Once Stellar reached the top of the hull, she found the Wonderbolts and the Flying Squad there with the Elite Air Guard. Captain Spitfire and Commander Flash Sentry approached her and saluted. Stellar returned her salute and looked them over.

Spitfire was wearing new armor, as were all the Wonderbolts. The suits were full-coverage, like Stellar's armor, and made of a lightweight alloy of Lunar Titanium and Aluminium, strong but very lightweight for the amount of protection they gave the elite flyers. Flash Sentry was wearing the more traditional armor for the Royal Guard, but it was also a lighter version, more suited for pegasi.

Stellar nodded to them. "Welcome aboard, Captain, Commander." She said to them.

"Thank you, Knight-Commander." Spitfire replied.

"Or, I understand, that maybe we should call you 'Captain', considering you've taken command of this most impressive ship." Flash Sentry replied.

Stellar smiled. "Either will do, considering." She answered. "Now, we're going to give the griffons a chance to turn about before we face them. This ship's weapons will be decisive in this match, since their forces outnumber our own. But we're going to reveal it to them before we fire on them."

Spitfire's and Flash Sentry's eyes opened wide. "You're... you're going to fire on them?" Spitfire asked.

Stellar nodded. "Don't worry; the main guns on this ship are energy weapons and they've been retuned so that they don't kill, but they'll knock the griffons out for a nice, long nap." She said with a grin. "When that happens, I want your troops and the auxiliaries to board the airships and turn them around. We're going to fly them back to Griffonia, along with the Xerxes here, and show the griffons exactly why they should never attack Equestria again." She laid out for them.

Spitfire's face grinned a like grin, as Flash Sentry looked relieved. "That's good." He replied. "Killing those griffons isn't something I'd relish ordering my troops to do... even if it was necessary." He told Stellar.

Stellar nodded. "That's perfectly understandable, Commander." Stellar said to him. "Even I don't want to slaughter them without having no other option. This ship gives us a much better option: to avoid bloodshed all together." Stellar watched as the two commanders nodded. "Now, if you'd have your troops stay out of the line of fire, we're going to be at the cloud-wall very soon. Have them stay frosty as things progress, and we'll avoid this war completely."

Spitfire and Flash Sentry nodded, turned, and started deploying their troops over the hull of the Xerxes, avoiding the marked firing arcs on the hull.

Stellar headed for the front of the Xerxes' hull, as they came up on the cloud-wall directly opposite the Griffonian air-fleet. The Xerxes was barely moving as she shoved her extended snout into the clouds and through them, coming to a halt as just the fore-most tip emerged from the cloud-wall, with Stellar standing at the tip. She gazed out over the Air-fleet of a hundred quite advanced airships (for the Griffons), and nodded to herself. "There's quite the force out here, Sis." Stellar said to Twilight.

"I know, Sis." Twilight replied as she looked at the holo-monitors on the bridge. "So... what are you going to do? Do you think they're going to listen to you?" She asked.

"Well, I'm going to try, anyway, before we show them the big guns." Stellar answered. Stellar conjured up a large number of small magenta balls of magic. These would act as video-image recorders and loudspeakers amongst the two fleets and project her voice in ways that even Celestia would be jealous of. She sent them shooting out to mingle with the two sets of ships.

General Steelclaw was wondering when the Equestrians would show themselves. They were almost within five kilometres of the cloud-wall and he had not heard of any reported sightings. While the ponies obviously knew they were coming, he knew they would try to negotiate and turn back the Griffon fleets before they reached Equestria. He wondered who it would be who would begin things; Luna, perhaps, or maybe Celestia herself. There were few others that were high enough in rank to negotiate with himself. He looked at the cloud-wall through his telescope, but if there were any ponies present, they were well-hidden at this range.

Then a massive roar of sound swept through the two fleets. Griffons cringed and screeched as it washed over them all. Steelclaw grimaced as he slammed his ears shut and growled at the cacophony. Then an enormously-amplified voice swept over them all...

