“It's working!” Digiff shouted. He stood with another dredger in a tower flanking the bridges that led to the central platform. More and more Red Bargers crossed the canal to join the group huddled beneath the middle structures. Meanwhile, the guards in the towers fired all manner of harpoons and projectiles at the attacking pirates, reducing their numbers to bloody heaps. “Nix! It's working!” Digiff pointed a hoof northwest at the scattered attackers. “Their forces are breaking! I don't think they even know how to advance!”
“Probably because they didn't plan it,” Nixkit said with a grunt. He swung his shark prod high, slashing a diving pegasus in the chest. The winged pirate crashed into a bulkhead behind him as the dredger panted, sweated. “Good job, everypony! Now throw everything you've got at these damned fliers—” Just as he said this, he caught the unmistakable glimmer of underwater shapes surging beneath the struts. Nixkit pivoted about, squinting at the space between canals.
“Rnnnngh! Eat metal and piss fire!” Saxon fired a crossbolt or two into the distant crowd of charging pirates. He too caught a glimpse of what Nixkit saw. The dredger pivoted about on a narrow strip of welded ships between two canals, gawking at the submerged streaks. “Ha! Hahah!” He turned to grin at Nixkit, eyes twitching. “Hey Nixkit! Check it!” He motioned with his hoof. “Guppies!”
SPLOOSH! That very instant, a pair of seaponies leapt out of the canal behind him. Each creature gripped the opposite end of a double-hilted sawtooth blade... and they passed straight through Saxon as they dove into the canal on the other side of the deck. SCHLUNK!
Saxon jerked in place; his grin tilted towards the heavens. A second later... his body fell to the right while his head rolled to the left, rattling into the muck with a limp splash.
Nixkit blinked, his eyes tracing after the glowing attackers underwater. “...Muck.” He galloped to the far end of his strut. “Digiff!” he shouted towards the platform. “Get everypony away from the canals! They've got damned sea ponies swimming beneath us!”
“What??” Digiff stammered. SPLOOSH! In a glowing streak, an aquatic equine leapt up, swinging a loop of garrote wire in the air. It noosed around the neck of the dredger right beside Digiff, yanking him clear off the tower and into the canal on the other side. Digiff gasped, his coat baptized in fresh blood. “Muckin' A!” He spun the turret of his post and fired a harpoon randomly into the waters.
All across the edges of the central platform, wet splashes of dirtied water lit the air, followed by panicked screams as the Red Bargers ducked to avoid the leaping attackers from below.
Nixkit galloped towards the nearest bridge. “Just run in! Get to solid decking!” he hollered breathily. “You'll be safe so long as you—”
SPL-SPLOOSH! A pair of seaponies leapt at him, dragging a chain.
Nixkit gasped and fell to the floor. He avoided the length of metal links—but the stallion behind him was not so lucky. Nixkit spun and watched as the chain caught the other dredger's fetlock, dragging him across the deck and into the next canal.
“No! No!” The stallion fought and clambered over the rusted hull blurring by. “Please—Goddess—Nooo—Blbllblbbllbb!” And with frothing bubbles, he was dragged to the murky depths... where ferocious lights consumed him.
Nixkit gnashed his teeth. Schiiiing! “The waters!” He shouted into the glow of his taser. “Shock the waters!”
Digiff was already tossing his electrified polearm down into the depths like a javelin. “Hrkkkt!”
All across the edges of the central platform, dredgers stabbed, shoved, and threw their tasers into the drink. The ocean lit up with blue lightning. In random spots, loud pops echoed to the surface, followed by thick coats of seapony blood.
Keris saw this. While running towards the centermost platform, he hollered: “No! Imbeciles!” He sneered through his beak. “You can't kill all of them that way! They'll dive lower!” He perched on a crumpled smokestack and shouted. “Save your weapons, blast it! We've still got wingponies to fend off—”
P-POW! An errant shell exploded behind Keris, sending chunks of debris flying over his feathery head.
Wincing, Keris spun and squinted his hawkeyes north.
One of the five pirate ships was keeling over to its side, its cannons aimed awkwardly in a skyward arc. As the crew on board struggled to regain balance...
