Playing Their Part
“Bring it on!” Josho hung out the side of the manaship, waving his rifle and shaking a hoof. “You inside out robot uterus mules—Gah!” He flailed as the ship veered wildly. Crimson snaked in from behind and steadied him as their vessel took a sharp turn, banking around airship after airship that exploded as the Searonese weaponfire flew into them.
“Do not... taunt... the high blades!” Roarke grunted, pulling hard against the controls.
“Fat load of good your advice is, lady lumps!” Josho spat over his shoulder as the world outside spun with explosions. “Bet you twenty bloodsoaked bits that they're only here because of your rusted ass!”
“Will you put a sock in it?!” Crimson growled. “Turning on each other is not going to make them go away any more swiftly! We still gotta get to Rainbow Dash and the others!”
“And how do you expect to do that?!” Josho yelled. The manafire streaked closer, forcing Roarke to thread her way narrowly through flammable hovercraft. “The skies aren't exactly friendly places to park our flanks anywhere at the moment!”
“Just give me a moment to shake them...” Roarke grunted as the ship shook and jolted from weaponfire. “Ungh!”
“Roarke, be reasonable!” Crimson shouted. “There's no way in the spark's green earth that you'll just shake them off! You can't keep running forever! There's a fight that's gotta happen!”
Roarke's lense-eyes pistoned out. “For some of us, maybe...” She jerked the controls hard to the side.
Josho's brow furrowed. “What did she mean by that—Whoah!”
“Aaaaugh!” Crimson and Josho found themselves flying into infinite space. The manaship had spun upside completely, and the two helpless stallions plunged out the open door. “Roarrrrrrke—Oof!” Crimson and Josho flinched, for they had landed on a flimsy wooden hull on either side of a twitching, prismatic body. They sat up, realizing that Roarke had just deposited them on Rainbow's out-of-control hovercraft with insanely swift precision.
The glistening manaship continued banking around the dense swarm of ships. The three Searonese vessels continued their sharp pursuit without faltering.
“She... sh-she ditched us!” Josho sweatily exclaimed. “And the last time I had wings of my one was n-never!”
“Don't you get it, idiot?!” Crimson stood up, rocking the ship slightly. “She just saved our hides! Heck, she may have saved all our hides!” He rushed over and shook Rainbow's limp figure. “Rainbow! Rainbow Dash!”
“Unnngh... B-Belle... Eljunbyro...”
“Rainbow Dash, you have to get up! We're going to be toast any second—!”
Rainbow's eyes flashed wide as she flinched, gripping two hooves tightly to Crimson's metal prosthetic. “I sensed her! By Celestia's mane, sh-she's alive! And she's nearby!”
“Wonderful,” Josho grumbled, pensively eying the close proximity of the three hulking battlecruisers. “The dizziness is strong with this one.”
“Rainbow Dash, what are you talking about?! Remember Pilate? Imre? Tweak and the others? We got to get them out of here!” Crimson said.
“Nnngh...” Rainbow Dash stood up, leaning left and right as she fought off the fogginess. “Something... turned on inside Blue Nova, Crimson.”
“What do you mean 'turned on?'”
“Now's a really suicidal time to get one's wingtips wet,” Josho said, receiving a metal hoof to the chest. “Ow!”
“Who's this loser?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Somepony who's about to lose the skull his body craps in.” Crimson grumbled as he turned back to Rainbow. “Rainbow, I think your illness has overtaken you again. You're speaking nonsense—”
“No, it's d-different this time!”
“Rainbow Dash—”
“Look, I know what it looks like, but I swear! It's completely different this time!” Rainbow Dash pointed west/southwest. “Something popped up in Blue Nova, and it felt just like a flame from inside the machine world! But that's not all! I feel as if... as if it was somehow talking to me. I feel it in my gut! In... in m-my heart!” her voice cracked.
“You're gonna feel it in the burning stubs of your forelimbs once they blow us sky high!” Josho growled. He pointed at the trio of warships. “Or did you not notice the big friggin' cannon wielders ready to destroy every sexy atom of our bodies?!”
“Rainbow Dash, there's so much relying on you and what you do this very moment!” Crimson exclaimed. “Now, are you sure about what you're sensing?! I mean... you know what this could mean, right?!”
