right between her wings. “Hold on. And if you have any crafting, now would be a good time to chip in.”

“I have some fire,” said the filly as she tightened her grip on Rainbow.

“Good. Now let’s - uh-oh,” began Rainbow, when Octavia gestured at the trees around the pegasi. Several branches reached down to grab them, and Rainbow dodged to the side. The filly let out a cry, tightening her grip and flicking out her wings. The branches promptly caught fire, not that that slowed them down.

“Oops,” said the filly. “I thought they’d stop if they were burning.”

Rainbow dodged free of the burning branches grabbing at her, but Octavia simply tracked their movements and yet more branches reached for them. “Focus the flames, use them like an axe to cut the branches!”

“Will that even work?” asked the filly.

“I don’t know, do it anyway!” shot back Rainbow, still trying to avoid being swatted out of the air by a particularly persistent pine branch.

“Okay...” replied the filly. She narrowed her eyes, focusing on her fire fury to make it understand her intentions. She swept a wing at a branch up ahead, sending a focused flame at it. The intense fire burned clean through the base of the branch, cleanly severing it from the tree. “Yeah! Take that, grabby branch!”

The branch fell to the ground, its severed end still smoking from the heat of the blazing blade, and Rainbow zipped through the newly opened space. “Much better, squirt,” she said, dodging a few more branches. “Now do it again! We need to go up, out of the forest before she gets us.”

“I’m on it!” The filly flicked her wings, slowly at first, then faster as she became more and more familiar with her new crafting technique. Smoldering branches fell to the ground left and right, and a path upwards gradually opened up before them.

The moment she saw a clear route to open skies, Rainbow willed Tank to her wings and pushed the fury as hard as she could. The pegasi were promptly accelerated out of the trees like an arrow from a crossbow, and found themselves in clear skies.

“Yay!” exclaimed the filly. “We’re out!”

Through Tank, Rainbow felt a disturbance in the air, and instinctively swerved to the side. A boulder twice her size flew through the airspace Rainbow had just vacated. “Yikes. That was close.” Rainbow and her passenger glanced back toward the clearing just in time to see Octavia earthcraft another boulder from underground, before she whirled around and bucked it hard enough to launch it into the sky.

Rainbow dodged again, and flew away from the clearing and towards the canal. “Kid! See the bridge?”

“Yeah! Apple Bloom and I came over on it,” replied the filly.

“You’re gonna have to cut it!” Rainbow ordered.

Rainbow felt the filly shift around a little, apparently considering the wisdom of the idea. “Are you sure? How will Apple Bloom get back?”

“Octavia’s gonna chase us over to the other side if we leave it! And look!” Rainbow pointed a hoof at the ground below them where Flim and Flam were galloping for the bridge. “The twins are almost there. Cut it now!”

“Argh! Fine!” The filly flicked her wings, willing her fire fury into her newly-learned crafting. A blade of flame blazed downwards and tore through the ropes and wooden planks of the bridge, severing it completely.

Rainbow landed on the far side of Cliffside Canal, and the pair of pegasi looked back toward their pursuers. Octavia and the twins ran up to the smoking remains of the bridge, pulling up short when they realised what had happened to it. Octavia stomped a hoof, and rock flowed outward from the cliff face as she began to craft up a new bridge. But before she could make much progress Rainbow’s young companion responded with a furycrafting of her own.

With a scream she flared her wings and threw forth a massive burst of fire, larger than most houses. The flames were so hot that Rainbow instinctively willed Tank to blow the heat away from her. The winds Rainbow conjured pushed the flames even further than the filly could manage on her own, so far that they caught on the vegetation on the other side of the canal. The plant matter quickly caught alight and the fire began to spread. Octavia and the twins were forced to withdraw, lest they be burned alive by the burgeoning forest fire the pegasi had created.

The filly fell to her knees, breathless after such a massive work of furycraft. “Oops,” she panted, looking at the burning forest. “I was just trying to scare them off. I didn’t think I was powerful enough to throw that much fire that far.”

“Actually, that might have been my fault,” replied Rainbow, rubbing the back of her head with a forehoof. “Those flames were so hot that I blew them away from me. And away from me just so happened to be towards them.”

They continued to watch the fire spread further.

“Should we do something about it?” wondered the young pegasus, climbing back to her hooves.

“Nah, those pirates have firecrafters of their own. And at least one really good watercrafter. If they don’t want their precious airship going up in flames they’ll handle it themselves.” With a shrug, Rainbow turned and walked away from the conflagration. “Now, where do you call home, squirt?”

“What? But we have to help Apple Bloom!” cried the filly, not moving from her spot.

“Kid, I’m about done,” replied Rainbow, looking back over her shoulder at the filly. “I haven’t crafted that hard that fast in ages, and I haven’t had anything to eat or drink in over a day. I’m exhausted, I need to rest. We can’t help her if I crash or pass out. So tell me, which way is home?”

The filly was silent for a moment, considering insisting again on helping her friend, but soon realised that compliance was her best option and set off towards the south. “Fine. We’re not far, really. We live on this orchard. The farmhouse is this way. Sweet Apple Acres.”

“Apples, huh? Now we’re talking.” Rainbow joined the filly. “By the way, the name’s Rainbow Dash.”

“I’m Scootaloo,” replied the filly. “Nice to meet you. We’re gonna help Apple Bloom when you’ve rested, right?”

Rainbow said nothing. She had to get word of the arrangement Octavia had made with the griffons to the authorities of Cliffside Eyrie before it was too late. Setting off into griffon territory in pursuit of a filly who would probably be doing her best not to be found would take far too much time from Rainbow, but it was obvious that Scootaloo would not like hearing that.

“Rainbow Dash? We are going to help her, aren’t we?”

“...”

“Rainbow Dash?”

Author's Note

If you haven't read Jim Butcher's Codex Alera series and are unfamiliar with furies and furycrafting, you might be interested in the blog post I've put up, What is a fury, anyway? It's a brief primer on the concepts, and will gradually be followed by others going into more specific detail as I get around to writing them.

Chapter Four

Rainbow and Scootaloo crested a hill and a farmhouse came into view. It had red walls and lavender tile roofing, topped with a weathercock bearing an apple in place of the more traditional rooster.

“There it is,” said Scootaloo. “Our home. Applejack and Big Mac won’t be happy that we lost Apple Bloom, you know.”

“Kid, I’m sorry, but we’ve been over this!” replied Rainbow. “This is more important than one filly. I have to get warning to Duchess Coloratura before the griffons can organise their attack, and I don’t have time to look for your friend.”

“It’s not like the griffons have already surrounded Cliffside,” shot back Scootaloo. “But Apple Bloom needs our help now!”

“Squirt, enough. We’re done talking about this for now.”

“Arrgh!” Scootaloo screamed in frustration before charging ahead to the farmhouse. She threw the door open and started calling for Applejack and Big Mac.

The ponies so summoned came to the door just as Rainbow Dash got there herself.

“Well, howdy there partner,” said Applejack to Rainbow, proffering her hoof, “we sure weren’t expectin’ any visitors today, but ya sure are welcome. This here is my big brother Big Mac, and I’m Applejack, but my friends call me AJ.”

“Applejack?” said Scootaloo.

“Uh, hi. I’m Auditor Rainbow Dash,” replied Rainbow, trying in vain to release herself from Applejack’s vigorous hoofshake.

“AJ?” Scootaloo tried to interrupt.

“Auditor, huh?” asked Applejack. “Well, I’m sure ya won’t find anything amiss in our bookkeepin’, ain’t that right, Big Mac?”

“Eeyup,” replied the stallion.

“Big Mac?” Scootaloo said.

“Big Mac here handles all our accountin’ here on the farm, he’s got the head for all them fancy mathematics,” said Applejack.

“Guys?” Scootaloo narrowed her eyes and lowered her ears.

“Oh, I’m not here about your books,” replied Rainbow. “Actually I’m here to-”

“Ah, of course, ya here to buy some apples!” interrupted Applejack. “You’re out o’ luck I’m afraid, we just brought in the latest crop for Countess Coloratura.”

“No, that’s not it, I’m here to- wait, Countess Coloratura? When did that happen?”

“Hey, guys, come on,” said Scootaloo.

“Oh, shoot, I went and did it again,” said Applejack. “I meant Duchess Coloratura, o’ course-”

“HEY, EVERYPONY!” shouted Scootaloo. “STOP IGNORING ME!”

Everypony turned to Scootaloo in surprise.

“Scootaloo, that was mighty rude of ya,” scolded Applejack. “Can’t ya see we’re havin’ a chat with this here pegasus pony?”

“But Apple Bloom is in trouble! We have to help her!” cried Scootaloo

“What do ya mean, AB’s in trouble? What’s goin’ on?” asked Applejack.

Rainbow scratched the back of her head. “It’s kind of a long story. Can I come in?”

“Sure, I guess.” Applejack stepped back to allow Rainbow in, and Big Mac led them to the lounge.

“Like I said, I’m an Auditor,” began Rainbow, “but there’s more to being an Auditor than checking everypony’s bit books. Can you keep this to yourselves?” When everypony else nodded, Rainbow continued. “We’re actually… agents of the Crown.” Applejack’s raised an eyebrow at that, which was not missed by Rainbow. “Okay, we’re spies. We keep an eye on anypony suspicious or up to no good, to protect the ponies of Ponera. I was on a mission in Jewelport, sort of my final exam to become an Auditor myself. Anyway, my mentor, Octavia, betrayed me to ponies working for Duke Svengallop, who is trying to take the throne from High Mare Granny Smith. I escaped and stowed away on their airship, and from there I overheard when Octavia finalised a deal where they help the griffons to retake Cliffside Eyrie.”

“Apple Bloom and I heard that too,” interjected Scootaloo. “We saw the airship fly over the canal, so we crossed the bridge to see what it was doing. We caught up to them in this clearing down the path over the bridge. That’s where we heard them talking to the griffons, but when we tried to sneak away...” Scootaloo trailed off, tears beginning to fill her eyes. “It’s all my fault! I stepped on a twig, and it broke, and everypony heard it and started chasing us, and Apple Bloom was on the wrong side of the tree, and she ran the wrong way-ay-ay!” She broke down crying, tears flowing freely.

Applejack went to comfort the crying Scootaloo, while Rainbow spoke. “It’s not your fault, squirt. It was an accident. Anyways, that’s when I flew out, windcrafted at the griffons chasing the other kid, and joined up with Scootaloo here. She helped us get clear of Octavia, but we had to cut the bridge before she and her new friends could chase us back here.”

“And now Apple Bloom is trapped over there,” sniffed Scootaloo. “It’s my fault. I stepped on the twig, I cut the bridge, I started the wildfire, it’s all my fault!”

“Easy there, Scoots,” said Applejack, holding Scootaloo close. “Like Rainbow here said, the twig was an accident. You had to cut the bridge or we’d all be runnin’ from this Octavia mare, and the wildfire- wait, wildfire? What wildfire?” Applejack looked to Rainbow for an explanation.

Rainbow grinned sheepishly. “The squirt crafted up this massive flare, trying to scare off Octavia. But her fire was hotter than I expected, so, uh, I kinda blew it away from me. All the way to the far side of the canal. Heh, between the fire and the hole I made in the ship’s envelope, at least the crew of the Scavenger are gonna be too busy to track us down for a while.”

“So what happened to Apple Bloom?” asked Applejack.

“Last we saw she was being chased by the griffons, but I blew them out of the sky so hard that I injured their wings, they won’t be flying for a while,” answered Rainbow. “As long as she’s in decent shape she should be able to stay ahead of them. Her crafting will make up the difference, right?”

“No, it won’t,” said Applejack, ears lowered in concern. “Apple Bloom has no craftin’. She’s as smart as a whip, and she’s been runnin’ around trees and forests ever since she could run, but she ain’t so much as called on a furylamp, let alone done any real craftin’.”

Rainbow’s eyes widened in shock before her ears drooped and her face fell. “Oh. Wow. I’ve never heard of that before.” She looked at Big Mac and Applejack, before turning to Scootaloo. “I didn’t realise. Now I get it, why you were so determined to help her, because she can’t help herself-”

“HEY!” interrupted Scootaloo, glaring at Rainbow, who took a step back in surprise. “She can too help herself! She’s not useless, she just can’t craft. I don’t want to help her because she’s useless, because she’s not! I want to help her because she’s my best friend!”

Rainbow blinked at Scootaloo, glancing over at Applejack and Big Mac before returning her attention to the young filly. The adults weren’t looking much less hostile than Scootaloo. “Okay, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.”

Applejack closed her eyes for a moment and took a breath to calm herself. “Tain’t your fault, sugarcube. But that don’t change the fact that she’ll need help gettin’ back across the canal if y’all went and cut the bridge.”

“I know, and I don’t want to leave her hanging, but Duchess Coloratura must be warned about the attack,” replied Rainbow. “I have to get to Cliffside Eyrie.”

“Eeyup,” said Big Mac. “And so do you, Scootaloo.”

Rainbow blinked at Big Mac, surprised as much by what he had said as the fact that he had spoken at all. “What do you mean?”

“She heard this conspiracy too, didn’t she?” he said. “She can stand as witness to back you up when you talk to the duchess.”

“What?” cried Scootaloo. “But I can’t go to Cliffside! I have to help Apple Bloom.”

“No, Scoots, I’ll go after AB,” answered Applejack. “Big Mac can to the Eyrie and warn the duchess about these griffons and them bad ponies.”

Scootaloo opened her mouth to object further, but Rainbow interrupted her. “They’re right, squirt. You’re a witness to what Octavia is planning, and I’m gonna need all the help I can get convincing Duchess Coloratura that she needs to prepare for a furycrafting attack. Applejack looks to me like she knows her way around a forest, right?”

“That’s for sure,” replied Applejack. “And with Winona helpin’ me, I’ll find AB in no time at all.” The wooden walls rippled as Applejack smiled fondly at them. “You lot go on and see the duchess, and by the time ya get back home, Scoots, AB’ll be waitin’ for ya, ready to go crusadin’ for ya cutie marks again.”

Scootaloo hung her head and sighed. “Okay.” She looked up at Applejack. “You will find her, won’t you AJ?”

“Don’t you worry none, Scootaloo,” said Applejack. “I’ll find her as easy as blinkin’.” She turned to Rainbow. “But before ya go, what do I need to know about these here nasty folks? I’d hate to run into ‘em and not know what I’m up against.”

“Come on, Scootaloo, we’ll load the wagon for the trip to Cliffside,” suggested Big Mac, “while Rainbow fills AJ in.”

“Go on squirt,” said Rainbow when Scootaloo looked to her. “Just don’t leave without me.”

Turning back to Applejack, Rainbow began to tell her what sort of ponies she might encounter on the far side of the canal.

After making their goodbyes, Big Mac led Rainbow and Scootaloo toward the road and they began their journey to Cliffside Eyrie and Duchess Coloratura. Applejack, meanwhile, stayed at the farmhouse long enough to pack her saddlebags with some supplies she thought she might need during her search for Apple Bloom.

“Let’s see here, I’ve got a canteen fer drinkin’, some apples fer eatin’, some flint and a knife fer firestartin’, I’ll have Winona fer findin’ my way, what else do I need?”

Applejack looked around to see if anything struck her as useful in her search for the wayward filly. Her gaze fell upon a photograph of the family. Applejack and Big Mac stood behind the younger Scootaloo and Apple Bloom before the farmhouse, all smiling after a job well done. The photo had been taken on the day the four of them had finished building the very farmhouse they now lived in. Applejack smiled at the memory.

“Don’t you worry, AB. I’m comin’ for ya.”

With a final glance around to ensure she had everything she would need, Applejack set off. She headed toward the back end of the orchard, where the rope bridge crossed the canal. She saw the column of smoke well before she reached the end of the property, and narrowed her eyes in concern for the orchard - wildfire was not a farmer’s friend.

When she reached the edge of the canal, however, she spotted a number of rough-looking ponies on the far side, directing their furycrafting efforts against the blaze. Applejack watched a yellow unicorn mare with a maroon mane watercraft a huge mass of water out of the canal and directed it to shower over the flames. Applejack winced at the damage all that salt water would do to the soil.

“That’s gotta be that Moondancer mare that Rainbow told me about,” Applejack muttered to herself. “Ah, and that must be Octavia and the twins.”

A gray-coated black-maned earth pony mare had just joined the others, accompanied by a pair of near-identical yellow unicorn stallions. The mare called something to the ponies fighting the fire, who reorganised themselves in response. Applejack thought they started making better progress against the wildfire, though they still had quite a bit of work ahead of them.

She heaved a sigh of relief, partly for the safety of the orchard, but mostly for the fact that the ponies were all distracted by the blaze. She made her way south along the canal, keeping out of sight behind her apple trees, until she was certain she was far enough from the ponies to not be noticed. Glancing around for a tree that would suit her purposes, she approached one of the apple trees she and Apple Bloom had harvested from earlier that same day.

Looking a little more closely at the tree, Applejack took on a bemused expression. “Hey there, Bloomberg. AB got your apples down this mornin’, didn’t she? I’m gonna need your help to find her. Do ya mind?”

Through her woodcrafting, Applejack could feel the tree’s wood fury bend to her will. “Thanks buddy.” She willed the tree to bend down to the ground, away from the canal. Once the topmost branches were on the ground, she stepped onto them and let out a breath. “Hoo wee, I really hate this part.”

Applejack held a hoof to her hat and closed her eyes for a moment longer than a blink. She then willed Winona to push the tree upright as quickly as possible, and was thus tree-catapulted toward the far side of the canal.

“Whoa!”

She looked ahead to see exactly where she would land, and was pleased to note she was headed directly for a pine tree. With a quick gesture from Applejack, the tree bent some of its branches into position just in time to catch the ballistic pony. The instant Applejack came into contact with the tree it bent down away from the canal, catching her and following through so as to gradually absorb Applejack’s momentum without causing her any serious injury. When she came to a complete stop, Applejack simply stepped out of the branches onto the ground and willed Winona to allow the tree to resume its natural pose.

After a quick shake of her head, Applejack looked back over to the far side of the canal. “Boy howdy, Bloomberg, you kick like a mule.” Then, with a quick look north to ensure she hadn’t been spotted, she set off into the forest, circling around the fire and the ponies trying to contain it. With Winona’s help, the shadows of the forest embraced Applejack and she vanished from view.

Chapter Five

Applejack stole through the forest, mind half on the ground in front of her and half communing with Winona. She moved quickly, trusting her wood fury’s abilities to keep her hidden from her foes and hoping that Apple Bloom had thought to mark a tree or a bush, to leave some kind of sign that Applejack’s fury could find.

With a subtle whisper to her mind, Winona told Applejack of some trees that had been damaged further east. Applejack set off to investigate, easily finding the site.

She quickly found claw marks on the trunk of a tree. The scratches slightly above eye level reminded her of marks made by bird talons, while those lower down looked more like those of a large cat.

“Griffon,” she whispered. “Clinging to the side of the tree.”

The other injured tree was a few ponylengths away, and seemed to have lost a small piece of one of its branches. Applejack’s woodcrafting talents gave her the impression that the stick had been cut off rather than fallen naturally, and so she willed her fury to spread out into the forest to find the missing piece of wood. Winona reported that there was a stick some way to the north that had recently been removed from its tree. Applejack focused on the stick, willing it to flex then suddenly straighten, throwing itself to her.

Applejack caught it and inspected the broken end, finding signs that it had indeed been cut by some kind of claw. Brows furrowed, she looked to the ground. She easily found hoof tracks, just the right size to have been left by Apple Bloom. Some of them were covered by large prints, some bird-like, others reminiscent of cats. More griffons, she thought. Their tracks are on top of Apple Bloom’s. They must have got here after she did, probably chasing her. The tracks led to the tree that bore the marks of a clinging griffon, almost as though Apple Bloom had been herded into a trap.

But that didn’t explain the cut branch. Applejack focused her woodcrafting efforts onto that tree. Its fury whispered that the damaged branch was still relaxing up to its normal position. Almost like somepony has been sitting on it, mused Applejack. But how in tarnation would Apple Bloom get all the way up there? And how would she cut the stick? Shouldn’t she have broken it? She looked closely at the end of the piece of wood. No, this thing definitely looks like it was cut by a claw. It must have been a griffon that cut it. But why?

Looking northwards where the stick had been found, she saw that the griffon tracks led off that way, before they returned.

Okay then, so what happened? Applejack wondered. AB was running from the griffons chasing her, then ran into one of them clinging to this tree. But then another one hiding in that other tree cut and threw the stick to distract the other griffons. Maybe... there were two groups of griffons, one group chasing her until she was caught by the second group?

The hoofprints apparently ended at the base of the tree with the scratched trunk, while the griffon tracks suggested that the griffons left the area heading east and had not returned. Applejack decided to follow them. Apple Bloom must have been captured by the griffons from the trees, she reasoned, and they probably flew off with her. But then these tracks must be from those griffons Rainbow Dash told me she crafted a great big gust of wind at, and they’re not flying because they’re still injured. I hope they went this way because it’s the way Apple Bloom was taken, otherwise we won’t see her ever again.

Applejack swiftly accelerated to a gallop, determined to find Apple Bloom and help her no matter the cost.

As she ran, Applejack thought back on the day Apple Bloom came into her life.

“I made a promise to ya, sugarcube,” she whispered, “and I’m gonna keep it...”

About Thirteen Years Ago

Big Mac came into the small farmhouse, rolling his shoulders to ease the tension after hauling his wagon all the way back from Cliffside Eyrie.

“Welcome back, Big Mac,” said Applejack. “How was Cliffside? Any news?”

“Eeyup,” he replied. “Remember how that pony tried to blow up the prince’s airship about seven or eight months ago?”

“I think I remember. Weren’t there a whole lotta colts an’ fillies on board?” Applejack said.

“Eeyup. Well, he got sentenced to fifty years in Tartarus,” said Big Mac.

“Good riddance,” Applejack said. “A pony tryin’ ta kill the prince is bad enough, but to do it when there’s a bunch o’ foals who’ll get hurt too? They oughta lock ‘im up and throw away the key.”

“How about here, AJ?” asked Big Mac. “Winter prep goin’ okay?”

“So far so good,” replied Applejack. “Oh, we got new neighbours, too. They moved into that carrot farm over yonder. They got a cute little pegasus foal, only a month or two old.”

“Having neighbours is nice,” said Big Mac.

“Eeyup, it sure is,” agreed Applejack. “I was thinkin’ we should give ‘em a good and proper Sweet Apple Acres welcome once they’ve had a chance to settle in properly.”

“Eeyup.”

“For now, though, you just take a load off,” said Applejack. “After pullin’ that wagon all the way back home you could probably use a rest. I’ll get dinner ready.”

Applejack set about making a simple dinner, conscious of their limited resources. “I don’t suppose ya thought up any ideas to help tide us over for the winter months?” she asked.

“Nnope.”

“Oh well. We’ll manage. We always do.”

Applejack served up the meal, giving Big Mac the larger portion in light of his day of wagon pulling. They ate in companionable silence, before Big Mac took the dishes away and began to wash up.

Applejack reclined on the couch with a book, about to start reading, when the doorbell rang.

“I didn’t know you put in a doorbell,” said Big Mac.

“I didn’t,” frowned Applejack. She got up and went to the door, opening it. She thought she saw a flash of white light in the corner of her eye, but it was gone before she could investigate further. “Hello? Anypony there? With a doorbell?”

Hearing a gurgling giggle from somewhere around her hooves, Applejack looked down. She stepped back in surprise. There was a tiny little newborn foal on the doorstep, wrapped in a fuchsia blanket. She had a mane of red and a coat of yellow, with wide golden eyes.

“Well, hello there little one,” Applejack said to the foal. “Where did you come from?”

She picked up the child and went back inside. Big Mac blinked in surprise at the sight, before raising an eyebrow at Applejack. “Somethin’ I should know about?” he asked.

“Don’t look at me,” replied Applejack. “I have no idea where this little fella came from.” She put the child down and unwound the blanket to check that the foal was unharmed. “Oops, you’re not a fella, you’re a filly.”

Applejack thought the filly seemed perfectly healthy. She was reaching for the blanket, so Applejack held a piece of it where the filly could reach it, who giggled as she swatted at it.

“Where’d she come from?” asked Big Mac.

“Dunno,” Applejack said. “There was nopony else out there. And this sure ain’t the foal the neighbours have, that little filly’s got a purple mane and an orange coat. And wings.” Sure enough, this little filly was an earth pony, as wingless as she was hornless.

Applejack played with the filly while checking the blanket for any clue as to where she might have come from. The filly seemed to very much like the blanket, cuddling it to herself whenever she managed to get ahold of it. Applejack, however, made little progress.

“There’s nothin’ in here but the filly herself,” said Applejack. “I have no clue where she came from. Any ideas?”

“Nnope,” answered Big Mac.

“How about you, little one.” Applejack spoke to the filly. “Where’s home? Where’s your mummy and daddy?”

The filly seemed to fixate on Applejack at those words before looking around the room. “Mama? Dada?” Her lip began to tremble, before Applejack wrapped her up in the blanket and cuddled her close as the filly started crying.

“Oops,” said Applejack. “Well, until we find your parents, I guess we’ll have to look after ya.”

“Eeyup,” agreed Big Mac.

Big Mac climbed into the attic, and came down with a crib. He tilted his head at Applejack, who nodded in reply. He then took the crib into her room and set it up for the filly to use.

The filly finally calmed down while Applejack carried her to the crib. “I don’t know where you came from, little one,” she said. “But until we figure it out I promise ya that we’ll keep ya safe.”

“Eeyup,” nodded Big Mac, with considerably more force than he usually spoke with.

Applejack set the filly down into the crib, where she closed her eyes and went to sleep.

“Look at her,” said Applejack. “As pretty as an apple bloom...”

Present Day

No griffon on the ground was as fast as a galloping pony. Applejack caught up to her chimeric quarry in short order, holding back before she blundered into them. Willing Winona to keep her hidden, she shadowed the griffons as they moved east, stopping at the limit of the forest.

“Garry,” called one of them, “I found something.”

“Found what, Greg?” asked another.

“The grass here looks flattened,” replied Greg, “like somegriff was sitting on it briefly.”

Garry moved to see for himself, while Applejack communed with her fury, checking to see if Winona could tell her anything useful. The grass was indeed relaxing after being pressed down, in two close but distinct patches. Applejack frowned, trying to understand what it might mean. Why would they have stopped here? I suppose even a pony as little as Apple Bloom must be a lot of weight for a griffon to carry. They must have rested here for a bit, and I bet they’re taking turns carrying her.

“Yes…” said Garry. “They waited here a moment, checking to see if there was anygriff watching. Then they ran out, over that ridge up ahead.”

“Uh-oh,” Applejack whispered. There’s no plants out there; Winona can’t hide me. Then she frowned, processing what she had heard. Wait, ran out? Not flew? What’s going on here?

Garry fluttered his wings, before lifting himself into the air.

“Urgh,” he groaned. “Okay, I think I can fly again, no thanks to that blasted pony’s spirit-calling. I’m going to rejoin our forces to prepare for the attack. You three follow the pony. Catch him! If he gets back to Cliffside Eyrie, we’ll have a much harder time of it come tomorrow night.”

Garry flew off to the south-east, slowly at first then faster as his flapping became smoother. Greg and his remaining companions set out toward the ridgeline ahead, while Applejack made her way to the limit of the trees.

She pondered the ridge while the griffons disappeared over it. It ran north-south, at the apex of the rising terrain. Applejack could not see anything past it, and she worried that the griffons might be waiting for her. She decided to wait a moment before approaching the ridge herself.

After a minute or so, she dropped her concealment crafting and moved to the ridgeline. Lowering to her belly, she peered over the top, ready to pull back if she was spotted. The griffons were stepping into a surprisingly lush rainforest, disappearing into the dense vegetation.

Applejack took a moment to appreciate the rainforest. It was quite small, limited to the bowl-shaped valley that itself was ringed by the ridgeline Applejack was peering over.

“Beautiful,” she whispered. “But I better not spend all day sightseein’, I’ve got a filly to find.”

She crawled over the ridge and galloped for the trees, vanishing into the rainforest when she willed for Winona to once again hide her from view.

Chapter Six

Half An Hour Earlier...

Apple Bloom backed away from the griffon in shock. The griffon was holding onto the trunk of a tree, off the ground but low enough that Apple Bloom had quite literally run into her. She was only slightly larger than Apple Bloom herself, and was coloured light grey, with large blue eyes and a very small beak. She looked as surprised as Apple Bloom felt at the young pony’s arrival.

Apple Bloom whirled to run, but before she could take two steps, the griffon pounced onto her and tackled her to the ground. The griffon then wrapped one claw around Apple Bloom’s muzzle while the other held her under the barrel, and Apple Bloom felt herself being lifted up and sideways into the canopy.

She struggled to get free, but the griffon held her too tightly. Then, she heard the sound she had been dreading - the griffon conspirators that she had escaped from had finally caught up. Apple Bloom renewed her struggles, determined to escape, when the griffon whispered to her.

“Stop that, or they’ll hear us!”

Confused, Apple Bloom stopped fighting her captor and looked at her. The griffon’s gaze was locked on something back down on the ground, so Apple Bloom turned to see what was happening. The griffons that had been chasing her seemed to be investigating the ground near a tree. Apple Bloom also spotted hoofprints in the soil, and deduced that the griffons had used them to stay on her trail after they had lost sight of her.

“I’ll need my claw,” whispered her captor, “so will you please keep quiet?”

Apple Bloom nodded gently in response, and the griffon released her muzzle. Apple Bloom took in a quiet breath while the griffon carefully used a talon to cut free a small but sturdy stick from their perch. Then, while the griffons on the ground were looking the other way, Apple Bloom’s new companion threw the stick far off into the forest, where it clattered against a distant tree trunk.

The group of griffons on the ground looked toward the sound before bolting off in pursuit of what they thought was their quarry.

“Silly Effai, they always fall for that trick,” muttered the female griffon before turning back to Apple Bloom. “Anyway, why were they chasing you? What are you doing in Effoh lands? Ooh, wait, you’re a pony! Can you call on the spirits? How do you do it? Can you teach me how? Oh, and cutie marks! How do you get one of those? Do you need the spirits to -” She stopped when Apple Bloom shoved a hoof in her beak.

“Shh! Or do you want those griffons to come back?” hissed Apple Bloom.

“Mrmphmph!” replied the griffon.

“Let’s take this slowly, alright?”

“Mmkmm.”

“What? Oh, right,” said Apple Bloom, withdrawing her hoof from the griffon’s beak. “Sorry ‘bout that, but after you keepin’ my mouth shut I figured it was my turn,” she grinned.

“That’s okay,” replied the griffon. “Sorry if I hurt you, but if they had found me watching them they would not have been very nice.”

“They wouldn’t have been much better if they caught me, either,” said Apple Bloom. “So thanks for the rescue. And sorry about runnin’ into ya before.”

“No problem,” said the griffon. She looked in the direction the griffons had run. After a few moments, she spoke again. “Looks like they’re gone for now. Now, hold on.”

She held Apple Bloom by the barrel and flew her back down to the ground. Apple Bloom found the experience much more pleasant this time around, on account of the griffon being able to support her weight with both claws and being able to breathe without a talon gripping her face.

“Thanks again. I’m Apple Bloom,” she said, extending a hoof.

“Hi Apple Bloom, I’m Gabriella, but my everygriff calls me Gabby,” replied the griffon as she took Apple Bloom’s hoof and shook.

“Pleased to meetcha,” said Apple Bloom. “Now let’s see if we can get out o’ here before those guys come back and find us.”

“Good idea.”

The pair began to move south-east, away from the direction Gabby had sent the griffon pursuit squad. At Gabby’s suggestion they used their tails to wipe the ground as they walked, erasing their tracks as they went.

“We need to tell Gilda what those Effai were up to,” said Gabby. “Um… what were they up to? I saw them sneaking around in our lands, and decided to follow them, but they got ahead of me before I found out what they were doing.”

“They were makin’ plans to - wait a minute,” Apple Bloom interrupted herself to glare at Gabby. “How do I know you’re not really with them?”

“Why else would I have pulled you up a tree?” answered Gabby.