...Monket's ship closed in for the kill. The slaver of the waves stood close to the bow, frowning into the salty wind. “Turn us broadside!” he hollered.
“Broadside!”
“Hard to starboard!”
With chugging engines, the vessel turned about. The other steamship followed suit, and soon both sets of cannons were facing the ailing pirate ship.
“On my mark!” Monket raised a hoof. His pale red eyes flared. “FIRE!”
“Fire!”
“Fiiiiiiire!”
P-POW!
POWWW!
A solid wave of cannonfire burned over the waves—searing, burning, surging straight into the decrepit hull of the lopsided ship. There was a brief blast of hellish screams, and then all was flames and splinters. A tall burning plume separated Monket's miniature armada from their targets.
Every slave and servant on board the two vessels shook with roaring cheer.
Monket afforded himself a brief smirk. “Not so fast, you mud-birthers!” He pointed. “We've still got a fight ahead of us! Let's put the dredge coal ordinance in their holds to good use and send them swiftly to Hell!”
“Two ships advancing!” a crew member hollered from the stern. “They're moving to flank us!”
“Thread the needle!” Monket hollered. “Full speed ahead! Signal the other ship to keep their cannons facing north! We'll sweep them off the waves before they can get a hit in!”
“Aye! Full speed!”
“Ready the cannons!”
Somewhere else...
Somewhere cold and rusted...
“What in blazes are you two urchins doing here?!”
“How'd they even survive that mess out there?!”
“Please. We need a place to stay... won't you help us?!”
“This isn't where seafoam shits are supposed to fester.”
“But if we stay out there, we'll die!”
“Mrmmfnnngh...” Swab opened his eyes, squinting.
The dim interior of the brig came into focus. Several dredgers frowned down at him. He sensed the limbs of Croche grasping him... dragging him down the ramp.
“For the last time, you're not supposed to be here!” a stallion said.
“Send them back out,” another dredger grumbled. “They'll be more useful as a distraction.”
“Especially with that colt on the edge of bloating.”
“He's not bloating!” Croche's voice cracked. “He just hit his head, that's all! Please... w-we can be useful! I promise!”
“Kid, for the last time...”
“Croche?” Swab wheezed, sitting up, wincing.
“Swab!”
“How did we...?” He rubbed his missing ear, hissing through clenched teeth. Blood dribbled down his forehead. “Ungh... Rainbow? Where's Rainbow...?”
Just then, the air shook with flapping wings. Several voices echoed from high above.
“There!”
“In there!”
“That's where they're holding the beast!”
One of the stallions inside the brig gasped. “You mucking idiots! You led them right to us—”
Four pegasi galloped down the ramp. Upon seeing the thick group of guards, the pirates jerked to a stop, forming a miniature phalanx with daggers and swords drawn. “Shit! They got a whole nest down here protecting it!”
Schiiing! The dredgers ran past Swab and Croche. “You want Skagra's prize?! Come pay for it with your blood!”
“Raaaaaaugh!”
“Make 'em bloat!”
“Yaaaaaaaah!”
The air filled with a claustrophobic cacophony of rattling blades and sliced limbs. Shrieks echoed through the bars between every other sword swing and rapier parry.
Meanwhile, Croche frantically dragged Swab away from the melee. Swab shivered, watching past his aching limbs as stallion fought stallion, staining the rusted walls with blood high above. In swift order, the dredgers overpowered the tiny invasion party, fighting them back up the ramp and above deck.
“Move! Move!”
“Shove 'em out!”
“We've got these bastards! Hit 'em where it hurts!”
“Watch it! Friggin' barnacle biters! Suck on dredge steel!”
At last, Croche had scooted the two of them into a corner, nestled between a pile of debris and one of the cells.
“There's...” Swab gulped, his eyes narrow and his voice breathy. “There's j-just so much of it...”
“Swab...” Croche panted, fussing with his neck and skull. “You're... you're hurt bad! I... I-I don't know how to stop the bleeding!”
“...maybe we were foaled on it,” Swab murmured deliriously. “Everything is blood. And... and the ocean...” A slight curve to his lips, despite the tears welling in his eyes. “The ocean's the real thing that's made up.”