Rainbow nodded fervently. “The flame is moving south of here!” she shouted above the high winds as flak exploded and Searonese engines throttled in the distance. “I don't know why, but I think Belle was in the city and she's heading further away! I can sense her and what she's got like a lavender candle growing fainter and fainter!”
“I'd love to go and investigate that, Rainbow, but we can't really afford to do so right now!” Crimson flinched as cannon-shells whizzed by. “For spark's sake! Will you look around you?! This plan is collapsing like a house of cards, and Roarke is putting her metal body on the line so that we can help you pull off your next trick!”
Rainbow Dash's jaw dropped. “That... that was her, just now?!”
“She has friends in high places!” Josho exclaimed. “And they're all trying to dive bomb us!”
Rainbow blinked, then frowned. “Terra... Dang it all!” She looked at the chasing manaships, at the armada, and then at the distant cluster of ships hovering below. “Crud!” She stomped her metal hooves repeatedly. “Crud crud crud crud crud crud!”
“Rainbow, I have to ask you...” Crimson gritted his teeth. “What's next?”
“Uhm...” Josho gulped and glanced at the others as explosions went off closer. “Flee, maybe?”
Rainbow took a deep breath. “I still have a job to do. Roarke's doing her part, and now we gotta do ours. Regardless of whether or not that's really Belle, I know that Pilate's here and we gotta get him and the others away to safety!”
“Then what do you propose?!” Crimson asked. An airship less than forty yards away exploded. He flinched, ducking bits of shrapnel. “You'd better make it quick!”
Rainbow Dash spun around, then motioned to the tiny ship's cockpit. “Any of you good at... y'know... yanking a joystick around?!”
At that precise moment, several hundred meters ahead...
A modicum of order was returning to the battlecruisers. The soldiers on deck grew less and less frenzied as their escort ships drew away the incoming vessels, discovering that most if not all of them were abandoned.
“They're all empty, sir!” Said one officer behind Evans back. “Every single one of them! We've yet to find a single manned vessel!”
“And what of the Searonese interceptors?” Evans asked, pointing at the silver shapes streaking through the dense cloud of airships. “Are they quite so empty?”
“We have no information on that, sir. Should we send the escort ships into the cluster to investigate?”
“Are you kidding?! Those metal mares would blow them out of the sky!” Evans shook his head and turned towards the bow. “Arm all cannons, destroy every vessel in sight! There's something hiding within the core of all this, and intend to look at it face to—”
“The marines are here!” Josho's fat face grinned as it levitated over the ship's side, followed by a hot red manarifle. He fired blindly into the crowd, sending several gasping bodies smoking to the deck.
Evans let loose a shriek that was far too high pitched for his own good. Many fellow officers whipped out their pistols and returned fire, only for their bullets to ricochet off the thick body of a tiny hovercraft. As it roared over the deck, brushing against the wooden railing, three bodies leapt down and engaged the enforcers with merciless force.
“Raaaaugh!” Crimson came down, his metal forelimb whining as it let loose a sonic burst. Bodies spread left and right like butter, carving him a path that he galloped down, headbutting a witless group of flustered soldiers.
“Woooo boy!” Josho squatted, squinting as he fired shot after shot that ricocheted off the horns of nearly half-a-dozen equines in the span of five seconds. “Now this is what I call a stupid plan!”
“Try not to focus too much on the stupid part!” Rainbow Dash landed, grinded her hooves, and fired her thrusters. “That's my job!” The deck burned as she throttled forward, aimed her forehead like a battering ram, and slammed directly into Evans' chest. “Yaaaaaugh!”
The battlecruiser's crew was lost in the bedlam. The other two pivoted about so that the stallions on board could lend assistance to the beleaguered vessel. As the Searonese ships screamed in the distance, all was chaos and confusion.
The Noble Jury had received its “distraction.”
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Fluid harmony in cascading chaos. Teamwork.
It's been an honour Roarke.
Well now we know how Rainbow will find Belle. Unless there's yet another twist in that department.
