Chapter Thirty Nine: Death in Spring.

***

The ERAS Interdiction (captured by Equestrian Resistance forces). May 2nd. 2030.

Onboard the captured Equestrian frigate-class Zeppelin Interdiction, ponies and humans (well, one human) alike were preparing themselves for the coming battle. Lyra Heartstrings was sat reading the diary that had, in some ways, become part of her personal routine, her eyes scanning the pages as she read. Meanwhile, Desert Wind and Sapphire Steel were making certain that his P220 Minigun was locked in position.

"You ready, Steel?" Wind asked, giving his friend a look.

"As ever, Desert," she replied with a soft smile. "And do me a favour. Call me Sapphire. Steel is what Sparkle... Commander Sparkle... called me."

Desert Wind grinned at her. "We survive this, and yeah, I might just start calling you that."

Sapphire smiled again, before helping him with another strap.

The rest of Everfree squad were checking their own equipment, making sure their HUDs were working, their body armour and other equipment was ready and their blades were sharp.

"Everypony ready?" Rarity asked.

"I think I put a dent in my knife during that last skirmish," Pinkie said, sounding a little disappointed. "I like this knife."

"Here," True Grit said, walking over to her, "let me have a look." He examined the damaged blade with a frown. His horn glowed, then the blade did, light sweeping up and down the blade, the dent smoothing under the increasingly fast movement of the light. It glowed even brighter for a moment, and then it stopped, the damage now completely repaired. He levitated it over to Pinkie with a grin.

"How'd you do that?" Applejack asked, frowning at the display.

"Basic equipment repair skill," True Grit said with a shrug. "Learned it in Guard training. Nothing special. You’re expected to be able to field-repair stuff."

"Wish I could learn that," Lyra said softly, a wry grin on her face as she looked up from her diary. "You're full of surprises, aren't you Grit?"

"Believe in being prepared is all, ma'am," Grit said with a shrug. "Not quite the same thing."

"Why do you call everypony that?" Pinkie asked curiously, giving Grit a look.

"Ma'am?" Grit asked, not comprehending.

"Yeah, that," Pinkie said with a nod. Grit, realising what she meant, shrugged again.

"Force of habit," he said simply.

"It's a pretty silly habit," the pink party pony pointed out. "My name's Pinkie: all my friends call me that."

"Are we friends?" True Grit asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well duh, of course we are," Pinkie said with a grin. "I mean we've done all this stuff together, and you've saved my life a few times and I've saved your life a few times, so yeah, we're friends."

Grit smiled sincerely, a surprisingly warm thing given the usually stoic nature of the former Guard. "Thanks ma'am - Pinkie. That's... actually really nice."

In another section of the deck, the Doctor triple checked that his sonic screwdriver was firmly in place. He looked grim but resolutely determined, but he didn't speak a word to anypony. Whatever thoughts the Time Lord/Earth Pony was having were his alone to have.

Meanwhile, even Hell Blazer was cracking his neck muscles in preparation for the fight ahead, though he still looked air sick. He grimaced slightly, but seemed to be holding it together.

David Elliot, the Avatar of Albion, checked his hand cannon and daggers were both firmly in place. He grabbed a shotgun from a nearby weapons crate that had been loaded on board, racking it and grinning. That done, he tapped the small earpiece firmly lodged in his left ear.

“Alright everyone, this is Commander Albion,” he said, using his title as his handle for this operation. “I want a universal comm check.”

“This is Interdiction One,” came the voice of the Interdiction’s new Captain. “Comms are good.”

“Hell Blazer, comms working,” the yellow Earth Pony said blearily. “Can somepony pass me a bucket?”

There were a few weak chuckles as Elliot passed his friend a small empty crate. The yellow Earth Pony promptly upchucked into the thing, sounding utterly wretched.

“This is Clock Smith. My comms are also active,” the Doctor said softly, using the alias he had invented to use around Ditzy - since he was going into battle with her, he didn’t want to let on who exactly he was, especially since this comm check was going out to Grey Squadron as well as the ponies on the Interdiction.

