My hold onto the mounted railgun became tighter as the vertibuck accelerated to a surprising speed. My uncertainty about being in this jet powered vertibuck shifted from that of fear, to that of excitement. It was the kind of speed I only had felt when diving at full speed, yet faster... so much faster.

*Hurp* Sonnet held her mouth shut with one hoof as she gripped her mounted railgun even tighter than I was.

“Just hold on for a moment, the inertial dampeners should take full effect momentarily.” Temboril spoke as the feeling of acceleration slowly came to a stop, leaving everything mostly still. “There we go. Now that we’re at cruising speed, it’ll be some time before we reach our destination, so let's quickly go over the mission and everyone's roles in it.”

The hud screen came to life in my visor, and a bunch of text scrolled in front of my eyes, ending at the image of the megaspell device in our possession.

“The cornerstone of this operation will be the delivery and activation of the megaspell device.” Temboril continued, “It will take a few minutes for the megaspell to trigger after activation, during which we cannot be moving at high speed, otherwise the spell will fail, likely killing the ponies on the other side.”

That did not sound safe, for both sides. This thing will make us a huge target until it resolves, and even then this thing is experimental and might not even work.

Sonnet raised a hoof, looking less sick now that the dampeners were on. “Can't we feign negotiations? You know, and avoid any fighting.”

Temboril shook her head. “As Red Steel made it clear, if we don't make ourselves a high threat target, then admiral Flintlock… was it Hoof or Hook?" She shook her head, "Nevermind that, the idea is that she will let the ship captain's act on their own accord as long as feels she doesn't need to intervene. So we need to be as disruptive as possible so that she will be forced to at least pay us some personal attention. This may also have the benefit of drawing heat off New Cloudsdale. Though, if the city defense are even still up is unknown at this time, but we must do what we can. Another benefit is that when the Scootaloo's Resolve teleports in, she should be listening in at least, where we can force the negotiations.”

“Personally I like the idea of taking some pressure off our home.” Light said over the radio, to which I nodded in agreement.

The hud in front of my eyes changed, showing a list of letters with numbers. “Alright, as for mission roles, I have call signs in correspondence with your roles. Wild and Light will be pilot one, ‘P1’ and pilot two, ‘P2’. Sonnet and the two techs will be Support one, two, and three. ‘S1 to 3’ for short. I, Merit, and the two commandos will be Defender's one to four. ‘D1 to 4’ for short.” In my hud, an icon of D2 appeared in the upper right corner of my vision, and when I looked at Temboril, an icon of D1 was over her head. “In case S1 needs to go outside, then D2 will escort and protect S1.” Looking over at Sonnet, the icon S1 was over her head, and I gave her a nod.

“Right, so we're blasting in there, give the pirates a bloody nose, and set off a mega teleportation spell. Anything else?” I asked.

“No, that should be it for our roles. Our hooves will be full as it is, so don't worry about doing anything extra. If the situation changes, I'll inform you on it, but until then, just focus on the mission.” Temboril said with confidence, before looking over to the cockpit. “What's our time to destination P1?”

Wild gave out a nervous laugh that made me a little concerned. “We’ve got around five hundred miles to fly, and it's telling me it's going to take us around fifty minutes to destination. 560 miles per hour, fuck me, can this thing go supersonic?”

“Unfortunately no.” Sonnet answered. “From what I've read, the shape of the Phoenix would need further alterations to reach those speeds without ripping itself to pieces, but no pony has felt the need to further experiment with the craft to that end.”

“I wonder if Orthrus will let us conduct our own tests and experiments on its design?” Wild pondered with a chuckle.

“That's a possibility, but only if this mission is successful.” Temboril answered. “I've set a timer to our hud display. Everypony can chatter, and double check our equipment, but be ready for combat five minutes before it reaches zero.”

With fifty minutes on the clock , Wild boasted about how jealous the techs at her lab were going to be, that not only did she get to see a jet powered vertibuck, but pilot it.

Around forty minutes to go, Sonnet shared with us a bit about her daily life, and the favorite foods she liked to cook. Turns out she worked part time as a technician at a small plantation, and was paid partly in fresh food.

Thirty minutes to go, Wild inquired Temboril about any lovers she had, and surprisingly, the answer was quite a lot. I didn't really get it, but to her, a friend and a lover were mostly the same thing. She supposed it was something to do with her brain not being like a normal pony’s brain. We didn't feel like inquiring about it further when it got into the subject of cloning.

Twenty minutes to go, and any chatter became short and to the point. Most of us were more focus on checking, and rechecking our gear.

Ten minutes to go and nopony talked, just waited…

…

…

“Were picking up a signal over the horizon!” Light shouted. “Another one, and another… fuck, how many of them are there?”

Temboril and I got up to take a look out the cockpit window. I could see it, a large lone cloud in the sky. It had to be New Cloudsdale, and we could see several columns of black smoke coming out of it. Looking down, there were black specks on the water, and every now and then a flash would come from one of them.

“I'd be amazed if it wasn’t such a concerning sight. There's at least a hundred ships out there. Most of them don't seem all that big, but still, just how many of them are out there?” Temboril spoke with a worried tone to her words. “Get into the gunnery seat, D2, I'll take the other gun. D3, D4, stay on standby until I give you an order. P1, prepare to fire on any hostile aircraft that's not Enclave. P2, contact New Cloudsdale, let them know we’re friendly.”

Light didn't waste time, and flipped on the comms. “This is captain Light Terbalance of the third Enclave expedition team, piloting the VC-Vertibuck Phoenix, do you read New Cloudsdale air command?”

There was a short moment of just static, only a few seconds, but felt like it was taking forever. “This is New Cloudsdale air control, what the fuck are you doing here, and what the fuck are you piloting?”

A deep sigh came from Light, before she answered. “We're here to help, air command. What's your current situation?”

The radio crackled. “Holding out for now, but were getting ground down up here. The invaders are focusing on only attacking the city defences, so the civilians are safe in the emergency shelters for now. But if this keeps up, the city will be lost before the day is over. Unless you’ve got more room than it looks on that craft to help evacuate, you should turn back. The brigadier general was right, it's a lost battle.”

Light took a deep breath, and then shouted, “Pull yourself together solder, the Enclave did not train cowards!” She then took another deep breath before continuing as a slightly less loud volume. “We need target information, namely about their vertibucks, and where their numbers are most concentrated.”

Once more there was a wait of several seconds before air command responded. “The capitol building, we think they're trying to capture the president.”

“Let them know help is on its way.” Light said calmly as she put the com down.

We felt the vertibuck shift slightly, the sight of New Cloudsdale becoming ever closer. Ahead of us, we could see a few specks that quickly took the form of three gull vertibucks flying at us. I could hear the high pitched sound of something charging, as small current of electricity passed through my armor.

“Eat shit you mother fuckers!” Wild shouted as the AA Railguns fired.

The gulls responded in kind shortly after with their energy cannons. The heavy beams of magical energy missed us as Wild deftly maneuvered us through the air. Our own shells exploded in midair ahead of the gulls, shredding one into scrap, and completely disintegrating the engines of the second. The third managed to fly out of the blast range, but not completely as black smoke billowed from one of its engines.

We shot passed the defeated vertibuck, not worried about any counter attack from them. The Phoenix banked to the side, followed by loud repeated booming, and a rattling from the metal hull.

“The ship's below are firing their AA shells at us!” Light shouted. “The Phoenix's shields will hold up as long as we don't take a direct hit!”

“Don't worry, they just got lucky with their first barrage.” Wilde calmly spoke as she remained focused on piloting. “They’re struggling to get their shells even close to us, and once were over the city, we'll be clear to to slow down.”

“Two wings of gulls heading our way from below!” Light shouted. “They’re attempting block us with a pincer maneuver!”

Wild chuckled. “Their vertibucks are too slow to pull that on us. I'm going to punch it, so hold on back there!”

We could feel the phoenix shake a little as the aircraft picked up speed. Sonnet looked at her pipbuck, and then up at me with a nervous smile. “The engines are holding together, but they’re starting to run dangerously hot. Once we can stop, I may need to run a quick check on them, make sure they don't blow up if we have to go back to high velocity.”

“I’ve got your back, but wait till you get the all clear.” I told her, and she nodded.

“Alright, passed the blockade. We’re reaching New Cloudsdale airspace...now." Light informed us as the Phoenix then leveled out. "The capitol building is straight ahead, six targets are on the radar, prepare for engagement in five… four… three… two… one!"

We all lurched towards the cockpit as the Phoenix quickly decelerated, and the twin AA-RG2's fired rapidly. Ahead of us the six vertibuck gulls over the capitol building scattered. Two were caught off guard by our assault and were quickly turned into scrap.

