The tunnels stretched ahead of Rainbow Dash like collapsing intestines. The ruby haze from her Loyalty pendant revealed walls filled to the brim with ever-growing fractures. The longer she took to speed down corridor after corridor of the Sacred Hold, the more the ceilings buckled and the stone frames around her shattered.
Panting, she jerked left and right, making turns every split second. Her mind had to race twice as swiftly as her wings, which--stripped of their dizzied bindings--was no easy task. Rainbow bumped into corners and support columns a few time, but she brushed the impacts off as if they were nothing--just like she always had brushed them off. She felt faster than the wind itself, and she wasn’t about to waste the glorious sensation.
Gritting her teeth, Rainbow banked hard around a corner and rocketed up a long flight of stone stairs. Air pockets exploded against the walls as she accelerated faster and faster. She could sense the corridor caving in around her the more that she disturbed the interior of the Sacred Hold with her rapid flight.
Regardless, she braked for nothing, finally returning to the last place she had seen Roarke in about one twentieth of the time it had taken Basso to charge down the opposite way. She hovered in place, panting. The walls hung crookedly around her, although the pegasus could sense that she was balanced upright with gravity. The Sacred Hold had to have been collapsing, careening. There was no telling when it would strike the earth and implode like a gigantic eggshell.
Flashing a look to the left, Rainbow spotted the fresh hole in the wall where Roarke and Zytharros had smashed through. Holding her breath, she dove forward. It was with good timing too, for a heavy slab of ceiling stone collapsed immediately after her flicking tail, filling the corridor behind her with dust and rubble.
“Everypony, look!” one of several Ledomaritans stammered from the top deck of the Xonan manaship that Zetta was piloting. The blue and silver vessel hovered parallel to the summit of Sacred Hold at about three hundred meters’ distance. Before everypony’s eyes, the massive mountain began its suicidal drift into the ground below. “It’s actually falling!”
“By the Spark!”
“Any moment now!”
“Will we even be safe at th-this distance?!”
Zetta gulped, gripping the controls tightly. “Stay brave, everypony! After all, we still have to wait up for Rainbow Dash and Roarke!” She bit her lip and murmured in a timid breath. “...and Basso…”
“They’re doomed!” Khao spat, wincing as Zaid laid her down on a space of the deck besides the starboard railing. “You’ve doomed them all to a pathetic fate!” She gritted her teeth and snarled. “I could have gotten her out of here! Do you know what her death means to the f-fate of this world?!” she barked.
“Hey hey hey…” Zaid stretched her leg out in spite of her writhing figure and began fashioning a splint for it with help from the Xonan vessel’s spare first aid station. “Quit that yapping, Khaolick! How else am I gonna remember the two and a half classes on zeppelin injury care that you taught us all at the introductory seminar?” He smiled a crooked smile.
She glared at him. “It’s hard to imagine that you could remember anything--Augh!--Ow ow ow ow!” She hissed through her teeth.
“If you could quit being a baby about being a baby, this will go faster,” Zaid said. “And smoother. Look, I may never have been your brightest pupil, but… let’s face it… I lasted way longer in the Harbinger’s company than you ever did.”
“You were captured along with her,” Khao spat. “Like a fool.”
“Seems like she’s pretty good at speaking foolenese.” Zaid said with a twinkle in his eye. “At least she understands it a heck of a lot more than douchebagois.”
Khao squinted at him. “What are you babbling about…?”
“Look…” Zaid paused to rest a hoof on her shoulder. “We all know how hardcore you are about helping out Austraeoh, but what if Eljunbyro just ain’t what we’re supposed to be?”
“I’d rather die than accept such a fate!”
“Yeah, well, that’s one way to finish your preaching career early.” Zaid cleared his throat. “For real, Khaopoke. Is it really that hard to help out the hero by cheering her on in the stands?”
“In… the stands?”
