"Screaming crabshells!" Floydien hollered, his voice fogging up the windshield of his cockpit. He wiped a cloven hoof across the glass until he could see once again. His red eyes twitched, reflecting a dark figure surging with aquamarine energy. "Who was the bright boomer who ordered a demon of flame flame?!"
"Eepsies!" Props jumped into Ebon's forelimbs, shivering all over from the sight. "That! Yeah! Let's fly away from that!"
"Gaaugh—Propsyyy!" Thunk! Ebon fell over as Eagle Eye trotted past the two ponies and stared out the windshield.
"It... it..." Eagle Eye's jaw fell. "It's a dragon."
"A dragon?" Pilate looked up from where he sat by the cockpit's entrance. His hooves stroked Belle's head as she lay exhausted in his grasp. "Then..." His ears folded as he gulped. "The monster that Roarke and Ms. Zetta spoke of over the sound stone. It's here?"
"Not just that, guys... but..." Eagle Eye backtrotted nervously from the front of the cockpit. "I... I think..."
"What?" Ebon and Props looked up.
Eagle Eye stifled a whimper. "I think it sees us..."
"Hraaaaaauckt!"
Nevlamas finished breathing a plume of flame over the north edge of the muddied trenches. Pony screams were drowned out by the thunderous flapping of her wings as she banked west, her slitted eyes twitching at a streaming sight in her peripheral. She spotted a darting airship propelled by steam, its skystone lying dormant under the dimness of early morning.
"Hrnnnnghhhh..." Her jaws clenched as streams of chaotic effluence poured out from the cracks in her neck, shoulders, and arms. "All that flies must answer to death." Nostrils flared, spouting out green and blue flames as she made swiftly for the swerving aircraft. "Until oblivion's rebirth brings its cleansing touch!"
The skies over the battlefield heated up as she throttled towards the fragile vessel. It loomed within a hundred meters of her lunging double-jaws.
"Hresshaaaaaukkt!" Suddenly, the flames pouring out of her shot in one wave towards the north. She winced, hissing in pain, then glanced south.
A pulsating lavender glow emanated from the mountainside, highlighting a slope of earth over which the Divine had initially entered the fray. A charred cluster of twisted metal and rubble lay surrounding the source of the Harmonic resonance.
Nevlamas slowed to a smoldering glide, roaring past the defenseless Jury as she stared at the phenomenon to the south. "Hrkkkkt! Harmony... convergessss..." Her teeth glinted in the last traces of starlight. "Austraeohhhhh..."
The overcast sky lit up with a brilliant flare of aquamarine fury. The dragon's scales burned from deep within, lighting her massive body like a torch as she spun to the south, twirled, smashed through two ineffectual artillery shells, and dove towards her long-distance target, shrieking the entire way.
"Yaaaaugh!" Seclorum charged at Josho across the ruined encampment.
Josho squatted low, concentrated, and teleported before the old stallion's metal-braced body could spear him to the ground.
He rematerialized over a collapsed tent. Spotting a pair of poleaxes lying along the fringes of a ruined armory, he lifted one of the weapons and prepared to charge Seclorum's flank. In mid gallop, Josho tumbled—probably because of the searing heat given off by the enormous dragon suddenly soaring overhead.
"Guhhh!" Josho fell flat on his belly. He winced as puddles of mud steamed on all sides of him. "Aaaaaaugh!" As soon as the searing heat filled the air, it dissipated. A raw burn formed a red streak across his backside, and the ends of his mane hairs sparkled as he stood up, wincing. With twitching eyes, he saw the Divine screaming its way towards the southern mountain range. "Grffff... now that's the ugliest turtle I ever did see."
Seclorum's charging hoof flew across his face.
"Aaaaugh!" Josho fell back, floated his poleaxe up, and parried Seclorum's next savage attack. Clank!
"All we have to do is get the enchanted book to the machine world!" Nightshade said. "Once we restore power to the metal layers below, it'll be impervious to the dragon's chaotic influence! This 'Nagu'n' or 'Nevlamas' or whoever will perish from her own wrath! You can already see how she's tearing herself apart!"
"I'd love to take the book down there!" Rainbow's voice cracked. "But the only thing keeping it from messing with my head is that ring-thingy around Kera's horn!"
"Precisely," Nightshade said with a gentle nod.
Rainbow's eyes twitched. "Wait... Hold on a second!" She frowned. "If you think I'm bringing the lil' scamp down into that dark ravine with us, you've got another thing coming!"
"Rainbow..." Kera tugged at the pegasus' spectral tail. "I can do it!" She smiled. "We can do it." The, a frown. "We have to do it!"
