Roaring flapped his wings, lifting himself off the ground slightly. His three blades shimmered in the starlight, so sharp that they seemed to cut the air they passed through. He flicked his tail threateningly at the ponies, the blade like a scorpion’s stinger.

Flash settled carefully into a defensive stance, his sword close to his face as he peered through the visor at his attacker. He glanced down behind him. Phillip was still laying on the ground, unconscious. Twilight stood to Flash’s left, her horn humming as she prepared her magic. Next to her, Pinkie bounced up and down on her tail. Daring was to Flash’s right, breathing sharply through her nostrils as she held her whip loosely at her side. Fluttershy crouched behind the group.

With a sudden blur of motion, Roaring flew forwards, bringing his blades up in preparation to slice. Twilight immediately fired a barrage of stunning spells at him, but the griffon deflected all of them with his swords. Dodging to the side, Daring snapped out her whip, entangling Roaring’s arm, and pulled hard. Without missing a beat, Roaring sliced the whip in half, then seized it and yanked the off-balanced Daring towards him. She ducked beneath his slice at her neck and tried to tackle him with her momentum, but got kicked facefirst into the ground. Roaring flew right at Twilight, continuing to avoid and deflect her spells.

Flash immediately threw himself into Roaring’s path, making a calculated cut at the griffon’s head. Roaring blocked the strike with the blade in his right claw, simultaneously thrusting at Flash’s midriff with his other sword and forcing him to twist away. Roaring spun around and kicked backwards, striking Flash in the gut and knocking him over. Simultaneously, he snapped his tail out, thrusting his third blade right at Twilight. She yelped and ducked beneath the attack, but Roaring flew back and kicked her in the horn. There was the cracking of bone, and Twilight howled in pain and collapsed as a surge of magical energy burst from her now cracked horn.

“Twilight!” Flash and Fluttershy shouted simultaneously in horror. Snarling in fury, Pinkie and Flash both charged at the griffon. Roaring engaged Flash with the two swords in his claws whilst fending off Pinkie with the one in his tail, forcing her to continually duck and dodge his strikes. Meanwhile, Fluttershy bent over the dazed Twilight.

Daring got up, spitting sand and shaking her head. With a growl, she took flight, swooping back into the battle. Noticing her approach, Roaring caught Flash’s blade in between two of his, then disarmed him with a scissoring motion. Roaring forced the disarmed Flash away with a double swipe, then flew up to engage Daring. He slashed at her neck, but she expertly dodged it, punching at his ribs as she flew past. The two fliers engaged in vicious combat, Daring weaving in and out of Roaring’s blades, but never able to get close enough to land a solid blow.

Recollecting his sword, Flash took off and attacked Roaring from behind, but was nearly caught out by the blade in his tail. Roaring held Flash off while simultaneously dueling Daring in midair.

“Leave them alone!” Pinkie bellowed from the ground. She bounced on her tail once, twice, three times, then bounded up into the air, aiming to kick Roaring.

Seeing her approach, Roaring deflected one of Flash’s strikes, then wrapped his tail around Flash’s leg and yanked him through the air, causing him to collide with Pinkie and sending them both crashing to the ground.

Daring closed in and seized Roaring’s left arm, trying to compress it into a lock. He cut at her head with his right cutlass; she ducked beneath it, but was caught out when he punched her in the side of the head with the bottom of his sword. Twisting his tail around, Roaring thrusted at Daring’s back. Spotting the movement out of the corner of her eye, Daring tried desperately to flap out of the way, but was too slow.

The cutlass pierced her side, and a wave of icy cold and pain coursed through Daring’s body. She cried out in agony as her wings failed her. She felt herself falling and looked up to see Roaring, sweat staining the lime green headband as he whirled through the air, a cruel grin spread across his beak as he prepared to end her life with a double cut.

Suddenly, a flash of orange and gold rammed into Roaring, knocking him out of the sky and causing his attack to miss completely. A pair of arms caught Daring, stopping her fall.

"I've got you," Fluttershy reassured Daring as she lowered her to the ground. Daring nodded her thanks, clutching her bleeding wound. Setting Daring down on the ground, Fluttershy extracted a roll of bandages from her saddlebags and began to dress the injury.

