Gusty growled angrily up at the pirate ship. A cold vicious fury settled itself down in her chest threatening to stir her into a violent outburst. She had too many questions to answer and the why of the brigands’ appearance now the first and foremost. Gabriella’s arrival, the most awful nightmares she had had in a lifetime, that pesky voice, the suffering of innocents, and the massive disadvantage her kindred folk now faced: it was shaping up to be a catalytic fight. For the first time since watching Stormwalker cut off Amethyst’s horn Gusty felt righteous; and that would be the undoing of her enemies.

She had to find a way to stop the pirates, but the opening volley was certainly just a warning before they targeted the Castle Manor. Gusty closed her eyes knowing that their survival and the survival of the townsfolk fell solely on her. She had not cast a shield spell over such a large area in ages, but giving it her all was her best chance of helping. Concentrating with a gruelling angst, Gusty felt her horn buzz to life at her command. She pushed her perceptions out, testing the furthest she could throw the barrier. Gusty, reaching her peak at an indiscernible distance, cast the spell and frantically opened her eyes.

From her horn sprang a grand golden beam that hissed towards the airship above. It came to a instant stop below the keel of the floating vessel before erratically spreading out from the point is globby extensions. Slowly but surely the sparkling barrier enclosed the town and the castle and not a moment too soon. The bellow of another volley belched from the airship in a torrent of flame and smoke. The hurling explosives and cannonballs shattering or bouncing of the shield. Gusty heaved a quick sigh of relief before turning to the crowd of gathered rams and ewes.

“That barrier will only buy us a little time! Hurry, fix the weapons and get as many of the townsfolk into the Castle Manor as we can! Children and their mothers first! Now go!” she ordered to the Ovis. They obliged her with a brisk hustle, all of them dispersing to follow her commands.

“Aye, I said it before lass, but ye hath not change one bit!” Gertrude interjected with a proud look on her face. Gusty nodded, her hooves giving her the urge to bounce eagerly. “Come.” her old companion said with a knowing look. She motioned them back inside, “I can’t be lettin’ me own mum fight in not but ‘er skin, let’s go get yeh dressed!”

Gusty followed Gertrude back inside. The ram guards that had been absent during the morning’s discussion reappeared and pushed her, along with Bunker and Zeccaran close against Gertrude as they navigated the building. Their overcation made Gusty wary of every corner even more than usual. She constantly peered around herself knowing that no one loyal to Gertrude would have disabled the harpoons, and whoever they were; they were probably still in the castle.

As they turned down into the hall that led to her room, something struck Gusty. Gabriella had been with them when the guards had collapsed on them, but she was suddenly absent. How she had slipped away from the entourage was a mystery that Gusty resolved to unravel as soon as the pirates were dealt with.

However, with what Gusty attributed to luck, they reached the hall that led to her room, the full guard taking up the entire space. They allowed the full party with Gertrude in tow to enter the temporary residence. Gertrude rushed over towards the two armor stands as soon as they passed into the gloam of the room.

“Hauberk.” she said. She tossed the untied mail jacket to Gusty almost too fast. Still, she caught the armor and lipped it over her head and neck, starting to tie it with her levitation as she pulled it in place.

“You two quit standin’ about, shite! Get tha’ stallion in he’s platemail.” Gertrude barked at the guards standing in the open door. “Skirt. Frilly buh’ stylish.” The favored cloth tumbled towards Gusty, who gladly caught it in turn, slipping it over her hips and onto her flanks. Gertrude sped up her pace throwing various things about the room before finding Gusty’s sword in one of her suitcases.

“Ah...dah old blade o’ the mother ‘erself.” Gertrude quietly slurred as she walked it up to her. She loosened the strap and with a quick hop managed to slip the scabbard and fastener around Gusty’s neck. She took the sword and belt in her magic levitating it into place before tightening it. A long shiver traced its way down her spine, and persisted across her body afterwards. Gusty came the realization that she was nervous, her adrenaline did not make her feel cold like this shaking did. She looked around the room her eyes flicking to anything and everything for only a few brief seconds. Gusty felt already tired and she had not even begun fighting, she could not tell if that was from the massive shield spell she had cast or the general lack of sleep.

