We're finally on our way. After a quick supply drop at an Old Dominion refugee camp, where we convinced a number of squatters there to head south, we began the journey ourselves, making a bee line for Ponyville to meet up with Griffin. I don't know whether we'll live in that little town, live on Signal, or somewhere else entirely, but what I do know is that things will be all right. We'll figure it out together.

The Hornet was off doing a small trade run, apparently clam shells were in short supply in Marble Pillars, due to an increase in population and unexpected popularity of the delicacy for the dogs, so the faster ship went off to make a fast supply circuit. This, however, meant that the Possibility was running without an escort. Not that it mattered, it's not like anything could pierce the hull short of a dragon attack.

*Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrn..... Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrn.... Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrn*

"All hands to battle stations!" Came over the PA system.

"What the hell?" As I clamored off my bed, I was forced into a face plant on the floor when the ship lurched from a sudden impact. I rolled to all fours and made a dash to my weapons and armor in the corner, hastily fasting them on when the ship lurched again, this time more forcefully.

I eventually got geared up and rushed out of my room into the hall, where the crew was scrambling to counter whatever had attacked us. Considering most weren't airborne, I opted to fly in the halls to get where I was needed, the deck. I opened the door from the galley leading up to the top, only to find the scene before me one of utter horror.

Arrows were whizzing past constantly, the crew forced to keep their heads down to avoid losing them. It's not that they were that accurate, but the sheer number of projectiles coming over meant at least some would hit. Crew members hugged the railing occasionally popping their heads up to shoot back, only to fall down dead with the shaft of an arrow sticking out of an eye, or their throat.

"What.... raise the deck! Raise the deck! We're taking too much fire! Use the side guns!" I shouted into the PA. Shortly afterwards, the telltale sounds of gears grinding were heard as the lower half of the ship lifted into the upper, sealing us off from the outside.

"Get medical staff out here pronto! I want a casualty report, and the wounded in the med bay asap!" I ordered, then made my way over to the main gun.

"... Tiras...." He was hardly recognizable, hanging limply from the beam cannon. He looked more like a pin cushion. The cats of his tribe didn't wear armor because it hindered movement. Now they were paying for it. Most of the casualties were his people, all laying on the deck, bleeding out as the medical teams tried, and failed, to patch their wounds.

"I've failed my people." That was it. No grand speech, no apology, no raging against death as it came for him. Just a simple statement, an admission of failure. And then he died. I shook my head as I gently shut his eyes, then made my way up to the bridge.

"What the FUCK happened out there Steelhorn?!"

"We got our asses handed to us, that's wut." He replied angrily. "Diamond Dogs, and they took a page outta our book. They were ridin griffins lass, and judgin by the chains, they weren't willin. Bout a hundred archers showed up outta nowhere and just started raining arrows on the deck. Soon as we shut the deck, they flew off."

"They knew what they were doing." I said, half to myself, and half to everyone else. "Hit and run tactics, do as much damage as you can, then leave before the enemy can shoot back. Any idea where they fled to?"

"Dunno, just saw em go up, into the clouds." The minotaur replied.

"Urgh... and we can't clear the clouds without sending people out there. They're probably just waiting for us. Let's just get out of here, get to Equestria. They won't follow us there."

"Can't lass. Ya felt the ship shake earlier, didn't cha? That ain't from small arms fire. They jammed our propellers with steel rods and made the fan blades shred themselves. And as ya said before, they're waiting fer us. We can't clean em out or fix em unless somebody goes out there." He grimaced.

"What about using it like a hot air balloon? Let the wind take us?"

"We can try it, but we'll have to try different altitudes to find one taking us in the right direction."

"Get on it."

*Thunk*

"...What was that?" The entire ship lurched again. Looking out the main viewport of the bridge, I could see that we were slowly descending.

"What the hell is going on out there!?!?" I screamed into the PA.

"*Bzz, chrrt* "Looking out a cannon port now... they've got harpoons, and they're launching them over the ship, then tying them down on the other side. They're reeling us in ma'am. They're bringing us down to..." The PA was cut off by a sickening squelch as a harpoon went through the open cannon port and pegged the crewman in the head.

"This isn't happening... this isn't happening... we need to go up! Put everything we have into getting us some altitude!"

"We're already pouring everything we've got into it Gilda." Steelhorn sighed. "We can't do any more without..."

"Yeah I know, going outside the ship. Damnit! They know exactly what they're doing! Once they ground us, they can just starve us out! How are they this prepared? Normally attacks by diamond dogs aren't this well thought out." I growled in frustration. "Okay, here's what we're going to do. I'm going to send a letter to Shimmer and Growl on the Hornet, have them come here and rescue us. The ship is fast enough to get here before they starve us out, and maneuverable enough to avoid their attacks. Damn... if only we were set up to send mail to Marble Pillars, they could send a whole fleet of ships out here... no... even then, it's too far away, on the far side of Gem Fido, while we're in the middle of the Old Dominion. Fuuuuuuuuuuuck."

So, I made my way back to my room and sent the letter to Shimmer. Shortly after that, the Diamond Dog tethers managed to pull us to the ground. With a great bang and a lot of shaking, we were grounded. As I left my room, I looked around to see what expressions the crew wore. To put it bluntly, they were miserable. Friends had died. A lot of friends. Even some lovers, and here we were, stuck, unable to escape, just sitting here, waiting. Looking out windows, we could see diamond dogs scrambling around the ship, poking at it, scratching at it, some even gnawing at it, trying to find a weak spot to break in. Of course, Steelhorn built this ship so that when everything is locked up tight, it's impenetrable.

I made my way over to the PA system, took a deep breath, and gave a situation report.

"Listen up everyone. This is the captain speaking. I'm not really sure what you're all feeling, scared, angry, frustrated, and depressed maybe. We lost a lot of friends today, we're stuck here, and enemies are crawling all over the ship. They outsmarted us. They knew exactly how to hit us, and now we're grounded. We can't go anywhere unless the ropes tying us down get cut, and then we'd have to ride the air currents to get us out of here since the engines are shot, but that means going outside the ship, and doing that is suicide with all the dogs waiting out there. I've sent a letter to the Hornet, and they'll be here in three or four days to bail us out. Since we just dropped off supplies, and haven't filled up in a while, we're running low. We'll have to ration out what we have. While the Hornet will arrive soon enough... if they fail, and I don't want to think that they'll fail, but if they do, we have to hold out as long as we can for rescue to arrive. That is all."

Author's Notes:

And so, we get to see how things unfold. Not getting into the gore yet, though that'll come when Griffin arrives.