Everfree squad quickly began their own sound-off procedure.

“Rarity, on.” The prim seamstress looked stressed but she seemed to be holding together alright.

By contrast, her orange Earth Pony friend was all business. “Applejack, on,” she said in a grim, professional tone.

"Desert Wind, on," the voice of the tan Earth Pony came, sounding eager for battle.

"Lyra Heartstrings, on," added Lyra quickly. She looked nervous.

"True Grit on." The former Royal Guard, by comparison, seemed oddly at ease, rolling his neck slightly.

"Sapphire Steel, on," added Wind's steadier, a soft smile on her face directed at Desert Wind, who grinned back.

Finally came the pink party pony’s turn. "Pinkie Pie, on a chair!"

“Thank you for being so specific, dear,” Rarity said quietly, giving her friend a raised eyebrow.

“That’s ok, Rare,” Pinkie said with a grin. “Happy to help.”

“Everfree squad is online,” Rarity reported to Elliot, ignoring Pinkie ‘being Pinkie’. “Waiting for your orders.”

“Good to know,” Elliot said with a grin. “Grey and Upsilon Squadrons, what’s your status?”

“This is Upsilon Lead,” came the nervous voice of Grey Fox. “We are at one hundred percent, awaiting order to engage.”

“Grey Leader,” Errant Flight added. “All flyers ready.”

“Good,” Elliot said, turning to everypony. “Alright team. If satellite estimates are accurate, we should be there in the next few minutes. You all know the plan.” He paused. “Good luck team.”

“This is Interdiction One,” the Captain sent through. “Lusty is ahead. I repeat, the Lusty is ahead.”

“Roger that,” Elliot replied. He whistled through his teeth, grinning nervously at everypony. “And here… we… go…”

***

“Alright,” Errant Flight’s voice crackled over the comms, the pony sounding as serious as any of the Squadron had heard him. “We can expect the possibility of jamming spells, so we can’t rely on comms. We all know the plan.”

A chorus of affirmatives came through the comms. Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth - her injury was definitely playing up now, the still only partially healed cut burning as the cold English air hit it at full pelt. She did her best to ignore the stinging sensation. Behind her she could feel the gaze of Fluttershy on her, and found herself grateful that her friend was here.

“Rainbow!” she heard her friend yell, the comms crackling even more. “Are you ok?!”

She turned and threw her friend a grin, trying to reassure her, but it came out a pained grimace as another twinge hit her. She turned her attention back to the sky ahead as they came to within visual range of their destination.

The Channel was a strange sight - the sea was a great blue-grey mass, churning and rolling, quite unlike how Rainbow had previously imagine the sea to be. In the far distance, she could see the purple glow where the Barrier had met the British Barrier and the two contested still - occasionally there would be flashes of what looked like lightning, as though the two behemoths were titans clashing over the stormy sea.

In the middle of said stormy sea, she could see their target: a grey giant, strong and proud. The Invincible class Aircraft Carrier HMS Illustrious, one of the strongest and highest regarded of her class, brought out of retirement by what was left of the Royal Navy when it became clear just how desperate the situation was for the human race.

Except this giant had fallen, been taken by the enemy. Now it fell to Grey Squadron, Upsilon Squadron and the small group of ponies and one human aboard the Interdiction to take the vessel back.

Surprisingly, the ship didn’t appear to have an aerial escort - Rainbow didn’t believe for a second that the ship actually lacked aerial defenses, but for the moment the sky was clear.

“Grey Lead,” she said into her comms. “You readin’ me?”

There was no response and she sighed. Definitely some kind of jamming spells going on then. Still, the plan was still simple. Take out any aerial defenses, and then land and secure the landing zone for the dropping off of Everfree team and Elliot’s group.

She could see the rest of Grey and the entirety of Upsilon starting to accelerate to their attack speeds and she moved faster herself to follow them in. She caught Dark Wing’s eye and he winked at her, coming up on her left. Fluttershy pulled up to cover her right, and Rainbow grinned. She had her Squadron friends up here and her other friends on the Interdiction: she was invincible!