...............................................................are you ready? Mother?.................................................try me...

There are........................................................................................................just relax….
strike through their hearts…
...................................................................................................................................................................hey there, sweetheart.

“Gusty! Shite! Snap out of it!” Something slapped her across the face and Gusty found herself looking at Gertrude. She rubbed her head instinctively, a headache trying to rear itself up to hamper her further. Still reeling from whatever that had been she looked down in a mild terror at her surrogate daughter. How many of those did she have anyway?

“Listen ta’ me.” Gertrude hopped up and pulled her face down low holding eye contact with Gusty. “We be needin’ ya, an’ tha’ means ya can’t let them dirty cunts up in their fancy ship to scare ya!” Gusty had no way to respond besides a few blubbers. Everything happening today was the worst case scenario for her. Days of disturbing nightmares, the attack, more voices, she was falling apart and no matter how hard she tried to hold herself together it was getting worse. No anchoring plan, no staying in the moment had been helping since she had met Gertrude. It was a secret that she had not had been successful in keeping. Still there was a margin of comfort coming from the ewe’s bright eyes, just enough to keep her on topic, for now.

“We haff a plan. Ye’s shield made it certain to succeed. Kennt tha’ even should we lose dis’ city to dem pirate bastards, we be able to save the townsfolk and call on Equestria fer aid. The pirates jus’ fired on their resident diplomat. You.” Gertrude beamed with pride. She had clearly been plotting the events in advance. Even though it would take Celestia time to mobilize and arrive, the pirates were finished. All they had to do now was minimize the damage. Gusty released a relaxing sigh and drew in an even more soothing breath.

“You’re right.” she said. Gusty ran a hoof through her mane still feeling out her mood. “But, we still have to stop them from attacking the town. I can’t believe my shield has held as long as it has. I’m going to go up there to distract them for as long as I can. If you have anyone that can come up to help send them as soon as you can.”

“Aye. Soon as we finish buildin’ tha’ giant ladder I’ve been dreamin’ of.” Gertrude snarked.

“Ha ha. Very funny.” she retorted. It sounded meaner than she intended but Gusty did not have time to parcel out the conversation further. She snapped her head around until she found Zeccaran and Gunther. She narrowed her eyes at her zebra friend, sizing up what he could do for her in the coming fight, perhaps ferry a few Ovis. She rathered Zeccaran not engage in direct combat; he had a tendency to get himself into dire situations. Who was she kidding, this already was a dire situation. She motioned him over so she might abate the sensation of needlessly yelling across the small room.

“Can you carry reinforcements up to the airship with any speed?” She asked.

“Well, I figured I would just disable the ship if you cou-” Gusty cut him off.

“I’m trying to be realistic here. Not make some sort of hair-brained scheme. Can you, or can’t you, carry up soldiers to help board the airship?” she asked again.

“I’d be slow, but I could get them up there.” He paused before casting a sidelong look at her. “What in the world are you planning on doing? Capturing it?” Zeccaran continued giving her a immensely concerned look.

“Ready!” Bunker broke the staring contest with an powerful rolled “r.” Glimmering in the torchlight, his armor made him look even bigger than usual its spiked plating intimidating, but in a good way. Gusty nodded approvingly to him, before returning here eyes to Zeccaran. The zebra heaved a weary sigh in response.

“Alright. But for the record I don’t think this is a good idea.” he grumbled as he made his way for the door. All the gathered Ovis began rustling in place as Gusty and her companions made ready to leave.

“Move it, ya bunch o’ rotten sons o’ trollips!” Gertrude yelled seeing them trying to push through the crowd. The soldiers parted allowing them to continue moving. A familiar object, soft but heavy landed on Gusty’s back and the Dame Ewe returned to barking orders from her perch. They were quickly on the outside of Castle Manor, the golden dome of the shield still holding despite the fresh wave of cannonfire exploding on its outer surface. A nagging sensation in her mind made her recall something missing.

“Hey, where is Gabriella?” she asked over her shoulder to Gertrude. Bouncing up closer her neck kindred lamb pointed towards a crowd that was moving towards the government building. At the lead of the worried group of townsheep was the prodigal heiress.

