"Trouble?" An earth pony shrugged, resting casually against the railing of his wooden tree platform. "Can't say I've heard of any trouble from Val Roa! That place is as peaceful as peaceful can get!"
Bellesmith, Pilate, and Rainbow Dash leaned over the Noble Jury's side. A bright afternoon sky loomed above where the skystone ship gently hovered.
"So, you do hear from the heart of the kingdom often?" Pilate asked.
"Heh... you kidding?" The earth pony glanced back, smiling down at the quaint village resting in the shadow of the alpine forest. "This place wouldn't exist without the Val Roan trade routes!" He turned back. "We exchange metals and spices every week!"
"When was the last time you heard from them?" Belle asked.
"By 'them,' who do you mean exactly?" the villager asked.
"Uhm... anypony, I guess," Rainbow said. "The government... the monarchy..."
The villager laughed, slapping his knee. "Whew boy! You ponies really aren't from around here, are ya?"
"Uhhh..." Rainbow glanced at Pilate's metal plate, Belle's broken horn, then stretched her wings with a smirk. "You think?"
The stallion blinked. "Holy smokes, that's fancy..."
"We were... uhm... hoping to seek audience with the Val Roan Monarchy," Belle said. "Is... that even possible?"
"Ma'am, I've never been so much as within a stone's throw of the glittering capitol!" The stallion said. "I don't think I could even afford to sneeze east of the mountains! But, who knows? You ponies probably could, judging from the shine of that skystone!"
Two of the three glanced up at the ship's crimson propulsion.
"Why?" Rainbow asked. "Is that a good thing?"
"You have to be really rich to afford a flying machine around here."
"You mean you don't have an abundance of zeppelins in these parts?" Pilate remarked.
"Hey. I'm doing jumping jacks inside this handsome shell, pal." The stallion chuckled. "I've been on forest watch for over twenty years! Last time I saw an air vehicle was back when I was just a little colt! And that was because some important Duke was visiting the therapeutic springs north of here!"
"Oh... uhm..." Belle smiled awkwardly. "I do hope we haven't alarmed anypony."
"Pffft. Don't worry about it," the stallion said with a wave. "Besides, you seem like an awfully nice bunch. Just what are you looking to do in Val Roa?"
"Call us ambassadors," Pilate explained. "We have reason to believe that some nefarious force wishes to encroach upon the monarchy's fortunes."
"Heh... 'some nefarious force?' Like who?"
"That's what we were hoping you would tell us."
"Yes, well... hmmmm..." The stallion rubbed his chin in thought. "There are some dirty mean reptiles who live on some islands to the far south."
"The Lounge?" Rainbow blurted.
The villager did a double-take. "You know them?"
"All too well," Rainbow droned with a frown. "What have they been up to lately?"
"Oh. The Lounge are just fine!"
Belle blinked. "They are?"
"Heh... it's just a few lizards who broke off from them that give the race a bad name. Isn't it terrible?" He shook his head with a smirk. "They've got it good down south. Warm waters. Abundant fruit. Great shipping routes."
"You seem to have it quite good here," Belle said.
"Hah. Not when winter hits, believe me. I think I'd rather be in the Grand Choke when that happens."
"Do any lizard groups venture far east?"
"Heck if I know. I doubt it. 'Cuz then they'd be dealing with goblins."
Rainbow's eyes narrowed. "Goblins."
"Yup. Nasty little buggers. Not all of them—though, just the ones that cause the biggest explosions."
"Uhhh..."
"What, you've never met goblins before?"
Rainbow slowly shook her head. "Not outside of old mares' tales."
"They love to build guns, bombs, and crazy contraptions. They're big on mining, and they supply lots of the metals to places as far as Alafreo. Ambitious little leather-necks, and some of them can be downright dirty."
"Some of them?" Rainbow asked. "Or enough of them to be a threat to Val Roa?"
"Hah! Not likely. Val Roa squashed them centuries ago."
"Is that so?" Pilate asked.
