[Canterlot] A Royal Pain - Act 1: Put up your Dukes

[Stainless Steel Fox]

Firewalker's foe was slammed into the floor as her strike went right through his non-existent defence. However, he was tough enough that he sprang back up, somewhat unsteadily, and prepared to leap back up at her. Then he was his with a faceful of ink, as a dusty crimson pegasus mare wearing glasses and an extremely sensible jumper unloaded a fountain pen at him from above and in front. He staggered backwards, calling for support, only to see the ponies arrayed against him. Kitchen staff with rolling pins and choppers, the unicorn engineers with their horns glowing menacingly, and all the other ponies, ready to buck, banish or bomb objects at him.

He quailed. "Retreat!"

He and the other griffon disengaged and flew out the window, chaesd by various pieces of crockery, half eaten pies, a kitchen sink and a flowerpot. (Where did that even come from?)

The pegasus flew alongside Firewalker. "I don't know if the pen is mightier than the sword, but it appears to be mightier than the griffon. Jessica Fledger at your service, lieutenant."

Prince Blueblood strode up, a borrowed top hat covering his becindered mane. "Very good, Leiutenant. I believe there are still some on board though. Deal with it, if you would. I believe some of these ponies wish to help."

There were cheers and exclamations of agreement from all around.

(OOC: Sturmman, I'm not clear what you did. You're in the middle of a corridor, with a balcony overlooking the main dining hall, at one end (your side) and the bow, the Princes stateroom and stairs up to the VIP section of the upper deck at the other, screened by the psycho griffon chick and several others. There are central stairs from the balcony down to the dining hall, and stairs up to the main deck at the ends of the balcony. Please clarify.)

[Snowshoe]

[Ah, I misunderstood the layout. In my mind the hallway lead out onto the deck, I'll edit my post when I get home. hopefully the new one works a little better.]

[tacobob]

"Thank you Miss Fledger. I do hope when he gets home that griffon pirate will have lots of things to ink about.", she made her way back to Prince Bluebood and nodded her head as he spoke, "Yes, your grace.", she bowed her head. If there were still any unconscious griffons, she will make sure they were quickly bound and escorted into whatever they were going to use as a 'brig'. Before heading off to find any wayward and lost pirates, she wanted to do one thing. Check on Dunder.

Thankfully the stallion was not very far, and she quickly cantered over to him, giving the pony a hug slightly beyond her usual 'friendly' one. "You were incredible Dunders! I didn't get to see everything, but I did see a little bit of you teaching those pirates a thing or two. I er...Is that my old drill sergeant?", a familiar figure found itself in the corner of the mare's eyes. "My goodness. It is him! Come on Dunders! We still have a job to do! Just hope Muggo is alright!", she knew the stout earth pony would have been more than a match for any of the griffons if he encountered one,but she was still worried.

"Sergeant Spoon! I can't believe it's you!", she saluted the retired solider, drawing his attention away for a moment. "Good to see you, er.", he had not seen the mare in years, but he instantly knew who she was, "Why pri..er. Lieutenant Fire Walker.", he noticed her badge, "It's been donkey years since I've seen you. It's also been awhile since I've had to command a force of ponies, but my crew did a fine job,doncha think?", he smiled proudly.

"Excellent work sir, we do have matters to attend to and I could use your skills.", The Pegasus replied while the older pony nodded her head before turning her attention back to Dunder, "If possible and if we have willing ponies to come along, we should split into three small squads of maybe three or four per group. I will lead one, Dunders another, and you Sergeant Spoon a third. We need to check this ship from top to bottom and make sure we're free of pirates! We also need to look out for Muggo'!", she quickly described her companion to the former drill sergeant before quickly adding, "Any questions? If not! Let's do this!"

She quickly gathered up a small group of ponies (Spoon's Sauté Chef, Tin Pan, a unicorn who wielded a study looking pot, a young socialite unicorn mare named 'Cat's Pajamas' who was looking for a bit of excitement after being stuck at lunch with her boring lunch-date, and a third pony, a Pegasus mare and guest on board named 'Sun Catcher' that Fire Walker had sworn she had seen before.