A moment later, spells began flying from the deck of the Illustrious towards the Squadrons. They were well aimed but Grey and Upsilon were both experienced enough that flak like this wasn’t really a threat. It was still a close run thing though - Rainbow saw an Upsilon Squadron pony narrowly dodge one bolt and Errant Flight have to sharply swerve to avoid another.

A moment later, Pegasi Guardsponies and Equestrian Militia were flying straight at the Resistance flyers. These ponies seemed less inclined to fly in formation, which made Grey Squadron’s corkscrew procedure useless, but the loose formation would make it easier to dodge them and in any case, there was no way they were as good as Grey.

“Right then,” Rainbow said with a grin. “Let’s see how you buckers handle this.”

She pushed herself forward even further and faster than she had before, the air contorting around her. She accelerated past the other Resistance flyers, flying amongst the heart of the enemy Pegasi… and then she pushed harder. Space and air contorted, and a giant multicoloured shockwave exploded outwards, scattering half the enemy ponies in the air and sending many of them tumbling into the sea. Rainbow slowed herself, pulling up right before the prow of the Illustrious - though a few of the Unicorn defenders tried to shoot her down, she managed to dodge them. Behind her, she could see the rest of the enemy’s pegasi being mopped up by Grey and Upsilon Squadrons, and she grinned - before clutching at her chest.

The chest wound had reopened, the force of the Rainboom tearing the still-fragile tissue open. The injury was streaming blood into the sky. Rainbow blinked at it in shock, and then inexplicably she started laughing, not really understanding what she found funny. Her strength left her, and she started plummeting…

Only to be caught in midair by Fluttershy and Dark Wing.

“Rainbow!” Fluttershy said, looking half relieved and half worried. She turned to Dark Wing. “We need to get her to the Interdiction, now!”

If Fluttershy said anything else, Rainbow Dash didn’t hear it, as she slipped into unconsciousness.

***

Errant Flight landed on the deck of the Illustrious first, his blades whipped out. A second later, Ditzy and Dream Flyer landed next to him. Dream Flyer immediately charged at a group of Unicorns who appeared to be maintaining a jamming spell. Flight himself quickly engaged a group of Guards who charged him. All around him, Guardsponies who had taken to the air impacted hard on the deck of the Illustrious as Grey and Upsilon Squadron flyers dealt with them in the air.

“Traitors!” he heard one pony yell. A naked Converted charged at him, but Flight quickly dispatched him. He could only assume this was one of the crew of the Illustrious that had been Converted when the ship was infiltrated.

“Grey Lead!” a voice called. he turned to see another Guard charging him, and he quickly dodged the enraged Guard’s attack, before slicing his head clean off with his wrist-blade. He nodded at the pony who had called out, one of Upsilon Squadron, before turning back to the fray. He noted Dream Flyer dispatching the Unicorn Magi with a grin. A moment later, his comm crackled with static as the jamming spell failed.

“... repeat, this is Interdiction One, what is the status of the LZ?!”

Errant quickly tapped the earpiece. “Grey Leader here!” He dodged another attack, killing the unlucky Converted who happened to be behind it. “Multiple hostiles - we need a little help here!”

“Roger that,” a new voice, one Flight recognised as the Doctor, said. “Commander Albion is en route.”

Errant blinked in surprise, certain he had misheard.

“Say again?” he asked.

“LOOK OUT BELOW!”

This last message hadn’t come from the comm, but instead came directly above Errant. He looked up, then jumped into the air, dodging the descending form of David Elliot at the last proverbial second. The Illustrious shook and pitched slightly from the force of his impact. He had landed feet first on the deck of the Illustrious, a golden halo of energy surrounding him and Excalibur in his hand. He grinned as he stood up, gazing around him at what must have still been nearly a hundred Guards and Converted.

