"Well Griffin, I'm not exactly sure what you expect of me." Rarity began. "I'm a dress maker, after all."

"I need a tight fit black shirt and pants, durable, with gems sewn into pouches in the cloth at locations that won't impede movement."

"And why do you need this exactly?"

"Because I use gems to store magic and I don't want them falling off."

"Um... okay."

"It'll be really easy, because this is a matter of function over form. It doesn't have to be pretty, it just needs to work. Style them after the clothes I'm wearing so nothing is missed and it'll be fine."

"Um... anything else?"

"They need to be warm, but not bulky."

"Okay then... Let's get those measurements."

After a very awkward session of Rarity measuring my human body and biting her lip the entire time, possibly a nervous habit or something, she set to work on the clothing while I went about setting up one final experiment with Twilight. We made a quick trip to the hospital to borrow some of their expertise.

"So... what do I need to do?"

"Just use my protect spell on yourself, while the Doc here keeps a constant check your heart rate at your leg.."

"Um... okay. But what's the purpose of this experiment?" Both unicorns, the student and the doctor, asked.

"The enemies I'll be facing are using my version of the protect spell. That means they know about gem magic. The fact that they're gem miners means I can't just smash my way through their barricades. I need to find a loophole in my own spell. Now, I've used it quite a bit, and am fairly familiar with it and how much it can protect from, and I've got something I THINK will work."

"Isn't that dangerous?" Twilight asked.

"And that's why we're in a hospital." Came my reply. She gulped, but never the less cast the spell as the doctor began using a stethoscope to keep taps on her pulse.

"Now, normally, I'd do something like... Domine Sanguis." Being a 'touch based spell' something I have to have physical contact for, I tapped Twilight on the side. "So, did you feel the resistance as the protection cancelled out my spell?"

"Yes, I did." She replied.

"And Doc, did her heart rate change at all?"

"Nope."

"Okay... now, Protego vena de sangui." I tapped her again. After a moment I looked to the two of them. "Well?"

"Nothing." Twilight replied. "I didn't feel any pressure from your spell."

"Nothing on my end either..." The doctor answered.

"Dang... looks like it didn't work..."

"No... I mean nothing, as in there's no heart beat. I can't find her pulse." The doctor checked her heart. "It's here..." And then her leg again. "But not here. It vanished when you did... whatever you did... what DID you do?"

"And now my leg feels numb." Twilight mentioned.

"... hehehaha.. oh this is brilliant. I thought it might work like that... but I didn't know for sure. Oh, that makes things easy." I released my spell, letting her go back to normal.

"Griffin... what did you do?" The purple protegé looked at me with a great deal of concern.

"A protect spell acts like a shield. You cast a protect spell, you pick up a shield. I cast an offensive spell, your shield blocks it, but what if I give you ANOTHER shield? You can only hold one, right? The protect spell doesn't trigger because I'm not attacking you. In fact, I'm helping to try and protect you, so it allows it. I discovered this when I tried to layer protect spells. The second one doesn't strengthen the first one, nor does it add any form of protection. It's an entirely separate spell. When used defensively, it's pointless because all the energy you're pouring into the second spell could simply be used on the first one. You wind up with two shields, both half the strength of what you could have, and if they get struck, they'll both shatter at the same time since they don't guard each other, and giving you twice the wicked headache."

"Griffin, you're not making any sense." She looked at me very worriedly now.

"I read a story once about a woman who loved nature, but did not understand it. She once found a turtle, stranded on land. She decided to help the poor thing by putting it back into the water. She watched as it sank to the depths of the pond, then went on her merry way. Little did she realize that it was not a turtle, but a tortoise, and a tortoise cannot swim. She caused it's death, not by malice, but by misunderstanding. Like an untrained surgeon, performing a delicate operation."

"Please get to the point." She begged.

"I cast a protect spell on you, instructing it to 'protect' the arteries in your leg from the blood that was 'attacking' it. This caused the blood being pumped through your cardiovascular system to go elsewhere in your body, as it was blocked from going to your leg by the shield. It doesn't get blocked by your shield, and it doesn't get added to it either. It's completely separate."

As soon as I gave her the explanation, both the faces of her, and the doctor, turned very pale.

"Imagine if I wanted to 'protect' something other than a leg? What about something vital, like a heart, or a lung or a brain? All I have to do is change my perception of how things work. Now, if you change your understanding, see my attempt to help you as a threat, and cast your protect spell to reflect that, then you should be safe from it. The enemies I'll face are using the magic I discovered, but they don't truly understand it. They can't bend their minds to adapt to what I'll be throwing at them, mostly because they don't know how I changed my own way of thinking."

The pair merely stared at me with blanched looks.

"Oxygen is a poisonous gas. I better cast a spell that makes it so you can't breathe. Wouldn't want you to inhale any. Look at all those sharp swords you're carrying, that's dangerous. I better take them away so you don't hurt yourselves. That tooth looks sharp, you might bite your tongue, I should take them out. I've got dozens. Thanks for the help."

"Is he insane!?!" Nadene exclaimed. "Surrender? You all saw what happened when the Hornet got downed. They dragged everyone out and slaughtered them! They couldn't fight back or anything, and they'll do the exact same to us."

"He said to hold out for a week first." Trixie piped in. "That means he has a plan, but we have to take a risk for it to work. If we just sit in here, we'll starve to death. If we try to fight our way out, they'll slaughter us, but if we surrender, make NO attempt to fight them at all, they MIGHT take us as slaves, which means we'll still be alive, and he can come rescue us. They might just kill us anyways, but at least theres a chance they won't, which is better than our odds if we try one of the other options. The fact that he told us to wait a week means that it's something based on timing."