"Right. Guys. If we see any pirates, you are not to charge into battle, that's not what I need you for. I require your eyes! We need to make sure this ship is free of those pesky little pirates. Still can't believe...", she cut herself off. The mare was still pretty upset, considering the amount of important people on board, along with the vast amounts of wealth, that she and Dunder were the only real guards on board. "Dunders, Sergeant, we're going er, upstairs.". With that, she led her little force to the next level of the ship (Out of the dining room. If they are in the top of the top, she will go down a level and scout the rooms down there.)

[Stainless Steel Fox]

(OOC: Actually, the floor of the dining room (which is amidships) is two levels down. There is the open top deck (which is the roof of the dining hall), an upper residential deck whcih leads to mezzanine balconies overlooking the dining hall, and a lower residential deck, level with the dining hall floor. The kitchen and crews quarters are forward of the dining hall between it and the bridge, while beneath it all is the lowest deck with engine rooms forward and aft, and cargo and lifting gas storage amidships. The grifffons are on the open deck and in the forward upper deck corridor (as Muggo can tell you)

[Dunder]

Dunder wished he could persue. But as for right now, the adrenaline was making his wound not hurt, but he could tell it would later. IT wasn't a big wound, but it was well placed and deep. He propped himself up on his sword. Putting the point on the ground and leaning on it for support. His breathing was heavy and he was beginning to sweat, the stress and relief of having the hostages taken then freed. He took a few seconds to breath around the scattered eating-ware and glass. Then, he was suddenly embraced by a mare, a familiar red one he was particularly happy to see.

Dunder hugged her tightly back, dropping his sword. He nuzzled her neck hard, glad beyond measure to see she was alive and well. He gave her a small kiss on the cheek and nuzzled her again when she said something about a drill sergeant. He glanced over and trotted alongside Fire. He only greeted the drill sergeant with a slightly sheepish smile. He then turned his attention to Fire, she seemed to have a pretty good idea. "Alright!" HE said happily, excited to lead his own team.

He quickly trotted to gather up some ponies, quickly gathering up a large unicorn stallion noble, probably one of Blueblood's acquaintances, a pegasus mare who looked like she was ready to do whatever it took for some excitement, a pegasus stallion who was near the mare, and an earth stallion probably some kitchen staff. "Alright! We are going to clear downstairs!" He called to his squad and trotted off.

[Stainless Steel Fox]

Lore Scroll short stopped the pegasus. "Actually, the bottom level is secure. The engine rooms and access to the bridge are all sealed off. "With our starboard wingsails out of action, those griffons clearly didn't believe they were a priority."

He pointed to where Muggo Ale had just dropped down, and where griffons were starting to appear at the entrance to the corridor. "I think we have enough to be getting on with upstairs. Disengaging the grapples they have on us would help too. I'm trying to round up a duty party to fly outside, but tjey'll be exposed to any counter attack the griffons make."

[Snowshoe]

Muggo' Ale sauntered over to the team that had been fighting in the dinning hall. He shook out his mane and grinned, a little wildly. "That was fun," he said, glancing back at the upper level.

"But we still got griffons up there," he commented, not having heard Lore Scroll earlier on. "Anypony got a plan?" he asked, not really one for coming up with battle plans like this. He knew there were at least two griffons on the upper floors, but by this point, he figured they outnumbered them, and it should be a fair fight, provided they don't have any hostages.

He looked over at Dunder and grinned. "How's ya doin'?" It was then he noticed Fire Walker, and the larger group of ponies properly for the first time.

"There's two griffons up above, makin' a mess o' the rooms. Broke a chair over one's head," he mused. "Felt kinda cool."

