Hell in the Heavens
The ponies carrying Pilate’s shrieking figure plunged into the streets of the upper industrial district. Their bodies soared past smokestacks, chemical tanks, and silos of all shapes and sizes as they barreled down a curved road filled with hovercraft, trams, and bustling ponies. Various equines gasped and ducked as the gliders soared low through the streets, followed by the air-splitting figures of Rainbow Dash and Roarke.
“Rainbow!” Pilate’s voice could be heard warbling.
“Just hang on, Stripesy!” Rainbow’s voice cracked as she weaved her way through a traffic jam of wagons carrying aircraft scrap. “We got ya!”
“They’re trying to lose us in all this mess,” Roarke’s voice broadcasted through her helmet.
“Not half a bad idea, actually!” Rainbow Dash’s pendant glinted as she flung a glance to her left. “Stay on their tails! I’m gonna do something badflank!”
“You can’t be serious…”
“Just watch me!” Rainbow Dash held her breath, hooked her right hoof out, grabbed a metal pole, and swung around it twice before propelling her down an avenue to the left. She shot off like a blue bullet, shouting back at Roarke. “Don’t let them out of your sight!”
“I wouldn’t think of it,” Roarke grumbled. She flattened her legs by her side and fired her thrusters even harder. The air around her heated up, causing various guild banners and window awnings on either sight of her flight to catch fire. Ponies collapsed, dropping their wagons and wares as they retreated from the living Searonese missile. “I just refueled too, for Goddess’ sake…”
The three kidnappers turned left and glided down a straightaway. One of them kept holding Pilate while the other two rolled around in mid-flight and fired multiple steambolt rounds back at the bounty hunter.
Roarke flung her forelimbs ahead of her. She decelerated slightly, but managed to deflect the projectiles with her horseshoes. “You’re making it awfully hard not to want to skin you creeps alive!” Roarke hissed through the thunderous air.
“Stay back, Searonese fool!” One of them shouted as they protected the lead abductor. “Our business is with the Harbinger!”
”You want her?” A voice echoed from a side alley. ”You got her.”
With a shower of glass, Rainbow Dash smashed through the window of a factory to the ponies’ left. She hurled herself into the two attackers at a perpendicular angle.
They looked aside, barely affording the time to shriek.
Rainbow slammed her rear hooves across the cheek of one equine, snapping his jaw off its hinges. As he plummeted into the streets, she flew into the body of the second, clutching his glider and yanking hard. With a loud crack, she ripped the left wing off his flying machine and kicked off his body like a trampoline. He went sailing--and screaming--into a shattering market vendor with a splash of engine parts. Propelling forward, Rainbow Dash barreled towards the zebra-napper.
The pony looked back, her hooded eyes reflecting a pair of blue pegasi swinging the leathery glider wing like a softball bat. She spat blood as Rainbow’s bludgeon slammed across her muzzle. As she plummeted, Rainbow dropped the bent wing, grabbed Pilate, and leapt off the attacker’s limp figure. The pony fell into the street and rolled noisily into a row of canned garbage.
As the noise of the pursuit died down, Rainbow Dash fluttered her wings, hovered, and landed herself and the stallion in the middle of the street. Several ponies trotted nervously out of hiding, gawking at the mess made.
“Hah!” Rainbow panted and wiped her sweaty brow. “All the prophetic mumbo jumbo ain’t got nothin’ on a pony who can fly faster than the speed of buck-it-all!”
“Rainbow, what are you d-doing?!” Pilate sputtered, reeling on dizzy hooves. “Don’t you see? This was all a distraction!”
“Jee, you’re welcome,” Rainbow Dash muttered. With a roar of thunder, Roarke touched down beside the two. “Would you like it back in the forelimbs of the Church of Stinkheads?”
“Rainbow, I’m serious!” Pilate exclaimed. “Khao and the others are after the Relic! The Noble Jury is in trouble! I just know it!”
“Pilate, Khao just got a lesson in Steampunk Humility 101!” Rainbow Dash tilted her head up. “She’d be a total idiot to try and stage something now after what we just--”
Pilate suddenly grimaced, his ears twitching.
Roarke tilted her helmet aside. “What is it?”
As if to answer her, a projectile whizzed down and embedded into the cobblestone of the industrial district below them. They all glanced down to see a pineapple shaped object attached to a dart. With a clicking sound, it started to vent steam.
“Grenade!” Roarke shouted. She shot cables out of her suit and used them to knock Pilate and Rainbow Dash away.
“Gaaah!”
“Whoah!”
