Fancy Meeting You
“Just what we need,” Roarke grunted as she jerked the controls to her manaship aside. The aircraft veered thunderously between the thin spaces of a pair of skyscrapers, forcing a dozen managliders to break out of formation to avoid being pulverized.
As the metal mare's ship regained altitude, twin squadrons of Ledomaritan defenders rushed in from opposite directions.
“Incoming!” Roarke shouted.
In the back, Crimson spun, gripping the turret hard as he fired shot after deafening shot into the fray. “They're coming from both sides! I can't cover us with one turret!”
“I'll make things simpler!” Roarke twirled the controls, sending the ship into a climbing spiral so that it hugged the adjoining faces of two buildings. The gliders had no choice but to rush in from one angle, and Crimson unloaded a fresh volley of manablasts into their midst. Two or three ships were caught along their wings. Smoking, they broke out of formation as the rest pulled up, firing red hot streams of energy in a relentless salvo.
The vessel shook from the proximity of the multiple explosions. Crimson grunted, “They're not pulling off! I can't shake them! I swear, they've gotten better at this than they were at Foxtaur!”
“Or maybe you've gotten worse!” Roarke spat as she threaded the two between a floating zeppelin and a rooftop.
Crimson hung off the turret by a metal hoof as he shook his other towards the cockpit. “Or maybe if you didn't fly the ship like we were in a snowstorm, I might get a shot off!”
“If I stay still for one second, we're deader than Searo's ovaries—” The mare's voice trailed off as her helmet reflected a blue sky. “Huh...”
“What?!” Crimson returned to the turret, swinging his targeting scope around. “What is it?”
“They're backing off...” Roarke squirmed in her seat. “That means...”
Crimson shouted, “Anti-air barrage!”
“I'm taking us down!”
“Hurry—” Crimson was shaken out of his exclamation. The whole ship rattled as black blasts of flak erupted on either side of them.
Roarke growled for good measure, spiraling the ship madly through the hailstorm of shrapnel and manaclouds. She encountered one explosion too many, and a bright shard of burning metal flew off the vessel's hull. The cabin filled with flashing red lights, complete with a stupidly annoying siren.
“We're hit!” Crimson gasped.
“You think?!” Roarke's metal-laced hooves flew over the instruments at a mile per minute. The ship evened out as she unfolded her helmet to shout clearly through a naked mouth. “I'm going to have to reinforce the hull with a manashard or else this thing will fly apart!”
“What...?!” Crimson gawked at her. “We'll be sitting ducks!”
“Well, then...” Roarke hissed at him as she crawled over with a glowing tool to patch up a sparkling panel. “I guess we're going to have to rely on a competent deadeye, huh?!”
Crimson blinked. Sweating, his gritted his teeth and spun the turret around. His view scope filled to the brim with incoming managliders. “Spark, spare me.” A snarling sound came from deep in his throat, rising in pitch as he fired at every incoming hint of rocketing silver he could find. Several aircraft veered to avoid his blast as he unleashed the manaship's punishment on the defenders. “They keep dodging!” he exclaimed. “What I wouldn't give for infantry to just gallop forward and punch!”
“Complain less; kill more,” Roarke said in mid-tinkering.
“Come on... Come on...” Crimson gnashed his teeth, his eyes wide as he attempted to accommodate for the enemy movements. He managed to force one to retreat and caused another ship's engine to smoke. “They're all dodging—except for the ones in the very back!”
Roarke paused and shouted, “Are their engines giving off an aquamarine glow?!”
“Yes! Why?”
“Shoot them first!” Roarke barked. “Their thrusters are compensating for a heavy payload! They won't dodge as easily!”
Crimson twirled his grip of the controls, zeroed in on the ships in question, and fired a blast towards each of their engines. The front vessels veered off, but the blast flew true, sailing into the metal hulls of the gliders towards the rear. Stallions jumped free, screaming, in anticipation of the inevitable. The sky lit up as bright plumes of orange erupted from the impacted ordinances. Several ships were knocked out of the sky while those who weren't struck by the blast wave flew off to avoid the debris.
