Get Over Yourself and Live Again
"I had a brother once. A loving, endearing soul. He cared very deeply for the deer and ponies of Bountiful. He fought for their rights to representation every month of every year. He fought so hard that he had to leave the home he loved for a kingdom wrought with bureaucratic dissent. After much struggle and labor, he finally achieved something. The ponies of the kingdom were starting to listen to him. It was just a matter of time before he allowed Bountiful to catch the attention of the Monarchy itself.
"But then something dastardly happened. Members of the cabinet conspired against my brother, and they used someone he cared for to get to him. During his stay in Val Roa, my brother fell in love with someone named Midnite Bastion, a member of the royal guard. Their love was sincere, legitimate, and tender. But it was also forbidden. Val Roan law decreed that there was to be no fraternizing between members of the legislature and those serving in other branches. It was a very petty and obscure law, but it was something my brother's enemies could very well have used against him. And it's not as though he wanted to break the law. He was short on friends in Val Roa, and Midnite Bastion entered his life almost by accident. It was as though they were meant for each other. Even today, I remember how much his face would light up when talking to me about her.
"But that joy would end up being his undoing. Even today, I was never made privy to all of the details. All I know is that my brother fled Val Roa, rambling about how 'they' had 'seized her,' and that the lives of several innocent family members were in jeopardy because of him. I had barely gotten a chance to talk with him when he had seized one of the squirrels from the terrarium here in Bountiful and fled into the west. When I was told that he had been murdered by goblins, my heart shattered. But when I realized that the Val Roan ministry was hiding his body, I knew in my heart that he was not dead... or at least not by the fate that so many politicians claimed to be true.
"So I searched for him. With no one in Val Roa that I could trust, I turned to travelers, merchants, mercenaries, and bounty hunters. I sent several parties west in search of my beloved sibling. All they could scrounge up was rumor of a handsome elk having crossed paths with the Lounge. The reptiles in the southwest swamps were besides themselves with anger. They sought a creature with antlers, for he had stolen a large supply of skystone from their ranks... enough skystone to travel into the north and excavate even more. When I learned about this enchanted substance, I ultimately discovered that its only purpose was to allow someone to travel a great distance at alarming speed. That's when I accepted, with a heavy heart, that my brother was gone for good. It wasn't death or disease that claimed him, but heartache."
Duchess Arcanista took a deep breath.
"And now," she said. "Even with him standing in front of me, I realize that he is as far as the west is from the east. I look at him... I stare into his dim blue eyes... and I still can't believe that he's here." She gulped. "Because he would believe the same thing. This room... this manor... this town... it's all alien to him. After all these years, to finally come so close to brushing ears with my beloved sibling once again, and yet to know he's universes away..."
She paused, her eyes moist. She bowed her head to the lusch carpet.
Floydien continued glaring at her, unmoving.
She shuddered, then murmured, "I had hoped you would say something. Correct me. Interrupt me. You used to be so talkative, brother. You loved to laugh... to smile." She sniffed and raised her head. "This used to be your room. This is where you slept, wrote, plotted your duties for Bountiful. I had hoped it might trigger something inside you... a memory... a recollection... anything."
"Is the boomer done now?" Floydien grumbled. "Floydien must get to Nancy Jane."
"Heh..." Arcanista cracked a bitter smile. "You really love your 'Nancy Jane,' don't you, Floydien?"
"Nancy Jane is Floydien's only beloved," the elk said. "The safest glimmer from the stabby-stabs. Elegant boomer wouldn't understand, and she should give Floydien his shimmer back."
"Floyd, 'Nancy Jane' is Midnite Bastion."
"Enough with the spit!" Floydien grumbled. "Boomer is full of hack hack!"
Arcanista clasped a stack of letters from the table next to her and then tossed them beside the antlers. "Look for yourself, Floyd." She pointed. "It was the name you invented for her!" Her brow furrowed. "You called her that in every letter for fear that the Val Roans would catch the two of you!"
He blinked back at her. With neutral curiosity, he tilted his neck and gazed down at the sheets. On the top line of every single missive, it was addressed to "Nancy Jane."
"Well, they did, Floyd," she said, clenching her teeth. "They got to her. And you were so distraught, you fled west... for her safety. Well, she's alive, Floyd. And what's more, the Val Roan government is so corrupt that living beyond the West Gate has gotten more dangerous for her and her family than ever before. Leaving when you did may have been the solution for the time, but the problem still remains. And it's worse than ever."