Apple Bloom considered that for a moment. “Huh. Good point. Okay, they were makin’ plans to team up with some ponies to attack Cliffside Eyrie. I bet-”

“What?” interrupted Gabby. “Why? How? They’re Effai, they’d have to come through our lands to attack a pony city.”

“What do you mean? I thought this side o’ the canal was all griffon land,” said Apple Bloom.

“Well, yeah, it is, sort of,” Gabby said. “But this part of it belongs to my clan, the Effoh clan. The Effai clan holds the lands on our other side, and out beyond them is the Waipi clan.”

“Oh, I get it,” said Apple Bloom, “it’s sorta like how Duchess Coloratura rules the lands around Cliffside, and Duchess Rarity rules Carousel Island, and all the other dukes and duchesses rule the lands around their cities.”

Gabby paused to blink at Apple Bloom. “Huh, I guess I’d never thought about that. I just thought that all pony lands belonged to all ponies.” She resumed walking to keep pace with Apple Bloom. “Anyway, if the Effai clan want to attack Cliffside Eyrie, then they’d have to go through Effoh lands, and Gilda at least would never let them.”

“Well, I don’t know about all that,” said Apple Bloom, “but one o’ those griffons chasin’ me, some griffon called Garry, said that they’d be attackin’ Cliffside tomorrow.”

Gabby looked at Apple Bloom, her eyes wide. “But… but ever since you ponies captured Cliffside Eyrie from us griffons all those years ago, you’ve always used your spirits to help you hold it. That’s why we gave up trying to retake it ages ago. How do they think they’ll do what we Effoh couldn’t?”

“The ponies they were talkin’ to said that they’d be helpin’ them,” replied Apple Bloom. “They have an airship, and they said they were workin’ for Duke Svengallop. I reckon Svengallop wants to make Duchess Coloratura look bad, and then he’ll be friends with these griffons. Then he probably thinks all the other dukes and duchesses’ll be really impressed with him.”

“Argh,” Gabby groaned. “And if Effai can take Cliffside Eyrie, through Effoh lands, then their clan will get more powerful. They already have a lot of influence, but if they can get away with this, then they’ll take away some of our friends in the council! They’ll be even more powerful!”

Apple Bloom thought for a moment. “So… I don’t want ‘em to attack Cliffside, and you don’t want ‘em to either. Do ya think we can get your clan to stop them?”

“Maybe...” replied Gabby. “I know most of the Effoh clan would want to stop the Effai from doing anything just because they’re Effai and we’re Effoh, but most griffons probably wouldn’t want to help ponies do anything.”

“Well, we’ll just hafta try and convince ‘em, then,” said Apple Bloom.

“How?” Gabby asked.

Apple Bloom shrugged. “I dunno. They’re your clan, you know ‘em better than me. What do you think we should do?”

Gabby fell silent, thinking about their options. Eventually, she spoke up. “We should try to talk to Gilda. She’ll listen to me, at least. Maybe I can get her to listen to you too, and then together we can get her to help somehow.”

“I guess we just have to hope that your clan likes us ponies better than that other clan then,” Apple Bloom said. “Who’s this Gilda you keep mentionin’?”

“She’s a nest leader,” replied Gabby. “She’s the griffon in charge of this part of Effoh’s lands.”

“Ah. Kinda like a duke or duchess, then,” said Apple Bloom. “Do ya think she’ll want to help stop the attack?”

“I think she’ll do whatever gets her more influence with the other nest leaders,” Gabby answered. “Usually, stopping anything the Effai from getting their way do would do that, but if Gilda was a part of the group that retook Cliffside Eyrie from the ponies, that would be really impressive. So she might try to work with the Effai to attack the city instead of helping it.”

“But thousands o’ ponies live there! They’d get hurt! Or worse!” Apple Bloom cried.

“I know, I’m trying to think of a way to make sure that Gilda would help, but I can’t think of anything,” Gabby replied.

They walked in silence for a little while, before Apple Bloom slowed as a thought occurred to her.

“Wait a minute,” she said. “These Effai griffons are only gonna attack because they got some ponies workin’ with them, right?”

“Yeeaah…” said Gabby.

“And then they’d be all friendly with those ponies afterwards, right?” continued Apple Bloom. “Well, what if we could get Gilda to be friends with Duchess Coloratura? They’re already neighbours, and maybe all them other nest leaders would be really impressed with Gilda if she was friends with a pony duchess.”

“I guess that could work,” mused Gabby. “Okay, yeah. So that’s the plan then. Get a griffon and a pony to be friends. For the first time in history.”

“Doesn’t sound too hard,” Apple Bloom replied, before sighing. “It’ll probably be a while before I get back home, though.”

“What do you mean?”

“Aw, don’t worry about it,” Apple Bloom said. “I just hope Scoots got out okay.”

“Who’s Scoots?” asked Gabby.

“Scootaloo,” answered Apple Bloom. “She’s my best friend. When we saw the airship fly past, we decided to follow it to see what it was up to. After we heard the deal they made with the griffons, we decided to try to warn somepony, but I think one of us must have made a noise, ‘cause that’s when those griffons started chasin’ me.” Apple Bloom sheepishly grinned and said, “I musta been on the wrong side of the tree, ‘cause I ran the wrong way.”

“How did you stay ahead of them?” Gabby asked. “We griffons can fly faster than most ponies can run.”

“I dunno what happened,” said Apple Bloom. “One moment they were flyin’ after me, the next they’d all crashed and hurt their wings or somethin’, ‘cause they started runnin’ instead.”

“Was it one of your spirits?” asked Gabby.

“Spirits? You asked about spirits before,” said Apple Bloom. “Do you mean our furies?”

“Furies? Is that what you call them?” replied Gabby. “The spirits that let you control the wind and trees and fire and everything.”

Apple Bloom pouted to herself. “Yeah, we call ‘em furies. But I can’t do it.” She thought back to her escape from the clearing. “Although, maybe somepony else windcrafted at those griffons. I think I might have heard a gust o’ wind while I ran.”

“You can’t make the spiri- the furies do what you want?” asked Gabby. “I was always told that all ponies could do that.”

“Well, you're lucky then,” scowled Apple Bloom. “You’re talkin’ to the one pony who can’t do it.”

“Oh. I’m sorry,” said Gabby. After a moment of silence, she said, “Maybe Scootsaloo made that wind?”

“It’s Scootaloo,” Apple Bloom corrected, “and she can only craft fire. It must have been somepony else. I wonder who, though. Those ponies from the airship wouldn’t have done it, it was their boss who wanted to catch us.” She looked around. “Whoever it was, I guess they aren’t too interested in helpin’ me, or they’d be here now.”

“Well, maybe someone else was watching, and whoever they were, after they made the wind blow down the Effai griffons, they went to help Scootaloo?” suggested Gabby.

“Yeah, maybe they did,” Apple Bloom said.

“So, how does it work, anyway?” asked Gabby.

“What, furycraftin’?” said Apple Bloom. “You’re askin’ the one wrong pony to ask.”

“Aw, come on, you must know something,” badgered Gabby.

Apple Bloom sighed. “Okay, fine. We ponies can talk to furies. All of us - except me - can talk to and control at least one kind o’ fury really well. Some of us can work with more than one kind.”

“There’s different kinds?” asked Gabby.

“Sure, there’s six,” replied Apple Bloom. “Earth, air, water, fire, wood, and metal. Like I said before, Scoots has a fire fury. Applejack, the mare who raised us, has a wood fury, and her brother Big Mac has an earth fury.”

“Oh, I get it,” said Gabby. “Each kind of fury lets you control that kind of thing.”

“Yeah. Scootaloo has a fire fury, so she can control fires. Applejack can control plants or anything made of wood.” Apple Bloom frowned. “And I control nothin’.”

Gabby winced at Apple Bloom’s tone. “Sorry. We can talk about something else if you want.”

“No, it’s okay,” replied Apple Bloom, “I can tell you’re excited about this stuff. Anyways, with furycraftin’ a pony gets some extra stuff to go with it. Earth furies let you be really strong - like earlier today, when we were harvestin’ apples. Big Mac was pullin’ a huge wagon, big enough to fit about thirty ponies, filled with all the harvested apples, up hill. He wasn’t even sweatin’.”

“Wow. What else can furies do?” asked Gabby.

“Well, firecrafters can push some of their feelin’s out to other ponies around them,” replied Apple Bloom. “Scootaloo tries not to do that to me, but sometimes she can’t help it, and then I find myself standin’ on a board with wheels, rollin’ really fast down a really big hill. Or I suddenly get scared o’ fallin’ off of a perfectly good rope bridge.”

“What else?”

“Applejack could always use Winona to hide anywhere there was a few plants growin’, even if she was bigger than any o’ the plants she was hidin’ with,” said Apple Bloom. “Some kinda woodcrafty hidin’ trick, I guess. I don’t know much about the other kinds o’ furies though. I think one o’ the neighbours used his metalcraftin’ to not feel the pain when he broke his leg once, until a watercrafter healed it for him.” Apple Bloom shrugged. “I dunno. I don’t know many other ponies all that well, ‘cause they all call me a furyless freak and mean stuff like that. So I stay away from ‘em. I haven’t seen all that much o’ what all the other kinds o’ furies can do.”

“Wow,” said Gabby. “I’m sorry that the other ponies call you mean names. I promise I won’t let anygriff call you anything but ‘Apple Bloom’.”

“Thanks, Gabby,” replied Apple Bloom, “I appreciate that.” She chuckled as a thought occurred to her. “Maybe Gilda and Coloratura won’t be the first griffon and pony to be friends.”

“Really? Who was first?” asked Gabby.

Apple Bloom smiled at her. “You haven’t heard o’ the friendship between Apple Bloom the pony and Gabby the griffon?”

Gabby stopped in her tracks. “Oh. My. Gosh. I’m friends with a pony!” she squealed.

“Well, that friendship was easy,” muttered Apple Bloom, watching Gabby bounce with joy. “Gilda and Coloratura should be a piece o’ cake.”

Chapter Seven

Apple Bloom and Gabby crouched down on the ground at the eastern edge of the forest. The land before them rose up to a ridge running almost directly across their path, and appeared to curve away from the travellers both to the north and south. The griffon looked around for signs of pursuit, while the pony pricked her ears, swivelling them this way and that.

“I don’t see anygriff,” said Gabby.

“I can’t hear anythin’ either. What do ya think?” asked Apple Bloom.

Gabby pondered for a moment before replying. “All right, let’s go.”

The pair bolted from the tree line, headed straight for the ridge. Upon reaching it, they crested it and ducked below the ridgeline, before peeking back over the top to check for their pursuers. Seeing none, Gabby balled a talon and bumped it against Apple Bloom’s raised hoof. “I think we lost them.”

“Me too,” replied Apple Bloom with a grin. “Now, which way?”

“Eyrieport is south of straight east from here, more or less,” replied Gabby. “We’ll get home shortly after nightfall if we keep up the pace.”

“Okay then, after you,” Apple Bloom said.

They turned around, and stopped in shock. The land sloped down before them, becoming a valley, several miles wide, completely encircled by the ridge they had just come over. The valley was the site of a dense rainforest, wreathed in fog even with the sun high in the sky.

“By the furies,” breathed Apple Bloom. “It’s beautiful!”

“How did I not know about this place?” wondered Gabby.

After taking in the gorgeous sight for a minute, Apple Bloom shook her head. “Come on Gabby,” she said. “Let’s go.”

“Yeah,” replied Gabby somewhat distractedly before shaking her own head and speaking with a little more focus. “Yeah, okay then. South of east, through the rainforest.”

They made their way down hill into the valley, shortly entering the rainforest itself. While they walked, Apple Bloom looked around at the trees, her experience with nature coming to her thoughts. “What kind o’ trees are these, do you know? They seem different, somehow.”

Gabby looked at a few of them herself. “Hmm? I’m not sure, they all look the same from down here.”

With a final look at the nearest tree trunk followed by a shrug, Apple Bloom decided not to worry about them. They’d be through the forest after a couple of hours anyway, and if they managed to stop the fighting then she could probably come back to visit later.

Apple Bloom and Gabby continued through the rainforest for about some time, Apple Bloom telling Gabby about life on a pony farm, while Gabby spoke of her time living in the griffon city of Eyrieport. After a mile or so, Apple Bloom paused.

“Uh, Gabby?” she asked. “I’ve gotten all turned around. Do you know which way we’re goin’?”

“Wait here,” suggested Gabby, “while I fly up top and figure out which way is which.”

With a few quick flaps of her wings, Gabby made her way to the treetops. Apple Bloom, meanwhile, waited patiently on the ground. She suddenly heard a growl, and whipped her head around toward the source. Seeing nothing amiss, she backed into the nearest tree.

“I spotted the sun easily enough,” said Gabby, descending to the ground. “But I also saw some griff- Apple Bloom? What is it?”

“I heard a growl,” whispered Apple Bloom, lifting a hoof to point, “from that way.”

Gabby turned to look where Apple Bloom was pointing. After glancing at a few suspect shadows, she said, “I don’t see anything.”

“Neither do I,” replied Apple Bloom. “I can’t hear anythin’ anymore, either.”

“Maybe it was nothing,” suggested Gabby. “After all, we haven’t heard any animals so far.”

Apple Bloom considered that for a moment, before gasping in horror. “We haven’t heard any animals. In a rainforest! Why not?”

Gabby’s eyes widened as she followed the the thought to its conclusion. “Because something has been hunting them!”

“We hafta go back,” said Apple Bloom.

“We can’t,” Gabby replied. “I was trying to tell you, I saw some griffons back where we came from. If we go back, they’ll catch us.”

“Uh-oh,” said Apple Bloom.

“You can say that again,” Gabby said.

“So we hafta go forward,” Apple Bloom said. “Into the rainforest full of some kinda predator that might be huntin’ us.”

“Yeah,” said Gabby, “so let’s go very quietly.”

“Good idea.”

After a few silent steps, Gabby stood stock still. “Oh, Arimaspi,” she whispered.

Apple Bloom looked around to see what had spooked Gabby. “Now what?”

“Remember how I said I didn’t know about this place?” asked Gabby

“Yeah...”

“I was wrong. I think we’re in Bowl Valley.”

“Okay,” said Apple Bloom. “Does that mean you know how to get through safely?”

“No! Every griffon is warned about Bowl Valley,” Gabby said. “When we’re just fledgelings our parents keep us in line by threatening to ‘send us to Bowl Valley’. As we grow up, we’re taught about how everygriff who has gone into the valley has never come out again. Apple Bloom, we’re going to die!”

Apple Bloom moved to comfort her panicking friend. “Hey, Gabby! Calm down. We are not gonna die here. Do you know why?”

“Why?”

Apple Bloom looked Gabby in the eyes. “Because for the first time, a griffon has gone into Bowl Valley with her pony friend,” she said. “And we are going to get out of here so we can get Gilda to help stop the Effai clan from attacking Cliffside Eyrie. Got it?”

Gabby looked at Apple Bloom’s determined face, and found her confidence again. She took a breath, and let it out. “Okay. We’ll get out.”

“That’s better,” said Apple Bloom. “Now let’s go. Which way?”

“This way is east,” Gabby said, setting off deeper into the rainforest.

After a few minutes, they stopped when they heard another growl from the deep shadows.

“You heard it that time, right?” asked Apple Bloom in a low whisper

“Yeah, I did,” answered Gabby in kind, gaze locked on the suspect shadows. “Let’s go this way.”

Gabby led Apple Bloom slightly northward, away from where the growl had come from. After a few steps, they heard rustling, as though something was shadowing their movements from the right.

Apple Bloom nudged Gabby, and gestured that they should adjust their course a little to the left. Gabby nodded, and they turned further north. Several minutes later they tried turning back toward the east, only to be met with yet another growl.

Apple Bloom shot a determined glance at Gabby, tilting her head eastwards. Gabby’s eyes widened for a moment, before she nodded with a gulp. Then, they bolted as one towards the source of the growl and ran east as fast as they could, Gabby taking to the air to keep up with the galloping Apple Bloom. They shot past something in the darkness, but did not stop to see what it was in their mad dash for freedom.

The something roared as they went past, spurring the fleeing youngsters to still greater speeds. A howl came from somewhere ahead of them in response to the roar.

The source of the new sound was revealed when the runners rounded a tree and almost collided with a timberwolf, hunkered down low to the ground and glaring with glowing green eyes at the nearly panicking Apple Bloom and Gabby. The timberwolf let loose the lowest growl they had heard yet, and stalked towards them.

Gabby tugged on Apple Bloom’s foreleg, turning left before they ran once again. “Why didn’t it attack us? Why don’t any of them attack?” she asked.

“I think they’re herdin’ us somewheres,” replied Apple Bloom, voice coloured with concern, “I’m startin’ to feel like a sheep. Notice we’re goin’ north again?”

“We’ve got to get out of here!” cried Gabby.

“I don’t suppose you could carry me out with those wings o’ yours?” suggested Apple Bloom.

“I’m more of a glider than a flapper; I could carry you, but not far and certainly not fast,” Gabby replied.

“Horseapples,” said Apple Bloom. “Well, we’ve gotta do somethin’.”

“I’m open to ideas,” Gabby said.

Apple Bloom thought for a moment. “How about we try west, see what happens?”

With a shrug, Gabby turned left, followed swiftly by Apple Bloom. They made it past a few trees before a manticore jumped out at them and let out a deep roar, bat wings spread, lion’s mane spread out and scorpion tail raised to strike. With a yelp Gabby and Apple Bloom turned back north.

“Yep,” panted Apple Bloom, “we’re bein’ herded, all right.”

“I’ve never heard of manticores and timberwolves working together like this,” commented Gabby.

“Must be why there’s never been any griffon who got outta the valley,” said Apple Bloom. “Reckon we can outrun ‘em?”

Gabby looked back. Her eyes widened and she picked up the pace. “I hope so!”

Apple Bloom looked back to see what Gabby had seen, and was rewarded with the sight of the manticore chasing after them, no more than two or three ponylengths behind her. A little way behind the manticore ran the timberwolf. “Yikes!” she cried, increasing her speed to keep up with Gabby.

After a few more minutes of wild flight, they found themselves headed uphill. At the top of the hill Apple Bloom saw the widest tree she had ever seen. It appeared to be hollow, with an opening in the form of a gap just wide enough for a full-grown stallion to pass through.

“Get right up against that tree,” she called to Gabby, “and be ready to take me up into the canopy somewhere on the other side. I’ve got an idea.”

“Okay,” panted Gabby, “got it.”

They ran on either side of the tree, brushing their flanks against it, and were rewarded with the sound of their pursuers colliding with it.

Thump! Thump!... Thump!

“Ha! Take that,” cheered Apple Bloom. Gabby scooped her up and flew her into the branches of a tree partway down the far side of the hill.

They climbed up into the branches, hoping to stay out of sight when the predators finally shook off the impact. They waited quietly, when suddenly Gabby started twitching her head. Apple Bloom was about to ask her what was wrong when she found herself thinking of Scootaloo, of how Scootaloo so often encouraged her to ever more mischief as they tried to get their cutie marks. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she asked Gabby what was wrong.

“Nothing, sorry,” came the whispered reply. “Just got caught up thinking of Gilda, how she always tries to make things better for the clan.”

“It’s okay Gabby, I was just thinkin’ o’ Scoots, myself,” whispered back Apple Bloom. “But we should focus. Once them hunters have gone, we should try to get outta this valley.”

“Good idea.”

They watched the great tree at the top of the hill, waiting for the predators to come around it in search of their escaped prey. However, they instead saw two green flashes from somewhere on the tree’s other side. Apple Bloom shot a puzzled glance at Gabby, who shrugged in response.

“Apple Bloom?” called a voice Apple Bloom recognised.

“Gabby?” called one she didn’t.

Scootaloo stepped around one side of the tree, as a brown and white female griffon came around the other side. The pair began to make their way downhill.

“Gilda? What are you doing here?” asked Gabby, leaning out of the canopy. “This is Bowl Valley!”

“Scoots!” cried Apple Bloom. “Careful! There’s a timberwolf and a manticore around there somewhere. And how’d ya get away from them plottin’ ponies back in that clearin’?”

Gabby and Apple Bloom made their way down from the tree to greet their friends, only for them to back up to the hollow tree. “Gilda? What is it?” asked Gabby.

“Guys, there’s something you’ve gotta see in here!” said Scootaloo, pointing a wing at the opening into the tree.

“Yeah, it’s totally amazing,” agreed Gilda.

“Later, maybe,” said Apple Bloom. “Scoots, we’ve gotta warn Cliffside Eyrie, remember?”

“Yeah, Gilda? We need to talk about that,” said Gabby. “The Effai want to attack Cliffside Eyrie through Effoh lands!”

“Yeah, yeah, we’ll deal with that later,” replied Gilda. “Come on, check this out!”

Apple Bloom and Gabby shared a frown. Scootaloo wouldn’t brush off the plot to attack Cliffside Eyrie like that. And although Apple Bloom hadn’t met Gilda before, from what Gabby had said about her she thought it very unlikely that the nest leader would be so dismissive about a rival clan moving forces through her territory.

“Come on Apple Bloom, come look at this,” said Scootaloo.

“Apple Bloom, something’s wrong here,” whispered Gabby. “Gilda wouldn’t just ignore me about the Effai like that.”

“Yeah, Scoots is actin’ mighty odd too,” replied Apple Bloom.

“Hey, you two,” called Gilda. “Have a look at this already!”

Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. “Fine, fine. We’ll have a look. It’s dark in there, though. Can you give me some light, Scoots?”

Scootaloo took a few steps downhill before replying to Apple Bloom. “How?”

“What do ya mean, ‘How?’ Firecraftin’, o’ course,” answered Apple Bloom.

“Apple Bloom, she’s a pony,” said Gilda, taking a few steps forward herself. “How is she supposed to make light?”

Gabby looked at Gilda, her beak hanging open. “Gilda, you know all about ponies and their spirits.”

Apple Bloom narrowed her eyes, looking back and forth between Gilda and Scootaloo. “Gabby, I’m startin’ to think it’s not really them,” she said.

“No,” replied Gabby. “I don’t think they are either. We should get out of here.”

But before either of them could make any movement away from the suspicious pair, Scootaloo and Gilda leaped at them, and with a dual green flash they became a manticore and a timberwolf. Gabby shrieked with fear before the timberwolf quickly tackled her to the ground, while the manticore sank it’s fangs into Apple Bloom’s shoulder, causing her to scream in agony. She struggled to free herself, succeeding only in losing the ribbon binding her mane. The last thing Apple Bloom saw was the timberwolf dragging Gabby’s prone body toward the hollow tree, before everything faded to blackness.

Chapter Eight

Big Mac hauled his wagon along the road, propelled to high speed by his earthcrafting. His orange mane and tail rippled with the speed of his progress. Looking back to the passengers riding the wagon, he spoke.

“We’ll get there just before nightfall.”

“Thanks, Big Mac!” called back Scootaloo from her perch atop an apple barrel. She turned to Rainbow Dash, who was eating an apple while laying on top of the crates of lanterns Scootaloo had created that morning. “Big Mac says we’ll get to Cliffside by nightfall.”

“Yeah, I heard him,” replied Rainbow. “That’s pretty good time, considering how far we have to go.”

“That’s Big Mac for you,” said Scootaloo. “He’s the best earthcrafter there is!”

Rainbow smiled indulgently. “He certainly seems to be.” After a moment's thought, Rainbow rolled over to face Scootaloo. “Hey, squirt? Mind if I ask you something?”

“Sure Rainbow Dash, what is it?” Scootaloo said.

“Well, at first I thought you’d live with your family,” said Rainbow, “but you don’t call either Applejack or Big Mac mum or dad. So I was wondering, what’s the deal? Is either of them one of your parents?”

“Oh, is that all?” said Scootaloo, waving a dismissive hoof. “No, but they look after me like they were!”

“Eeyup,” agreed Big Mac.

“So… since you won’t be getting back home until at least tomorrow, won’t your parents be wondering where you are?” Rainbow asked.

“No, they won’t,” said Scootaloo, head down and ears low. “My parents used to live at the carrot farm next to Sweet Apple Acres. We passed it before, actually. Anyway, one day there was an accident, and they both died. That’s when AJ and Big Mac took me in; they’ve been looking after me ever since.”

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry,” said Rainbow, mortified at the tale.

“It’s okay, don’t worry about it,” replied Scootaloo. “It was years ago. I do miss them, but I’ve got AJ and Big Mac and Apple Bloom now.”

“Well, I’m sorry about your parents, but at least you seem to have some pretty cool ponies filling in for them,” Rainbow said.

“Yeah I do!” agreed Scootaloo. “So how about your story? How did you become a spy?”

“Oh, wow. Heh, I haven’t thought back on that for a while,” chuckled Rainbow. “It started… what, almost fourteen years ago, when I was about your age…”

Almost Fourteen Years Ago

The young blank-flanked blue pegasus filly with the rainbow-coloured mane quivered with excitement. Rainbow Dash stood with a crowd of similarly aged colts and fillies gathered outside Cloudreach Skyport, waiting more or less patiently for the arrival of the prince.

Crown Prince Clean Leaf, heir to the throne of Ponera, furycrafter extraordinaire, and airship fancolt, had come to the mountainside town of Cloudreach to take possession of his brand new personal sky yacht, Pax Ponera. Before he took it back to the capital of Equinopolis, he had decided to open its hatchways to the foals of the town, and have them join him on a quick test flight. Rainbow had been looking forward to this forever, for two whole weeks, ever since the opportunity had been announced.

The airship had been constructed behind a metaphorical veil of secrecy and the literal wall of a private shipyard, so little was known about the details of the prince’s ship. This did nothing to prevent the foals from wildly specualting about the ship, each theory more impressive, if less likely, than the last. Rainbow listened to one of the nearby discussions.

“I heard that it doesn’t even have an envelope!” exclaimed one red-coated earth pony colt to his fellows. “It flies with magic!”

“That’s impossible,” scoffed a dark yellow unicorn filly with a two-toned red and yellow mane and tail. “Even all the unicorns in Cloudreach working together couldn’t lift something as big as an airship. Not even all the unicorns in all of Ponera could do it!”

“It is too possible,” shot back the colt, “just because your magic is pathetic doesn’t mean everypony else's is!”

Rainbow saw the filly’s eyes take on a dangerous gleam and her horn glowed with teal magic.

“Do you want to see just how pathetic my magic is?” she growled, narrowing her eyes at the colt.

Before the unicorn could do anything more, Rainbow threw herself between the two. “Hey, cut it out, you two!” she cried. “Before we all get sent home!”

“She started it,” said the colt.

“He’s an idiot if he thinks magic can make an airship fly,” snapped the unicorn.

Rainbow looked at the unicorn, her cerise eyes meeting the unicorn’s teal. “Then let him be an idiot.”

“Hey!” protested the colt.

“If you get into a fight, then you won’t be allowed to see the prince,” finished Rainbow.

The unicorn glared at Rainbow before rolling her eyes, releasing her magic with a sigh. “Fine. But he’s still wrong.”

“Duh,” replied Rainbow, ignoring the colt when he protested. “Everypony knows that it takes wind furies to really fly.” She emphasised her point by briefly hovering on a gust of furycrafted wind.

“Yeah. And tamed wind furies aren’t as focused as normal ones, so it takes three of them working together to lift two ponies worth of weight,” said the unicorn. “And the wind furies would fly away if they weren’t kept in an envelope, so obviously there has to be one.”

“And it has to be a little bit bigger than the hull to carry the hull and the ponies and the cargo and stuff,” grinned Rainbow, determined to beat the unicorn at her own game, “because a tamed wind fury needs about as much space as a pony.”

“Well done, my little ponies,” said a grown stallion’s voice. “Many of my advisors wouldn’t have known all that.”

Rainbow and the unicorn filly turned to see who was speaking. He was a pegasus stallion, a little shorter than most, with a pale tan coat and smiling blue eyes. His blonde mane was somewhat windswept, and topped with a small crown of gold.

The fillies eyes went wide. “Prince Clean Leaf!” they cried.

A wave of silence rippled out from them, the fillies and colts hearing the name of the prince and turning to look. When they started to bow, however, the prince apparently decided that was enough ceremony.

“Oh, enough of that, cut it out,” he said. “I get enough bowing from the ponies back home. Let’s go and have a look at my new airship!”

The gathered youngsters cheered their agreement, and followed the prince into the skyport facility. They went straight past the reception desks and moved toward one of the waiting rooms. Clean Leaf stopped at the door, bringing the procession to a halt.

“Now, who wants to see my new airship?” he asked. “Come on, everypony, raise your hoof if you can’t wait to see it for the first time ever!”

Everypony raised a forehoof, including the prince himself. He looked around at the excited crowd, performing a comical double take when he saw his own hoof raised. “I guess that’s all of us then. Okay, but first of all, where are those fillies who know all about airships? You two know who you are, come on up here!”

Rainbow and the yellow unicorn filly looked at each other in surprise before making their way to the head of the group.

“There you are,” said the prince. “What are your names?”

The unicorn arrogantly stepped forward. “I’m Sunset Shimmer,” she declared, “the most powerful unicorn in Cloudreach.”

While the prince arched an eyebrow at the bold claim, Rainbow stepped up. “And I’m Rainbow Dash,” she proudly stated, “and I’m the awesomest, coolest, and radicalest pegasus in Cloudreach!” She blinked up at Prince Clean Leaf, and grinned sheepishly before amending her claim. “Well, at least I was until you got here, sire.”

Clean Leaf grinned back at her. “Well, let’s see here. I’ve got Cloudreach’s awesomest, coolest, radicalest pegasus, I’ve got the most powerful unicorn in town, I’ve got me, I think we’re all here. So let’s go see my new ship!”

Flinging open the door, Clean Leaf led the charge into the waiting room, Rainbow and Sunset right behind him. The waiting room held a number of benches, arrayed before wide, sweeping windows offering a breathtaking view of the plains to the west of the town, up to the easternmost limit of the Dark Jungle beyond. On this occasion the glorious vista went ignored, because the windows also served as an excellent vantage point from which to look at the airships berthed at the skyport.

The ponies crowded the windows, some of those who could fly taking to the air for a clearer view, all looking at the new airship berthed at the VIP dock. “Ooh,” they murmured, impressed with the design of the vessel.

Pax Ponera was a narrow yacht, smaller and sleeker than the typical cargo haulers the foals usually saw coming out of the Cloudreach Airship Yards. Her hull looked to be about eighty ponylengths long by about fifteen wide, and seemed to be a mere two decks deep. There was an aftcastle taking up about a fifth of the length of the ship, with the helm and throttle stack mounted on the poop deck. There was also a midcastle, about fifteen ponylengths long, whose rear wall was at the midway point along the length of the ship. The hull was made of cherrywood stained a reddish brown, with guardrails and porthole fittings made of polished brass.

The ship’s weight was supported, despite the earlier claims of one now embarrassed colt, by an envelope. Shaped as a pointed ellipse with orthogonally mounted fins at the back end, the envelope was slightly longer and wider than the hull. It was coloured dark gray, with bright yellow patterns around the circumference at the back and a few blue patches along the sides. The envelope was attached to the hull by a thick mast coming up from the hull along the back wall of the midcastle, and supported in place by several thick ropes anchored to some of the hull’s structural spars.

“Look at the engines,” Clean Leaf said.

The engines were attached just behind the midcastle, each mounted at the end of a platform holding them about three ponylengths out the sides of the ship, and elevated slightly so that the spinners of the rear-mounted propellers would be at eye level of ponies on the quarterdeck. They were shaped like pointed cylinders laid alongside the ship, with a streamlined box-like structure attached to their underside, itself bolted to the supporting platform. Made of black iron with brass highlights, they looked sleek, powerful, and indestructible.

Sunset frowned down at the ship. “Are those…” she breathed, horn glittering with blue-green light as she charged it in an attempt to improve her magical senses.

Clean Leaf looked over at her and grinned. “Yep. Magical modifications on the engines. They’re a gift from Duke Night Light over in Mount Argent; apparently his daughter has a real knack for magic.” He glanced up at her glowing horn. “Maybe you are as powerful as you say; can you really feel the spells from all the way up here?”