"He is terrible at chess, yet, he is un wunderkind ven it comes to combat strategy." Geirmund pointed out. "He has likely set up un series of events und zey require un certain timeframe for success. It vill take longer zen un veek for him to arrive, vich means he is vill attempt to infiltrate zem."

"We're just going to have to trust him on this." I finally joined their discussion. "I think I understand what he's trying to do."

"And what's that?" The cat asked.

"I'm not so conceited as to think this is about me, or any of us. This is about him. These dogs were well enough prepared to know where we'd be, and have a mole in Equestria. They know that he's been out of action for a while. So then, why the attack now? Taking us out of the picture would just piss Griffin off, and it wouldn't stop the revolution. It's obvious they're trying to get a reaction from him, force him back on stage. For a den with resources like this one, I can think of a number of reasons why they'd want to do it. The most likely is reputation. These dens operate on a 'strongest rules' basis. So far, Griffin has proven himself to be an incredibly resourceful opponent, and has made himself into a kind of modern legend. So, if the leader of this den can beat him, they'll instantly have the respect of the entire world, and THEN they might be able to compete with the different factions that are all gaining momentum."

"They'll fail though, right? I mean, we all know Griffin. He'll rip whoever this guy is to shreds." Maria said optimistically.

"And that why they need us alive. Because they won't play fair. They can force Griffin to hold back if they've got a knife to our necks." I replied.

"But... he knows that if he loses, if he lets them beat him because they're holding us hostage, he won't be valuable because of his reputation anymore, and they'll just kill him. And then since they won't need us as hostages anymore, they'll just kill us off too. It's not like they're just going to release us." Trixie reasoned.

"Which is precisely why their plan won't work. He's not a weak willed fool. He knows that surrender, for him, isn't an option. Once they get what they want, we're all dead, and he's not going to let that happen. It's also why they won't kill us. The crew of the other ship, to them, don't matter. They were just some random crew put together by Marble Pillars to fly the Hornet. We've got reputation, and we've got a connection to him. I'll be honest though... We're probably not all going to survive."

"What do you mean?" Nadene asked warily.

"They'll want to keep the ones Griffin has a personal connection with. You, Trixie, Steelhorn, the Freuds, Maria, and myself. The rest of the crew... well, they're his crew, but he doesn't have a personal, vested interest with them." I gulped. "They'll probably get executed." Every one of the non-core crew members was listening in on this, since we had called a meeting to discuss Griffin's letter, and they we're more than a little upset. "They'll probably keep anyone they think could be a useful slave, so the earth ponies, and the surviving cats, because they're strong, and the pegasi might be useful for weather control, seeing as how this den keeps griffins, they might use weather manipulation as well, and they'll definitely want unicorns for recharging their gems, since they seem to really like using our magic in a fight. If you survive, it'll be a mix of luck, and how useful they think you can be, weighed against how much trouble they think you are."

"THAT'S why he told us to make no effort to fight back or escape!" Nadene exclaimed. "Because anyone who runs or fights is trouble, they'll kill them off right away. If we act like good little prisoners and work hard as slaves, make ourselves worth more than the meager rations they give to keep us alive, then they'll have a reason to keep us around."

"Exactly. So, everyone agree? We follow Griffin's plan?" A chorus of 'Aye's rang from the crowd. "Good. Well then, I suggest we relax. Take a load off, play a game, mourn our fallen friends, spend some 'quality time' with your lovers, whatever. I wanna see a bunch of bright eyed, eager to work crew members when we try to open negotiations. Dismissed."

With that, everyone went off to go do whatever the hell they felt like, with the exception of Geirmund, Cable, and Nadene, who I held back.

"Listen, you three. Cable does not have a degenerative nerve disorder." I turned to the mecha mare. "If they ask, you do not have to have an injection every two weeks. Nadene does not have to make medicine to treat you, because she cured the disease outright three months ago. You're a hardworking mare in the prime of her youth, ready to work, and are in no way frail, or in any kind of pain. Do you understand me?" The weight of my words sank in, and they all nodded solemnly. "Listen, once we're in that den. You blend in with everyone else. Do whatever you can not to draw attention to yourselves. If it looks like Griffin won't be here in time to save Cable before her next injection, you three do whatever you can to escape. I don't care what it is, but the three of you get out. Geirmund... I suggest you build a tunnel bore into your body so you can dig your own way, and collapse the tunnel behind you. Don't worry about us, Griffin will get us out. You worry about yourselves." They nodded again, and then went off to prepare however they could.

Once everyone was gone, and I was alone, I let out a sigh, and rubbed the bulge of my stomach. "It's just you and me kiddo. This job sucks. No wonder your dad went nuts."

Author's Notes:

So, just a little bit of insight into what's going to happen.

With the shield spell, think of two warriors, each carrying a shield. The first one stands there, holding up his shield. The second one stands beside him, and holds that shield in front of him as well. If hit by arrows, the second shield would hold, meaning the warrior is safe. If hit by a cannon ball, the second AND first shields would both be broken, and the warrior behind them dies. Now before you go and call this 'OP' or 'Game breaking' remember that a warrior can't hold two shields, because he can't brace himself against the incoming strike. That's the single, glaring weakness behind this, which Griffin will learn the hard way. If he uses this to attack, he won't be able to use it to defend. "Reason number (x) why I always wear a protect spell." For someone who's been essentially wearing a suit of magic armor for the past few months, this could really suck.