“It looks to me that she’s more than capable of handling herself,” Zaid said. “At least with the friends that she chooses to lean on. Would it hurt to be good little layponies and… y’know… have faith in her?”
Khao’s brow furrowed. “I’ve invested far too much to give up on her quest now.”
“Pfft. And she hasn’t?” Zaid smirked. “Live and learn, madamebosslady, ‘cuz this pegasus is totally gonna blow your mind. You just gotta take a chill pill and watch her in her element! How else are ya gonna have yourself some truly divine revelation, if you catch my drift?”
“Any sign of her yet?!” Zetta asked to her fellow soldiers.
“Which her?!”
Zetta frowned and shouted, “The ‘her’ that kicks flank!”
“... I still say you have to be more specific!”
“Oh for crying out--”
“Bogey!” A Ledomaritan shouted. “Bogey off starboard! Down low!”
Several gasping soldiers cocked an array of pilfered Xonan manarifles and aimed them off the ship’s right side.
“Whoah! Whoah!” Kera shouted, waving her forelimbs on either side of a glowing horn-cap. She sat in the middle of a miniature skiff that was puttering its way towards the larger ship on faint streams of mana. “Easy on the itchy trigger hoof, dudes! We come bearing lavender!”
“Yes…” Basso shuddered from where he pulled and pushed the levers of the ship’s controls. “I’m not even going to try and repeat that.”
“Basso!” Zetta gasped, a stupid grin on her face. She ignored the blank expression on Nightshade, seated in the back of the skiff, and barked at the other Ledomaritans. “Bring ‘em aside! Bless the Spark, that about makes my day!”
"Rainbow Dash is still in there!" Kera exclaimed while Basso helped her onto the larger vessel. "She's gonna find Roarke and come join us!"
"Rainbow Dash?!" Zetta gasped in shock. "But... how?!"
"The aura of the book is no longer making her dizzy!" Basso exclaimed.
"Huh?"
"Rainbow's got her groove back!" Kera squeaked with emphasis. "Now bring us closer so she can see us once she's found Roarke!"
“The relic…” Khao stammered, her eyes twitching as the miniature craft hovered alongside the vessel where the three ponies were helped aboard by cheering, exultant Ledomaritans. “They… th-they retrieved it?”
“Heh… why you look so surprised, boss?” Zaid smirked up at her in the middle of fixing her leg. “Don’t know a miracle when you see one?”
Khao merely bit her lip.
“Just you wait, girl.” Zaid glanced at the distant mass of the Sacred Hold and smirked. “The best is yet to come.”
It's weird having Zaid be the voice of reason. I hope he doesn't get killed off for it, I rather like him.
That's okay, I didn't feel like eating anyway.
In b4 last mil-second escape with Dash & Roarke
Okay, I'm worried that Zaid is making sense.
Things actually seem to be going the right way, for once. Setup almost done, endgame approaching.
~Basso
3626179Eh, I don't think he'll go for it in the end. To me, it seemed too over the top. At the same time, maybe he won't...have to wait and see, but I don't think so.
3627908
Hmmm,
m.memegen.com/brbkih.jpg
Khao and Zaid would make for an absolute killer gospel combo. And screw the Spark, Harmony and Chaos and all that stuff, with the Element of Awesomeness back on track you better keep your hallelujahs at the ready!
blog.ajperez.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/i_see.jpg
Ah, Khao has attained the otherworldly carress of enlightenment at last. The Tao was always near, she was just looking in the wrong direction.
Now, I predict some ill-timed Rainbow Roarke romance.
3627710
Give it two chapters...
3627642>>3627956>>3628032
Who said the Roarke and Dash will leave the fortress before it has a hard landing?
3628002 They have the worst shipping name(s) ever
Doarke
Rash
Like a rainbow in the dark!
Never figured I'd ever see Zaid being the voice of reason...
I doubt Khao will ever be an ally proper, but acquaintance seems reachable for her and her group.