“Ready the gun, D2!” Temboril shouted as she pulled the latch to her door, and I did the same. “Now!” We both flung open our doors, the air pressure in the cabin practically exploded outward as I grabbed the AP-AG2's. Taking aim, one of the gulls fell into my sight as the Phoenix continued to slow down, and I fired.

The railgun rattled slightly as fired shots out with a buzzing zap sound. The hypervelocity projectiles punched holes into the gull’s thin outer hull with ease. It shattered the gulls windshield, causing it to lose control, spirale down to the clouds below. A griffin and pegasus managed to jump out before the hulk punched through the clouds, and begin firing back with their rust guns. Their bullets bounced off the shields harmlessly, and I retorted with my own gunfire. The shots tore the two pirates to peces, mutilating their legs and wings.

“Another Gull down, and the other two are falling back!” Temboril shouted.

“Their landing, I'm going to take them out!” Wild said as she maneuvered the Phoenix to attack them. From the gunnery seat, I had a good to view seeing the two gulls land, they were near the entrance to the capitol building, right near were other pirates had taken position. Both gulls opened their back doors, and a unicorn each trotted out, stopping right where the mettle met cloud, their horns glowing. The Phoenix fired, the AA shells slamming into a pink magical barrier.

“That's not fucking fair!” Wild shouted as we passed over them.

Two pirate pegasus got out of cover, they holding up a big boxy looking… missile launchers!

"Evasive maneuvers now!" I shouted, and the Phoenix lurched to the side quickly as Wild reacted quickly.

The rocket scraped the side of our shielding before exploding, causing several red lights to start flashing, and an alarm to buzz on and off. I attempted to counter attack, but the two pirates had ducked back behind cover before I could get them in my sight. I fired down at them, obliterating the cover, but no pirates were to be found, forcing me to cece my attack or waist the ammo.

“Shields down to fifty percent!” One of the techs informed us.

“Fucking bullshit! They took a direct hit from us and nothing, but were almost shot out of the sky by a glancing hit!” Light shouted in frustration.

“D2!” Temboril called me, and I turned to face her. “Those Unicorns are clearly projecting the magical barrier and we need them dead. So would you mind taking them out?”

I nodded. “Consider it done.” turning around, I jumped out of the still moving vertibuck.

Stiffening my armored wings, I flew up to get a better view. The pirates were actually firing at the capitol building, and every now and then, several energy beams would shoot out from the building, forcing the pirates to take cover. Their attention was divided, with one griffon eyeing me with a battle rifle in its talons. The Phoenix flew around to the pirates other side, focusing its AP cannons down at the pirates. I watched as both unicorns pivoted so that they were facing the Phoenix. Their horns glowed as the shield formed and rippled, but it didn’t forming a full shell around them.

“Looks like you’re right, D1. The unicorns are making a magical wall, not a full magical shell. Can you go in for another…” A bullet ricochet off the side of my helmet, cutting me off. I looked back to see the griffon with the combat rifle. “Do another run and I'll rush them while they’re preoccupied with the Phoenix.”

“Roger that, doubling back for another attack!” Light spoke as I saw the Phoenix make a tight turn. I dodged another shot meant for my head from the griffon who seemed absolutely determined to take me out. But my armor meant I could I take my time, and as soon as the two unicorns turned to stop the Phoenix's attack again, I dove.

Another shot from the griffon cracked off my armor, only scratching the surface. Realizing that he wasn’t going to stop me, the face of the griffin pirate turned to panic. He began shooting wildly in panic, but was unable to find a soft spot on my armor. I powered through the bullets, and slammed into the pirate.

It was like going through wet paper, the griffon practically exploding under my hooves as I hit the ground through them, causing me to almost pass through the cloud ground. With a flap of my wings, I got all four of my legs out of the clouds, and stable onto the flat surface. The other pirates who’d been preoccupied in attacking the capitol building now turned their attention to me. I gave them little time to counter attack as I charged the unicorns, firing my energy rifle. One of the unicorns had no time to respond as the barrage of pink beans slammed into them, disintegrating them outright. The second unicorn managed put up a shield to stop me, but as soon as they had, a rain of diamond shot slammed into them from the phoenix, turning the unicorn into a bloody mess and sending their pieces through the cloud floor.

The pirates around me scrambled, some firing at me, others taking cover from the Phoenix. I spotted the rocket launcher team as they stepped out and readied another shot. In an instant, they were disintegrated by a barrage of energy beams. Five ponies in pegus power armor burst out from the capitol building and took straight to the air. The counter attack they offered with their own energy rifles quickly decimated the pirates as they were completely routed, and systematically exterminated in moments.

“Thanks for the assist, whoever you are.” One of the pegasus flew over to me, a confused look could be seen through her helm as she quickly saluted me. “I’m First Lieutenant Whirlwind.”

“It’s me, Merit Cross.” I saluted back and enjoyed the slightly confused look across her muzzle. “It's good to know you’re still alive Lieutenant, how's the president?”

“She's safe, but care to explain what the fuck you're wearing, and what the fuck is that vertibuck?” She asked sternly.

“Long story with no time to explain.” I quickly cut off the question. “We need to know how soon you can get any of the raptors in the air, if there are still any?”

She narrowed her eyes at me, but then stopped, clearly receiving a radio message. “Yes ma’am.” she breathed with annoyance. “The president ordered us to not launch the raptors until we can use them to transport the civilians to safety. The pirates came on us faster than we expected, so all four are still on standby, but ready to launch. What exactly do you plan to do with them?”

“Good,” I sighed with relief. “we have what could be classified as a thunderhead class ship on its way, and it's going to need an escort as soon as it arrives.”

Whirlwind looked to the side again, and looked displeased. “Tune into single alpha five.”

I nodded, and scanned the enclave radio until I hit the right single. “This is Merit Cross of the third…”

“Cut the introductions short, and get to the point!” I was cut off by the soft, but authoritative voice of president Pillow Feathers. “I doubt any ship that bug can get here in time, or get passed all those guns. So I need an explanation, and quick.”

The radio crackled, and Temboril spoke up. “Were teleporting the ship in using a specialized megaspell, but doing so will make us easy targets. And though I have confidence in this vertibuck, it would be advisable to lend us some air support if you want your city to survive.”

“Not like we have a choice in the matter, but if there's even a shred of hope...” There was a pause before Pillow Feathers responded. “First Lieutenant, get as many ships in the air as you can. Even if it's all a lie, we might as well take as many of those bastards out as possible. at least it should buy us the time to ready the civilians for evacuation.”

First Lieutenant Whirlwind sluted to the air. “Yes ma’am!”

The Phoenix landed near us, Sonnet jumping out as soon as it stopped to fly to one of the engines. “Cover me for a minute, I need to rebalance the shield array.”

The Lieutenant and I flew up, landing near Sonnet just as a large energy beam passed over us. The two wings of gulls that tried to block us earlier were now closing in on our position.

“We’ve got this.” Whirlwind spoke up. “Six invading vertibucks are closing in on the capitol building from the west. All soldiers who can, suspend evacuation and fire on them. Do not let them retake full air superiority!”

As the gulls closed in, a wave of energy bolts fired up from the city, forcing the pirate gulls to scatter, one of them started having an engine gush out black smoke. One gull had not wavered, flying right at us at full speed, despite it taking on fire from below, its two cannon barrels glowing with pink energy.

*ker zap!*

A thin beam blasted passed us, hitting the gulls wing, severing it from the rest of the aircraft and sending it tumbling into the cloud.

“I doubt that I'll get another clear shot like that,” Temboril had joined us on the top of the Phoenix, electricity sparking across her railgun, “but luckily the other gulls are being held back for now. Unfortunately, pirate infantry are heading this way, so get ready for a fight.”

Red dots started appearing on my hud, revealing were the pirates were coming in from. Taking aim as they approached, I made sure to apply suppressing fire, keeping them from taking a shot on us, as the orthrus commandos ripped apart any pirate that dared to push an attack. One griffon attempted to fire a rocket from a blind spot, but Temboril was already waiting, firing a large barreled shotgun that practically ripped off all the feathers from the griffin, along with its face.

“Done!” Sonnet called out as she jumped back into the Phoenix, and the shields came back online. Temboril, the commandos, and I followed her back inside the vertibuck as the enclave soldiers flew back to the capitol building.

The radio crackled as Whirlwind spoke up. “Alright, once you clear the sky, we will launch our remaining vertibucks to help cover against any incoming threats, so don't make us regret this!”

