A pair of red lights flickered on, illuminating the shoulder plates of Roarke's armor. The metal mare peered about the hazy darkness of the partially collapsed basement. Twin crimson bands swathed from her armor's glow as she trotted slowly through the settling dust of her most recent attack.
Her opponent was nowhere to be seen, but that didn't stop her from piercing the recesses of the place, her copper lenses whurring in and out as she grinned sadistically.
"Somehow, I suspect, even if you were dead, your corpse would have something to say." She opened a panel and whipped a coil of metal rope into the nothingness. Dust and pebbles flew from the motion. "So stop being so quiet. You're positively electric when you talk." Roarke's nostrils flared as she hissed forth, "Yes, like a Xonan praying to the gods of mana before being gutted."
She whipped her coil again. Chunks of granite littered the floor, and then all was once more quiet.
"I've killed many a Xonan in my time," she muttered, her metal hooves sliding through the debris. "But none of them quite as resourceful as you. It's not the wings that make you formidable. No... it's something deeper than that. I've no doubt that you're a warrior liken unto Searo. It will be an honor to bring home your head."
She slapped a wall of rock. Symbols shattered at her metallic touch. Her brow furrowed as her lenses focused on a glinting shape amidst the darkness. As soon as she paused, the sheen of light darted away.
Smirking, Roarke pretended not to notice as she continued her mechanical stroll into the next crumbled chamber. "I wonder what it was that made you so hated in the eyes of the Confederacy. Did you rob them of something? That pendant around your neck, perhaps?" She slapped through the space, casting sparks across the ground. Her crimson lights caught nothing but haze. "Or was it murder? If so, I shall count your kills as mine with pride."
Roarke scuffled to a stop, finding very little room left in the chamber. Her lenses pistoned back into their sockets.
"And your companions will easily earn me the gold to fix the armor I broke to end you."
Just then, the dark shadow of a pony appeared to Roarke's right.
"Grrkkk!" Gnashing her teeth, she spun and struck two sets of cables to her side.
However, the whips slapped into a barren wall. The shadow was still there, though, for the ruby light source was behind her.
Roarke jerked. Before she could turn around, a series of blue forelimbs wrapped around her neck from behind.
"Y'know, I'd give a real mind if you'd shut the buck up." Rainbow hissed, blurring her wings.
The two scraped loudly across the chamber, propelled forward by Rainbow's appendages. They flew into the wall with Roarke's skull slamming first. She sputtered in pain—only for Rainbow to grip her head and slam the bounty hunter's muzzle into the stone face repeatedly.
Rainbow hissed through her teeth and brought two hoves together to slam down into the back of Roarke's head. However, at precisely that moment, the metal mare extended her flight wings, knocking the pegasus off her.
Rainbow Dash stumbled back—then felt the unmistakable tug of a pair of cables ensnaring her shoulders. Just as she was being stretched towards the ceiling, she thrusted her chest forward. The ruby lightning bolt of her pendant glowed brightly.
"Gaagh!" Roarke flinched from the strobing light in the dark chamber. Her lenses attempted to adjust—
But Rainbow Dash was already using her cables against her, yanking the bounty hunter across the room until she grabbed her body and suplexed her hard to the granite floor.
"Ooof!" Roarke hissed. Two new panels opened in her armor, exposing twin glaives.
Rainbow flashed a look down. "What the—?!"
Both circular blades fired out, soaring at Rainbow's head.
"Whoah!" Rainbow lunged backwards, stretching her body thin and avoiding both discs in mid-air. She landed on the ground with a grunt. Her ears flicked from multiple impact sounds. She spun and looked over her shoulder.
Both glaives were bouncing off the walls and ceiling of the place. Showering sparks, they glowed with bright mana and ricocheted back, hoaming in on Rainbow Dash.
"Oh for Pete's sake!" Rainbow scampered up to all fours and galloped away. The air whistled from the weapons' hasty chase.
Roarke stood up on wobbly limbs, watching with a pained expression.
Rainbow Dash had very little room to run. A solid wall formed a dead end in front of her. Holding her breath, she took wing, jumped, and planted all four hooves onto the granite wall.
The two glaives converged on her.
"Nnngh!" Uncoiling her muscles, Rainbow sprung back in the opposite direction. She miraculously rocketed through the last space available in the criss-crossing glaives. They bounced off each other, ricocheted off the walls, and took the long way pursuing her.
With her flesh untouched, Rainbow Dash flew backwards and let loose a sharp breath.
A pair of metal forelimbs grabbed her from behind.
"Aaugh!" Rainbow's voice cracked as Roarke held her still in the incoming path of the two projectiles.
"Give it up, featherbrain!" The bounty hunter hissed into her ear. "I'm too full of tricks!"
"Yeah..." Rainbow gritted her teeth. "I bet you're also full of blood." She shot her rear hooves down, locked them with Roarke's and upset the metal mare's balance.
Roarke found herself being flung forward just as the glaives arrived. They grazed her shoulders, piercing the armor in a snap. "Gaaaugh!" She shrieked as a spray of crimson juices littered the nearby wall. Her lights shattered, flickering with broken mana conduits.
Rainbow gave her no breath to recover. "Nnnngh!" She slammed a right hoof, then a left, then a knee into the bounty hunter's chin. The pendant strobed with ruby fury, illuminating her merciless punches in blood-red snapshots. Finally, as the glaives scraped to a stop along the granite floor, Rainbow shoved Roarked up against a wall. With wings spread and legs straight, she galloped forward and plowed the two of them against the granite partition—smashing violently through to the blinding sunlight beyond.