"THIS IS KNIGHT-COMMANDER STELLAR LIGHT SPARKLE TO THE COMMANDERS AND GRIFFONS ABOARD THE TWO FLEETS APPROACHING EQUESTRIA. YOUR APPROACH HAS BEEN NOTED, AND BY THE NUMBER OF ARMORED TROOPS ABOARD YOUR VESSELS, YOUR INTENT HAS BEEN ASSUMED TO BE HOSTILE IN NATURE. IF THIS IS NOT SO, HEAVE-TO BEFORE YOU COME WITHIN FIVE KILOMETRES OF OUR SHORE AND WE SHALL MEET YOU THERE TO DISCUSS YOUR INTENTIONS." Stellar's voice rang out through the fleets very clearly and extremely voluminously. "IF YOU DO NOT HEAVE-TO AND CONTINUE YOUR APPROACH TO OUR SHORES, WE WILL REGARD YOU AS AN INVADING FORCE AND ALL PROPER MEASURES WILL BE USED TO REPULSE YOUR INVASION. THIS IS YOUR FIRST WARNING. DO NOT TAKE THIS THREAT LIGHTLY, AS WE HAVE THE MEANS OF REPULSING ANY FORCE YOU BRING TO OUR FAIR SHORES. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED."

Captain Skydiver and Colonel Scarlet Crest approached Steelclaw. Skydiver was wiggling a finger in his right ear. "I say! The ponies have some very powerful amplification systems, don't they?" He asked in a joking fashion.

"That was murder on the ears, that's for sure." Crest agreed.

"Indeed." Steelclaw also agreed. "And now we know whom we are facing." He scowled. "Of all the ponies to lead their troops, Knight-Commander Sparkle is the one I did not expect." He told them. "After she disappeared so abruptly, I'd thought she might have been out of the country. Obviously it was for some other purpose."

"What do we know about her, General?" Skydiver asked.

"She's the twin sister of Princess Twilight Sparkle and a princess in her own right, as well as being the second-highest ranking officer in the Royal Guard." Crest answered. "There's not much else known about her, save that she's the grand-daughter of General Canopus Star, and apparently takes after him far more than her sister does. Her titles include 'Princess Of The Blade', which should tell you more about how she handles herself in combat."

"Indeed. I do not know how much experience she has at leading troops in the field, but to be at that rank, she must have had at least some training in doing so, I would assume." Steelclaw added.

"True... but you can't help but wonder how effective she is as a leader, if she's untested in battle." Crest suggested. "After all, Equestria hasn't faced any real battles against numbers like ours since the time of her grandfather. They've faced off more against singular threats like Tirek and Sombra, and they were mostly dispatched by Twilight Sparkle, not her sister, according to reports we've had."

"She was only a lieutenant when Queen Chrysalis invaded, as far as I have read, but she was one of the more effective officers that day. Apparently she saved Celestia from being trapped by the Queen, and kept Chrysalis busy until she could be repulsed." Steelclaw informed the two officers.

"So, what shall we do, General?" Skydiver asked.

General Steelclaw thought for a minute, then ordered "Continue on. Any threat Commander Sparkle could bring to bear on us, we have the numbers to counter effectively. We haven't seen any build-up of troop numbers or construction of war vessels anywhere in Equestria, so I think it is safe to consider their forces to be little threat to our own." He concluded. "Signal the fleets to press on."

"Aye, General." The two commanders replied, saluting, then moved off to send word through the fleets.

Steelclaw turned back to look at the cloud-wall. "What are you planning? What resources do you have to bring to bear on us, if you are so confident that you challenge our approach so... politely?" He wondered out-loud...

Stellar watched as the two fleets sent signals between them with flags on long ropes being strung out from the lead airship. By the fact that the fleets neither stopped or diverted, they had decided to disregard her warning and continue on. "Okay... you're thinking I don't have the means to hold up my threat; probably you're considering my warning a bluff." Stellar surmised as she smiled to herself. "Just a little closer, and I'll show you my trump card." Stellar grinned.

"What's the word, Knight-Commander?" She heard in her helmet-radio. The voice was that of Captain Spitfire of the Wonderbolts.

"The word is, Captain Spitfire, hold steady in position." Stellar answered. "We're about to show the Griffons heading this way why they should fear... I mean, why they should respect Equestria's power." Stellar told the troops.

There were soft chuckles through her headset, and Spitfire replied "I wish I could be there to see their faces when this big girl comes through the clouds at them."

Stellar chuckled back. "I already have imaging spheres stationed throughout their air-fleet. The recordings are going to be really fun to watch."

"Oh yeah!" Spitfire said. "We'll watch them at our arena back at Canterlot, and the Wonderbolts will provide the drinks and popcorn."