“Well, I am pretty strong, but no, I can’t feel them from here,” said Sunset, dimming her horn. “I just spotted the gemstones on the engines, and thought I’d give it a try.”

Rainbow looked at one of the engines, wishing she knew how to get her wind fury to perform a farseeing crafting. Her sharp pegasus eyes nevertheless easily resolved two rubies, an emerald, and a sapphire, all mounted on a small wooden panel on the side of the engine where they could easily be reached by a pony standing out along the wide spar. “I don’t get it,” she said. “What are those gems for?”

The fillies and colts murmured with shared confusion. Clean Leaf gestured to Sunset.

“You know how engines use fire furies to heat water into steam, and then they use the steam to turn the shaft?” Sunset said, before glancing back at the engines. “Or propellers, I guess, in this case.” When the assembled youngsters mumbled their understanding, she continued. “And there’s water furies to keep the steam moving around properly, and metal furies to keep the engines all strong so they don’t blow up from all the steam pressure and heat and stuff. Well, these engines use magic spells to make the furies jobs easier. The gemstones hold the spells, so they don’t need a bunch of unicorns casting a whole lot of powerful spells all the time.”

“That’s right, Sunset,” said Clean Leaf. “Some magic-enhanced engines are built for more power, but these ones are designed to last longer between check-ups. Keeps the maintenance costs down, saves the taxpayer’s money.” Seeing the blank looks on the children’s faces, he shrugged. “And they’re cooler and more awesome,” he said, nudging Rainbow Dash who grinned at the laconic explanation. “Who wants a closer look?”

“I do!” the foals cheered together, and Clean Leaf led them to another waiting room, this one with an exit to Pax Ponera’s berth. Already waiting in the room were a number of ponies, quietly chatting with one another before falling silent upon the arrival of the prince and his charges.

“Fillies and colts, this is my crew,” said Clean Leaf. “They’ll help me run Pax whenever I take her out. Crew, these are our guests for today. Keep an eye on Sunset Shimmer and Rainbow Dash over there.” He pointed out and winked at Rainbow and Sunset. “They’re powerful and awesome, and between them they seem to know as much about airships as any of you.”

The foals chuckled while Sunset and Rainbow puffed out their chests, and the crew began to introduce themselves.

“Name’s Bad Royal,” declared a brown-coated earth pony stallion. “Do you wanna run this ship?” Blinking in surprise at the enthusiastic sounds of agreement from the assembled fillies and colts, he stammered out, “Well, you can’t.” Clearing his throat, he continued. “I’m the captain here.”

“I’m Mercy,” said a musclebound, goateed earth pony wearing a sheathed sword across his back, “but don’t think that means I’ll be merciful. I’m the prince’s bodyguard. I once defended him against a group of minotaur mercenaries.” He drew his sword, grinning as he gazed at it lovingly. “The best of ‘em carried this. Folded steel blade, gold-wrapped sharkskin grip with a solid steel pommel. It is my very favourite sword. I call it Faith.”

While the rest of the crew rolled their eyes at Mercy’s aichmophilic antics, a wiry green-coated unicorn stallion with a few geometric designs tattooed on his body spoke up. “You can call me Beast. I’m the genius mechanic.” Clean Leaf grimaced at that claim, causing Rainbow to giggle to herself.

A shapely golden-coated unicorn mare with a dark wavy mane and wearing a flattering gown was the next to introduce herself. “I am Artemis. Think of me as Prince Clean Leaf’s secretary, his agent. It’s my job to organise his schedule, ensure that his engagements go smoothly, and otherwise open doors that would normally be closed even to him.”

It took some of the older colts in the crowd a few moments to tear their eyes from her to look to the next crew member to speak. “I’m Doctor Listen,” said a slender unicorn stallion. “I’m a doctor, obviously. If anypony hurts themselves, come and see me and I can patch you up.”

“And this lovely mare is Vida,” said Clean Leaf, his wing draped over the back of the last crewmember, a tall, toned earth pony mare with a curly dark mane, a slightly swollen belly, and a shortened halberd. “She’s my personal bodyguard when Mercy is off duty. And especially when he’s on duty.”

“Hey,” said Mercy, only to be swatted in the head by a swipe from the prince’s free wing.

Seeing the wide eyes of their audience, Vida guessed at their their thoughts. “Yes, I am Princess Vida, his wife.” She glared at Clean Leaf, who grinned nervously in response, before she turned back to the foals. “So, are you all ready to go aboard the ship?” When the crowd cheered back, she declared, “Then let’s go.”

While the other foals all charged outside toward the gangplank, Rainbow and Sunset decided to hang back with the crew to avoid being jostled about by the rambunctious crowd. They were close enough to Princess Vida to hear her speaking quietly with Bad Royal.

“Where did you say you found Beast, again?” she asked.

“Jewelport,” replied Royal. “He came highly recommended; I even heard Black Strap has been trying to get him for months. What’s the problem? He is a genius mechanic.”

“So he says. I don’t know, captain,” said Vida, with a suspicious glance toward Beast. “He just bothers me is all.”

Sunset looked at Rainbow, who shrugged. They followed the crew outside and joined the line of foals waiting their turn to make their way up the gangplank being laid in place by a team of dockworkers.

When an argument that broke out at the start of the line over which of the foals would be first to board, Rainbow rolled her eyes. Flaring her wings, she said to Sunset, “Aw ponyfeathers. Alright, Sunset, hold on. I got this.” She focused on her wind fury.

“What do you- HEY!”

Sunset suddenly found herself lifted into the air by a precisely controlled gust of wind, which carried her over the gunwale before dropping her gently onto the foredeck of Pax Ponera. She turned to glare at the smirking Rainbow Dash, who flapped her wings and flew to Sunset’s side.

“Now who’s getting us into trouble?” demanded Sunset. “If I get thrown off because of you then I’ll-”

“Relax, Sunset,” grinned Clean Leaf, flying over from the dock to join them. “She probably will get you in trouble at some point. But not today; I couldn’t wait either.” He leaned out over the gunwale. “Come on everypony, all aboard!”

The flight-capable colts and fillies immediately took to the air, while the flightless crewponies simply leaped the yawning gap between wharf and airship. While a few foals ran along the gangplank, Rainbow went to the gunwale and called to one of the smaller colts to hold still. She flared her wings and focused on her fury, lifting the colt as she had lifted Sunset, bringing him aboard. Clean Leaf followed her example, lifting several of the waiting foals who squealed with delight.

Once everypony was on board, Captain Bad Royal called everypony to stations. He made his way toward the steps leading up to the poop deck, while Mercy and Vida led several foals behind him through the midcastle to the quarterdeck. Artemis and Doctor Listen remained on the foredeck with the remaining foals, who promptly ran to the gunwales to get a better look at the scenery. Beast, meanwhile, waved off the foals who tried to follow him and instead went to do something to one of the engines, horn aglow. Sunset and Rainbow looked around, unable to decide where to go, when Clean Leaf whispered to them. “Why don’t you two come with me?”

He led them aft and followed the captain up to the poop deck, where he took up position at the helm. He spun the main wheel back and forth a few times, then repeated the procedure with the smaller pitch wheel mounted sideways on the opposite side to the throttle stack, while checking the control fins mounted behind the two engines to ensure they moved properly. He then looked to the throttle stack, throwing a lever from OFF to TEST, before moving each of the two throttle levers one notch at a time, each movement rewarded with the cheery “Ding!” of a ringing bell. Satisfied, he moved the first lever across to FLIGHT before turning to the captain. “Controls free, clear and correct.”

“Glad to hear it,” came the dry reply from Bad Royal, who then called out to the rest of the crew. “Cast off!”

The crew untied the mooring lines, throwing them to the dockworkers who safely coiled them for future use. Once the lines were released the captain looked at Clean Leaf. “Okay, highness. Take us out.”

“Yessir, right away sir,” grinned Clean Leaf while pushing both throttle levers to the QUARTER SPEED position and spinning the wheel starboard. The propellers spun, pushing air through the deflected control fins and so turning the ship to the right and moving it away from the skydock. The foals all cheered as they got underway.

They spent some time flying about around and over Cloudreach, testing Pax Ponera’s maneuvering abilities while the young passengers gleefully pointed out to each other various points of interest. After several minutes of flight Clean Leaf winked at Bad Royal before calling to Rainbow and Sunset. “How would you two like to have a go at flying the ship?”

“Thanks, but I can already fly,” Rainbow grinned with a flap of her wings. She looked at Sunset and raised an eyebrow. The unicorn filly was standing there with her jaw hanging open and eyes wide. “But I think maybe Sunset might like a go.”

“Well, Sunset? Come on, step up here,” encouraged the prince. When Sunset finally snapped out of her shock and stepped forward, Clean Leaf asked if she had ever flown an airship before. When she shook her head he told her, “Don’t worry, it’s easy. Put your hooves on the main wheel…”

After giving a brief piloting lesson, Clean Leaf stepped back and nodded to the captain, who nodded in return. Bad Royal then opened his mouth to speak, before his brow furrowed.

Lowering his head to Rainbow, he whispered, “Hey, Rainbow Mane-”

“Rainbow Dash,” corrected Rainbow.

“Rainbow Dash, whatever.” The captain rolled his eyes. “What’s her name again?”

“Sunset Shimmer,” replied Rainbow. She shared a mischievous grin with Clean Leaf when she guessed what was about to happen, and was proved correct a moment later.

“Miss Shimmer, engines to half speed,” ordered the captain.

Sunset’s head whirled around, her eyes wide as she processed what Bad Royal had just said, before she grinned. Turning back to the wheel, she lit her horn and used her magic to push the two throttle levers to the position marked HALF SPEED. She was rewarded with the sound of the engines increasing in pitch, accelerating the airship to a higher velocity. “Half speed, captain!”

“Very good, Miss Shimmer,” complimented the captain. “Take us two points to starboard.”

With glances at the compass, Sunset spun the wheel to the right, taking the ship into a gentle turn, before straightening out. “Two points to starboard, captain.”

“And now, take us up to, say, two thousand ponylengths,” said Bad Royal.

Sunset spun the pitch wheel back, lifting the prow of Pax Ponera into a slow climb. Partway through the climb Royal called for Sunset to bring the ship about. She did so, being careful to keep the turn gentle while also keeping the prow up so that they continued to climb. When the instrument cluster indicated an altitude of just below two thousand ponylengths, Sunset returned the pitch wheel to its neutral position, leveling the ship off with the altitude gauge showing precisely the desired altitude.

“Two thousand ponylengths, captain,” she reported.

“Nicely done, helmsmare,” said the captain, reading the instruments. His eyebrows bobbed up and down in surprise. “Very nicely done, in fact. You’re off by less than ten lengths. More than a hundred either side is normal for a newbie, and less than fifty is good for experienced pilots.”

“I think that’s enough helming for now, Sunset. You’re gonna make me look bad,” teased Clean Leaf, stepping up to the guardrail and calling for the attention of the youngsters on the quarterdeck.

“I hear he used to overshoot by more than three hundred ponylengths,” whispered Bad Royal to the fillies, who giggled in response.

Clean Leaf looked down to the crowd gathered on the quarterdeck. “Okay, who wants to have a go at steering?” he called to the foals. Being met with sounds of agreement, he pointed to one of them at random and invited her up to the poop deck, then promised the next turn to whoever carried the invitation to the foals on the foredeck.

Sunset surrendered her position to the chosen filly, who then received a lesson on piloting from Bad Royal. Sunset stepped back to join Rainbow, before Clean Leaf beckoned them to join him on his way to the quarterdeck.

They followed Clean Leaf to the quarterdeck, being careful to stay out of the way of all the foals coming aft to the quarterdeck to wait for their turn at the helm. “So, how was it?” he asked.

“Eh, it was alright,” replied Sunset, trying to hide her excitement.

Clean Leaf wasn’t fooled at her attempted nonchalance. “You are a natural, young lady. I take it you’re planning on flying an airship of your own one day?”

“That’s what’s gonna happen, yeah,” Sunset said.

Clean Leaf smiled at her. “Well, keep at it. With skills like yours, maybe you could even work for me one day. What about you, Rainbow? Where will your awesomeness take you?”

“Somewhere awesome, of course,” replied Rainbow. “Somewhere I can help ponies be almost as awesome as me!”

“Like the way you helped Sunset and that colt board the Pax? A pony as helpful as you should go far,” said Clean Leaf. Rainbow grinned and the prince turned back to Sunset. “Anyway, Sunset, how would you like a closer look at the engines?”

After receiving an enthusiastic nod from Sunset, he led them to the starboard engine. Beast’s horn glowed scarlet while he rested a hoof on the engine, communing with its furies and simultaneously casting some sort of spell at one or another of the gemstones. When he heard Clean Leaf and the fillies approaching, he looked up at them in surprise before putting on a grin. His horn flared brightly for a moment before dimming, then he nodded farewell and stepped away to enter the midcastle.

“Here we are,” said the prince. “It’s a Muffin 42-M engine, from BubbleWorks in Mount Argent.”

Sunset stepped up to the engine, horn glowing before she stopped and looked up at Clean Leaf. “Can I check out the spells?” she asked. When he nodded to her, she looked at one of the rubies. It dimly glowed with teal light. “The spell in this ruby is for redirecting heat, I think,” she said, before shifting her focus onto the next gems in turn, each glowing as she touched them with her magic. “This one looks like… it cools the steam down? This sapphire holds a water flow spell of some kind, and the emerald… I think it’s helping hold the metal together. They’re all really powerful, too.”

“How powerful, do you think?” asked Clean Leaf.

“Hmm,” pondered Sunset, focusing the gemstones. “Each spell is probably strong enough to lift…” She gulped and took half a step back. “Wow. I think each one could lift me if the magic was being used that way.”

Rainbow’s jaw dropped. “I didn’t know it was possible to put so much magic in one place all at once!”

Sunset smirked at her. “Goes to show what you know. Lots of magic can be put into gemstones like these,” she said, gesturing at the gems of the furyengine. “But because unicorns can only cast so little magic at a time, the gems are prepared over hours. Or even days.”

“You certainly know your way around magic very well,” observed Clean Leaf. “That’s pretty rare; most unicorns don’t really bother with magic. They usually find furycraft easier.”

“My crafting isn’t all that good,” said Sunset, focusing back on the gemstones. “But I’ve always been good with magic.”

“Sounds like you’re really good with it,” said Rainbow.

“As I understand it, the unicorn who prepared these engine spells likes doing magic too,” said Clean Leaf. “She’s a filly about your age, perhaps a bit younger. Maybe I could arrange a meeting sometime.”

“I’d like that,” replied Sunset, frowning at the engine. “I could ask her why she shaped these spells so badly.”

“More likely it was our so-called ‘genius’ mechanic who did that,” said Clean Leaf. “The spells can’t be outright changed, but they can be adjusted. You know, so that you can adapt the engines to changing conditions. Anyway, I get the impression that Beast is all talk and no walk, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he did something he shouldn’t have. Why? What’s wrong with them?”

“Well, the heat redirection spell looks fine, maybe a bit too strong perhaps,” began Sunset, “but that cooling spell is really weak. The sapphire looks like it’s barely letting any steam reach the turbine, and as for the emerald… I think the metal spell is all focused on the other side of the engine block, I’m not feeling anything on this side.”

Rainbow thought about that for a moment, and her eyes bulged with fear. But before she could say anything, she heard the captain call for more speed. As the engine sounds increased in pitch, Rainbow felt a warning from her wind fury, a reaction to a sudden massive increase in pressure from the engine.

She drew in as much of the essence of her fury as she could, and time seemed to slow to a halt. In her fury-accelerated state, Rainbow watched the side of the engine break apart, exploding with seeming glacial slowness into a cloud of red-hot metal shrapnel and superheated steam.

She willed her fury into three gusts of wind, two to push Sunset and the prince back and away from the exploding engine, and one to push herself between them and the danger. Her fury returned to the air and the world accelerated back up to normal speed, leaving Rainbow just enough time to will her fury into a barrier of wind, blowing the hot steam and shrapnel away from herself and the other ponies on deck.

Clean Leaf and Sunset suddenly found themselves flung down to the deck, behind a rainbow-coloured blur that resolved itself into Rainbow Dash. The pegasus stood defensively before them, wings flared and head low, shielding them from the exploding engine.

BANG!

The ghostly image of a wind fury in the form of a tortoise suddenly coalesced around Rainbow Dash, embellished by wisps of steam, pieces of shrapnel ricocheting off of its shell. Everypony on deck looked at the exploded engine, the prone prince, and the translucent tortoise in stunned shock. Captain Bad Royal was the first to snap out of it, stepping to the helm and slapping the throttle levers down to the OFF position as he bellowed for Doctor Listen to report to the quarterdeck.

“Are you okay, Sunset?” asked Clean Leaf, climbing to his hooves. When she nodded, eyes slightly glazed over before she blinked her way back to full clarity, he turned to the protectively-positioned pegasus. “How about you, Rainbow? Are you hurt?”

Rainbow twitched her head to clear her thoughts, staggering a little after the strain of such extreme furycrafting. The image of the tortoise dissipated as she dropped the windcrafted barrier. “I’m fine. How about everypony else?”

A few ponies complained about the ringing in their ears, but other than one filly who was unlucky enough to have been cut on the foreleg by a piece of shrapnel that had been knocked aside by Rainbow’s furycraft, none seemed seriously wounded. Doctor Listen arrived and quickly went to work, pouring water over the filly’s injury while he willed his water fury to disinfect, clean, and ultimately heal the wound.

Bad Royal came up to the wreckage that until recently had been a perfectly functioning furyengine. “What happened?” he asked.

“The engine exploded,” said Clean Leaf, helping Sunset to her hooves. “Sunset here was saying something about the magic spells being wrong, then, boom.”

“Boom?” replied the captain.

“Boom,” agreed Clean Leaf.

Rolling his eyes, the captain continued. “Boom was easy. I figured that out all on my own. My keenly developed captain’s senses told me that. What I meant was why did it go boom.” Turning to Sunset, he began interrogating her. “Why were you tampering with the engine’s spells?”

“I- I- I wasn’t,” she stammered. “I was just looking at them, seeing how they helped the engine.”

“Royal, she couldn’t have-” began Clean Leaf before being interrupted by Rainbow.

“Hey, back off!” she cried, flying right up to the captain’s face. “Sunset didn’t do anything wrong!” The captain and the prince blinked at her in surprise, but she didn’t stop. “She said that the spells were already in all the wrong places. She said that… well, it was all complicated, but I figured it out. It all meant that somepony had turned it into a bomb, and when it blew up, it would be towards the deck.”

“That’s right,” said Sunset. “The fire and water spells were making the boiler fill with steam pressure, and the metal reinforcement spell was focused on the far side of the engine. When it blew up, all the pieces got blown this way, towards the ship and everypony on it.” She pointed a hoof at the remains of the engine to support her claim. The far side of the engine remained in place, edges torn and twisted but the bulk of it still recognisable. Clearly, some force had protected that half of the engine from the worst of the explosion, reflecting the blast back towards the ship. “If Rainbow hadn’t figured it out and crafted up that tortoise…”

“Then we’d be short at least two fillies and one prince,” finished Clean Leaf.

“Tortoise? What tortoise?” muttered Rainbow.

“They’re right, captain,” said Clean Leaf. “Besides, as I was saying, Sunset couldn’t have altered the spells because her magic hasn’t been registered as a valid user; the spells would have rejected any attempt she made to change them. Somepony with that authority did this. Deliberately.”

“Yeah, and I think I know who,” said Rainbow, blurring into motion and disappearing into the midcastle so fast that her tail literally cracked like a whip. Clean Leaf thought he saw a flash of light on the filly’s flank before she was gone.

“Mercy, go after her,” called the prince. “I think I know who she meant, and she’s probably bitten off more than she can chew. I want Beast brought out here immediately.”

But before the musclebound pony could so much as draw his sword, there came the sounds of yelling and screaming, followed by a few thumps that shook the entire hull. A moment later, the slightly battered form of Beast floated out of the midcastle, somehow embedded within the spectral tortoise form of Rainbow’s wind fury. Rainbow herself followed, glaring at the captive unicorn before blinking at the shape her fury had assumed.

“Huh,” said Rainbow with a glance at Sunset. “So that’s the tortoise you were talking about.”

Clean Leaf’s jaw dropped. “Wow. That was fast.” He looked closer at the pegasus filly. “Though I suppose I should expect speed from a pony with a cutie mark like that.”

“Cutie mark? Since when does she have a- oh,” Sunset cut herself off, realising that Rainbow did indeed have her cutie mark, consisting of a blue, yellow, and red lightning bolt streaking down from a white cloud. “Nice cutie mark, Rainbow!” she called.

As the gathered foals began to congratulate her, Rainbow blinked in surprise and turned to check her flanks. Seeing her cutie mark, she was so surprised she lost concentration on her fury. Beast dropped to the deck when the tortoise-shaped fury dissolved. But before he could seize the opportunity to escape, Mercy clobbered him on the back of the head with the pommel of his sword, knocking the unicorn to the deck.

“He was the bad guy, right?” asked Mercy, looking to Clean Leaf and Bad Royal for confirmation.

“Yep. He’s the only one who could have sabotaged the engine,” replied Clean Leaf. “Lock him up somewhere, we’ll deal with him later. Captain, I guess this trip is over. Make sure the other engine hasn’t been tampered with, then take us back to port.” He then turned to Rainbow and Sunset. “Would you two come with me, please?”

He led them to his cabin in the aftcastle, closing the door for privacy. He spent a moment to collect his thoughts before turning to the fillies. “Do you two know why I invited the foals of Cloudreach to join me on today's flight?”

“I just figured you were doing it to be nice,” Rainbow replied.

“Partly, yes,” nodded Clean Leaf. “But also because I like to keep my eyes open for foals with promising futures. Your little discussion about the finer points of windcrafting for airships attracted my attention before we even made it through the doors of the skyport. Once we got inside, you both continued to impress me.

“Sunset, you knew about magical enhancements to furyengines, and could explain about them in terms that other foals could easily understand. Then you showed yourself to be a natural at the helm, flying Pax beautifully with only a little bit of instruction, and then you were able to understand the nature of the spells in the engine’s gemstones with only a brief look.

“As for you, Rainbow Dash, you’ve gone out of your way to help others, helping some of the foals to board the ship. And then you figured out what had happened to the engine fast enough to protect the rest of us when it exploded. I have never seen anypony move that fast, nor did I expect to ever see a filly get her cutie mark by going after a saboteur mere seconds after protecting a crowd of ponies from an exploding fury engine.”

Rainbow and Sunset exchanged looks of wonder at the prince’s compliments, and Rainbow grinned. “I told you I was awesome.”

With a chuckle, Clean Leaf replied, “Yes you did, Rainbow. Well, what I’m getting at is this: you two have impressed me, and I would hate to lose you. How would you two like to go to the Equine Academy, under my patronage?”

The fillies stood in mute shock for a moment. The Equine Academy was famous all over Ponera; an institute of advanced learning, the very best of ponykind had been educated there for several centuries. Attending the academy would give them the best possible chance at making a good life for themselves.

“Would I get to learn about working on airships?” asked Sunset.

“Absolutely,” replied Clean Leaf. “In fact, I was thinking about taking you on as my protégé. What do you say to that?”

Sunset squealed with joy. “Yes! I’d love to!”

“What about me? Airships are pretty cool, but I’ve got my own wings, I’m not sure I wanna work on one. What else is there that could I do?” asked Rainbow.

“Given how fast you are, Rainbow, and how much you want to help other ponies, I think I have a job perfectly suited to your talents,” said Clean Leaf. “What do you know about the Auditors?”

Present Day

“So, that’s how I got my job, my cutie mark, and a shape for my fury, all in one day,” finished Rainbow. “Afterwards, the Pax limped back to the skyport, where it had to stay until they could install a new engine. I think Sunset helped with that, actually. Anyway, by the time the ship was fixed, Prince Clean Leaf had already sent Artemis to speak to our families and arranged it with them that we would go to the academy. Then Sunset helped fly the Pax to Equinopolis, with me as the ship's first passenger, and we started our training.”

“Wow,” murmured Scootaloo.

“I remember hearin’ about that trouble with the prince’s airship,” said Big Mac. “Didn’t that pony end up in Tartarus Prison?”

“He got like, fifty years or something. Last I heard, he’s still there,” replied Rainbow. “Anyway, it was shortly after that that I started training under Octavia, who became my personal mentor at the Academy. Jewelport was supposed to be my last training mission before I graduated as an Auditor, but instead of passing me she betrayed me.”

“When was it that Prince Clean Leaf… you know,” asked Scootaloo.

“When did he die? It was... about seven or eight months later, I think,” said Rainbow. “That was a really sad day. Did you know that Princess Vida had just had a foal? I never even got to see the kid. Anyways, they were all out flying one day, with Sunset at the helm, when something went wrong - a lightning strike to the envelope, I think I heard.”

“But wasn’t Clean Leaf a prince?” asked Scootaloo. “I thought all the royal family could craft with all six kinds of furies. So why couldn’t he just fly away?”

“Sunset told me that Vida was sick, being looked after by Doctor Listen,” replied Rainbow. “He was looking after her in the sick bay, and Clean Leaf wouldn’t leave her side. But by the time they would have realised something was wrong, the ship was going down so fast that they didn’t have enough time to get out. Sunset’s magic and crafting was enough to protect herself, but she was the only survivor - the airship burned so hard and fast that they couldn’t even figure out which burned bits were the bodies and which were parts of the ship. Anyway, the investigation said it wasn’t her fault, but Sunset still felt so bad about it that she dropped out of the Academy.”

“Wow,” said Scootaloo, ears low. “That’s so sad. So where is Sunset now?”

“She disappeared for a while,” said Rainbow, gazing into the past, “but she came back a couple of years ago, flying her own airship. She’s still a natural on deck, by the way. The things I’ve seen her do with an airship… She’s an amazing pilot.”

“Maybe we could meet her one day,” suggested Scootaloo.

“I might be able to arrange that, squirt,” said Rainbow, “But, well. She’s still not the friendliest of ponies.”

The light green pegasus watched the wagon from his arboreal perch, estimating its speed. He had been seeking the pegasus passengers of the wagon ever since the wildfire had been contained. Black Strap’s orders had been very clear.

A Few Hours Ago

“Striking Viper, you will track down those pegasi before the Scavenger is flight ready or I will eat your wings for dinner,” said Black Strap.

Present Hour

Very clear indeed.

Striking Viper had followed the road, expecting the fleeing pegasi would be using it to guide them to Cliffside Eyrie. He had been somewhat surprised to find them resting in the back of a wagon, even one moving as swiftly as this one, but considered it a stroke of good fortune. Once the envelope had been repaired, Soaring Scavenger could easily catch up to them, and would have little difficulty spotting a wagon on the open roads.

And then they could be silenced, and Cliffside Eyrie would remain unaware of what was coming. Viper was looking forward to the slaughter. He silently leaped from his branch before spreading his wings and calling his wind fury to them, quickly zooming off to the north.

Author's Note

In case you missed it, yesterday I put up a blog post that included a map of Ponera. Link is right here for those interested.

Chapter Nine

Applejack stalked the three griffons through the silent rainforest. They, in turn, sought out her adoptive daughter. Winona kept her hidden from view, though Applejack thought the fury felt uneasy, somehow. She didn’t let that slow her down, and before long she was close enough to hear them speak to each other.

“Greg, how in the name of the Arimaspi are we supposed to find the pony?” asked one of them.

“Yeah,” another agreed. “He probably used his spirits to slip behind us.”

Applejack could not prevent herself from smiling to herself at the irony of that notion.

“Shut it, you two,” replied Greg. “Garry gave us his orders, and we obey. Let’s spread out. Gavin, you move north. Graham, south. Stay in sight of me, both of you. We will find that pony.”

The griffons continued into the rainforest, followed by Applejack concealed in her woodcrafting. After several uneventful minutes, Applejack was beginning to feel uneasy, but could not put her hoof on the cause. Suddenly, Graham stopped.

“Greg,” he hissed, trying to speak to his fellow griffon while simultaneously keeping as quiet as possible.

“What?” Greg barked.

“It’s quiet,” replied Graham.

Applejack stood stock still, finally able to understand her feelings of discomfort.

“So what?” asked Greg.

“What’s going on?” cried Gavin. “Are we looking for this pony or what?”

Applejack winced at the loud calls, fearing that they might be heard by somepony - or rather, something - else.

“Graham’s complaining about the silence,” shouted back Greg.

Graham flew straight at Greg, colliding with him hard. His momentum carried the pair of them to crash into Gavin, leaving the three of them entangled with each other. “Guys, shut up!” he hissed.

“Graham, you idiot! What are you - mmf!” Greg’s admonition was silenced when Graham wrapped a claw around his beak.

“We’re in a lush rainforest,” Graham said, “and it is completely silent. Think about it! There must be some kind of predator around here!”

Greg swept a claw at Graham’s foreleg, freeing his beak. “There are predators. Us!”

Applejack’s brow furrowed as she considered that possibility. She stretched out with her furycrafting, looking for signs of large predators. She thought that some of the trees felt bruised, like some very large animals had bounced off of them recently. No, there’s more than just the griffons here, she thought.

Gavin swatted Graham with his tail. “Get off us, you idiot. There’s nothing here but us, and that pony. And he’s getting away while you shake in your feathers!”

Greg pushed Graham off of him, before smacking him in the back of the head. “Get it together, griff!” He helped Gavin up before setting off again. “Now, let’s get back to -”

The three griffons staggered for a moment, Greg putting a claw to his head, before they recovered.

What was that all about? wondered Applejack.

“Uh,” said Greg as he shook his head. “What was that?”

“I dunno,” replied Gavin. “You were yelling at Graham, it reminded me of the way Garry always does that, then… Bam! Head rush.”

“Hey guys, there you are,” came a voice from further ahead.

“What?” Greg said, crouching down into a defensive pose. “Who’s there?”

Garry stepped out from behind a tree. “It’s me, guys.”

“Garry?” asked Graham. “I thought you flew off to meet up with the army.”

“Yeah,” said Garry. “Yeah, that’s right. But I found the pony. This way.” Garry set off deeper into the rainforest.

Applejack’s ears fell, before she focused intently on the griffons.

The three looked at each other before shrugging and following Garry. Applejack followed, willing Winona to continue to hide her. I’m coming for you, Apple Bloom, she thought.

Garry led his fellow griffons to a small hill, topped with the largest tree Applejack had ever seen. “In here, guys,” he said, gesturing to a narrow opening in the tree.

Greg walked to the tree, looking at Garry. “Are you feeling okay, Garry?” he asked. “You’re acting weird.”

“Just get the pony, he’s in the tree,” replied Garry.

Wait a minute, thought Applejack. He said ‘he’, but Apple Bloom is a filly. Something isn’t right…

Greg looked at Garry, before rolling his eyes and stepping into the hollow tree. “Where is the pony? I don’t see him any-” he said before shouting out. “Arimaspi, what is that? AAARRGH!”

Applejack’s eyes went wide at the shout, as did the eyes of the other two griffons. Greg appeared at the opening into the tree, crawling along the ground. He had a large gash in his side, running with blood.

“Help me!” he gasped to his companions, before he was dragged back into the tree.

Graham and Gavin ran to the tree, only for a manticore to pounce on them with a mighty roar, knocking them to the ground under its weight.

Applejack quickly willed Winona to help her climb the nearest tree, determined to stay out of the way of the fighting. Where in tarnation did that manticore come from? she wondered.

The griffons were swiping and striking at the manticore with their claws, inflicting scratches that did nothing more than further enrage the beast. Suddenly, there was a deep growl, heralding the arrival of a timberwolf. The wooden creature looked at the battle, and leaped at one of the griffons. With twice the number of opponents, the griffons quickly fell, almost torn apart from the violence of the attacks. The monsters dragged their broken bodies toward the tree atop the hill.

Applejack looked around, ensuring there were no other predators in the area, before moving across the branches away from the area. If Apple Bloom was in this rainforest… Applejack could not bring herself to finish the thought. She descended from the trees and found herself thinking of Apple Bloom’s mischievous grin, of the trouble she so often got into as she tried to get her cutie mark.