“There! Leadin’ follks to safety. Smilin’ all the way, no less!” Gertrude further emphasized. Gabriella certainly did beam with a radiance as imperishable as her wool. Gusty was pleased to see her following up on the plan. It made the scruples she had disappear, knowing that nothing besides the obvious was out of place further readied her for what was about to transpire.

She cast her magic around Gertrude and lowered her to the ground gingerly. Giving a quick glance to Zeccaran she directed her ire to the pirates above.

“Bring Bunker and Gunther first. Then whoever else you can scrape up.” she said never taking her eyes off the airship. Drawing her blade, Gusty unfurled her wings and started her ascent. The airship began maneuvering making her waste no time trying to build as much speed as she could. She had no idea if it was moving to react to her or for some other reason, at this point there was not much time to think at all.

The answer came in the form of flames. Great billowing waves of bright yellow and orange erupted from the bow of the vessel just below its attack ram. The liquid fire, at first, flew in an arch before impacting the shield where it blossomed in an out-of-place display of beauty. It was at that moment that the grand dome Gusty had cast shattered with the disturbing silence only shield magic could. Falling away with an ethereal grace, the barrier’s protection gave way as flame belched through the initial opening. The quiet of the open air was replaced by a deafening roar not unlike that of a dragon’s.

She did not have time to cast a shield on herself. There was barely any time to maneuver to dodge the beam of unnatural flame spewing from the airship’s bow. Her body strained as the attempt was made with little success. Burning, truly a searing pain erupted along her flanks and wings. She did not get hit with the liquid itself, but the amalgamation of chemistry and magic ignited the very air with its intensity. Driven only on by pure force of will did Gusty stay in the air, beating her wings down hard in an attempt to choke the certain fire that burned on them.

Instinct took over and Gusty cast her old sacred healing spell on herself. As soon as the spell started she could tell she was out of practice. Having projected an enormous shield not fifteen minutes before further reduced her magical effectiveness. Worry tightened her muscles as she beat her wings down and kicked her legs to see how sore she was going to be before even seeing an enemy. To her delight, the burning had completely subsided, and she actually felt good enough to fight. She hazarded a glance over her backside her nerves making it even harder to see her body as she flew. Her skirt was burned off along with some fur on her flanks and back legs but was otherwise unharmed back there. Her wings, however, were scorched severely. By the looks of things she had prevented the majority of any permanent damage and only her secondary feathers had been burned, but a number of her primaries on her right wing were missing. The secondaries would grow back but flying had just become a bigger workout.

Shocked by the speed she was still maintaining, Gusty heaved a sigh. Somehow her sword had remained in her telekinesis through it all. That made her just barely capable of engaging her enemies. That was then that Gusty’s mind began racing. How was what she doing going to help? Could she stop the ship from firing on the town? Even if she boarded the vessel, how would she fight the crew at such a disadvantage? How could she distract them? What was their objective? Just how organized were they?

Gusty ran out of time to think, her flight path had passed above the deck of the airship. The armored vessel’s main platform swarmed with a multitude of creatures. Reflexive panic welled-up in her throat as all their eyes slowly swung towards her. The instant passed and she was sailing past the grand contraption’s main ballon. The momentary horror had cleared her mind just enough for the sight to make her realize something important. A section of the balloon right in front of her had a loose armor plate that hung welcomingly. It glinted dully in the midday sun as if was flashing her a mischeivous grin.

It was rare for such a golden opportunity to present itself in the heat of combat, but Gusty would dare not waste it. Beating her beleaguered wings at an angle she made the hard turn right at the exposed rubber. Shooting pain from her scorched wings rocketed down into her shoulders and back, threatening to make her drop her sword all over again. In the back of her mind she was already kicking herself for how sore she was going to be for continuing to fight. But if she stopped to think about what she was doing, Gusty knew she would probably fall right out of the sky. That would instantly make her a liability for Gertrude and the rest of the Ovis below, and that was something she could not allow. So she pressed on, against all reason and thought flying directly at the chink in their armor.

