“Yaaaugh!” The three surviving zealots violently rushed Josho.
He got two shots off, pumping mana into the stairwell space. Faster-than-lightning, the figures spun, dodged his blasts, and plowed into him all at once.
Josho took the brunt of the blow. All four ponies went sprawling into the spacious engine room. The attackers tackled the ex-enforcer from all sides, but he kicked off the floor, sending his hulking body ceilingward.
The ponies flew off him like water splashing off of a rock. When he stood evenly on all four limbs, he spun, cocked his gun, and fired once more.
Yet again, they dodged, and the manablast ricocheted off a bulkhead.
“Fast lil’ farts, aren’t ya?!” Josho grunted as he backtrotted from a pony’s advancing dagger swipes. “Let’s light you up!”
His eyes narrowed as he channeled magic into his horn and pulled a manaconduit loose from the wall behind him. Without wasting another breath, he shoved the thing forward into one of the assailant’s stabbing motions. The equine wailed in pain as energy coursed through his dagger, up his hoof brace, and into his body. He fell back in a smoking heap while the other two pounced on Josho.
“Ooof!” Josho and the two ponies plowed through the opposite door and went flying into the navigation room. “Rrrrrrgh!” Josho bucked one pony off him so that he went crashing through Pilate’s study table. The second pony wrestled Josho from behind. The fat stallion magically twirled his rifle around to blast the zealot’s skull off, but the attacker deflected the blow with a dagger-swipe. The triple barrels fired into the ceiling, showering sparks onto the combatants’ ringing ears.
Gritting his teeth, Josho threw his weight backwards, slamming the pony’s body into a row of bookcases. Pamphlets and folders fell through the air. Josho slammed the pony a second time… a third time… and twisted his head aside to bite onto the equine’s forelimb. Using his neck muscles, he flung the pony over his body, then spun and bucked the attacker hard in the side.
As the two ponies collapsed into each other, two more suddenly rushed in from the observation room towards the bow.
“Hey, three’s company!” Josho turned, cocking his gun. “Five’s a funeral!” He punctuated his line with two thunderous shots.
One pony fell back, moaning in pain as he clutched his bleeding shoulder. The other dove low and extended a leathery glider wing, tripping Josho’s legs out from under him.
“Gaaah!” He fell on his flanks, legs flailing like a fat cockroach’s. “Cheating little turdmeister!”
The attacker pounced on him, soon joined by the other two ponies in the room. All three of them grabbed a limb as they pinned the obese stallion to the floor.
“Stay down!”
“Nopony shall defile the Age of the Harbinger!”
“Rrrrgh…” Josho hissed through clenched teeth. Sparks flew out the tip of his horn as energy coursed through his body. He then let loose a scream that was devoured by an enormous void. All four ponies disappeared…
...and rematerialized a dozen feet above the top deck of the Noble Jury. They landed like a cargo net full of tanned meat.
The zealots still up top turned and gasped. Kera’s eyes widened from where she was being held.
The three ponies who had tackled Josho rolled across the wooden surface, bruised and disoriented from the rapid teleport. The ex-enforcer took the opportunity by standing up, twirling about, and taking pot shots at the various assailants.
Two flew off the ship’s edge, bleeding profusely. The rest jumped up, took the air, and glided about the hangar.
“For the love of the Queen’s butt cheeks in spring!” Josho yelled as he cocked and reloaded his gun. “For once I’d like to fight a creep who doesn’t cheat on me!”
However, in expert precision, the formation of attackers swooped down at him from three converging sides.
Josho swiveled and took a shot at one group.
The foremost flier spun around and combined his wing-gliders into a dense leather shield. He absorbed the blow while the other two jumped off his body and launched themselves at Josho.
Josho grunted as the ponies flew into him, shoving him clear across the deck, past Kera’s twitching figure, and against the railing on the other side. Wrestling with the ponies, Josho angrily triggered the rifle again with his horn. An errant hoof kicked it out of his telekinetic grasp.
The rifle went flying. It landed on a platform adjacent to the ship, where it instantly fired, launching a quadruple manacharge across the hangar. Fatefully, it impacted a yellow-painted fuel tank, which erupted immediately. The concussive blast alone was enough to knock everypony off balance. The heat that followed caused steam to rise off every surface of the surrounding metal support struts.
The air filled with yelps as every assailant collapsed, either landing like dead bats across the surface of the Noble Jury or falling to their doom past it. The stallion holding Kera fell on his side while the foal sprawled forward.
Wincing, Kera looked up, gasping as she saw a chunk of metal beams falling loose from the ceiling of the shipyard. It swung like a pendulum and smashed into the far wall, showering the ships docked below with brick and mortar. The filly scrambled for dear life, diving into the cockpit where she huddled besides the unconscious bodies of Floydien and Simon just as the curtain of dust collapsed, covering everything with sediment and haze.
Up above, in the Bronze District, a shudder ran through the body of Gray Smoke. Several ponies who were still cleaning up the mess of Khao’s attack gasped as they wobbled on their haunches.
Bellesmith, Ebon Mane, and Eagle Eye rocked from side to side. Belle managed to catch Ebon by his hoof while Eagle fell on his flank with a clatter of his sword and shield.
“What in Spark’s name was th-that?!” Eagle Eye stammered.