The street exploded with fire and rubble flung sky-high. Gray Smoke residents galloped every which way in panic. As the debris settled, Roarke sat up, her armor scuffed up and smoking in several places. “Unnngh…”
“Pilate?” Rainbow Dash panted, sorting through the mess. “Pilate! You okay?!”
“I’m right here, R-Rainbow…” The blind stallion coughed as Rainbow pulled him out of a mound of sediment.
“Whew! Thank Luna! Belle would kill me if I let something bad happen to you!”
“Mmmf…” Roarke picked herself up, grumbling. “I’m fine, thanks.”
“Roarke…” Rainbow calmly turned around. “Any idea where that bomb came from--?”
She was answered by a gray body flying into her.
“Ooof!”
Pilate gasped and Roarke spun about. They watched as Khao and three other ponies glided down, shoving Rainbow Dash towards the western edge of the Industrial District.
Roarke hissed, dragged her metal hooves, and grunted aside, “Find some place to hide, breeder.”
“B-but--”
“I can sense where you are! We’ll come back for you!” Roarke galloped off. “It’s about time all these distractions ended!” She jumped, fired her thrusters, and billowed westward. “Rainbow! We gotta throw them off! This is leading us nowhere!”
Pilate shivered, using O.A.S.I.S. to guide him as he retreated into the shadows of a nearby warehouse.
“Rrrrrgh!” Rainbow Dash fought and wrestled with Khao as the two spun in mid-flight. “Learn a new tune, lady!”
“You care for these so-called ‘companions’ of yours…” Khao grumbled as the two flew low, whizzed through a hangar, and burst out the other side with a shower of debris. “It will be your undoing.”
“Oh yeah?!” Rainbow Dash tried headbutting her.
Khao expected the move. She caught Rainbow’s neck in her forelimb and snaked around her body until she gripped her from behind. She extended her wings further and hissed into the pegasus’ ears. “You are courageous, Harbinger, but misguided. It is my task to steer you along the right path.”
“Yeah…” Rainbow grunted as the two sailed off the edge of the platform and through careening air traffic. “Some p-path!” She shot her wings at an angle, spun, and tried throwing Khao off.
But Khao fired a steam-propelled hook into a nearby zeppelin. It embedded, and once the cable pulled tight, she swung herself and Rainbow until they landed into the hull, with Khao’s weight pressing Rainbow to the wooden surface.
“Ooof!” Rainbow grunted.
“Right now, the Relic falls into our possession,” the Herald’s leader said. “Don’t make me take what you foolishly value from you as well.”
“What… wh-what…?!” Rainbow sputtered.
Khao’s amber eyes narrowed. “You will grasp your truth path, Harbinger, even if I must clear every friend of yours from it like an errant weed.”
Rainbow’s teeth grinded against one another. She sneered, “You just made the wrong threat.” Her eyes flickered red on yellow, and a bolt of energy pulsed out from her pendant.
“Augh!” Khao’s face flinched as she jerked back from the ruby blast.
“Rrrrrrgh--” Rainbow gave her a savage right hook, then a left hoof to the gut.
“Ooomph!” Khao dropped her grip of the hook and fell back.
But Rainbow wasn’t done. “Yaaaaugh!” She dove off the zeppelin’s hull, plunged through the criss-crossing aicraft, and came into contact with Khao’s body, repeatedly punching and smacking her with every limb available. “You… will not… hurt… my… friends!”
The three other ponies dove after their leader. They extended dart guns from their forelimbs and took aim at the offending pegasus.
A single concussive missile flew in and exploded between them.
They gasped, their bodies spreading apart from the vaporous blast. Roarke dove in, knocking one side, kicking another, and grabbing the steam components of a third. With a grunt, she ripped the hapless stallion’s glider apart and tossed the rig backwards. It exploded with a wave of shrapnel, reducing one of the ponies to a bloody mess. Roarke tossed her screaming victim, forcing the third to dive after his fallen companion.
Panting, Roarke pivoted her helmet towards Rainbow Dash’s angry fight. “Rainbow!” she shouted, growling beneath her gear. “Damn it! Enough!” She dove heavily. “Didn’t you hear the zebra?! We have to get to the Jury! Rainbow?! Rainbow!”
Inside the engine room to the Noble Jury, one zealot stirred on the floor. With a groan, he stood up, shifting his muscles, still sore from electrocution. He crawled towards the collapsed cage that he and his cohorts had assembled before carrying it down there.
With a shuffle of hoofsteps, two disheveled ponies trotted down from above.
“Is the relic intact?!” one of them asked.
