Beneath the Surface

"Stay out here." Eclipse orders the others. "Do not let anything past."

He flies up onto the ship personally and ducks into the nearest entrance he can find, navigating his way down to the noise. He moves silently, the dull flap of his wings the only indicator of his presence.

Eclipse could hear footsteps and even more loud clangs as he approached the ladders to engine deck. There was, however, no talking.

Repair? Or... Eclipse approaches the engine deck with apprehension. He peeks in slightly, trying to remain undetected as he observes exactly what in Tartarus is going on in there.

Eclipse could see metal pieces on the ground, wrenches, cogs, wires.. and a unicorn mare in an engine oil-covered coat, lying underneath a gigantic machine that seemed to be the engine of the ship. She hit it again before securing another cog in there.

Eclipse breathes a small sigh of relief and withdraws his head. He coughs pointedly, announcing his presence from the above deck. "Miss Cog? Are you alright? Do you require assistance?"

The mare slides from underneath the engine. "Oh?" she notices Eclipse and quickly gets up, throwing the oil covered coat on the ground and quickly putting on her captain coat. "Oh, uhm, hi, greetings, welcome!" She says, slightly embarrassed. "Sorry you had to see me like this. Yes, I am alright, thanks for asking. I take it the ship has already landed since you're on board?" She asks with a weak smile, trying to hide the embarrassment.

"Oh, um, yes, Miss Cog." Eclipse gestures to the part of the ship he thinks his troops are currently situated. "We number, at present, fifty-eight ponies. Is your ship capable of supporting all fifty-eight?"

Sky Cog slowly shakes her head. "Fifteen at most. But there is another transport airship coming soon that can handle the rest. The princess of the night was kind enough to send it along with me, but it is slightly slower." She climbs up the ladder and walks past Eclipse to the main deck.

"That is... good to know." Eclipse follows her back to the main deck. "I think all of us are looking forward to leaving this place."

"I do believe so too." They finally reach the wood-filled main deck. "So.. how did it go?" Sky asks Eclipse, leaning on the fence and looking at the encampment filled with the rest of the soldiers.

"It was..." He hesitates. "We all did our duty. And Equestria prevailed. I suppose that's all I can say." He stands and watches over the encampment, his hair whipping in a steadily strengthening wind. He looks down on the assembled troops. "They want to go home. At least they are still alive to hope as much."

"That's... somewhat good to hear, I suppose.." Sky says. "May the souls of the lost rest in peace." She then turns to look around her ship. "Huh, quite a few holes, hm...." She begins, looking around.

"Yes... If I may ask, what happened to your ship?" Eclipse asks. "The... Crystal Viper, wasn't it? How did it get all these holes?"

"Three pirate ships ambushed me on my way here. Crystal Viper fought back and now the remains of their ships lie underneath the ocean." Sky says, smiling. "I could've at least taken their treasure for repairs...." she grunts.

"Pirate ships?" Eclipse asks, doubtfully. "Pirate airships? Between here and the mainland? What reason could they possibly have for patrolling this route? Hardly anypony comes by here."

"Yes, pirate airships. They came out of nowhere and immediately attacked me. Anyway, who are the most important ponies that are coming back home with me?"

Eclipse frowns. "We need to step up air patrols, it seems..." He shakes himself out of it. "You'll have to take special note of Commander Ician, miss Divine, miss Ruby, sir Storm, sir Griff, and High Alchemist Quimia. Thankfully they survived the battle... even if only barely."

((Seeing how things have progressed... I guess, definitively, that Stream is Retconned out of this timeline. Permanently.))

"Same group I brought here then... with the exception of this.. High Alchemist. That's okay. I liked the bunch." She says, smiling. "The transport ship should be here in around half an hour, can you hold out that much longer?" Sky asks.

Eclipse shrugged. "We aren't under heavy fire or siege yet, so I doubt another half-hour will be much of a concern." He looks back over the fence, watching the army below as he considers what to say next.

Sky looks around the deck "...Oh all this wood..." She says and starts walking around, taking all the pieces and placing them onto a big pile "I'm gonna have a heck of a job when I return home repairing this thing... And you can signal the group to come on if they want."

"Of course." Eclipse signals to the troops down below, nine of whom begin to file their way onto the airship. Don't worry about the repairs, miss Cog, I'm sure the Royal Guard will be willing to accommodate a benefactor." He gestures to the boarded troops. "The remaining places will be for our six war heroes."

Sky smiles and walks up to her bridge. At that moment, Griff walked up to the ship "She took some beating didn't she..." He says as he walks on board.

"As it appears, sir." Eclipse salutes as Griff boards the ship. "Welcome aboard."

He is followed briefly by Quimia, who nods at Eclipse as well. He salutes back, and awaits further instructions.

Quimia does not give him any. She instead focuses on Sky. "Good evening, miss Cog. It is a pleasure to finally meet the one rendering such assistance unto the Royal Guard."

Sky smiles back "Pleasure to meet you too." She says. "I hope you're fine with airships, because I know that Divine wasn't...."

"I will make do. Your concern is much appreciated." Quimia looks around the ship. "She has suffered recently, it seems. These holes... what were their causes?"