"... ... ..." Floydien looked up at the Duchess.
"Your friends are virtuous ponies," she said. "And I can tell that they want to save Val Roa from something so terrible that even my worst nightmares couldn't conceive of it. The fact that you are here is no small coincidence. This opportunity is a God-send, Floyd. My heart rejoices that you're standing here in this room with me. But I need you to return... and I mean really return." She swallowed. "Whatever happened to you out west... you need to come back now, dear brother. I need you. Your friends need you." She pointed at the letters. "And the real Nancy Jane needs you."
Floydien blinked.
"So..." Arcanista stood up from the corner. She smiled delicately. "What do you say...?"
"Again!" Props shouted.
Rainbow Dash grunted. A bolt of ruby energy shot out from her pendant and illuminated the tome inside the engine room's cage.
As the book's runes flickered, Props shouted into a sound stone. "Okay, Zaidy Waidy! Pump it!"
A clattering noise rolled through the bulkheads. The engines revved, revved, and then puttered dead.
"Cruddicles!" Props flashed Rainbow a look. "Again!"
Rainbow took a deep breath, concentrated, and fired a steady beam of harmonic energy.
The book floated, pulsating.
Props hollered into the sound stone again. "Once more, Zaid!"
Again, the ship rattled, wheezed, and died.
"I'm sorry, Blondie! It just isn't the same without Floydien here! I can't make this thing purr like the big rusted kitten it wants to be!"
"Unnngh..." Props slumped back against the table of her communications array. "Why does Handsome have to pick this week to undergo kaizo character development?!"
"I think I'm pretty together!"
"Wrong handsome!" she shouted and slapped the sound stone silent against the table. She looked over with glossy goggles. "You can give it a rest now, Dashie. We're dead in the water."
"Guh..." Rainbow stopped illuminating the book with her pendant. She drifted backwards, falling into Roarke's forelimbs. "Whew... that doesn't get any easier."
"Are you alright?" Roarke asked.
"Heh..." Rainbow nuzzled one of her fetlocks, smiling tiredly. "I am now. Funny how this ship works. It depends on an elk, a blond, and a chaos-poisoned pegasus. It used to depend on a psychokinetic squirrel! Wanna bet that before we reach Val Roa we'll enlist a cyborg penguin in our ranks?"
"I... wouldn't know anything about that."
"Yeah. Ebon wouldn't have enough fish to feed it anyways."
Roarke's arms squeezed tighter around Rainbow.
The mare blinked. "Uhhh... Roarke?"
Roarke hugged her tightly, resting her muzzle in the depths of her colorful hair.
Rainbow smiled crookedly, eyes darting up. "Everything okay back there?"
"Mmmmm..." Roarke's nostrils flared.
Silence.
Rainbow reached a hoof up and brushed the mare's hoof. "Y'know... I missed you while you were off in Amulek too."
"Yeah..." Roarke bit her lip, continuing to hold Rainbow tight.
"If you're trying to suplex me, you're doing it wrong."
"So maybe I am...."
Rainbow blinked. She was about to say something else when the door behind them squeaked loudly. Both mares looked as Booster Spice galloped in—breathless—from the stairwell.
"Rainbow Dash! We need you!"
"Story of my life."
"Well... a-actually..." The stallion gulped. "The House of Sehlp needs you!"
"What for?" Roarke asked, blue eyes narrow.
"It's the Duchess!" Booster winced. "Two of her guards came running to the jury! There's... uh... th-there's a bit of a problem."
"HRAAAAAAUGH!" Floydien hollered, equipped with one antler. The crooked thing swiveled on his head as he galloped across the chamber, firing bolts of electricity everywhere.
A flock of guards braced themselves, absorbing part of the blast into their horns. But even with the elk half-equipped, the force was simply too much for the group to brace themselves against. They flew back, knocking over a quadruped suit of armor and tearing a tapestry from the wall.
"Give it BACK!" Floydien hollered. "Give Floydien back the rest of his shimmer so he can return to Nancy!"
Behind a corner inside the manor, Duchess Arcanista huddled along with a group of uniformed reindeer.
"Madame! You must get to the safe room!" one guard shouted.