I saluted at the First Lieutenant. “This is my home just as much as it's yours. No way I'd let these sea raiders take it.” The phoenix rose back into the air just in time to spot a gull heading right for us, it billowing black smoke as energy beames pelt it from below. The twin AA-RG2's fired, and practically disintegrating the gull before it could get a shot at us. “Alright, that's one down!” I announced.

Taking off, the Phoenix started its gull hunt. A few of the nearby pirate aircraft made themselves easy targets as they concentrated on avoiding ground fire. Quickly picking off another gull, it marked the third we’d shot down as we flew passed. The three remaining gulls doubled back to attack, joined by two more that had come in from the north. They spread themselves out, preventing the Phoenix from getting a clear shot at more than one as we passed.

The gull ahead of us practically shattered to bits from our AA shells. Firing again, I attempted to take another down as we passed, but it took evasive maneuvers and slipped away. Machine gun fire pelted our shields as two of the gulls got behind us. One showered us with led, as the other charge its energy cannon. The other two gulls were hanging further back as they followed us, I wasn't sure why, but it did put them in a good position to counter any evasive maneuvers we could use.

A bright bean scraped at the edge of the shields as Wild threw the Phoenix through the air, rocking back and forth trying to avoid the shots. I did my best to get a hit on the offending Gull from my position, but the gunnery seat was not made to shoot right behind us, and the two gulls were sticking solidly in our blind spot.

“D1, we can’t shake these assholes. I hope you have some trick up under your hooves!" Light shouted.

“On it, P2! I hate to do this, but were opening the back door. D3, D4, take out our pursuers, and for the love of Celestia, don't damage the fucking megaspell!” Temboril commanded.

The back door slowly opened, and the two commandos propped their guns on top of our cargo, forced to stand on their hind legs to see anything. After a moment, the two found their targets and let their guns rip. With a chattering burst of gunfire that punched out the Gull’s windshields, the pursuing vertibucks crashed into the city below.

A sigh came from Temboril as she motioned at one of the lab ponies. “Now that we have soem breathing room, what's our status on the megaspell devise?”

“The charge is at fifty two percent!” One of the techs answered. “We need to leave the city limits in the next five minutes to minimize any potential errors during the final steps of deployment.”

“Three more bogies heading our way, and the previous two are closing in to attack.” Light spoke up. “correction, one of the previous two are heading our way, the other just vanished from the radar, the ground forces must have managed to shoot out out of the sky.”

Without fear of a counter attack, the phoenix took a sharp turn. The engines whined, fighting to pull us around as the whole frame strained and groaned. Still, it held as the G-force dissipated and Wild straightened us out.

A gull came into my sight, and I took a few seconds to lead my shots. Opening up with the mounted railgun, I managed to hit the aircraft, destroying a propeller in a spectacular fashion as the engine it belonged to twisted and sheared off as well, dooming it to crash violently. Turning to intercept the two new gull's, I lined up my next shot, only to have them take evasive manuvers, going low, and using the city for cover, of which we gave chase, but were prevented from firing or risk civilan casuties. Following, the two crafts then split after passing through two tall buildings. That pulled a chuckle from Wild as she broke off the chase, and decided to go around the buildings, rather than through then.

“I ain't falling for the oldest trick in the book!” Wild said as she kept chuckling. Taking the long way around, we spotted the two gulls hiding behind the two tall buildings… along with seven low flying gulls hidden by a dip in the ground level, all of which immediately flew up to intercept us. The Phoenix tilted up, and we quickly ascended, dogging energy beams. “Fuck, never read that one in the books!” Wild yelled, no longer sounding amused.

Temboril, the two commandos, and I attempted to fire back, but our angle was bad as Wild did her best to maneuver. Within moments, the gulls found our blind spot and stayed there.

“Shields down to sixty four percent, and were going to reach maximum altitude soon.” a tech yelled.

“Keep calm, were not screwed yet! I’ve got an idea!” Wild said, her cocky confidence now replaced with a sturn stoic tone. “Just be ready to fire everything you’ve got at them.”

The Phoenix began to slow down right as it made a sharp turn, quickly facing directly down at New Cloudsdale. The feeling of weightlessness took over as we dropped, and I fired down at them, as did Temboril, and the Phoenix's main guns. Our AA cannons then ripped through the gulls below, the stripped down air crafts catching fire, and breaking apart, but a few of the gulls had spaced themselves apart, their own cannons glowing at us, and aiming the Phoenix’s main cannons from this angle was proving more than difficult for Wiled.

*Zap!*

An energy beam crossed through the group of gull's, slamming into, and destroying one of the aircrafts. That was then followed by more beams as two wings of enclave vertibucks closed in on the gulls, firing wildly. This broke the gulls formation, scattering then, and giving us the opportunity to take them out. Within seconds, the gulls were exterminated, and any pirate that jumped from their craft found themselves quickly disintegrated by ground forces.

Our radio buzzed as a stallion spoke up. “This is the secondary air patrol, we're here to be your escort. Thanks for drawing the pirates attention away from us.”

Temaril signaled that she was going to talk. “Thanks for the assist, though we could have used you earlier. Now we need to take the teleportation megaspell to open sky, can we count on you.”

“That’s an affirmative, but I fear that we’ll only last a few minutes in open sky. The first air patrol had five wings and was decimated by those bastards.” The stallion informed us.

Looking over at the techs, they gave Temboril a nod. “A few minutes is all we need to save the city, now follow us.” She told the enclave pilots, and they got in formation behind us.

Behind us we left several plumes of black smoke as we quickly reached the edge of the city. Both the commandos took a standing position next to the gunnery seats, their guns at the ready. We punched out of the city and into the open sky, finding it full of vertibuck gulls racing to fight us.

Nether the Phoenix, nor the other enclave vertibucks wasted any time. A staggering barrage of traded shots filled the sky as both side’s cloudcraft opened fire. One of our vertibucks exploded in spectacular fashion in the first barge, and a few energy beams scraped our own shields. The pirates on the other hoof took an immediate loss of four gulls, and were forced to scatter as together, we all rammed through their formation. This gave all the gunners open targets to shoot at as the gulls repositioned for another attack, making them easy targets.

It was like a shooting gallery that wildly shot back, and fortunately we were still close enough to the city that the ships below were not firing up at us. As I fired, I noticed on my hud that the AP-AG2's ammo was running low, and that our shield was starting to flicker.

“How much longer, we can't keep this up.?” I asked and shouted.

Another one of our vertibucks went up in flames nearby before Temboril responded. “Soon, we just need to get a little further away from the city, so don't worry about the ammo!”

I didn’t, firing wildly into the swarm of gulls, unsure how much damage I was doing. Out of nowhere, a talon reached up and grabbed the commando next to me, and before I could respond, the pony was pulled out of the Phoenix. A griffin climbed up with a knife in its beak, glaring death at me.

Quickly the pirate grabbed me with it’s free talon and tried to pull me out like the other pony. I attempted to strike the catbird off me, but they were able to easily dodge from their position, and counter with the knife. It slid between the armor plates at my shoulder, slicing through the softer joint material and finding my soft flesh underneath. Honestly, it hurt like hell, but I could still move, so it wasn’t in too deep yet.

Flexing, the blade bent and became stuck in my armor. The pirate let it go and reached behind itself for another weapon. Not giving it a chance to stab me again, I drew the .45 auto, and the griffins eyes widened as I unloaded the seven shots into them. The griffin lost their grip on me in favor of clutching at the several gushing wounds on themselves, and easily fell off the Phoenix as Wild banked us around again.

“We lost D4!” Pulling the knife out, I grabbed the AP gun, and unloaded the rest of its ammo into a nearby gulls windshield. “And my gun’s spent!” I shouted.

“Good, were in position!” Temboril was now using her shotgun as the other commando was still firing out the door. “Drop the megaspell now!”

The two techs and Sonnet braced themselves against the megaspell. The three worked together, pushing with all their strength to get the device off the Phoenix. I helped them, placing my armored hoof on the megaspell, and with little bit of effort thanks to my power armor, I shoved the megaspell right out of the phoenix. All of us inside the cabin watched intensely as it tumbled through the air and disappear from view.

“The megaspell has been released,” Temboril barked over the radio to the remaining enclave vertibucks. “everypony give it room and follow behind us!”

The Phoenix rose sharply, quickly followed by the others as the gulls regrouped to chase us. Below I could see the tumbling megaspell spark with power, the air around it shimmering, and sparkling. Only a short moment later the sky lit up in a purple and green light. If I had to say it looked like anything, it looked as though reality cracked open, and the sky shattered like glass. From behind the shattered sky, it appeared with a low metallic groan. Sparking with energy itself, pushing through the break in the sky, the Scootaloo's Resolve announced its entrance with a droning sound that reverberated the air itself.