[tacobob]

Fire caught sight of Muggo and sighed, "Thank goodness you're alright! We managed to chase off their leader and most of his pirates, so we should get up there quickly before those two hurt anyone else. Mugs, do me a favour and come with us.", she knew the older stallion was good in a fight, but she was not sure about some of the ponies in her group, and while she did not plan to get them involved in actual guard-work, she felt safer with Muggo' and a pony trained by the former Drill Sergeant "Er, Miss and Sir.", she glanced over at Sun Catcher and Cat's Pajamas, "I would prefer you two stay here and er, watch things. Muggo and you sir.", she nodded at Tin Pan, "We need to get these griffons. Mugs, please lead the way!", letting the earth pony take the lead, Fire and Tin quickly followed him to the other griffons. She silently hoped she would be able to scare off the two without any further violence.

While it was rather difficult to notice on the red coated Pegasus, Muggo' did notice she was blushing ever so fiercely...

[Stainless Steel Fox]

(OOC: Ye gods! I've been busy with Christmas preparations and the dice and paper RP I've been running, but I didn't realise it had been a weeks since I cheked this!)

The griffons were easy to find as they reached the balcony of the dining hall as the group of ponies reached the top of the stairs. They were halted by pie volleys from the main floor, as the reamaining cooks brought out desert in a good cause. The pause was enough that the ponies could gain the balcony rather than having to fight their way up onto it. However, the pair of griffons Muggo Ale had fled had been joined by three more, all wearing looted jewellery and whatever they'd been able to find in the cabins they'd broken into.

[tacobob]

(OOC: That's alright. I've been rather busy myself and all my other RPS here have been kind of dead..sniff)

"I'm sorry, but none of that belongs to you. So I would prefer if you set it all down and put your paws to the ground. You my friends, are under arrest.", Fire Walker stated directly as she slowly approached the griffons, "Your leader has already abandoned you, and while I do not wish to harm any of you, I will do my very best to keep you from taking what belongs to you.". She was as serious as death itself and the Pegasus waited for the griffons to make her move.

This did not please Tin Pan, "Why the heck did you do that? We could have snuck up on 'em and took a few out before they knew we were coming!", he growled as he held onto his trusty pan. He wisely kept his eyes on the pirates.

"I am a member of the R.E.A.", she kept her eyes on the griffons as well. "We do not sneak, we do not trick. We alert the perpetrators of our presence, we detail our intentions. We give them time to surrender. If they flee, we will do our best to apprehend. Some might flee, but we will simply have a unicorn send the proper paperwork to the embassy and these poor fools will be hunted to their final days, and while piracy is rare in this day and age, I know for a fact that the griffon's punishment system is a bit more severe than the griffons."

(OOC: While Fire is just chatting away, she is ready to spring on the griffon pirates the moment they try to bolt. But for now, she's giving them a chance to surrender!)

[Stainless Steel Fox]

"Ha! You prissy little pegasus! You really think you could find us? We Red Talons go where we please, and no-one can follow us!" The nearest griffon exclaimedwiping rubarb crumble off her face.

"Let's beat them back and bail! we've got what we came for!" one of the others called.

"We can still take this tub!" The she griffon called.

"Well if you want to tell Captain Hookbeak you're disobeying orders..." The other griffons were already pulling back.

The femaile griffon gave a screech of frustration. "See you around... pony!"

The last word was spat with great venom, even as one of the other retreating griffons dropped a tube into place from across his back and fired it off. The corridor in front of them vanished in a cloud of black smoke and gummy balls that splashed on the floor and walls, gluing anyone hit by them into place.

&&&

"Captain Shipshape!" The periscope watch called. "The warbird, it's withdrawing!"

The captain gave a deep sigh of relief, even as he looked puzzled. He could see for himself the griffons streaming away from the stricken liner, and the warbird itself releasing it's harpoons and turning away. "But they have us! Maybe they saw a Royal Guard patrol vessel approaching... No matter, I need damage and casulaty reports from all over the ship!"

His subordinates worked with calm efficiency, and the reports came in.