Crimson exhaled heavily, spinning about on the turret to find more bogies. “Good to know.”
“I've had my fair share of jerks in the air,” Roarke droned as she finished her work and crawled back to her seat. The vessel re-accelerated, zooming over rooftops before the managliders could close in again. “Ledomaritans may be skilled, but their predictable.”
“If I ever have to take on an entire armada, I'll just call you—” Crimson spoke too soon, for as soon as they rounded another skyscraper, a swath of metal gliders was flying straight into them. “Hello!”
“Oh, for blood's sake!” Roarke hissed and tried steering clear. In spiraling through the mess, she unavoidably clipped the wing of a glider. The vessel burned its way towards the streets below, its occupants howling in terror. Meanwhile, the metal mare's manaship pulled into a wicked spin.
“Anytime you wanna pull out is fine by me!” Crimson shouted above the chaos.
“I... can't...” Roarke stammered. “A chunk of their ship is stuck in our thrusters!”
“You mean we're stuck in this sp-spin?!”
“I'm afraid so...”
“I can't very easily shoot the enemy when the world's doing pirouettes!”
“Then get out and piss on 'em!” Roarke grumbled. “There isn't much else I can do here!”
Crimson's face paled. “I think that makes the two of us.”
“Huh?”
“From up high!” Crimson tried pointing out the spinning cockpit. “They've spotted us!”
“Nnngh!” Roarke jerked and jerked at the thrusters, trying to shake the chunk of metal loose. She looked up, drops of sweat running down past her lensed eyes.
After three more spins, they caught a good look at a full formation diving towards them, their cannons brightening upon the crest of an incoming bombardment.
“Well...” Roarke sighed against the sparkling consoles. “So much for a free life...”
Right as the vessels fired, a silver streak came in through the cockpit's peripheral. On throttling engines, a rogue managlider flew into the fray and blasted two aircraft to bits in one shot. Before the others could veer off, the attacker flew dangerously close to another pair, causing them to steer clumsily into a building side, ultimately grinding to a smoldering halt against the courtyards below.
Crimson and Roarke watched in stun silence.
Outside, the managlider flipped up, twirled about, and came for another pass towards the surprised squadron. As the aircraft fired more rounds of streaming mana, the blue energy lit up Josho's stubbled muzzle.
“If nature wanted ponies to fly it never would have robbed me of alcohol!” he sneered, sailing straight towards the larger craft, firing at their cockpits.
The stallions on board waved dramatically before realizing there was no way of reasoning with this rogue. They twisted their turrets about to return fire, but Josho's shots burned through the throttling vehicles. Several more managliders twirled towards the earth while Josho pulled up in time to avoid slamming into a sheet of granite. He flew up and under floating building sections, trying to find more parts of the battle to join.
“Who else wants a face full of death farts?! Huh?! I'm bored enough!”
He heard a cracking noise. Glancing past his six, he saw the manaship finally shaking the shard of metal loose. With its thrusters evening out, the slender vessel pulled out of its spin and gained altitude, flying harmlessly over a distant row of buildings.
“Hmmm...” Josho smirked to himself and faced forward again. “Good for those yucks—Oh crud monkeys!”
Three managliders twirled straight towards him, firing from multiple angles.
He tried pulling up, but ultimately absorbed several shots to the belly of his craft. A chunk of his wing exploded, and he spiraled in the middle of his climb, flipping upside down and almost stalling. Bits of shrapnel and flame flew past his screaming muzzle. Somehow, the obese stallion managed to pull himself upright, though he could already hear the dooming sound of his engines winding down. His vessel decelerated, its nose begging to tip heavily towards the distant streets below.
“Yeah, well...” He grunted, kicking at the craft several times with his hoof. “This ain't sexy at all.”
Another chunk of the wing exploded. He shielded himself, grunting. Through the smoke and haze, he heard a whining sound. Looking up, he saw two of the managliders coming about, fixating entirely on him. They dove at an alarming rate, the turret gunners in the back zeroing in on his slowed down figure.