"We'll take you up on that, Captain." Stellar replied. As the Griffon fleets closed to within three kilometres of the cloud-wall, Stellar ordered "Helm, on my mark, prepare to move forward at five metres per second until we're well-clear of the cloud-wall. Then come to a halt where the Griffons can see us clearly."

"Aye, Captain." Sweetie Belle's voice came to Stellar's ears.

Then Stellar nodded. "Now, to give them their last chance..."

General Steelclaw and Colonel Scarlet Crest were watching intently what was ahead as they moved closer than three kilometres of the cloud-wall. "No resistance as yet, General. This is starting to become a little unnerving."

"They're hoping to make us twitchy, Colonel. A good tactic, but Griffons are not that skittish. I'm not about to let us fall victim to speculation about their forces and their intentions. We know we out-number them decisively, so they have to try and bluff us into thinking they have the advantage." Steelclaw shook himself, his armor clanking softly as he rolled his wing-shoulders. "We will carry the day, Colonel; never fear."

Scarlet Crest nodded, but as they moved closer, more words blasted around their ships...

"ATTENTION, GRIFFONIAN SHIPS, BOTH IN THE AIR AND ON THE SEA. YOU HAVE PROGRESSED FURTHER THAN YOUR FIRST WARNING SAID FOR YOU TO ANNOUNCE YOUR INTENTIONS. THEREFORE YOU HAVE BEEN DESIGNATED AS A HOSTILE INVASION, AND YOU WILL BE REPULSED. YOU HAVE ONE LAST CHANCE TO TURN BACK AND RETURN TO GRIFFONIA, OR FACE THE CONSEQUENCES."

Scarlet Crest removed his hand-claws from over his ears again. "Sky-Gods-dammit! Whatever they're using, it's way too loud." He stated.

Steelclaw nodded. "Indeed, but very effective." He looked at the communications officer for the airship Claw of Griffonia. "Leave the 'continue on' signal out." He ordered.

"Aye, General." The officer responded with a salute.

Stellar nodded. "Okay, Helm, take us out." Stellar ordered softly.

"Aye, Captain." Sweetie Belle replied, and Stellar felt the ship start to move...

General Steelclaw was about to signal the scouts to deploy, when Captain Skydiver's voice came across his position. "What in the names of the Sky-Gods is that?!"

Steelclaw turned to look forward, and his lower beak dropped as the bow of the Xerxes pushed through the cloud-wall like a dagger through flesh. The enormous size of the one-point-two-kilometre-long starship dwarfed the airships like a battleship did destroyers, and many of the airships started reversing engines, coming to a halt as the Xerxes revealed her full length and size, while the cloud-wall closed up behind her.

"General...?" Colonel Crest asked Steelclaw, as the General raised his spyglass to his eye.

The older griffon looked the strange air vessel over, seeing lots of things he couldn't identify, as well as a large number of armored pegasi standing on parts of the hull. The units he could see were the Elite Air Guard, the Flying Squad and the Wonderbolts, by the colors of their distinctive flight armor. But one thing he could also clearly see: This ship was not an airship. It was not made of thin armor over flexible cloth or anything of the usual materials. It was made solidly of armored metal with no provision for a gasbag, something that was unheard of. Not even the ships of the Storm King had been more than thinly-armored wood and cloth. He realised that, somehow, the Ponies had come up with a vessel that out-classed everything...

Stellar chuckled as she saw, in her armor's visor, the shocked look on the ranking officer's face as the Xerxes parked itself before their fleet. The Xerxes was sitting below the airships by a hundred metres, and above the sea fleet by just under nine hundred metres, a perfect firing solution for the powerful main gun-turrets of the Xerxes. "Lieutenant Applebloom," Stellar ordered, "Acquire firing spread over the two fleets."

"Aye aye, Captain." Applebloom's voice acknowledged, and Stellar barely heard one of the main turrets turning behind her, to acquire a section of the air fleet in its sights. "All griffon vessels are targeted, Captain." Applebloom then reported.

"Very good. Stand by for firing command." Stellar replied, as she connected to the address system again.

General Steelclaw was considering his position, as he heard others tell Scarlet Crest than the sea fleet were signalling that they were halting their advance. Others were reporting that individual airships were also coming to a halt, in the face of the much-bigger ship that faced them. Just as he was about to order the troops to detach from the airships and assault the enemy vessel, that voice came barrelling through the fleets again.