“Grey Leader to all flyers, clear the Lusty’s deck now,” Errant said quickly, knowing that Elliot would probably need a fair bit of space for his… work. Flight immediately received numerous affirmatives as the ponies of Grey and Upsilon Squadrons took advantage of the distraction and left the deck of the Illustrious, leaving just Elliot… and his prey.

“It’s him!” somepony yelled as he straightened up from the impact, rolling his shoulders and neck slightly.

“What are you standing around for?!” a Guard Captain yelled angrily. “He’s just one damn human, he can’t kill all of us!”

Errant Flight watched Elliot’s reaction with amusement. Elliot had grinned at this last pronouncement, before spinning Excalibur into a guard stance. A moment later, the golden energy surrounding him enveloped him utterly, and in his place stood the Avatar of Albion, his armour gleaming as though freshly polished, his red cape flowing in the wind. The Equestrians hesitated for a moment, staring at the imposing figure in a mixture of awe and fear.

“Can I not, little pony?!” the Avatar called out with a grin. He raised Excalibur in salute before returning to his guard stance. “Consider thine challenge accepted!”

***

“Rainbow Dash!” Rarity yelled in shock as Dark Wing and Fluttershy lifted her aboard the Interdiction. She and the rest of the Element Bearers aboard raced over to their friends. “What happened?!”

“She’s torn open an old wound,” Fluttershy said grimly. “I told her she wasn’t healed enough, but she wouldn’t listen…”

“Well buck,” Applejack said quietly. Behind her, Pinkie’s mane deflated in horror at the sight of one of her friends so badly injured.

“She should have had healing magic applied!” Rarity said angrily as she examined Rainbow’s wound.

“I know that!” Fluttershy yelled back just as angrily. “She wouldn’t listen to me!”

The two of them stood staring at each other, each breathing heavily, and then they both broke their gaze.

“I’m sorry, darling,” Rarity said quietly. “I shouldn’t have yelled at you.”

“It’s ok,” Fluttershy replied, a small smile forming on her face. “You were just worried.”

Rainbow Dash groaned in pain, though she didn’t regain consciousness. Fluttershy returned her attention to her friend, and Rarity assisted. The Unicorn threw Applejack a glance.

“I’ll be needed here,” she said quietly, and she hesitated before speaking again. “You’ll need to take the squad.”

“Me?” Applejack asked, eyes widening. “Nuh uh, no way sugarcube. I’m not…”

“Applejack, you haven’t led anypony astray whilst we’ve been here!” Rarity snapped. “And the squad needs somepony to take charge while I’m here with Rainbow. It needs to be you.”

Applejack looked uncertain for a moment, but then she nodded, looking more certain.

“Alright, Rarity,” she said quietly. “I’m your mare.”

She turned to the rest of the squad. “Alright team, we’ll be landing as soon as the Illustrious’ deck is cleared, and knowing Elliot I’d reckon that’ll be pretty buckin’ soon, so get to it! I want us to do this thing clean and quick!”

The rest of Everfree team barked their affirmatives and rechecked their equipment. Applejack, meanwhile, sent a prayer to whoever the pony God was these days that she wouldn’t fail her friends again.

***

Excalibur was a blur of death, spinning hither and thither like a whirlwind of destruction. The Avatar blocked, parried, riposted, stabbed and sliced his way through Guards, the Converted crew and Militia alike, his blade not stopping for anything. Occasionally, he would slam the blade against the deck, bursts of power knocking ponies overboard or into the hull. He grinned as he fought.

“Is this all thou hast, little ponies?!” he yelled, his voice carrying across the deck. “Is this all thy Empress hast granted thee?!”

He span and decapitated three Guardsponies in a row, the rest of their group skidding to a halt as they came face to face with him. He grinned.

“Boo,” he said. The ponies fell back at once, running as fast as their legs could carry them, and he let them go. A moment later, there was a flash of golden light and David Elliot stood on the deck, holding Excalibur lightly in one hand.

“This is Albion,” he said into his comm. “Deck cleared. Land the troops.”