Just before she was to impact the exposed balloon Gusty slashed it viciously with her sword. The flexible material was stronger than it looked forcing her blade to tumble as she tried to force it into the balloon being only partially successful in cutting a seam before it was inside the structure. However, her body did the rest and a great shifting and ripping could be felt as Gusty tumbled into the balloon’s superstructure.

It was hot inside the pitch dark chamber. Sweltering perhaps was a better description. Gusty felt sweat instantly start pouring down her neck and haunches, making her feel weak and disoriented from just the sheer change in temperature. She ignited her horn wtih a light spell to try and regain her bearing. The interior of the structure appeared not more than she expected, large, oblong, and dull grey. Gusty could see where she had entered from, but the balloon was not losing air as fast as she wanted. In a near panic she looked around the desensitized chamber for anything that looked useful for furthering the air pocket’s dispersion. Finding nothing a feeling of dread started to well up in her chest as she cursed to herself.

“Dammit all! I just fucking get here and then I can’t do anything!” She growled through her stress and sweat. “Wait a minute-”

A terrible thought had come to Gusty. While she was in an enclosed structure had access to the outside, she was even able to see sunlight through the hole she had made. She had not used it since the train almost three years ago but it would have to do, no matter how hard it would stress her body. Gusty concentrated, drawing all her magic into her body preparing to cast her trusty Cloud Master. The spell was going to hurt her more than it would the balloon but in this moment disabling the airship mattered more than anything else. The channel complete, Gusty fired the spell.

Hissing and shrieking of wind and magic overwhelmed all of Gusty’s senses. The energy stored in her body burst forth with angry force. It sent stinging tendrils of aching pain deep into her hooves and chest and head. She was just shy of her limit, and her vision momentarily flickered to black. A low growing groaning of metal brought her vision back, beholding for her a beautiful sight. The small hole where she had enter the balloon was a gaping breach whose dust and smoke showed the rapid pull of the exiting air.

“Yes!” Gusty shouted in joy. Her exclamation made her relax her flight posture and she was sucked out the superstructure. She released an overtly girly scream when she lost control, tumbling through the air as she stressed her wings more than necessary. Gusty finally righted herself and after a quick shake of her head to try and clear her mind she looked down on the ship’s deck.

Below Gunther and Bunker stood in two seperate encirclements. Dozens and dozens of various types of pirates surrounded them both, each pressed against the deck rail. Seemingly the only reason neither of them had not been killed were their elevated positions away from the center of the decking. It was lower than the areas near the railing, designed to give deckhands cover for when the cannonade came flying. Gusty gave a quick glance over the rest of the deck, to see it still swarming with pirates, many carrying repair tools into a steel scaffolding that lead up to the main balloon. Sharp squawking drew her attention towards the stern of the vessel, and its elevated wheelhouse.

“Throw ‘dem borders overboard, lads!” shrieked a massive griffon his claws sunk into the ship’s wheel. Gusty held in a shiver at the sight of him, he had a certain menace about him that made her cast her malicious intention spell.

Her vision was briefly overwhelmed by the black and white image the spell projected into her mind. Sure enough, the griffon was as black as the darkest ink, almost as black as Stormwalker was on the first day she met him. Stormwalker? She had not thought of him in almost a month, a welcome reprieve no doubt, but now his mere name made her feel disoriented. They were hopelessly outnumbered up here and he certainly would be useful. She slapped herself trying to regain control of her thoughts, it did not help.

Oh, him?..............................................................................................................................Come on, focus!
..................................................................the key to win..............................................................
Mom, can I go outside to play?................................................................................................................Stop it! Stop it, please!
......................................................................................................................you like it............................................
...................Silly filly, you can’t do…..........................................................................................................give in.

Gusty screamed. She kept screaming too, as she grabbed her own head in agony. The feeling of being so completely overwhelmed overturning all her senses. She hated this. Gusty knew she had felt this pain before. She could not remember when, or how many times, but it always brought her to a screeching halt with a splitting pinch in her temples. However, in her shrieks of painful epiphany she did remember the one thing that mattered. The only way to make the terror and the suffering stop was to lean into the sensation.

