"This is dumb," Flynn grumbled, sitting with a scowl on the front end of the dormant wagon. "This is dumber than dumb."
"Save your breath, pal," Logan grumbled back. Both Heraldites sat, looking up at the steeper heights of the mountain. From their lower vantage point, Rainbow Dash and Ariel and Wildcard could be seen ascending swiftly to scale the peak of the natural formation. "The decision's already been made."
"Well, it's a dumb decision," Flynn exhaled. He looked back at where Kepler kept an eye on a bound Seraphimus. "Made on a dumb impulse by idiots... idiots who are dumb."
"Rainbow and Ariel have performed recon hundreds of times before. You never busted their chops then. Why now?"
"Because we don't have the means of catching up with them!"
"You mean you don't have the means."
"Dude..."
"Double dude on you!" Logan spat. He turned towards the balding stallion with a dull smirk. "Trust me—I know a thing or two about what it means to be blueballed by fate. Don't sweat, baldy. You'll get your magic mojo back. Until then, could you kindly stop bitching about every little thing?"
"What he said," Seraphimus droned.
"Ha-hah!" Kepler added.
Flynn folded his forelimbs and scrunched down. "Hrmmmmmmmmmmmmnnngh..." His mechanical eye rotated and locked loudly in place.
Logan sighed. "What now?"
Flynn spoke beneath his breath. "I don't like how chummy this gang's gotten with our prisoner," he mumbled. "Especially you."
"I smacked her in the back of the head over a month ago," Logan said. "How is that 'chummy?'"
"Yeah, and you let her survive," Flynn spat. "You know what that means, right? I'm damned surprise you haven't slept together."
"Is a certain egghead jealous?"
"Cram it, Big Show!"
"Hahahahahaha..."
Flynn exhaled in a huff. "This is how shit starts turning into a cesspool... the moment we let our guard down."
"You'll notice she's still in chains."
"You know what I mean." Flynn's natural eye gave the stallion a sideways glance. "She damned well nearly killed us all off at the World's Edge. Doesn't matter how well you can teach a parrot to sting. A vendetta's a vendetta... and that shit doesn't die."
"It does for some of us."
Flynn groaned. "Don't project, Logan. You suck at that. Your big fat ass always gets in the way."
"At least there's a sexy intermission."
"I'm serious, dude..." Flynn squinted at him. "What ever happened to the Big Show from months ago who was ready and willing to chop the griffin's skull off so Rainbow could stop shouldering the burden?"
"Ehhhh..." Logan leaned against the frame of his axe. "I dunno. Maybe there's some sense to what the Austraeoh says. Maybe the show ain't over for the Commander of the Talon."
"Now who's getting soft?"
"You think about all the nasty things we've done—waiting to serve as Eljunbyro with the power of Odrsjot..." Logan glanced over. "...and you tell me that you don't believe in 'second chances.'"
Flynn avoided his gaze momentarily, but ultimately returned with: "Not every other soul you meet is your daughter, Logan."
Logan clenched his jaw.
"Or that crazy mate of yours either—"
"You don't think I know that?" Logan grunted.
Flynn bit his lip. "S-sorry, Big Show. I was just—"
"Nah... I get it." Logan stared up at the mountainside. "In the end... the only ponies we can look after is ourselves. And I—for one—wanna make the best out of every chance I get. It'd royally suck if we all just stumbled into karma... ... ...like Bard did."
"What more can you expect of us here, Big Show?" Flynn gave the larger stallion a somber look. "I mean... really?"
Silence.
"We can only do right by following the Austraeoh," Logan said. "So far... that hasn't led us astray." He sat up straight. "So... for what it's friggin' worth... I'm giving what Rainbow Dash wants the benefit of a doubt."
"You think the stupid buzzard in chains will follow suit?"
"Hell... I dunno. I don't really care. If she knows what's good for her, she would."
"If we all knew what was good for us we'd never have left Wyvern Point."
"Heh... yeah..."
"Heheh..."
The two stallions watched as the distant specks ascended the mountainside. The dark speck flew closer to the prismatic figure.
"One thing's for sure." Logan nodded with his head. "The Austraeoh's got the best damn protection she could ask for."
I know I could be wrong...
But please let's not turn this into a reversal moment for Seraphimus. She's been doing... moderately well at recovery.
Well, this was a very interesting conversation. It was nice to hear the others thoughts on what is going on again. Seems Flynn still doesn't really like Dash's leadership as much as the others.
Sera's response:
durandal.dnsalias.net/imgur/ONn4GC8.jpg
I wonder if the Herald's loyalty to Dash will come into question later on in this...?
The role of Seraphimus will now be played by Flynn.
8492998
Prob'ly not. She's got AJ to make sure Sera isn't plotting anything, and they all just trust each other too much. IC that was not a challenge
i.imgur.com/s4Bgclq.png
Good to see Sera fitting in.
-Through the path long forgotten, into the darkness long begotten. Ofolrodi.
So ive had a thought lately. After all this long amount of time rationing that weve been going through does this mean Logan is gonna lose all that weight and become a normal sized pony? I mean hes fat, thats funny, but its unsustainable in this situation.