The villager nodded. "It was a pretty nasty war—if you could call it one. The goblins were no match for the Val Roans from the beginning, even though the little imps started it. They began attacking many of the southern villages that belonged to the northern kingdom. The Val Roans drove them back and then defended their cities without contest for over two decades. Finally, when the monarchy switched hooves, the newly appointed king realized he was sick of the goblins' crap and invaded the southern reaches. Hah! The half-pints gave up within three days! Since then, the goblins have been strictly policed. They're mostly harmless—save of course for the Green Bandits."
"Green Bandits?"
"Pfft. Bunch of thugs and would-be pirates. They attack villages like ours at least once a year. The imps would probably get somewhere if their explosives didn't blow up in their wrinkled faces half of the time. Last summer, we felt so bad for them we just gave them half of what was in our storehouse. We've started trading amicably with the gang ever since."
"That's... uhm... very interesting," Rainbow Dash said.
"Heh, sorry to disappoint you!" The villager said with a smirk. "Unless a bunch of reptiles and Green Bandits have joined together to make some devilish army of darkness—heheh—I'd say you're in for some smooth sailing!"
Rainbow glanced aside at Belle. "Why's this continent so squeaky clean?"
"Getting homesick?" Belle smirked.
"Please..." Rainbow rolled her eyes. "We just finished that arc."
"Heeheehee..."
"Is that all you dropped by for? Just to ask a bunch of questions?" The villager pouted slightly. "For a minute there, you all got my hopes up."
"I do apologize," Pilate said. "But we were simply passing through."
"Perhaps..." Belle tapped her chin and smiled. "We could trade something!"
"Now you're talkin'!" The pony leaned up against the railing. "What have you got in mind?"
"That depends." Rainbow smiled nervously. "Any of you guys in the mood for cheese?" She gulped. "Lots and lots of cheese?"
Hours later, as the afternoon bled into a rosy sunset, the Noble Jury found itself cruising slowly over densely forested hills.
"Just what the heck is this?" Josho asked, turning a sliver of reflective silver around.
"Apparently it's called a strip," Belle said from where she sat with Kera and Pilate on the other side of the Jury's top deck. "It's the centerpiece of the Val Roan currency."
"Are these ponies idiots or what?" Josho frowned.
"Josho..."
"No, seriously! If you don't use round coins, then you stand to risk cheapscapes shaving the metal in ways that are harder to catch!" He glanced up. "Shave enough metal off, and you can smelt your own counterfeit!"
"I didn't know you were an economy major, old stallion," Eagle Eye said.
"Don't push it, dainty tush," Josho grumbled. "It was either be an accountant or kill Xonans. I ended up choosing the profession that got me more exercise."
"Pffft. If you say so."
Ebon giggled from where he sat beside Eagle.
"I gotta admit..." Rainbow murmured as she paced in circles above the group. "...I'm a little bit freaked out."
"I'm sure gold bits is the standard back in Equestria as well," Pilate said.
"No, it's not that." Rainbow glanced at the treetops slowly drifting by them. "Things around here are... a little t-too good to be true."
"I'd say bask in it," Ebon said. "We've got enough as it is to worry about."
"But I just don't know what I should be worrying about," Rainbow groaned. "Not until we get into Val Roa!"
"And once we do, I don't think we'll be able to find out overnight," Pilate said. "Seems as though the monarchy is tightly reserved."
"As well as they should be," Belle said. "From the history of things, they've encountered there fair share of nasties from the south."
"Really, though!" Kera squeaked. "Why is it that all the bad guys tend to come from the south?"
"Heh..." Rainbow smirked. "She makes a good point."
"The Lounge! Diamond dogs! Foxes! The Searonese..."
"Now now, Kera..." Belle patted the filly's head. "Not all Searonese are evil."
"Hrmmmmmmm..." Rainbow folded her forelimbs, frowning.
Belle squinted upat her. "Right, Rainbow Dash...?"
"Right..." Rainbow paced and paced. "They're just damn annoying."
Kera giggled.
"Grnnnnngh!" Roarke gritted her teeth, struggling to file a metal bar in half. "Come on... come on...!" She hunched tightly over a metal crate inside the hangar where she was attempting to craft the frame to a new piece of armor. "Come off... Searo damn you... come off!"