Another hollered, "He's run amok! If he gets ahold of that other antler—"
"I will not run from my brother!" she shouted, holding onto the offending body part.
"But he attacked you—"
"He's confused!" Arcanista yelled. "He's only lashing out because he's starting to remember! I just know it!"
Zaaaaaaap!
"Pathetic sissy boomers!" Floydien hollered as she kicked a wine cabinet over and marched over it, setting fire to the rugs beneath with energy bolts. "Give Floydien back his branch branch!"
"We're no mach for him, Madame!" another guard spat. "Bountiful can't afford to lose both heirs in a single morning!"
"That's why I called for help!" Shivering, Arcanista peered around the corner as Floydien's menacing march brought him closer, closer. "Please, God, let them help us..."
Floydien approached the end of the hall. He tilted his head at a savage angle, charging up the lopsided antler and illuminating the walls of the manor with his wrath.
Cl-Clank! A pair of windows swung open from the outside. A blue body streaked in.
Floydien spun, eyes twitching red and blue.
"Floydiennnn!" Rainbow soared straight at him.
He clamped all four hooves against the floor. WHAP! She barreled into him, shoving against his antler. His hooves scraaaaaaaaaped across the floor, knocking aside the groaning bodies of guards as Rainbow shoved, shoved, shoved him all the way back from which he marched.
Snarling, he channeled a pulse of electricity into his antler.
Rainbow grumbled, absorbing several of the blue bolts into her pendant.
Fwooosh! Roarke rocketed through the window and landed heavily besides Arcanista. She retracted her helmet and shouted, "Rainbow!"
"Stand back!"
Roarke was already charging. "But—"
"Stand back!" Rainbow screamed above the chaos. "I've got this!"
Roarke slid to a stop, gritting her teeth.
"Color... wheel boomer... is picking the wrong fight!" Floydien sneered.
"Oh... go sit on it!" Rainbow summoned a heavy yell, then bravely gripped the antler with both hooves. Twirling backwards, she bicycle-kicked the elk across his chin.
Pop! The antler came loose with a discharge of static energy.
"Guaaugh!" Floydien stumbled to his knees.
Rainbow landed in a slide. Exhaling, she tossed the antler hard over her shoulder.
Roarke caught it effortlessly. She stood at a nervous distance, watching the exchange.
Floydien stood back up, wheezing. "Stupid boomer... stop stealing Floydien's shimmer glimmer!"
"Floydien, we're Noble Jurists!" Rainbow snarled. "We don't attack innocent lives! Especially when they've extended us a hoof of peace! That includes moronic elks such as you!"
"They want to steal Floydien away from Nancy Jane!" Floydien growled. "They're just as bad as the stabby-stabs—"
"They're on our side, you red-nosed idiot!"
"Color Wheel boomer has no idea what she's spitting about!" Floydien heaved and heaved, his muzzle covered in sweat. "The stabby-stabs took Floydien's love away. They filled his head with glimmer! Floydien yelled and screamed and the boomers looked on! This place-place is full of pain! Floydien has had enough of pain!" He slammed his hooves down, snarling. "So stop pretending that you can spit Floydien's head right!"
Rainbow frowned. She reared her hoof back and savagely slammed Floydien across the face. The elk slumped into a wall, wheezing and trembling.
Arcanista and her guard winced. Roarke blinked.
Rainbow hovered over the cowering elk. "Get over yourself!" She seethed. "So you got experimented on?! Poked and prodded?! Turned inside out?! Well get in line, mister!" She held a hoof over her chest. "Not a night goes by that I don't have bad dreams over what Shell and the scientists at Blue Shelf made me do! I'm only alive because I had to become a murderous monster against my friggin' will! And that ain't the half of it! All of my best friends were ripped from my life, and my home became a dayum grave! Each day I'm dying a little bit more, and not all the hidden flame in the world is enough to stop the inevitable!"
She spun and pointed at the far end of the wrecked hall as the guards started getting up to their hooves.
"Over there you have a sister who loves you... who adores you... who looks past all of your stupid bullcrap and wants to help you! Don't you see where you are, Floydien?! You're home! You're in the place where you belong! What I wouldn't give to have that luxury! You think I'd be crapping all over it like you are right now?!"