"OKAY... YOU'VE OBVIOUSLY DECIDED TO CONTINUE WITH THIS VERY BADLY-CONSIDERED ACTION AGAINST EQUESTRIA. SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES." It told them.

General Steelclaw was shocked. The Ponies were attacking first? He tried to think of plans to deny them a clear target, but without knowing what they had planned, not to mention what they were about to unleash, his tactical planning stalled for a time.

Time enough for the Xerxes to unleash her firepower...

"Lieutenant Applebloom... fire at will." Stellar ordered.

"Aye!" Applebloom replied, and the turrets of the Xerxes glowed, just as Sweetie Belle asked in the background "Which one is Will?"

Stellar stifled a chuckle as the Xerxes' guns spoke. Instead of the concentrated beams of deadly particle-beam energy, however, they unleashed wide-angled beams that engulfed both fleets before her, covering them in soft, pink energy.

Aboard the Griffonian airships, the griffons had little time to react. The beams swept over them in mere seconds, and aboard every ship, the warriors and crew turned their eyes up in their heads and collapsed where they were. All of those on the top of the envelopes collapsed, only the tethers that secured them to the envelope keeping some of them from sliding off the sides and plunging down to the ocean below.

Below, the crews and warriors of the sea vessels had a little longer to watch the pink field come straight for them. There was a little longer period of panic, but no griffon was injured as the stunning energy engulfed them and they all fell down, unconscious. Those in the rigging managed to either hang on, or fall to the decks. Since the ships were holding position, they didn't fall overboard, but a few of them would be sporting big bruises from others falling onto them.

Stellar smiled as she ordered Applebloom to cease firing. She could see that all the griffons on the airships and, through the imaging spheres, all the crews of the sea vessels were out cold. They'd be that way for at least twenty hours as well, maybe longer.

"Captain Spitfire, Commander Flash Sentry, deploy on Operation Return To Sender." Stellar ordered.

"Aye, Knight-Commander!" The replies came, and all the pegasi in the two units and those auxiliaried to them shot forward from the Xerxes and headed for the airships, two moving to each of them.

"Admiral Briny Depths, you are clear to also begin Operation Return To Sender." Stellar ordered after switching channels.

"Acknowledged, Knight-Commander." the Admiral replied. Below, from Horseshoe Bay and Baltimare, small, fast vessels deployed; their steam-turbine engines driving them forward at twenty knots towards the Griffonian Sea Fleet. Once they had reached each ship, unicorns and experienced earth-pony sailors boarded them and started turning them about, heading back towards Griffonia. Small boxes with explosive charges were also brought aboard; 'presents' sent by Twilight, prepared by Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. These were placed in the bilges along the keel of each ship, ready to destroy the Empire's fleet.

Above, the pegasi were manoeuvering the airships around, heading back into formation for a trip back to Griffonia. The Xerxes moved into the middle of the Griffonian air fleet, ready to retrieve the ponies who were taking the griffons home.

Stellar made her way back to the bridge of the Xerxes, where Twilight sat in the Captain's chair, Sweetie Belle at the Helm and Applebloom at Engineering. Smiling at just how comfortable Twilight looked, sitting in the Captain's chair, looking at all the readouts and the huge holographic screens before the bridge dais; she looked like she was Pinkie in Bon Bon's candy store, with free reign to feast. "Everything nominal here, Ponies?" She asked.

"Everything's nominal, Captain." Sweetie Belle and Applebloom replied.

Stellar nodded. "Okay. Commander, I am leaving you in charge of the recovery operation when you reach Griffonian shores." Stellar told Twilight. "You should have plenty of time before the stun effect wears off to reach there and remove our crews. Once that's done, head north to rendezvous with my force, if we don't return first." Stellar gave Twilight her orders. Normally they were of equal rank, but aboard the Xerxes, there could be only one captain.

Twilight saluted Stellar. "Aye, Captain. And may the All-Mother favor your venture... because I know Celestia already does." Twilight replied, grinning.

Stellar grinned back. "Thanks, Sis. Take care and listen to these two." Stellar said as she moved close to Twilight and nuzzled noses again. "And have fun delving into the database."

"Oh yeah." Twilight said with a massive grin. "See you when you get back."

Stellar nodded. "See you then." She agreed, then turned and walked off the bridge.