A wave of magical energy phased through us, causing the radio to screech with static, and my hud to warp for a moment. When it had passed, the Scootaloo had appeared fully, and the warp in reality had vanished. Not wasting any time, the Orthrus Airship immediately opened fire down at the pirate fleet below with everything it had.

One of the pirate gunships was blasted into two by the railguns, another burst into flames as shells slammed into it, but the airships attack were quickly halted by magical shields produced from the ships. They then retaliated, but the pirates cannon shells slammed into the airships shields, doing no damage. The exchange in cannonfire continued, but with both sides protecting themselves with shields, the aggressive cannonfire to yielded no results. The pirate gulls attempted to swarm the airship, able to somehow get passed the shields, but they were forced back or quickly destroyed by the airships smaller defensive guns.

“Greetings Grand Fleet of the Oceanic Illuminated Authority. I am captain Red Steal, daughter of Grand Admiral Flintlock Hoof, and a devout Chosen of Thorn Roasland. By divine right, I demand an audience with the Grand Admiral!” Both the pirate fleet and the Orthrus airship ceased fire, quickly changing the frantically loud aerial battle to into an eerie scene of complete silence.

Turning the Phoenix around, we made our way toward the Scootaloo, followed by the four surviving enclave vertibucks. On top of the airship were landing pads, with some having vertibucks being loaded onto them, and even more being brought up one by one from an elevator below. An Orthrus crewpony below us signaled for us to land at one of several unused laning pads. As we made our decent, the radio crackled to life, playing... organ music?

It was grand, very loud, and somehow I got the feeling that it was not a recording. As the Phoenix landed with a thud, I tried to change my radio signal so that I could talk to somepony, but only to find that the music was playing on all frequencies.

Jumping out of the vertibuck, I took off my helmet, just to get away from the music, to finding that Temboril had thought of the same thing.

“Clever.” Temboril said loudly as she attached her helmet to the side of her armor. “The pirate fleet is repositioning themselves to engage the Scootaloo, and are jamming all communication signals to slow any counter movements.” She then rubbed hear, looking uncomfortable. “Lucky for us, that they can't block telepathy talismans. Though unfortunately, we’re still cut off from the enclave, But that isn’t all that huge of a problem.”

“If they’re clogging the airwaves with that, how are they talking to each other then?” I asked, only now noticing that my ears were ringing.

Temboril motion for an orthrus pony with a large saddlebag to come over to us. “From what our spotters can see, they’ve gone old school prewar tactics, relying on flags and lights to communicate between ships. Though Red has stated that they have also messengers who are teleported from ship to ship, which might be something we could utilize to coordinate with the Enclave.”

The Orthrus regular came up to us, opening up a bag filled with medical supplies, snack bars, and small drinks bottles. "Take what you need, and if you require a restroom, one of us can guide you to it." The mare informed me as I took a healing potion, and immediately drank it, my injured shoulder slowly repairing itself. I looked over at the enclave vertibucks, their crew stepping out to be greeted by Orthrus like I was, each one of them looking utterly baffled at the odd looking ponies working the airship around them. I don’t blame them, but like I did, they’ll adjust quickly.

“So, what does Red say about the fleets next actions?” I asked Temboril

Taking a bite out of the snack bar, Temboril washed it down with a small bottle of water. “She said that such large scale and organized fleet movement means that Flintlock Hook has taken direct command. Meaning our main objectives is done, and now we’re to wait for further instructions.”

Looking back over at New Cloudsdale, I saw two large cloudships come into view. Raptors, both quickly descending towards the Scootaloo, escorted by four vertibucks each. They quickly got into escorting formation on either side of the Orthrus airship. It was only then did I really appreciate the scale of the Scootaloo, as the flying fortress dwarfed the two large cloudships. Overhead, a vertibuck passed by slowly, and three pegasi jumped out, headed towards our landing pad. Landing in front of us was two ponies in power armor, and the third pony was a well groomed mare in a three piece suit. President Pillow Feathers. Both Light and Wild jumped out of the Phoenix, greeting the president with a salute, as did I.

“Madam President, is it wise to come out here?” I inquired.

Her eyes quickly shifted around, taking in the unfamiliar sight before speaking. “Would it be wise for me to hide in my office as the city falls to savages? Right now we need to resolve this situation as fast as possible, otherwise the city will fall, with or without the savages dragging us down. Now I need an escort to the bridge, that is where the leader is, correct?”

“I've already informed Dictator Naqara of your arrival,” Temboril took a step forward, and the president's bodyguards blocked her path, only for Pillow Feathers to motion for them to step back. “please, follow me and I'll take you to the bridge.”

Pillow gave a slightly confused look at Tamboril before giving her a nod. “May I ask on how your sending communications, all of our’s are useless right now with those savages below jamming all communications signals?”

“We have a network of telepathic spell talismans for emergency communication, it's something both hard to block, or to listen in on without a talasman on the same wavelink.” Temboril answered as she trotted off, the rest of us following her lead. The rest of the enclave had noticed Pillow Feathers presents, and quickly saluted at her as we passed.

"Amazing. May I also ask how my father’s doing?" Pillow Feathers had positioned herself right next to the specter, who dwarfed the president because of the power armor they wore.

"He's fine, if justifiably worried about your safety." Temboril had taken us to pad that looked a lot like a stable door, it having the symbol of Orthrus boldly painted on it. “Were heading to the bridge.” She told a nearby Orthrus pony, who was standing at a terminal. Following Temboril inside the center of the large gear shaped pad, a circle of safety bars rose up around around us, and the gear began to descend into the massive airship.

As the lift descended, we got a small peek at the interior of the airship, and it really looked a lot like the inside of a stable, though shrunken down by maybe half. The gear elevator came to a stop as it entered a wide corridor. Near us was another Orthrus pony behind a terminal, who gave a quick salute, and then the lift began to move sideways, the teeth of the gear rotating along the wall as it moved down the corridor.

“This ship was originally built by Stable-Tec for moving entire stable wings over terrain that couldn’t simply be moved over by land.” Tamboril spoke up as we all marveled at the ship as we were pulled along. “Orthrus has managed to maintain much of its original systems, including this internal transport railway.”

Passing us was another gear with six mechanic Orthrus ponies, one of the mares was being pulled back from leaning over the safety bar as she was trying to get a closer look at us.

We slowly came to a stop, and the large gear then moved sideways into a smaller corridor, only stopping when we reached a large room filled with ponies at many terminals, and large windows looking outside. A chainlink cage that blocked us from exiting slowly rattled up into the ceiling as the safety bars lowered down into the large gear. As we all stepped out, we were greeted by Naqara, who was accompanied by two Orthrus Specters.

“Welcome to the Scootaloo's Resolve, President Pillow Feathers.” Naqara spoke as she greeted us with a smile. “It’s an honor.”

The bridge had a guest lounge, which of course we were led to. It was lavishly furnished, something a proper military ship would never have, not that I'm complaining about having a nice place to sit. Sadly I was in power armor, so it all felt the same as I struggled to not accidentally break the antique wood furniture.

Looking over at the bridge, it consisted of three levels. The top section consisted of a walkway that ended at the captain's chair, with two terminals on either side of the seat. The captain's chair had full view of the rest of the stations, as well as all the windows. They gave a view that stretched out far enough that you could look directly below, and could see straight down under the airship at the pirate fleet below. Mid section was two rows of terminals connected to the captain’s walkway, and the third row that seemed to be just a lookout area.

In the captain's chair, sat Red. Next to her was the cybernetic pirate I’d seen before, who was literally plugged into the terminal at the moment. The two griffins who accompanied her were on the third level, looking down at the fleet. As for the pony in unicorn power armor? Well, they were nowhere in sight.

“Are you sure it's safe here,” I asked Naqara. “to say that the bridge is a bit exposed would be an understatement.”

She nodded back at me. “True, the Stable-Tec Mega carrier airships were not originally constructed for war. But they did have some magical shielding to combat inclement weather before we had it modified and upgraded. Now it sports a multi-redundant sheidinding network across its hull. The bridge itself was upgraded with extra protection and redundancies that will work even in a scenario where the rest of the network suffers a catastrophic failure. So be at ease, this is the safest place on the Scootaloo.”

“And the risk of the savages breaking through the shielding?” Pillow Feathers added to the question.

“For conventional, and magical weapons, unless they throw everything at us in a single pinpoint barrage, we would likely destroy them all before they can even scratch us.” Naqara bosted.

A chuckle came from the captain seat, Red looking over at us as she passed a clipboard over to the cybernetic pirate. A speaker near us cracked with static before Red's voice came through.