“Applejack? Is that you?”

Applejack looked up, toward the source of the voice. “Apple Bloom?”

Apple Bloom stepped out from behind a tree. “Applejack? Where are you?”

Applejack sagged with relief at the sight of Apple Bloom and expanded her concealment woodcrafting to include Apple Bloom.

“There you are!” cried Apple Bloom. “Thank goodness, I was so scared.”

“You’re not the only one, sugarcube,” replied Applejack, her eyes filling with tears. “We hafta get outta here, AB.” She stepped towards Apple Bloom, who responded by taking a few steps back, towards the hill.

“Sure thing Applejack,” replied Apple Bloom. “But there’s somethin’ ya hafta see first. It's in this hollow tree, this way!” She began to walk back towards the site of the battle.

“I’ve seen that tree, AB,” said Applejack with a shiver. “And trust me, you don’t want to see what’s in there now. Come on, we hafta get home.”

“Aw, come on Applejack. It’ll be okay,” encouraged Apple Bloom, not turning to rejoin Applejack. “Trust me, you really should see this!”

Applejack turned back to Apple Bloom. “Listen here, little filly, I said we hafta go home, now! So let’s -” Applejack stopped, eyes wide and ears low. She saw Apple Bloom’s fuchsia hair ribbon lying on the ground some way behind Apple Bloom, whose ribbon was nevertheless still tied in its usual bow in her mane. Applejack looked back and forth between the ribbon on the ground and the filly standing before her. “You’re not Apple Bloom, are ya?”

Apple Bloom eyes narrowed and flashed green. “No, I’m not.”

Applejack whirled around and bolted away, galloping for all she was worth. As she ran, there was a howl from behind her. A glance back showed Applejack that there was a timberwolf running in pursuit. Hissing in relief that it wasn’t a more mundane monster, Applejack reached for Winona, willing the fury to attack the wooden creature. She had on occasion dispatched Winona against timberwolves, and her wood fury had always excelled at the task of disintegrating the arcane forces holding the creatures together. She expected Winona to have no difficulty against this beast.

Winona, rather than dispersing itself into the pieces of wood that comprised the timberwolf, reacted with confusion, unable to find the timberwolf at all. Shoot, she thought. If that wasn’t really Apple Bloom before, then I guess that’s not a real timberwolf now. Applejack instead willed Winona into the trees she was running past.

Several of the trees suddenly reached out, grabbing hold of the surprised timberwolf. Applejack had the trees tie their branches together, before pulling Winona back to herself and tasking the fury with keeping her hidden from view. The timberwolf howled again, struggling to free itself from the trees restraining it.

Answering howls and roars came up from all directions, spurring Applejack to still faster speeds. While she ran, she tried to understand what had happened. First, Garry led the other griffons to that tree, then something in the tree attacked Greg. Applejack shuddered at the memory. Then those monsters attacked the other two - wait a minute. What happened to Garry?Well, if I didn’t really find Apple Bloom, she reasoned, then it probably wasn’t really Garry. She came to the only possible conclusion. “Horseapples. They must be some kinda shapeshifters.”

Applejack noticed that the trees were thinning out, and realised she was approaching the limit of the rainforest. “Aw, horseapples again. I hope they don’t follow me out.”

The galloping earth pony burst out of the rainforest like a blonde bolt of orange lightning. Away from the plants of the rainforest her concealment woodcraft collapsed. She crossed the open land to the ridgeline surrounding the valley in less than a minute, and didn’t slow down until she was deep in the pine forest and Winona had reestablished the concealment crafting.

Applejack leaned against the nearest tree, her eyes filling with tears. “Oh Apple Bloom. I’m so sorry.” She spent a few minutes crying, coming to terms with the loss of her adoptive daughter, before she opened her eyes, narrowed in determination. The conspiring ponies had sent the griffons after Apple Bloom. Whatever they’re trying to do, I’m not going to let them get away with it.

Applejack found the griffon’s tracks, and followed them back to the clearing Scootaloo had described. She arrived just in time to watch the airship lift off the ground and set off towards the canal, gradually accelerating as it did so.

She looked around and gestured at the nearest tree. It bent down to the ground, allowing her to step onto the branches before it catapulted her after the airship. Applejack pointed a hoof at one of the trees in her path, causing it to lean towards her. As she came into contact with its branches it flicked her onwards, launching the pony onwards in her pursuit of the flying vessel. Repeating the process, Applejack springboarded from treetop to treetop in pursuit of the pirates, following them across the canal and south towards Cliffside Eyrie.

Chapter Eleven

Applejack sprang from tree to tree, chasing after the southbound airship. When the vessel increased speed, Applejack tried to aim for taller trees where possible, intending to use their greater height to propel herself still faster.

Spotting a particularly tall tree more or less in her path, Applejack aimed for it, and reached it in a few catapulted jumps. She used this particular tree to launch herself higher and faster, aiming for the underside of the hull of the airship. With Winona’s help, she gripped onto the wooden underside of the ship.

Holding onto the hull, Applejack considered her options. While she was a competent woodcrafter, she held little doubt that the pirate crew would have several crafters of their own who could undo any woodcrafted sabotage she did. She knew next to nothing about airships anyway, and didn’t fancy learning by trial and error whilst surrounded by the hostile ponies she held responsible for Apple Bloom’s death. Then she remembered what Rainbow Dash had told her about the encounter earlier that day.

“Heh. If it worked for her then, it should work for me now,” she mused, crawling aftward and using Winona to craft hoofholds to help her.

It was slow going, but Applejack eventually reached the stern, where she started climbing upwards toward the gunwales. Looking up, she grinned at the sight of netlike rigging connecting the poop deck to the envelope. Suddenly, somepony started yelling about battlestations and the ship started to descend.

“Uh-oh.” Applejack quickly looked around, but nopony was poking their head out a window. “They ain’t spotted me then.” She frowned, a worrying thought occurring to her. “I hope it’s not Big Mac and the others they’re gettin’ all excited about.”

There came a few thumps and the unmistakable WOOMPHs of large bursts of fire breaking out, before Soaring Scavenger started climbing again.

“Sounds like Scoots’s work,” muttered Applejack, peering over the gunwale. She grinned at the sight of ponies running about, trying to deal with several fires that had somehow started on deck. “Definitely Scoots’s work.”

Applejack watched a large balding dark gray earth pony bark out orders, which were then clarified by a scrawny-looking blue-coated unicorn. After ensuring that everypony was too busy to look aft, Applejack began to scale the netting. Just before reaching the envelope itself, she felt the ship descend again. She looked forward to see what was going on before gasping in horror. On the ground ahead of the airship she saw three ponies, Big Macintosh, Rainbow Dash, and Scootaloo, surrounded on all sides - including above - by hostile looking ponies.

“Looks like they need a hoof,” Applejack said, cresting the rim of the envelope. She poked her muzzle into her saddlebag, before withdrawing it with a knife in her teeth. “I’ll shee uf I can giff it to ‘em.”

Lowering her head to the skin of the envelope, she dug the blade into the fabric and ran towards the forward end of the ship, slicing a huge gash in the fabric. She made it about halfway along before she stumbled. So many wind furies had escaped that the envelope could no longer support her weight, or even its own shape.

The airship came crashing down, tail-end first, before the rest of the hull violently slammed into the ground with a bone-shuddering BOOM. Applejack’s own fall was cushioned by the gently collapsing fabric of the deflating envelope, and so she ran the rest of the length of the vessel. She stood at the prow briefly, looking to see how she could best help her family. Dropping her knife back into her saddlebags, Applejack leaped down onto the back of one of the pirate ponies surrounding her family, flattening him before she rolled off of him and sprang up at the hooves of Big Mac.

“AJ,” greeted the stallion.

“Big Mac,” nodded Applejack.

Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo simply stood there, jaws hanging down.

Applejack whirled around, facing the shellshocked ponies from the pirate airship, and reared up in anger. “Who's next?” she cried.

The mercenary ponies glanced at one another, each apparently unwilling to be the first to attack the mare who had brought down their airship. Applejack heard Rainbow Dash whispering something about blades and metal, but before she could ask about it, a small and intense burst of fire shot out from behind her. The flare smashed into a metallic tube mounted behind a broken-open hatch in the hull of the crash-landed Soaring Scavenger. The flames cut deeply into the metal, before the tube exploded with concussive yet surprisingly silent force, blowing a gaping hole in the side of the ship.

The ponies surrounding them collapsed to the ground, holding their hooves to their ears. Applejack blinked in surprise. “What the hay just happened?” she asked, delivering a dual-hoofed buck to the side of a green-coated pegasus who had crash-landed at her hooves.

“Scootaloo blew up a furycannon, while I crafted up a sound barrier,” said Rainbow. “Now, run, before they snap out of it!”

The four ponies turned and gallop southwards, leaping over the cringing twins Flim and Flam. Rainbow took a moment to will her wind fury into a windstream aimed directly at Octavia, blowing her up and away, colliding with what was left of the mercenary forces just beginning to recover from the shocks of both the crash of the airship and the destruction of the furycannon.

Rainbow then flicked her wings and the four fleeing fugitives faded from view.

Octavia groaned came to and groaned in pain. Her head felt wet, but at least the pain was easing with every second. She saw Moondancer watercrafting at her, and tried to swat aside the watercrafter’s hooves, but had trouble aiming correctly.

Moondancer giggled as she continued her watercrafting. She said something, but Octavia could not hear it over the ringing in her ears. Moondancer pushed her back down, never stopping her crafting.

Octavia finally got the idea and lay back and let Moondancer continue healing her. After a few moments, the ringing sound subsided and the pain was gone.

“You’ll need to rest for a little while,” Moondancer said, moving on to the next injured mercenary. “Eat something, stay out of trouble.”

“Not likely,” replied Octavia, looking at the crash-landed Soaring Scavenger. She shook her head at the deflated envelope and the ripped-apart portion of the hull.

Growling, she left Moondancer to her ministrations and willed Evans to aid her in climbing up the wooden hull onto the deck, where she made her way to the aftcastle. Glancing at the scorched and burned areas of the airship, she called out to the vessel’s captain.

“How long will it take you to repair all this damage, Black Strap?”

Black Strap looked around, spotting his first mate struggling to free himself from under the canvas of the envelope. Digging the unicorn out, he repeated Octavia’s question to him.

Improper Place looked about and sighed. “We can fix the tear in the envelope quickly enough, but the trouble is going to be refilling it. With only our four windcrafters, it’ll take all night before we’re ready to fly again.”

“What about the furycannon?” demanded Black Strap.

“Furycannon? Oh, that’s what that explosion was,” Improper Place said. “We have a few spares we can replace the destroyed one with, since we didn’t have room to install all the cannons we stole, but I’d have to look at the damage to the hull to make an estimate on repair time.”

“You have until the envelope is filled to have the hull repaired and the cannon replaced,” said Black Strap.

“Captain, I don’t have that long to wait for you,” said Octavia. “Those ponies will make it to Cliffside Eyrie well before you can, and they’ll warn Coloratura about what we’re planning.”

“Then perhaps you should assist with the repairs,” snapped Black Strap.

“I hardly think so,” scoffed Octavia. “My skills are better used elsewhere. Give me one of your windcrafters. I need to get to the city before they do,” she finished, waving to indicate the ponies fleeing southward.

Black Strap and Improper Place exchanged glances.

“We won’t need windcrafters until the envelope is patched, sir,” said Improper Place. “We may as well let her go ahead and make sure the city is not forewarned of our intentions.”

Black Strap thought for a moment before spitting over the gunwale. “Fine. You have your windcrafter. Just send him back when you get there.” He turned to the quarterdeck before bellowing, “STRIKING VIPER! Front and center, now!”

A green pegasus with a cutie mark of a snake poised to strike blurred into motion and arrived on the poop deck. “Yes captain?” he said.

Black Strap simply pointed a hoof at Octavia.

“You will take me to Cliffside Eyrie momentarily,” she said. “I’ll need a moment to collect my identity papers.”

Octavia made her way below deck and Black Strap started ordering his crew to begin repairs. Flim and Flam finally made it to the deck, glancing around for Octavia. When she returned from her brief trip to her cabin, she spotted them and barked out her orders.

“You two! You stay with the Scavenger, see to it that the ship is repaired as quickly as possible. Then, direct them to conduct the attack as planned.”

“What about you?” asked Flim.

“Where are you going to be?” asked Flam.

“I’m going to Cliffside,” she said, walking to Striking Viper and allowing him to scoop her up. “I have to be there in time to meet a young friend of mine.”

“We should get off the road,” said Rainbow.

“Go right,” suggested Big Mac.

“Good idea. More woods, less canal that way,” Scootaloo agreed.

“Lead the way,” said Applejack.

Once they were in the woods, Applejack willed Winona to hide them all from sight. Combined with Rainbow’s invisibility windcrafting, Applejack thought they should be safe from discovery. They galloped onwards for several more minutes, before looking back to check for signs of pursuit.

“I think we’ll be fine,” said Rainbow. “Between the hole Scoots here put in their hull and the damage you did to the envelope, Applejack, they’ll be busy for several hours at least, maybe longer. Where the hay did you even come from?”

“Yeah. And where’s Apple Bloom?” asked Scootaloo. “Did you leave her back at the orchard? Because she heard everything I did, she should come with us to talk to Duchess Coloratura.”

Applejack closed her eyes, remaining silent.

“Applejack?” said Scootaloo.

Big Mac’s eyes widened and he stepped to Applejack and put a hoof on her shoulder.

“I found…” began Applejack, before taking a deep breath and starting again. “I found the griffons that’d been chasin’ AB. They’d lost her, and were trackin’ her. I followed ‘em, and they went into this little rainforest, in a tiny little valley. In the rainforest, there were these shape-changin’ monsters. They… they got… I’m sorry, Scoots. I was too late.”

Scootaloo’s ears drooped and her eyes filled with tears. “No…” she whispered.

“I’m sorry, Scoots,” said Applejack. “Apple Bloom is dead.”

Author's Note

This chapter went up early because I'm gonna be away from home for Sunday, and might not be able to upload.

Chapter Twelve

When Apple Bloom came to, the first thing she did was panic. She found herself upside down in some sort of greenish goo, with no air to breathe. Apple Bloom squirmed around, movements slowed by the thick liquid, but found no air pocket in her small prison. She tried to flail against the almost transparent walls containing her and her goo, but to no avail. Her struggles slowed as her head felt light and vision began to fade. And so, with blackness closing in, she surrendered herself to the inevitable and allowed her lungs to fill.

With her first ‘breath’ of the green fluid, the blackness receded. Her head cleared, and she breathed the green stuff once more. It felt thick, and she had to work harder than normal to cycle it into and out of her lungs, but it seemed that whatever this green goop was, she could breathe it.

Her panic subsided when she realised she would not be drowning today, and Apple Bloom looked around her prison with calmer eyes. It was rounded in all directions, including up and down, reminding her of nothing so much as an egg. Looking through the translucent walls of her odd prison, Apple Bloom thought she could make out some similar shapes, one above and three below. She focused on the one above, and thought it looked like some kind of cocoon, large enough to hold a pony.

Or a griffon, she realised, recognising the figure contained within. That’s Gabby!

Looking at the cocoons below her, she thought she could make out the shapes of more griffons, one in each cocoon.

I’m not in an egg, thought Apple Bloom. I’m in a cocoon like them.

Looking more closely around her own cocoon, Apple Bloom sought a way out. She thought that if butterflies could get out of their cocoons, then so could she. Unfortunately, the interior of the cocoon appeared seamless.

Suddenly, her cocoon was bumped. Glancing around to see what had happened, she saw Gabby’s cocoon swaying around a little. Figuring that Gabby must have woken up, Apple Bloom moved to get a closer look at her friend.

Gabby saw Apple Bloom watching her, and waved before holding up one talon. She then turned to the sides of her own cocoon, repeatedly scraping one claw along a scratch that grew deeper and deeper with each pass.

Eventually, the tip of Gabby’s claw poked through the side of the cocoon, tearing a slice down and releasing the goo-covered Gabby. The griffon gripped the side of her cocoon, allowing the green fluid to drain to the ground, before coughing up yet more goo. She swung herself over to Apple Bloom’s cocoon, and she flicked her wings several times to remove as much of the goo as possible. When she landed atop Apple Bloom’s prison, she used a talon to begin cutting Apple Bloom free.

After about a minute of scratching, Gabby broke through. Gripping the sides of the cocoon with her talons, she pulled it apart. Unfortunately, her efforts worked too well, and the cocoon’s weight widened the tear to the point that the bottom half of the cocoon tore free of the top. Apple Bloom felt her stomach begin to float before Gabby grabbed hold of a foreleg. Unfortunately, Gabby’s goo-slicked talons and paws were unsuited to suddenly holding so much weight all at once.

With a yelp, pony and griffon both fell, bouncing off of one of the lower cocoons and rolling over one another before landing on the ground with a sickening crack of breaking bone when Apple Bloom landed squarely on Gabby’s outstretched forelimb.

“Ahh!” Gabby cried, before Apple Bloom shoved a hoof in her beak.

Apple Bloom looked at Gabby’s broken foreleg, eyes wide. She sputtered as she tried to speak with the goo in her lungs, before coughing it up and trying again. “I’m so sorry about that, Gabby!” she finally managed to whisper.

Using her good limb to remove Apple Bloom’s hoof, Gabby whispered back her reply. “That’s okay, Apple Bloom. It’s my fault, I should have had a better grip.” She looked around, finding herself to be in what looked like a dark cave, with a sliver of bright light some way off to the side. The bottom half of Apple Bloom’s cocoon had rolled up to the remains of a much larger cocoon, which looked like it had cracked open. “Where are we?”

Apple Bloom joined her in looking around. “I’m not sure. What’s the last thing you remember?”

“Ugh. A great big timberwolf attacking me,” said Gabby. “You?”

“Manticore,” Apple Bloom replied, rolling the shoulder the manticore had bitten. She tested her foreleg, finding it sore but able to hold her weight. “I reckon we’re in that big tree that ‘Scootaloo’ and ‘Gilda’ wouldn’t stop talkin’ about.” She looked up at the three remaining cocoons. “What about them? Where’d they come from?” she asked, pointing up. The three griffons were beginning to wake, twitching their heads and flailing about as they panicked at the apparent lack of breathable air.

Gabby looked up before tilting her head to the side. “I think they’re from Effai clan. They must be the griffons that were chasing us.”

“That’s what I thought,” replied Apple Bloom. “I don’t want ‘em to catch us, but I wouldn’t leave anypony to the monsters in this here rainforest.”

“Yeah,” grimaced Gabby. She looked up at the imprisoned griffons. They were in the process of learning that they could, in fact, breathe the goo. “Any ideas?”

“You could stay there and let my children take you,” suggested a deep, reverberating voice from the darkness. “It’s been sooo long since we had so much to feed on!”

“Run!” cried Apple Bloom, bolting for the light.

Gabby looked back and forth between the fleeing Apple Bloom and the imprisoned griffons, before flapping up to the lowest cocoon and, with a talon on her unbroken foreleg, leaving a deep scratch in the shell. She pointed it out to the goo-smothered griffon within before flying her way after Apple Bloom out of the tree.

She found Apple Bloom just outside, staring in shock at a trio of manticores standing with a timberwolf and a four-headed hydra. Gabby wasted no time, simply scooping Apple Bloom up with her good leg and flying as fast as she could. She threaded the gap between two of the hydra heads, leaving the multi-headed monster snapping at itself while Gabby zoomed off, the late afternoon sun behind her.

After flying a few hundred ponylengths from the tree of horror, Gabby dipped below the canopy out of view of the hydra. Since the beast was still roaring and growling at itself, Gabby thought it might not have seen which way they had gone, but she did not want to stay in open skies where they could be chased down by a swarm of manticores.

Gabby flew for all she was worth, swerving around trees and soaring over streams while Apple Bloom clung on for dear life. After a few minutes of crazy flight, Gabby began to lose altitude as her flaps slowed down.

“Gabby,” said Apple Bloom, “I think we’ve lost ‘em.” Gabby seemed not to hear her pony passenger, so Apple Bloom lightly swatted her in the beak. “Gabby!”

Gabby finally blinked, and glanced at Apple Bloom before slowing to a hover. She let Apple Bloom down, before her wings finally gave out and she fell.

Apple Bloom was ready for her, and quickly positioned herself underneath the griffon to catch Gabby on her back. “Easy there, Gabby. We got away. Now I guess it’s my turn to carry you for a while.”

“Thanks, Apple Bloom,” panted Gabby. “I guess I got a little panicked back there.”

Apple Bloom shifted Gabby into a more comfortable carrying position before setting off. “Heh. I don’t blame ya. I was scared outta my wits too. What kept ya, anyways? When I got outside alone I thought that that voice had got ya.”

“I showed one of the Effai griffons that they could scratch their way out. I’m sorry I scared you like that, but I couldn’t just leave them there,” explained Gabby. “They might be Effai, but they’re still griffons.”

“Huh,” said Apple Bloom. “Probably for the best, I guess. Even though they were chasin’ us, I didn’t like leavin’ ‘em there like that. At least they’ve got a chance now.”

“If those monsters are all chasing us, then those griffons might have a better chance than us,” mused Gabby. “Who do you think that voice was, anyway? It sounded weird.”

Apple Bloom shuddered at the memory. “I dunno, and I hope I never hear it again. I’m probably gonna have nightmares about it.”

“Maybe you should ask the moon to help you with them,” suggested Gabby.

Apple Bloom blinked. “Huh? What do ya mean?”

“It’s something my mother used to say to me, that the moon keeps bad dreams away,” Gabby shrugged. “Just one of those things you tell fledgelings to help them sleep at night.”

“I don’t think ponies don’t know that one,” replied Apple Bloom. “Still, it couldn’t hurt to ask, I suppose.” Apple Bloom glanced up at where the sky should be, hidden above the thick canopy of the rainforest. “Maybe I’ll try when we’re not in a rainforest that’s home to a bunch of monsters. Wouldn’t want to give them shapeshifters any ideas.”

“Good point.” Gabby tilted her head, looking at Apple Bloom. “You look different, Apple Bloom.”

“Maybe it’s all the goo stuck in my coat and mane,” replied Apple Bloom. She paused to flick her foreleg in a somewhat successful attempt to get rid of the offending liquid. “I don’t mind a bit of green here and there, but I sure don’t like swimmin’ in it.”

“No, it’s not that,” said Gabby. “Was your mane always hanging down like - oh no, it’s your ribbon! It’s gone.”

“I lost my mane ribbon?” said Apple Bloom, feeling her mane with a forehoof. “Oh, ponyfeathers. I liked that ribbon.”

“Well, I’m not going back for it,” quipped Gabby “So don’t even ask.”

They giggled while Apple Bloom continued eastwards. “It’s a pity I lost it, actually,” said Apple Bloom. “I coulda used it to make a sling for ya leg. Ooh, wait. There’s some vines. They’ll do nicely.”

Apple Bloom gently deposited Gabby on the ground, before gathering up some vines and a few straight sticks. With these, she made a makeshift splint and sling for Gabby’s broken foreleg.

Stepping back to admire her hoofiwork, Apple Bloom asked, “How’s that?”

Gabby shrugged with her good leg. “Still hurts, but I think this’ll do until we find a real doctor.”

“Think you can walk for now?” asked Apple Bloom.

“I think so,” Gabby replied. The pair set off towards the east, Gabby limping slowly at first, before finding an effective three-legged gait. “How much further, do you think?”

“To the edge of the rainforest? I dunno,” replied Apple Bloom. “Hopefully not too far. I keep thinkin’ another one of those shapechangers is gonna jump out at us. How far to Eyrieport, once we’re out the other side?”

“Depends how fast I can walk like this,” said Gabby. “But I’m afraid it might be too far.”

“There’s gotta be a road out there somewhere, right?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Yeah, of course,” answered Gabby. “Why?”

Apple Bloom looked over her shoulder at Gabby’s wings. “Let’s grab some more vines. I have an idea that might speed us up,” she grinned.

Chapter Thirteen

“Woohoo! This is brilliant!” Gabby cheered. “I can’t believe nogriff ever thought of this before!”

“Probably… because it… ain’t so easy… from this end,” panted Apple Bloom. “Next time… you can do… all the runnin’… and I can… be the kite.”

Gabby was gliding along over a dirt path, wings outstretched and broken leg held close. She wore a makeshift harness of vines, with another vine serving as a tow rope attached at Gabby’s chest. The far end of the tow vine was tied to the back of Apple Bloom’s own woven-vine harness. The filly was galloping along the road, towing Gabby through the air. Despite the extra drag caused by the airborne griffon, Apple Bloom was able to run at quite high speed, getting further and further away from Bowl Valley and the monsters within.

Gabby laughed, before shading her eyes with her good foreleg. “The path ends at a road up ahead,” she said. “Turn left for Eyrieport. The right road leads to Cliffside Eyrie.”

“Left. Got it,” replied Apple Bloom. When she reached the stone-block road, she turned left without slowing. Gabby whooped as she banked left, swinging from side to side before centering out behind Apple Bloom again. Apple Bloom rolled her eyes at Gabby’s exuberance. She didn’t mind helping her new friend, but she was beginning to feel a bit fatigued.

“How much farther?” she asked.

“Um…” Gabby checked the road markers, counting out how long it took to travel from one to the next. “About half an hour at this rate.”

“Half hour,” Apple Bloom muttered. “I can do that.”

After they had finally made their way out of the rainforest and out of the valley, Apple Bloom had quickly fashioned the harnesses out of the vines they had collected. Once she had attached herself to Gabby, they experimented to find the best way for Apple Bloom to tow Gabby through the air. They quickly settled on a simple run-and-glide technique and had spent the bulk of the afternoon making fairly good progress toward the griffon city of Eyrieport.

Now, as they made their way east, Gabby decided to try to find a way to make it easier on Apple Bloom. She experimented a little, angling her wings to adjust her height or pulling herself along the towing vine to glide closer to Apple Bloom. She had just discovered the optimal position was close in behind the pony and just above the ground when Apple Bloom came to the top of a rise in the road and pulled up to a sudden halt.

With a yelp, Gabby released the slack in the tow line while pulling up and flaring her wings out, trying to bring herself to a full stop before she pulled Apple Bloom off her hooves.

Flapping her way back to the ground, Gabby looked reproachfully at Apple Bloom. “Hey, a little warning next time?”

“Sorry Gabby,” replied Apple Bloom. “But, well, just look. It’s beautiful!”

Gabby looked to see what had Apple Bloom so entranced. “That’s Eyrieport.” She briefly glanced over at Apple Bloom. “You really think it looks beautiful? Maybe ponies and griffons can be friends after all.”

The road ahead led through a wide wall-like fortress, protecting the city beyond. The fortress was three levels tall, with griffon soldiers peering between crenellations along the roof. Comprised of some sort of white stone, it gleamed in the late afternoon sun. The road led through a gate wide enough to allow five wagons to pass each other at the same time, and deep enough that a line ten wagons deep would all be under cover.

The road continued onward, over a bridge and onto a great round structure shaped like a giant lily pad built out over the ocean. It was even green to enhance the illusion. Several houses ringed the platform, and there were several bridges leading from the first lily pad to a number of others. The entire city was built out over the sea in this manner, with dozens if not hundreds of green platforms of varying sizes supporting buildings of all sizes, from small houses to a huge palatial structure built on the largest platform in the middle of the city. The southern side of the city, furthest from the shoreline, held two or three large platforms with long and wide jetties radiating outward, providing berths for four or five large ships each.

Apple Bloom stood, taking in the sight. “Do all griffon cities look like this?” she asked.

“No, of course not,” Gabby replied. “One city is built into a mountain. From the outside, you wouldn’t even know it’s there, because all the houses and shops and stuff are in caves carved out of the mountainside. We build each of our cities with a different theme in mind.” She enjoyed the view for a moment before blinking at Apple Bloom. “Wait, if you thought that all our cities looked like this, does that mean that all pony cities look the same?”

Apple Bloom thought a moment before replying. “Well, the only city I’ve ever actually seen is Cliffside Eyrie, and that place was built by you griffons before ponies took it. But I guess some pony cities look pretty good too. I’ve heard some ponies call Equinopolis the ‘Rainbow Mountain’ before. And then there’s Carousel o’ course. But usually I think we just build houses and barns and markets and stuff where ever we need ‘em. Each of our buildings usually look pretty good, but our cities as a whole are just sort of… a big group of buildings, all thrown together. They don’t usually look like art.”

“Huh. I never thought it wouldn’t occur to anyone to make all their cities this way,” mused Gabby.

“Just another way we’re different, I guess,” replied Apple Bloom. “But this is a difference I like.” With a final look at the sight, she started making her way toward the fortress. “Come on Gabby, we’re almost there.”

Apple Bloom began trotting onwards while Gabby flapped her way back into the air. Once Apple Bloom had increased her speed through canter to a full gallop, Gabby slowed her flapping and reestablished her glide posture. She pulled herself along the tow line again to ride in the slipstream behind the pony, reducing drag and thus making Apple Bloom’s job a little easier.

As they approached the gate, a pair of heavily armoured griffon soldiers spotted them. With Gabby gliding along just behind Apple Bloom, they couldn’t tell that she was a griffon, and so they assumed the pair were both ponies. They crossed their spears and called out, “Halt!”

“Keep going,” Gabby told Apple Bloom, dropping the slack in the tow line again and powering her wings to shoot ahead. Her sudden appearance surprised the guards, and when she suddenly flared her wings out to bring herself to a full stop right in their faces they dropped their spears and ducked in shock. That was when Apple Bloom caught up, and she simply leaped over the prone guards and continued through the passageway towards the city.

Gabby quickly flapped her way back to her gliding position before the tow line could snap taut and the pair blew through the city-side of the fortress before the guards on that side even noticed them. Gabby glanced back at the guards just now beginning to react and shook her head.

“That should not have worked,” she said. “Those guards are going to get yelled at by their bosses.”

“I ain’t complainin’,” said Apple Bloom. “Which way do we go?”

Gabby directed Apple Bloom through the lilypad maze that was Eyrieport, gradually getting closer and closer to the manor in the centre of the city. Griffons of all ages watched in surprise as they passed by; the older griffons yelling complaints about passing fads while the fledglings cheered at the excitement of something new happening. One pair of griffons looked closely at the harnesses and the vine connecting them before exchanging calculating expressions and setting off for the marketplace.

Before long, a group of lightly armoured griffons from the fortress launched themselves into the air and sped off in pursuit of the speeding pony and her griffon kite. Despite the pace that Apple Bloom was making, the griffons easily caught up with her and dropped out of the sky to surround her and Gabby. “Stop!” they cried, leveling spears and aggressive glares at Apple Bloom and Gabby.

Apple Bloom stopped while Gabby flared her wings again, before landing on her three good limbs. “Howdy fellas,” greeted Apple Bloom.

“My name is Gabby,” said Gabby, cutting the vines comprising her harness then moving on to Apple Bloom’s. “And this is Apple Bloom. We need to speak to Nest Leader Gilda immediately.”

The guards maintained their posture, while one of them stepped forward. “You, pony-”

“I said her name was Apple Bloom!” snapped Gabby.

The guard spokesgriff ignored her. “Pony. What did you do to her leg?”

Apple Bloom winced. “Well, first I landed on it, but then I put in a splint and made that sling. Guys, it’s really important-”

“Glen, take the fledgling to the hospital and have her leg treated properly,” interrupted the guard. “The rest of you will take the pony to a holding cell. Move out!”

“No, wait-” Gabby was taken away by one of the guards while the others moved in to apprehend Apple Bloom.

Once Apple Bloom had been shackled, one of the guards picked her up and the group launched themselves back into the air to fly back to the fortress. They landed behind the crenellations on the roof and took Apple Bloom down into the fortress itself. They passed the ground floor, and Apple Bloom grinned when she saw a griffon chewing out the guards she and Gabby had taken by surprise. Finally, Apple Bloom was led down one more set of stairs and into a corridor with several small barred cells. Apple Bloom was pushed into one of them and locked in. Their prisoner secure, the guards marched back to their posts.

Apple Bloom looked around, finding a sleeping pallet on the floor and a bucket whose smell betrayed its purpose as a chamber pot. Shaking the door, Apple Bloom found it quite secure. She lay down on the pallet and sighed.