“We… were attacked…” The bruised pony stood up, shaking his head and readjusting his hood. “That explosion j-just now. What…?”
“We ran into a formidable fighter. We’ve lost several brothers and sisters.”
The pony on the floor nodded. “It’ll all be for not if we do not claim the Relic for the Host.”
“Here…” The two recruits carried the cage over. “Can you open this infernal contraption?”
“Already on it.” The pony pulled an elaborate tool from beneath his cloak. Attaching hydraulic cables from the steam rig attached to his body, he powered the device and used it to unlatched the container holding the floating tome in the center of the Engine Room. In less than a few minutes, the ponies opened the container. Rivets fell to the floor, followed by a metal panel that collapsed with a loud ringing clang. At last, they reached in and grasped the book.
Once it was freed from its restraints, the runes across the pages flickered. A bright lavender aura rippled across the room, enchanting the air with sparkling magic.
“Do you hear me?!” Rainbow Dash snarled, her muzzle taking on an animalistic expression as her hooves found their way to Khao’s neck. “Leave us alone! I don’t want a replacement Eljunbyro! I don’t want anymore crazy ponies trying to kill us! I don’t… don’t…” Her eyelids grew heavy as an intense shudder ran through her system. “No… n-no, don’t…” She whimpered and shivered. “Celestia…”
Khao flinched, only to feel Rainbow’s hooves slip away. She looked through the whipping winds to spot Rainbow Dash falling like a dead bird towards the distant earth below. Before she could angle about with her glider, however, a metal body plowed to her in the pegasus’ place.
“This attack ends now!” Roarke hissed. “Remove your troops before I remove your skull!”
“I am simply a mortal,” Khao wheezed, albeit her face remained calm and confident. She spoke above the howling winds, “I serve the Angels of the Ancient Ages. Even if I die, my brothers and sisters are already accomplishing the will of the Host.”
“How do I know you’re not bluffing?!” Roarke shouted.
“The same way I know that you will not let the Harbinger perish anymore than I would,” Khao said, pointing straight down.
Roarke’s helmet twitched. She tilted her head down.
Rainbow’s body was a blue speck, plunging ever faster towards the bosom of the world.
“Oh for Goddess’ sake…” Roarke grunted. She shoved Khao away, backflipped, and fired her rockets in a vicious, earthbound plunge. Soon, she was simply a black dot burning after Rainbow’s limp form.
Khao fired her steam thrusters, angling about. Several ponies flew to her side. She signaled to them, and they rocketed off in formation. Giving Rainbow’s plight one last look, Khao took a deep breath, murmured a mute prayer, and joined her fellow acolytes as they flew into obscurity beyond the clouds.
Stats
Page generated in 0.039 seconds
Total duration
1,037 users online
2,095,077 hits today, 2,782,760 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
okay, how the heck is Khao still breathing after all of that!?
Villain exit stage left ... would've preferred an exit pursued by a bear, but there's still time for that. At least there are explosions.
O_O
I got nothing, good work as usual... now we just need to see where the dust settles
I don't know how you're going to keep up with this four-words-per-chapter-title thing
You know, it wouldn't've taken Roarke much time or effort to just... I dunno... smash Khao's skull in before she went after Dash.
Seriously, just "Oh yeah; CRUNCH." One less HUGE pain in the ass to deal with.
Call me terse or what have you, but seriously - enough delays already.
well. Sparkling Lavender Magic.
I hope it does something to those naughty Eljun Byrites.
also, wow is Khao dense.
I had some thoughts on how to logic away their claim on Eljunbyro status, though RD might never think of them. One is, "Hey, didn't Whitemane more or less tell Belle that she was Eljunbyro?"
Damn, Rainbow.
And Roarke continues to be awesome. You know, I find it incredibly hard to choose a favourite from Rainbow's companions, only because they're all great!
And who ever said OCs are no good?
3279722
I'm with you on this one. Although its hard to know for sure, and keeping track of them is difficult at best, I'm counting around thirty zealots. At least 5, maybe 10 are dead, and I honestly can't bring myself to feel bad for them. This all feels like a simple distraction to stall them enough for Shell to arrive.
However, I do admit I'd be a lot more interested in the learnings and beliefs of this group if the weren't thinking it a good idea to pick a fight with a group that they KNOW can take on, and take out a wing of warships.
Now that being said: Our good author? Don't change a god damn thing, keep doing what you do best!
Again, Rainbow Dash? You got blindsided again? Roarke, I would tell you to teach this mare some battlefield awareness, but you clearly have issues in that area yourself.