"Both engine rooms held, but our starboard wingsails are out of action, and Chief Engineer Hackwrench estimates it#ll take them a couple of hours to fix them."

"Cargo area are was overrun, looks like they got everything that wasn't loaded with a crane. Loadmaster and his watch got out okay."

"Liftbag stations had to fight off a sally, but they unhooked a lift gas feed and blew the attacking griffons away! All four gas bags report nominal, all stabilister balonettes are operational."

"Lore Scroll holds the main dining hall. It was looking bad until Prince Blueblood and his guards took a hoof. Looks like the entire passenger complement turned on the boarders, no serious casualties among the passeners or pursurs staff reported."

"The pursers office is ransacked, looks like they got all the cash and gems."

"Second class cabins are untouched, but the first class... sweet Celestia's shining wings, they stripped the whole deck, even the Royal suite."

The captain winced at that. This was not going to make him particularly popuular with the prince.

"Get pegasi off to Garden Gait, Cloudsdale, anywhere they can scare up a Royal Guard patrol, and we're going to need a repair ship..."

[Snowshoe]

Muggo' Ale did notice that Fire was blushing, mostly from having known her so long rather than any redness, but before he could question he was ordered to take Tin Pan and Fire Walker out to the griffons on the balcony. Simple enough.

"Follow me," he said, heading out. He was still getting his bearings, but it was easy enough to get back to the balcony and face down...well, there was now five griffons, as more had joined the two he'd fought.

He stood tall and grinned. "Nice stuff. Looks a bit on the tacky side, in me honest opinion," he said casually. He waited for Fire Walker and Tin Pan to finish, and he nodded idly. "Aye. An' ya really got no place t'run. Either through us or to the group below, either way, yer caught." He truly was expecting the griffons to give up, not thinking they'd honestly keep trying to take the ship after being beaten back so badly, and delayed enough that help was probably close by at this point.

He then looked at Fire Walker and leaned over a bit. "Since when do we not sneak up an' trick opponents?" he whispered.

His looking away meant he wasn't ready for the attack, still believing the griffons would have stopped. Before he could react, however, the corridor filled with smoke, and as he went to charge at the griffons he felt something sticky catch in his fur and hooves. "Grah!" he fell flat on his face, his rear hooves stuck to the deck while his forehooves tried to keep him going.

"Celestia t'underin'...how in Equestria..." he grunted and tried to get up as best he could. It was hard to see where he, or anypony else, was.

"Fire! Other b'y! Could use a bit o' a hoof here!"

[tacobob]

"Prissy! Little?", Fire Walker was not a happy pony at the moment, "I am neither of those things! Surrender now or prepare to have your clocks clean..er...oh dear.", she quickly caught sight of the gummy balls and smoke, which she had little difficulty avoiding, she just hoped the others were as agile as she. "Oh pony-feathers.", while she briefly considered chasing after the fleeing griffons, she knew she more important matters to attend to as both the stallions had quickly become stuck by the projectiles, and the smoke alone could be toxic. First things first.

With the help of her own natural speed, and wings, the Pegasus quickly went about disbursing the smoke and getting it away from her two companions. She was able to push the smoke out of the room and into the large hole the griffons had made when they broke into the dining area. Thankfully, it was just as simple smoke-screen the griffons had tossed at them to get away, and nothing would be considered harmful, still, she had other worries.

"Guys, whatever you do. Do not move.", she looked over at the two. Muggo' had glue mostly on his legs, while Tin Pan seemed to have most of the sticky substance on his hindquarters, "You especially do not want to move.", the unicorn looked terrified feeling what he was feeling, "You move an inch and you're going to be screaming for a very long time. Let me head over to the kitchen and get some cooking oil, dish-soap and a comb or brush of some sort, along with a bucket..And do you..", her voice got a little softer, "Have anypony you trust to help you? I could, but it's going to be a little awkward."

