It took maybe two weeks of uneventful travel from Marble Pillars to reach Earth Scar. We restocked, and then stopped to pick up the supplies we had left when we made room for the sick, before continuing into the Old Dominion. Earth Scar was, admittedly, very hard to miss, because it lived up to it's name well. A massive gash in the land, the dim light of lava from beneath illuminating the walls, keeping the entire settlement warm even throughout the harshest winters as the heat from the bowels of the earth rose.

All along the edge of the cliff there sat dozens of defenses. Stone guard towers, ballista, cannons and the like, all of which looked worn, but still in good condition, which said only one thing. They were used often, and maintained. Set into the cliff faces, along each side, were houses. Cracks in the walls became streets, with homes carved into the stones themselves, while earthen bridges crisscrossed the chasm. The entire place was abuzz with activity, mostly griffins flying around, with many airships moored at stone spires, several of them bearing a very familiar insignia. Ours. Of course, none of them matched the absolute opulence of the Possiblity, which put them to shame in terms of size and aesthetics.

"When they said we were popular here, they weren't kidding." Nadene pointed out.

"I don't think they are fans or followers." Growl stated. "This is a wretched hive of scum and villainy, if anything, they are likely using our reputation to further their own goals."

"Impostors." Maria scowled, remembering her own time in the jungle.

"We'll jus have ta be careful then." Steelhorn said in his typical 'Scottish' accent. "They already seen us, so, we jus gotta prove who we really are. I think the ship does that job pretty well."

"Just in case, I think we should fly down separate. Maria, Nadene, Trixie, you're with me. I don't think we should bring Growl with, considering who's all flying around out there." Everyone nodded in agreement before we geared up and disembarked.

It was easy flying, using the hot air from the volcanic vents below to glide down while the Possibility and Hornet were moored at a spire. We landed on one of the stone bridges. We looked around for a bit before we were greeted by a group of slutty looking... everythings. Ponies, diamond dogs, and griffins of both genders, all fully clothed and swaying their hips and tails as they walked. "Hey there... looking for a good time?" One of the hounds wrapped his arm around Nadene, making her hiss.

"Easy there kitty. You're so tense, you need to relax..."

"We are looking for something, actually." I spoke up, interrupting the attempted, and miserably failed, seduction of Nadene, something for which she was thankful. "We're looking for someone, someone specific."

"Hmm. You'll wanna talk to the big boss then. No one comes in or goes out of this city without him knowing about it, but you can't just waltz in. You gotta have an appointment."

Just then, a burly griffin with bloody red feathers walked by, and in his drunken swaying, bumped into me.

"Hey! Watch where ur walkin whore!"

I grit my teeth at his insult, but ignored him, since I had more important things to deal with.

"Hey, I'm talking to you!" He got right up in my face. "I said 'Watch where ur walking, whore. Ya nearly pushed me off the bridge, now are you gonna apologize?"

I rolled my eyes. "Sorry."

"That ain't good enough. You don't sound too sincere. Don't you know who I am? I'm Captain Griffin, of the Griffin Pirates! You best be showing me a little more respect." He slurred drunkenly.

I fought back a groan. "Sorry, sir. Can I go now?"

"Hmm.. I dunno, I think you ought to make it up to me." He looked at me with lust in his eyes, wrapping his tail arund my hind leg and using the coarse, brushlike tip to try and move my own tail out of the way.

"Oh for fuck's sake. Ignis." Running lightning through my claws, I poked him in the shoulder, wing joint, and thigh, followed by a buck to the head, knocking him on his side. He laid there twitching through all the joints I hit.

"What did you do to me?" He demanded.

"Just a little trick the REAL Captain Griffin showed me. I ran electricity through my claws and hit your joints, causing a forced contraction of your muscles, which in turn causes short term paralysis. Is that the part that's confusing you? Or is it the part where I kicked you in the head that you don't understand?"

"Who the fuck do you think you are? I AM Captain Griffin!" He insisted, which was quite foolish for someone in his position.