NICE! Gotta get clear and get everyone on board Nancy Jane and get out of there and then MAYBE get to Belle. I hope Floydian and the group stay together on this. Floydian kinda reminds me of a more insane Han Solo with that ship and...I love it.
rhymeswithorange.com/files/2013/01/darth-vader-face.jpeg
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It ain't over 'till the heads explode.
And I would like to add a corollary to my previous statement: Rainbow Dash, From Chaos Comes Harmony.
"The Noble Jury had received its “distraction.”
Every day.
finally we see nancy jane fly, well soon at least /:
Escalating and escalating and escalating.
We've been packed with so much action lately, I have to wonder what it'll feel like when we inevitably go back to purple mountains.
Distraction, indeed. I just hope Roarke doesn't go and do something stupid and heroic. She's far too much fun to end up as a smear already.
You know, like before, I hope we lose Roarke in the chaos and never see her again until much later. Cuz since we ain't got no dead body we ain't got no dead Roarke.
But now, Nancy Jane, after the Eljunbyro and the Innavedr!
I just realized that Austraeoh, Eljunbyro, and Innavedr would be great names for ships or something.
Seriously, you must have an excel spreadsheet or something tracking which characters know what about each other, because I don't know how else you'll keep introductions straight
Yes! Go time!
So much chaos... So little time... We need a cameo performed by Shell...
Out of clutter, find simplicity.
From discord, find harmony.
In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.
That's what this chapter is right here.
Here's what's been bugging me. We've spent over 380 chapters in Ledomare, and the lore surrounding the nation has been explored to hell and back, yet we haven't seen hair nor hide of the nation's leadership, just it's military, and we haven't even met Queen Ledo yet.
I've been waiting for that moment ever since halfway through Eljunbyro. I really wanna know what role she and the rest of the country (sans corporate conspiracies) will end up playing in Rainbow Dash's big adventure, if any. As Eljunbyro neared its end, I was worried we never would reach that moment, and that the Ledomaritan arc had come to a close, only to be surprised that it was still moving forward. Now that we're getting close to the end of Innavedr, I'm getting that worry again.
All things considered, it feels like forever since Rainbow Dash was aimlessly flying east across uncharted and lost kingdoms...
Also, I wonder when we'll hear from Luna again...
3076389 We WILL hear from the Princess of the Night again. It's only a matter of time.
I didn't realize this is already nearing 200 chapters! They better hurry up with Belle before the end comes.
3075203 A goddamn relief.
That's what you get for not eradicating them when you had the chance.
But now for something more suited for the actual events:
It sure sucks to be the guy fighting an action hero.
3075946You've got some catching up to do, pardner. See you at the latest!
3075203
I don't think the mountains will be quite so purple with a party in tow. Dialogue and purple don't mix very often.
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I for one, was distracted by the plot
Nooo! Dont make Roarke die!
IIIIIt's Dashie's First Get-Backing Adventure!
Well, it works, I guess. Also, I have a feeling that Roarke will not be returning from this particular fight...It's been an honor, if that is indeed the case. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
P.S. This is it! Act four, let's do it! YAAAGH!!!
And then all of a sudden Roarke was Fergie.
You're going to off her, aren't you? A disposable character flying off into the fray by themselves? One as badass as Roarke? It doesn't look good... Optimism powers activate!
Also, every airship battle needs some airship battle music:
Well. Roarke's pretty screwed. Not sure if she got quite enough badass in her to fight her way out of this one without outside help.
-Spirit
And so everything comes to a head.
At this point im thinking of the battles from "The Last Exile"
Shoulda brought Eagle Eye along
5858402 I was gonna say that!
Terrible danger, small chance of success... what are we waiting for?
"Can I taunt the low blades?" I asked, with an impish smile.
"They're not... breeders. They don't ... have... low blades!" Roarke grunted in reply, still pulling hard against the controls despite it being nearly three years since the chapter was written.
Oh crap, I hope Roarke makes it.
Distraction away, and now Rainbow and friends need to capitalize on this and make their grand escape.
05/17/2017 17:28 UTC
That's an excellent observation. I love how she says exactly what she means.
I'm call Josho The Loser from now on~
Again and again Josho keeps proving that he is the best marksman yet introduced in this story.
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👌👌👌
Oh please let Roarke live, she remains my favourite