Josho's nostrils flared. “Well then, ya wind huffers...” The air crackled around his growing horn as bolts of electricity flew between his teeth. “Ya wanna get far in life?!” With a growl, he thrusted forward and galloped clear off the nose of his managlider.
The incoming vessels fired, but their blasts went through thin-air as Josho completed his spell, teleporting fifty feet and landing in the middle of one aircraft's cockpit.
“Then get high on death!” He growled, tossing the gunner clear off his seat so that he fell to a screaming death.
The pilot spun with a manapistol, only to receive a smashing hoof to the chin. He spat up blood and tooth enamel while Josho reached past him, grabbed his controls, and flew the managlider sideways into its wingpony.
The stallions on board gasped and shouted.
“Hnnngh!” Josho locked both wings together and forced both vessels to sail into the stalling body of his own aircraft. Before the explosive impact, he dove clear off the side, hurtling away from the mess as swiftly as gravity could claim him. As the wind dragged tears from his face, he closed his eyes to the deadly pavement below. “Mmmf... c-could have b-been worse...”
Josho's body flew towards the courtyard, then lifted up.
He felt his blood surging towards his front. His eyes opened, and he gasped to see the world shrinking below him. As the feeling came back to his limbs, he glanced back and saw several black cables wrapped around his body. Upon making this discovery, he felt himself being hoisted like a yo-yo into the body of an open manaship towing him from several dozen feet up.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaah—!”
The side door to the ship opened in time for him to fly into the thing like a reeled-in fish. He slammed against a bulkhead and rolled onto the ground.
“We got him!” Roarke shouted, her hoof releasing a lever so that the cables unhooked from the stallion and retracted back outside. “Searo, he's a fat one!”
“He seems to be in one piece!” Crimson shouted as Roarke brought the manaship around, skirting over rooftops as the Ledomaritan forces attempted to regroup in the distance. “Hey!” Crimson shouted as he knelt besides the unicorn. “Hey, you're not dead! Now tell us why you saved our skin back there!”
“Aaaaaaaaa-aaaah!” Josho thrashed and shouted.
“For Spark's sake!” Crimson shook and shook him. “We didn't bring you here to kill you!”
“Aaaaaa—Damn it, pony!” Josho snarled up at him. “Could you have yanked me around any harder?! I'm surprised my balls didn't fly off—” He blinked. “Hey, I know you.”
Crimson's eyes flew wide as saucers. “You...”
“Erm...” Josho smirked nervously. “Those are some... thick muscles you got there, buddy—”
Crimson slammed the stallion's shoulders up against the doorframe so that his hairy head hung precariously out into the yawning vistas of Blue Nova. “I'll kill you! I swear!”
Roarke flashed a look behind. “Buh?”
“But... snkkt...” Josho hissed. “You said—”
“I don't care! You were there at the ambush in Foxtaur!” Crimson spat, shouting above the whipping wind. “You tore my party to shreds and sold out Rainbow Dash to Ledomaritan butchers!”
“Yeah, about the butchery part... uhm...” Josho sputtered, waving his hooves helplessly beneath Crimson's glowing metal prosthetic. “I'm more of a drinking stallion than an eating one—Gah!” He dangled outside the vessel from Crimson's merciless grip.
“You're nothing but a stain against this Spark-forsaken land!” the stallion roared.
“I wouldn't be so quick to drop him!” Roarke shouted as she struggled to avoid errant manablasts. “We might need him!”
Crimson gawked at her. “Seriously?!”
Roarke shrugged. “I dunno, maybe.”
“Eagle... Eye...” Josho whispered.
Crimson flung him a shocked look. “What d-did you just say...?”
“Scrawny thing... looks and feels like l-lavender silk... n-not that I looked at him m-much... or felt him... I'm... snkkt... n-not that kind of a stallion. I only swingin' I do is th-through saloon doors!”