"Hurry up!" Daring called, watching the duel above them. Flash was frantically defending himself against Roaring's assault, parrying the rapid-fire strikes from all three blades. Flash parried an attack from Roaring's left sword, only to see the griffon slashing at him with the right. Instinctively, Flash punched out with one hoof, striking Roaring's inner forearm. His muscles convulsed involuntarily, causing him to drop the sword, which tumbled to the ground. Growling, Roaring stabbed at Flash with the sword in his tail, forcing him to back off.

Flash backed out of range, just barely avoiding another thrust, then retreated quickly. Bellowing, Roaring chased after Flash, swooping close to the ground.

Suddenly, something seized his tail, stopping his momentum. Looking back, he was surprised to see Pinkie and Twilight had grabbed his tail in their teeth, halting him in midair. Turning around, he saw Flash swooping downwards at him. It was too late to block: Flash's hooves smashed into Roaring and sent him crashing to the ground. Rolling to the side to avoid what would have been Flash's finishing thrust, Roaring got back to his paws.

A glimmer of light was all the warning he got. He ducked, avoiding a cut at his head, then whirled around, only to freeze up in shock.

"Claws off my family," Phillip Finder snarled, the dropped cutlass in his hoof. He shook slightly from exhaustion, his body wet with sweat, but his eyes held their trademark icy fierceness.

Flash landed behind Roaring, his sword held up in a defensive stance. Daring rushed up next to Phillip, glaring at Roaring even as she bit her lip in pain and clutched her bandaged side. Twilight and Pinkie joined them, standing strong in spite of their slightly dazed expressions; even Fluttershy hovered over the group, glaring at Roaring.

The griffon gritted his teeth as he examined his enemies, then made his decision. With a sudden flap, he took off, racing towards the horizon.

"Hey! Come back here!" Flash shouted, starting to chase after him.

"Let him go," Phillip said firmly, dropping the sword. "It'll take him a while to get back."

“Twilight, are you all right?” Flash asked, hurrying to her side.

Her horn was cracked up its length, but fortunately not completely broken. Twilight tried to channel magic into the organ, but winced. "I won't be able to use my magic for a while, but I'll be okay," she reported.

Suddenly, both she and Flash found themselves being wrapped up in a tight hug. “When I heard that the boat went down, I thought…” Phillip choked on his words, gasping in relief. “I thought…”

“I made you a promise, dad,” Flash replied, hugging his father back. “That you would never see my name on the memorial wall.”

Daring joined the embrace, followed by Pinkie and Fluttershy. For a few moments, the six of them simply stood there, comforted by one another’s presences, by their collective heartbeats and breathing, unified in the joy of being alive.

“All right,” Phillip said, withdrawing from the embrace. “Let’s take care of these wankers.”

Daring and Flash took bundles of rope out of their saddlebags and collected the lassoes that had been used to bind Phillip and quickly tied up the unconscious pirates, binding the knots tightly enough that even the unicorn would have some trouble untying them.

“Did they hurt you?” Daring asked, checking over Phillip’s scarred body. She hissed in pain and clutched at her injured side.

“Not badly,” Phillip reassured her. His body suddenly trembled and he fell against her.

“You’re dehydrated,” Flash said. “Here.” He lifted his canteen to Phillip’s lips, helping him to take a long drink.

“I’m all right now, thank you,” Phillip nodded as the water revived him.

“Now, we need to find a way off the island and back to the mainland,” Flash stated. “Are there any other ships on the island?”

“No,” Phillip shook his head. “They would’ve all fallen apart years ago.”

“That means our only option of getting home is the pirates,” Daring concluded.

“There’s at least thirty of them against six of us,” Phillip pointed out.

“Twenty-seven,” Daring pointed out with a smirk, glancing at the bound pirates as she picked up the dropped carbine. “Not bad odds.”

“Hey, I have an idea!” Pinkie chirped. “Since we’re all the way out here, why don’t we find the treasure? You were planning on coming down here to find it anyway!”

The ponies all looked at Pinkie, then at each other. “She does have a point,” Twilight assented as Fluttershy bandaged her horn.

“And we did come all the way out here,” Daring said with a wry chuckle.