“Affirmative, Albion, Interdiction One on descent,” came the voice of the Interdiction’s Captain. Elliot grinned again, and then coughed twice, an itch catching in his chest and a sudden weakness of the limbs gripping him. He released Excalibur, which faded away into nothing again. He held up a hand to catch his cough, and then pulled it away, his eyes narrowing at what he saw.

There were flecks of blood on his hand.

His lips pursed as he examined them, before wiping his hand on his battered trousers. He looked up as the Interdiction began her descent, the gondola touching down briefly on the deck of the Illustrious. He frowned.

He thought he had gained control of the last hurdle, the hurdle of the power filling too quickly. He had allowed the power to come at it’s own pace this time, but it had still taken it’s toll on his body, making him feel ill and shaky. He frowned as he thought back to what Merlin had said.

“You were taught how to control the power, but that's not the final hurdle. The final hurdle is you. Once you break that, you can do anything."

He still didn’t understand what the old wizard had meant, but he thought about the blood he had seen on his hands. He realised, with a horrible sinking feeling in his chest, that if he was to survive long enough to face Solamina in battle… if he was to defeat her… then he would have to understand. The fate of them all depended on it.

***

Everfree squad landed on the deck with a series of dull thuds. It was only a two-foot drop from the gondola to the deck of the Illustrious, but with the amount of equipment some of them were carrying, it took Lyra, True Grit and Sapphire Steel to ensure nopony was injured. Once they were there, Elliot walked up to them, a smile on his face.

“We ready?” he asked, unholstering his hand-cannon (his shotgun having been left on the Interdiction). He frowned as he noted the absent personnel. “Where’s Rarity?”

“Rainbow Dash was injured,” Applejack said quickly. “Rarity and Fluttershy are takin’ care of her.”

“Gotcha,” Elliot nodded. He looked at Hell Blazer, who had jumped off with the team, though he hadn’t landed quite as smoothly. “John, you ready to rock?”

“I get just as bloody seasick as I do airsick,” the yellow pony replied with a snort. “But I’ll live.”

“I’m ready as well,” added the Doctor, who had landed near Hell Blazer. He took his sonic out. “I suggest we expedite our journey to the bridge.”

Elliot nodded. “Everfree team, you’re on taking the engine room. We can’t let the Converted sabotage the ship. Secondary objective is any unconverted prisoners.”

“Is that likely?” Desert Wind asked derisively. "They usually just kill or convert anybody in their way."

“It's worth looking,” Elliot replied quietly, apparently not perturbed by Wind's tone. “We’ve not seen six hundred naked Convie ponies on this bucket, so some of the crew might still be somewhere below the deck.”

Desert shrugged. “Alright then.”

“What about the bridge?” Hell Blazer asked.

“That’s ours,” Elliot grinned. He tapped his earpiece. “Errant, can you lend us a couple of fighters to help take the bridge back?”

“Two and Three should be available,” Errant’s voice replied. “I’ll have them intercept you at the entrance to the superstructure.”

“Gotcha,” Elliot said. He heard more shouting, and looked up, to see more ponies charging at the group: apparently the Guard had regrouped. He grinned and turned briefly back to the assembled ponies “Alright, let’s go!”

He charged off, shooting his hand cannon as he did so. The others followed, Lyra and Grit firing off their horns, killing a few of the charging Guardsponies as they did so.

A few moments later, the team got to one of the entrances to the Illustrious’ superstructure. As they reached it, Ditzy and Dream Flyer landed near them, both of them looking tired but determined.

“You two are with us,” Elliot said to them, heading into the superstructure and up the stairs. Applejack followed him in, but she led her team down the stairs, following the labels for the engine room.

***

The bridge door had been locked. Apparently whoever was currently steering the ship thought they could somehow manage to prevent the boarding forces from taking the bridge with a door. Elliot vaguely considered breaking the door down, but another cough - well hidden from Hell Blazer - convinced him that maybe that wasn’t such a good idea.

“Doctor, door,” he said, turning to face the way they’d come. “We’ll cover you.”