"No!" Rainbow shook her head. "There's gotta be another way!"
"There isn't," Nightshade grunted. "But you two don't have to go alone." She pointed at herself. "I know where the pedestal is that the book needs to return to. I've told you this before."
"Look, lady—"
Nightshade stamped her hoof. "I'll guide you in there! I'll make sure nothing happens to Kera, and once you place—"
"You think I'm gonna play your game any longer—"
"Once you place the book in its rightful position, you can forget about me!" Nightshade waved her forelimb. "I'll be out of your mane hair forever! Same with your friends!"
Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to protest, but sighed. She shook her head, then glanced at Kera.
Kera bit her lip.
Rainbow looked at Roarke. "How about you, cleverflanks? What do you think of all this?"
Roarke sat back on her rear, wincing. "You know what? I'm all out of rockets and manacannons. I really don't care what we do."
"Jee, thanks."
"How do you plan to get there?" Basso asked.
Rainbow glanced up.
Basso shrugged. "I mean, you're awesome and all—"
"Why, thank you."
"—but can you really carry a grown mare and a filly anda magical glowing book all at once?"
"Is this a riddle of some sort?" Rainbow arched an eyebrow. "Cuz my head has been full of fuzz since I got here."
"I hate to say it, but the breeder's making a good point," Roarke droned. "I can't fly, Rainbow, and our ship's beyond busted."
"Do you still have your soundstone?" Rainbow asked.
"Yes, I do believe I still have orifices to hide that in."
"Roarke..."
The once-metal mare sighed. "What, you want me to call your friends' ship or something?"
"Who knows how long it will take them to get here!" Kera stammered. "Besides... shouldn't they be going after Belle or—?"
Just then, the air kicked up with rumbling mana engines. Roarke hopped up into a warrior's stance—only to fall forward, weak and unbalance. Rainbow caught her, glancing north towards the source of the noise. She smirked. "Well well well... what comes around goes around."
"Huh?" Nightshade looked over.
A managlider coasted to a stop. A Ledomaritan engineer and a Xonan warrior stood up in the center of the settling craft.
"It needs help with its friends?" the Xonan remarked with a nervous smile. "It would like to provide honorable assisting."
Several of the Ledomaritans flinched. Even Basso held Zetta back with caution.
"No!" Rainbow dropped Roarke and fluttered over, hovering between the two groups. "It's okay! He's with me!" She pointed at the Xonan on the managlider. "I just saved him and a bunch of other ponies who were stuck in the machine world."
"There were ponies already down there?!" Nightshade remarked.
"Yes..." The Ledomaritan engineer atop the hovering craft nodded. "Dozens of us were thrown down there, our magic suppressed."
"Yeah?" Zaid's face was twisted with confusion. "By who?"
"We don't know." The Ledomaritan took a deep breath. "We suspect someone who wanted all of this to happen."
"Wanted what to happen already?" Nightshade asked.
"Confusion. Carnage." The engineer gulped hard. "Chaos..."
Kera glanced up at Rainbow Dash with a quivering jaw. "But... who would want all of this bad stuff to happen?"
"Yeah, it's like both Xonans and the ponies of Ledo are getting the bad end of the proverbial beat stick!" Zaid said.
Rainbow Dash hovered in place, her muzzle wracked with thought. Then, her eyes blinked wide. She glanced over at Roarke.
The Searonese's pony's eye-lenses shifted back. "Lasairfion..." she muttered aloud.
Cold silence.
"Okay. Look. No more time for thinking. We'll be here forever." Rainbow pivoted towards the managlider. "My friends and I gotta return to the ravine."
The Xonan did a double-take. "Buh?"
"Buh!" Rainbow nodded. "Trust me! We've got a mission to accomplish! I dunno about the war that's going on here, but I'm pretty sure it'll stop the dragon at least! This place has been a giant melting pot for misery since long before I even got here! I don't know who's to blame, but I think I know how to stop it!" She spun about. "Kera, stick close to me."
"O-okay!"
"Nightshade..." Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth but nevertheless pointed and said. "You just do what you gotta do and don't embellish it."
"Most certainly, after all, are we not together in this time of great adv—"
"Yeah, no." Rainbow turned towards the metal mare. "Roarke?! I'm gonna need another pony along for this! A pony I know and trust to keep a look out for Kera!"
"I..." Roarke hissed, struggling to stand up as her steam-plugs vented dry air. "I think that..."
"Roarke!" Rainbow rushed over, holding her up.
The pony winced. "I think I-I only had it in my manacore to throw one more punch..."