Having returned to the flight bay, Scootaloo was standing before the three platoons of the Elite Air Guard, as Stellar reached them. "Okay everypony. This is what we have been training for all this time! You now have your thrusters for your new armor, as I promised, and new weapons to take out the griffon fleet. I want you to remember one thing above all: this is NOT a slaughter-fest. We want to inflict as few casualties amongst the griffon troops and crews as possible. Taking out their ships is the goal here. Let the griffons fly for Griffonstone if they leave you alone. Otherwise, stunning them is the next-best option. We're going to show them exactly why attacking ponies anywhere is an extremely-bad idea!"

"YES, MA'AM!" The pegasi troops replied, saluting Stellar.

Stellar nodded as she returned their salute. "Very well. You all know the procedure: once we drop, form up in platoons in Arrows; Second Platoon above and behind First, Third Platoon below and behind. Wait for my command to ignite your thrusters, and remember to sweep your wings back when your thrusters activate. We are going for maximum speed here, ponies; you all remember training with me to fly under power, so now you will deploy as I have planned all this time: as the First Elite Air Guard of Equestria." She grinned back at their eager, grinning faces. "So seal up, and let's have at them! Lieutenant Scootaloo, you're with me." Stellar told Scootaloo.

"Aye, Knight-Commander!" Scootaloo replied, and then she yelled "Pegasi! Time to fly!"

The pegasi guard troops all yelled out the old pegasus battle-cry:

Stellar chuckled at that after joining in, then turned and cantered for the bay doorway, Scootaloo barely keeping up with the bigger alicorn mare at a full gallop. Behind them and beside each other, the platoons galloped along, then jumped in their rows out the door, spreading their wings and diving below the fleet of airships before they levelled out and opened up to form three wide arrowhead formations. As they reached level flight and steadied their formations, Stellar called out. "Ignition in three... two... one... Fire!"

From the backs of each pegasus guard, two long streams of powerful mana-thrust blasted forth. Their adamant armor shielded them from it as they all sped up faster than any other pegasus had done naturally. Their wings swept back, their fore-legs locked forward beside their heads, and they raced along, heading north and paralleling the cloud-wall several kilometres away. Then they held fast as the air built-up in shock-cones before them, and as one, they punched through the sound barrier in formation...

Twilight had watched the three platoons race off on one of the big screens. She grinned as she saw the over-one-hundred pegasi punch through the sound barrier. There wasn't a sonic chroma-boom to see, but that made no difference. Then the shockwave reached the fleet. Some of the most-northerly airships rocked as the sound-wave raced past them, but it mostly was just noise... but it was the biggest boom heard over Equis since the Xerxes herself dropped below the sound barrier on her descent. She continued to watch until the formation had out-distanced the cameras watching them, then turned her view back to the fleet below them, keeping an eye on things...

Admiral Juver Seaforth was standing on the bridge of the Waverider, the command vessel of the second Griffonian Sea Fleet. Unlike the vessels of the First Sea Fleet, most of the hundred ships under his command weren't war vessels, but converted transport ships. Their main objectives were not to conquer and subdue, but to rout the ponies on the Griffish Isles, punish the griffons who dared to live in peace with those who should rightfully be their prey, and to confiscate as much of the wealth of the islands' communities as possible. If they could hold the islands until reinforcements arrived, so much the better. If they had to leave, then the islands would be much poorer for their time there, and weakened enough so another invasion might keep them next time.

Seaforth looked about as the captain of the Waverider approached him. "Sir, our estimated time of arrival is now seven hours."

"Very good, Captain." Seaforth replied. He looked out over the deployment of the fleet. They were staying in fairly-tight formation, staying as much out of the way of the wind, so as not to steal it from the sails of the other ships. He was also wary of the Northern Equestrian Sea Fleet stationed in Manehattan. Their steam-powered ships were fast and manoeuverable, compared to his older sail-powered vessels. Better that they not be spotted by patrols and reached their destination unhindered.

Then came a sound of distant thunder. As Seaforth looked up, he saw a sight he couldn't interpret: something was making a long trail of... smoke?... in the sky over towards Equestria, and it was moving faster than anything he had ever seen in his life. It was travelling very high up and far enough away that even his spyglass couldn't make out details. He wondered what it could be, and if it meant trouble for his fleet...

Shooting along faster than she ever thought was possible, Scootaloo was speechless with amazement. She knew for a fact that not even Rainbow Dash could fly this fast unaided, yet here she was with a hundred and twenty-three other pegasi, flying beside Princess Stellar Light Sparkle, doing Mach Ten in formation with them. Not even flying with the Wonderbolts would ever top this. And to think, less than four years ago, she couldn't even get off the ground without help for more than a few seconds. This was more than even Scootaloo had ever dreamed of, in her wildest dreams. She hoped it would never stop being this awesome...