“Well, dang.”

Chapter Fourteen

Rainbow Dash led her subdued companions to the gate in the wall protecting the city of Cliffside Eyrie. They had journeyed through dusk, and judging by the stars Rainbow estimated the time to be about midnight. The twelve chimes of the city’s clock tower bell confirmed it. Scootaloo had long since cried herself to sleep over the loss of Apple Bloom and was now lying on Big Macintosh’s back.

Applejack blinked at the large group of guards at the gateway. “Howdy fellas. There sure are an awful lot of ya for just one gate.”

“Hey, Applejack,” grinned the sergeant. “We got word of some kind of assassins in the area, planning to kill the Duchess, so we’ve tripled the guard at all posts this side of the canal.”

“Assassins?” asked Rainbow. “Yikes. Well, keep up the good work, guys. We have to see Duchess Coloratura immediately.”

The sergeant raised an eyebrow at her. “At this hour? How do I know you’re not the assassin?”

“Easy there, Sergeant Flare,” said Applejack. “She’s with us. Do ya really think Big Mac and I’d be bringin’ an assassin to Countess Coloratura?”

A sheepish expression passed the guard’s face. “Of course not.” He turned back to Rainbow. “My apologies, miss. But we have to be - wait,” - he whirled back to Applejack - “Countess Coloratura?”

Big Mac chuckled while Applejack rolled her eyes. “She’s been doin’ that all day,” he noted.

“Sorry guys,” Applejack said. “I meant Duchess Coloratura, o’ course. So are ya goin’ ta let us all in or not?”

Sergeant Flare waved the group through. “Go on in, guys. Hey, when’s your next apple shipment coming in?”

“Ooh, shoot,” said Applejack as Big Mac winced. “Sorry fellas, but our load was, uh, destroyed earlier today.”

“Destroyed?” asked Sergeant Flare.

“Yeah,” replied Rainbow. “You guys are gonna have a busy day tomorrow.”

The guards looked at each other in confusion while Applejack led her companions through the gate into the city.

Rainbow looked around as they made their way along the streets toward the wall surrounding the inner city. The various houses were built with stone walls, some roofed with stone tile and others with wooden shingles. “Huh. These houses all look normal. I thought this city was built by the griffons.”

“This is the outer city,” Applejack explained. “This part was made by ponies when they couldn’t fit any more in the inner city. That’s the part that the griffons made.”

“Ah. Got it.”

Before long, they arrived at the gate to the inner city. This gate also had a triple-size serving of bored-looking guards, becoming somewhat alert at the arrival of the four travellers.

“Hey there guard guys,” said Rainbow to the guards. “We need to get through. We have important stuff to talk about with the Duchess.”

One of the pegasus guards looked at her, eyes still half closed with boredom. “Name?” he asked.

“Rainbow Dash,” replied Rainbow.

The guard opened his eyes at that, standing up a little more stiffly. “One moment.” He whispered to a unicorn guard, who then trotted off into the guardhouse by the gate. The guard returned with a piece of paper, and held it in a forehoof for the spokespony to read. He looked it over before snapping his wings out. “You are all under arrest!” The guards moved to surround the group, who looked on in surprise.

“What’s goin’ on?” asked Applejack.

“Stand down and stop any furycraftings you are doing, now!” demanded the guard.

Rainbow flicked her wings, ready to call on Tank, before she felt a hoof on her shoulder. She looked back to find it belonged to Big Mac, who shook his head. He tilted his head back at Scootaloo, still asleep. Rainbow sighed, before relaxing and allowing the guards to slap on a set of manacles.

Applejack and Big Mac were similarly restrained when Scootaloo woke up. Upon seeing her adoptive family in chains, she sprang up off of Big Mac with a yell and immediately called upon her fury, slinging her fiery blades to free the three manacled ponies. The guards promptly dogpiled on her, while Applejack tried to calm the panicking pegasus filly.

Rainbow blinked at her severed chains, and decided to use the distraction Scootaloo was providing to flee the melee, zipping straight up before she shimmered out of visibility. She landed softly upon the wood-tiled roof of the guardhouse, and watched to see what would happen next.

“Consarnit, Rainbow Dash!” cried Applejack, the guards replacing her severed chains with a new set. “Git back here!”

“At least she’s free,” noted Scootaloo. “Maybe she can get to the Duchess in time.”

Good idea, squirt, thought Rainbow. Not sure how I’d get you free on my own anyways.

She watched the guards lead her friends away through the gate and into the inner city. Rainbow flew up and over the wall to see where they ended up, just in time to see them taken to a stone building with a bell tower. She landed on the wood-tile roof of the bell tower when the bell started ringing.

Rainbow quickly willed Tank to block the bulk of the sound before she went deaf. Able to hear and think at the same time, her eyes widened in recognition. The cadence of the chimes was the signal for a windcrafting criminal on the loose. “Uh-oh.”

Within moments, she heard the windstreams of many windcrafters flying in. Rainbow looked around in time to see over two dozen soldiers arrive from the outer wall, most of them pegasi but a few were earth ponies and one was a unicorn.

The new arrivals glanced at each other, figuring out which of them held the highest rank, before one of the earth ponies stepped forward to speak to the gate guards. “Report,” he barked.

“Lieutenant. We’ve detained three ponies travelling with the assassin we were warned about,” said the pegasus guard. “But the assassin herself got away, flying and hiding from sight.”

The lieutenant closed his eyes as he stomped the ground. Rainbow’s sharp eyes made out the telltale tremor of earthcrafting probes as the guard searched for any sign of his quarry. “Nopony but us on the ground,” he said.

Rainbow glanced down at the wooden tiles she stood upon, smirking.

The earth pony then raised a hoof. Rainbow recognised the shimmer in the air around him as an incipient windcrafting, and she promptly dropped her sound and sight barriers before Tank could be detected. The sound of the bells promptly returned to full volume, and Rainbow twitched in surprise before shoving her hooves in her ears and lay flat on the roof.

A slight blurring of the air passed over her when the lieutenant released his crafting, but with Tank inactive he found nothing.

“No invisibility veils,” reported the lieutenant. “Spread out and find her, and keep your furies looking for veils, sound barriers, and windstreams.”

The guards saluted before taking to the skies, the air around each of them periodically rippling with the presence of their wind furies. The bell finally stopped ringing and the gate guards returned to their posts.

Rainbow considered making her way to the ground, but decided against it when she spotted the lieutenant still down there, repeating his earthcraft probe. So I can’t fly without being found, and I can’t walk without being found. Now what?

Rainbow looked around, and found nopony in the air nearby. The nearest building was a few dozen ponylengths away, it’s thatched roof somewhat below her. Her brow furrowed as she considered the distance, before she sighed.

“Too far, I think,” she muttered to herself. “But it isn’t like I have any other choice.” She stood up and leaped towards the building, opening and flapping her wings without calling for her fury. To her great surprise, her flight path was far less vertical than she had expected, enough that she actually soared over two roofs to the third building along the street rather than crashing into the first.

Rainbow looked back at her wings. “How’d you two do that?” she whispered. She turned to look at the rest of the inner city, noting the position of the Ducal Manor on the side of some sort of branch-like structure rising up from over the side of the cliff. “And can you do it again?” A deep ache began to set in to her wings as she fluttered them. “Ow. Maybe not.”

She looked around, trying to find a way to reach the manor that would let her stay on the rooftops where earthcraftings could not find her. Deciding on a path, she set off, leaping from building to building. She found that she could, with some effort, sustain a glide by holding her wings stretched out, but even that worsened the ache. Gradually, Rainbow made her way to the half-ring of houses before the Ducal Manor, where Duchess Coloratura both lived and held court.

Rainbow looked at the wrought iron fence protecting the manor. The bars were spaced closely enough to prevent ponies from slipping through, but far enough apart that Rainbow could clearly see that the grounds within were swarming with alert guards. “I’m not getting in that way.” She looked up at the roof of the manor, noting a few guards looking out over the city. “That’s not gonna work either.”

She decided to move around the boundary of the manor to the cliffside, and stopped on the roof of the last house. It had a breathtaking view of the cove at which the city had been built, and of the earthcrafted canal linking the Great Northern Ocean with the Dawn Sea. A great stone bridge soared out over the bay from the city, terminating at a massive fortress on the far side of the cove. Rainbow realised the fortress was Fort Eyrie, the fortress built to protect the city from griffon attack.

Looking closely at the fortress, Rainbow noted that many of the arrow slit windows were dark. “So, I guess that’s where all the extra guards over here came from.” Shrugging off the thought, Rainbow looked down to see if there was a way into the manor from below. “Wow,” she said, eyes wide. “So that’s what griffon cities look like.” The branch-like structure the manor was built upon was in fact part of a huge tree carved out of the stone of the cliff face. Various houses and other buildings were built on the numerous branches, while the roots, built out over the waters of the bay, held warehouses and docks for sea-bourne shipping. One of the branches just below the Ducal Manor served as a skydock, with one small cargo ship docked and berths for a few more airships.

Shaking off her surprise, Rainbow focused on the manor. She saw shimmers in the air around it, suggesting wind fury sentinels, but try as she might Rainbow could not spot anypony that might be holding them. “Bound wind fury sentinels. That’s not easy to do.” Rainbow looked down to see if she could find a way to climb up to the manor before blinking and looking back at the shimmering air. “They’ll go off if I windcraft my way in… so what if I don’t craft at all?”

Glancing round to ensure there were no guards looking her way, Rainbow prepared to launch herself into the air on wingpower alone. “Wings, don’t fail me now.” Leaping into the air with a quick push from Tank before dismissing the fury, Rainbow lined up with an open window high in the manor and powered forward. She cringed when she passed through the wind furies guarding the air around the manor, but they remained silent allowing Rainbow to enter the manor through the window.

Setting down on the floor with a sigh, Rainbow let her aching wings droop. “I hope I don’t have to do that again anytime soon,” she mused to herself, before glancing back out the window to the house she started from. “But I might have to practice that furyless flight trick. It could come in handy.” Rainbow tucked her wings back by her sides and cautiously reached through her connection to her fury. Tank reported that there were no more wind furies active nearby, and so Rainbow once again veiled herself from view before setting off to explore the manor.

Aimlessly wandering the hallways in search of Coloratura’s chambers, Rainbow was startled when she crossed paths with a maid. Quickly checking to ensure she was invisible, Rainbow decided to follow the maid. Then, she thought of a better idea.

Rainbow willed Tank to alter her voice in an effort to match that of the guard who had Applejack and Big Macintosh at the outer gate, and spoke to the maid. “Excuse me, miss maid.” Rainbow quickly pushed Tank into a sound barrier as the maid screamed in shock at the voice coming from nowhere. “Sorry for scaring you, miss, but I need your help.”

“Wh… who’s there?” the mare asked with a quivering voice.

Uh-oh, what was his name again? Oh yeah. “I’m Sergeant Flare, part of the guard. I’m invisible for… um, guard reasons. But I got a bit lost. How do I get to the Duchess from here?”

“Oh,” said the maid, calmer now. “Is this about that invisible assassin the guards are all looking for?”

“Uh, sure, why not,” replied Rainbow. “This is definitely about the invisible assassin, yes.”

“Okay then, this way,” said the mare, heading off down the halls. “I’m glad you told me who you were, because otherwise I’d have thought you were the assassin.”

Rainbow facehoofed. “I promise you, I am not an assassin,” she said through her invisibility veil and voice-changing windcrafting. “So, how did you hear about the assassin?”

“First Class told me,” replied the maid.

“Uh,” Rainbow said, “I meant how did the city hear about the assassin?”

“Oh, First Class said an auditor came in and told the Duchess about it,” said the maid. “I wonder how an auditor found out about an assassin though. Maybe she found something in somepony’s accounts ledger…”

Rainbow blinked at that. “Maybe. Yeah, that totally makes sense.” I thought that all the ducal staff were supposed to know about the auditors. “Wait, who was this auditor?”

“Oh, I think I saw her,” the maid replied. “She had a grey coat, with a black mane. Some sort of purple cutie mark.”

Octavia? thought Rainbow. “Earth pony?”

“That’s right.” The maid stopped at a large set of double doors. “Ah, here we are. Would you like me to announce you in?”

“Uh, no. No thanks,” Rainbow replied. The mare curtsied towards the empty air on the opposite side to where Rainbow was standing, before leaving Rainbow to open the doors and slip into Coloratura’s personal chambers.

Chapter Fifteen

Rainbow let out a low whistle. “So this is how the dukes sleep. Fancy.”

Duchess Coloratura’s bedchamber was as large as it was luxurious. The focus of the room was the four-poster bed, large enough for a dozen ponies to sleep comfortably. The pillows looked softer than anything Rainbow had ever touched, let alone used, and the sheets were of finely woven silk. The fire furies in each of the three hearths had reduced themselves down to embers, illuminating the room with a soft orange light. The thick curtains over the windows looked like they could block furycannon fire, let alone simple light, ensuring both a dark room to sleep in and a safe place from attack.

The duchess herself was visible only as a mass of dark indigo mane, the rest of her wrapped up in her sheets and sleeping soundly. Rainbow regretted the need, but moved to the bed to wake her anyway.

“Hey, duchess. Wake up, your grace!”

Groaning, Coloratura rolled over… and began to snore. Rainbow rolled her eyes and called to the duchess again. When Coloratura continued to not awake, Rainbow willed Tank to blow a stiff breeze directly into her aquamarine face. “Wakey wakey, duchess. We have important stuff to talk about!” called Rainbow.

Finally roused from her slumber, Coloratura jerked upright. “Wh… what? Is it morning already?” she asked, making her way to the edge of the huge bed. “First Class, must I get up so early? I feel like I only just went to sleep.”

“Sorry, your grace,” said Rainbow. “I’m not First Class, my name is Rainbow Dash, and I have to warn you- YAH!” Rainbow cut off when Coloratura suddenly flung a hoof at her and crafted a strong wind to blow Rainbow away from the bed and into the stone wall. “Ow.”

“Stay back, assassin!” shrieked Coloratura, before drawing in a deep breath. She continued breathing in for longer than Rainbow thought possible, until Rainbow realised what the duchess intended. Rainbow twitched her wings and pushed Tank as hard as she could into another sound barrier, just in time to surround Coloratura before she called for her guards with a fury-assisted yell.

Rainbow, outside the sound barrier, heard nothing. Coloratura looked smug for a moment, before recognising the wind crafting around her. She narrowed her eyes at Rainbow, while focusing her own crafting efforts to break the barrier.

Rainbow doubled down on Tank’s barrier, holding it together. While the dukes and duchesses were all stronger crafters than the average pony, Rainbow had the advantage of being able to focus all her furycraft training on only one fury discipline. Besides, Rainbow Dash was not the average windcrafter. The barrier held.

When Coloratura realised her windcraft was outclassed, she changed tactics. She raised a hoof only to stomp it onto the floor. Suddenly, the embers smoldering in the three hearths sprang back into full flames, which then flung themselves at Rainbow. With a yelp, Rainbow dodged them and threw herself in the only safe direction available - directly at Coloratura herself. Rainbow felt her ears pop as she passed through the sound barrier around the duchess, then found herself slammed, back first, onto the floor by Coloratura’s earthcraft-enhanced strength. Coloratura planted a hoof on Rainbow’s chest.

Coloratura crafted the flames back to the fireplaces, before focusing on Rainbow. “You will not kill me in my sleep, assassin!” She pushed her hoof down, making Rainbow wince.

“I’m not an assassin!” Rainbow managed to gasp out. “Please, just listen to me!”

“Of course you’d say that, now that I’ve caught you,” sneered Coloratura.

“No, really,” said Rainbow. “I’m here to warn you. The griffons are going to attack the city tomorrow evening!”

Coloratura burst out laughing. “That is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard! The griffons haven’t sent so much as a tourist to Ponera for centuries! Do you really expect me to believe a story like that?”

“Well, yes,” replied Rainbow. “Please, just hear me out.”

“And why should I do that?” asked Coloratura. “An Auditor from Equinopolis arrived today, warning me about an assassin named Rainbow Dash, matching your description, working with a local family, planning on killing me. So why should I believe you?”

“Uhh…” Rainbow thought for a moment. “I don’t suppose the names Big Macintosh, Applejack, and Scootaloo mean anything to you?”

Coloratura blinked. She looked down at Rainbow for a moment, before looking away. After a moment, she lifted her hoof from Rainbow’s chest. “The ponies the Auditor described could be those three,” she said.

“Okay, now we’re getting somewhere,” muttered Rainbow. Climbing to her hooves, Rainbow spoke to Coloratura. “They came with me to warn you about the griffon attack. Scootaloo overheard the griffons talking to a traitorous Auditor, Octavia Melody. They were planning to work with a mercenary airship to attack Cliffside Eyrie, under Duke Svengallop’s orders.”

Coloratura turned back to Rainbow. “Applejack and I have been friends for years. I know the Apple family quite well,” she said. She narrowed her eyes. “So explain to me why you haven’t mentioned the fourth member of the family.”

Rainbow hung her head and lowered her ears. “Apple Bloom was with Scootaloo when she overheard Octavia speaking with the griffons, but then they got separated. Applejack went looking for her, but… she tracked her to some forest filled with monsters. Applejack said that the monsters killed Apple Bloom.”

Coloratura gasped in shock, holding a forehoof over her mouth. “Oh no, Apple Bloom,” she whispered.

“The others got arrested trying to enter the inner city,” said Rainbow. “If you talk to them, you can get their stories, see how they compare with mine. But please, duchess, we have to act fast, and get the city ready to defend itself.”

Coloratura stared at Rainbow for a moment, before sighing. She stepped closer to the pegasus and placed a hoof on her shoulder. “Are you lying to me?”

Rainbow realised what Coloratura was doing - the duchess was using her watercrafter’s affinity for emotions to detect deception. With direct physical contact, Coloratura would be able to tell if Rainbow tried to deceive her. Rainbow looked Coloratura in the eye. “I am not lying to you. Octavia is working for Duke Svengallop to get the griffons to attack Cliffside Eyrie,” she said.

“And do you mean to kill me?” asked Coloratura, not removing her hoof.

“No,” replied Rainbow. “I don’t want to kill anypony.”

Coloratura nodded in acceptance, before raising an eyebrow at Rainbow. Rainbow continued to meet Coloratura’s eyes, and Coloratura finally lowered her hoof and stepped back.

“Alright. I believe that you believe what you say,” said the duchess. “Mostly.” She forestalled Rainbow’s objection with a raised hoof and turned to the doors. She flung her raised hoof at the doors, and Rainbow felt through Tank the windcraft Coloratura directed at them, throwing them wide open. “Somepony, come here please,” she cried.

They waited a few minutes. Nopony arrived.

“I hope you didn’t kill my staff getting in here,” said Coloratura.

“Hey!” protested Rainbow. “I got all the way in here without so much as touching anypony!”

“So why hasn’t anypony come?”

“They’re your staff. It’s not my fault if they aren’t listening-” Rainbow interrupted herself with a facehoof. “Oops. My bad. Tank, that’s enough,” she said, willing Tank to drop the sound barrier that prevented anypony more than a few steps away from hearing anything. “Okay, try again, your grace.”

Coloratura grimaced. “I can’t believe I missed that,” she muttered before calling out at full volume. “Guard, maid, somepony, to me please!”

Within moments, they heard the sound of hoofsteps trotting along the hall before a pair of guards reached the door. Seeing an intruder in the duchess’s bedchamber, the unicorn raised his spear, while the earth pony drew on his fury, causing a slight tremor in the stone floor around him.

Coloratura waved them off. “There are three ponies being held at the gates to the inner city. Have them brought to the manor. They are not to be mistreated.”

“Very well, your grace,” replied the earth pony guard. “And your… guest?”

“I think I can take her if I have to,” Coloratura deadpanned, causing Rainbow to smirk. “But if it would make you feel better, one of you can stay to help keep her in line.”

“Very well, your grace,” replied the unicorn, before ordering his companion to set off for the inner city gates.

Applejack tried to use her time in incarceration to catch up on sleep. After a morning of apple harvesting, a midday of filly-tracking and monster dodging, an afternoon of pony-versus-airship fighting, and an evening of walking cross-country, she was thoroughly exhausted.

But sleep would not come.

The image of a yellow-coated filly wearing an enormous fuchsia bow in her red mane kept Applejack awake. That, and the knowledge that Apple Bloom would never come home. Applejack couldn’t help but silently sob to herself.

After almost two hours, a number of guards in the livery of Coloratura’s personal guard arrived at the guardhouse and ordered the gate guards to turn over the prisoners for transport to the manor. Applejack quickly wiped her eyes before standing up. She roused Big Mac and Scootaloo. “I think Rainbow’s made it to the duchess.”

“Ha. I knew she could do it,” Scootaloo replied.

The guards unlocked the door and called their prisoners out. The Apple family soon found themselves on their way to the ducal manor of Cliffside Eyrie. Applejack noted that these soldiers were being far more careful with their charges than their fellows had been when taking them prisoner.

They were led into the manor house, to a room that Applejack recognised as Duchess Coloratura’s office, and told to sit and wait. The three sat and waited while one of the guards left. A few minutes later he returned with the duchess herself.

“Rara, finally,” said Applejack, getting up from her chair.

The guards stirred, but before they could do anything else Coloratura trotted straight up to Applejack and the pair embraced.

“Applejack, I heard what happened to Apple Bloom,” whispered Coloratura. “I’m so sorry.”

“Thanks, Rara,” whispered back Applejack. “But we’ve got bigger fields to plough.”

“So I’ve heard,” replied Coloratura, before stepping back and turning to her guards. “I’ll need you to wait outside for now, gentlecolts.” Once the guards had stepped out of the office, she waved a forehoof in a circle. Applejack felt a slight pressure in her ears as Coloratura set up a sound barrier. Then, Coloratura turned to speak to Scootaloo. “Scootaloo. Please tell me what you witnessed this morning.”

Scootaloo glanced at Applejack and Big Mac, who nodded encouragement, before she spoke. “Well, it started this morning, when Ap-… when we saw an airship fly over the northern orchard, headed east over the canal…”

Scootaloo told Coloratura everything she could remember about the deal she saw being finalised between ponies and griffons in the clearing. Coloratura then asked her to describe the ponies making the deal.

“The pony in charge was a gray earth pony mare with a black mane,” replied Scootaloo. “She had some kind of purple symbol for a cutie mark, but we were too far away to see it properly.”

Coloratura went to a cabinet and extracted a jug of water and three bowls. She poured some water into each of the bowls, and watercrafted each into a miniature full-colour image of a pony. Each pony loosely met the description given by Scootaloo.

Applejack let out a low whistle. “Now that there’s a fancy bit o’ watercraftin’, Rara,” she said.

“Thanks, AJ,” Coloratura replied. “Was it one of these three?” she asked Scootaloo.

Scootaloo looked closely at the three watercraftings, before shaking her head. “None of those, sorry.”

Coloratura waved her hoof over the three bowls, causing the images to drop back into the water before three more gray miniatures took their place. Before Coloratura could ask, Scootaloo instantly pointed at the image over the third bowl.

“That one. That’s her,” she declared.

Big Mac looked closely at the image, before nodding in agreement. “Eeyup.”

Coloratura looked to him. “You’ve seen her too?”

Big Mac nodded. “The airship caught up to us on the way to the city. She fought me, with a pair of unicorn twins.”

Coloratura looked back and forth between Big Mac and Scootaloo, then turned to glare at the image of the mare over the third bowl. Snorting out a breath, she dropped all three watercraftings as well as the sound barrier windcrafting around the office. “Guards!” she cried.

The guards waiting outside came in at her call. “Yes, your grace?” asked their leader.

“Arrest Auditor Octavia Melody immediately,” Coloratura ordered. “I will deal with her later. And somepony have Rainbow Dash brought here immediately, along with Captain Flash Sentry.”

Coloratura left the guards to hurry about their tasks, instead moving to hug Scootaloo. “I’m sorry about Apple Bloom, Scootaloo. It was thanks to her that I even met Applejack - she brought Apple Bloom to Cliffside to try to find out where she came from, and came into the city on my first day as duchess. AJ was the first petitioner in my very first court. When I saw how much AJ cared for that gorgeous little filly, I knew I had a good pony in front of me. We’ve been friends ever since.”

“Eeyup,” agreed Applejack. “I kinda hope we never find out where she came from now. By now, her parents must think the worst, and that it happened years ago. It’d be hard to hear she grew up happy for thirteen years, before…”

“You loved her like your own, AJ,” said Coloratura. “You all did. And she loved you all back. We’ll all miss her, but like you said before, bigger fields.”

At this point Rainbow Dash was brought to the office, prompting a quick reunion hug between her and Scootaloo. Scootaloo quickly filled Rainbow in on the situation, both of them taking great pleasure in the impending arrest of Octavia.

After a few more minutes, an orange pegasus arrived. He wore the armour of a guard captain, bearing the crest of Cliffside Eyrie on his chest. The tree-on-blue-diagonal-stripe insignia shone brightly as though recently polished. “Captain Flash Sentry, reporting as ordered, your grace.”

“Excellent,” said Coloratura. “Captain, the Auditor who arrived today is actually a traitor. I have ordered her arrest, but for now we have a larger problem. It seems-”

The sound of a loud blast and collapsing masonry interrupted the conversation. Rainbow moved to the window to try and see what had happened. “I guess Octavia didn’t want to be arrested,” she said. “It looks like she earthcrafted her way through the wall, and think I just saw her go underground.”

Coloratura facehoofed. “Argh. We don’t have time for this.” She turned to a map of the city hanging on the wall. “Captain, call the guards off her; we can’t spare them. Tomorrow evening, the griffons are going to attack the city, and they’ll have furycrafting support in the form of a mercenary airship. We have until then to put together a defence.”

Flash Sentry’s eyes widened and his ears drooped, before he saluted and barked some orders out the door. Then, he joined Coloratura at the city map. “What are the capabilities of this mercenary ship?” he asked.

“That’s where we come in, sugarcube,” said Applejack, while Big Mac and Scootaloo nodded in agreement. The Apple family joined Coloratura and Flash Sentry at the map and started filling the captain in on what his soldiers would be dealing with.

Chapter Sixteen

With a yawn and a stretch, Apple Bloom woke up. The sleeping mat in the griffon holding cell was not as soft as her bed back at Sweet Apple Acres, but it was good enough for her to get in a good eight hours of restful sleep.

Apple Bloom rolled to her hooves and got up. She stepped up to the iron bars, but found them as firmly rooted to the stone walls and floor as they had been last night. Staring pensively at the stone floor for a moment, Apple Bloom tried taking a stance she had seen Big Macintosh take when he drew on his earth fury. She focused on the stone beneath her hooves and drew in her strength, before whirling around and bucking the iron bars as hard as she could.

CLANG!

“Ow.”

The bars remained unmoved. Apple Bloom’s back left hoof ached.

“Oh well,” muttered Apple Bloom as she shook sore hoof. “It was worth a shot.”

“Hey, behave in there, pony,” called a voice from along the hall. The voice’s owner followed it, a griffon guard bringing a plate of oatmeal. “If you keep on acting up like that, you’ll go without food!”

“Yeah, well,” said Apple Bloom. “I’m locked up in here for trying to bring a message to your nest leader. Wouldn’t you be tryin’ to break out if you were in here?”

“Ha! A likely story,” replied the guard as he slid the tray of food through a slot in the door. “More likely you’re a spy!”

Apple Bloom raised an eyebrow. “Seriously?” Shaking her head, she took the tray and started eating. “Do you really think a little filly like me would be a spy? Hay, I can’t even furycraft!”

Snorting, the guard waited for Apple Bloom to eat her morning meal. Although it was simple oatmeal, she wolfed it down. She finished quickly, and returned the bowl. “Thanks,” she said. The guard made his way down the hall, only to spring to full attention.

“As you were, private,” said a new voice, and the guard carried on, moving out of sight. The newcomer, another griffon guard but with fancier armour, stepped up to Apple Bloom’s cell just as she finished her breakfast. “Is this the pony who came into Eyrieport last night with you?”

“Her name is Apple Bloom,” snapped a voice Apple Bloom recognised.

“Gabby?” she said, looking behind the newcomer. Sure enough, Gabby stood behind him. “Gabby, thank goodness. Tell the guards to let me outta here!”

“That’s why we’re here, Apple Bloom,” replied Gabby while her companion busied himself with unlocking the door. Apple Bloom stepped out of the cell and Gabby continued. “I told everygriff who’d listen to me that we had to speak to Gilda, and finally somegriff actually went and told her about us. And then she came to the hospital to see me!”

“Wow,” replied Apple Bloom. “So you told her what’s goin’ on?”

“Yep,” Gabby said. “And now she wants to talk to you about it, so we’re going to Eyrieport Chalet, to see her.”

“Yes,” hissed Apple Bloom. “The sooner we can sort this all out, the better.”

The group left the gatehouse and began the trot to the manor house in the center of the lilypad city.

“So how’s your leg doin’?” asked Apple Bloom.

“It still hurts a bit,” replied Gabby, “but the doctor said that you did a pretty good job with it, ‘for a pony in a jungle.’ I still can’t walk on it, but I can get around on three legs for now.”

“At least it’s gettin’ better,” Apple Bloom said. “Hey, we could always tow you around like we did yesterday.”

Gabby glanced up at their escort. “No, we probably shouldn’t,” she said. “I don’t think Captain Gerald here would like that.”

The guardsgriffon huffed out a breath in agreement.

Apple Bloom and Gabby chatted as they continued into the city proper. When they reached the marketplace, Gabby’s attention was caught by something in one of the stalls. “Ooh, wait here for a moment, could you? I saw something I have to buy,” she said, trotting over to the stall that she had spotted.

“But Gabby, don’t we have to see Gilda?” called Apple Bloom, getting nothing but a wave in response. With a sigh, Apple Bloom turned to the guard. “So, Captain… Gerald, Gabby said? How’s bein’ a guard workin’ for ya?”

Gerald turned his head to glare at Apple Bloom, before looking back to Gabby.

“Chatty fella, ain’t ya,” Apple Bloom muttered to herself.

Suddenly, there was some kind of commotion from the far side of the market. Griffons were shouting in surprise and alarm, some of them taking to the air.

“Look out!” cried a voice, before a griffon wearing a harness burst out of the crowd, running as fast as he could. Attached to his harness was a rope, the other end of which was tied to another griffon. This individual was being towed through the air, holding his wings out to sustain a glide. The pair quickly crossed the marketplace and moved along one of the bridges to a neighbouring platform.

“Huh,” Gabby said, having joined Apple Bloom and Gerald while they were distracted. “Look at that. We invented a sport!”

“I… I guess we did,” said Apple Bloom, still looking over at the other platform, which the pair of griffons were now circumnavigating. With a shake of her head, Apple Bloom refocused on Gabby. “So what was so important that you had to make us wait?”

“Well, I felt bad about you losing your mane ribbon,” said Gabby. “If I had recognised Bowl Valley when we first saw it, I wouldn’t have let us go in. And then we would never have gone into the rainforest, and you wouldn’t have lost your ribbon.”

“Oh, Gabby,” Apple Bloom said, putting a hoof on Gabby’s shoulder. “It was just a ribbon. And it wasn’t your fault anyway.”

“Well, either way, I still felt bad about it,” replied Gabby. “So I got you this.” Gabby held a wing out to Apple Bloom, presenting a wide fuchsia ribbon, decorated with a few winding green lines intersecting each other along the full length of the ribbon. The green was the same shade as the lilypad-like platforms the city was built upon. “You said you thought that Eyrieport looked beautiful, so I thought this ribbon might remind you of your visit here.”

Apple Bloom took the ribbon and admired it. “Wow, Gabby. It’s perfect! Thank you.” She tied her mane up with the ribbon, quickly recreating the bow she had worn for years. “How’s it look?”

Gabby and Gerald both blinked. “Uh, it looks great,” Gabby said. “But… How’d you do that?”

“What do you mean? I’ve been tyin’ up my own mane for years,” replied Apple Bloom. “Now are we goin’ to see Gilda or not?”