SNAP! The end broke loose, but it cracked the rest of the bar down the middle.
Roarke's lenses retracted. She hissed and kicked the crate altogether. "Hnnngh!"
The bar ricocheted off and smacked her fetlock.
"Augggh! Ass!" Roarke hopped up and down in one place. "Ass! Ass! Ass!" She leaned against a wall and suckled her hoof for a few seconds. Suddenly, she froze. She glanced at the black manasphere. The glossy surface of the Lounge's hovercraft reflected Roarke in the middle of her curiously foalish gesture.
Wincing heavily, Raorke stood straight... or at least she tried to. Gulping, she glanced down at her hooves, noticing how intensely her legs were shivering.
The mare began pacing... then pacing even faster. Her breaths came in quick spurts. She fought it, but where there had once been a growl—there was instead a nervous squeaking, a pitiable murmur. She slumped to her haunches, pulling at her braids.
"Rrrrrrrrgh... can't st-stand it... I hate this... I loathe this!"
She hugged herself, panting. She glanced over her shoulder. The door to the stairwell lingered, cracked open. From a distance, she could make out the giggling breaths of Props and Zaid. Maybe other voices. Each one of them shook her to the core.
"Gnnnnngh!" She clutched her head, seethed, and looked up with a heavy frown. In a blur, she dashed to the far corners of the hangar, snatching up whatever weapon, axe, or spear she could find. Then, without ceremony, she tossed them inside the hovercraft, leapt in, and closed the doors with a hiss.
"...and so the moral of the story," Ebon said. "...is never to serve venison to live deer." He raised his eyebrows.
"... ... ... ..." Belle, Pilate, Eagle, and Josho stared dully at the stallion.
At last, from the cockpit: "Floydien gets it!"
"Ha HA!" Ebon pointed towards the bow with a bright grin. "How about that! Heheheh..." He glanced down at his fidgeting hooves. "Whewwwwwwwwwwwwww—I'm so glad I got out of that restaurant in Gray Smoke alive."
"Yeah, well, so's my stomach," Josho said.
Rainbow rolled her eyes. Just then, the entire Jury lunged.
Everypony blinked.
"What the spit?!" The elk in the cockpit twirled about, his antlers flashing. "Did Nancy give birth?!"
"We do feel a lot lighter," Pilate said.
Eagle squinted at him. "How do you know?"
"A mystical zebra never shares his secrets."
"You picked a bad time to be cheeky."
"Would you rather go back to the venison story?"
"Everypony... quiet!" Rainbow hissed, raising her hooves. "Ya hear that?"
"Sounds like manaengines," Josho said.
"Rainbow! Look!" Kera chirped, pointing over the ship's port side. The group twirled about and watched in awe as a small black sphere shot over the forested landscape, coasting northeast.
"Roarke?!" Rainbow stammered. "What in the buck is she doing?"
"Something awesome, I bet!" Kera grinned.
Rainbow frowned. "I'll be the friggin' judge of that."
"Rainbow?" Belle blinked worriedly. "What are you doing—?"
"What else?" Rainbow flapped her wings. "I'm going after her!"
"But—"
"No, this stupid charade ends now! Either she's gonna tell me what's got her saddle in a twist or I'm not coming back at all!" Rainbow took a sharp right and breezed by the cockpit's dashboard. "Floydien, bring her to a stop! This shouldn't take long."
"Yes yes yes, paint bucket."
"Oh great..." Josho lumbered about, groaning. "Another delay. Val Roa's going to be a cemetery by the time we get there."
"Rest easy, Josho," Pilate said in a calm tone. "Something tells me this is the most important thing to happen today..."
Eagle Eye and Ebon watched nervously as Rainbow blurred after the black sphere in the distance.
Hmm, methinks Roarke needs to go kill something to let off steam. But why?
Twenty-five situps, ):(. Knock 'em out!
Silver strips, eh...
Something tells me the end of this book will spell the end of ponies...
That said I did enjoy what must have been the world's most suspiciously convenient lore drop. That guy basically outlined the political climate of this entire continent with a snap of his fingers(?). It seems bigger in scope than all of the Ledomare continent, even though that took several books just to LEARN bits and pieces about.