Stellar, meanwhile, was looking to the east. With the amplification spells on her visor, she could see the Griffon fleet easily from this altitude. She breathed a slight sigh to herself. She didn't want to truly use the weapons they all carried on them against the griffons; there were way too many chances something could go wrong and some-griff might be killed, considering the firepower they all carried. There had to be a better way of disabling all the ships without hurting the griffons.

She looked back below herself, looking back underneath their flightpath at the third platoon, and the long contrail they were leaving behind, the turbulence of their wake taking hold of the mana energy they were using and making the vortices visible, like they would have done at higher altitudes. That started Stellar thinking. The formation of the ships wasn't spread out very wide, probably less than a kilometre across at the widest point. With the speed and direction of the prevailing winds, they had little more than seven hours left to go until they hit the cloud-wall that cut off the Griffish Isles from their northerly journey. 'How to stop them without hurting anyone...' Stellar surmised in thought. Then she smiled...

Scootaloo heard Stellar chuckle softly in her headphones. "Commander?" She asked.

Stellar glanced at Scootaloo. "I just got an idea." She answered.

Scootaloo grinned. "Awesome." She replied.

"Oh yeah." Stellar said back. "Okay! Listen up, everypony! There's going to be a change of plans. We're going to strike the fleet, but we're going to do it without even using these new weapons." She told them all.

"But... how are we going to take them down if we're not going to fire upon them?" One of the pegasi asked.

"We're going to use the weapons the Maker gave us all, as Pegasi. And we're going to remind these griffons why WE Pegasi rule the skies and NOT them!"

"Tartarus, yeah!" Scootaloo said out-loud, and soon, all the Air Guard pegasi were doing the same.

"Okay, settle down." Stellar said, and everypony fell silent. "Just listen to me and do as I tell you, and we'll show these griffs how awesome we really are."

"Aye, Ma'am!" They all replied, and Stellar started working out the details.

As they turned around with the curve in the cloud-wall, Stellar had them slow down to just over Mach One, and they dove down in formation to fifty metres above sea level. "Okay, spread out; Second Platoon to the port of First, Third to the starboard." Stellar ordered. "Come up in one long, straight formation."

Stellar watched as all the pegasi moved up until they were in one long line abreast of each other. "Now, get ready to catch this in your fields, about a metre in front of you." She informed them. Then Stellar cast a rune spell. The blazing white rune appeared before her, then unravelled and stretched out before the formation, until all the pegasi held it, even Scootaloo. It had formed a long line before them: a wedge-shaped blade as long as their formation, and the pegasi could feel it physically splitting the air before them.

"Now, I want the outermost flyers to spread out, until you're a kilometre away from me. Everypony else, spread out evenly between them." Stellar ordered and the formation widened out, using the readouts in their visors to measure the distances between them, until they were evenly distributed.

"Everypony ready?" Stellar asked.

"Ready, Knight-Commander!" The reply was almost seamless.

"Then slowly descend to twenty metres off the ocean and speed up to maximum again." Stellar told them, and as the formation sped up and slowly descended, Scootaloo was watching the surface of the ocean behind them. As they hit Mach Five and levelled out, she could see the ocean surface literally being pushed down by their wake, bulging deeper and deeper as they sped up... then the surface tension broke, and a huge wash of spray kicked up into the air behind them.

Stellar was also watching this, and saw the mana streams were being absorbed by the wash of spray. Grinning, she cast another rune spell, and tossed it back into the spray. With a roar, the spray billowed up into massive dark clouds, surging with mana lightning across its front as it absorbed the mana streams and fuelled itself with them.

The pegasi were astounded at the storm they were making, but they grinned and concentrated as they raced along, dragging this massive storm front with them...

Admiral Seaforth was gazing ahead. He could almost feel the weather changing as they headed north at a steady rate, the wind being kind, if not fully-accommodating them by coming from behind. He brought out his spyglass and looked ahead. Something was not right. A griffon scouting team had brought news of the wall of cloud the ponies had somehow made to hide the Griffish Isles from being seen from sea-ward, but he hadn't thought it to be a problem... yet. But now all his weather instincts from sailing for several decades were telling him a storm was coming... and they were sounding out louder with each passing minute. He couldn't see anything yet... save for a glint of something rising from over the horizon. That nagging itch still persisted, however. "Captain." He called for the Captain of the Waverider.