They once again set off for Eyrieport Chalet, making their way there with no further distractions, though Gerald would occasionally glance at Apple Bloom’s hooves in confusion. Upon reaching the chalet, Captain Gerald waved away the guards and led Apple Bloom and Gabby inside and to a door along a hallway. He knocked on the door, opening it only after a voice from within called out to invite him in.

“Nest Leader Gilda,” he said, “I have the pony you asked for.”

“Thank you, Captain,” said the griffon within. “You can wait outside.”

Apple Bloom entered the room and saw that it was some kind of office. Sitting behind the desk that formed the centerpoint of the room was a large griffon female. The feathers on her head and neck were white, while the fur and feathers on the rest of her body, including her wings, were brown. Her golden eyes took in Apple Bloom, making the pony feel nervous. “Sit down, pony.”

“Her name is Apple Bloom!” said Gabby.

“And she’s a pony,” replied the sitting griffon, before turning back to Apple Bloom. “I am Nest Leader Gilda. I’m told that you saw some kind of deal between your own ponies and some Effai griffons?”

“Well, they weren’t my ponies any more than the griffons were yours, but yeah, I saw somethin’ bein’ arranged between ‘em,” replied Apple Bloom. She described the discussion she heard the previous morning, making sure to mention the agreement to attempt future trade negotiations - Apple Bloom thought that mentioning the possibility for trade between griffons and ponies might make Gilda more receptive of the idea of helping Cliffside Eyrie, if she could get Gilda thinking that her clan could benefit in place of their rivals.

“And those griffons you saw, where they the same ones who followed you into Bowl Valley?” asked Gilda.

“Eeyup, that was them alright,” Apple Bloom replied.

“And they were definitely Effai griffons,” stated Gabby.

“Hmm.” Gilda turned to look at a map hanging on the wall.

Apple Bloom looked at the map, tilting her head when she did not recognise the landmass represented. Then she nodded, having spotted a city in the south-west of the map labeled Eyrieport, a short way along from another city labeled Cliffside Eyrie. She realised that it was a map of all the griffon-held lands, of which Ponerans were largely ignorant. Having puzzled out the map, Apple Bloom looked around the office, noting a few bookshelves and filing cabinets.

“Looking for something?” asked Gilda, looking at Apple Bloom glancing around the room.

“Huh? Oh, sorry,” said Apple Bloom. “I was just thinkin’ that this office is a lot like Duchess Coloratura’s, back in Cliffside Eyrie. I guess a nest leader like yourself probably has to do a whole lotta the same sort o’ stuff a duchess has to do.”

Gilda blinked her. “I… I never really thought about it.” She tilted her head at Apple Bloom. “I guess it’s probably true though.”

“Nest Leader Gilda,” began Apple Bloom, “I know that ponies and griffons have some bad history. But for several centuries now we’ve peacefully stayed out of each other’s way. Maybe it’s time to try to be friends?”

“Yeah!” agreed Gabby. “I mean, just look at us. We only met yesterday, but we’re already friends. Why not try it out for everygriff else?”

“But if you let the Effai Clan attack Cliffside Eyrie, then Ponera won’t know the difference between Effoh and Effai, they’ll just start a war with all of you,” said Apple Bloom. “So please, do somethin’ to help Cliffside.”

Gilda considered for a few minutes, looking from Apple Bloom to Gabby and back. She looked over at her map for a moment, before turning back to the pair of youngsters before her. She glanced at Apple Bloom’s ribbon, raising an eyebrow when she recognised the design as one made by griffons.

“Pony. Apple Bloom,” Gilda said. “You said before that the Effai griffons made some sort of
trade deal arrangement.”

“Um, sort of,” replied Apple Bloom. “More like a deal to make a real deal later.”

“Would your… Duchess, was it? Would your duchess be willing to make trade agreements with Effoh clan?” asked Gilda.

Apple Bloom shrugged. “I don’t see why not. But I’m just a farmer’s daughter, I can’t make the duchess agree to anythin’. But then, she’s a friend of the family, so I’m pretty sure I could get her to at least talk to you about it. If you make a fair offer, you could probably make some kind of deal. Does… does that mean you’re gonna help?”

Gilda looked again between Apple Bloom and Gabby. Finally, she sighed. “I’ve made my decision. Captain?”

Captain Gerald entered the room. “Yes, nest leader?”

“It’s time griffons returned to Cliffside Eyrie,” stated Gilda. “Summon General Gertrude. Effoh Clan goes to battle.”

Chapter Seventeen

Applejack slowly picked at her breakfast. Last night, after spending a quarter of an hour being confused by Rainbow Dash and Captain Sentry discussing various defensive stratagems for the city, she had given up and retired to a very luxurious guest bedroom. But she was still too saddened by the loss of Apple Bloom to have slept well. She now sat in Duchess Coloratura’s personal dining hall, picking slowly at a delicious meal of pancakes with berries and cream.

“Morning, AJ,” greeted Coloratura, walking into the dining hall.

“Hm? Oh, hey there Rara,” replied Applejack.

“Sleep badly?”

“Mhm.”

Coloratura moved to Applejack’s side and put a foreleg over her shoulders. “I miss her too, AJ. But you still have your brother, and Scootaloo.”

“I know, Rara,” replied Applejack, leaning into Coloratura’s embrace. “It’s just… it only happened yesterday. I’ll need some time is all.”

“I understand,” Coloratura said. After giving Applejack one last squeeze, she gathered some food for her own breakfast and began to tuck in. “At least Captain Sentry finally managed to put together a battle plan. Our soldiers are moving back over the bridge right now, ready to hold back the griffons at Fort Eyrie.”

Applejack raised her head and looked at her friend. “Can’t them griffons just fly around the fortress and over the canal?”

“Not if they’re wearing armour,” replied Coloratura. “If they try fighting without it, then they’ll have no protection beyond their own fur and feathers, going up against fully armoured ponies. So they probably won’t want to do that. And don’t forget that they can’t windcraft, so they have to carry all their weight with their wings. They can’t carry much extra beyond their own bodies, so full body armour is just too much for them.”

“Especially if we have windcraftin’ ponies on this side stirrin’ up the breeze,” mused Applejack.

“Exactly,” Coloratura said. “That’s why I’ve asked any windcrafting citizens to help out. Not so much with the actual fighting, since most of them are just civilians with no combat training, but any windcrafter can whip up some turbulent airflow. The griffons might try sending a few over with nothing but a spear or sword or whatever, but our windcrafters should be able to keep them from making it to this side.”

“What about that airship?” asked Applejack. “How’re we gonna deal with them pirates?”

“That’s where the wind knights come in,” said Coloratura. “After the way you and Rainbow Dash cut their envelope yesterday, Flash decided his dozen wind knights should be able to do it again today.”

“Trouble is, what if we bring ‘em down too close to the battle?” Applejack wondered. “Then most of their crafters’d get in on the fightin’ anyways.”

“I admit, it’s not a perfect battle plan,” replied Coloratura. “But considering we only found out we were going to be attacked last night, it’s the best we could do.”

“I suppose,” said Applejack. “Well, if you need any more woodcrafters for anythin’, let me know. It’s them pirates and griffons that made AB run into that jungle, so I ain’t gonna let ‘em win.”

“Well, maybe you can help with the makeshift barricades we’re putting up along the edge of the canal, for the windcrafters to shelter behind. After you’ve eaten,” Coloratura said, putting emphasis on the last sentence.

“Heh. Alright, I’m eatin’, I’m eatin’,” said Applejack, finally digging into her meal in earnest.

The sun was high in the sky and Rainbow Dash circled high over the inner city, watching the preparations underway. She spotted Applejack and Scootaloo working with a few other ponies, building barricades for ponies to shelter behind along the edge of the cliffs. Applejack was woodcrafting the barriers into place, while Scootaloo was creating furylamp spotlights which would be used for searching for airborne griffons.

Looking eastwards, she watched several earthcrafters working on Cliffside Bridge. They were divided up into two groups. One group, comprised entirely of Cliffside Eyrie earth knights, would trot along the bridge a few dozen ponylengths before pausing. They would tap their hooves on the road a few times before stomping in unison, then move on and repeat the process further along the bridge.

The second group, which included Big Macintosh and was apparently led by Captain Flash Sentry, were all gathered at the city end of the bridge, and were all tapping the ground seemingly at random intervals. Rainbow Dash swooped down to them, flaring her wings and willing Tank to fill them just in time to make a safe landing.

“Hey guys,” she said.

“Rainbow,” said Big Macintosh, still tapping the ground.

“What are you doing?” asked Rainbow.

“Breaking the bridge,” Big Macintosh replied.

Rainbow blinked. “Umm…”

With a chuckle, Flash Sentry explained further. “We’re preparing the bridge to be broken, in case the fortress is overrun. It’s reinforced with earth furies, to strengthen it and make it harder to break. So we’re undoing some of those craftings so that if it comes to it we can cut it quickly. Not all of them, of course, but enough to speed things along if it comes to it.”

“That makes more sense,” replied Rainbow, nodding in understanding. “So what about those guys?” she asked, pointing a wing out at the other group, now about halfway along the bridge.

“Hmm? Oh, they’re setting up defensive blockades to try to slow the griffons down if they make it to the bridge,” said Flash.

Rainbow watched as the group stomped in place, before moving further along the bridge. She glanced along the span behind them, noting that the road surface seemed as unblockaded as ever. “And where exactly are these blockades?”

“The hardest part of making rock structures is shaping the stone,” explained Flash. “That’s what they’re doing now. But nopony said that they had to raise them to the surface as soon as they’re ready. It’s actually pretty easy for an earthcrafter to raise an existing structure up to the surface, so we’re keeping the barricades below the surface for now, to keep the road clear until we need it not to be.”

“Oh, I get it,” said Rainbow. “So we can still send reinforcements along the bridge if we need to, and they won’t be slowed down trying to get through a whole bunch of walls in the road.”

“Exactly,” Flash said. “And if our troops do have to retreat from the fort, they can simply run straight down the bridge and bring up the barriers behind them.”

“Huh. Cool,” said Rainbow.

“Aaand… we’re done,” said Flash with a final stomp. “Just in time for lunch. Will you be joining us, Auditor?”

“I’m not an Auditor yet,” replied Rainbow, “but sure, why not? A filly’s gotta eat.”

Rainbow joined the group of soldiers on their way to the Ducal Manor in search of food.

After lunch, Rainbow flew across the canal to Fort Eyrie. During the meal, Duchess Coloratura had found Rainbow and asked her to check on the preparations underway at the fortress, before being called away on some matter of logistics. So Rainbow had dutifully stuffed her face with the remainder of lunch and set off.

She started by getting a windcrafter’s-eye-view of the fortress and its surrounding lands. From above, the fortress’ outer walls had a trapezoidal shape, with the wide base set flush against the cliffside and Cliffside Bridge ending right in the middle. The narrow top of the trapezoid was facing slightly north of due west, and the corners were topped with long bastions. Rainbow could see that any griffons that managed to make it to the base of the fortress walls would be in clear view of pony defenders safely concealed behind the narrow arrow slits arrayed on the walls or the crenelations of the roof, and thus vulnerable to attack.

The area around the fortress, for a distance significantly wider than even the best woodcrafter’s bowshot, had been cleared of plants more substantial than short grass, and shaped by earthcrafters such that Fort Eyrie sat atop a rise. For anyone to attack the fortress, they would have to come uphill with no cover, giving the defenders the dual advantages of elevation and clear lines of fire. Rainbow watched as a handful of ponies cantered about here and there in the empty fields, crafting down a slight bump in the ground here, uprooting a small bush there. Rainbow nodded in approval before diving into the fortress proper.

Inside the fortress outer walls resided the keep, almost a fortress in it’s own right. Tall, square, and imposing, the keep would cover the path to the bridge in the unlikely event that the outer walls were overrun by griffons. The top level of the keep was wider than the lower floors, giving those on the top floor a clear view of the base of the keep walls through murder holes, leaving invaders no cover from defensive furycraft. Rainbow circled the keep before swooping up to the roof, landing on all four hooves.

From here, Rainbow had clear view of the entire field around the fortress, with plenty of cover provided by stone crenelations. Glancing around the rooftop, she saw numerous weapons racks and arrow quivers, most fully stocked. A pair of ponies came up the stairs with a bundle of spears and another quiver of arrows, and quickly set the weapons in place ready for use.

“Hey guys,” said Rainbow. “Who’s in charge here, and where can I find them?”

The weapons bearers glanced over at Rainbow, before one of them spoke. “Earth Knight Solid Stance is in command of the fortress. Her office is down three floors, second door on the left.”

“Thanks,” replied Rainbow and set off into the keep. Along the way she saw more ponies carrying weapons and other supplies around, setting them in position ready for use later in the evening.

Quickly finding the office, she knocked on the door and was admitted in. “Knight Solid Stance?” she asked.

“That’s me,” replied the occupant. She was a brown-coated unicorn, leaning over her desk looking at a map of the fortress and surrounding area. The map had small figurines placed here and there on it, indicating the location of various troop positions. “Can I help you?”

“I’m Rainbow Dash. Duchess Coloratura asked me to come over here and check up on how the preparations are coming,” said Rainbow.

“We’re working on it,” said Solid. “I’ve got earth and woodcrafter teams working out in the field, smoothing it over and setting up some pit traps, that sort of thing.”

“Yeah, I saw them at it as I flew over,” noted Rainbow. “And I saw a whole bunch of ponies carrying supplies all over the place. It looks like you’ll be all sorted by this evening. I don’t want to step on your hooves, but the duchess asked me to go over all your plans.”

Solid Stance chuckled at that. “Oh, don’t worry about stepping on my hooves,” she said. “I could use a fresh pair of eyes with this, actually. I’d hate to miss something obvious and see the city overrun.”

“Alright then,” said Rainbow. “In that case, can we start with the pit traps?”

“The pit traps? What about them?” asked Stance.

“Well, they’re pit traps,” Rainbow said. “And who’s gonna be falling into them?”

“Griffons,” said Solid Stance, raising an eyebrow.

“Right. And griffons have…” Rainbow said, pointedly flapping her wings.

“Wings?” Stance replied. “What’s your… Oh. Right. Hmm. One moment, please.” She stepped to her door and poked her head out, calling for somepony to come and join them. Shaking her head on her way to her desk, she spoke again to Rainbow. “Good thing you came here, hey?”

Rolling her eyes and shaking her head, Rainbow asked, “So what’s the plan for those traps now?”

“You’re a flyer, what would you recommend?” said Solid.

“Spikes in the pits,” replied Rainbow. “Metalcrafted would be best, but you probably don’t have enough metal for that. So go with earthcrafted stone. The giffons’ll fall in and hurt themselves on the spikes before they know what’s happening. They’ll slow down to help their wounded and make their way around the traps, making our jobs that much easier.”

“Good idea,” agreed Solid Stance. When the pony she had called for arrived, she told him to instruct the earthcrafters to prepare spikes in the pit traps, then return as quickly as possible. “Just in case there’s anything else I’ve missed.”

Rainbow looked over the map, noting the locations of firecrafters and bowponies. “You’re putting your wood and fire knights on the rooftops?”

“Yes. They’ll have a better view of the area than from inside the walls,” Solid said. “So we can make the best possible use out of them. The wood and fire crafters who aren’t at knight level I have inside the walls, covering the area immediately around the fort.”

“That’s good, but I’d suggest spreading the knights out a bit more,” said Rainbow. “Gives us that much more area covered, and makes it harder to take out all of our heavy hitters at once.”

“Hmm.” Solid Stance looked over the map for a moment, before using her hooves to push around some of the figurines. “How’s that look?”

“Better, but maybe move a few out to the limits of the bastions, cover even more ground,” Rainbow suggested. She flicked her wings and made an effort of furycrafting will, causing Tank to push a few figurines around on the map. “Like that.”

“And from there they can even cover the base of the walls if it comes to that,” said Solid. “I like the way you think.” She and Rainbow leaned over the map and considered several possible plans, continuing to discuss the matter as the afternoon wore on.

Chapter Eighteen

“Ugh, I’m starving,” muttered Octavia. “I hope they have some food for me.”

Octavia rode an earthcrafted wave, propelling herself at high speed away from Cliffside Eyrie alongside Cliffside Canal. She had been moving non-stop since Coloratura’s guardsponies had tried to arrest her, and had therefore skipped breakfast. The sun had passed its apex some time ago, and Octavia was feeling hungry.

Finally, her destination came into view. Soaring Scavenger still sat upon the ground, though her envelope appeared to be fully inflated. Flim and Flam stood with a group of pirates, apparently arguing over a pile of twisted metal, but the group fell silent when they saw Octavia arrive.

Octavia wasted no time, not even acknowledging the questions the twins asked of her. She drew on her earthcrafting and jumped straight from the ground up to the deck of the airship, nearly ten ponylengths above ground level. Rolling to spread out the force her landing, she trotted directly to the poop deck where Captain Black Strap was speaking to Improper Place.

“Captain, things have not gone according to plan,” Octavia said.

Turning to her with eyebrows raised, Black Strap said nothing.

“Where is Moondancer?” asked Octavia.

Black Strap ignored Octavia’s question. “Do we have a problem?”

“Rainbow Dash somehow managed to get to Coloratura,” explained Octavia. “I had told the duchess that Rainbow was an assassin, but my former apprentice still managed to speak to her, and now the duchess is preparing the city for attack. I need to speak to the griffons, so I ask again: where is Moondancer?”

“She’s down at the base of the cliff,” said Improper Place. “She said something about wanting to be around the water.”

“What about our part in this attack? How does this affect us?” asked Black Strap.

“It doesn’t,” replied Octavia. “You’ll just have to make sure we don’t get seen on our way in, maybe watch out for windcrafter sentinels. Otherwise, we continue as before. The griffons, on the other hoof, need to be warned.” She leaped over the gunwale down to the ground, using Evans to encourage a nearby tree to catch her and ease her descent.

Octavia stomped on the ground to commune with Kazumi. Her earth fury reported no pony presences at the base of the cliff, so Octavia walked to the edge of the cliff and looked down at the canal, dozens of ponylengths down. She saw a yellow unicorn mare moving about underwater, far faster than would normally be possible. Octavia waited for several minutes, but Moondancer did not surface to breathe.

With a snort of frustration, Octavia tapped the ground. The ground beneath her hooves descended, lowering Octavia to the surface of the canal. When Moondancer continued to ignore her, Octavia willed Kazumi to drop a chunk of rock from the cliff face into the water.

Finally noticing Octavia’s presence, Moondancer watercrafted a wave that delivered her to the patch of ground Octavia had lowered, drenching the gray mare in the process. While Octavia tried to shake herself dry, Moondancer spoke. “Yes?”

“I need you to contact the griffons for me,” Octavia said.

Shrugging, Moondancer dipped a hoof into the water. After a minute or so, a mass of water rose from the canal in the shape of a miniature griffon. The griffon grew a little, reaching the height of Octavia’s knees before stabilising. “That’s as good as it’s gonna get,” grunted Moondancer. “He’s a long way from any furies I’m used to dealing with.”

“Octavia? Is that you?” asked Garry’s image. “What is it?”

“We have a problem,” replied Octavia. “Cliffside Eyrie knows we’re coming.”

“Wonderful,” said Garry. “Now what?”

“I was thinking about Plan B. Can we make it work?” asked Octavia.

Garry settled back, shifting his weight onto his paws. “Hmm… I think…” he muttered before grinning. “Actually, I think that can work.”

“Plan B it is then,” said Octavia. “We’ll see you in Cliffside.”

Garry nodded, before Moondancer withdrew her hoof. Without the unicorn’s watercrafting to maintain the connection his watery image dropped into the water. Octavia turned to Moondancer, but before she could speak a gust of wind heralded the arrival of Striking Viper.

“The captain says it’s time to get moving,” he said. “If you’re coming with us, get on board.” Message delivered, he spread his wings and jumped up, carried into the air on a tightly focused windstream.

“Shall we?” asked Octavia.

In reply, Moondancer dove into the water, only to be shot up by a watercrafted fountain that delivered her to the top of the cliff.

Rolling her eyes, Octavia called to Kazumi. The fury lifted her back up to the top of the cliff in seconds, and she used the speed of her ascent to launch herself up onto the deck of Soaring Scavenger.

Glancing around to ensure Moondancer was aboard, she called to Black Strap. “Let’s go, captain. And have somepony bring me something to eat.”

The clouds in the eastern skies were lit red by the sun setting in the west, and the city of Cliffside Eyrie felt tense. Much of the windcrafting citizenry had gathered behind the makeshift cliffside barricades, ready to whip up the airspace into a turbulent maelstrom. Most of the soldiers had gathered in Fort Eyrie, and were ready to defend it from attack. Citizens who had volunteered to help protect their city, including Applejack and Big Macintosh, had lined the streets leading to Cliffside Bridge. They were led by the remainder of the city’s complement of soldiers, ready to rush to trouble spots in the city proper in case any griffons managed to get past the turbulent air. Duchess Coloratura was leading Scootaloo over the bridge to Fort Eyrie when the sound of shouting from the city docks drew Scootaloo’s attention.

“Scootaloo, are you even listening to me?” asked the duchess.

“Huh? Oh, sorry, I wasn’t listening,” said Scootaloo. “Those ponies from those ships sound angry about something.”

Coloratura glanced over at the port. “Those two ships sailed in earlier this afternoon,” she said. Raising a hoof, she willed a farseeing windcrafting into existence and peered at the flags the ships were flying. “Looks like the late food shipments from Jewelport finally arrived - see the gemstones-on-wave designs on the flags? Anyway, with everypony either ready to fight or safe at home, there’s nopony to unload their cargo. Don’t worry about them, the harbourmaster will keep them in line.”

With a final glance at the ships, Scootaloo shrugged. “Okay. So, what were you saying?”

“I was saying that if I know you, you’ll probably find a way to get into trouble if we try to keep you somewhere safe, away from the fighting,” said Coloratura. “So instead, Applejack and I have decided to give you a very important job.”

“And that’s why we’re crossing over to the fort?” asked Scootaloo.

“That’s right,” Coloratura said. “I’m not an expert at fighting, but I am the duchess of this city, and that means I should defend it from the front. So I’ll be at Fort Eyrie, ready to lend my furycraft wherever Captain Sentry thinks it will do the most good. You are going to be right next to us, ready to send any messages we need sent. Understand?”

“I suppose,” replied Scootaloo. “But wouldn’t a windcrafter be faster?”

“Windcrafters can fly fast, yes,” said the duchess. “But light from a firecrafter’s flame is even faster. Can you use your fury to make different colours of fire?”

Scootaloo flicked out a wing and narrowed her eyes. “I haven’t done this very often,” she said, before half a dozen separate flames sprang into being, each one on the end of a different feather, and each one precisely matched to a different colour of Rainbow Dash’s mane. “But I think I can manage it.”

“Impressive,” said Coloratura. “Our signals are all one colour at a time, so it looks like you should do well.”

Coloratura taught Scootaloo some of the various signals that the military used while they made their way into the fortress and up to the top of the keep. There they found Rainbow Dash and Captain Flash Sentry waiting for them, along with a brown-coated unicorn mare Scootaloo had not met.

“Your grace,” greeted the captain and the mare, while Rainbow nodded at them before looking back out to the skies.

“Captain Sentry, Earth Knight Stance,” nodded Coloratura. “Anything yet?”

“No ma’am,” replied Stance. “Though Miss Dash here is less sure.”

“What is it, Rainbow Dash?” asked Scootaloo.

Rainbow was looking around, as though trying to see something hidden. She said, “I don’t know, but the air feels… I don’t know. Weird, somehow.”

Coloratura lifted a hoof into the air and closed her eyes for a moment. “Hmm. Something is different, but it’s probably just the city being ready for a battle. Usually there’d be ponies flying around, disturbing the air. Tonight everypony is on the ground instead, not flying, so the air is smoother than normal.”

“But that’s just it,” said Rainbow. “It isn’t smooth. I can’t put my wing on it, but something…” Rainbow’s eyes flew wide open and her ears drooped as she whirled around to face the city. “There!” she cried, flicking out a wing to cast a windcrafting. A blur leapt from her wing out into the space over Cliffside Bridge, where it somehow stopped in mid-air. A huge patch of sky rippled and shimmered, before Soaring Scavenger faded into view.

“Scootaloo, signal!” snapped Coloratura, thrusting out a hoof and throwing a burst of fire at the airship. “Airborne threat, behind us!”

Scootaloo flicked out her wings and crafted up a bright red flare, followed by a blue one. She glanced around at the rooftops of the fortress, pleased to see the knights and soldiers atop them turning around and reacting to the airship, several fire knights throwing massive fireballs at the airborne vessel. “Got that signal right,” she muttered to herself.

The mercenary firecrafters aboard Soaring Scavenger were quick to react, blocking the blasts of fire thrown at the ship and burning to ash the arrows loosed at them by woodcrafting archers. Suddenly, a dozen ponies leapt from the deck of the airship down onto Cliffside Bridge, not far from the city end of the span. Even from so far away, Scootaloo had no trouble recognising Octavia and the twins Flim and Flam as part of the group.

“Octavia!” snarled Rainbow, ready to leap out and attack her former mentor.

“Rainbow, no,” said Stance. “You’d be ridiculously outnumbered.”

Growling, Rainbow settled down. They watched Octavia tap a hoof against the bridge a few times, before she reared up and stomped down hard with both forehooves. Suddenly, a dozen barricades sprang out of the bridge, blocking the road leading from the fortress to the city.

The defenders in the city, having realised what was happening, started ringing the bells in alarm. Scootaloo could see the reinforcements gallop up to the bridge, ready to fight the mercenary forces before they could make it into the city proper. Seemingly out of nowhere, there came the sound of thousands of voices sharing a battlecry. An enormous group of armour-clad soldiers poured out of the two ships that had arrived in the afternoon.

“Wait,” gasped Scootaloo. “Rainbow, duchess, look!” Scootaloo pointed out the heavily armoured soldiers swarming their way up the carved tree of the cliffside portion of Cliffside Eyrie. “It’s the griffons!”

Rainbow and Coloratura each called up a farseeing crafting, easily making out the half-eagle half-lion forms of the soldiers just beginning to reach level ground. Some of the griffons engaged the militia in battle, while others instead made their way along the bridge. They leapt over the barricades with help from their wings, trying to claim as much of the span as they could, intent on holding the bridge against the pony soldiers now trapped on the wrong side of the canal.

“Oh, ponyfeathers,” gasped Coloratura.

Chapter Twenty

“I still think it’s weird,” said Apple Bloom.

“It’s perfectly normal,” replied Gabby. “Everygriff can do it. I thought every pony could do it too.”

“Windcrafters might have tried,” Apple Bloom said. “But their windstreams would probably be too strong.”

“But we have old books and records and stuff,” said Gabby. “They clearly show -”

“Quiet,” snapped Gilda. “We don’t want to be seen. Or heard!”

“Sorry,” chorused Apple Bloom and Gabby.

Apple Bloom was on Gabby’s back, while Gabby and Gilda stood with a group of griffon military leaders. After their meeting with Gilda that morning, the nest leader had ordered the military forces of Eyrieport to gather and prepare for battle. Once the army had assembled shortly after lunchtime, Apple Bloom had been surprised to watch a few dozen griffons fly up to the clouds, then take hold of them and bring them down to rooftop level.

They’d had a false start, in which Gabby promised Apple Bloom that the clouds were perfectly safe to board, only to watch as the filly fell through the cloud onto the ground just below. Gabby had then sheepishly offered to carry Apple Bloom on her back. With Apple Bloom so carried, the griffon army had jumped onto the clouds and settled in. Several teams of griffons took turns pushing the cloud westwards, carrying the army toward Cliffside Eyrie.

Gilda, Gabby and Apple Bloom were part of a small group at the head of the cloud, so that they could help the leadership to judge the situation at Cliffside Eyrie and determine where best to send in the Effoh forces. After several hours of travel, they had finally reached the city. Now Apple Bloom looked down and lifted a pair of binoculars, some kind of griffon invention that did the same job as a windcrafter’s farseeing crafting, trying to find anypony she knew.

“Looks like the Effai clan got there first,” she said. “There’s a bunch of griffons on the bridge, and it looks like they set up some kinda walls or somethin’ along it. I think there’s a more griffons in the streets of the city. And that airship from yesterday mornin’s down there too.”

“How’d all those Effai griffons get there?” wondered Gabby. “They didn’t go past Eyrieport, did they?”

“That doesn’t matter now,” said Gilda. “General Gertrude, what do you think?”

“I think that flying ship would be a wonderful addition to our army,” said one of the griffons in their little group. “But for now, we need to take it out of the battle.”

“Agreed. Send two companies, and attack the balloon,” ordered Gilda. “The rest of us will go for the Effai on the bridge. Gabby, you and Apple Bloom here will need to get down there fast. We don’t want to be fighting the Ponerans at the same time as the Effai.”

“Got it,” Gabby said.

“Ah, there’s AJ and Big Mac. And Duchess Coloratura,” said Apple Bloom, still looking through the binoculars. She gave them to Gilda, catching up to the conversation. “Just make sure you all keep your ribbons on.” Apple Bloom pointed at the fuchsia ribbons wrapped around Gilda’s wrists and tail. The entire army was similarly decorated, the idea being that it would make it clearly obvious to the defenders of the city which griffons were friendly.

“Alright then,” Gilda said. “Everygriff, check your colours.” She double checked her ribbons were secure, while General Gertrude waved her wings about in signal, instructing the army behind them to do the same.

After a few moments, the various company leaders signaled back. “All troops coloured, Nest Leader,” Gertrude reported.

“Good,” said Gilda. She raised her wings, along with her voice. “Effoh!”

“Effoh!” cried back the army.

Gilda spread her wings out sideways, and cried out again. “Effoh for victory!”

Gertrude wing-signaled at a couple of company leaders, before calling out loud. “Dive to victory!”

With a fearsome shriek, the entire army of griffons leaped up from their cloud perches and dove down at the battle over Cliffside Bridge.

Octavia drew on her earthcraft and punched a soldier as he came over the barricade, sending him flying back into his fellows just cresting the top. Effai griffons backed her up, holding the bridge and preventing the soldiers from reaching the battle taking place in the city. But their combined efforts were nothing compared to the metalcraft of the twin unicorns, Flim and Flam.

They stood side by side, holding the entire left side of the bridge on their own. Poneran soldiers would crest the barricade, only to be met with twirling and thrusting spears. The twin’s metalcraft strengthened the steel of their weapons, such that the armor worn by the soldiers was torn like paper with even the lightest of strikes. A few woodcrafters still in Fort Eyrie loosed arrows at them with what should have been deadly accuracy, but the twins, guided by their metalcrafting talents, simply twirled their spears to block the steel-headed arrows. Together, Flim and Flam stopped the Poneran soldiers cold.

A slight tremor was the only warning they got. “Down!” cried Octavia, ducking for cover. The barricade exploded outwards, pieces of stony shrapnel striking a few griffons too slow to heed Octavia’s warning. Soldier ponies poured through the broken barricade, led by a brown unicorn mare. They charged the combined forces of the griffons and mercenaries, overwhelming even the metalcrafting twins, pushing them all back towards the next barricade.

Octavia stomped on the ground, willing Kazumi to throw a group of soldiers off the bridge. However, the unicorn mare leading the troops spun to glare at Octavia and stomped her own hoof. The mare’s fury countered Kazumi’s efforts and tried to reflect them back on the griffon forces.

Grunting with the effort, Octavia stabilised the ground beneath her hooves. “You’re good,” she said to the mare.

“You don’t become an earth knight without some skill at earthcraft,” replied the brown mare. “Shall we?”

Snarling, Octavia threw herself at her opponent and they fought. Octavia tried for an uppercut to the earth knight’s jaw, only to be blocked by a sweep that took her forelegs out from under her, dropping her to the ground. Throwing a wild kick, Octavia felt it connect with the knight’s leg, dropping her in turn.

Rolling to her hooves, Octavia charged the knight, intending to overpower her before she regained her footing. But the mare simply kicked upward and flipped to her hooves, ready to continue the fight with Octavia. The knight lowered her shoulder, catching Octavia and throwing her back, allowing the Ponerans to advance.