I am sensing the end of this uber long led are arc coming to an end, unless of course IC throws something else at us... Yeah I'm pretty sure he will
You know what would be abso-bucking-lutely hiLARious??? If Josho's ex-wife... was KHAO!!!
I wonder if Dash is going to step up to the plate, and use Rourke as the bat to slug that chaos guy accross the outfield.
All across.
Woooo!
So, Rainbow is entering the battlefield, Basso and Co. are safe from the Xonans for now, and Zaid is the... voice of reason? Hang on, let me just re-read that... Yep, the voice of reason. Well how about that. Heh. Khaolick.
3627710 Why! Why would you say that!? That is the one thing you do not say ever! Gah!
3628127 Pffft. However, Basso and Zetta work rather well. Betta.
3628127 Rainboarke.
~Basso
3629119 nuh uh, I'm sticking with Doarke no matter what you say
Rainbow's back in action. The book is retrieved. Zaid is dispensing common sense (and more delightful bovine puns). And the only protagonistic casualty is one redeemed Xonan. I'm starting to think it's all smooth sailing from here!
. . .
And then Khao sees how wrong she was and limps away quietly into the night to be a jerk elsewhere. The end.
Nah, more like she'll still try to capture Dash and do something stupid, like kill Zaid for making too much sense.
3628002 As if such a thing could ever be ill-timed.
3629797 Did you really just say that?
3628002 The Tao of the East. That actually sounds rather damn cool - and makes a lot of sense, too!
3627710
Now you had to go and jinx it, didn't you.
I'm just waiting for the next interaction between Khao and Zaid, where Zaid calls her "Khaopie". Oh, I will giggle most gloriously.
This scenario is uncannily similar to the ending of Cave Story
3628002 considering the canon, more like bromance, but yeah
zhao/zaid interactions are glorious
Zaid is becoming ever more better, and I love it!
You know, your absulut;y right. except for one thing...
We're only halfway through.
IIIIIt's Dashie's Second Get-Backing Adventure!!
Well, that's all wrapped up very nicely. But how will Dash escape? I think that it would be kind of anticlimactic for her and Roarke to just leave. There's got to be something else that pops up in their way first...These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
P.S. I'm tired again. Be glad that this Adventure is happening...anyways, onwards!
Whoo! Family reunion! Well, kinda family. Some of them are like the cranky in-laws that drag themselves to dinner just to spite you.
Hopefully the best is yet to come. I'm maintaining wariness shields until everyone is out and far away from the demon dragon, Zaid's optimistic reassurances or no.
Onward!
Zaid is actually making sense. *waits for world to collapse*
Anyway, we're nearly all reunited now!
-Spirit
Zaid has some logic stuck in his brain, and his round about way of saying it actually kind of makes the message clearer in some cases.
YOU JUST COULDN'T RESIST
Khao, you of anypony should realize that when Zaid has to talk some sense into you, you may have flown off the deep end.
5897017 I like it. Zaid is the perfect example of the difference between WISDOM and INTELLIGENCE. Zaid is an idiot, His intelligence level is... laughable, But, he is wise beyond his years. Khao, for all her preaching, is smart, but lacks the wisdom necessary to really understand the things she was trying to teach others.
I'm growing to like Zaids character a lot more. at least when he's not being used solely for comic relief
Huh. Zaid is... actually pretty wise sometimes. Maybe he is what it'll take for Khao to see what she's been unable to grasp all this time.
Zaid's a fool, but he's wise enough to know it.
6141717
Zaid's a good mix of Cloudcuckoolander, and Bunny Ear Lawyer. But yeah hopefully he opens her eyes.
6035258
He really does grow on you doesn't he? And yeah, when he's not being used for comic relief he's a pretty cool ditz.
For all of the faith in themselves, they had none in what they were worshiping. I think that makes them heretics, but I have never been that religious.
05/26/2017 17:58 UTC
8190833
Well I am religious and I don't have a better word.