“Your not far off, Dictator Naqara, but that’s only the case if the fleet exclusively used its normal ordinance. What the grand admiral is doing right now is calculated. She’s not organizing the fleet for the fucking lark of it, she's getting ready for a proper fight. The ships that have the big guns are being escorted by ships that can act as mobile shield batteries. Once the battle really starts, it won't take that long for her to whittle this tin can’s shields down to nothing, and if she can't capture or destroy us, she will drive us onto a retreat.”

“Then why are you doing nothing!” Pillow Feathers clenched her teeth. “Can’t you destroy them right now?”

“Forcing the fight before Flintlock responds would only destroy any negotiations, and force us into a slugfest we don't have the time or capacity to win.” Red turned back to the masove windshield, and looked over the edge of her platform. “Because I’ve asked for an audience, my mother must issue a formal response before hostilities can continue. If she refuses, she otherwise risks the perception spreading that she was too scared to talk, or disrespectful to another of the faith. But Madam President, if you want to try, I'll let you talk with the admiral. From what your father has told me, you are a genius politician.”

Pillow picked up a glass of wine with her wing, as she rubbed her temples with her hooves, then drake all the wine in one go. “Thank’s, but I'll pass. The one time I got to speak with her before, all I got from her was her offering us the right to surrender without terms. Anything I said to her seemed to fall onto deaf ears."

“It's about time!” The cyber pirate yelled in a synthetic voice, causing everypony to become quiet.

“Alright!” Red got up onto her hooves, standing proud. “Now everypony, remember my instructions. We only have one shot at this, and I do not want to be branded a heretic!”

The organ music blasted through all the speakers, growing louder as it gave off a feeling of malice. As soon as it hit its crescendo, the music began to fade, until silence. A horn blared a classic Equestria military tune I didn't recognize for a few seconds before the voice of a stallion spoke up.

“Listen all! Here speaks the Grand Admiral Flintlock Hoof of the grand fleet of the Oceanic Illuminated Authority. Champion of the fifth dragon extermination hunt, subgator of the heretic rebellion fleet, and baroness of the ghost tower.”

There was then another blaring of a horn, playing the old military tune, followed by a pause that was broken by the raspy voice of an older mare.

“How is it, that you, my daughter, have come to command of such a... fine vessel. Have you been seduced into betraying the goddesses by it? Have you turned your back on the prophets teachings in exchange for the promise of power?”

Red raised a hoof into the air, and an old world marching band music played for a few seconds before Red spoke. “To turn on Thorn Roasland, on the goddesses! I'm shocked you would even suggest me capable of such a thing! I am here to announce our victory, for today, the teachings of our prophet has spread, and our power grows ever grater!”

“By destroying two of my ships, along with its faithful crew?” Flintlock responded.

“A sacrifice to the goddesses, may we all be so fortunate someday.” Red retorted.

“Why wait then, when you can offer yourself to the goddesses now, along with that airship your in. If not, then pray tell why have you come now. Interfering in our subjugation of these savage infidels, as is our divine and just right.” Flintlocke's words pulled a deep frown from Pillow Feathers..

Red waited for a moment, taking a deep breath. “Because, I want you to cease your hunt, and allow this cloud city to fall under my protection. I know you have read my report, of my completion of the mission you had given me. As of now, I am captain of the weeping pegasus, and have established a ceasefire with the inhabitants of the Marewaii Islands, along with rights to obtain converts to the faith. Now weapons and tech not seen before are now at my hoof tips, all of which I'll offer to you. That is, so long as you give me the authority over the territory, along with the trade rights from it.”

Another pause lasted for a moment, everypony seemingly holding their breath. “An interesting proposal, but…” Flintlock spoke, holding onto that last word longer than I would like. “All of it I could be obtained through might. A holy crusade by my word could give me all of which you speak. If so, how would you propose to stop me and the whole of grand fleet?”

Another chuckle came from Red. “I do not deny that you speak true, as the grad fleet is nothing less than an unstoppable juggernaut, second only to the city Avalon, and the holy fleet that protects it. But if you were to come and take the islands, and lets say, I offer trade rights to any captain that sides with me. Rail cannons, ponies who are practicly walking spark batteries, acano-tec that surpasses our own, even ponies with confirmed noble blood in their veins.” Red burst into laughter for a few short seconds. “Dear mother, I'm sure you will be interested to know that soon I will be able to bear a child, and that my grandchild, yours legacy, will have a direct lineage to princess platinum herself. Now knowing all that, how unified would the grand fleet truly be. By the grace of the goddesses, how could they not accept such a challenge, to not only show their devotion, but as a reward, they may have a place among the nobility. To not even try and take it would only prove the weakness that clouds their very souls.”

All fell silent once more, and all the pieces of Reds plan came together. She was threatening civil war within the grand fleet if Flintlock did not stand down, and all while the admiral was currently in full control of the fleet, forcing all eyes on her. No bureaucracy, no debates, no screaming, just the decision from a pony holding all the cards, and everything to lose.

“I... accept your proposal.” Flintlock spoke, but Red held her hoof up for everypony to remain quiet. “Your request for an audience will be respected, and negotiations for transference of powers will be done. All after your chosen champion meets me aboard the Queen of Knives, baring that they pass a trial-by-fire first.”

“Only the strong have the right to a choice!” Red said loudly. “Wise words left to us by the prophet Thorn, and an example we must all show to the world. For we must never suffer the week, or become week ourselves, as the week are only good as slaves, and not as free ponies.”

“Then let it begin, captain Red Steel, my daughter. I await your champion.” Flintlock spoke just before the Equestria military music began to play again, it slowly fading out, and leaving everything in silence.

“So!” Red turned her seat around to look over at us. “Who wants to fight my mother?”

Before anypony could say anything, an explosion hit the windshield of the bridge, blocked by a light green magical shield. I stood up, cocking an eyebrow at Red, and shouted. “What the fuck is wrong with you, you damned sea raiders!?”

She shrugged, a cocky smile on her face. “Likely generations of constant extreme survival presures, and a fucking religion that reinforces every creature to be as overzelus as possible under threat of slavery, or death.” A red overglow wrapped around her horn, and she lifted a glass of wine to her lips, taking a small sip. “Now fortunately, you don't need to win, just prove that none of the challengers are weak.”

I let out a frustrated sigh. “If we were just going to head on out there, then why have us come down here?”

“That was just so we can give the President a look inside the ship, I have a faster way back to the Phoenix.” Temboril informed us as the air around her began to shimmer, getting a curious look from the President. “Just place you hooves on my armor, and we'll teleport out of here.”

Light, Wild, and I placed a hoof on the spectets power armor, and then in a flash, we were back on top of the Scootaloo next to the Phoenix. A loud pop came from Tamboril right before a talasman ejected, it leaving a tail of white smoke behind it. I guess I still wasn’t used to the sheer amount of tricks up Orthrus’ sleeves.

Not needing to be told what to do next, the four of us jumped inside the vertibuck and took our seats. The only other ponies on bored was the remaining comando from before, and Sonnet, who were occupying the gunners seats again. As the engines of the Phoenix roared to life, Light grabbed the radio.

“Alright, they sent us the coordinates. Now to see how many others will follow us into this clusterfuck.” Taking a deep breath, she paused, biting her lip, a hoof shaking. “How many more of us will die this time? How can I ask them to die? Maybe we should just go down there on our own.” She looked back at us with a weak smile.

“The Phoenix is good, but not that good. Without an escort, they will shoot us right out of the sky.” Temboril informed Light, and the small smile she had dropped.

I trotted up to the cockpit, and held my hoof out in front of Light.

“Then let me do it.” I told her, she looking down at my hoof, the up at my face. With a nodd, she passed the radio over to me, and I brought it up to my muscle, taking a deep breath. “To all vertibuck pilots and crews. This is former Colonial Merit Cross of the Enclave speaking. I am requesting volunteers to escort us to the ship Queen of Knives, where we are to meet Grand Admiral Flintlock Hoof face to face so we can end this thing once and for all. The pirates will not make it easy for us. That, they have made it loud and clear. I’ll be honest with you, the chances you will not return from this engagement is high. But we are not doing this for ourselves. Right now, at this moment, all of us are at a crossroads. We can either roll over and and let the sea raiders below become our masters. Or we can stand up and fight. Trust me when I say this, if we win, as this airship stands as an example, there is a future for us all. I can't say what that future hold for us, but it will be our own to make. So, ask you all, will you fly with me, to protect our home, and take our future into our own hooves!”

I put the radio down, and waited for a few seconds passed.

“This is lieutenant Whirlwind, commanding the fifteenth air corps. I'll be leading three wings with you into battle, so this better work.”