The Sauté Chef nodded his head sadly, "Yes, there's a peach coloured unicorn with a freckle pattern on her face named Quick...Quick N'Ready. She's the Sous Chef and a special friend of mine and has helped me in sticky situations before, but not like this. I trust her with my life.", he tried his best to be brave. The mare nodded her head and quickly made her way down into the kitchen, where she was able to acquire the necessary supplies and one helpful mare. Before heading up to the balcony, she hoofed over one of the buckets to Dunder.

"Dunders, could you please help Muggo'? You just need to put a little oil on the bits where the glue is connected, and then clean it off with one of the combs. You two can clean up with soapy water. I need to check up on Prince Blueblood. Just follow her.", she motioned over to a young mare who was levitating a bucket of her own and was quickly making her way up the stairs.

One the stallion was sent off, Fire Walker cantered over to where Bluebood was resting "Your grace.", She bowed her head, "What do you require of me? Should I head off with the other Pegasi to alert the R.E.A, or should I stay at your side? Whatever you need, please ask."

[Stainless Steel Fox]

With the retreat of the warbird and it's vanishing into cloud-cloak, staff were running around and checking on the passengers. Despite the wrecked dining hall, everyone seemed to be in high spirits, regaling one another with how they helped chase off the griffons.

Prince Blueblood had recovered enough to cast spells again, and was casting them on his mane to regrow and trim the resulting thatch with the aid of a conjoured pair of scissors and mirror. He looked around when Firewalker arrived, vanishing the conjoured items.

"I am sure the Captain has already sent off messengers, so I would prefer it if you stayed close. We don't know that those thuggish griffons are all gone, after all."

He looked around. "Since it seems that the crew has things under control here, I think I will go up to my room. I am still somewhat fatigued from my earlier magical outburst. Besides, I need to change."

He moved towards the stairs to be stiopped by Lore Scroll. "Your Highness, thank you for your assistance! If you hadn't sent your guards to help, things could have been a lort worse."

Blueblood preened for a moment, then decided it was worth passing on the credit for this, fighting pirates wasn't exactly what a well bred Canterlot noble was supposed to be doing anyway.

"The credit goes entierely to Leiutenant Firewalker here. I merely 'gave her her head', so to speak." He turned to the pegasus. "And you can be sure that I will make a glowing report of your actions to the Royal Guard when we return to Canterlot."

Turning back to the air-ship officer, he continued. "And now, if you'll excuse me, I would like to return to my room."

"That may not be possible your Highness. All the rooms on that level were ransacked, and we still have to take pictures for evidence..."

"WHAT!" Blueblood looked aghast,then broke into a very un-noble dead run up the stairs. He pelted down the free corridor and came to a stop at the broken down door to his suite. He scanned the writing desk where he'd left his father journal and all the notes he'd been making... swept clean. The griffons had clearly grabbed it, along with the other valuables. "No! NO!"

[tacobob]

"Yes, your grace.", Fire Walker glanced over at Dunder before she started to follow the duke, "I'm just a little confused.", she lowered her voice as they cantered on, "With all the wealth on board, not to mention all of the very important ponies from all walks of life, why wasn't there better security on this ship? Even if they were not able to pull from the ranks of the R.E.A, which there isn't any reason why they could not have, they could have least hired a private, independent security group to watch over ponies and their possessions...", she let herself trail off the moment Lore Scroll came into view.

She nodded as he spoke, only speaking only after Blueblood's compliment, "Thank you, your grace.", she said with a proper bow. The mare was not surprised to hear what she had heard. While the captain and some of his crew harassed the ponies that were all gathering in the dining hall, he probably sent the rest to ransack the first class rooms. She quickly followed after the Duke as he quickly made his way towards his room, and while she was not surprised to see that his room was stripped nearly bare of valuables, the Pegasus was surprised how much they took in such little time. She said nothing for the moment, but instead tried her best to help him find anything of value in the room. "The captain's name was Hookbeak and their group was called the 'Red Talons'. I wonder if there has been any data collected on these pirates.", she pondered as she searched the room. "Even better, I noticed there were more than a few griffons that were knocked out during the battle. If one was left here, we could get more information, like the location of their base.", she glanced over a the unicorn to hear what he had to say.