"It's... it's too much..." Floydien hissed, his ears drooped as he dared to look up at the pegasus. "They took everything fr-from Floydien." He gulped. "They g-gave him pain and shimmer thought... and th-that was better... s-so much better than the pain that's here." His blue eyes moistened. "The pain of losing Nancy..." He closed his eyes, seething. "Nancy... Nancy... you're.... y-you're..."
"Floydien, losing somepony you love with all your heart sucks. I know." She flew down and landed beside him, gazing with sympathetic eyes. "But you have to trust me, Floydien. You can find love again. You can move on." She bit her lip. "You can learn to be happy again... if you j-just stop punishing yourself."
Roarke's lips pursed. She found herself clutching the antler tighter with metal hooves as she looked on.
Floydien shivered, eyes darting between Rainbow and Arcanista in the distance.
Rainbow's nostrils flared. Frowning, she spun around and marched off. Halfway down the hall, however, she stopped. "You've done so much to help the Noble Jury, Floydien." She glanced over her shoulder. "And now that we have the opportunity to help you back... well... I advise you not to spit in our faces... or your sister's either." She flapped her wings and soared out the window while the guards watched.
Floydien gazed thoughtfully from afar. He heard a shuffling set of hoosteps and looked up.
Roarke stood above him, leering. She dropped the antler down within his reach.
He glanced at it.
"Rainbow Dash is far too virtuous to kill you." The metal mare leaned forward, glaring. "But I am not Rainbow Dash."
Floydien bit his lip.
"Keep that in mind when you decide to redecorate again." Turning, she rocketed out of the manor after the pegasus.
Floydien simply sat where he was. He looked at the antler, but he made no attempts to grab it. Slowly, he closed his eyes, and breathed even breaths.
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Roarke with dem big threats.
Really loving finally learning about Floydien, he has a very interesting back story. Rainbow Dash is right, he needs to realize hes not the only one who's had that stuff done to him and he need to finally let the others help him though it.
STEELTEETH CONFIRMED FOR YAERFAERDA.
As much as everything Rainbow Dash says is true, it's obvious that the torture Floydien endured was far different than what Shell did to RD. "Stop being insane" isn't always a helpful piece of advice.
5116691
It begs the question of how insane "insane" is. Floydien has always liked his little act, and has been able to tone it back when he wants to.
5116702
Insane enough. Being able to 'tone it back' may rely on how calm he happens to be at the moment. When he's excited, angry, or despairing, it gets worse, while when piloting the Jury in calm weather he gets far better.
Floydien turns into a "she" if only equiped with one antler? Cool!
...scary...
What an inspirational speech.
Then there's Roarke.
67,767 words.
That jumped out at me. It's all sixes and sevens!
That is all.
See, Roarke?
Now stop worrying.
I'm with Arcanist. Rainbow has a solid point, but the fact is that whatever Nightshade did to Floydien changed him, seemingly at a mental level. All the pep talks in the world aren't going to make that all go away. And I have to wonder if this really is his home. Maybe it used to be, but unless something drastic happens, it's hard to imagine that Floydien will ever be able to just pick up his life where he left off and suddenly belong here. He obviously needs closure, but I just don't see him settling down in Bountiful. But it's probably a tad early to say for sure.
I'd rather it be a magical platypus myself.
I literally just realized that Yaerfaerda is spelled with two R's and not one
Where the heck would they find a penguin here anyway?
RD busting out the "What the hell, hero?" on Floydien
5116702 That's a good point. If you remember, Floydien's speech got even quirkier than usual after a few situations in the past, most notably Simon's death. Its as much a coping/stress mechanism as it is a mental condtion brought on by being experimented.
5116856
Took you guys long enough, jeez. I think I made this joke twice in two chapters(it was even relevant!) and Rust goes and gets five likes for the same thing a few chapters later.
Nerd rage engage.
Politics is so bad that Floydien preferd/s being tortured to crazy level 0 than the thought of going back.
It's hard for me to imagine a sane Floydien, but if Rainbow could stop his rampage, he must be thinking about his past now. I think IC will go for a middle ground on this - better Floydien, but not the same as before.
5116996
It appears to be PTSD of some sort. Those are difficult to cure, but its symptoms can be toned down.
I am okay with this.
Wait...what!?
OH. For a second there, I thought that Midnite actually WAS the ship. Like, somehow transformed from living being into giant airship machine. That would have been...weird...