“Our orders were to escort you, and that has not changed.” One of our Enclave escorts chimed in. “We’ll be with you all the way down.”

“Nice speech," a rough sounding voice spoke up, their accent clearly revealing them as a pirate. "I, with ta rest of the sanctified flight crew have been ordered by captain Red to aid ya in battle. But even without orders, I’m not going ta skip out taking diss Orthrus vertibuck out into battle!”

Temboril tapped me on the sholer. “Naqara has approved sending out all twenty flight capable vertibucks aboard the Scootaloo. Unfortunately, they’re all piloted by Reds crew, but that will at least bring our vertibuck count to thirty nine, including the Phoenix.”

“Then lets hope its enough to get us through this fight.” I said as I returned to my seat, putting my helmet on. “Alright, time to fly.”

The engines of the Phoenix roared to life, and we once again lifted into the air. Looking out the side door, the other vertibucks were already taking off, and turning to us. Above from the city, nine more vertibucks came into view, descending to our position. As we flew over to open air, still protected by the scootaloo's shields, I saw even more vertibucks fly out of the side of the airship, only a few at first, but soon became a swarm of twenty aircrafts. Descending down to meet them, and joined by the enclave pilots, the Phoenix took the lead as everypony else got into formation behind us.

“Very nice. A respectful display for the fleet.” The radio crackled, and Red's voice spoke up. “I wish I could join you, but I also like having control over the big guns. Now, we're going to fire all of this ship's countermeasures, so use that opportunity to get low, and out of their anti air guns targeting zone. From there it's all up to you, but we'll give what support we can here. So good luck.”

As soon as the message ended, the Scootaloo fired all its cannons, and a whole lot of missiles I didn't know it had.. The missiles then exploded in mid flight, and clouds formed from them, expanding in their place and quickly covering the sky below us. Cannon Fire from below still slammed against the shield of the Scootaloo, but it became more irregular, hitting more random places. Wild took us forward, opening up the throttle, but not enough to lose the thirty eight vertibucks following. We skimmed along the shield bubble under the airship, and after a few seconds, the shield dropped, and we all descended into the cloud cover. Before the Scootaloo disappeared from sight, I saw a cannon shell from below slam into the airship, causing some damage to its hull.

We were blind as we passed through the missile based cloud cover, with only the sounds of shells whizzing by to remind us how close we were to death. Light returned as we burst through to the other side and straight into the warzone. The Grand Fleet was waiting for us, firing a barrage of AA shells sent our way, and all we could do was dive down as fast as we could.

Wild pulled back on her flight controls, leveling us out as soon as we were out of their guns sightline. The Phoenix shook in the thicker ocean air as it skimmed above the water, but we had made it, and were out of sight of their main AA guns, though still not entirely safe.

“We’ve lost nine vertibucks!” Light informed us. “Correction, one just slammed into the water. Ten down.”

“We still have twenty nine vertibucks, so just tell the rest to keep low under their angle of fire, and to keep any pirate gulls off or flank.” I told Light, and she relayed the message to the rest of the wings.

The naval vessels were not content to stay still, actively repositioning themselves to block our path to the Queen of Knives. Worse yet, the situation was now the reverse of New Cloudsdale, as there were a horde of pirates on the decks, using any gun they had to fire at us as we passed a ship, pelting our shields with a rain of lead. I watched as one of our vertibucks lost an engine, and skipped along the water, ripping it apart.

A smaller pirate ship had maneuvered itself into our path, its guns low enough to reach us. Raining down from above, several cannon barrages slammed into the vessel from the Scootaloo. The shells were blocked by a larger magical barrier then what was used back in the city, and apparently somewhat stronger. But it was still the same idea, so it had exactly the same weakness.

“Fire the main cannons!” I shoute.

The Phoenix let loose our AA shells as we dogged incoming small arms fire, shells scraping our shields. Our attack was followed by shots from seven other following vertibucks flying in a wide formation behind us. Our AA shells didn't do much damage, but the fourteen energy beams melted parts of the ship’s superstructure, and set the deck on fire as we flew over. The pirate ships shields then faded as the crew onboard begun to panic. With another resounding hail of shells from above, the pirate ship was quickly finished off by the Scootaloo, sending it under the water in pieces.

“Queen of Knives straight ahead, along with over fifty gull vertibucks!” Light informed us, sounding very concerned.

“No time to play it safe,” Gritting my teeth, I gave another order. “tell the others to form their own wings, and spread out before engaging the enemy. The Phoenix will be going in alone. If we punch through, it may distract the enemy long enough enough to help the others.”

“We better get big ass shiny meddles for this!” Wild said as she accelerated the Phoenix.

The enemy fired on us relentlessly. So many energy beams came at us that there was no way to count, but thanks to Wild’s piloting skills, they were only able to get glancing blows that scraped our shields. Even so, the barrage was enough to reduce it to only twenty percent power.

The tight turns, and barrel rolling Wiled had to do was almost too much for the dampeners, and I held onto the gunner seat tightly. But the daredevil moves paid off as we punched straight into the enemy formation, our AA guns ripping a line through the gull swarm ahead of us. Several gulls attempted to turn around to chase us, but pulled back as the rest of our vertibucks joined in, firing wildly at the pirates.

With the pirate gull's attention off us, the Phoenix made its way toward the ship Queen of Knives. The ship made no attempts to stop us as we closed in, instead lighting fires that billowed thick red, green, and black smoke all around the ship. Flying up, we got a good look at the Queen of Knives. It was a massively long ship with a flat top deck, and surprisingly no defensive or offensive guns. The mounts for the guns were all there, but they’d all been removed, most likely to be distributed across the fleet. The sole feature on this massive ship, was the lone metal tower that sat on one side of the ship like a monolith. It was covered in tapestries that displayed the thorny logo prominent throughout the whole fleet, and I’m sure with it’s vantage point, it had to be the functioning command center for the whole ship.

Wild Gasped. “No fucking way, that's gotta be the Blue Blood! The largest aircraft carrier Equestria ever built!”

“Wild, we don't have time to gawk. Lets just land the Phoenix and get this fight over with.” I commanded. Looking down we saw that there was a landing pad surrounded by burning flares, a clear invitation, and with a sharp turn, Wild flew the Phoenix over it, and landed the vertibuck with a thud.

Temboril, Light, and I jumped out of the Phoenix, and onto the aircraft carrier. The massive ship was like a floating island in of itself. The top deck was large enough to hold all the gulls we just fought through, and possibly even more than that if you pushed them together by hoof. But right now, the deck was empty, making it feel like we were trotting on the side of a gigantic black monolith.

“Dad, no!” Light cried out.

I stopped to look over at what she was staring at. My eyes scanned the lone tower, quickly finding what she’d seen. It was Brigadier General Rough Turbulence, his corpse had been penetrated by a large hook, and was hanging by a rusty chain.

“I can respect the initial fight he put up, as futile as it was. But I cannot turn a blind eye to the cowardly orders he saw fit to make.” The raspy voice of Flintlock blasted through speakers attached to the tower above us. “Oh how ta mighty have fallen. Ta so called rulers of ta sky, now nothing but an nomadic tribe, starving and looking for scraps. I know of ta Enclave, and of ta sacred pact made between Thorn Rosland an thar leaders so long ago. We ta rulers of ta seas, and they, they get ta sky’s above equestria. Tis pact was bound by blood, and broken by blood alone. Now where tis your enclave, it’s power, it’s right to rule? Thrown to the winds ten years ago I say.”

A bellowing laugh came from the speakers right before a flash of light burst from a short distance from us. Ahead of us was three ponies, two in polished unicorn power armor, both holding a gatling gun each. The third pony was an older red unicorn mare with a short dark brown mane, and wearing a black jacket and hat. What made her even more striking was that her front right hoof, and back left hoof had been replaced with a hook each, and in the place of her right eye was a large red cybernetic eye. It burned in the daylight, and glinted more like an old world camera lense then the cyber eyes the mirage ponies used.

“Aye, look upon thee and repent.” The red mare then spoke with a raspy voice. “I am Grand Admiral Flintlock Hoof. Now, may I have ta name of the pony who will stand as my daughters campion?”

“You fucking monster!” Light yelled as she took a step forward, but I blocked her with a hoof, and shook my head.

“I’m Merit Cross.” I spoke loudly, aided by my helmets inbuilt megaphon. “I’ll be your challenger.”

“Temboril Tapiture, representative of Orthrus, and the ponies of the Marewaii metro” Tembotil took a step forward, and bowed. “I’m here to bear witness to this duel.”