Phillip nodded. “It shouldn’t be much farther.” He stood back up. Flash placed himself at his father’s side, trying to support him. “Flash, I’m all right, really,” Phillip reassured him with a smile, walking forward under his own power. Pinkie, Flash and Daring lifted the faintly stirring pirates up onto their backs, and the other ponies fell in line behind him.

“Where are we going?” Pinkie asked, bouncing along aside them and jostling the pirate on her back awake. He sputtered in shock as he examined his situation, then glowered at his captors and fell silent.

“We’re following the Seven Sisters,” Phillip explained, pointing up. Everypony looked up to behold a cluster of seven bright blue stars spread across the sky above them, roughly forming the shape of an arrow.

“According to legend, the seven sisters were once living ponies who helped create the land during the dreamtime,” Phillip explained. “They were very kind and beautiful, and for that, they were pursued endlessly by lustful stallions. One day, a group of stallions attempted to capture the sisters; the sisters had to escape, but did not want to leave the creatures that they had helped create alone. So they turned themselves into stars; from up in the sky, they could look down upon and guide us, while being safe from their pursuers.”

“That’s a lovely story,” Fluttershy sighed, admiring the twinkling orbs above them.

“The cluster is a fixed constellation,” Phillip explained. “It’ll guide us.” He continued to walk forward, following the stars. Daring walked by his side, her eyes alert for any sign of an approaching threat.

As they walked, Flash noticed Twilight hanging her head slightly. “Twi, you okay?” he asked her.

She blinked and looked up at her. “Flash, you and Phil have been teaching me how to defend myself for three months now. Am I bad at fighting?”

“No, Twilight,” Flash reassured her, draping a wing over her shoulders. “You’re just inexperienced."

Twilight was silent. “Hey, you remember in Fillydelphia, when you took on three unicorns at once? And then you knocked out one of them with your own hooves?” Flash asked with a grin.

Twilight smiled softly and nodded, but then her face fell. “But when that griffon came for me...I froze up. I should’ve kept my guard up, I should’ve—”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Flash interrupted. “None of that. Everypony gets caught off guard, everypony freezes up when they’re scared sometimes.” He gave her a steady look. “Besides, you did help stop him." He squeezed her to his side momentarily. “I’m proud of you, Twilight.”

Twilight managed another smile and nodded. “The key is to play to your strengths,” Flash continued. “Next time, try to keep your distance and use your magic, okay?”

“All right,” Twilight nodded. “Thank you.”

“Anything for my Princess,” Flash smiled. The unicorn across his shoulders groaned in disgust and rolled his eyes.

“Hey!” Daring called from the head of the group. “You can save the sappy stuff for when we get back. C’mon.”

The group continued forward, still following the path of the stars above, guided by flashlight. The winds picked up while they walked, and sent chilly gusts through their skin that made them all shiver. As they passed through a gulley of pale red stones, a creature suddenly leaped out in front of them, causing almost everypony to yelp in fright.

“It’s just a dingo,” Phillip said as Daring shone her lamp on the creature. The sandy brown wild dog paused at the top of a crest and turned back to study them, flicking its bushy tail. “Must’ve gotten separated from his pack.”

A howl resounded from the wilderness beyond. The dingo turned and hurried away, attracted by the call of its mates. The friends continued on their way, emerging from the gulley and leaping over a shallow stream.

“We’re almost there,” Phillip said, his pace quickening. The others hurried after him, crossing the sandy, rocky ground, which had become uneven and rough. The friends panted as they hurried over rocks and boulders.

“There,” Phillip called after a few more minutes of clambering, pointing to the horizon. In the distance, everypony could see a large, wide, blood red rock sitting imperiously upon the sands.

“Uluru,” Phillip explained to his friends. “The Aborigineighs believed that this was the site of a great war between two factions of the creators during the dreamtime. The rock is stained with their blood.” He started towards it. “C’mon. We’re searching for an underground cave that leads beneath Uluru.”

The others followed him, now scanning the ground. “There’s one!” Pinkie said, pointing at a dark hole in the ground. Daring shone her flashlight into the tunnel, allowing Phillip to examine the bare, moss-covered walls. He shook his head.