Well, this is going to turn into one of those fetch-quests, isn't it? I can already see how the next bit's gonna go: The Jury crew are blamed for the damage caused by the fight and forced to pay for repairs (or are arrested) despite it being clearly the cult of the prismatic wig's fault. Then they gotta chase the book to either General whatshisname's doomed holdout or princess demon-summoner's temple (they are going both places anyways, so why not be given a reason?). Shell will show up whenever appropriate to make things worse, and generally be a nuisance as always.
Eventually it'll get found out that Khao was lying like a dog when she said that they've been watching Dash since she got dropped off, and they just pieced it together from all the spying they've been doing since Dash and Co. came into port (because it doesn't make any goddamn sense the way she's been telling it. 'We let you have the magic book'? Uh-huh, sure you did. Pull the other one).
Also: I agree that Khao should not be able to talk at this point, let alone be bitchy at Roarke. Or move. Dash literally bitchslapped someone's mouth off, and that was before she was using chaos-strength. Khao should have a hoof-shaped hole straight through her.
Wasn't expecting another one today. Not that I'm complaining, mind.
Now that I think of it, Dash was due a dizzy spell, don't you think? It's been, what, since the flight to Blue Nova for the battle royale? At least Khao got the bejeezus beaten out of her, I guess. It's only too bad that Disco-Dash or Roarke Most Angsty didn't finish her off.
I just hope they can get the book back before it turns into some big side quest thing.
...actually, I wonder if these guys had anything to do with Prowse's disappearance. I wonder if they could've made the connection and had that kind of foresight, or to what end they would've stallionnapped him, but it's hard to imagine the incidents aren't related somehow.
Well, can't say it was nice meeting you, crazy cultists.
Don't let the door of the Noble Jury hit you when you're expelled by the sheer magic wave of doom.
This cult is getting a few too many lucky breaks...
Rainboarke: Flank-kickers Extraordinaire.
Both sides doing a tactical retreat was... unexpected. I was actually starting to wonder when the next Discord attack was due.
~bass
Now there's just plot powers - it would've taken Roarke less than a second to kill Khao, or she could've simply taken her along. No reason for her to let her go.
At the same time, I do hpe that we will hear yet more than just a bit about the cult. Their profound knowledge of the proto-pegasi and the Spark is the currently best and probably only source of information on the subject, and likely the key to understanding why the cultures in the area are still aware of the immense importance of something called the Spark after all this time.
3279759 And so did the Xonan foals. There is a number of events and observations that leave no doubt that Belle and Pilate are Eljunbyro - however, Khao is aware of none of these. And like any fanatic, she will refuse the sheer idea of her original concept being wrong, no matter what happens.
Talking about fanatism: don't you think that I like Roarke any more for her act of badassery just now. Stuff like that is rather easy when you're the Metal Mare. A big mare in a suit, take that away and she is neither genius, nor millionaire, nor playboy, nor philanthropist.
Rainbow is now no longer protected from the book -- stupid cultists.
Maybe Rourke should look into baked bads. Cherry bomb suprise cupcakes?
Well, Khao managed to earn a savage beating at least, but damn...
I hope everyone else arrives at the Jury in time. They do not need those nutcases nabbing the book.
Well, no one important died, at least. But now the Jury's probably stuck.
Is throwing a grenade at Rainbow really the best way to protect her? I think that Khao may be missing a few too many brain cells...
Is that dizzy spell caused by the book? These Eljunbureacrats need to do better research. And I really hope Ghost!Twi gives em a thrashing.
Yay finally caught back up after about 2 weeks.
This cult is interesting, I don't see them disappearing at least until Dash crosses all of Xona.
It will be an awkward relationship, with them not wanting to hurt rainbow dash, but still be enemies.
Khao needs to die.
I don't hate her, it's just that things are already complicated enough without adding YET ANOTHER antagonist.
It should be "all for naught."
3280935
You fool!
Do you realise what you've just done? You have doomed them all!
After reading the recent chapter late at night, I had a dream. I dreamt that human!Josho was my school IT manager, or something like that. He was always slacking off, and the principal didn't really like it. One day, I went to the IT office, and couldn't find Josho. But, I found Josho's pet chicken.
When you picked up the chicken, it would shriek 'JOOOOOOSSHHHOO!' and he would come running. Turns out, Josho had been working on some experiment that had something to do with changing your facial expression, because you obviously can't do that by yourself. The principal was thrilled. This had everything to do with the IT office.
But really, all it was just sticking little bits of plastic on your face, then putting this gel stuff over it, and when you take the gel off, lo and behold! The plastic stuck to your face. Wow. Everyone in the office was trying it out, even me, when the experiment was supposed to be kept secret, I got to wear this shocking smirk. I think it irritated my face though, I kept twitching.