Good, girl.

She opened her eyes and looked down at the pirate captain through her migraine. Primal fury turned the edges of Gusty’s vision into a hazy red. She beat her wings down to end her hover and shot towards the griffon. It was a break neck dive faster than she had flown in an age. She was still yelling from before and that was not lost on the pirate. He jerked his hooked beak in her direction and reached for his broad cutlass.

Gusty hit him before he could get the blade halfway from its scabbard. She had not bothered to use her sword, opting to just jam her forehooves and body into his chest and head. He loosed a mighty squawk, unbefitting a captain, when she impacted him. A sharp spluttering of spit covered her face as the bludgeon of her hooves and weight of her body exhausted all the air from the griffon’s lungs. She kept pumping her wings and pushed the pirate up into the air and over the deck rail before she slowed to let him fall. He could fly of course but it would take him some time to recover and return to the airship. That was what Gusty was hoping at least.

Turning sharply, Gusty was stopped in her flight by a rummaging sound followed by a sharp, crack! of wood slamming into wood. She snapped her head towards the sound to see the ship’s wheel bouncing tightly against its furthest port turn position. Instantly, a sharp moan of metal and wood bending to compensate for the sudden change in direction bellowed from the airship’s body. The whole of the vessel jerked to the left and a combined yell of surprise from all those onboard resonated like a growl of breaking glass. Every creature on the deck including Gunther and Bunker was tossed to the deck, Gusty was happy she was still flying glad to avoid the harsh decking.

Zipping over the fallen pirates, Gusty made haste to her husband and canine companion. She momentarily sheathed her still dutifully levitating blade as she passed over her enemies. The ship being jostled looked to have actually saved them both from being captured. She landed next to Bunker and immediately throw her hooves underneath him and pulled him upright.

“About time you show up!” he grumbled. “Was getting lonely, beating pirates by self.”

She opened her mouth to respond when a throwing axe whistled right past her nose and embedded itself into the deck rail. Hopping automatically in surprise, Gusty landed staring right at the horde of recovered pirates. Internally, she immediately began berating herself for putting her sword away. Externally, she was desperately trying to draw her blade and not get hit by a charging goat of all things. Only successful in the former, Gusty grimaced from the impact, certain the cloven-hoofed devil had broken a few ribs as he slammed her into the deck rail. The attack had left her ears ringing but put the goat the disadvantageous position of being in striking distance of Bunker and his axe.

“Yeeeearrrrggh!” her husband bellowed as the axe came hurtling down on the diminutive pirate. It struck true and hot blood splattered up onto her face. Bunker’s trademark axe was nearly as big as the goat and rent the pirate in twain, leaving his innards to gurgle over the sudden and eerie silence of those in the fight. Gusty wiped her face clean before growling angrily towards the band before her. She was matched by Gunther who had slipped his way over to them. The pirates looked up from their felled comrade each readying weapons of various rapport, from cutlasses to clubs.

There they stood against a mixed group of parrots, griffons, ponies, and goats. They certainly were a ragtag band, but they looked hardened, vicious. A lump swelled up in Gusty’s throat as that momentary pause of time happened before any fight. This was going to be a bad one.

A raw yell came from the first six pirates breaking the lapse of clarity. Charging with a crazed intent the brigands bounded up stairs to the platform where they stood. Gusty surmised that was going to be her party’s only advantage. They were backed against the elevated catwalk and deck rail toward the most forward portion of the bow, meaning the pirates could only run uphill right at them. That moment of confidence was ruined when the row of griffons behind the deck bound pirates took to flight and swung out and around where they stood. It would take them a moment to swing back in to attack; Gusty just hoped that was all the time she would need to beat back the ones running at her.

The fastest of the group was a pony, a short stout fellow that held a cutlass in his mouth. He was missing an eye but moved with the confidence of someone with three. He slashed at her as he jumped up to her position. She was forced to dodge, her levitating blade not in position to parry, but was successful. However, the pirate was not done he pivoted as he missed aiming a full buck at her. Gusty knew this was already wasting too much time, and in her fury and desperation she slashed down her blade at his kicking legs with all her mental strength.