"Aye, Sir?" The griffon asked.

"Can you feel that? Like there's a storm approaching?" He asked.

The Captain thought for a second, feathers fluffing along his back. "Aye, Sir. I can feel that." He answered. "Feels like a big one, too... but it's moving way too fast to be a storm..."

"Yes, I feel that, too." Seaforth replied. "Send to the fleet: 'Be ready for storms. If storms met, all warriors fly for the mainland'. Also put out the order to batten down the hatches and prepare for storms."

"Aye, Admiral." The captain replied, saluted, and started having the proper signal flags raised and semaphore messages sent...

As they approached, Stellar caught the topsails of the fleet in her visor. "Everypony, activate your targeting systems. Target everything in the air and the ships on the sea. When we get close, move to pass between the ships, not into them, and avoid any griffons you see on the wing." She ordered.

"With this following us, Commander, they're not likely to stay at sea level." Steady Sentry replied.

"That's what I'm hoping." Stellar said back. "Right! Stay steady and make sure you don't get caught in the rigging!" She ordered as they drew closer and closer...

Admiral Seaforth was staring directly ahead of the fleet as the clouds billowed up in the distance, drawing closer and closer at a speed that was unbelievable... Then he saw a glowing white line stretched out before the storm front. He almost panicked as he realised what this storm truly was. He grabbed a megaphone cone that was sitting beside him and yelled "ABANDON SHIP! ABANDON SHIP! ALL GRIFFS, TAKE TO THE SKY! GET AS HIGH ABOVE THE STORM AS YOU CAN!"

"Admiral?" The captain asked as the griffons on the Waverider did exactly as told. Other crews also started abandoning their ships, passing the message along.

"The storm... The Pegasi are coming, and they're bringing it with them." Was all Seaforth had to say. The look of fear on the Captain's face told Seaforth he realised the severity of the situation. They both took to the sky, pulling their armor off and dropping it as they tried to get as much height as possible as quickly as they could.

All over the fleet, griffons dropped their weapons and armor and flew as fast as they could for height, as well as to head in the general direction of the mainland, as the ponies drew closer, faster than belief...

"Steady..." Stellar said as the time-to-encounter dropped to seconds...

The first thing the griffons who were looking back saw was the white blade-line that raced towards their ships, the pegasi behind it moving at speeds that were unbelievable, white lines of burning light coming from their backs. They watched as the blade-line then flashed past under them, slicing through the rigging and masts of their ships like a sword through sea-foam. The shock-wave and storm followed less than an instant behind it, smashing into the heavily-laden hulls and crushing the ships under it. The storm engulfed them immediately after that, throwing griffons to the fury of its winds and lightning. Most of them, trained in riding storm winds, managed to surf on top of the surge up into clearer skies. Some of them had to fight their way clear, or were trapped on the front of the storm itself, being shoved along helplessly.

Scootaloo was grinning mischievously as she angled herself closer to Stellar, along with several others, and they flashed through the griffon fleet in less than three seconds. She barely caught the blade-line slicing off the rigging and masts of the ships to port of their group, the formation the griffon fleet had been sailing in making it easy to pass through it, and then they were past the fleet, leaving the storm to finish off the ships. Scootaloo started laughing with the sheer thrill of it all, and soon she was joined in by the others, as Stellar dismissed the blade-line.

"Okay, everypony, let's head upwards and resume arrow formations." Stellar told them all, and the line of pegasi rose from the ocean surface and slid back into the three arrowheads. Stellar had them also slow down to just supersonic, and they came around to circle the encounter zone.

The thousands of griffons were scattered all over the top of the storm, most of them heading for Griffonstone once they'd risen above the storm and gained their bearings. Some were watching as the Pegasi formations circled them far faster than they could fly, some raising their fists and obviously cursing at them.

"Now that's how it's done!" Scootaloo's voice came to all the other pegasi there, and laughter resounded through their headsets.

"Okay, Ponies, let's head back to the Xerxes and re-join the main party." Stellar ordered, and the formations turned as one, heading south at Mach Two.

Author's Notes:

And we see just why Pegasi are masters of the sky. Discord's warning of needing a bloodless battle seems to have been a part of Stellar's plans all along... and she did it in style, too.