I left the office, and discovered that the principal was getting a ride built to celebrate the inventions of the IT office! And it was already built! My friends and I started hurrying to the area of the ride. From far away, it looked like a crappy water ride. Good. We were first in line, and found out it was some crappy fake snow that smelled funny, and you had to try and paddle through it. We still wanted to go on it, though.
The ride could not start without Josho being there!! He was not in his office, but his chicken was seen wandering the grounds. I went and grabbed it. 'JOOOooOOSHOOO!' Josho ran up to us, at the start of the queue, and his chicken ran away. Josho was being a gross slob. For some reason, we were actually at the end of the queue, and got to watch people struggle with the terrible ride. We eventually got on the ride. It was not fun. We all lived happily ever after, now being able to change our facial expressions.
The End
3283449
Now I want to hear what you learned, as though the events you described were real, and you have written a friendship report to Princess Celestia.
I like how Khao decided that the best way to help the prophesized Harbringer is to do nothing while she's falling to her death.
3283541 Not to mention chasing her through the engines of a flying city were she could have easily hurt herself and throwing a granade at her.
Woah, these cultists make a very bad Eljunbyro.
You got that?
I feel as though we've abandon the ausraeho feel as well as the eljunbyro dialogue feel. I want to see this arc end so we can see the jury members interact all together again.
3283812 Well, at a possible 12 books, each possibly a couple hundred thousand words each, making this series several million words strong, spanning a multitude of locations, physical plains, stages of character development, shifts in perspective, and all over the span of what will surely be years...
A bit of change in the feel of the writing is to be expected. I get the feeling most of this has been planned out from the start, so simply enjoy the adventure.
3284601
Iknorite. Skirtsy (IC) is amazing.
He's like an overclocked pony-writing Stephen King.
3283489
Dear princess Celestia,
Today I learned that YES, chickens can speak, and therefore this cannot be used as an excuse to ignore Scootaloo anymore. Think of something else. Also fake snow smells terrible.
Your faithful follower, Fallen Gold.
3283449 mamamia.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/applause.gif
Khao needs to loose his head soo badly.
3279610
That's nothing compared to some of the beatings Shell has taken. This series is seemingly rife with enemies who are RD's match in single combat, and every one of them can take almost as much of a beating as she can.
IT'S REALLY ANNOYING.
3291546 No,Shell is annoying, the others just add drama.
Dammit, should have killed her before going after Rainbow Roarke!
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
Huh. These guys are even more misled than I realized. They didn't even know that, by removing the Relic, Discord's influence would overtake Dash slightly...Let's see what happens next. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
WHAT POSSIBLE REASON COULD YOU HAVE NOT TO WANT TO TEAM UP WITH A METAL MARE WHO SHARES OUR INTERESTS?
images.wikia.com/mlp/images/8/80/Twilight_starting_to_get_very_angry_S1E15.png
/anger
I think you wanna replace "not" with "naught".
Aha! What if all of Khao's antics are just a test to see if Rainbow's friends really are the true Eljunbyro? That's why her and her cult are so adamant on beating them all up, taking their things and putting Rainbow Dash, supposed savior of the gear world or whatever, into life-threatening positions! To see if they'll prove their true loyalty!
Nope, still dumb. Although it would almost make more sense than her current logic. Yet her reasoning is believable in that there are many actual people who think the same way (except, you know, without being devoted to a multi-coloured flying horse that has to reunite the fragmented pieces of a failing world with the spark within her soul, or something. But other than that, totally the same).
3279612
I'll go recruit the bear from "the Winter's Tale." Poor bugger hasn't had work in a while, anyway.
>It’ll all be for not if we do not claim the Relic for the Host
As much as I dislike the spelling, the word to use is "naught"
>he powered the device and used it to unlatched the container
Do you mean "unlatch"?
3283449
Thank you for sharing! 
Oh man, I love this action!
No! They took the book!
-SPirit
Back to square one.
Yeah, whilst Roarke could've easily just shot Khao before descending, so long as Khao ends up being a somewhat interesting character I'll be happy.
Oh great, so not only are they the stuck up jackass kind of zealots, but they're also the "we are but interchangeable cogs in a larger plan" kind of zealots, who don't even flinch from members of their order being straight up BLOWN TO PASTE.
I'm surprised Roarke didn't finish off Khao first. It's not like it would've taken any time to put a blast in her, and I get the feeling it would've saved everypony a whole lot of headache down the line.