"I'm Gilda, and I'm carrying the real captain's child." I rubbed my stomach. His drunken eyes were filled with recognition, most likely remembering my face from a wanted poster.

"Oh shit..." Was his response.

And then I kicked him off the bridge. He fell and landed on the platform below with a crunch. I looked over the edge and saw him slowly limp away, with what looked like a broken leg and wing, and maybe a rib. "Eh, he'll be fine."

When I turned back, I noticed all of the prostitutes had taken several steps back, with their heads lowered slightly. In fact, everyone had. All the bystanders, the guards who were watching, everyone, they were all bowing. I have no idea what's going on.

"Um..."

"Please forgive us Lady Gilda. You see, we have so many claim to be the legendary captain every day, we did not recognize you." So wait, what? Now I'm some kind of queen or something?... Oh yeah, I guess I kind of am... I mean, it's just two islands right now, but the New Dominion is officially a nation... That, and Red, Yellow, and Blue weren't lying when they said we're REALLY popular here.

"Uh yea, no problem so, about meeting the 'Big Boss'?"

"I don't think that'll be a problem." A newcomer flew up from below. He looked clean and sophisticated, with all his feathers in order, and a pair of bookish glasses perched on his beak. "My name is Frindle, the assistant. He saw your ship arrived, and has been meaning to meet you. If you'll follow me." We nodded, then took off after him down the crevice. Around halfway down, there was a large structure that had been carved out of the wall, bearing an flag. The flag was the howling face of a diamond dog, with a red 'X' over it.

Running, hiding in the dark, shivering in the cold, yet not drawing near the heat of the flame to avoid being seen, an image, hanging on a wall above the flame, surrounded by dirty, smelly dogs, armed with crude iron weapons as the corpse of a pony was roasted on a spit above the flame, sending shivers through my spine before I turned away, scrambling up through a narrow tunnel of dirt, cramped on all sides, muddy, stones and roots lashing at my face and wings and I clawed in desperation, trying to escape from being buried alive under the cold, cold ground.

"Gilda?" I gasped in shock as I was broken from my thoughts by Trixie, who rode on my back. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, let's keep moving."

We entered the building...cave...thing, where we walked past entire lines of armed guards, to an office at the end of a hall. Frindle motioned for us to enter. There, sitting behind a wodden desk, sat a griffin. He had a harsh look in his eyes, a crack through his beak, and was missing both his wings, which were instead stitched stumps. His feathers were slightly in disarray as he looked through various papers on his desk.

At our entry, he looked up, and his eyes widened. He smiled as he stood, waling towards us inquisitively.

"Well well, if it isn't the acting captain of the Griffin Pirates." He tilted his head in a kind of short bow. "My name is Atran. To what do I owe the honour of this visit?"

"We're looking for information."

"Information's a valuable thing. It can make or break a person. I hope you aren't just expecting a handout." Nothing is ever that easy, is it?

"What do you want in return?" I replied.

"That would depend on what you want to know." For fuck sake, give me a straight answer! No... I have to keep cool and collected, not let him play me.

"Names." I stated simply.

"Names?"

"Specifically, the names of ponies who, in the northern territories, have been selling the locations of travelers to Diamond Dog Slavers. This is one of the biggest crime centers in the world, and you know everything about everyone who goes through this place."

"I can't deny either of those claims, as much as I'd like to." He stated as he narrowed his eyes.

"So... you do have the information I want. The question is, what do you want in return?" I matched his glare. He seemed to smile a bit at that, before he began circling around our little group.

"I understand that you have an innovative weapon. A 'Laser Rifle' I believe it's called. This is something nobody has seen before in these lands. Something like that could be very..." He paused, seemingly for dramatic effect. "...useful, to a someone like me.

I had to stop to think about it for a moment. On the one hand, Atran has information we need, or so he claims. Getting ahold of it could be a major step in ending slavery in the north, by hitting those greedy bastards in their wallets. Make it unprofitable, and punish the ponies who have been selling out. On the other hand, giving a crime lord access to advanced weaponry could do just as much harm. What did Griffin tell me to do in this situation? Oh, that's right!