“And you young miss?” Flintlocks eyes drifted passed me, a coy smile on her face. “I am to believe tis your falter hanging disgraced above us. Then you are here to represent that city in the sky?” Light growled, but backed off, nodding as she gritted her teeth. The admiral then looked at me, rubbing her chin, seeming a bit confused. “So Merit Cross, of whom do thee represent? Clearly not my foalish daughter, I’d hope.”

Everything seemed to slow as the question hit me. Yes, I have been fighting on behalf of New Cloudsdale, but it was not like any of them wanted me there. I was just another reminder of the old Grand Pegasus Enclave and the lies they spat out. No, not just with New Cloudsdale either. My family had been a source of shame for the Enclave itself, that’s why I’ve had to lick every boot, do every favor, keep every secret, all to get to the top. Just so that in the end I could have it all crash down on me. Worse yet, the thing that stabbed me the most, was that my mother told me that this would happen, and I laughed in her face before never seeing her again.

“I flew too close to the sun…” I breathed.

“Come again?” Flintlock spoke loudly, tilting an ear in my direction.

Removing my helmet, I took a deep breath, my grandmothers scouting uniform tightly pressing on my chess from within the power armor. Mother may have been right, but it doesn’t change where I am now, or who I became, not even the choices I make. But maybe, if only in this moment, the Enclave I've loved can stop being a lie, and live up to the promised it made so long ago.

“I am Merit Cross, of the Cross family, descendants of a founding member of the Enclave. I stand here as representative, as a champion of the Grand Pegasus Enclave! I offer my life to the citizens of the New Cloudsdale, to their protection. If you want New Cloudsdale, then you will go through me!”

“You got a proper fight in ya, I like that.” The Grand Admiral look me in the eye, and slowly smiled. “Let it be known, this here duel is sanctified between the campions of Thorns Chosen, and the Grand Pegasus Enclave. Winner will decide the fate of the cloud city, and that of my daughter. All other fights must stop, and witnesses must gather.”

With her magic, she pulled out a bright orange revolver from her coat and pointed it in the air. With a soft pop, it sent a bright orange orb into the air, where it exploded with a bang, raining multicolored lights across the sky. Pirates popped out from hidden hatches everywhere across the ship. Trom the tower, from on the flight deck, and some even teleported in with magical flashes, surrounding us. Ponies of all kinds, griffins, and non-pony creatures I’ve never even seen before quickly formed a wall of bodies around us, hooting and hollering, cheering and jeering for a fight.

I put my helmet back on. “As a warning, I do have advanced power armor on.”

“Aye.” She nodded, as both a long thin sword, and large long barreled rifle was passed to her. “I can see, and it makes no difference ta me.”

A red overglow wrapped around her horn as she lifted both weapons, moving them around like they were as light as a feather. The gleaming and well kept sword had an elegant and elaborate guard, depicting an hourglass in front of two crossed swords. The rifle however, looked more like an oversized hoof cannon then any weapon made for the Equestria military. Like the sword, it was fairly ornate as well, with a solid polished dark wood stock, and gold inlay on it’s metalwork that resembled flowers.

Several unicorns pushed their way to the front of the crowd around us. Their horns lit up, glowing as a bubble formed around the two of us, dampening the sound of the crowd of pirates and making sure this fight was between us alone. Win or lose, I was stuck until this was finished.

“Ta rules are simple,” Flintlock touched the berror with her oversized rifle, causing ripples to form. “first to concede, loses. Ta winners request, no matter what it is, will be respected. Any weapon is valid, and knocking out or killing your opponent is advised if they refuse to concede.”

“And if I win?” I turned on my energy rifle with my wing. “What stops you from going back on this and still trying to take New Cloudsdale? What guarantee do I have that you’ll honor anything?”

“Fleet cohesion.” Flintlock spoke as she looked over her blade. “My position is not granted to me by the grace of the goddesses, rather, it’s earned. As I was taught through the scripture left behind by our prophet, backstabbing, and stirring mutiny are two tools of which to obtain power, as is forming pacts, and rewarding deeds done. This fight will prove that one can earn more power through surviving me, when one has such power, they can openly challenging me, and possibly win.” With a simple swing that wasted no movement, she pointed her blade at me. “Though I hate to lose this city, and the symbolism it's capture represents, I do have to confess that my foolish daughter has offered a better deal.”

I narrowed my glare at the pirate. “So if you want this deal, then why fight? Why do any of this at all?”

“Like I said, fleet cohesion.” She laughed. “Can't just take what's hoofed over to me, otherwise it becomes a sign of weakness. By forcing this fight, the winner will have earned the right to the spoils, and all observers will see that it's a fight they can't easily win. As for my loss in this, as long as it is a hard fought loss, those smart enough to know better will stay in line. Those who aren’t, well, leave those foolish to rattle their sabers at me to gage how strong I still am. The fleet dare not risk the fallout of a power vacuum if I am removed from power without some pony capable enough to replace me. Otherwise, tha holy fleet will step in and start executing captains until they find a puppet they like to take charge.”

Taking a deep breath, I sighed at the fact that all the ponies we lost to just get here was just for a political theater. “Alright, but you better not hold a grudge when I beat you bloody.”

“Oh do try,” A smile formed on Flintlocks face. “I do need this fight as real as possible. Just because I agree with my daughter’s deal, you’ll still have to earn it!” She twisted her sword in her magic, readying it to strike.

With a glare, a targeting reticle formed in my vision, and locked onto Flintlock. I fired at her, sending several beams of pink magical energy flying. The admiral responded swiftly as she rolled to the side, avoiding my attack as she responded with her rifle. The oversized rifle sounded like a thunder clap as it fired its large slug at me. Unfortunately, I failed to doge as fast as she had, and the slug slammed into the side of my helmet. It didn’t punch through my armor thankfully, and instead ricochet away, bouncing off into the bubble behind me.

“Your not going to even touch me if you fight like that.” She mocked with a wide smile.

It took a few seconds for my helmet to stabilize from the hit. It warnined me that it sustained some structural damage, but it wasn’t bad enough that I would be forced to remove it. Flintlock on the other hoof pulled back on a bolt on her rifle, and ejected a large shell before loading what was definitely some sort of anti-material round into its breach as she smirked at me. I got a strong feeling that her first shot was just to see how I’d react, and that the next time she hit me, it was going to hurt, and she was going to enjoy it.

Flaring out my wings, I jumped up and spun around, slamming my hooves on the bubble’s ceiling. I used it’s flexibility to launch myself at Flintlock at an accelerated speed, firing off my rifle as I did. She still managed to dogged, but could not counter with her rifle due to how close I was. Instead she was forced to strike at me with her sword, which I countered with the scorpion bladed tipped of my my power armor tail.

Our blades clashed, and we danced around each other. She managed to keep out of my rifles range, but she couldn’t get her own around to aim at me in time.

Another clashing of blades, and I drew my pistol out. Before I could fire at her, she slammed the butt of her rifle into my side, knocking my pistol out of my power armors hold. She spun the heavy gun around, making a wide swing with it, but going low this time. I was forced to roll out of its way or risk getting knocked over as she nearly tripped me up. As soon as I was stable on my hooves, I took to the air, ready for another diving attack.

The sound of thunder was followed by a pain in my right foreleg, causing me to lose focus, and slamming into the magical bubble. I was able to quickly stabilized before I hit the ground on all four hooves. Instantly, I almost collapsed in pain. Part of the armor plating on my right foreleg had been blown off, taking a gaping chunk of my leg with it. I glared at Flintlock as she unloaded the spent shell from her rifle, chuckling to herself.

Doing my best to ignore the pain, I kicked off into a hobbling gallop. I was not going to let her reload that fucking rifle! Flintlock was forced to jump away as I attempted to tackle her, causing her to drop the rifle round from her magical hold.

Again, she pointed her sword at me as her only means to defend herself. I fired my rifle again, sending scorching beams around her. I didn’t want to hit her, rather, I wanted to force her closer to the bubble’s wall. With another few shots, I had her right where I wanted.

With another charge, her back hit the wall, and our blades clashed. Swinging her rifle again, it slammed into my side. But because she couldn’t get a wide enough swing, she didn’t have the momentum to do little more than scratch the paint.

As our blades locked, Flintlock pushed forward, getting in closer. Pain then erupted in my right foreleg, as I found that she had jabbed her hook into my wound, and then twisted the hook. Blood splattered from my wound, and I was forced to jump back to get away. The moment I did, I realized the mistake I’d made.

“No no, you wanted to dance so close to me, then we're dancing!” she said in a mocking tone, twisting the hook that was still stuck in me, but no longer attached to her. The rusty hoof hook was connected to her limb by a thin chain that then reeled back into her leg. I cried out in pain as the hook sunk into my bone and dragged me towards her, all the while she pulled out another rifle round from her jacket.