[Dunder]

Dunder saw that they were going to attack the upper deck. Rather than just making a pony wall of attackers, he decided that an attack through the middle and around to the upper deck to flank would be the best idea. He led his ponies through the middle deck, only a few times did they haveto rough up a griffon or two that were left behind looting the rooms and whatnot. He led the ponies up the stairs, kicking a door down with a powerful buck, only to see the glue bomb explode in the corridor. Dunder covered his eyes and stood in the doorway, he was fine, but some of the other ponies weren't. "My ponies, stallions cover and mares help the ones affected in the explosion." Dunder ordered cooly.

When he was hoofed the bucket, Dunder nodded, "Alright." He said, quickly trotting over to Muggo, carefully pouring some of the bucket's contents onto the glue. "Don't worry, just relax. Uncle Dunder will take careof it." HE said, scrubbing the glue down with a spone and starting to comb out some of the glue.

[Stainless Steel Fox]

(OOC: All the griffons have withdrawn, or been taken away. These guys did not want any-pony following them. I'll post after Muggo Ale has reacted. I think it's best we go back to the regular cycle now the fight is over.)

[Snowshoe]

Glue. Of all the things, they used glue. Muggo' Ale looked over at the other guy once the smoke had cleared, laughing a bit. "Oho, b'y. Yer in for it bad," he teased, watching Dunder come over with a solution that apparently would free him from his little predicament.

"Dunder, b'y, yer the last pony I want doin' this. They couldn't have gotten a staff member from the spa or something?" he teased. He was freed shortly after and got up, nodding. "Thanks. Bit o' a nasty trick, that." He could only imagine how bad that kind of bomb would be in combat or something, gluing opponents to the ground and making sure you could win easily by default.

"What happened?" he asked, looking over at Dunder as he shook out his legs, trying to get some circulation going again. "One minute I'm on deck, next we got griffons everywhere. Don't think it's the same ones that we pissed off a few months back?" he asked, before shaking his head, answering his own question.

"Nah, can't be. They wouldn't know we'd be on this," Muggo' reasoned. "Must be after the Prince. Where's Blueblood, he alright?"

[Stainless Steel Fox]

The other two could easily tell where the Prince was from the big 'NO!' his discovery resulted in.

He turned to Firewalker, and his face was grim. "Leiutenant, how much chariot time do you and your wing-pony have?"

Seeing her confusion, he continued. "They have taken that which is most precious to me. The clothes, the money, that I couold deal with. But they have taken my father's diary, and all my notes. Without those, this expedition is done for."

He lifted a piece of paper from off the floor. "But they made a mistake. I showed you my talent with maps. What they don't know is that the spells on that diary allow me to locate it. No matter where they go, no matter how they try to hide, I can find them!"

His horn touched the centre of the piece of paper and lines spread out from it, sketching in a map of central Equestria. He grimaced in concentration, and a red dot appeared on the paper, slowly moving and leaving a thinner red trail behind.

"We are going to collect the others, and then we will commandeer a chariot or air-boat, whatever this liner has to offer, and we shall track them down! They task me, and I shall have them, across the Everfree, around the Alacor mountains, to the gates of Tartarus before I give them up!" He paused in thought. "You know, that's a rather nice turn of phrase. I should write that down somewhere."

(OOC: Cue the fun bit. Are people feeling epic? I just watched the Hobbit, and I have many ideas for a pirate base, and a stealth mission to invade it and recover the diary. I may be forcved to channel some Indianna Jones and the last Crusade as well...)

