A yawning chasm loomed before Bucky, and it was filled with darkness. He could feel it deep within his bones. The ground around him was littered with bones and debris. He was deep within a ravine, with sharp angled walls on each side. The path to the crack in the mountain was only a few ponies wide.

And then, the darkness came to life.

Black shapes slipped out of the gap before him, like Tartarus spawned nightmares slipping from an infernal womb. Bucky looked miniscule compared to the coming onslaught, a tiny black shape in the night about to be swallowed by darkness. He sent up an attack flare and readied himself to endure whatever it was that might come at him.

As Rising Star began to approach the deck rail to send spell jars over, a dark shadow formed around the outside of the ship. He felt his blood turn to ice and dark shapes began to appear on the outer edges of the deck, no longer able to shadow wink. The air was filled with the snarling and the growling of wolves.

He stood frozen, unable to comprehend what he was seeing.

All around him, the guard began to mobilise, but none moved as fast as one dark shape among the shadows. As the dark tide surged towards Rising Star, a dark grey blur shot past him and collided with the first of his foes.

“NOT MY MATE!”

Ripple moved among her enemy, smashing and crushing. She flowed out of the way of snapping jaws and struck with the force of a tidal wave. She danced among her foes, bashing them down and Rising Star felt a magical tug pulling him back to safety as the darkness continued to swarm the deck.

Others had joined Ripple, Sour Mash now at her side, leading a charge of bellowing mares, and Ripple was their champion. In the panic and confusion, nopony saw the golden glow of light flashing on Ripple’s hips as she did battle.

Rising Star knew Bucky needed help on the ground, but no spell jars were being dropped. They were swarmed. There was no way to reach the deck railing and send aid down below. The world seemed to slow down all around him as he watched the battle unfold. Sparkler was bowling through the wolves in stone form, sweeping them from the deck.

More wolves kept coming, shadow winking up to the deck to do battle, and Rising Star felt his heart stop when there was the sound of a massive explosion and he felt The Scorned Mare shuddering from some massive impact.

“WE’VE BEEN HIT! FIRE DOWN BELOW THE SHIP! THE HULL HAS BEEN BREACHED!”

Buried in darkness, Bucky understood that something had gone horribly wrong. There were thousands of wolves coming out of the hole, and something else as well. Something dreadful, and he didn’t know what it was. There was no fiery death raining down, or any sort of death for that matter.

There as a massive explosion above him in the night sky and Bucky very nearly teleported himself back up to The Scorned Mare. Everything had gone wrong. He could see dimly see fire up above him, and he felt sick with worry.

He pulled a spell jar from his rack, something he intended for emergencies, and it glowed a violent looking purple glow. He lobbed it forward into surging darkness and it shattered with it hit the stone. For a moment, the darkness continued to seep from the crack, but then, something changed. Several wolves became outlined in a faint purple glow.

The “want it need it” spell went to work, and the night suddenly became a lot more horrible.

Thistle realised with growing horror that the wolves were inside of the ship. She could hear them as they snarled and howled. She clutched Piña and Peekaboo, holding them close, trying to comfort the screaming foals, but more than anything else, Thistle wanted to be comforted as well. Loch Skimmer huddled beside her, trembling with fear and clutching Thistle's neck.

Sentinel stood beside Thistle, growling softly and preparing himself for the worst. He was willing to die if he had to, and he swallowed his fear. He felt Thistle touch him, and he leaned just a little bit closer to her, hoping that Lyra’s protections would hold.

A terrible change had come over Moonbow.

She stood at the door to the small secured room with her head low, growling and snarling savagely. Her teeth were bared and every shaggy hair on her back stood on end. A long line of drool dangled down from her slavering jaws. The lunar pegasus filly was utterly terrifying in appearance during her current state. She pawed the wooden floor occasionally with her hoof and her teeth gnashed together from her nervous twitches. She was a murderous beast, and her instincts had been triggered. She felt no fear. The foals being in danger had brought out the very worst in her, the beast of nightmares that the lunar pegasi still were deep on the inside.

“FORM RANKS AND MOVE BELOWDECKS!” Sparkler shouted in a voice that sounded like a rockslide. Others were falling into place around her, and they were moving to take care of the wolves that were inside of the ship, no doubt shadow winking in through the hole in the bottom.

Berry Punch stood in the middle of a protective phalanx of earth ponies and pegasi, watching the chaos all around her. Lyra was with her, Harper still by Lyra’s side, and Bon Bon stood pressed up against Lyra. Rising Star stood with them, a last line of offense if needed, but his fires were a danger to the ship. Derpy had taken to the air, Dinky on her back. The wolves did not fly, and could not teleport in the bright lights of the deck.

Other pegasi had formed ranks around the airborne Derpy Doo Hooves, and she hovered among their ranks as Dinky rained down telekinetic death. Dinky could drive a nail into wood with her telekinesis, and she was driving bit sized holes through the skulls and bodies of any wolves she could safely target.

A large mass of darkness took shape near the prow of the ship and cold fear settled over the entire crew. All of them felt it, and the air turned icy cold, hot breath now visible in the night.

“BANSHEE!” a voice cried in warning.

The magical rape bomb was highly effective, but Bucky could take no satisfaction. Hundreds of creatures were in the cave entrance, taking part in an orgy of death and dismemberment. Too many creatures to deal with magically, if Bucky did do anything to dispose of them, he would be too depleted to continue.

He was at a standstill, and he could not simply smash his way through. He looked upwards and could see flashing flaring lights. The deck lights were strobing slightly and he knew what was happening up there. There was nothing he could do. He had to continue somehow.