Not risking that rifle again, I let myself dive forward at Flintlock, and forcing her back onto the wall as our blades clashed once more.

“For some pony trying to lose, your doing your damnedest to kill me.” I growled

“Oh, you thought you were supposed to win this?” Flintlock laughed as she twisted her hook in my bone. “No, you’re going to be tha sacrificial martyr for this fight, just to make it look good for the fleet. Once I’m done having some fun with you, I'll give the victory to one of the other two that came with you. Or maybe after there's only one of you left, we’ll see what happens.”

“That's not going to happen, you bitch!” I shouted as I slammed my helmet into her face, and reared my head back for another hit.

If anything, it forced her to let go of my leg and grab onto my helmet to stop my atrack. Lifting her up with my armored head, I then reared up onto my back legs, unlocked my helmet, and swung her off me into the center of the arena. She rolled as she clung onto my helmet, and I took the opportunity to jump and dash for her rifle, grabbing it be for she knew what I was after. Ripping the rifle from her magical hold, tossing under my hooved, and with one slam, I crucked it’s bolt action, caving into it barrel, rendering it useless.

“You know, you’re no different from the leaders of the enclave back when I was just a soldier,” I huffed and winced as the pain in my leg kept me acutely away of how I couldn’t risk another injury. “and I'm going to do to you what I should have done to them so fucking long ago.”

“Oh yeah?” She tossed the helmet to the side, and took a defensive stance with her sword. “What's that? Turn around and let me literally stick something long and hard up your rectum? I certainly can do that if it’s what get’s ya off."

I took a step forward, the pain in my leg worse before, my blood sokeing the inside of the power armor’s leg. It really sucked, but at least the leg was still intact enough to keep me standing. Though without the helmet to help me target, I did my best to focus on the Pirate. With a bit of my firing bit, I fired my rifle… and nothing.

Looking down at it, some of the cables to the rifle were torn in half, and one was missing. Returning my attention to Flintlock, she shooking off a cable from her back hooked leg, smiling at me. With my bleeding, I needed to end this fight, and fast, or I was a dead pony.

Charging at her, our blades clashed again, but unlike before Flintlock took a few steps back, her sword pointed at straight at me. It was not a problem, as in the next attack I planned to throw all my weight on her and trample the bitch. With another charge, I thrust my tail to counter her sword and… the blade overshot what I thought was its target.

Flintlock’s strike hit the based of my tail blade, and the sword slide in between the joints. With a twist of her sword, she severed the blade tip from my tail, sending it clattering to the ground. A surprising move to be sure, but it had not stopped the second part of my plan.

I collided with her with all the force I could muster, and slammed into the ground… by myself.

I felt a hoof on the back of my head as Flintlock sighed. "I prefer beating my opponents down on skill alone, and not relying on magic tricks. So I do have to reluctantly applaud you for forcing me to cast a spell other than to hold my weapons." She then gave a savage sounding chuckle. “But I'd be lying if I said that I didn't love to see the look on a ponies face when I slip from their grasp. To see that moment when they realize that the game was rigged from the start."

I felt a sharp pain in the shoulder of my right foreleg, and looked over to see her sword jammed under my power armors paulron. “Another thing to explain, on why I don't care about power armor. As you see, no matter how strong it is, if you can get between the joints, then the armor means nothing.”

I screamed as she twisted the blade, and I heard a sickening crack, then a pop. My leg when flying away from me, leaving a trail of blood.

“No, not good enough.” Her excitement bled from her words as she leaned down and brought her muzzle close enough that I could feel her breath on my mane. “You see, I really need to drive home what happens to those who defy me.” As I struggled to get up, I pushed when I saw her hook hover over my right eye, then my world became pain as I saw white.

The vision in my right eye was gone as Flintlock tossed me to the side. With another scream, I was yanked to a stop with her hook still in my skull.

“You see this!” her voice boomed, and I could hear a cheer from the pirates as the bubble around us faded. Light was being held back by a griffin, her voice drowned out by the pirates. “Hardly a scratch on me, while here this pony in power armor is left in pieces. But in my mercy, I will let these infidels have another try, as they are, at most, worth only half as much as one of the chosen.”

The crowed of pirates cheered even louder, sounding mad with glee at my own pain.

I struggled to move, but the pain was unbearable, and my body didn’t want to obey me anymore. Worst of all, I was starting to feel cold. Flintlock continued to speak, but her voice had become muffled, and the color around me faded.

I had felt it before, but not this strong, not as a certainty, my mortality, and knowing I was going to die.

“Do you want to die?” a voice whispered, cutting through the noise. “Or do you want to live?”

Slowly I looked up, and saw a black pony. No, it was just a pony in black armor. But... I could not see her head, just a red scarf that waved in the air like it had a life of its own. That, and a blue flame where its head should be.

Time seemed to have stopped. There was no noise, no pain. Just what was left of Vibraphone standing in front of me.

“I… I want to live.” I could only manage out with a whispering whimper.

“Then fight,” The headless mare placed a hoof on me and a feeling of cold washed over me, but also a calm. “and strike the wicked low.”

She took her hoof off of me, vanishing into black smoke. In her place was the .45 auto pistol Vibey had carried with her. It was right within my reach.

“Now, unless you wish to surrender, step forward my next challenger. Maybe you will fair far better than your comrade.” Flintlock bellowed with sickening pride.

Finding the strength, I bit down onto the pistol, and pushed myself over, placing Flintlock in the sight of my one good eye. She had only a fleeting moment to glance at me before my first bullet went flying, and another moment to reel in her hook before the second shot. Pain shot through my skull as it gave out with a deafening crack.

Then I was surrounded by darkness. I felt numb, and cold. So cold…

__________________________________________

Numbness, and a rhythmic beeping sound strued me from my cold slumber.

“He's waking up!” A mare yelled as I slowly opened my eyes, and my vision focused, seeing a mare dressed in white leave the white room I was in. Looking around, I was clearly in a hospital bed, needles sticking into my left leg…

“Yep, completely gone.” I mumbled to myself as I attempted to waive my right foreleg over my right eye, both clear to me that they were no longer with me. I was at least happy about whatever painkillers they had me on, as I didn't feel a damn thing.

A clattering from outside the room announced the arrival of Light and Wild as they rushed into the room, Light looking like she had not gotten any sleep for days.

“Oh thank Celestia your awake!” Light breathed. “After everything, they said... that you might never wake up.”

“You really scared us there.” Wild chuckled as she wiped a tear from her eye. “Just had to be a hero, didn’t you?”

It was good to know that they were alright, so I felt comfortable enough to ask the obvious question. “So, what happened?”

Light and Wild looked at each other, smiled, and Wild answered. “When everypony thought you were down and out, you pulled a miracle and shot mega bitch in the neck. She was so caught off guard, she actually fell over, and her crew had to jump to her aid before she bleed out. After that, we rushed you aboard the Phoenix and got you aboard the Scootaloo.”

“Their docs were able to stabilize you,” Wild shrugged. “but unfortunately in the panic, we forgot your leg on the bitch’s ship.”

“I'm so sorry, it’s all my fault that we didn't grab you leg.” Light said, trying to hold back tears.

Wiled tapped the right side of my head. “That eyes gone too, but good news! Orthrus is willing to install replacements. Maybe you’ll even get something like a pipleg if you want one. Also, for even better news, the pirates fucked off after you took out the admiral, and let New Cloudsdale go.”

As though the wait of the world lifted from my shoulders, I let out a very long sigh. “Then it's over?”

The two paused, and shook their heads. “Well, New Cloudsdale is safe for now over the Marewaii Islands.” Light nervously spoke up “But a lot of ponies were lost in the attack, and you see, positions now need to be filled to help re-establish order, and we’ve got a lot of ponies looking to get back to working normal jobs. So, as the hero of New Cloudsdale, President Pillow Feathers wants you to take over my father's position. He wants your help guiding the enclave integration with the ponies of the metro.”

I paused, needing to absorb what she had just said, only to then have Wild Wind give me a salute, with a big smile on her face. “Proud to have you still with us, Brigadier General Merit Cross!”

I looked at her, feeling annoyed. “Can you get me that new leg right now? I need to face hoof, and I rather not move the leg with needles sticking in it.” A slight smile crept along my face, and a calm feeling washed over me. Though I was far from done, at least now things can finally get better. After ten years adrift, we can start living again rather than simply surviving. With that, I felt like I had one more request to make. “Also, get me a beer, or six. I seriously need a drink.”

Our home was now safe, we can finally bury our dead, and look to the future.

____________________________________________

-Fallout Equestria: Dance of the Orthrus

The End

Thank you for reading.