BARD LIVES!
In all seriousness though, does anyone else notice a hint of inversion here? Could this little magic field be affecting ponies magic and doing a slow version of Discord greying them out?
Flynn just being more susceptible due to being a unicorn maybe? I mean Sera seems to certainly be acting in opposition to her usual behaviour.
I remember a statement about war and how it makes for strange bedfellows. That may be equally true for the dark side.
Have you ever seen bright idiots?
8492977
A moral conflict within the Herald could be even worse.
This looks just like a quote from one of the combat characters from the game Legend of Legacy?
Idiots who are dumb? Jey, I resemble that remark.
Thing is, if whatever bear is over teh mountain can feed on the mana through an entire mountain, does the effect have a variable strength with range and gets a lot stronger closeby, or does it level off through complex interactions between self stabilising projection methods so the object in question doesnt undergo self amplifying mana absorption and turn itself into Dark Star?
Hope that mountain doesn't house the hall of it's king.
Weird. Logan is saying words that don't make me want to shove a brick down his throat.
Is Seraphimus still dangerous? Yes. To whom is a more complicated question. Honestly I can see Seraphimus being a problem not because she might try to kill Dash or any of the others, but because once she establishes herself as part of the group rather than an outsider she actually has leadership skills Dash lacks. It took Dash a long time to be a solid leader to the Jury, and that was more based on their deep friendship than any take-charge attitude or actual skill in leading on Dash's part. While Seraphimus might've gone off the deep end, all of her old leadership skills and charisma are still more or less intact. If she regains enough of herself to be trusted by the group, she could also end up becoming a go-to leader in events of crisis as the Dark Side will no doubt engender in the coming many chapters and possible months if not years of in story timeline.
I could see a rift forming in the Herald between those that would want to follow Seraphimus' leadership, which will be smart, practical, and at times seemingly neccessarily hard, and those who'd want to stick to Dash's lead of brash action but also focused on doing things as non-violent and lethal as possible.
Granted I'm talking a scenario that could be years in the making, but its something I could see happening eventually. The groundwork is being laid right here with a lot of the way Dash and Seraphimus both act, and clash in their methods.
Anyway, that aside, I guess we'll soon find out what might've broken the hover plank thingie. Wonder if the magical energies could be recovered and used to repair it?
Of course there are some questions, I bet Rainbow would prefer if they took these issues up with her personally. I know I don't like it when people go behind my back about something.
It might be that whatever is stealing ambient magic from all around them only does so to things that don't... fight back, in a sense. Things that don't belong to any person's morphogenetic field, to borrow from Terry Pratchett.
8493143 Logan's fatness is a basic fact of nature and transcends the laws of nature and nutrition.
8493239 Flynn still has all his magic according to Twilight and himself - and as we know, friendship, that is Harmony, is magic after all.
I thnk you forgot a colon
8493429
This journey, and books, are an epic years in the making.
Anything is possible.
HELLO FUTURE BABS!
Im still on Ausraeoh, and I know I probably shouldent spoil myself but I have to know-
IS GOLD PETALS MENTIONED AND/OR SEEN BEYOND AUSTRAEOH?!
and please, no spoilers! just yes or no!
8493980
but yes or no is a spoiler...
8493299
anyone can hold a flashlight.
8493519
Dash and Fluttershy could fly when Discorded, I don't remember if Rarity used her magic or not.
8493980
There's a side story that skirts published in his main account that deals with her, but aside from coming up when Rainbow reminisces a few times, I don't think she does.
I know right? If it were up to me they'd have been cuddling a dozen chapters back.
The one where Big Show invites terrible calamity...
Slowly but surely, Sera and the Herald are starting to come to terms with one another. It's only a matter of time now.
That means it will be successful, yes?
I ship it. LoganxFlynn
Or, y'know... something else...
YOU DID NOT JUST-
8493710 It probably imploded. *Snickers* Sorry, just gonna go to the next chapter now...
So... are we going to need a counter for how many times Flynn says dumb?
Also, I'm actually starting to really like Logan now.
It might be dumb, but it's the smartest dumb choice available.
And now the old farts complain, while the East Wind and the others are all at work...
8493710
And here we see Nagmeister nagging Colon about a colon.
I guess it's about that time to start announcing LogaPhimus, huh?
Then she gets abducted by a giant bloodsucking bat dolphin outta nowhere.
8570943
I believe that ship was set sail quite a while ago.
So it’s been like 2-3 months since they got too the dark side huh. These books always start like that, and towards the end it takes five chapters to get through a minute as the big action scene rolls around
That's how you know it's gonna work!
Hey, Sera's coming into casual conversation! Another step forward!
Damn, it was that long ago? Time's moving fast. So of course, we're gonna have a Namekian five minutes happen sometime down the line. Probably when we inevitably run into the war.
Flynn seems to be really questioning Dash here and....it's kinda worrying? Like we don't need undying "My leader is never wrong" levels of loyalty, but clearly Sera is an asset at this point.
He's gotta chill out or he's gonna have a real problem with Rainbow's propensity to gather unlikely allies...