Without another word, the Doctor approached the door and took out his sonic screwdriver. As he did so, Ditzy stole a glance at it and frowned. The small device buzzed briefly. Her ears perked up slightly. The lock clicked.

“Elliot, it’s clear,” the Doctor said, stepping away. At once, the Avatar stepped up to the door and kicked it in, hand cannon in front. As he did so, the Doctor caught Ditzy’s eye briefly, then turned away. She frowned at him thoughtfully, but said nothing.

The bridge crew was small - only four ponies, one of whom was a Unicorn guard and the rest of them Pegasi Converted, their lack of uniforms or other clothing signifying them as the former crew. Clearly the Equestrian forces had not anticipated the boarding party reaching this position, and they didn’t have time to react before Elliot put bullets in each of their heads.

“I’ve got the controls,” the Doctor said at once, heading for the wheel. “What course?”

“Set us for Plymouth,” Elliot said, nodding to himself. “Redmond was going to launch an attack on the port around about this time, so in theory it should be ours. If not…” and here he grinned. “It should be a nice surprise for the Equestrian army when I step off instead of their Guards.”

The Doctor nodded, and began adjusting the course without a further word. He ignored the searching gazy of Ditzy Doo, who looked at him with unusually thoughtful eyes...

***

Applejack’s group ended up at the engine room level a few moments after separating from Elliot’s team. As soon as they reached it, they followed a corridor down towards the engine room itself, but before they could make much progress, enemy ponies began coming out of various side rooms.

“Fire in the hole!” Desert Wind yelled immediately, and the rest of the squad cleared his firing line. At once, his P220 let rip, a soft blue glow surrounding it as Sapphire Steel used her magic to steady the heavy weapon. The heavy bullets tore through any ponies unfortunate enough to be in the firing line, shredding at least six or seven Guards in moments. A moment later, Wind stopped firing, the gun glowing slightly from the friction of firing so many bullets so quickly.

“Grit, Lyra, clear her out!” Applejack barked. The two Unicorns darted forward down the corridor, their horns glowing. A couple of Guards popped out, trying to jump them, but the two Unicorns were faster, and the Guards were quickly dispatched.

“Clear!” Grit called. The squad advanced.

“What’s that smell?” Lyra asked, frowning. The others took a moment to sniff the air - there was definitely an off smell in the air, but none of them could figure out what it was.

“We don’t have time to worry about it,” Applejack began, frowning at the distraction.

“It might be something nasty, ma'am,” True Grit countered at once. “For all we know it might be some kind of chemical agent.”

“Does Equestria even have those?” Applejack asked, turning to look at Wind and Steel. Steel shrugged.

“We’re not exactly up on the latest changes they’ve made,” Desert Wind said shortly, looking irritable. “For all we know, they might have.”

Applejack cursed. “Sapphire and Pinkie, follow that smell and find out what the hay it is. Lyra, take over as Wind’s steadier - we need to get to that engine room.”

Sapphire Steel and Pinkie immediately darted down the corridor the smell was coming from, while Applejack and the remaining members of Everfree team headed down towards the engine room.

***

Errant Flight landed on the deck of the Interdiction, most of the rest of Grey Squadron right behind him: Upsilon Squadron was in the process of mopping up the last Equestrian forces. He immediately headed over towards the injured Rainbow Dash.

“Hey boss,” Dash said weakly. Rarity and Fluttershy had succeeded in healing her wound magically (after Fluttershy had made sure it wasn’t infected) but the injury had taken a bit out of her. “What did I miss?”

“Nothing much,” Flight replied idly. He looked at Rarity, a slightly cooler expression forming on his face, and then he sighed and smiled. “Miss Rarity. Thank you for helping my Squadmate.”

“She’s my friend, darling,” Rarity said with a smile, apparently not noticing Flight’s slight awkwardness. “I’d do anything for my friends.”

Behind Errant Flight, he could hear some murmuring. He sighed and turned, only to find Bright Wonder walking past him, followed by White Blossom and Solid Hoof.

“You alright, Dash?” Blossom asked quietly.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” the cyan mare replied with a grin. “Shoulda been more careful with the rainboom. It’s nothing.”