Octavia stumbled backwards, rejoining her griffon allies. “Her,” she said, pointing at the unicorn. “She’s the one we need to take out.” Two of the griffons leapt forward, spreading their wings and taking flight, driving straight at their target. Suddenly, the air filled with shrieking cries, and a pair of fuchsia-tinged blurs crashed into the griffons and carried them away from the bridge.

“What was that?” asked Octavia of nopony in particular. Her answer came in the form of a swarm of griffons swooping down from the skies and engaging her allies in battle.

Gabby dove down, still carrying Apple Bloom and following the filly’s directions toward Applejack. She flared her wings and gently set down on her three good legs just in front of Applejack and Big Macintosh, and let Apple Bloom down.

“Hey there AJ, Big Mac,” said the filly. She spotted an orange filly she knew well. “Oh, hey Scoots, you’re here too. I made a friend, can she stay with us for a few days?”

Applejack’s eyes were as wide as dinner plates. “Apple Bloom, you’re alive!” she cried, tackling Apple Bloom and embracing her in a bear hug.

“Uh, sure,” Apple Bloom said, confused. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Apple Bloom? Is that you?” asked a voice.

Apple Bloom tried to extricate herself from her adoptive mother’s embrace, without success. “Duchess Coloratura? Is that you? Lemme go, AJ, I gotta talk to the duchess about somethin’.” She finally managed to pull herself free, only to find a pegasus mare she didn’t know, with a blue coat and a multicoloured mane, standing alongside Duchess Coloratura, the two of them glaring at Gabby. “Hey, leave her alone!”

The mare and the duchess looked on in surprise when Apple Bloom moved to stand in front of Gabby. “Have they hurt you, Apple Bloom?” asked Coloratura.

“Of course we didn’t hurt her!” Gabby indignantly cried.

“She’s tellin’ the truth, they didn’t hurt me,” Apple Bloom said. “Actually, I kinda hurt her, but never mind that now. Duchess Coloratura, see those griffons with these pink ribbons on?” She pointed at her new mane ribbon, then at the ribbons Gabby was also wearing. “The same pink as these. These new griffons are on our side, so you need to tell everypony not to attack ‘em.”

“Is that so?” asked Coloratura. She turned to look at Cliffside Bridge, where an army of unarmoured griffons wearing fuchsia ribbons were swooping down at and attacking their armoured fellows. A group of pink-clad griffons were diving right at Soaring Scavenger, raking their talons down the side of the airship’s envelope. The wind furies contained within were already escaping, the envelope gradually deflating, sending the ship down below the level of the bridge.

“Looks like they’re on our side to me,” said Big Macintosh.

“Agreed,” said Coloratura. “Scootaloo, can you match that pink? Signal that pink as an ally.”

“No problem,” said Scootaloo, looking exhausted. She raised her wings and let loose a sequence of coloured flares, first a pair so close to each other they appeared to merge, green above blue, followed by one bright fuchsia precisely matching the shade of Apple Bloom’s mane ribbon. “Is that all? I hope that’s all. I’m almost done for.”

“It’ll do for now, Scoots,” said Coloratura. “Everypony, charge!”

Apple Bloom and her family stepped aside with Gabby and the blue pegasus mare while Coloratura led the ponies in an attack on the combined forces of Effai griffons and mercenary ponies. Emboldened by the presence of their new allies, they quickly pushed back the invaders, forcing them back into the first barricade. The ponies did not let up, pushing harder and harder. The griffons at the back of the pack scrambled to get over or around the first barricade, some falling off the side of the bridge.

“I’m gonna head over to our soldiers on the bridge, help them push from that side,” announced the pegasus before sweeping into the sky with a gust of furycrafted wind, the spectral form of a tortoise faintly visible around her as she flew. She quickly reached the Poneran soldiers on the bridge, and after a brief discussion with a brown unicorn mare helped them attack the griffons from that side.

With an army behind them, a militia ahead of them, another army above, and their furycrafting reinforcements struck from the skies, the invaders finally began to falter.

Chapter Twenty One

Apple Bloom and her companions watched the battle finally begin to wind down. With the enemy forces contained by Poneran fighters front and back, and swarmed by griffon fliers from above, combined with the fall of Soaring Scavenger, they were thoroughly demoralised. The Ponerans cheered when the griffons threw down their swords and spears, giving up in surrender. The mercenary ponies did likewise, with the exception of a few who risked diving for the canal. Some of the jumpers looked familiar to Apple Bloom, one a grey earth pony mare, the others a pair of identical yellow unicorn stallions.

Running with her friends to the edge of the cliffs, Apple Bloom watched to see what would happen to those daring few. She saw the airship, now floating in the canal while some of her crew worked to cut free the deflated envelope. A pale yellow unicorn mare running about on the deck seemed to be a watercrafter, gesturing at the water and making it safely catch the falling pirates, then deliver them to the deck of the ship.

Scootaloo raised a wing, flicking it half-heartedly in the direction of the pirate vessel. Nothing happened. “Eh. I’m too exhausted to furycraft,” she said.

“Don’t worry about it, Scoots,” said Apple Bloom. “Let ‘em go for now.”

“Yeah,” agreed Applejack. “Don’t give ‘em a reason to fire back at us.”

“Could they really get us from all the way down there?” asked Gabby.

“Hm? Hmm,” hummed Applejack. “I reckon a really good firecrafter might. No offence, Scoots, but I don’t think you could have hit ‘em anyways. Not from this far up.”

“Whatever,” mumbled Scootaloo. “I’m just glad it’s over.” She glanced at Gabby. “It is over, right? You guys aren’t gonna try to attack us now that those other griffons have given up, right?”

“Don’t worry… Scootaloo, is it?” replied Gabby. “Apple Bloom told me about you. Anyways, we Effoh aren’t gonna take this city back from you ponies.”

Applejack raised an eyebrow. “Apple Bloom, are you gonna introduce us to your new friend?”

“Oh, sure, sorry,” Apple Bloom said, turning away from the lamed airship now floating out to sea. “Guys, this is Gabriella, but you can call her Gabby.” Gabby waved a wing. “Gabby, this is Applejack, Big Mac, and Scootaloo,” said Apple Bloom, pointing out her family members in turn.

“Hello,” said Gabby. “I’m pleased to meet you.”

“Any friend of Apple Bloom’s is a friend of mine,” Scootaloo said, offering a hoof.

“Uh, I’d shake claw with you, but my leg’s broken,” Gabby said. “But I’ll still be your friend.”

Applejack narrowed her eyes at Gabby for a moment before sighing. “Alright, fine. If you’re gonna be friendly, I’ll be the same. Pleased to meet you, Gabby.” She offered a hoof, before glancing at Gabby’s broken leg with a chuckle and withdrawing her own. “Heh, sorry about that.”

Big Macintosh looked between Apple Bloom and Gabby. “If AB is friends with her, that’s good enough for me,” he said.

Apple Bloom threw a hoof over Gabby’s shoulders, giving her a quick squeeze. “Yay, now we’re all friends!”

The battle finally over, ponies bearing the marks of medical professionals streamed from the manor, to seek out the injured and treat their wounds. Meanwhile, the soldiers at the bridge, griffon and pony alike, started apprehending the surrendered enemies. The friends watched the efforts, staying out of the way, when Gilda landed before the group.

“Looks like we’ve wrapped it all up here,” she said. “Now, about our payment…”

“Payment?” Applejack said. “What payment? Apple Bloom, what’s goin’ on?”

Apple Bloom lowered her head, looking sheepishly up at Applejack. “Well, I needed to get them to help somehow, didn’t I?”

“We were told we would have the chance to make a series of trade agreements,” said Gilda. “I was told your… duchess? Your duchess would listen to offers.”

“And she will,” promised Apple Bloom.

“Apple Bloom!” snapped Applejack. “You can’t go makin’ promises for the duchess! You’re not part of her staff!”

“Easy, AJ,” came Coloratura’s voice. “After such a timely arrival, it’s only fair to at least talk to our saviours.” The duchess and the blue pegasus mare from earlier walked over to the group, nodding to Gilda as she arrived. “It looks like your griffons are taking custody of the others, and leaving the ponies for my people?”

“I thought it was fair,” Gilda said. “They all tried to start a war neither of us wanted. The way I see it, you should get to punish your ponies, and we’ll sort out the Effai griffons.”

Coloratura shrugged. “Sounds good to me.” She nudged Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. “I’d hate to have to sort out the paperwork on so many griffon prisoners.”

Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Gabby giggled. As Gabby shifted her weight, she hissed with pain. “Ow.”

Glancing at her, Coloratura noted the splint and bandages on Gabby’s injured leg. “Are you hurt badly, little one?”

Gabby’s eyes went wide at being addressed by a Poneran duchess. “Ju-just a broken leg, uh, your duchessness,” she said.

With a chuckle, Coloratura said, “‘Your grace’ is the accepted term of address for a duke or duchess, my little griffon. And we can’t have one of our new friends walking about on a broken leg.” She spoke to the blue pegasus, asking her to find a spare tub and some water. The mare quickly found a tub, followed by a burly pony carrying a pair of massive barrels of water - they were so heavy that he was forced to use his earthcrafting strength to carry them, evidenced by the slight tremor in the ground around him.

Coloratura gestured at the barrels, sending some water streaming up out of them and into the tub. When the level was high enough, she dismissed the water bearer before looking at Gabby and tapping the tub. “Go on, hop in.”

Gilda put a claw on Gabby’s shoulder, holding her still.

“Nest Leader Gilda,” Apple Bloom said, a slight tone of authority in her voice, “it’s alright. Duchess Coloratura is only going to help her.”

Gilda looked at Apple Bloom, before narrowing her eyes at Coloratura. “Alright,” she said, releasing Gabby. “But I’ll be watching you, pony.”

For her part, Coloratura appeared completely unconcerned. “If our positions were reversed, with Apple Bloom or Scootaloo here with the broken leg, I expect I’d react the same way. After all, they’re under my protection.” She smiled at Gilda. “If you care about all the fledglings under your protection the same way, then I think we’ll get along just fine.”

Gabby flapped her wings and hopped up into the tub, settling down carefully. At Coloratura’s urging, she lay down, immersing her broken leg.

Coloratura dipped a hoof into the water and closed her eyes. “It’s been quite a while since I’ve done this,” she said, gently stirring the water. “Ah, there we go.” Her hoof stopped circling, instead pointing at Gabby’s injured leg. The water stirred about on its own, swirling about the point of break in the griffon’s leg. “Looks like somepony got the bones lined up properly,” Coloratura noted.

“Not a pony,” said Gilda. “Our doctors know what they’re doing.”

“My apologies,” Coloratura said. “Somegriffon knows what they’re doing; this would heal up fine in about six weeks or so. But watercrafters such as myself can speed up the healing process quite a bit.” Her brow furrowed in concentration, and the water in the tub started swirling up and down the length of Gabby’s leg. After about a minute, the water calmed and Coloratura withdrew her hoof. It came out of the water completely dry, not so much as a drop of moisture clinging to her coat. “That should do it,” she said, holding her hoof out to help Gabby up. “Sorry it took so long, I’m a little out of practice at healing watercraft.”

The young griffon stood up, gingerly putting her weight on her bandage-wrapped leg. She bounced on the leg a few times, before whooping. “Wow! It’s not even sore!” She took Coloratura’s hoof and leapt out of the tub, deliberately landing on her formerly injured leg. “Look at it, nest leader! It’s perfect again.”

Gilda peered at Gabby’s foreleg while she helped unwrap the bandages. She gently squeezed on several points along the leg. “I can’t even feel where the break was.” She looked up at Coloratura in surprise. “You healed a broken leg in less than a minute, and then apologised for taking too long?”

“That’s furycraft for you,” replied the duchess. “Now, you said something about trade discussions? Shall we discuss the matter in my office?”

Gilda looked about, seeing that her army seemed to have wrapped up the arrest of the Effai griffons. “Alright then,” she shrugged. “Lead the way.”

Apple Bloom watched as Coloratura and Gilda departed toward the Ducal Manor, already deep in discussion. Leaving Gabby to experiment with her newly healed leg, Apple Bloom turned to find Scootaloo chatting with rainbow-maned blue pegasus mare. “Hey Scoots. So, who’s your new friend here?”

“Huh?” said Scootaloo, glancing over at Apple Bloom. “Oh, right. AB, this is Rainbow Dash. She helped us yesterday.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t do more to help you then,” said Rainbow, offering a hoof to Apple Bloom. “But I guess we wouldn’t have had our new friends here if I had. At least it all worked out so well.”

“So it was your craftin’ that knocked those griffons down,” Apple Bloom said, taking the offered hoof. “Pleased to meet ya.”

Epilogue

After a day of negotiations, Duchess Coloratura and Nest Leader Gilda had come to a deal to begin trade between Ponera and the Effoh clan of the griffons. To celebrate both the victory over the invaders and their newfound trading partners, Cliffside Eyrie had turned into a party.

Apple Bloom and Gabby were joking and laughing with Apple Bloom’s family, regaling them with tales of their exploits in griffon lands. “And with her leg broken, Gabby couldn’t run, and she says that griffons can’t fly really long distances like a windcrafter could. So I told her to hold her wings out, and I galloped all the way to the city, pulling her along like a kite!”

“We got all the way into Eyrieport like that, straight through the fortress gate,” said Gabby to the laughter of the ponies.

“O’ course, then they went and arrested me,” Apple Bloom said.

“Arrested ya?” asked Applejack.

“Well, like Gabby said,” replied Apple Bloom, “we did go straight past all the guards and everygriff.”

“Nest Leader Gilda had her released the next day though,” said Gabby. “And I think we made an impression on the griffons - remember those two we saw on the way to see Gilda?”

Apple Bloom laughed. “Yeah, I remember! I still reckon we invented a new griffon sport.” She turned to her family. “What about you guys? How’d you manage to outrun an airship all the way to Cliffside Eyrie?”

“We didn’t,” Scootaloo said. “They caught up to us in the middle of the afternoon. Big Mac fought off Octavia and Flim and Flam, while Rainbow Dash carried me up into the air to try and stop the airship.”

Apple Bloom’s eyes went wide. “Up into the air? But you’re afraid o’ heights, ain’t ya?”

Scootaloo blinked, thinking back to her adventure. “Huh. I used to be, but I guess there was so much happening that I forgot all about it.” She mused on that thought for a moment. “I guess I’m not afraid anymore.”

“Good, because now we’re friends with the griffons we can cross that rope bridge to visit them without you firecraftin’ all that fear at me,” Apple Bloom said.

Scootaloo sheepishly grinned. “Uh, maybe not,” she said. “When Rainbow was carrying me away from the clearing, we were being chased, and, well… we kinda cut down the bridge.”

Apple Bloom’s ears lowered in disappointment before perking up again. “Aww. Wait, if the bridge was gone, Applejack, how did you get across the canal?”

The reunited family continued to exchange stories and enjoy each other’s company for the rest of the night.

While the family laughed, shared stories, and generally enjoyed being reunited, Rainbow Dash stood with Duchess Coloratura and Nest Leader Gilda at a fountain before the Ducal Manor. A full-scale, full-colour image of an elderly earth pony mare was being watercrafted up in the pool. The mare was a faded green colour, with mane and tail faded to gray by age. Her cutie mark was of an apple pie.

“Nest Leader Gilda, this is High Mare Granny Smith, ruler of Ponera,” introduced Rainbow Dash. “High Mare, this is Nest Leader Gilda, of the Effoh clan. She’s sort of like a duke.”

Gilda nodded her head to Granny Smith. “High Mare,” she said.

Granny Smith leaned forward a little. “So you’re the griffon we’re makin’ all these new deals with, eh?”

“We went to the trouble of saving your city,” Gilda said. “It’s only fair we get some kind of compensation for all our hard work.”

“Hmm,” hummed Granny Smith, glaring at the griffon before breaking into a chuckle. “Oh, I like you, ya young whippersnapper. I think we’ll get along just fine.” She then turned to Rainbow. “Now, as for you, Auditor Dash.”

“Uh, your High Mare-edness, I’m not an Auditor,” said Rainbow. “Octavia betrayed us before she passed me.”

“Fiddlesticks!” snapped Granny. “I’m the High Mare, ain’t I? If’n I say you’re an Auditor, then by gum you’re an Auditor!”

Blinking in shock, Rainbow could only stammer. “R-r-really? Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!”

“Congratulations, Auditor Dash,” grinned Coloratura while Gilda looked on, shrugging away her confusion.

“Thank you!” said Rainbow, before taking a breath and calming herself down. She looked over at Scootaloo for a moment before turning back to Granny Smith. “Actually, High Mare, there’s several other ponies who also deserve a reward for what they’ve done here.”

“Fair enough,” Granny said. “Duchess, you can hoof out any rewards you see fit, just send me the bills.”

“Of course, High Mare,” said Coloratura. “Though knowing that family, they won’t ask for much.”

“Whatever. They did all of Ponera a good deed, they get a good deed back,” said Granny. “Now you young fellas go on and enjoy yourselves, ya hear?” Waving goodbye, her image collapsed back into the water.

Rainbow turned to Coloratura. “Well, your Grace, what kind of reward were you thinking of giving them?”

“I’m not sure yet,” replied Coloratura. “Like I told the High Mare, they’re not the sort to want much that they feel they haven’t earned.”

“And stopping a war doesn’t count as earning something?” asked Gilda.

Rainbow thought about her interactions with Applejack and Big Macintosh. “Not to them it wouldn’t,” she said. She looked over at Scootaloo and Apple Bloom, a smile creeping its way onto her face. “But I think I know what they might like anyway. With your permission, your Grace?”

“Go on, Auditor,” replied Coloratura. “Nest Leader Gilda and I need to decide where to build a griffon consulate.”

Rainbow left Coloratura and Gilda to their discussion and went to join her new friends. “Hey guys!”

“Rainbow Dash!” greeted Scootaloo. “How’d it go with the High Mare?”

“Put it this way, squirt: you’re looking at Ponera’s newest Auditor!” Rainbow replied.

“After all this, they made you an accountant?” asked Gabby while Apple Bloom looked on in confusion.

The rest of the family burst out laughing, along with Rainbow. When they finally calmed down, seeing Apple Bloom and Gabby glaring at them was almost enough to set them off again.

“AB, an Auditor workin’ for the throne is more than just a bean counter,” explained Applejack. “Apparently, that’s just a cover for their real work of keepin’ an eye on folks that need an eye kept on ‘em.”

“Oh,” said Apple Bloom. “Well, I guess that makes more sense.”

“Actually, guys, I came over here to offer you all a reward for what you’ve all done,” said Rainbow.

Applejack and Big Macintosh exchanged glances. “Well, I dunno that we deserve a reward for doin’ the right thing,” said Applejack.

“Nnope,” Big Macintosh agreed.

“Hey, in my line of work, you see all kinds of ponies who don’t do the right thing,” said Rainbow.

“You’ve had your job for what, five minutes?” quipped Apple Bloom.

While the ponies laughed, Rainbow swatted a wing at Apple Bloom. “Very funny, but you know what I mean.”

“Rainbow, we’re just teasing you,” Scootaloo said. “That means you’re part of our family now.”

Rainbow’s eyes watered at that. She bent down to hug Scootaloo. “Thanks, squirt. That means a lot.” Standing back up, she addressed the family. “Even if you don’t want anything, I’m still gonna make an offer. Scootaloo, Apple Bloom. How would you two like to go to the Equine Academy in Equinopolis? You could learn to be anything you wanted to be there.”

Applejack looked unsure. “I dunno, Rainbow. That’s a mighty expensive school.”

“And a full scholarship for both of them is the reward on offer,” replied Rainbow Dash. She looked back at the fillies. “You two have shown that you have what it takes to make it big, to do anything you set your minds to. Scoots, you helped defend Cliffside Eyrie against invasion, fighting right at the front line. And Apple Bloom, you managed to do in one day what hasn’t happened in centuries, getting griffons and ponies to be friends. You two deserve every chance to do anything you set out to try. So what do you say?”

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo grinned at each other. “What do ya think, Scoots?” asked Apple Bloom.

“I think we should go for it,” said Scootaloo. “Applejack, Big Mac? Can we go?”

“Please?” begged Apple Bloom.

“Well, how can we say no to that?” said Applejack. “Sure, if you want to go to the academy, and the throne is gonna pay for it, then why not? Just make sure you keep in touch.”

“Eeyup,” Big Macintosh said.

“But if you go to this academy, will I ever see you again?” asked Gabby.

“Of course you will,” said Apple Bloom. “Now that ponies and griffons are talking to each other, you could come to see us in Equinopolis, or we can visit you in Eyrieport.”

“And you’re all always welcome back home at Sweet Apple Acres,” said Applejack. She turned to Rainbow Dash. “Well, Rainbow, it looks like we have that reward you wanted to give us. If you see to it that their schooling is all paid for, then I’ll consider myself rewarded.”

Big Macintosh nodded in agreement.

“That’s all sorted then,” Rainbow said. “I’ll make the arrangements when I get home to Equinopolis, and you’ll be able to start in a month or so.”

“Thank you, Rainbow Dash!” chorused Apple Bloom and Scootaloo.

“And make sure that Gabby will always have a place to stay whenever she comes to visit,” insisted Apple Bloom.

“No problem,” said Rainbow. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to find the duchess, tell her that you guys are all sorted out.” She spread her wings and flapped them a few times, lifting up into the air before summoning Tank to her wings and departing on a windstream.

Gabby looked thoughtfully at Rainbow’s wings as the mare left, before shrugging and turning to her new friends. “Are you really going to want me to visit you in Equinopolis?”

“Sure we will,” said Scootaloo. “I’m gonna want to hear all about the mischief that Apple Bloom got up to on your adventure that she hasn’t told me.”

Gabby’s eyes glittered with excitement. “Ooh, I could tell you about the cloud.”

Apple Bloom facehoofed. “Darn it, Gabby, that was your fault.”

“I told you, it’s perfectly normal. I still don’t know why it didn’t work for you,” replied Gabby.

“Cloud?” Applejack shook her head. “Whatever, I’m just glad that after all those exciting adventures, we’re all okay.”

“Yeah,” Apple Bloom agreed. “Stopping a war, making friends with the griffons, thwarting a spy, earning a place at the Equine Academy.” Her ears perked up as an exciting thought occurred to her and she turned to look at her flanks. “Ooh, I bet we even got our cutie-” Her ears drooped again. “Aww, darn it. After all that, I still didn’t get my cutie mark.”

The timbers of Soaring Scavenger groaned as the ship was pulled up to the dock. The envelope had been slashed so many times by the griffons that it was beyond repair, and so the mercenaries had been forced to improvise. They had modified the mast to support sails, and used the largest pieces of the envelope to catch the wind. They had spent over a week at a crawl, limping their way south along the coast, until they finally arrived in Jewelport.

Octavia leaped from the deck to the dock before the ship had fully stopped, followed quickly by Flim and Flam. Leaving the crippled vessel, they made their way through the city to Jeweled Palace, the seat of Duke Svengallop. The two guards at the palace tried to stop them from entering the palace grounds, but Octavia simply stepped down with slightly more force than usual and called upon Kazumi. The guards were flung sideways when the very ground they stood upon threw them aside.

Before the guards could climb back to their hooves, they found Flim and Flam standing over them, holding them at spearpoint. “Inform Duke Svengallop that Octavia is on her way,” said the twins.

The guards looked at each other, then over at Octavia, making her way toward the entrance to the palace. One of them closed his eyes for a moment longer than a blink, and spoke, “Octavia is on her way to speak with the duke. Let her through.” His words were carried to the palace by his windcraft, just in time for the guards at the door to spring from their positions and admit Octavia.

She trotted through the palace, the staff scrambling to stay out of her way, until she found her way to the throne room. Not waiting to be announced, she simply threw open the doors and strode her way past the supplicants to the duke’s court.

Sitting upon the throne was Svengallop himself, an earth pony stallion, his coat a gray so light it was nearly white, with a short curly vermillion mane. He watched Octavia make her way past the line, and responded by standing to make an announcement to the court. “Court is over for today. Clear the throne room.”

The supplicants started to protest, only to be silenced by the guards who chivvied them out. Soon, Octavia and Svengallop were alone. “Octavia. Your mission has failed,” said the duke.

“There were witnesses when we were finalising the arrangement with the griffons,” explained Octavia. “I was able to compensate for one who made it to Cliffside Eyrie, but it seems the griffons failed to catch the other before she made it to another griffon clan.”

“Your mission failed,” repeated Svengallop. “Now Coloratura is in favour in the Stable, the duchess who opened trade with the griffons. She is even selling canal passage to the griffons! Her financial position is now so secure even Filthy and Spoiled couldn’t bankrupt her, and politically she can do no wrong. Even the common ponies support her, after she sponsored a pair of farm fillies, the same fillies who ruined things for us, she sponsored them to the Equine Academy.”

“Perhaps it would have been… better to have allied with a different griffon clan, your Grace?” asked Octavia. “It seems the Effai were not the clan controlling the griffon lands just past the canal.”

“Hindsight is always perfect,” snapped Svengallop “It does little good now to discuss what we should have done in the past.”

“Of course, your Grace,” replied Octavia. “Your Grace… what now?”

Svengallop simply stared at Octavia for a moment. “You are fortunate that reports from Cliffside made it here before you did. I know that it was the griffons who failed me, not you. So I continue to have use for you. I have work for you in Equinopolis.”

“Equinopolis?” said Octavia. “I am quite well known there, your Grace. I would be recognised very easily, and by now Rainbow Dash must have reported my betrayal.”

“That would be your problem, Octavia,” replied Svengallop. “You have your orders. You will go to Equinopolis.”

Prologue

The cyan pegasus mare leaned against the bar, sipping her fifth cider. Her ears flicked toward the sound of the city’s hourly bell, chiming the second hour of the afternoon. With a twitch of her head she flipped her unkempt rainbow-coloured mane out of her eyes, and glanced at the bar’s hourglass. The barstallion, a unicorn with a blue coat and brown mane, walked over to it. Reaching up with a forehoof, he flipped it over, allowing the sand grains within to fall into the empty bulb. Sighing, the mare drained her mug in a single pull before tapping the bar and glancing at the barstallion. He raised an eyebrow at the collection of empty mugs in front of the pegasus, shaking his head before collecting them. She rolled her eyes and slumped onto her barstool.

“Was one of those for me?” asked a cheerful voice with a refined, almost posh accent.

“Tavi. Finally,” responded the pegasus. “You know how I hate waiting.”

A grey-coated, dark grey-maned earth pony mare slid onto the stool next to the pegasus then waved to the barstallion that she wanted a drink. “What’s wrong with waiting? All good things come to she who waits.”

The mare rolled her eyes. “Octavia, I’ve been waiting for two hours,” she said through gritted teeth. “I am not a patient mare.” She glared at the barstallion when he gave a mug of cider to her seatmate. “Did you at least find what you were looking for?”

“Have I ever let you down, Rainbow?” asked Octavia. Rainbow opened her mouth to respond, but Octavia quickly added, “And your birthday doesn’t count. That wasn’t my fault.”

Rainbow looked askance at her. She seemed about to reply, but apparently thought better of it. The two got up from the bar and made their way to a booth along the wall, away from prying eyes and eavesdropping ears.

“Well?” asked Rainbow, her ears forward, eyes alert. “Had your contact heard anything?”

“Yep. The twins are being sent out somewhere near Mount Argent,” said Octavia. “On the down-low, it would seem. It took my contact a while to find somepony who knew anything.”

“Mount Argent?” said Rainbow, “I wouldn’t have thought Duke Shining Armor wanted anything to do with Svengallop, not after that whole incident with the orphanage.”

“Hence the hush-hush, presumably,” said Octavia. “The bad news is that they're not taking one of the Duke’s airships out there, and they’ll be leaving on the third hour.”

“Great,” replied Rainbow with a roll of her eyes. “That leaves us with less than an hour to check out about four dozen private and mercenary ships.”

“And the good news,” said Octavia, as though Rainbow had not spoken, “is that I already know which ship they’ll be taking.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes again, getting sick of the motion. “Well, why didn't you say so? What are we still doing here?”

“Well, I’m having a cider. I don’t know about you.”

Rainbow snorted out a breath, glaring at Octavia. Octavia’s eyes widened in mock terror, before she finished her mug and made her way back to the bar, fishing out her coin bag as she went. After a brief discussion with the barstallion, she glanced back at Rainbow and raised an eyebrow. Rainbow merely smirked, pointed a wing at the hourglass, and left the tavern. Octavia waved a dismissive hoof at her and left a small pile of coins on the counter before following her out.

She found Rainbow leaning on the wall outside the tavern, looking towards the skyport. She was holding a wing before her face, the primary feathers spread, and Octavia could see the magnification effect Rainbow’s wind fury had induced between the flight feathers. “You’re looking for Soaring Scavenger. She’s a highly modified light-freight hauler, berthed at bay six on the northern pier, about halfway along.”

Rainbow shifted her gaze to the northern pier of the skyport, muttering to herself as she counted out berths, before her eyes widened in shock. “Highly modified, no kidding. I can see at least eight gunports from here, and I barely even need Tank’s help for those!”

“I’ve been meaning to ask, why do you call your wind fury Tank of all things?” asked Octavia.

“Because he takes the form of a tortoise,” replied Rainbow. “Why do you call your wood fury Evans? And your earth fury Kazumi?”

“It’s kind of… complicated,” said Octavia.

Rainbow raised an eyebrow at her. When it was clear that Octavia had nothing more to say on the matter, she asked, “So what do we know about the Scavenger?”

“She’s captained by Black Strap,” replied Octavia. “A brute of an earth pony who leads the crew in acts of piracy, though they’ve been known to hire out as mercenaries on occasion.”

“Like today.”

“Like today, exactly.”

Rainbow folded her wing and dismissed her fury, the ghostly form of a tortoise briefly visible as the crafting dissolved, and the pair of ponies began to make their way towards the skyport. “So, what’s the plan?”

“This is your mission, Auditor Dash,” Octavia replied. “What would you suggest?”

Rainbow took a moment to consider her options before replying. “I’m thinking we should get to the base of the pier,” she began. “You have Kazumi keep other earth furies from sensing us, while I have Tank keep pony eyes from seeing us. When the coast is clear, you use Evans to open up a hole in the hull, and we sneak aboard and get any papers and stuff the twins have. Then we sneak off and report back to the High Lady. In and out in ten seconds flat.”

"I like it. Simple. Easy to remember.”

“So I have your approval, Auditor Melody?”

“Absolutely,” Octavia Melody replied. “Not bad for your first outing.”

“Let’s hold off on the celebrations, Tavi,” said Rainbow. She ignored her companion’s pout and continued. “We didn’t come all the way to Jewelport just to make a plan. We still need to actually get the proof that Svengallop is up to something nasty.”

The pair made their way to Jewelport Skyport, and snuck into the shadows at the base of the northern pier. The pier was designed to also serve as a warehouse for any cargo on- or off-loaded by visiting airships, which berthed at bays at roof level. Since most airships were at least three decks deep, and most airship captains preferred to not smash their keels into the ground every time they pulled into port, the pier-roof was five floors above the ground. The upshot of these design considerations was that there were few ponies about at ground level, and the pair of Auditors had little difficulty avoiding notice as they made their way toward bay six and the underside of Soaring Scavenger.

Rainbow flicked out her wings and made a minor effort of will, instructing Tank to blur the air around Octavia and herself, rendering them all but invisible to prying eyes. Octavia, meanwhile, tapped the ground with a forehoof, communing with her earth fury. She waited a moment for Kazumi to respond, then nodded to Rainbow. Rainbow murmured to Tank, willing him to bring her the sounds from the deck of the airship suspended above them. She was about to gesture to Octavia when she felt a tremor pass underhoof.

Rainbow whirled to look at her partner, her eyes wide and ears drooping, alarmed at the earthcrafted probe. Octavia was already turning this way and that, looking for the earth crafter who had found them through his concealment crafting.

Without warning, the earth itself leapt up and tried to grab hold of the operatives. Octavia was flung upward and knocked her head on the keel of Soaring Scavenger, but Rainbow had the reflexes of a flyer. She dodged the grab and called Tank to her wings, the tortoise form of the wind fury flickering into sight as Rainbow dispelled the invisibility veil in favour of raw speed.

