"One moment, I was rreaching out to my alchemic equipment—to steady it!" Kepler shivered as he perched on the edge of the wagon. "A forrce of habit. You must forrgive me..."
"It's okay, dude," Rainbow grumbled. She scooped heaps of supplies into her forelimbs and dumped them unceremoniously into the space of a missing crate atop the wagon. "What next?"
"Well... that verry following moment..." Kepler gulped, brushing his hairs back. "...something strruck. It strruck! The beast was upon us! But—mirraculously—its deathly girrth did not end all of ourr lives."
"So... you remember the moment of impact?" Rainbow Dash asked, looking at him directly. "You saw what happened when the thing landed on top of us?"
"Do you not, Rrainbow One?"
"I..." Rainbow fidgeted in place. "...I-I had my pendant knocked off..."
"My starrs and garrterrs!" Kepler was visibly surprised. "What a calamity! Did you managed to rretrrieve it?!?"
"Uhhhhh..." Rainbow leaned back, pointing to the Element in question. "I'm standing here in front of you, am I not?"
Kepler winced. "A thousand parrdons, frriend. It's just that... such an orrdeal must have been verry taxing to you."
"Yeah. It was." Rainbow cleared her throat. "So... the moment of impact—"
"Rright!" Kepler leaned back, adjusting his glasses. "That's just the thing. Therre was no impact."
"Uhhhhh—"
"Something that immense...?" He exhaled, shaking his head. "It displaced a thunderrous pocket of airr that pushed us out of harrm's way beforre the final hammerr would fall—as t'werre."
"Then it must have thrown us all every which way," Rainbow said.
"Prrecisely!" Kepler cleared his throat, then gazed across the hidden alcove. "As you can see, I managed to keep ahold of the vehicle. Well... almost." He managed a weak, breathy: "Ha-Hah!"
"You should be proud, Keps," Rainbow said. She gave Twilight Sparkle a glance. "Being so close to the wagon is how I found you."
"Do yourr ghostly frriends know wherre the rrest of the Herrald are?"
"That's..." Rainbow looked at Fluttershy—who was shaking her head. "...is proving to be a lot suckier a prospect than we had hoped."
"Allow me to guess," Kepler remarked. "The crreaturre's immensity is thrrowing yourr extrra senses off."
"Something like that."
"Then perrhaps we should be looking forr something else," Kepler remarked. "You were able to hone in on the wagon, yes?"
"Uh huh."
"Then maybe the next best thing is—"
"Flynn!" Twilight said.
"Flynn. Got it." Rainbow nodded. "But we're not going to get a bead on him by staying down in here." She looked at her friend again. "Are we, Twilight?"
She shook her head. "We need to get out in the open. Way out."
"That'll get you exposed to the most... uh... leylines, right?"
"Close enough."
"Good."
"Then it is settled!" Kepler began sorting through the supplies Rainbow had dumped back into the wagon. "You shall go forrwarrd with yourr searrch. In the meantime, I will see about steadying what rremains of ourr possessions."
"Nope."
Kepler looked up, glasses rattling. "Buh?"
Swooosh! Rainbow flew onto the rear of the wagon and began pushing it. "Grnnnngh!" She slowly shoved the thing back the way she had initially entered the alcove. "If I'm going to rescue all our friends, I'm going to need this thing."
"Would you not do a morre efficient job flying out therre and rrescuing the Herrald, one by one?"
"Not really. I don't even know if I can make my way back here," Rainbow said. "Also... that beast is rolling through this crud like a mole cricket through a giant litter box. There may not even be a hiding place for long."
"Uhhhhhh..."
"Also Big Show."
"Ha-hah!" Kepler nodded. "No, I suppose you would not be able to carry him back herre on yourr lonesome."
"I could bring you to help me carry the load, but..." Rainbow smirked sweatily as she shoved the wagon into a swifter glide. "...I don't suppose wyverns are supposed to split in two, asexual or not."
"A fine soul indeed who can make with the jocularr phrrases while facing utterr oblivion."
"I wouldn't speak so flippantly about oblivion yet, bud." Rainbow winced, for the thunder and tremors were getting closer. Dust and pebbles fell all around them. "It's out there... going for a stroll."