Crimson lifted him and slammed him against an inner bulkhead of the ship. “If you harmed a single hair of his mane, I swear to all that is holy, I'll turn you inside out from your plot to your fat hairy head!”
“I-I wouldn't th-think of it...” Josho wheezed. “He actually saved me. Several times. I owe him more favors than I owe certain generals... especially certain generals that would leave me for dead.” He gulped. “Also... ew...” His face grimaced.
“You're making this up...” Crimson's brow furrowed viciously. “You're making this all up—”
“More than anything in this world, the kid wants to make his Pops happy. But that ain't happenin'. So he joined the war. That's where he met you, and though he may have had the hots for you from time to time, he really just needs that father figure in his life, somepony he can make proud of.” Josho took an even breath and said, “Now, if I was any other Ledomaritan pighead, would I have let him stay alive long enough to spit that out?”
Crimson blinked, the features in his face loosening as he stammered for something to say.
“Hey!” Roarke shouted back. “Ya meatheaded breeders! Could you kill each other later?!” She veered the ship more dramatically to avoid the incoming onslaught. “We still got a bunch of buzzards to shoo off and we've yet to hear a word from Rainbow Dash!”
Crimson let go of Josho, fuming. “Don't think for one second this is over.”
“Yeah, I got the point, mule muscle...” Josho stumbled loosely for balance. “You got a gun for me to use?”
“If you think for one second that I'm going to let you put your hoof to a rifle—”
Roarke reached up, grabbed a gun, and tossed it blindly. “Here ya go! Now earn your keep!”
“That's what I'm talking about!” Josho cocked the weapon, levitating it with his horn as he trotted past Crimson at his turret station. “Since I'm a live for a little bit longer, let's see if I can make these morons be alive for a little less longer.” He aimed out the open door. “Hey! It's raining burning manure, ya Queen-sniffers!” One shot went off, and to even his own surprise, a managlider banked to the right and exploded into a floating advertisement. Josho's stubbled face lit up. “H-hey heyyyy! Ha ha ha! Show biz! Didja see that...?!”
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Kudos to whomever mentioned Han Solo a few chapters ago.
Psht, oh Josho, though EE may have had the hots for Crimson from time to time, we all know who he's really eyeing right now
I'm making little pew pew noises as I read.
Well, hot damn on a stick...
Not sure if I've mentioned before how much I love Josho.
I had a feeling Josho wasn't out of the game.
Also:
I know authors need to get into their characters' heads, but this is ridiculous.
I know this isn't GoT here, but I feel like we have gone far too long without a main character dying. I keep cringing as the inevitable moment looms time and again. I was sure that this chapter was gonna be the one.
Good job Josho, you have officially joined team Rainbow. Now here's a gun, so start shooting down mana gliders.
I have made a new theory for this series. The first 6 stories will be on this side while the last six are on the dark side of the world. The dark side will turn out to contain the same places as this side, only they will be the alternates that would have happened if dash had never been there. Dark Ledo would basically be either a destroyed version that lost the Xonan wars instead of RD making peace or the version Nightshade wanted. Dark Searo would include old Pestiferous leading an invasion and failing miserably. Dark Silvadel is basically overrun by the dragon horde. Dark Darkstine is a country destroyed by civil war, and so on.
My other theory is that RD will meet all the important characters she left behind once she reaches the great choke. This includes, but is not limited to: Gold Petals, Cold Canter, Steel Teeth(possibly), Emberspeak, anyone who survives Ledo, but does not leave with Dash, and any others I may have missed.
What do you all think of my theories? Long live the United Empire of New Rome, Zadubadabu.
And looks like the party's only getting bigger. Everybody's crashing into everybody else, sometimes even literally, as this chapter shows.
Josho just hasn't decided yet whether he wants to die or not. While his ambivalence is starting to seem....odd (how many times has he flip-flopped on us now?), it also means he's basically immortal until he decides one way or the other.
Oh I love you Josho.
Viva la Vida~ twisparkler115
2982802
Another thought to throw on the pile:
Will RD actually have to talk/ have a conversation with Discord (reality/dream/ any manifestation) in some super far off future?