“Not that one,” he said, turning and walking away. The others followed, still scanning the ground for signs of a cave entrance. They passed other such holes, but every one they checked was almost immediately denied by Phillip.

Before long, they had more than halved their distance to Uluru. Up close, the great red rock stretched for over two miles from one end to the other, and was taller than most skyscrapers. Faded carvings and paintings were etched into the stone. Her eyes widening at the sight of the landmark, Twilight took her notebook back out and started scribbling notes furiously.

“Hey, what about this one?” Flash called, pointing to a large cave entrance beneath a grand boulder. Daring shone her light into the darkness, then immediately leapt back with a startled shout: the light from her flash revealed a dozen faces crouching in the darkness, waiting to spring at them.

Twilight laughed and Phillip let out a short grunt of amusement. “They’re just paintings,” Twilight admonished, shining her flashlight into the cave.

The faces were indeed paintings, imprinted onto the walls of the wide cavern. These white and red figures had the bodies of ponies, but their round heads were very large, and featured only two wide black eyes and a thin slit of a nose. They stared down at the interlopers, their expressions inscrutable.

“They’re wandjina,” Phillip explained, stepping closer to one of the paintings. He looked up at the dark holes that formed the creature’s eyes. “In Aborigineigh mythology, they were spirits of rain and thunder. The weather here was unpredictable, and hard to tame; whenever there was a thunderstorm, they believed it was the wandjina battling evil spirits.” He paused, studying the ancient painting. “I was born during a thunderstorm. My mother, an Aborigineigh, said that that meant the wandjina had blessed my birth by driving away the wicked spirits.” He let out a soft, bitter chuckle. “Guess they didn’t do that great a job.”

Fluttershy shivered. “They’re creepy!”

“It’ll be in here,” Phillip said, stepping into the cavern. Daring and Pinkie followed, setting their bound prisoners on the ground. Flash took one look at the dark, tomb-like tunnels, and elected to stay outside with Twilight and Fluttershy.

Phillip walked down into the tunnel, traveling further and further underground. Daring walked by his side, panning her flashlight along the dirt floor.

“Echo!” Pinkie called from behind them.

“Echo! Echo!” her voice called back from the tunnel walls.

Rolling his eyes, Phillip continued on until they reached a wider cavern. A wandjina was painted on each of the walls surrounding them, all of them looking down at the ground at their hooves. “It should be buried here,” Phillip said.

“Leave it to me!” Pinkie said eagerly, and dived at the ground like an eager dog going after a buried bone, her tail wagging as she sent dirt flying everywhere. Daring and Phillip both leapt back, shielding their faces and spitting out sand that had flown into their mouths.

“Got it!” Pinkie shouted after a minute, dragging a large sea chest out from the enormous hole she had dug. The box was plain and undecorated, the old white paint crusty and peeling, with a rusty lock holding the clasp shut. Phillip crouched in front of the chest, running his hoof over the carved name on the top: Capt. James Bushwacker.

“Let’s get it out of here,” he said, heaving the chest up onto his back. The contents of the chest rattled. Daring took her place at his side to help him with the weight, and Pinkie led the trio back out of the cave and into the cool embrace of the night.

“Is that it?” Twilight asked as they emerged, gazing at the chest in wonder. The pirates all stared at the treasure in envy.

“That’s it,” Daring nodded as she set the chest on the ground. She glanced at the hogtied unicorn, who looked coldly back at her. "Hey, you think you can open that?"

The unicorn begrudgingly cast his magic on the old lock, but no matter how much it rattled and shook, it would not open.

“It’s protected by a locking enchantment, and the chest can’t be broken open; it’s protected by a series of unbreakable enchantments,” Twilight reported. “Only the actual key will open it.”

“Which we don’t have,” Daring pointed out. “So now what do we do?”

“I say we go back to Sydneigh, scout out the area, and come up with a plan,” Phillip suggested.

“Sounds good,” Flash agreed. The others nodded.

“Then we’d best get moving,” Daring said, lifting the chest back up onto her shoulders with a grunt. Flash, Pinkie and Phillip lifted up the prisoners, and they began the trek west to Sydneigh.

