The Noble Jury throttled its way south, dipping low so that it skimmed over the jagged peaks of several icebergs floating at random. A veritable field of alabaster chunks lay across the Frozen Sea, some of them reaching so high that their twisted summits made beams of shadow in the pale sunlight.
Rainbow Dash flew parallel to the ship, scanning the bobbing mess below with goggled eyes. She’d occasionally dip down beneath the level at which the Jury hovered, inspecting the icebergs closer, studying the moving mountains from different angles.
Some of the ice shards’ surfaces were so smooth, so shiny, that they reflected Rainbow Dash’s leather-coated figure completely. She found herself gazing at them, squinting at the flecks of frost clinging to her exposed muzzle and mane.
Then, following a sporadic flicker of her ruby lightning pendant, she swore she spotted a black shape swirling by in the reflected sky. With a gasp, she hovered in place, staring up at the heavens. All she could see was a blank blue sphere. The desolation of the world once again settled across her skin, shaken only by the sound of the Noble Jury’s thundering engines.
With a shuddering breath, Rainbow Dash pressed on, threading her tiny body between separate icebergs as she weaved a meandering path southeast. Along the way, she couldn’t help but glance at the waters directly beneath her. Through the edge of her vision, she could have sworn she saw a hint of crimson light glistening just beyond the waves. The pegasus’ brow furrowed, and she felt the hairs on the back of her neck raising slightly. However, the more she looked at the waves below, the less she saw of anything but black depths gurgling indefinitely.
Undaunted, she pressed on, escorting the Noble Jury into the southern stretches of the Frozen Sea as the sun melted its way towards the western horizon.
“Is… is that it?” Ebon Mane asked as he squinted off the starboard railing.
“It definitely has to be,” Props murmured, wide-eyed behind her goggles.
“Why does it look like a crashed shipping freighter?” Ebon remarked.
Meanwhile, Eagle Eye was squinting. “That’s because it is a crashed shipping freighter.” He gulped. “Or at least half of it.”
Rainbow Dash hovered alongside the Noble Jury as it levitated high over a large slab of ice. Along the frozen chunk’s western edge, a jagged hull of rusted metal lay deep in the translucent surface. The unmistakable signs of a stern, a rudder, and a snow-covered top deck lingered in the amber sunlight.
“Looks like it ran aground at some point,” Eagle Eye murmured aloud.
“How long do you suppose it’s been stuck in there?” Rainbow Dash asked.
Floydien stuck his head out from the cockpit’s entrance. “Many years since the kerplunk-a-chunk, Floydien thinks! The ship is half as old as the iceberg from the looks of it.”
“Certainly doesn’t match any design I’ve seen,” Josho grumbled.
“Perhaps…” Ebon fidgeted, then glanced at the others. “Perhaps Propsy’s Uncle was part of a separate expedition that got stranded out here and this was their only place of refuge?”
“Or he could have been abandoned here,” Josho said.
Eagle Eye flung him a disgusted look. “Old stallion…!”
Josho shrugged. “Just saying. Looks right like a Spark-forsaken prison to me.”
“And we’re sure the signal is emanating from here?” Rainbow Dash asked, eyes squinting.
“Yeah!” Props stammered breathlessly. “I know it! Something inside that chunk of a ship is broadcasting the signal!”
“And on Prowse’s frequency…” Ebon murmured.
The mare nodded. “As best as can be managed with the technology available!”
“One thing’s for sure,” Eagle Eye spoke into the frosty air. “Whatever or whoever is in there--they can’t be all that comfortable for long. Place looks like a tomb.”
“Oh please…” Props bit on the edges of her hooves. “Use another word that rhymes with Nancy Jane’s belly!”
Rainbow Dash took a deep breath. “Well, there’s no sense in waiting up around here.”
“What’s the hurry, paint bucket?” Floydien spoke up. “Does the boomer think Nancy Jane is being followed?”
“At least being oogled from afar, yes.” Rainbow nodded. “But we came for Prowse, and we might as well go all the way. But I don’t want to stick around here any longer than we have to.”
“Sorry for adding my own miserable two bits as usual, but…” Ebon gulped and pointed over the railing. “That ship doesn’t exactly look stable.”
“Nothing that the heaviest set of hooves this side of Ledomare can’t bother to test.” Rainbow Dash turned towards the stallion in question. “Josho?”
“Hell, I’m game.” The unicorn pumped a crystalline shotgun levitating beside him. “Beats dying of old age on this ship.”
“Count me in as well,” Eagle Eye said with a nod. “There’s no telling what freaky stuff could have crept on board that thing.”
“Uhm… uhhhh…” Props fidgeted from one set of hooves to the other, biting her lip. “I… uhm…”
“Oh, knock it off, girl,” Rainbow Dash muttered as she signaled Floydien to bring the ship further down. “Consider this your first complimentary away mission.”