“Swab...”
“No wonder m-my parents can't find their way back...” He squeaked, his eyes thinning even more. “When everything's all red... how do you know east fr-from west?”
“Swab, stop talking. Please. Just... just try to stay awake. I need... I-I need to...” Suddenly, Croche gasped, her sunken eyes lit up by a bright ruby glow.
Swab suddenly found it easier to breathe. He didn't know why, but his senses returned intensely enough for him to feel a strong set of hooves reaching through the bars behind him and holding him close.
“Shhhhh... do what she says, kiddo,” the voice rasped. “Stay awake. It's okay. I've got you.”
“You...” Croche leaned back, lips quivering. She stared in horror at the pegasus behind Swab. “You're the... the...”
“Calm down,” Rainbow said, her voice rolling past Swab's good ear. “It's going to be okay. Do you see the cabinet right beneath the ramp? Where the fight just left?”
Swab blinked. She spun and looked at the distant chunk of furniture. “Uh... yeah?”
“Third drawer from the bottom, left-hoof side. There's some gauze and bandages. The drawer to the right of it has some disinfectant. Go grab it. Be quick.”
“But... b-but how could you possibly know that?” Croche breathed. “You've been in this cell the whole tim—”
“It's in there. Believe me,” Rainbow said. “Now go. I've got him.”
Croche bit her lip. Nodding, she scampered off to rummage through the cabinet.
“Shhhhh...” Rainbow's grip of the colt tightened. Her voice echoed to the side. “It's okay, Flutters. I've got him. Stay with me, girl. Let's concentrate on the living for once, 'kay?” Her voice grew closer. A fuzzy chin nuzzled Swab's good ear. “Just relax, kid. But don't relax too much. I need you awake for when we patch you up.”
“I... I...” Swab sniffled. “I-I didn't mean to get myself hurt. Or Croche. Or y-you...” He wheezed as more blood trickled down his skull. “I swear... everything I-I touch falls apart—”
“Uh uh...” Rainbow pivoted—as did the source of the glowing ruby light. Swab felt an intense warmth coating his wounded skull from behind. Almost instantly, the pain went away. The blood flowed less liberally, and a toasty calmness filled his being. “That may be true. Celestia knows it's true for me. But I swear... if there's any good left in me... I'm not gonna let you fall apart.”
Swab gulped, struggling with a hard lump in his throat.
Croche scampered back. “I've got the bandages!”
“Good. Start making his skull all mummy-like,” Rainbow said.
Croche was already wrapping the gauze around the wounded half of his head.
“Not too thick at first. Be gentle.”
“Okay...” Croche complied, trembling.
“What's your name, girl?” Rainbow spoke above the muffled thuds of the battle above deck.
“Uhm... Croche...” she murmured.
“Hrmmf... that's a lame name,” Rainbow Dash muttered. Her lips curved in Swab's peripheral vision. “Think I'll call you Kera the Third.”
“Uhm...” Croche blinked. “...okay?”
“Who... wh-who's Kera the Second...?” Swab wheezed.
“Heh... I'll tell you later, kid,” Rainbow mused. “But you have to promise to stay with me. Okay?”
Swab sniffled, clutching the strong hooves that held his tiny figure. “I... I-I think I can do that...”
“I know you can,” Rainbow Dash said. More thuds echoed overhead, and she breathed into the air around the foals. “Shhh... just chillax, everypony. It's gonna be okay. I promise...”
I hope that Swab becomes this totally awesome pony who can understand Austraeoh now because of his head injury. Like a sage. Sage Swab.
Hang in there, kid.
I feel that Rainbow's ticket out is arriving very soon, a la overzealous pirates.
6627309 He ain't looking so "Saxxy" anymore.
Also, SHOO-BE-DOO, MOTHERBUCKERS!!
Damn it Saxon, should've kept your head in the game.
I would also like to know who Kera the Second is.
Now if the Seaponies can get Skagra, everything will be just gravy.
Electroplosion.
Croche is about to be welcomed into the fold of the church of awesome.
Also, 7am my time this went up. Nothing like waking up to a fresh page of Epic
-In the end isolation, hunted by a nation. Utaan.
