Where a Soldier Belongs
“What’s it doing now, EE?!” Props stammered, curled up against Ebon like an ostrich sticking hits head against a sailboat.
“Ahem…” Eagle Eye stood along the Noble Jury’s port side as the ship turned through the smoky air at a tight lean. His violet eyes squinted and squinted harder. “It appears to be attacking something in midair.”
“That doesn’t sound right,” Pilate spoke as Belle nervously glanced up. “Perhaps its mind is just as diseased as its heart?”
“Wait!” Eagle leaned forward, pursing his lips. “I see it now! Yes--Something’s distracting the dragon!”
“Something like wh-what?” Ebon exclaimed, trying to shove Props off of him.
“I see what looks like a brown copper hull, red crystal, moving very fast…”
“Can it be?!” Props gasped, blue eyes lighting up. “Another skystone skiffy?!”
Floydien growled against the dashboard. “Is a very bad time for stealing stabbies.”
“But if those are the same ponies that took away Kera…” Pilate spoke aloud. “...then what are they hoping to gain by attacking Nevlamas?”
“Don’t judge me too harshly for going out on a friendly limb here…” Eagle Eye glanced at the zebra and the others. “But maybe they’re distracting it for some reason?”
Ebon suddenly pointed. “Maybe we’re about to find out.”
“Huh?” Pilate exhaled.
“Beloved,” Belle muttered, nudging him. “Your sound stone.”
“Oh!” Pilate gasped, holding the shimmering piece of enchanted stone up to his lips. “Hello?! Rainbow Dash?! Roarke?”
”I’m afraid neither, Mr. Pilate,” a voice calmly echoed from the flickering rock.
“Ms. Zetta?”
”But we have your friend, Roarke. She’s in one piece, but she’s seen better days.”
Pilate’s metal brow furrowed “Care to be more specific?”
”I’m afraid there’s very little time. Rainbow, Nightshade, and Kera have flown on into the metal world.”
“Wait, what?!” Belle spat.
Zetta’s voice continued. ”It looks as though one of Khao’s ships is giving Rainbow the time she needs to return the flame to where it belongs. I think the rest of us should be taking this opportunity as well.”
“For the love of elbow grease!” Props barked. “Why’s everypony so far ahead of us?! We’re the ones with the sexy ship!”
Pilate ignored her. “Ms. Zetta, where are you located?!” He and Belle slowly stood up as they approached the front of the cockpit where the elk stood. “Tell us, and we’ll be there in a heartbeat!”
The poleaxe that Josho levitated at his side was becoming bent, fractured from Seclorum’s repeated attacks. Breathless, running out of energy even to teleport, the obese stallion shuffled his way towards the northeastern edge of the plateau. A managlider had collapsed into the wall just beneath the wet earth’s jutting edge. Rising smoke licked the air in billowing waves, briefly obscuring the dark metal ravine and the trenches full of battling Ledomaritans and Xonans beyond.
“You’re slowing down, old friend,” Seclorum sneered, inching his way closer towards his stumbling adversary. “You should have stayed in the pits. Your end would have come faster that way.”
“How can you m-move so fast?!” Josho spat, wincing between each hyperventilating breath. He limped from the many bruises inflicted upon him by Seclorum’s metal-reinforced limbs. “You’re not even breaking a sweat!”
“I’m not the weak coward that you think I am, Josho,” the battered stallion said with a hissing tone. “I have a plan and a purpose here. This is to be the rebirth of all things…”
“Will you st-start making sense, for once?!” Josho growled, his rear right hoof slipping at the very edge of the cliff. He stifled a yelp, using the poleaxe to regain balance, however precariously. “What did they do to your insides while slapping metal chunks to your outsides?!”
“She wills that I stay here…” Seclorum’s glazed eyes shone with bursts of green bomb shells in the distance. “I must follow her wishes!”
“Who is she?!” Josho gritted his teeth. “Dammit, Secchy! I’m trying to save your flank! Don’t you realize that?!”
“I don’t need saving…” Seclorum’s neck jerked spastically, and he went in for the kill. “And neither will you!”
Josho flashed energy through his horn and doubled his telekinetic grip of the poleaxe. He deflected Seclorum’s charge, but it was a weak effort at best. With each lurching second, Seclorum shoved his old friend one savage inch after another, forcing Josho to rock on the middle of his back hooves, teetering upon the precipice.
Josho shook with the effort to keep himself upright. His muscles twitched as his nostrils flared. He started to lean back…
“Is striped boomer certain of this?!” Floydien grunted as he swerved the Noble Jury south, cutting through swaths of smoke and flak. “Nancy Jane might be better off without metal boomerette and angry-angry teeth! Too jarringly close to Nancy’s womb day in and day out, Floydien thinks! Yes yes?”
“We owe Roarke ten times over, Mr. Floydien!” Pilate said as he and Belle gripped to the side of the cockpit. “Besides, I’m sure that if we didn’t pick her up, Rainbow Dash would certainly tear us limb from--” Pilate flinched heavily. “Guhh!”
Belle gasped. “Beloved!”
The zebra collapsed to his knees, gripping his choker while wheezing.
“Pilate, what’s wrong?!” Belle knelt beside him, running a hoof through his mane. “Speak to me!”