Props blinked, then smiled with rosy cheeks. “Squee….!”
Squee!
That chapter title is silly. I hope hes on this ship and still alive, but I have a feeling either hes been dead a while and its just on repeat or hes now somewhere else and forgot to turn it off.
Am I the only one getting a Dead Space 3 vibe?
Ooooh! Spooky ship exploration!!
Dis gon b gud.
Uh...
Now we get to see Props fighting again
What will they find on the ship? Is Prowse alive? What is that mysterious glowing red light?
Don'tFind out in the next chapter of Urohringr!Chapter of less than a thousand words? Relatively no angst? I'm speechless.
I wonder where Zaid is. I hope he managed to sneak in and hang out with Kera again.
Proswe is a zombie, who was forced to keep himself alive with necromancy. He lives off of biting the heads off giant angler fish, and is willing to play poker with you on weekends. On weekdays, he builds cybernetics to make himself a zombie robot. He plans to make a ship in the future to go pirating in order to secure enough funds for a zombie pirate robot to get ninja training so he won't get such severe injuries from falling from great heights again.
So he wants to be a Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot.
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Away team... Hope nopony's wearing red.
Uh, Boom?
Hold on, an Away Team?
Just as long as there is a very clear distinction between Engineering Red Shirts, and Security Red Shirts.
In this case, Im going to have to go with Josho as Worf. Maybe today is a good day to die.
Yay! I bet somepony down there is going to be insane!
How odd. In the comments for the previous chapter, the topic of aliens came up. Now this chapter reminds me a certain movie with a very similar topic...
Anyway, I doubt Prowse is gonna be there. More likely they'll find a clue of some new place to look, and encounter some kind of threat in the process.
Hm, mystery wreckage. If Prowse is really inside, he's likely to be dead. Or a bunch of changelings could pop out.
Ooooo! So spooky! Yeah, right!
*whispers, I'm scared...*
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The room you leave without entering, or the room you enter without leaving?
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Methinks that it was Roarke~
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It was a link, meant to show the myriad words which rhyme with another word for Nancy Jane's belly.
I want to know what Uncle Prowse has been up to. :flail:
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Yes, I got that.
I just provided a riddle relevant to the two most prominently implicated in the story. Although, is it still a riddle if the answers are given first?
Short one today. Prowse isn't there. someone less than friendly is.
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Oh. I was wondering! Silly me.
Glad I was in a mental imagery mood. That was nice
My guess is they'll probably find him, for the sake of their current jocular mood, or at least a clue as to where he had gone/was taken. I really can't see how he would've survived in a ship that long, so most likely it's simply a repeating distress signal. Or maybe the pilot (helmsman?) was simply looking for the sports channel on his radio and ended up running aground due to his infatuation with the device and the anger he felt over it's refusal to pick up, and in the violence, setting the radio to broadcast Prowse's frequencies through random luck.
... Nah, the last one isn't dramatic enough.
Doom and Gloom.
Methinks we shall find a sleeping creature with the transmitter in its stomach. Possibly alongside the remains of a pony or two.
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They're going to find Prowse in the Gloom and Doom Room.
I can't help but feel like this may be a trap. The other ship could just be using a beacon they found as a lure and are just waiting to spring the trap now that their prey has distracted itself.
secret underground fortress of zabadubadabudabadoodoo...? or whatever that place was called...
Abandoned ship wreck in the middle of a mist-shrouded, frozen ocean? What could possibly go wrong?
Queue Cthulhu.
4087817 i wish i could favorite comments......
instead have a pinkie
or two
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
Alright, we've reached our destination. Uh...yeah. Nothing else really happened. I suppose the Jury being watched is slightly unsettling, though...These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
I wonder what they're going to find?
-SPirit
4087817 not to mention the probe ships oogling them
And into the depths we go. Monsters or monsters? The weather is predicting a 100% chance of monsters.
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If only.
5788531 Don't forget about monsters
Methinks something will happen to Nancy Jane while the party is delving.
I imagine someone actually saying "squee" would be highly irritating. Something reminiscent of an incredible annoying rat.
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Or Flan.
Flans are the tastiest monsters this side of Punis.
They have away missions now? This really is Star Trek!
All right, everypony please check your coat color.
Four to beam down, Josho, energize
05/30/2017 00:42 UTC
not good.
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We have missions and fireteams now?
Huh...well welcome to your first official mission, Props. Hope you've got some good stats and leveled up, cause you're about to hit a mile stone more then likely.
Just one question: are tough enough?
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I bet she's gotten loads of XP from all the work she's been doing keeping the Nimble Jackal in the air. Here's hoping she still has some to spare for a combat skill or two just in case.
So we got RD, Josho, EE, and Props heading into the downed ship. Hopefully it really is Prowse so we can get some good news going.
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Do we have a red shirt sacrifice?