"First things first. The information. How do I know what you're giving me is the real deal? You could very easily rip us off and leave us with nothing." He smiled, a bit sadly, but then his visage regained it's chipper tone.

"Well I can't say I'm flattered that you don't trust me to honor a deal. But then again I wouldn't trust me either so I suppose I owe you some credit." He reached under his desk and I heard the click of a lock. Some papers were ruffled and he pulled out one sheet. It was placed on the desk in front of me. "Consider this a free sample."

Inspecting the sheet, I saw the name at the top 'Mr.Feldspar' along with a photograph of him. On the page were various names, some belonging to ponies, other to zebras, and some to diamond dogs. No griffin names however. Beside each name was either a value in bits, or a quantity of goods received for the individual, most of it in low price minerals, nice the most popular, gems, now had their import and sale closely monitored.

"No deal."

"I am sorry to hear that. Is there a reason? I will do my best to correct whatever problems you have." He replied all too quickly.

"Simple. There's no griffins on this list. Out here, we're the most easily accessible. Tend to live lives of solitude, very few know magic, and not far away. I expected to see some, but there's not a single griffin name on this list."

"The ones who sell griffons are already taken care of. At least the ones I've caught." He laughed. "The boys love a good execution." Hold on... there's something here that just isn't quite right.

"That's an odd behavior for a crime lord. You allow slavery, but kill anyone with griffin slaves. What's the reason behind that?" At my insistence, he grimaced.

"I don't wanna talk about it."

"Then I'm afraid we'll have to decline your offer."

"Then I'm afraid we have no more business to attend to. Mr.Frindle, if you'll kindly escort them back to their ship?"

The bookish assistant showed us the way out, and ensured we got back on board, then the city guard on their artillery ensured we left quietly.

Once we were away from the city, Trixie confronted me.

"So, we're going back to rob the place right?"

"Well yeah. I just wanted to make sure he had what we wanted before raiding it. I don't think he'll move the information since we made a point of calling it no good, and it's in a safe somewhere under his desk, most likely built into the rock. Still, we want to attack as soon as possible. We'll hit hard and fast so he doesn't have a chance to move it, so we'll be taking the Hornet."

"What happened to not using force? Won't this place rip us to shreds?" Nadene asked.

"What do ya think I been trainin Shinner fer? I been teachin her nautical maneuvers all tha time, and that ship 'as a good crew. They can do it. Besides, with that ship's range, I doubt they can even hit it before it moves out of the way."

"Let's get on the other ship. We'll make our plans there."

"Okay, so, Atran has a safe under his desk, containing the information we need. We won't have the time to crack the safe, and opening it with thermite will damage the contents. SO, we'll be going the phantom thief route. Starlight Wisp, you'll use and intangibility to steal the contents of the safe. The ship will hit the defenses and focus on not getting shot to run distraction. I'll fly you down before the attack begins, on the premise of having changed my mind, and take care of any guards that might get in the way, including Atran, once the shells start falling. After we've got the intel, we'll fly out using full invisibility, through a blind spot in the defenses caused by the Hornet blowing them up, and meet up with the Possibility, while the Hornet loses anyone tailing it. We'll meet up at Manehatten and turn the papers over to Equestrian Authority so these assholes can get arrested."

"Sounds good to me, except won't he be suspicious?"

"That's why we'll bring a laser rifle with. I'll use it once to show him, then when the bombs start dropping, use it ON him. That'll also let us check to make sure they're still where he kept them.

"My my, Gilda, back so soon?" Atran said in his usual, sleezy calm. I don't like this scumbag calling me by name, as if he knows me.

"I've changed my mind. I want the intel."

"What made you change your mind? I thought the intel wasn't any good?" He narrowed his eyes. I nodded, reaching into Starlight's pack, pulling out the rifle.