“No, it’s not nothing,” Bright Wonder said, sounding upset. “You could have died.”

“But I didn’t,” Dash said, smiling more reassuringly to try and make her friend feel better. Wonder wasn’t done though - she looked up at Rarity and then, to everypony’s surprise, she went over and hugged her.

“Thank you so much for helping her - I know she’s your friend and all and you’d do anything for them, i would too, but thank you anyway,” she said quickly. “I just want to say I’m really sorry for thinking that you and the other Element Bearers weren’t very nice, I was wrong and stupid and you’re all lovely, I was just really mad because of all the things the other ones did, and I’m very very very very sorry….”

“Wonder,” Solid Hoof said quietly, putting a hoof on his squadmate's shoulder. “Breathe.”

Bright Wonder stepped back from Rarity, who (understandably enough) didn’t quite know what to say to the white Pegasus mare. She settled for grinning.

“Sorry,” Wonder said sheepishly, grinning slightly. “I just had a lot on my mind.”

“Chill, Wonder,” Dash said with a wide grin. “Everything’s cool.”

“Yeah,” Wonder said. She turned back to Rarity. “Can I meet Pinkie Pie? I’ve heard she’s really good at planning parties: it’d be great to swap tips.”

Dash and Rarity exchanged glances, and then they both started laughing out loud.

***

“Pony God, that reeks, whatever the heck it is,” Sapphire Steel said, the grey pony's nose wrinkled in disgust. Pinkie couldn’t help but agree: the smell was strong, nasty and unpleasant. “What do you suppose it is?”

“Burnt cake?” Pinkie suggested idly, opening another door and looking in the empty room. There was no sign of what could possibly be causing the smell, but whatever it was they were definitely close to it. Steel sighed.

“I’d like to hope so,” she said, opening another door, “but given what we know about the Equestrian army, I seriously doubt… it…”

She stepped away from the door, her eyes wide and her mouth slack. Pinkie, curious, walked over to the doorway and peeked inside. She gasped, her eyes widening as she saw just what had her squadmate looking so horrified.

There must have been twenty or thirty human bodies in the room, packed tightly in. They had been stripped naked and tossed in without much regard to anything else: the bodies had started rotting, and flies covered them, though not enough to hide the myriad of disfigurements and injuries present on some of the bodies: whatever had happened to them, it had been brutal. Some of the bodies looked as though they had undergone tortures and mutilations.

“Pony God,” Pinkie swore quietly, her voice entirely emotionless. She stepped back, not quite registering what she had seen.

“Sapphire Steel to Applejack,” she heard Steel’s voice saying in the background. “We’ve found the source of the smell. It’s a charnel house - human crew. Unconverted. Must be thirty or forty here at least, maybe more."

"You... what? Why?!" Applejack's voice replied, sounding shocked. "Is there any... any reason to it?"

"Uncertain," Sapphire said grimly. She tapped Pinkie on the shoulder and the party pony turned to look at her eyes wide. "Pinkie, keep watch while I check these other rooms."

"Okie dokie... ok," Pinkie said, her traditional cheerfulness somehow not willing to come, no matter how much she tried to force it.

Sapphire Steel popped her head in five or six other doors, and on four more occasions pulled her head out looking even more sick. After the seventh she couldn’t hold it in anymore and threw up over the floor before closing the door she had looked in with a disgusted expression.

"Steel to Applejack," she said quietly. "At least two hundred and fifty bodies. I'd say almost half the crew here. Tortured, mutilated, dumped. No sign of any interrogation - no way to know why they did it."

“Understood,” Applejack’s voice replied heavily. “There ain't nothing we can do for 'em now. Rendezvous with the rest of the squad at the engine room.”

“Affirmative,” Steel said quietly. She turned to Pinkie. “We need to go.”

Pinkie sighed, turned to look at Sapphire. As she did so, however, she caught sight of a Guardspony sneaking up on them, the Unicorn’s horn lit up as he fired a spell off. She barely had time to yell a warning before it impacted.