Hard metal hit soft flesh and he howled in pain as both his rear legs toppled harmlessly to the deck. Even in this moment she did not want to just maim her quarry when it was causing such suffering. The pirate rolled back and forth on the deck his dark red blood already pooling rapidly from his stumps. Gusty did not finish him, she did not have the time, a parrot spinning a heavy iron chain swung it towards her.

Falling flat by instinct alone, Gusty managed to not take the apparatus across the head and neck. It would have killed her had she failed to move, the thought propelled her onward. She sent her sword flying toward the parrot, he cawed angrily batting it away with the spinning chain. That was his demise however, Gusty jerked her head to emphasize the harsh flick of her blade. The chain swung around her sword as planned and wrenched itself from the parrot’s claws. In the next moment, Gusty swung the blade in the opposite direction, unravelling the chain and sending flying directly towards its owner’s head. The strike rang true and the foul flightless bird-creature was suddenly without a head. His neck erupted in a fountain of gore as his body hopelessly continued to flail for several moment before flopping down to the deck.

Gusty picked herself up to see Gunther, eating. He was eating one of the goats that had charged, growling demonically at the other pony that had charged. Blood dripped down from his big teeth and his eyes glowed with a swirling malice that held the poor colt before him in place. The foul stench of a burst bowel instantly hit Gusty’s nose when Gunther dug his muzzle back down into the felled pirate.

“Please...no...I don’t want to be...dog food!” the pony whimpered. Gusty turned to see Bunker toss a pirate over the deck rail, the fellow that had been tossed begging much like the colt. In the same motion her husband spun in a full circle swing and cut his other opponent in half at the waist. Gusty swung her head around looking for the griffons knowing that they would be attacking in the next moment.

She came to with a massive griffon standing above her. A kudgel gripped in both talons, raised high above his head, he snarled angrily. Gusty instantly started to struggled to do anything to escape, but as soon as she moved sharp pain erupted along her flanks and belly. The griffon had her pinned with his lion claws and weight, her motion digging them deep into her flesh. She had no idea where her sword and gotten to: even if she had it was not going to be fast enough to help her. She did not even have time to cast a stunbolt. She raised up her front hooves ready to try and deflect the blow when a shriek of an eagle gave her pause.

Fizzing and popping of magic filled the air and the griffon that pinned her was knocked away by a beam of dark green kinesis. A pair of heavy whahumps! rocked the deck and before Gusty could even roll to see who had just landed a Royal Ram Guard bounded over her and into the wad of pirates. His big armored body throwing his smaller foes away as he gored, and kicked with fury. Dark green kinesis blasts catapulted from his horns to any unfortunate enough to stand still, Gusty smiled, quite happy to pick herself up carefully. A flash of green light made her jump and scream instinctively.

“Hey are you alright?!” Zeccaran’s voice pulled her out of the battle stupor. He was suddenly picking her up.

“I-I-I think so.” She heaved trying to calm herself. Her head suddenly had begun hurting again, along with a persistent bit of agony on her belly near the inside of one of her flanks.

“Yeah right. You are bleeding from you head and stomach. Come on, you need to get out of here.” Zeccaran scolded pulling her towards the deck rail. He kept looking back over his shoulder in a way that made Gusty very nervous. She probably had not chance to actually get off the ship at the moment and her fool of friend was just going to toss her against her will.

“Look, I’m going to try to patch myself up first.” She said stopping him. An angry bellow louder than the roar of battle drew Gusty to look back down to the main of the deck. Blood and bodies covered most of the surface, but they were still outnumbered. The yell apparently had come from one of the rams, a cutlass stuck out of one of his shoulders, but it had only succeeded in sending him into a greater frenzy.

Gusty took the moment to channel what healing magics she had left. She cast the small ritual on herself and immediately felt better. The pain on her stomach ceased and her head was clearing. Healing magic was the best. She always appreciated that simple gift of Origin. It came in handy from the most dire of circumstances to the most mundane of occurrences. Using it gave Gusty a second wind, that even she knew was a foolhardy feeling but puffed up her chest nonetheless.

“Come on, we have to help!” She proclaimed starting to move.