Rainbow knew she could escape, she held every speed record on the Equine Academy books. Speed did her little good, however, when somepony up on the deck thought particularly quickly and threw a cloud of salt crystals over her. Tank’s form disintegrated, the fury’s essence scattered by contact with the salt. The agony of it was enough to make Rainbow to scream in pain even before she crashed to the ground.

The last thing she saw before passing out from the agony was a pale yellow unicorn mare approaching, her eyes narrow with malice.

Rainbow awoke in a tub of water, with more water showering over her face. She spat some of it out from her mouth, noting the salty taste. She shook her head to clear the water, only for yet more to fall. Rainbow tried to clamber out of the tub, but some unseen force held her hooves and wings in place. She willed Tank to come to her, but felt nothing from the fury.

“Don’t bother trying to get out, windcrafter,” said a mare’s voice. “That’s saltwater you’re in. Your wind fury may as well not exist. And I won’t let you out until I’m told.”

Rainbow turned to the source of the voice, barely able to make out a yellow shape through the water streaming over her face. “Let me go!” she demanded.

The mare laughed at that. “You don’t get to tell me when to let you out!”

“Wait,” said Rainbow. “Was that you I saw before, just after the salt? You’re with the twins, aren't you? And is this shower your watercraft? Would you cut it out?”

“She most certainly is with us,” came a stallion’s voice.

“And she will not stop the shower,” came a second stallion’s voice, almost identical to the first. “After all, we don’t want you escaping now, do we Flim?”

“Certainly not, Flam. Keep that water going, Moondancer my mare,” replied the first stallion.

Rainbow looked around at the newcomers, tilting her head forward to try to keep the saltwater out of her eyes. The new arrivals were a pair of pale yellow unicorn stallions bearing red manes and tails with white highlights. They wore white undershirts and blue striped vests, and each was armed with a spear. They were almost identical but for the moustache one grew. “The twins themselves, Flim and Flam. Or is it Flam and Flim? I never could be bothered enough to care which of you is which.”

“Before you say something you might regret later on,” began one brother.

“Perhaps you should hear our offer,” continued the other.

Octavia walked into the room, completely unbound. “You should listen to them, Rainbow. Not that you have much of a choice.”

Rainbow frowned in confusion. “Octavia? What’s going on?”

“We’re giving you the chance to join us,” replied Octavia. “The chance to serve Duke Svengallop, to prove your loyalty to him before he takes the throne.”

“Tavi,” Rainbow said, averting her eyes and lowering her ears. “You traitor. How could you betray the High Mare like this?”

Octavia moved to look Rainbow directly in the eye. “I’m doing this to save Ponera from Granny Smith.”

“You think you’re saving Ponera from our own High Mare?” said Rainbow, incredulous. “What in the name of Tartarus are you talking about?”

“Look at what she has us doing, Rainbow Dash!” cried Octavia. “We’re here spying on the dukes, when we should be looking out for the safety of the ponies of Ponera!”

“If the Duke Svengallop wasn’t trying to overthrow the High Mare, maybe we wouldn’t have to be spying on him!”

“If Granny was a capable High Mare,” began Octavia, “then Svengallop’s plans would never have been able to get as far along as they have. Ever since Clean Leaf died she’s been obsessed with political intrigue at the expense of the well-being of the ponies of Ponera. The fact that there has been so much political infighting for the past few years is proof that she’s past her prime and it’s time for her to step down. And everypony knows Blueblood is a fool, we can’t let him take the throne. If she won’t step aside of her own accord, then for the good of the citizens of Ponera somepony needs to help her down from the throne so that a stronger leader can take her place.”

“You’re a traitor, Octavia,” whispered Rainbow, turning away from her former friend. “Get out.”

“You’ll come to see things our way, Rainbow,” said Octavia. “All you need is time. Come on you three. Let’s leave her to her thoughts.”

Octavia led Flim, Flam, and Moondancer from the room, and the room itself shuddered for a moment. Rainbow watched the four traitors to her nation turn right, moving down the hallway and out of sight.

The shudder had stopped, but Rainbow still felt a sense of motion, of turning and then acceleration. “I must be on the airship, then.” She looked at the source of the water still showering down on her head. It was coming from a blob somehow floating above her head, continually replenished by a tendril linking it to the water in the tub. “I guess that Moondancer mare knows her watercrafting. I’ll never get through to Tank through all this saltwater.”

The water continued to cycle despite Moondancer’s absence. Rainbow sighed, and lay her head on the edge of the tub. The water blob followed her, ensuring her head was salted enough to block her access to her wind fury at all times. Rainbow arched a brow at the blob. She could only respect the skill of the crafting, even if she was annoyed by the persistence of the rain.

The water continued to shower over Rainbow’s head, but now that her head was over the side of the tub, some of that water began to drip over the outside. When Rainbow spotted the growing puddle, she began to feel hope again. All she had to do was wait until enough water had rained out of the tub for her body to be exposed to the air.

Rainbow tried to contain her hope and excitement. Watercrafters could sense emotion in those nearby, and wrapped as she was by Moondancer’s water fury Rainbow had no doubt that the mare could could feel her emotions. However, once the water level had lowered enough that Rainbow could once again feel Tank, her hope surged - only to be replaced with fear when she heard Moondancer’s warning cry from above.

Rainbow pulled on Tank, willing him to push his way between herself and the water. She felt agony through her bond with the fury when his essence came into contact with her salt-soaked coat, but she forced her way through it. Air surrounded her, and Rainbow felt the grip of the water fury slacken. She drew Tank to her wings and flapped as hard as she could, throwing her fury at the tub, sending the water flying out of the tub in a massive spray that soaked everything in the room. At the sudden dispersal of the tubload of water and its attendant fury, Moondancer screamed in pain loudly enough for Rainbow to clearly hear, even through the shock of the salty spray dispersing her own fury.

“Well, that scream came from above, so the stairs must be this way,” Rainbow muttered to herself as she bolted through the doorway and turned to the right, the direction her captors had gone. Her choice of direction was rewarded with the sight of stairs leading up to the deck, and Rainbow poured on the speed and galloped up the stairs to the quarterdeck of the airship.

Not wanting to stop and chat, she leaped over the gunwales and called the salt-weakened Tank back to her wings. Rainbow tried to keep her speed up, but the fury was barely strong enough to even keep her in the air. She angled this way and that, dodging blasts of flame from Soaring Scavenger’s firecrafters. As she descended from the airship, Rainbow had Tank divert some of his efforts into another veil of invisibility before any windcrafters could get themselves airborne. Not yet accustomed to Tank’s salt-weakened state, she nearly fell from the sky when her fury almost collapsed, too weak to split into a second, completely different crafting.

Thinking quickly, Rainbow cancelled the veil, instead turning to fly under the airship. She calmed herself and ensured there was nopony looking her way, before willing Tank to launch her up, over the rim of Soaring Scavenger’s envelope.Now on soaring straight up on a ballistic trajectory, she had Tank focus his efforts exclusively on invisibility just in time to avoid notice on her way past the deck of the airship. Reaching the apex of her flight, Rainbow spotted a point in the rigging at the aft end of the envelope that should be able to hold her weight without distorting any of the rigging too obtrusively, and angled her wings to aim for it.

Setting down under her veil, Rainbow willed Tank to extend the tiniest sound channel she could manage to the deck. “I hope their windcrafters aren’t as good as me,” she muttered as she strained her ears to hear the words her wind fury relayed to her.

“Sorry, sir,” panted a voice Rainbow did not recognise. “We lost her.”

“Her wind crafting is too good.” This voice Rainbow recognised as Octavia. “She’s too fast for anypony not ready for her. Even with her fury weakened by the salt, once she was airborne there was nothing any of us could do.”

The next voice was cold, cruel, and unyielding. “And just how was our pretty little prisoner allowed to get airborne in the first place, hmm?”

“Whatever she did must have disrupted Moondancer’s fury very quickly,” replied one of the twins.

“Look at her, she’s still unconscious,” finished his brother.

“Well,” said the cold voice, “now what? She’s off to warn everypony what you’re up to.”

“No, she’s not,” Octavia replied. “She doesn’t even know our destination - she thinks we’re going to Mount Argent. And if she did know where we were going, there’s no way she can beat us to Cliffside - even she can’t keep up the speed for over two hundred miles. Besides, even if Rainbow knew to watersend a warning through to the Eyrie, Coloratura doesn’t have the resources to track us down. Have somepony take a message to Duke Svengallop warning him that Dash escaped, let him worry about her. As for us, Captain Black Strap, take us east until we’re out of sight of Jewelport, just in case she’s watching us. Then set a course for Cliffside Eyrie.”

Satisfied that nopony would be expecting her to be aboard the airship, Rainbow dismissed the sound channel and willed the envelope’s lifting windfuries to ignore her. She smirked to herself while she secured herself to the rigging and settled in for a long flight.

Author's Note

Well, here I go. My second attempt at writing, this time making serious effort at keeping at it. Please note that I am Australian, and so is my spelling. So if you think there's an extraneous 'u' in words like neighbour or labour, well, there isn't. That said, any actual spelling errors you do spot not related to regional differences in language, please PM me. Try not to clog up the comments down there with minor spelling glitches. Save space for the glowing praise. Or, more likely, the scathing condemnation.

Also, I'll probably do a few blog posts to explain some of the background info on this 'verse, so if you get confused about how things work in Ponera then keep your eyes open for them.

Chapter Ten

After a few hours of travel, when the sun was low in the western sky, Big Mac came to a halt. He tapped the ground thrice, eyes closed in concentration.

“Big Mac? What is it?” asked Scootaloo.

Rainbow, alerted by Scootaloo’s question, sat up and looked to the stallion.

After a moment, Big Mac spoke. “I’m not sure. Felt like an earthcrafter.”

Rainbow’s ears fell. “I hope that doesn’t mean what I think it means,” she said with a twitch of her wings, communing with her own fury. “Which way?”

Big Mac silently pointed a hoof ahead of them, and Rainbow willed Tank to her wingtips and she held them to her face. With the aid of a farseeing windcrafting, Rainbow sought out signs of trouble. She found it very quickly.

“Ponyfeathers! It’s Octavia and the twins!” she cried. She drew in her fury, accelerating her perceptions in preparation for battle.

Big Mac gestured to Scootaloo to stay with the wagon as he too readied himself for a fight, drawing on the strength of the earth. Scootaloo stood on the wagon, recalling her newest firecrafting technique in case she needed it, and glanced around in case anypony else was sneaking up on them.

“Aw horseapples,” she said, looking behind.

“What is it?” asked Rainbow, attention forward on her former mentor.

“Oh, nothing much,” replied Scootaloo, panic creeping into her voice. “Just a pirate airship!”

“What?” Rainbow looked behind, quickly spotting the approaching Soaring Scavenger descending from the clouds. “Aw ponyfeathers.”

Big Mac looked back to see what occupied his winged companions, and paled at the sight of the airship closing on them. “You two handle that,” he said, returning his attention to Octavia and her unicorn lackeys. “I got these three.”

“Remember, she’s earth and wood, the other two are metalcrafters,” called Rainbow. “Squirt, saddle up. Let’s take this fight to them!”

Scootaloo instead opened up several of the lantern boxes and drew out their apple-shaped contents, focusing upon each furylamp for a moment before moving on to the next. “Big Mac, the lamps!”

Receiving a nod from the red stallion, Scootaloo quickly jumped onto Rainbow’s back and held on tight.

“What was that about?” asked Rainbow.

“Just a little- Look out!” Scootaloo ducked her head down to avoid one of the mercenary pegasi swooping down at them, dodging his spear. “Never mind that now, let’s get in the air!”

Rainbow opened her wings and willed Tank to launch them straight up into the air like a firework rocket, quickly zooming up to twice the altitude of the airship. Scootaloo didn’t waste time either, aiming and throwing several blades of flame at the airship’s envelope.

Two of the enemy pegasi broke off their attack on the piggyback pegasi to use their wind furies to counter Scootaloo’s firecraft. Her burning blades erupted harmlessly into flares of flame, too far from the airship to even scorch the envelope. Meanwhile, the third zoomed right at them, aiming his spear directly at Scootaloo.

Rainbow rolled on the spot before deciding that a moving target would be harder to hit. She set off at high speed, zig-zagging at random while Scootaloo conjured up flares to divert and distract the pursuing pegasi.

Big Mac felt like he was caught between a rock and a hard place. Octavia and the twins were approaching from ahead, while the pirates descended behind. Big Mac let the ship approach until it was low enough for a few pirates to leap from the deck to the ground, earthcrafted strength protecting them from harm, before he whirled to the wagon and hefted two of the lanterns Scootaloo had unboxed.

Taking a moment to aim, he drew on his own earth fury and threw the glass apples, one after the other, at the deck of the airship. The first lantern soared through the air to smash into the quarterdeck of the vessel, immediately bursting into flames which caught on the wooden deck. The second impacted on the mast, and the resulting fireball set the underside of the envelope aflame. The crew cried out in shock and panic, the captain calling for the helmspony to pull up out of Big Mac’s range and for firecrafters to deal with the fires.

Big Mac took the last lantern, throwing it to the ground just ahead of the newly landed pirates where it too burst into flames before they could get too close. He then returned his attention to the now furious and rapidly approaching Octavia.

“Do you have any idea what you just did?” she cried.

“What did they ever do to you?” asked the clean-shaven twin.

“It’ll take them ages to repair all that damage,” noted his mustachioed brother.

“Eeyup,” replied Big Mac.

Octavia looked up at the fight happening in the sky, eyes narrowing when she recognised both Rainbow Dash and the filly on her back. “Those fillies are his,” she told the twins. “Kill him!”

Big Mac’s eyes widened as the twins approached, spears at hoof. He stomped a hoof to the ground, and the twins promptly sank to the barrel in what had been, and instantly resumed being, solid rock. One of them threw his spear at Big Mac. It fell harmlessly to the ground after soaring barely its own length towards him.

Big Mac shook his head in disgust. “You can’t throw worth a crabapple.”

Looking back at Octavia, the twins spoke simultaneously. “A little help?” Octavia used her own earthcrafting talents to release the twins from their rocky prison, and they resumed stalking toward Big Mac, the moustachioed brother reclaiming the spear when he reached it.

Big Mac stomped both rear hooves on the ground, willing his earth fury to launch the wagon up into the air. He rolled backwards underneath it, before whirling around to buck it directly at his opponents.

The twins reacted almost as fast as Rainbow Dash could fly, rolling to the side out of the way of the ballistic wagon. Octavia simply stood in place, delivering a withering punch to the wagon with the full force of her own earthcraft, shattering it into kindling. This broke the still packaged lanterns that remained, and although Scootaloo had not converted any of them into dedicated firebombs, the newly-released fire furies still ignited the wreckage. Octavia was caught by surprise at the sudden inferno she found herself engulfed in, and rolled away before she could be more than slightly singed.

Big Mac again tried to hold the twins in the ground, succeeding long enough to seize the spear of the nearest metalcrafter before Octavia again released them. Big Mac thrust the spear with all his fury-assisted strength at the unicorn, digging the point into his shoulder and shattering the bones beneath. The unicorn hissed with pain as he used his other foreleg to swat the spear from Big Mac’s possession, then focused on his metalcraft to dull the painful sensations coming from his wound.

Octavia willed her earth fury at Big Mac, forcing him to respond in kind. The ground rippled savagely as the furies engaged in battle, before they both submerged underground. The unhurt unicorn took the opportunity to thrust his spear at Big Mac, expecting the earth pony to be weakened by the absence of his earth fury. Big Mac simply caught the shaft on his hoof, swatting the spear to the ground and stomping on it so hard that it snapped in two. “Nnnope.”

The unicorn blinked at the remains of his spear. “How did you do that?”

“He’s a farmer, you dolt,” said Octavia. “He probably pulls heavy loads like that wagon every day, both with and without his fury. Of course he’s going to be strong.”

“Eeyup,” agreed Big Mac.

“Flam, finish him already!” Octavia ordered, leaping off the path into the forest where she promptly vanished.

Big Mac had seen Applejack pull that trick enough times to recognise skilled woodcrafting at work. He gulped as he moved away from the treeline, aware that woodcrafted invisibility required nearby vegetation to work.

Flam called to his brother, who threw his own spear over. Flam caught the spear, and began circling Big Mac, trying to force him toward the forest.

Big Mac refused to move towards the hidden Octavia, and instead backed away, towards the fire still holding back the force of earthcrafter mercenaries. He looked to the sky, hoping that Rainbow and Scootaloo were able help him.

Scootaloo had felt through Elizabeak that Big Mac had used her lanterns-turned-firebombs, and both she and Rainbow had noted the smoke billowing out from under Soaring Scavenger’s envelope. Unfortunately, they were unable to capitalise on the opportunity to disable the ship due to the defensive efforts of her crew.

“Squirt, we’ve got to take out that airship,” said Rainbow. “If they get away, they’ll use it to help the griffons tomorrow!”

“I’m open to ideas,” replied Scootaloo. “Every time I throw flames at the ship, one of those pegasi blocks it.”

Rainbow rolled to dodge a blow from a passing pirate pegasus. “I have an idea, but it’s risky.”

In an attempt to dissuade a pursuing mercenary Scootaloo crafted a flare so close that it singed their tails. “What, and this isn’t?”

“Good point. Okay, hold on, we’re gonna strafe it.”

Rainbow swooped down towards the airship’s envelope, aiming to fly along its length. But before she could get close enough, the three enemy pegasi crafted a massive vortex at her, sending her tumbling through the air, away from the vessel.

“Hold on,” cried Rainbow, willing Tank to stabilise her flight. Once she was able to keep the sky above her and the ground below, she glanced around before grinning. “New idea,” she said, launchingd herself straight up as hard as she could get Tank to push her, before she willed Tank to stop the windflow. “Fire away, Squirt!”

As Scootaloo threw a few more fireblades at the airship, Rainbow pushed Tank ahead of each one, trying to use her windcrafting to counter the pirate’s attempts to block the flames. Two blades made it through to the envelope, but by the time they had reached it they were so far away from Scootaloo that she could no longer keep the flames focused. The fiery blades simply dispersed themselves against the envelope, scorching the fabric but causing no more damage than that.

“We need to get closer,” said Scootaloo. “I can’t control them from this far away!”

“No problem, I think,” replied Rainbow. “Tuck in close, I have another idea.”

At the apex of their ballistic trajectory, Rainbow angled her wings to guide them towards the port side of Soaring Scavenger. She willed Tank to build up their speed, before switching her efforts into a windcrafted invisibility veil. Once she and Scootaloo were hidden from view, Rainbow angled her wings to roll left and aimed for the starboard side of the airship.

Unfortunately, one of the pirates, a green pegasus with a serpent for a cutie mark, seemed to anticipate Rainbows actions and sent his wind fury to stir up the air over the airship’s starboard side. Rainbow once again lost control of her flight.

Rainbow dropped her invisibility crafting to recover level flight again, and Scootaloo spotted Big Mac facing off against one of the unicorn twins. The other unicorn was limping his way to join his brother, but Octavia was nowhere to be seen. Meanwhile, the pirate ponies who had jumped to the ground were nearly done dealing with the fire Big Mac had started with Scootaloo’s makeshift firebomb. “Rainbow, I think Big Mac might need help.”

Rainbow glanced down, and came to the same conclusion. “Give it to him then; I’ll handle the Scavenger.” She dropped Scootaloo to the ground, but before she could return to the skies another windcrafted vortex disrupted her windstream, sending her tumbling to the ground. “Okay, we’ll both help him,” she said, rolling to her hooves.

Looking around for Octavia, Rainbow realised that Big Mac was keeping his distance from the forest. “She’s in the trees, isn’t she?” she asked.

“Eeyup,” came Big Mac’s laconic reply.

“Squirt, the canal trick!” called Rainbow.

Scootaloo blinked in confusion before grinning as she understood Rainbow’s intentions. She willed Elizabeak to throw a large burst of fire towards the forest, and Rainbow crafted a gust of wind to blow the flames deep into the trees.

Their pyromaniac efforts were rewarded with the shocked shrieks of Octavia, who flickered back into visibility when her woodcrafting efforts fell apart under the distraction of being caught in her third conflagration today. She bolted out of the forest, rejoining the twin unicorns as they approached Big Mac, Rainbow, and Scootaloo.

Looking behind them, Rainbow saw that the ponies Big Mac had distracted with the last firebomb had finally smothered the flames and were moving to surround them. The airborne pirate pegasi remained in the air, maintaining aerial superiority. While they were in the air, Rainbow would not be able to take to the skies herself unless their attention was directed elsewhere.

Scootaloo threw her blazing blades at the circling ponies, but they simply ducked down, before rising with gauntlets of earthcrafted rock on their forelegs, catching subsequent firecrafted attacks on them.

Big Mac felt his earth fury return to him, but it was drastically weakened after fighting with Octavia’s fury. His crafting would be impaired for several hours at least.

Soaring Scavenger, her crew having realised that no more firebombs would be coming, was again descending, bringing reinforcements to the mercenaries already on the ground.

“I think we’re in trouble,” said Scootaloo.

“Me too,” agreed Rainbow.

“Eeyup.”

Chapter Nineteen

“All soldiers off the walls, to the bridge!” cried Captain Sentry. “All fire knights to throw fire blasts at the griffon forces on the bridge! Slow them down as much as possible!”

While Scootaloo started sending signal flares, Rainbow watched over a dozen ponies on the roofs of the fortress outer walls make their way to the west wall and throw flames at the bridge. The griffon troops scattered in the fiery onslaught, some unlucky enough to be blown off the bridge altogether. In the chaotic windflow the city’s windcrafters had crafted up, it was impossible for the heavily-armoured griffons to fly, and they all fell into the canal. Most quickly sank out of sight, pulled down by the weight of their armour, never to be seen again.

“Our ponies won’t even get past the first barricade without help,” said Solid. She crouched down, before launching herself into the air in a spectacular earthcraft-assisted standing leap. She cleared not only the keep roof, but soared over the western wall of Fort Eyrie, to land safely on Cliffside Bridge.

The soldiers from within the fort had finally made their way to the bridge, and they followed Earth Knight Solid Stance as she led the charge along the bridge. Solid kicked at the barricades as she went, opening gaps through which the soldiers could gallop, until they met the griffon troops at the fourth barricade from the fortress.

“Rainbow, I need you to check the tree line,” said Captain Sentry. “We can’t afford to leave our backs exposed if there’s another army back there.”

“On it!” said Rainbow, leaping into the air and willing Tank to her wings. She went north to the end of the cleared field around the fortress, and wove her way east then south through the trees looking for signs of griffon troops. Finally she rounded her way back west, having found nothing, and zoomed straight up and looked toward the sea for any signs of more ships approaching. Finding nothing but clouds coming in from the east, she returned to the roof of the keep of Fort Eyrie. “Nothing in the trees, skies, or seas,” she reported.

“Good,” said Duchess Coloratura. “For now, stay here and make sure no griffons try to fly up here.”

“But Octavia-” began Rainbow, only to be interrupted by Coloratura.

“Octavia is on the bridge, with no ‘underground’ to disappear into, with our soldiers one way and our militia the other,” said the duchess. “She’s not going anywhere for now.”

“Scootaloo, signal our wind knights,” ordered Sentry. “Attack the airship.”

“Right,” muttered Scootaloo. “Wind knights, attack, airship. Um, oh right!” She flared her wings and sent up four coloured flares, one after another. She was rewarded with the sound of a dozen windstreams carrying their crafters into the air.

The wind knights approached the airship, but were met by Soaring Scavenger’s own windcrafters, with support from mercenary firecrafters waiting atop the airship’s envelope. The skies lit up with flames as the fight began in earnest.

Coloratura called up a farseeing windcrafting and focused on the fight taking place in the city between the griffons and the city militia. The griffons were winning, pushing back the militia despite the disadvantage of not being able to counter the Poneran’s furycraft. Coloratura glanced down at the bridge, checking that the soldiers there had things in hoof. “Captain, I think we should help the militia.”

Flash looked around at the various battle fronts. “You’re right, your grace. There’s not much point holding the fortress if the city itself falls.”

“We’ll come with you, your grace,” said Rainbow. “Squirt, mount up.”

Coloratura looked at Rainbow, glancing pointedly at Scootaloo. Rainbow raised an eyebrow before giving a single nod of her head. “Rainbow, you and Scootaloo should keep in the air over there,” suggested the duchess. “Maintain air superiority, keep the griffons from overrunning us from above.”

“Got it,” said Rainbow, Scootaloo settling in on her back. Rainbow then leapt into the air, followed by Coloratura. The duchess looped back to scoop up Captain Flash Sentry, before they set off across the canal. Rainbow willed Tank to hide herself and her passenger from view, before flying alongside the bridge. On the way they passed Octavia, and Scootaloo let loose a blast of fire which Rainbow enhanced with a burst of wind, engulfing the earth pony mare in flames for the fourth time in two days.

With Octavia’s shrieks of pain and surprise fading away behind them, Rainbow and Scootaloo arrived at the battle in the streets of Cliffside Eyrie. Duchess Coloratura and Captain Sentry had already arrived and were in the process of rallying the Poneran forces against the griffon troops. Spotting a griffon spreading his wings, Rainbow sent a twirling gust of wind at him that spun him about and drove him face-first into the side of the nearest building.

Rainbow and Scootaloo circled the battle, sending gusts of wind and blades of fire at griffons trying to take to the skies. Meanwhile, Coloratura and Flash Sentry focused on their earth crafting, making the ground beneath the griffons shake and shudder. Big Macintosh joined in, turning the street into loose sand and letting the griffons sink in to their ankles. The griffons realised what was happening, and though most of them managed to pull themselves out of the gravel before Big Macintosh let it resolidify, some were still trapped.

The militia, emboldened by the sudden appearance of their duchess and the sight of the griffons being made to trip and stumble about, rallied and pushed back. Applejack gestured at a nearby picket fence, sending several wooden pickets flying at a griffon, wrapping around his limbs and holding him in place. Several woodcrafting citizens followed suit, trapping a dozen or so griffons on the spot.

A few of the citizens were metalcrafters, who took inspiration from their woodcrafting fellows and exerted their craft on the armour worn by the griffons. Unlike a woodcrafter, metalcrafters had to be much closer to metal to work their craft, but that didn’t stop a trio of metalcrafter ponies acting in concert to swarm the nearest griffon. The various armour plates worn by the griffon twisted and flexed, joining up to each other before locking together and immobilising the griffon in place.

The militia pushed the griffons further and further back, until they reached the bridge. Here, the mercenary ponies from Soaring Scavenger joined up with the griffons and lent their own furycraft to the battle. The militia ponies suddenly found that their craftings against the griffon forces were being countered, and their confidence was shattered. They began to fall back as the griffons pushed back with the aid of their mercenary allies.

Rainbow watched the militia begin to buckle under the pressure of the fight. “Uh-oh. They’re about to rout!”

“What does that mean?” asked Scootaloo.

“The militia is about to stop fighting and run away,” explained Rainbow. “When the pirates got in on the fighting, our ponies got spooked. They’re gonna break any minute now!”

“We’ve gotta do something!” Scootaloo cried.

Rainbow zipped to Coloratura’s side and landed. “Duchess, they’re about to break. Follow my lead,” Rainbow said, flaring her wings. She felt Scootaloo slide off her back, and called upon Tank to send forth a strong gust of wind directly at the griffons. Coloratura joined in, and their combined efforts were enough to stop the enemy forces in their tracks. The militia ponies cheered, and pushed back at the griffons again.

Scootaloo rushed over to Applejack and Big Macintosh. “AJ! Big Mac! Are you OK?”

“Hey Scoots,” greeted Applejack. “We’re fine, now that Rara’s joined us. Where the hay did all these here griffons come from anyway? Weren’t they supposed to be on the other side o’ the canal?”

“They came out of a couple of ships in the harbour,” said Scootaloo, slinging a few flame blades at the griffons. “There’s no griffons at all on the other side of the fort.”

“Well, they certainly caught us on our back hoof,” Applejack said, sending some planks of wood to entangle the legs of a griffon trying to close in on the wind powerhouses that were Rainbow and Coloratura. “Where’s the rest of the soldiers?”

“Fighting the griffons on the bridge,” said Scootaloo. “Or fighting the pirate’s airship.”

“I see,” said Applejack, glancing up at the sky and spotting the battle around the airship silhouetted against the clouds rolling in from the east. “I guess we’re on our own for the moment, then.”

“Eeyup,” agreed Big Macintosh. He whirled on the spot and delivered a solid earthcraft-strengthened buck to the armoured side of a griffon soldier, denting his breastplate and breaking some ribs with the force of the blow. The griffon fell back, wheezing in agony.

Scootaloo followed up with several blasts of fire, pushing back the griffons in the immediate area and allowing the militia to reclaim some lost ground. Suddenly, an unarmoured griffon fell from the sky to land directly in front of Scootaloo. He reared up on his hind legs and slashed at Scootaloo with his talons.

Scootaloo backed up in shock and fear. She flared her wings and instinctively called on Elizabeak. The flames of Scootaloo’s fire fury filled her wings, turning them into blazing beacons. Startled as she was at the sudden appearance of the griffon, Scootaloo didn’t realise she was pushing her fear into her crafting. Elizabeak in turn pushed that fear out, inciting terror in the griffon facing Scootaloo.

The griffon, suddenly gripped by extreme terror, also reacted on instinct. He shrieked and flared his wings, trying to scare off his terrifying, if terrified, opponent. Scootaloo, in turn, became even more scared and continued to push that fear into her firecrafting.

This cycle continued, each scaring the other more and more deeply, until Big Macintosh fought through the induced terror and attacked the griffon. First, he crafted the ground beneath the griffon to allow him to sink to his knees and trapped him there. Next, he delivered a withering uppercut to the beak of the griffon, knocking him out cold.

Scootaloo, seeing the griffon go down, was finally able to get her crafting back under control. “Sorry about that,” she panted. “I think I got a little carried away, there.”

Applejack looked around, noting that the griffons in the immediate vicinity had fallen back from the terror. “Actually, Scoots, do you think you can do that again?”

“Maybe,” said Scootaloo. “Probably not that strongly, but I think I can do it.”

Scootaloo willed Elizabeak to her wings again, and focused on fear. She pushed her fear into the flames and forwards, at the griffons. Scootaloo stepped up in between Rainbow Dash and Coloratura, who were both still pushing wind at the griffons, though both were beginning to weaken.

Coloratura, seeing what Scootaloo was doing, decided to try the opposite. Wreathing herself in flame, the duchess firecrafted courage at the militia forces behind her. The Poneran citizens suddenly felt braver than they ever had before.

“For Ponera!” they cried as they surged forward, quickly overwhelming the fearful griffons and their mercenary allies. Coloratura and Scootaloo kept up, directing bravery and terror respectively. The griffons had no firecrafter mercenaries with them to counter Scootaloo’s crafting, and so, overcome with terror and being beaten back by bold furycrafting ponies, they broke and ran for the bridge.

The militia cheered when the griffons fell back, congratulating each other on a battle well fought. The cheers stopped when they saw the pirate firecrafters on the bridge join up with the griffons and finally countercraft Scootaloo’s fear firecrafting. The griffons gathered themselves, readying themselves to begin the battle anew.

“Well, that’s not good,” said Coloratura.

Rainbow Dash looked at Soaring Scavenger, which still held position above and just to the north side of the bridge. It’s envelope appeared intact, and the air around it was filled with wind knights and fire blasts, the battle for the skies still ongoing. “That’s not much better,” she said.

Scootaloo sought out the troops trying to reach the city from Fort Eyrie. She spotted them halfway along, held back by a force of griffons and a pair of spear-wielding twin ponies at the centremost earthcrafted barrier. They were under fire from bowponies and firecrafters on the deck of Soaring Scavenger. “Looks like our soldiers won’t get here anytime soon either,” Scootaloo noted. “We’re not gonna win this, are we?”

Suddenly, the air was filled with the shrieking war cries of a large number of griffons, and another army of the creatures dove down from the clouds.

Author's Note

I've put up a blog post detailing my progress with writing this story and my plans for the sequel. Have a look if you're interested.