“Felt like it came from somewhere in the lower floors!” Ebon exclaimed. “An explosion of some sort!”
“Or maybe we’ve been rammed?” Belle said. “Maybe we’re under attack? Maybe Ledomaritans caught up?”
“There’s no way enforcers would have attacked Gray Smoke!” Ebon remarked. “Nopony in their right mind would attack this city unless they did it from the inside! Like those punks did to us just now!”
“From the inside…” Belle spoke out loud. Suddenly, her breath left her. With wide eyes, she cried, “The Jury!”
The stallions gaped at each other.
“Come on!” Belle galloped off down the street as Ebon helped Eagle Eye to his hooves. “We gotta hurry!” She panted in mid-run, her brown eyes already starting to water.
Should be "gun," but it sounds funnier this way.
Whole lot of poo-based insults today, ):(.
Thirty pushups. Back's getting a bit better. Knock 'em out!
So much for finding that fracture in the walls. I think the shipyard has bigger structural problems now.
Hurry to the Jury you blurry furry horses!
Yes, yes! Go Josho! Go random explosions!
Attacked on all fronts, but it's good to see the gang holding up. Josho's pretty badass for a fatass.
Random shots are always attracted to fuel tanks.
A whole lot of Josho being badass and slaying Eljunbureaucrats, and very little else.
~bass
Chain reactions are awsome. If Josho survives I hope he keeps that gun close.
I'm not sure why I'm surprised that the bad guys didn't win, but it's a pleasant surprise at least.
Ceiling words!
I am honestly surprised that Josho fought them off. I thought making them catch Floydien with antlers down was a way to assure the entire crew gets captured so that Dash has to rescue them - ah well, dead wannabe-wiseguys.
I really hope Noble Jane doesn't catch on fire or become unflyable. In fact, the entire hanger looks ready to collapse in on itself.
Well, the occult cult really screwed that up.
What was it they were saying about Dash's friends being useless?
That'll learn the stallion who owns the hangar to let ragtag teams of travelers haggle their way into his establishment.
All in a day's work for the crew of the Noble Jury.
Let's see:
Roarke's the BAMF
Josho's the grizzeled veteran with one-liners that we've not seen since the 90s
Eagle Eye is the soldier precise
Rainbow Dash is the ...awesomeness?
Belle is the unsuspected badass.
Pilate is the brains/beacon (not much combat for him yet)
Floydien is Floydien
Props is the tinkerer.
Ebon... ex-pirate?
Kera is The Kid.
Khao vs Belle? or Khao vs Shell?
One fight would be the [philosophical] clash of Ejunbryo vs Ejun Bureau (love this name).
The other would be those set on controlling/guiding RD for their purposes.
Also I'd like to point out that RD is refered as "The Harbinger." A harbinger signals the coming of something else...
They do not see RD as a key to their prophesy, not hamony incarnate.
Oh thank god - backup.
Good job holding 'em off, fatboy!
3276667 Rainbow Dash and Austraeoh are still not the same thing. To my understanding, they address Rainbow as the Harbinger because she is the one carrying the Spark.
Yeah, dockmaster, someones calling about that pit of a dock of yours, seems he wants his pendulum back.
Explosions from random rifle shots...
So much gusta!
The triple barrel rifle gained a barrel during that fight I believe...
3275874 better than gunning his.... ooookay
love this chapters name because I was born and raised in the Bronx!
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
Well, Josho is certainly holding his own against the cult. And it didn't take long for Belle and co. to figure out that they had to go back to the Noble Jury. I like that - it's a testament to the fact that it takes a special kind of pony to follow Dash. Not just anyone can be a Noble Juror. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
Well, Josho certainly ain't no Jackie Chan, but he sure can boogy for a big guy.
I feel sorry for the docking station ponies. Main characters always bring trouble with them, but alas, being minor characters, they weren't genre savvy enough to heed the warnings and deny them entrance. 'Tis a fate felt by many, sadly.
Just what role will these rainbow sycophants play, I wonder? If they're completely defeated here, there wasn't much point in introducing them save for some quick action (which easily could have been remedied by regular street toughs after the gang's money or something) so they must stick around for a bit, even if its in the background...hmm...
Well, I'm on a roll - onward!
I think the Jury might have finally worn out their welcome in Grey Smoke. Time to boogie on out before the fuzz arrive.
Nice job, Josho! Now, let's all get to the Jury and get the hay out of this place!
-Spirit
I'm always impressed with Josho's use of teleportation. Nice job
For a fat, trash-talking bastard of a pony, Josho can sure kick ass.
Battle for The Noble Jury is a go!
5261415 He's turned out pretty alright. EE has had a strangely positive affect on him.
Earth ponies never see teleportation coming.
It's nice that we get to see Josho personally kicking flank again.
Ever since his first encounter with Rainbow Dash he's been mostly sitting idle with Steel, disarmed, chained to Eagle Eye, piloting a managlider, or in one way or another...
Anyway, it feels like the first time in a while we've seen him fight with a proper weapon.
I can't decide if Josho just rolled a 20 or a 1.
Seems to be the first fatality here thanks to Josho. Unless Roarke didn't JUST cripple a pony.
8074486
Josho is a fat fuck and definitely doesn't have luck on his side.
I say his luck dipped so far in the negative that it got miscalculated as a positive.
These Zealots are like giant cockroaches.