“Are you crazy?!” Zeccaran shouted behind her.

“Probably cause I’m already spent!”

Gusty bounded across the deck towards the Royal Guards, who were slowly getting backed against the wheelhouse. There were still a sizeable number of pirates and by the looks of things they had gotten over their initial shock and awe of the Guards’ entrance. A familiar yell turned her vision to see Bunker swinging his axe in a mad spin surrounded by a smaller but equally full group of hostiles.

However, she was now flanking the both collections of pirates, and even without her sword, that was going to prove to be extremely useful. Starting a low flight, Gusty sped towards the nearest pirate by the wheelhouse trusting her husband to be fine, while also ignore Zeccaran’s panicked yells. She bowled over her quarry with her flying charge, letting her instincts carry her into a bit of a zen. A nearby fellow noticed her but was quickly punched in the mouth with her right hoof, before having his sabre stolen with her magic. She used the scavenged blade to impale a rather fat parrot that was not facing her and who also let out a long shrieking alarm squawk. The group of brigands all immediately turned to face her.

Gazing over the crowd Gusty saw the Royal Guards each jump in a single leap up atop the wheelhouse, shattering the guardrail there with their horns, taking advantage of her distraction. Unfortunately this put her in a bit of a bind as all the pirates stared at an unarmed and injured mare.

“Ye rotten cunts coulda ne’er won a fair fight!” Shouted the male brogue of one of the guards.

“Aye! An’ ye might lose this rigged ‘un too, ya bunch a clumsy bastards!” the other taunted too.

They both laughed like maniacs from their heightened position. The pirates all stood looking about in confusion. They started to pack closer together their eyes all searching the area for the one griffon that should have been on the helm. Gusty grinned and laughed too, having knocked the captain off the ship had proved useful after all. Especially after the pirates began muttering about not seeing him and what should they do without him.

A piercing whistle hushed the crowd and all eyes looked up towards the sky from whence it came. Gusty had been beginning to wonder when he would show back up and the captain did not disappoint. Hovering alongside four equally large and intimidating griffons, each of them wielding a large crossbow, the Pirate King scowled.

“Abandon ship ye, filthy lubbers! We fight a different day!” he shrieked. Immediately, all the pirates rushed towards the side of the ship where he and his lieutenants hung in the air. They dove over the deck rail, without concern for the fall. A bit of thumping and the sound of wood against bodies made Gusty realized they had some form of aerial lifeboat.

The whir of said craft’s engine peaked to a high pitched ringing as the last of the pirates cleared the deck. Gusty sat confused, unable to react as the pirates ran away. She was not done with this fight, and even if they were pirates, they had to have some honor in battle. Gusty ran toward the deck rail ready to pursue her routed enemies.

“Get back here you cowards!” she screamed just starting to take flight. White hot iron found its way into her neck and chest, taking the breath from her lungs. She fell against the deck rail unable to make noise beyond a small squeak. It was pure agony to move, but Gusty twisted her neck enough to look down at the top of her mail. A crossbow bolt sat deeply embedded into her neck and chest, and judging by the difficulty she was having breathing a lung.

“Stay back, filthy pony. I shan’t be havin’ ye ruin another a’ me plans.” chuckled the Pirate King. At the sound of his voice the last vestiges of Gusty’s adrenaline and magic dropped into her bloodstream. She did not feel pain as she sprang up from the deck, nor the strain on her horn as she fired as many stunbolts as she could at the five griffons. Nothing mattered beyond felling them and ending their tyranny.

Unable to comprehend if she was being even slightly successful. Gusty was in full flight before another bolt was fired at her. It missed, so she persisted. Another, a miss, she persisted. A third, another fouled shot. She was almost to the Pirate King another stunbolt readied on her horn. Trauma inflamed her left wing forcing back against her side. Losing all flight all flight speed she began to fall. But to Gusty there was nothing to see or fear except the voices from before. It dawned on her that she had no idea if she was alive or dead, but in this hell did it matter?

Next Chapter: Act 2: Chapter 9 - Denial in Both Cases Estimated time remaining: 16 Hours, 40 Minutes