ROARKE HAS THE BIGGEST GODDAMN CRUSH RIGHT MEOW.
Foreshadowing because it can't all be smooth sailing.
4896247
I hate you for that and if it really is then you just spelled doom for this entire story.
Roarke must be having an internal battle. She better snap out of it. They need to makeout already. Agreed?
Yay! I'm useful.
4896247
But End of Ponies was cancelled...
Freaking finally, it's about time RD and Roarke had a chat.
Weird, I thought Rourke couldnt have that particular inner conflict, because she replaced with with a secondary mana core and grenade dispenser?
Title of next story arc box series is foreshadowing? Or just Josho waiting to be fed?
If the ranger thinks Zepplins are rare and for the rich, what is he going to think when the first cargo cumulus start trundling overhead, and will the Durandurans eventually come to Dashs assitance, flying the condensed cloud matter Habbakuk, with its lightning chain cumulus turrets and Golden Light Wave Cannon?
Bringing light to the Dark Side, with Style.
Roarke Most Angsty.
Roarke might be gone for a while, depending on the cause. Sudden turnaround is disturbing.
With all this geography and history, I will go ahead and predict that things are going to get crazy in the next book. Crazy and confusing, like Innavedr. Except everything will probably not turn out alright.
The changelings have shown to have high infiltration power in high concentrations, the Ledomaritian and Xonan governments were infested with them. I'm assuming that the Val Roan royalty is in a state of conflict or unease right now because of the recently exposed changelings within it.
4896247
One thing is that we don't have a lot of time to spend here. Assuming that we cross/reach the border at the end of the 6th book, that leaves us only 1 book to do business in Val Roa, and then also cross the Grand Choke.
Jeezums, Roarke. She seemed to be so much better lately, and then, out of the blue, she's been all weird and distant again for the past few chapters. Is it merely the birthing pains of her growing equinity? Or, does she think Rainbow got her freak on with one of the Durandanans, and she's jealous? Or what?
I'm really, really torn about Val Roa. Part of me wants to be optimistic; to think that this kingdom, and indeed this whole continent, really is a bastion of harmony. I mean, yes, we know Chrysalis is there, doing... something. But really, I strain to imagine that her influence is so great that all this continent's merits are a vast ruse. At the same time, though, story's gonna story. Drama is inevitable. The big variable is the degree of said drama. The goblins are a little ominous, though. Methinks we've gotten a preview of what to expect on the dark side of the plane.
Also, I hope they okay'd that cheese trade with Zaid. Or maybe it was an executive, common-good decision. I'm not sure what would be worse: Zaid angsting out over losing his cheese horde, or the toll said cheese horde would inflict on the ship's plumbing.
I wonder what's up with Roarke.
Silver strips and goblins? Where have I heard that before...
"Pfft. Bunch of thugs and would-be pirates."
I think we may find out more to their story.
Also, Roarke reminds me a bit of Agent Tex. And Weiss Schnee.
Why do I find it so funny that Floydien got a joke?
4896701
I'd say more like Carolina and Blake.
Tex never threw a tantrum and Weiss is more haughty than angsty.
Yep. Saw the loss of cheese coming. Even more obvious than the loss of the sword. Now we can go back to Zaid's need of cheese and stop the toilet humor.
Well, we have goblins and silver strips. Something tells me the dark side of the world will be infested by trolls.
Its time to finally get the truth out about this whole thing.
Leather-necked goblins? Really opulent and expensive cities? Currency based on "strips"? Is anyone else thinking of the Ferengi from Star Trek?
Also, finally some closure with Roarke. No more secrets and hiding.
4896878
Yeah, but the thing about Weiss is how much of a lie her outward, cold personality is. Roarke and Weiss are a lot alike IMO, she's just like Tex in appearance and slight disdain for men, but not much else.
Weiss and Roarke are both extremely powerful female characters with a huge chip on their shoulders with no friend or family to rely on until the events of their respective series.
A lot of stuff going on here...
We got a lot of information from this guy. Val Roa seems like a nice place, although this
seems suspicious.