[tacobob]

"I'm not sure about Dunder, but as a member of the R.E.A, it was required for me to both trained and tested in chariot escort duty. Both in armored and in poor weather conditions, along with Quadriga and Triga.", Fire Walker stated, "If we are going to be going to their lair, it would also be wise for us to be tagged with a tracking spell as well. Not only would it be best for my superiors to know where we are, they could also send a sizeable squad after us to capture the pirates once we are finished in the lair, and even to save our flanks if we are caught. Not only would you be able to collect your father's diary, we would also be doing all of Equestria a service by putting an end to those air-buccaneer's reign of piracy. Still, there's something wrong.", she glanced at her armor.

"Right. We need to be stealthy. I did pack two sets of proper R.E.A regulated 'D.M.O', or 'Dangerous Mission Outfits' for myself and Dunder. They're basically good for sneaking about. They are skintight, and cover nearly everything, except for the eyes, which we have goggles for. The shoes are also padded for extra sneakiness. I was originally hoping we could use the 'D.M.O's as wet suits if we went swimming, but it looks like we might get to use them for their real purpose."

OOC: Eh, just an excuse to have Fire Walker and Dunder run around in those funny black ninja suits nearly all of the mane six have been seen in. I was thinking the goggles would have also been 'night-vision' since the season opener made those canon, but reconsidered thinking that would be too much...

[Dunder]

Dunder looked at Muggo in the eyes, with an 'are you serious?' look. "Really? Says the pony who I wake up to with his hooves around my chest and his body pressed to my back." He said to Muggo', chuckling a little. He kept combing until Muggo was released, helping the stallion up as the earth pony inquired.

Dunder looked around across the skies, "I don't even know. One second, dinner party, the next second..." He looks down at the knife wound, adrenaline wearing off made the pain increase. "Don't worry, some bandages and I'll be fine." He said, more to himself. "Either way, we need to see what they want us to do with this griffon problem." Dunder siad, sighing, "I hope they just let it go..." HE said, trotting off and looking for Fire.

[Snowshoe]

"Yer a comfortable warmth. Ya were also in me bed," Muggo' said with a shrug. He nodded, looking over at Dunder. "That's a bit o' a hit. Let's get ya patched up, before we head out to find the others," he said.

"An' given the yell I heard, they're in his cabin. Ya go get some medical attention, b'y." He patted his friend on the shoulder, then cantered off to find Fire and Blueblood in his cabin.

What he found was a state of disrepair, given the fact they just ransacked the cabin. Papers were strewn about, drawers tossed to the ground, whole nine yards.

"Redecoratin', yer majesty? I particularly like what ya did with the desk," Muggo' Ale said casually, making sure to avoid most of the stuff on the floor as he went to stand next to Fire Walker. He was smarter than to step all over what may be evidence, or useful for tracking spells or something.

"Proves me theory right. They were after ya, or the journal," he mused out loud, looking around the cabin.

"Ya got a lead to take 'em on, yer Majesty?" he asked, not having seen him spark up the map, nor his little spiel about finding the griffons and the journal.

[Stainless Steel Fox]

"Indeed I have!" Blueblood exclaimed. He noticed Dunder's limp. "That might prove a problem. Are you still flight capable, and fight capable? It is my intention to follow these ruffians and hound them to their lair. Though Firewalker, your point about a tracking spell is well taken. I shall create a second map which targets us."

He suited actions to words, then rolled it up and levitated it over to Muggo. "Hold this, and be ready to present it at the appropriate time."

He examined the reamains of his wardrobe, then looked down again at his jacket. "Hmm... not the most suitable of outfits for hunting, but I seem to have little choice. As I explained to the lieutenant here, I intend to commandeer whatever small craft this boat has, hopefully a chariot and chase them down. Dunder, go see the ships surgeon immediately. If you are unable to assist, we shall have to make other arrangements."

He moved out of the room, and called back to Firewalker and Muggo. "Come with me. We have to see the captain."

They were stopped at the entrance to the bridge by a rating. "I'm sorry sir, but the Captain is too busy to see anyone at this time."