So Scoots was Kera the First, maybe? Also, there seems to be a big change in RD's behaviour compared to the couple previous chapters. Hopefully for the better, given that the change occured(probably), when she saw Croche dragging a hurt Swab.
6627773
7am? Whoa, it's 10:35pm for me
6627759 Oh good, it's not just me.
My guess is Swab.
6627759 6627780
I'm pretty sure the order goes Kera, Swab, Croche.
Rainbow's actions are really going to help her here, I can tell already. Both emotionally and with others.
Fluttershy must somehow be doing this, which would be the first time a ghosty had influence on the physical world. The only other alternative is the pendant, but it has never displayed healing abilities before.
There you go. Swab will be fine (for some definition of fine).
The sea ponies. Are they pirates, or are they Camellia's subjects? We do not know if they were also attacking the pirates.
6627759
I'm betting it's Swab.
6627793
But Swab isn't a filly.
6627796
Pretty sure it did or did something similar to healing. We need Austraeoh Fact Checker on this one.
hm, Kera the First is Kera. Kera the Second is Swab. Kera the Third is Croche. Can't think of anyone else that fits the bill for second. Also, complete turn around for Rainbow, perhaps because she has something that she knows she can protect? She's the type that has to have someone or something to fight for it seems. Also: something she knows she can do and take care of.
Well, this was a pleasant surprise to wake up to.
You're in good hooves now, kids.
6627813 It may have cured somepony of chaos, but that isn't Swab's problem. Dash herself doesn't count; the pendant prevents her from being healed by her inner chaos.
6627825 The best surprise is a morning dose of Austraeoh, starts the day off right.
Though I'm not complaining about the 5pm updates either, dinner entertainment.
6627830 6627813 Harmony Laser Cauterization?
Rainbow inducted her and gave her a member title in one chapter? Slow down there, East Horse!
That would've made an
amazingawesome chapter title for the last chapter of Ynanhluutr.Wow, looks like IC couldn't wait to get this out.
Seaponies for first blood of a named character. Who wants to put money on which ones goes next?
I really don't know what's going to happen now, this could go so many directions. Hell, Keris could fall in with the surviving Red Barge members to hunt Dash down.
Or they could all die except RD, this is IC.
...Out of fucking nowhere. And shoo-be-doo-ing with extreme prejudice.
Yeah. Have a dose of possibly-Flutterghost-related light healing...
33.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mcgvc2ywNZ1rsbba0.gif
Dayum, that goes in the slot with Songs Of Pentacost, and Redwall.
I thought the seaponies were part of white Barge, as we still havent seen anything of them yet. I mean, these Mudtop Pirates are seriously organised, they are far less Don Karnage, and a lot more like Khan Industries.
Oh crud, Seaponies means underwater attacks, which means fouling the drill bits, which means mining rig breakdown and quite possibly overload.
The core of Red Barge is going to blow. Chernobyl style?
Well, that came out of nowhere. Everybody wants that Rainbow flank, apparently.
okay, one thing I'm either really impressed with, or is completely unrealistic, is the fact monket's ships are outnumbered by the pirates, and they're still getting chugging along. Don't get me wrong, that's cool and all, but either those five pirate ships aren't that big or tough, or monket has a pair of armed to the teeth monsters. And since monket is a kind of merchant, I'd be willing to bet the former. Which would mean the pirates are woefully unprepared to even hold Rainbow in the first place.
Also Kera the third. Rainbow must like you Crouche for such a nickname so fast
also I may have squeed when I saw this chapter so early...
yay! sea ponies!
(and now you won't be getting that song out of your head for another week)
6627842
Well, lucky you, I'm usually either asleep or at school when they are posted.
6628143 Monket is a slaver, he'd have to fight to keep his wares safe from other slavers.
also conservation of ninjutsu.
6628143
6628187
The pirates already used most of their ammo.
The pirate ships are undermanned while they invade red barge.
Monket has two rohbreddon shipyard Dreadnoughts against the pirate mudtop skiffs.
I now want to commission somebody to render this whole battle in IDW artstyle.
Alright, having Croche on board makes me feel a little more hopeful.