2983195 good question, there's only two ways to find out, so let's just wait for more of this incredibly long series.
Hey IC! I got another fix for ya.
bbut their predictable; they're.
This is your occasional grammar check, by Appletank.
Also, I noticed that you seem to be slipping up more than usual. You're not doing this on your phone, are you? Relax a bit, man. We aren't going away.
Sometimes I forget just how awesome Josho is. This is really getting exciting.
How many times have I said I'm hooked on this fic, only for me to have another hook sink in? I've lost count.
Regardless, this entire continuity has me on the edge of my fuckin' seat and I'm lovin' every minute of it!
Also, YAY JOSHO!
2982673
You just made my day.
My prediction about Josho very nearly came true. He just didn't die.
2982665
+10 reference points if Roarke shuts off her targeting computer
So much for Josho's goodbye...
Also, I'm noticing that you really like using the word "mana", IC. Seriously, you throw it in front of everything. While using the terms " manaship", "manapistol", "managlider", "manablast", "manacloud", "manashard", etc may help the reader visualise what's going on, it can get a bit tedious and jarring at some points.
I really thought Josho was going to have his last say, and a bloody death.
This is much funnier.
Yay more splosions!
Explosions yaaaaaaaaay! Honeytiger likes explosions!
I don't think it's the author's fault that the Ledomaritans power practically *everything* with manacrystals. Look how many things have "i" in front of the name these days. Just as tedious.
Something tells me Terra's in for a nasty surprise when the Ledomaritans think she's on Roarke's side.
2985857 iMana
2984756
You just noticed? It is kinda annoying. But I also think it's amusing in a campy way, which is more than you can say for some of the story's other faults.
2983672
Darn it! I was gonna fix that one! And yeah, he has been making a lot more grammar errors lately. Of course, no one's perfect.
Interesting how they grow on you, isn't it?
Go Josho!
Roarke be like
th00.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2012/144/5/3/clever_derpy_by_zackira-d50y8gg.png
And come on, this would've been a great setup for a brilliant death scene! What does he miss? Another bottle of whiskey? A year of retirement? Think of all the tears and tragedy this could've wrought!
What's with you and ovaries, anyways.
2984756 This manatown's a manawuss,
No manatrain, no manabus
And no one cares for mana us
The mana Orkneys.
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
I knew Josho'd come back! Also, this mid air fight scene is super snazzy. I look forward to more of it. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
Haha, yeah! Josho's back, and apparently as incorrigible as ever.
Clearly he's still working on the genre savvy thing - everyone knows that yelling random one-liners improves your accuracy by at least 20%. Why do you think Rainbow Dash is so effective?
Aaaaand Josho's back already! I was already missing his... charm?
>Ledomaritans may be skilled, but their predictable
Do you mean "they're"?
>Since I'm a live for a little bit longer
Do you mean "alive"?
Oh man, I
Josho!
Woo Josho!
He is hilarious as always.
Wooo!!!! Josho;s back baby!!!
That was a hell of a rescue.
Yessss! Josho's sticking around!
5842950 I was like, NO! not after all that You can't kill him, not now! And then he didn't die and I was happy.
Josho is quickly becoming one of my favorite characters.
Holy shit. What the hell did Shell even bring those heavy bombers into the middle of the freaking city for?!
I mean I don't doubt he would, but he usually bothers coming up with an excuse his soldiers might buy before he does something that cartoonish.
keep coming together.
Josho may be on the right track, but he still has some answering to do.
3150467 I really like his...mane?
You mean like a sick spin?
i.imgur.com/Q81EnJc.jpg
Also, Josho's back! So glad to see he's not done yet.
I was just listening to a song called Showbiz...
I knew he'd be back.
Oh no! I hadn't noticed!
Fuck, this guy really is a teleportation expert.
6979484
I liked his in appropriate commentary
Oh my gooood the mid-air jet swap! Josho is a legend at battlefield 3.