He recieved the full power of a glare backed by generations of nobility, or at least unthinking arrogance and privilege, and a voice that while not the full Royal Canterlot one, had a tone that would have frozen Windigos. "He will see me. I am Blueblood, Duke of Canter, and my guards are the main reason his passenger list is not a casualty list! Do not bar my way, for I am not in a good mood, and you do _not_ want to be the recipient of it!"

The browbeaten rating scurried aside, and Blueblood entered. The Captain spotted him as he approached, actually had probably heard him first, and said, "Prince Blueblood! I'm most dreadfully sorry, but I have too many things to deal with replacing your stolen goods right now. We are summoning up a full Royal guard patrol, and I have to make sure that the ship is still flying when they get here."

"Good. Muggo, the map." He motioned to the second map. "My secretary has an updating map that shows my location, and that of the pirate ship. You will provide the Royal guard patrol with it, and myself witrh a chariot or other flying vehicle that this ship posesses."

That stunend the Captain. "But how..."

"Do you really think that a Royal prince would be allowed to travel without some way to track his location, or that of his belongings?" The prince had a wonderful sneer.

"But you can't be serious, you can't be thinking of taking on that entire ship! If I let you go on such a crazy expedition, I'd be arrested!"

"You talk as if you had a choice. However, I am not insane. I have no intention of attacking, only finding. However, I will leave you with a letter absolving you of any responsibility for my actions. Now, find me a chariot!"

(OOC:There are occasions when being a complete and utter jerk who'll ride roughshod over anypony that getsd in his way actually comes in useful. Sorry about the big paost and need to fit yourselves around it, but Blueblood is not in the mood for discussion IC, and I want to get this thing moving again OOC.)

[tacobob]

Fire Walker was in the middle of thanking her lucky stars that Muggo did not suffer the same sticky fate that the kitchen worker had blundered into. He would live and with a good deal of help and tender loving care from his marefriend, but it would not be an pleasant experience. Then Dunder appeared and he was looking rather rough, and that limp caused her to gasp. She wanted to run over and check up on the poor stallion while giving him plenty of kisses (Since they do make the boo-boos better!), but she had to keep up the air of professionalism with Blueblood at her side. He was probably going through a good deal of mental anguish at the moment. Dunder will be healed, but there was a very good chance if things are not done correctly, the Prince could lose the only means to find his father. "Your grace, do you know if any doctors or alchemists on board? We could get Dunder healed up and he could go with us. I'm not sure I could do this alone.", she sadly added.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Once the drama with Dunder was taken care of (Hopefully as this all happened.) and he was hopefully fixed up, the mare followed Muggo' and Prince Blueblood to the Captain. During this time, she kept deathly silent and had a stern look on her face. She wanted to smile when she watched the prince handle the bridge guard and later the captain, but she had to keep an upper lip during all of this. It was Blueblood's theater at the moment. He knew what he was doing and she only had to wait for the carriage. She silently hoped it was a new model. The previous ones had issues with their harness, which were generally uncomfortable and had weight issues.

[Dunder]

Dunder frowned, he didn't want to trot off and feel left out while somepony was wrapping his leg up with bandages. But...he was a part of the military, his body was a tool for Blueblood to use in combat. The feeling wasn't making Dunder feel worth too much as he turned and trotted away, head hanging low; the most wounded of them all.

LATER

He came back over to regroup, his leg tightly had a bandage wrapped around the wound, a slit of red already grown on the bandage. His head was hanging low, but he wanted to see the three other ponies. Most of all, he wanted to see Fire and give her a big hug.

He also wanted to see Blueblood, tell him to either let the pegasus stallion go with them or else he would smack the unicorn around a couple times. He didn't know where they went, so he decided to trot around for a little to see if he could find them. He glanced around the ship as he trotted. The previously well decorated and lively place was filled with broken glass, torn wallapaper, strewn luggage and clothes. He sighed.

As he trotted along, he could hear the voices of Blueblood and somepony else, if memory served Dunder, it was the captain. Dunder picked up the pace, hugging the wall, and peeking into the bridge.