6627719
That's the way, Rainbow. WWFD.
Also, Saxon down. Now it's Skagra's turn (I hope).
No not Saxon! He cant die! He was SEXY! So much blood... Poor poor Swab... Heal him with harmony Dashie!
I sense a sad story coming with Kera the second.
Really, Dash? Things were getting out of hoof and emotional, yet this line made me chuckle.
6627813
6627796
The pendant has shown these abilities:
1. Providing light
2. Communication with Luna
3. Channeling an acceleration spell from Luna (to help Rainbow catch Rockspot)
4. Providing some warmth (Rainbow used it over the Frozen Sea to keep her hooves from freezing)
5. Countering of chaotic influence. This is kind of a catch-all but there's 3 main instances where it applies: negating Chaos metal (such as in the Reed), preserving the Heaven Slices in the middle of the Grand Choke, and restoring Rainbow's body after she's been discordified. This is probably the closest it has come to healing.
fake edit: 6. Death lasers
Man, I'm actually pretty glad Saxon finally died. Every sentence with that guy in it just made me feel dirty.
I get to be Kera III!!!!!!
6628251 does he? That would explain it
Deadly Sea Ponies and a Super caring Rainbow Dash! This chapter is both badass and adorable.
6628708
Now once Skagra kicks the can the cleanliness, in that sense, of the book will increase tenfold!
6627715 and.. see Fluttershy?..
Jaws has got nothing on these seaponies.
"Beware the waters..."
That's a big honor, and a big responsibility, girl.
welp, rainbow actually does something, sax dies, and seaponies
yay battle
6628696 the pendant also seems to be able to withstand any amount of force (it's been directly hit more than once), absorb energy and return it with some harmonic energy (the searonese boss battle)*, i believe it's been used to ward off creatures (temporarily) that weren't strictly speaking "chaos creatures", and i feel like at one point it got used as a lazer beam (i recall a fair bit of questioning on what the pendant could do at that time as well)
*
6629155
Right, right, I totally forgot because it seemed obvious, but it can also fire death-beams when it's overcharged, like when Rainbow was fighting the goblin tank in Zeezrom. Harmony lasers v0v
Also Whitemane put her shield charm onto it, but I wouldn't call that an inherent ability of the pendant
Swab's a girl now?
I don't even know what's going on any more. Things go boom, seaponies, red barge, white barge, pirates? Meanwhile Swab and Kera III hide in the safety of the Rainbow Rouge's cell.
6629169 right, so in list form
1. Providing light
2. Communication with Luna an enchantent placed by Luna if i'm not mistaken?
3.
Channeling an acceleration spell from Luna (to help Rainbow catch Rockspot)holding/channelling forms of enchantment4. Providing some warmth (Rainbow used it over the Frozen Sea to keep her hooves from freezing)
5. Countering of chaotic influence. This could be seen as projecting a loose harmonious influence on an area, which would explain the food preservation in the grand choke, the warding off of violent creatures, etc. However, in all these situations, it seems that it doesn't reverse the effects, mearly slows them (monsters still attack, food still rots, and -in light of the most recent events- wounds still bleed); in short, the influence stabilizes, balances, rather than fixes all the problems
6. Death lasers cause why not?
in all reality, this is just a more concentrated version of 5 aimed and shot
it occurs to me that what the
RegaliaElement does is send out a field of harmonythat's it
that's all
everything it does is simply based on a level of concentration of the harmonic influence put out
and how much is used
Shoo be doo... motherbuckers
So long saxon..you were a bad pony but I like you. Fluttershy seems to have calmed down and maternal rainbow is tugging at my heartstrings.
Sea pony pirates really know how to make an entrance.
Alas, dear Saxon, you were too good for this world, your blood lust too pure. Sleep well, child.
And maybe Flutters has some vague influence on the the corporeal world, or is just acting vicariously through the element? It seems that the more elements that are recovered, their ability to interact with the world increases, who knows what's gonna happen when AJ shows up (Well, a very suddenly awkward RD, but aside from that)
6629227
This is what I'm thinking, too. From the way it was described, it looks to me like it had some effect of sereneness, dulling Swab's pain and probably calming his heart.