By the time they reached the western banks of the island, the eastern horizons were already painted in the pale blues and oranges of pre-dawn. Gray light seeped down from the sky, allowing the friends to see more clearly as they clambered over rocky hills towards the former city.

"Once we find out more about the situation, we can come up with a plan to take their ship," Phil stated, climbing up another ridge.

“But what about the others?” Fluttershy asked, flying behind the group. “We can’t just leave them behind!”

“We’ll search for them,” Twilight reassured her, laying a hoof on her shoulder. “There’s a good chance that they made it to the island, which means they should be nearby. We’ll find them.”

“We’re almost there,” Phillip said, mounting another hill. He dropped himself flat on top of the rocky crest, peering over the top. The others dropped down in a line beside him, quickly setting down the chest and the prisoners. Daring took some hoofkerchiefs out of her saddlebags and gagged the pirates so they couldn't call out for help, then joined the others at the top.

The ruins of Sydneigh sprawled beneath them, the scorched shells of the town like dark, jagged rocks against the sand. Beyond was the sea lapping at the shore, and the crumbling Opera House, with the skeleton of a bridge connecting the auditorium to the land. The ponies could see pirates walking through the town. Most of them were milling around an expanse of land to the north that was flat and bare, save for the craggy lines of moss-covered stones. A female griffon with a distinctive scar across her jawline could be seen observing the workers, a yellow pegasus mare with a spear strapped across her back standing by her side. Both of them were in conversation with the griffon with the headband, who was scowling heavily as he related his story.

“What are they doing?” Pinkie wondered.

Daring pulled a monocular out of her vest and pressed it to her eye, scanning the ponies down below. Groups of them were gathered around piles of earth, hunching. “It looks like they’re digging for something,” she reported.

Phillip stiffened. “Digging…?”

Everypony gasped softly as they realized what the pirates were doing. As they watched, a pair of pirates reached into a hole and extracted a heap of decaying flesh and graying bones that was once a pony. They examined the torn clothes that still clung to the corpse, shook their heads, and tossed the body aside like a pile of garbage. Other bodies lay scattered across the graveyard, pulled out of the ground and thrown aside without a second thought or glance.

“Why are they—?” Twilight whispered in horror.

“‘The key I held in my deepest sleep…’” Daring recalled. “As in eternal sleep. Bushwacker had the key to the chest buried with him. They’re trying to find his body.”

Phillip heard none of this: he had become deaf to everything, focused entirely on the bodies beneath him. His neighbors, his peers, his ancestors, the ponies that he had known, grown up with, played with and for, tossed aside like litter, their bodies and their memories desecrated. His muscles tightened and his body trembled, his heart pounding in his ears like the thunder of a raging storm within his soul.

“Dad?” Flash called, his voice barely carrying over the drums of war. “You okay?”

Phil did not turn around, his focus still on the pirates below.

“Dad, you need to calm down,” Flash continued, hesitatingly placing a hoof on Phillip’s shoulder. “We—”

“Hey!” a voice shouted. Everypony whirled around to see a patrol of five pirates rushing towards them, weapons drawn.

Instinctively, Twilight pulled Pinkie and Fluttershy away from the intruders as Flash took to the air, intending to swoop down upon them.

But as soon as he lifted off, one of the pirates, a gold-colored pegasus, lifted a crossbow and fired. The triangular, barbed head streaked through the air and struck Flash in the chestpiece, penetrating through the sheet of metal. Flash grunted in pain and tumbled out of the sky. A streak of blood flew from the wound, dark crimson in the pale light.

The color reflected in Phillip’s eyes and he hesitated for a moment. Then, with a yell that seemed to shake the sky, he leapt over the other ponies, diving right into the midst of the pirates. Seizing one of the broadswords from its scabbard, he whirled around, decapitating a unicorn before any of them had a chance to counterattack; simultaneously, he deflected the pegasus’ crossbow, sending the next bolt into a third pirate’s leg. Blades danced and sang against one another as he and pirates fought: blood gushed and spurted and stained the sands as the bodies fell, their cries puncturing the dusty air. Three of the other pirates dropped within moments, struck down by Phillip’s fury.