There was a flash of light.

***

Applejack had pushed the squad as hard as she could upon hearing Sapphire’s report. She was determined that the buckers who had done this would pay in blood.

The engine room itself was guarded by five Guardsponies and three new Converted. At once, True Grit and Lyra sent off their own individual bolts of magic and killed two of the Guards - Wind’s minigun was entirely impractical in this room, especially since he might well damage the engines, and so he dropped it reluctantly and charged, knocking one of the Converted over and crushing the pony’s skull. Applejack charged as well, engaging the other Converted - her first buck knocked one into a wall and he fell to the floor stunned. The second crushed her unfortunate target’s larynx, and he began choking, no longer able to breathe - she stamped on his head, keeping eyes closed, and the choking noises ceased with a wet crunch.

The remaining Guards had been taken down by Grit and Lyra, their horns still glowing slightly from the sheer number of spells they had fired off.

“Applejack to Elliot,” Applejack said into her comm. “The crew of this boat who weren’t converted are dead, we’ve found the bodies.” She paused. “Wasn’t pretty. Anyway, the engine room’s secured.”

“Gotcha,” Elliot’s voice spoke, sounding heavy hearted. “Gimme a sec.”

A moment later, there was an audible whine as Elliot apparently accessed the intercom. A moment later, they heard his voice.

“Ponies of the Equestrian Royal Guard and Militia,” he said. “Your forces have been subdued or destroyed. We control the strategic sections of the ship. Surrender now and report to the top deck, or you will be killed.” A moment later, he contacted Applejack again. “We’re taking theIllustrious back to Plymouth. We should have a port there to dock at. I want you to hold up there until we get to Plymouth, clear?”

“Crystal, sir,” Applejack said quietly.

“Will that message work?” Lyra asked. Desert Wind spat thoughtfully.

“Doubt it,” he said contemptuously. “Guards and Convies alike don’t give up unless they really do have no other choice. Not in their programming.”

“Let’s prepare to hold the line then, ponies,” Applejack said quietly. Lyra and Grit nodded, moving to hold the entrances to the engine room, but Lyra was shocked by the sudden appearance at her entrance of a mare with singed, lank hair and a cut over one eye, her expression downcast.

“Pinkie!” she said. “Where’s Sapphire Steel? What happened to you?”

“Ambush,” Pinkie replied tonelessly. “Guard Unicorn. Fire spell. She… she didn’t…”

“Didn’t what?!” Desert Wind said harshly, approaching Pinkie with a murderous gleam in his eye. Pinkie didn’t respond, but the look on her face told Desert Wind all he needed to know. His eyes widened, first in rage then in shock, and his mouth went slack. He slumped to his haunches and didn’t move.

“Wind,” Applejack said heavily. “Wind!”

Desert Wind didn’t reply, instead merely staring ahead. Applejack sighed.

“Leave him,” she said to the others. “I think he needs a while.”

“What I need,” Wind said, eyes suddenly burning like fire, “is to go kill some Royal Guard!”

Before anypony could stop him, he ran off into the ship, screaming bloody murder.

“He’ll get himself killed doing that!” True Grit yelled, moving to chase him. Applejack held up a hoof.

“In that state, best to leave him to it,” she said quietly, her eyes hard. “I don’t like it anymore than you do, but we can’t do anythin’. We need to hold here.”

Grit looked like he was about to argue, but the look on Applejack’s face didn’t waver and he sighed, turning away from her before moving back into position.

“Buck this war,” was all he said.

“I hear that,” Applejack said heavily, moving over to the other door.

“Yeah,” Pinkie added, her face still emotionless. She took up her position near a maudlin and silent Lyra and didn’t say another word.

It would be a long voyage home.

Author's Notes:

Wasn't going to post this until tomorrow, but it's my birthday and it was ready so I thought "why not?" Hope you enjoy it. Special thanks to The Void and RoyalPsycho as always for their help and advice, and to my commenters and favouriters for sticking with it :-)