Just die already!
Wow....Roarke just got owned.
2158331 If she bleeds we can kill her.
I have to admit I didn't expect a Round 4
Round 5 coming up. Rainbow has almost charged the ruby to maximum.... Feels like one of those arcade games where you get the special move counter up to maximum and then limit break.
How disharmonious, almost chaotic.
2158394
Pilate...you don't think...
Naaaaaaaaah! How can that ever be possible anyway?
2158390 Cccccccccccc-Combo Breaker!!!!!
2158394
When RD get's pissed, not even the powers of harmony can stop her from beating the hell outta you.
Awesome. Amazing. I really think IC is becoming an even better writter than he was during austraeho
It's like watching two terminators fight. Except one of them is a small, blue pegasus.
I get the distinct feeling that the pendant flashing means Dash is on the verge of a chaos spell again...
2158724 I believe it might just actually be a email from Luna, or rather just the pendent is building up Dash's rage inside and is about to release something horrifyingly terrific.
In other words, I don't think Roarke is under much threat of dash killing her, it could just be Dash beating her down to ashes and then casting a friendly spell on her threw the pendent.
I gotta say, I hope that metal mares from Searo have some kind of, "if you beat us in a fight, we become instantly subordinate to you" honor clause in their society. I kinda like Roarke. She's a badass bitch, and she'd be really handy to have around when the Enforcers catch up.
2158851
In a nutshell, I assign IC push-ups based on my feelings on the chapter of the day. 25 here, 45 there. Just knock them out whenever. Make sure you keep your back straight the whole time, go down until your upper arm is parallel to the ground, then all the way up until our elbows lock.
I'll wait and see how the fight ends, but I pretty sure who will come out on top.
This battle is insanely brutal. I'm reminded of Snake's fight with Liquid at the end of Metal Gear Solid 4. Neither know when to quit... It will be the death of one of them.
Hopefully this round was a K.O.!
This is awesome.
Nuff said...
Blood? Ooooh, we haven't seen blood in a few chapters now!
For Luna's sake, just fuck already!
So... how's Eagle Eye and the gang doing?
Haven't heard from them in a while.
2160491 They are probably just hanging out a little bit in the distance. You know, just shooting the breeze up there in the trees.
Fight some rounds, fight some rounds,
One, two, three, four.
How many teeth are on the floor?
One, two, three, four.
2158784
You've got mail.
I think, that this is match, finally.
judging by your way of doing things, roarke isn't dead and now the party has transport.
Exactly what kind of glaives are you talking about?
A glaive is a pole-arm weapon; like a sword blade on the end of a stick.
I have never heard of spinning, hands-free glaives.
Aaaaand done! As much fun as this bulk catch up session was, remind me never to slack on my pony reading again. I actually have no idea how this battle is going to turn out, but its been a wicked ride so far. Can't wait to see what happens next!
The fight's been pretty even so far, but it looks like Dash is pulling ahead. Roarke is in trouble.
2160754
Those were painful.
2160978
Glave worms like starcraft's mutalisks?
FINISH HER!
Hahaha, this is the scene from DBZ with Krillin dodging two Destructo Discs
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
Hot diggedy damn, this fight has gone on for a very long amount of time. Knowing Imploding, I'm surprised that Dash hasn't fallen prey to a dizzy spell yet. But there's always round 5...but I don't see how Dash'll even be able to stand, much less breathe, after this juggernaut of a fight. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
P.S. Hooray! I came home a night early!
2158394 Loyalty is wide awake. I say it's holy wrath we're witnessing.
So if we stab her, she does bleed. Good. Very good. It's been a while since I wanted to see a character die this badly. She's not just crazy, she's evil. I've reached the point of not even caring about Shell any more. Screw that guy, if he helps taking out Roarke I'll pin a medal on his brick head myself!
2158394 Alright, I just read the next chapter and there goes my statement. God damnit Pilate, why are you always right.
I, am, HOPELESS! I swear, I tell myself: Yeah, I'll keep up with the story, no matter what. Really, I'll read every chapter as it comes out....
But nooooooooooo, I am already about a month behind again, and have a serious amount of catching up to do, even another story to start and catch up to.
At least these are GREAT stories...
In any case with this chapter, Roarke, please just die or bugger off. Please.
Onwards!
>ricocheted back, hoaming in on Rainbow Dash
>Rainbow shoved Roarked up against a wall
Is there a joke hidden somewhere?
2160835
Fate, Destiny, and the fact that Dash has the pendant are the ONLY things allowing me to suspend my disbelief THIS much!
Dash wins round 4. And I'm assuming it's just the tides of destiny keeping her from dying right now. Nopony, not even Dash, could have such awesome luck.
I take it back.
2159092
You know, you would make a damn good fitness trainer. Seriously. But I guess the army does that to ya.
3689589
Ræp.
Jesus, how many times does a mare have to bash someone across the head till they friggin' pass out?
note how she's using more and more tricks and less head-to-head fighting. i'm not sure if it's intentional, but it looks like she's losing strength.
4759268 about 17 & a 1/2 times
dat purple prose tho
And I fucking KNEW Dashie would come through in the end
you can try and attack her with fancy gadgets Roarke
but in the end, rainbow power will always win
5527041 Tracks! Less than an hour old! Finally im going to see another traveler on this long lonesome road!
I can't decide, someone help me
This?
Or maybe this?
Or that?
5965651 I prefer the first one Personally.