"Then I suspect we must find a way to strroll arround it."
"Yeah..." Rainbow shuddered, aiming the wagon for a cave exit, and the starlight beyond. "...this will be fun-and-a-half."
"How can I be of assistance to you in this venturre, Rrainbow one?"
"Does Flynn's wagon have a record player?"
"Uhm... sadly, no."
"Then you're just gonna have to hum some Radiohay while I push this thing on the open road." Another tremor shook, and Rainbow had to shake the limestone sediment out of her mane. "Ohhhhhhhhhhh how I hate sunday drives."
And thus the search begins.
I have a feeling that cart is going to be quite useful in killing that thing, if they plan to kill it that is.
bugger, I was kinda hoping for some Dashie dodging while searching for the Herald.
Surely they have to have flares.
....I'm placing 10 bits on them having to sacrifice the hover wagon 5000 to kill that thing.
Straight down the gullet then detonate.
-Through the path long forgotten, into the darkness long begotten. Ofolrodi.
Giant worm hidden in the rock? Check.
Flying ship (sort of)? Check.
The worm has the opportunity yet to swallow our Millenium Falcon.
We just might see a ridiculous escape, folks!
Makes me wonder what happened to Seraphimus...
8445066
I can tell you what won't be happening with her: re-imprisonment. She either joins reluctantly or goes rogue again.
8444936
Now you have me thinking of the Star Trek episode "The Doomsday Machine".
Y'know, considering Big Show's mass, I'd expect to locate him relatively close to the point of impact. Assuming Ariel, Wildcard and Seraphimus are alive and their wings aren't broken, they are probably airborne and searching for Dashie and the others. And, as stated, Flynn should be easy to locate once Twi gets a lock on his mana signature.
Man, it's gonna suck if WC lost his arm again
Out of all the things I can not hear Kepler sing, Radiohead is pretty high up on the list. A FRREE SPIRRIT!
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>inb4 they kamikaze the thing into it's brain
Oh boy. This search is gonna span several chapters, isn't it?
The shock front. Dammit and I forgot about that even after reading Desmond Bagley, Avalanche. which has a really good description. then again it was over twenty years ago, so I claim old fogey.
Limestone and granite should be a placer mix, because granite is long coold down magma, the limestone next to it would been coked to lime, and further away marble. Then again, certain grades of Millstone Grit Sandstone are classed as granite like in hardness, toughness etc.
Flynn is eventually going to have to take Doomesday Slug out by putting Plank into Tsarina Overdrive?
So, which faction created Continental Slug, and for which defence against what?
Quite forgivable, considering that stuff can explode.
Alternate Chapter Title:
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wasn't it said when Dash reached the Monastery that Wyverns are essentially pony sized Manticores?
hmm... no definite size mentioned, but it took about 24 Wyverns to fend off one manticore, so the size disparity must be pretty big.
From Utaan 162: Music rasps the savage beast
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At that point it would have become a running gag.
Ah bummer, no air squad...
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Only if it glows inside.
I've got some inkling feeling that someone is impaired now. Whether it be broken wing or a snapped horn.
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Wait, manticores?
... I just realized I need to mentally update how I've been picturing Kepler this whole time. I thought he was basically a lizard/drake.
8446187
And now so do I
8445567
I've always pictured basically a griffin with hair and some scales and tusks...you know what? Even after all this time, I've honestly never been able to nail down exactly how I'm supposed to picture him!
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I've always pictured Kepler as looking like the wyverns from World of Warcraft. I'm pretty sure the description of these wyverns and the WoW wyverns match rather well almost word for word; lion-looking, scorpion tail, arm wings and tusk. Easily mistaken for a manicore with the placement of their wings and total size being the main difference.
Like trying to use a sledgehammer against a fly, this beast suffers from being so immensely larger than it's prey
Hmm... What they need is a really BIG bomb.
Party split again, just like Innavedr. I think
We're going to need a lot of crash breakers.
I don't suppose Darkreach had some nukes stockpiled, cause that would probably be the only thing that could hurt that kind of monster.
11/14/2019
15:01 UTC
Well, time to reunite with the rest of the team. I didn't have Rainbow and Kepler on their own road trip for Disaster Bingo, though.