I think that this would be awesome.
And once again, wanton violence by Rainbow Dash solves the problem. That, and a pep talk.
I honestly think this is the first time I've ever seen Floydien tear up. God, his life's really been messed up, hasn't it? I hope he starts to remember everything, but I honestly don't think he'll ever fully be back to normal. Seems like there's just been too much damage done, courtesy of Nightshade's experiments plus whatever hell he left behind.
5116970
*facedesks while snerking*
The whole "Nancy Jane's womb" thing just got really really weird and sexual in hindsight. Especially if the namesake is still kicking.
I'm betting if we meet Midnite, Props or Zaid brings it up first chance they get.
Black Sabbath - Megalomania
Floydien, you're awesome, but as dense as a lead brick
I think Maud and Roarke would get along well.
5116970
That was awesome
Not really...
Take a moment. Breathe. Look into yourself - you have a lot to explore, Floyds. Good luck.
5117425
Oh, go fuck a cactus.
5117469
Lovely as always.
5117475
Only for you, Zaid.
Raorke. Rainbow loves you. She also still has feelings for Applejack, but she loves you more. Figure that out soon.
Floydien. Stop with the shimmer shimmer, get your spit together, and figure out a way into Val Roa to save Midnite.
That is all.
5116830 I would prefer a sloth or anteater.
Midnite Bastion sounds too similar to Midnight Armory. Midnite Bastion is Nancy Jane. The Noble Jury is Nancy Jane. Rainbow Dash reached the Midnight Armory long ago.
5116970
Why did I hear that to the tune of Gangnam Style.
You have ruined me.
5117475
5117481
Get a room you two. (Probably with Props. I'll supply an insane amount of cheese.)
Was it just me or did it seem like Floydien was slipping into a normalish speech pattern for a moment there in the height of his distress?
Regardless, I think there's going to be some bonding moments between a few Jurists on just what it means to -endure-. I seriously wonder if Kera's gonna come across him and those two will have a heart to heart. Heavens knows both could use it, at times. And I want to hear more about Midnite Bastion and what kind of distress she and hers are in because it sounds like it's gonna be epic.
Also, for the record, caste laws SUCK.
Was Roarke... scared?
Maybe somepony needs to hold her.
I hope we dont loose Floydien...
We won't lose him.
He's just going to get a new lease on life.
We will however be getting Midnight Bastion the hell outta that city.
If/when Midnite Bastion gets back with Floyzd, I predict a lot of what fanfiction.net people would call hurt/comfort.
5117979 No! No! With meeee~
Is Roarke having an identity crisis? Almost seems like she's feeling insecure about her relationship with Rainbow...especially when her old friends
are mentioned or her old life. Don't worry Roarke you are not just a rebound, you are the real deal.
On the surface this looks pretty boring, but the nuance of it all makes it a lot more interesting, everyone here is acting about 5 years older than in the last book despite the stories only covering a couple months.
Floydian has been crushed and twisted deeply, and then theres the surgery. Worse case scenario I could think of? Im pretty sure coldnt happen, because all the experimentation was well back at Nighshade industries, so I wouldnt really be expecting Midnight Bastion to be ending up back with the Nancy Jane as her body. Too much singing for the ship to be doing.
Im glad they didnt have to try netting Floydian. That amount of power would melt any metal light enough to carry, and any net of chains capable o handling the power would be too heavy not only to carry, but also drop on him without turning him to paste, without telekinesis.
The area still creeps me out. Like th row of houses at the bottom of the castle in Edward Scissorhands. Perfectly normal American suburb, and it creeps me out crazy.
5117979
Why yes, I too ship ZVR/Swan Song.
5118759
Ether Point gave me this same bad vibe. This place, though, reading into Arcanista's words there only threat would be external. It's just as peachy as it looks in Bountiful, for the moment.
5118866 Did you just reply to yourself?
Also yes, it is a glorious ship, one which shall sail alongside the Noble Jury and the Rainboarke.
5119151
What. How.
Fuck.
Thanks for pointing that out.
time to switch perspectives
Thank you, Rainbow Dash. Hopefully Floydien will recover some sense.
-Spirit
Roarke confirmed to wear a tuxedo soon.
Either that or the next jury member is going to be a cyborg penguin
I'm excited either way