He lobbed a precious burning spell jar into the pile of snarling snapping gang rape and set a few on fire, and much to his surprise, the fire spread rapidly. He thought about flashing them with the sunstones embedded in his armor, but he didn’t know what he might still face inside. He needed to conserve as much energy as possible.

He made a decision, and the eyes on his armor opened, flooding the area with light. They burned with blazing intensity, and many wolves burst into flames. It also caused the shadow wolves to stop teleporting from the mouth of the cave and up to the ship up high above them.

Ripple lashed out with one front hoof and snapped the spine of her hated foe. She punched another one and shattered its skull. She moved through them dealing death, a beautiful delicate dancer in the darkness. Her war shoes kept her well protected and the sunstones weakened her foes.

Lugus, hearing the cry “banshee” took to the air to intercept. He didn’t know what a banshee was, and he didn’t care. He pulled his axe from his back and prepared to give a good accounting of himself. He lunged at the dark shape that was forming near the prow, the sunstones on his axe igniting. It was not a solid foe, but more of a dark amorphous shape, a dreadful spirit.

And then, the banshee screamed.

Several ponies froze in fright, and there was a sound like a loud ringing bell over the decks. The banshee moved swiftly towards its frozen foes.

“STRIKE NOW, LUGUS! NOW! WHILE MY SPELL IS MOST EFFECTIVE!”

The voice was Lyra’s, Lugus realised. He shook the strange feeling from his muscles and and raised his axe high for an overhead chop, hoping that Bucky’s enchantments could somehow cleave a foe with no physical body.

The axe came down and there was a crackling sound, like fat frying in a skillet.

There was another shriek from the banshee, this one of pain. Lugus reversed his stroke and struck with the flat of his axe, somehow connecting to a solid foe. The banshee wailed in agony and turned to face the enraged griffon, not understanding how the griffon was hurting it.

Lugus made another mighty swing, this time in an arc, his axe moving through the middle. The dark shape flew apart into motes of darkness, and then was no more.

Sparkler moved though the dim hallways and rooms belowdecks, crushing, stomping, and killing. She bodychecked one wolf, pinning it against the solid wooden bulkhead. Several mares and a few stallions moved with her, and the group moved from battle to battle, trying to work their way down to the breached section of hull.

Sparkler was unstoppable now, she had perfected control of her stone form, and she had the combat skills to use it effectively. She impaled one wolf upon her stone horn and then shook him free, its blood trickling down her sensationless face. More than anything, she hoped that Thistle and the others were safe in the secured room that Lyra had made.

“DINKY! FATHER STILL NEEDS HELP! PICK UP AS MANY SPELL JARS AS YOU CAN AND DROP THEM OVER THE SIDE!” Rising Star shouted over the din of battle.

Derpy swooped down, and Dinky snatched up several whole racks as they flew by, the other pegasi flying with them in formation. The pair worked well together, Derpy kept her foal safe, and Dinky was proving to be a competent battle mage in spite of her age.

The pegasus mounted unicorn foal held over a hundred spell jars in her telekinetic field, shaking and unsteady, but she didn’t need to hold them for very long. She struggled to hold everything up as her mother approached the railing of the ship, flying between the deck and the gasbag, flying over large numbers of wolves doing battle with the pony guards upon the deck.

She looked down once they cleared the railing and could see a faint glow down below. She dropped everything she had upon the faint beacon that she knew was her father and hoped that this would be enough to help him. “I need more spell jars!” Dinky shouted to her mother, and she felt her mother bank, maneuvering around to do another fly over.

Spell jars exploded all around Bucky and he felt relief. He reasoned that they must be gaining control of the situation high above him, and it put his mind at ease. Ice, fire, and lightning froze, burned, and flashed all around him, and his enemies died by the hundreds. The entrance was nearly plugged up with still writhing bodies.

More death came down from up on high, and Bucky smiled a grim smile.

The wolves in the pile were mostly dead now, burning and blazing merrily, a funeral pyre with flames that whirled up into the night sky. Bucky decided not to wait, and began to climb over the pile of burning bodies, ready to make his way down into the dark depths, to face the master of the wolves.

It was time to end this.

Lugus moved among the injured, lifting several ponies at a time and bringing them back to secured locations upon the deck. So far, somehow, nopony had died, but there were grievous injuries that needed to be tended to before somepony did die. These were his friends and his comrades, his brothers and his sisters, and he loved them dearly.

Lugus knew from experience that the battle was dying down. The wolves had come and they had failed. No new wolves were teleporting aboard the deck. All that was left now was clean up.

As he watched, an airborne wing led by Derpy descended upon the wolves, and the wolves were pummeled by magical blasts from Dinky. The pegasi were brutal and did what they did best, attacking as a group. The wolves were being pushed back towards the rails, and Lugus saw that the deck was drenched in blood and entrails, running over the sides in streams.

A cheer went up from where Sour Mash and her group were fighting, having slain the last of their foe and clearing their section of deck. They moved quickly, moving on to assist others in sweeping the deck clean, Ripple by Sour Mash’s side and protecting her commander.

Sparkler stood near the hole in the hull and continued to extinguish the flames. The blast had ripped a massive section of the hull away and had set the lower hold on fire. The charred bodies of wolves were all around the hole. Some had teleported in and escaped the fires through luck, but the ship was being cleared. She stood in the flames unconcerned about being burned, and she carefully put out the fires all around her.

She peered down, hoping to see some sign of Bucky, but saw nothing but a column of fire stretching high into the night sky beneath her. She hoped that he would return, alive and in one piece.

“Good luck father.”

Author's Notes:

Next chapter... Bucky's descent.

If there are any typos, let me know. I've been working on this since about 3am. I've been over it a dozen times, and it seems okay, but I know I probably missed something.