"My strategist pointed out a... crucial flaw, in my reasoning. Even if these are fakes, I can't take the chance that they are real and have just lost my best lead. I suppose you'll be wanting a test fire?" He nodded, seemingly accepting my excuse. One of his guards removed his armor and set it up against the wall.

"Lumen. That's the activation keyword." I cranked the handle, overcharging the light gem inside. I took aim at the breastplate leaning against the wall, and fired. The white hot beam fired for about a second, before melting a nice little hole in the iron, about the size of a coffee straw, right above the heart. "There are a number of different caliber rifles. This is the smallest one, designed for light armor and unarmored targets, as well as flammable ones. One of these can sink an airship if it's made primarily of wood and cloth, simply by setting it on fire." He nodded in acceptance.

BOOM

The office-like cave shook as the first shot landed, followed by three more in quick succession. Immediately, I turned and shot the guard not wearing armor, before turning on another one who was. I quickly smashed the rifle on the ground, shanking another in the throat with the sharp edge, and leaving it buried in his neck. He grasped at the object protruding from his body as blood spurted out, all over his claws and my face, before slumping down dead. I drew my sword and shield to clash with the forth, who was quickly incapacitated via electric charge, all while Starlight had jumped on Atran's back and pressed a dagger to the back of his skull.

I quickly wiped the blood from my eyes and used a strength spell to shove his desk out from atop his safe, up against the door as a barricade, all while Wisp continued holding Atran at knife point. He struggled a bit, but the pressure of her dagger prompted him to hold still. I could feel a pounding coming from the door, through the desk I was holding up, indicating that reinforcements were already

"Wisp! We don't have time for this! You need to grab the intel! Just kill the bastard!" His eyes widened in shock as I commanded the pony on his back to end his life.

She hesitated for a moment before ramming her knife point into his medulla, instantly ending his life. I felt a strange sensation come over me as his corpse dropped dead to the floor, but shook my head to clear it. I had a job to do. Wisp removed her dagger, cleaned it off, (We couldn't have cerebrospinal fluid dripping on our papers) and sheathed it, before turning intangible and reaching through the thick iron trapdoor. She fished her hoof around inside it for a moment before pulling out stack of five papers, and a small, leather bound book. She threw them all in her pack, then grabbed hold of me.

We both turned intangible, and invisible, and as I was no longer holding up the barricade, the desk went flying across the room. The goons were rightly confused, as they all came barging into the room to find that no one was present, besides their dead boss, his corpse guards, and a single, living one, twitching about on the ground. I smiled as I walked right through them, then flew off with Starlight on my back.

"CHEERS!" We all clanked our glasses at the successful raid. Due to minimal ground deployment, and the Hornet keeping out of range of the enemy guns, the mission was a flawless success. It almost felt too easy. Checking over the info, we had enough to put two Canterlot nobles, and a trio of other ponies, away for life. We had also killed one of the biggest crime lords in the world. Over all, I was feeling pretty good about myself, despite the fact that the liquid in my mug wasn't alcoholic. Hey, baby on board, I've gotta show some responsibility.

So then despite all of our success, why do I get the nagging feeling that I'm forgetting something important?

The book. The book he kept in with those files, in a place meant to never be seen by another person. It was just a simple journal, probably containing nothing more than the ranting of a crime boss, but for some reason, I felt like it was important, that I should read it.

"Hey you guys... I'm gonna turn in early."

"Good idea. Make sure you get plenty of rest." Nadene piped up. "You're getting further along, you need to relax for a bit."

So, I headed to my quarters and and opened Atran's journal.

Author's Notes:

I had to rewrite this chapter after I realized about half of it was complete garbage.

'Frindle' is a reference. +1 nerd points to whoever knows what it's from. No looking it up!

I know I said I was going to be taking longer, so that I could make longer chapters, and have them be more plot relevant, so I wrote longer parts, but then decided to break them up a bit. It took me almost two weeks JUST to do the part where Gilda meets Atran. The reason? You'll have to keep reading to find out, but he's far more relevant to the plot that I let on. The next couple of chapters will be Gilda reading Atran's journal, and finding out just who he REALLY is.