“Friggin’... gonna kill me…” Pilate murmured, his tone undulating.
“Pilate…?” Belle winced.
“That sounded like roly poly!” Props chirped.
“Josho?!” Eagle Eye suddenly slid into the cockpit, eyes wide. “Pilate, what did you feel just now?”
“As if…” Pilate winced, panting. He gulped and said, “As if I was falling. J-just now.” His clear eyes squinted. “Though, not exactly. But… I… I mean he…” The zebra tilted his head up with a quivering muzzle. “Josho is in grave trouble.”
Eagle Eye’s ears folded as his lavender coat paled. He glanced at the others, then out at the mayhem blurring by them. At last, he clenched his jaw and looked Pilate’s way. “Can you pinpoint where he is, exactly?”
“Vaguely…” Pilate winced as Belle helped him back to his hooves. “If we slowed down and flew closer to the ground, then perhaps--”
“Floydien!” Eagle Eye shouted. “Bring us down to sea level!”
The elk flinched. “What you spit?!”
“Eagle…?” Ebon murmured.
“You guys need to drop me off!” Eagle Eye exclaimed.
“What in Spark’s name for?!” Belle stammered.
“Go on and get Roarke! I need to do this!” Eagle Eye floated his sword and shield beside him as he marched out and mounted the edge of the Jury. “Once you’ve got her, follow Pilate’s leyline back to me! Hopefully, by then, there’ll still be a fat fart attached to it!”
“Eagle, it’s a hellish warzone down there!” Ebon said, grimacing. “You won’t last ten seconds in that mess!”
Eagle Eye glared over. “I’m a soldier, Ebon. This place won’t know what jumped into it.” His eyes darted savagely the elk’s way. “Mr. Floydien, would you kindly lower the damn ship?!”
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Eagle Eye and badassery don't go well together...
Just kidding! That word works with every member of the Jury's crew!
Except Ebony.
Well, I was afraid Josho would be dead at the end of this due to the title. I'm glad that I was wrong. I think.
He's coming for you, surrogate dad.
D'aww, EE is worried for Josho
Things seem to be going rather-
No, not gonna jinx it.
~Basso
Eagle Eye is the most underrated badass this story has!
I can't wait to see Eagle Eye bring down the pain!
Lowering the ship? Nah, just jump out of it
As awesome as things seem to be going right at this moment... I've got a bad feeling about this.
Seccy is getting a boost from Lasiar? or Dragon? No longer pony but something built inside?
Josho took too long to catch on, he culdve done a double port and dropped Seccy from several thousand feet up, or over the far lines the first few times?
Someones going to be flipping this table eventually.
3778377 There's still more chapters to come, don't jinx it!
...Please don't let EE get hurt too badly...
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
Oh, yeah. EE comes to save the day! I'm sure Joshi will appreciate it...And I didn't think that Seclorum might have had internal modifications along with external ones. Perhaps the government formed him into a cyborg puppet...These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
Woop! Go Eagle Eye!
... The more I read this part, the less it makes sense.
3779219
Seccy is saying that Josho should've stayed in the trenches (years ago) and died there instead of slowly getting shoved off a cliff by Sec.
Beast mode has been activated for Eagle Eye.
3779242
Ah. That makes much more sense than when I thought he was referring to the machine world from about an hour ago.
I have a bad feeling that one of the main characters will die before this is over, and, as much as I hate to say it, Josho seems like the logical candidate. With the story having moved into his characteristic turf - a warzone - and confronted his past in the form of Seclorum, it feels like his arc is coming full circle. I could be wrong, of course. Maybe EE will swoop in and save the day.
Also, maybe others have considered this before, but I wonder if Seclorum has been replaced by one of Lasairfion's agents, a la Dalen. Seems to add up, unless I'm forgetting some detail that would exclude the possibility (and as tired as I am right now, that's entirely possible).
just jump!
...
nah. that's probably a bad idea.
Eagle Eye's about to be awesome. Let's do this.
I like Seccy. Finally someone who appreciates good music.
And oh poor Eagle Eye, you're not a soldier - a soldier is someone who fights for his wages. Our military friends here in the Jury aren't mere soldiers and you in particular are a warrior if there ever was one.
3779292
Or EE gets there just in time to say something emotional and heartfelt over Josho's dying body just before the fat fart slips away to meet the Spark.
3778473 3779397
Only the unobserved can fall from that high and survive... unless they have wings.
3780709
Yeah, that's actually a real possibility. The only real loose end for Josho at this point is his surrogate father-son bond with Eagle Eye.
Yes! badass Eagle Eye activate!
I've been doing some thinking, and I now realize that the Blades Guild probably isn't that great if it pumped out a pony who would betray some civilians on the run (Zenith) and a pony who lately view the world in how it impacts his own life (Eagle Eye).
EE is worried for his dad...
I mean "dad".
-SPirit
Oh Josho, what in the Hell did you do?
I love how EE gets more and more badass with every passing chapter that involves him in it.
On a side note, I wonder how much weight Josho's lost since he was dragged into this mess.
Go EE
Helljumpers, prepare to drop.
Also, won't the flame be absorbed by the machine world. If so, how will the party keep the Jury moving?
6284262
I was wondering about that as well, but it's secondary to stopping Nevlamas. They'll find a way.