The last one, an earth pony mare with wild, fiery red hair, managed to knock the sword out of Phillip’s hooves with a quick strike from her staff. She thrusted at his face, only for him to seize the staff and pull her in close. Discarding her weapon, the mare pushed against him, engaging him in close-range combat with a driving knee to his thigh.

There was a low, animalistic snarl, the sound of rending flesh, and a gurgling cry, and the two fighters staggered away from each other. Phillip turned and spat out a mass of red flesh as the pirate clutched at her throat, her eyes wide as she choked on her last breaths. Blood flowed down her neck from the wound. With a final gurgle, she collapsed back onto the sand, twitching a couple of times as the life left her.

Phillip stared down at her, his eyes blazing as he panted. The other ponies all looked at him, aghast; Fluttershy whimpered as she stared at the bloody corpses, looking as though she was going to be sick. Even Daring looked horrified.

There came shouting from below, and more of the pirate crew appeared over the crest of the hill, pausing to consider the scene beneath them. Whitestone hovered over the group, her eyes turning to the five corpses, then to Phillip.

“YOU KILLED MY CREW!” she shrieked, diving down at him like a bullet. Phillip stepped aside but he and his friends found themselves under attack by the other pirates. Meanwhile, the captured unicorn untied himself and his companions and joined the fight. Drawing all three of his swords, Roaring dived at Flash, who took the sky to avoid his attacks. The griffon swooped up after him, engaging him in single combat.

Rising above the other pirates, Satsuma swung her spear off her back and held it up in a ready stance. A set of jewels set into the staff beneath the spear’s iron head began to glow a piercing white light. With a shout, Satsuma slashed her weapon through the air, sending an arc of white energy flying at Twilight. Noticing the attack just in time, she threw herself out of the way. The offensive magic struck the ground with a burst of light, fusing a layer of sand into glass. Grinning, Satsuma swung her enchanted spear back for another swing.

Suddenly, a rainbow streak cut through the air and smashed into Satsuma, knocking her to the ground. The same streak immediately slashed through the crowd of pirates, sending several of them scattering like bowling pins.

“Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy shouted joyfully.

At the same moment, an orange mare raced up and bucked one of the griffons, sending him flying backwards into his partner. A pair of unicorns followed up by firing streams of sapphire and turquoise magic into the crowd.

“This is for my ship!” a bearded orange earth pony roared, rushing up to another pirate and decking him with a cross to the jaw.

“Applejack! Rarity! Starlight!” Pinkie called. “We thought we lost you!”

“We thought we lost you!” Rainbow shouted in joy, kicking an attacking pegasus as she spoke. “We saw the fight from the Opera House and came to help!”

“Kill them!” Whitestone screeched.

Satsuma dived for her dropped spear and recollected it. Charging it up again, she fired another enchantment at Rainbow Dash, who yelped and just barely dodged in time.

Daring slung her carbine off her shoulders and took aim at Satsuma, firing off a quick shot. The pegasi dodged, then closed in and engaged Daring in combat, blocking every attack with her staff and forcing her away with her blade.

“I got her!” Starlight called up, firing a spell at Satsuma. Kicking Daring away and causing her to drop the gun, Satsuma turned and blocked the stream of magic. The spear glowed and began to absorb Starlight’s magic. Starlight’s eyes widened and she struggled to break the stream, but the thread of magic refused to break.

Daring rushed at Satsuma, but the navigator forced her away with another blast of magic. The stream broken, Starlight collapsed to the ground. “My magic!” she cried, struggling to generate another charm. “What did you do to my—?”

Satsuma examined the spear with a wide grin. The jewels near the head were now glowing turquoise. “Pretty potent stuff you got there, kid,” she sneered, slashing at her. Another arc of energy, much brighter than before, streaked towards her and Starlight had to throw herself out of the way.

As the battle raged around them, Whitestone approached Phillip slowly, flexing her claws. “You’re not getting out of here alive, Finder.”

Phillip glared back at her, blood still dripping from his mouth. “Kill me if you can.”

Author's Notes:

With the semester closing and finals almost here, along with the holiday season, I and my proofreaders all had a lot on our plates. But I finally managed to complete this chapter!

A little more exploration of the Aushaylian lands, and it's finally time for the major confrontation! Before the end of this story, the sands will all be stained crimson. But whose blood will flow?

Time will tell...