So, Roarke snapped and Rainbow's going after her. I wonder what's had her so sulky lately.
Goblins and silver strips you say? Now where have I heard that before...
Aw man, seems like Rainbow and Roarke are totally about to touch butts. Or discuss touching butts in the future. It's about time.
And for those of you above me in the comments section discussing RvB and RWBY characters, I understand your references, but have nothing to add.
All in all, these next few chapters are gonna be a hell of a thing. Looking forward to them.
I feel like we ought to go about reinstating an ancient tradition around here. If there are no objections from the crowd. . .
Title Obtained: "The Second-Chance Chaser"
4896399 It was the end of the End of Ponies.
damn, that was like getting the entire lay of the land and political climate from the first random npc you walk up to......
wonder what crawled up Roarke's
and died (or was it that taser malfunctioning?)
4896427 "chat"
You mean like this guy? gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=383257&type=card
[crackling] Mr. Chekhov, please come to the front counter, you have left your firearm unattended. As soon as possible, Mr. Chekhov, thank you.[/crackling]
4896515
Or the air supply.
God damn it, where are the goblins building Petra?
I might be making a mountain out of mole hill but saying that you gave them half of the supplies in your warehouse sounds more like talking about tribute in a face saving manner than a gift. Also I think that the only way for a war to end in three days is by you surrendering or evil shapeshifters taking over both governments. perhaps I just can't take the idea of peace and quiet.
Yay for Rainboarke coming to a head.
The Metal Mare is flailing in her death throes.
Also, goblins? Wat?
Finally, the next chapter will have Rainboarke. I can't wait!
"Dainty tush"? Seriously, how does IC come up with these?
Roarke what are you doing you silly mare.
4896399
SHUSH YOU END OF PONIES WILL UPDATE IF I BELIEVE.
I swear, if this is alternate timeline of the EoP universe or something, I will be very happy. All we need is for the Jury to find Mount Ogreton somewhere in Val Roa...
strips?
:l
One day, Roarke found out she still has a heart in that metal shell.
When it started to grow, the pain began...
Next chapter will have this pain resolved, or worsened.
4898063 Now, that's better.
4899206 I was trying to use reverse psychology.
I am not good at it...
Silver strips and goblins?
Despite knowing who the author of this saga is, those were some of the last things I expected to pop up here.
...My heart pines for EoP...
MY FOURTH WALL! IT IS BROKEN!!!
I find this part especially hilarious because it sounds like something I'd do.
4899206
That would be a mindfuck of epic proportions.
4898021 Alright, you get to make titles for the past chapters. See ya in a month.
Silver strips? I hope I'm not the only one who thought of chaos metal.
Someone hasn't had their daily fill of maiming. Poor Roarke.
feels incoming
Yes! Maybe this is where I get my rain/roarke!
damnit roarke what are you doing
4902103 i did too...lets hope its just a bad thought...
Oh my, goblins. :dramaticrarityface: (Although they aren't really any threat.) And maybe Roarke will finally get out of her rut.
-Spirit
Oh Roarke, what the Hell is eating at you from the inside?
I dunno if I should feel sorry for roarke or be annoyed with her.
No, Roarke. You had your solo mission already.
Hm, so we got a little more WoW. Not only did we get Un'goro crater, we've got straight up goblins. Jeez, Skirts, at least with the crator you were able to SOMEWHAT hide your plagiarism.
I have a feeling Val Roa is going to be like the Earth Kingdom; everything seems hunky dory, but it's suffering from a lot of issues on the inside and the monarchy is controlled by a shadow organization. and while I'm making Avatar comparisons, Roarke is going through something similar to what Zuko went through at the end of Book 2. She's suffering a major personality shift and everything is fucked up for her right now because she's changing ways.
You are leaving the battlefield! You must turn around immediately!
Pfft, Roarke damn you for being so cool to read. Next up are some revelations! I can't wait!
~SolidFire
... goblins?
Did we take a wrong turn and end up in a different setting somewhere?
Roarke Most Adorable.
There had better be smooches at the other end of this.
You're kind of asking for it there mate