Rainbow blinked, then groaned heavily. "For Pete's sake. I think my idiocy is rubbing off on you."
"Yeah..." Roarke sighed, her muzzle straight. "Still, if you ripped my chest open, you could fashion the core into a cr-crude explosive."
"Yeah. Uh huh. Buck that." Rainbow swiped the soundstone from the mare's hooves and turned around. "Zetta! Think you could contact my friends for me and—" Her eyes bulged.
Zetta had fainted, lying limp in Basso's grasp. The large stallion glanced over, grimacing. His and everypony's ears shot up as a loud siren filled the air, laced with flames and hatred.
Rainbow Dash gently placed Roarke down. She trotted forward, emerged from the wreckage, and stood within the penumbra of a glowing aquamarine light. "Awwwwwwww Luna poop."
Nevlamas charged straight towards them, breathing flames and shrieking indiscernible words of discord and madness. Any spare vipers or serpents flying in the Divine's way instantly melted to brittle ash, dissolving in midair.
"Quick!" Rainbow stammered, pointing towards the engineer. "Get that thing revved up! We gotta make it to the ravine before—"
"It's no use!" Nightshade barked over the murmuring cries of the other ponies. "Maybe you can outrun that, but not the rest of us!"
"Rainbow!" Kera stretched her hooves out. "Take the book!"
"What?!" Rainbow gasped.
"I know it konks you out, but maybe you can still make it!"
"But... but..."
"Tell Belle I'm sorry I couldn't be with her again!" Kera murmured, her green eyes glossy. "Just don't let her know how straight my mane got! You kn-know how much she loves brushing it..."
"No... No!" Rainbow snarled, leaning down to hug Kera. The mountain shook as Nevlamas' fiery approach came upon them. "We can still make it work!" Nopony could hear her cries from the roaring song of the dark Divine. "We can still restore Harmony!" All was bedlam, the horrified screams of dying friends. Snarling, she took to the air. "Darn it! No!"
Kera cried after her. Roarke watched in stunned silence.
Charging the energy in her ruby pendant, Rainbow flew suicidally towards Nevlamas' charging form. She shouted at the top of her lungs, eyes flickering between red and yellow.
Nevlamas' jaws lunged forward to devour her—but then her neck jolted viciously to the side.
Rainbow braked in mid-air, gasping. She saw bright objects streaming in through her peripheral vision, and her body lurched back in time to avoid a pair of steam-propelled missiles as they flew their violent trajectory into Nevlamas' snout once again.
"Hreshaaaaackt!" Nevlamas bled fire and glowing blood. She flapped her wings, pulling up before she could plow into the mountain. With pained breaths, she ascended towards the clouds, but she was not alone. A sleek aircraft screamed after her, propelled by brilliant, burning skystone.
"Hey! Hey-heyyyyyyyyy!" Zaid hopped up and down, grinning from ear to ear. Everypony could hear his voice as the noise of battle drifted skyward and away from the cowering group. "How's that for the ol' one-two?! Stick it to her!"
"Huh?!" Rainbow Dash's head whipped between squinting at him and gawking at the inexplicable aircraft. "Buck me sideways! You mean to say that's—"
The skystone ship roared by once again, twirling like a giant metal sparrow as it dodged a return volley of flame from the dragon.
Inside the vessel, Khao gripped tightly to the hoofrests of the pilot's seat. Veering the craft around so that the Divine was in her sights, she shouted into a sound stone inside the cramped compartment.
"It worked! She's distracted!" She pulled at a lever with her one uninjured hoof and loaded another rocket. "We only have so many payloads! Let's pace it out! Keep her hurt and angry!"
"Aye, Sister Khao!" A voice from another compartment crackled. "But we took a hit from a Xonan shell coming in! The skystone is losing its enchantment every minute!"
"Keep the power up!" Khao shouted, jerking the controls to dodge more dragonflame. "Toss your robes into the broiler if you have to! We need every burning bit of energy to keep the demon off the Harbinger's tail!"
"Understood! We'll do our best!"
"That's because we are the best!" With a hard smirk, Khao slapped her injured hoof over the controls and snarled her way past the pain. "We may not be Eljunbyro, but we are the Herald." She threw the ship into a screaming dive, zeroing in on Nevlamas' spine. "And today the legions of darkness will feel the Angels' wrath!"
She slammed her lower hoof against a lever.
The skystone vessel jerked as it lost weight. A missile hurled its way towards Nevlamas' skull. Khao swerved her ship aside before it could be engulfed in the flames of impact.
The Divine's screams rattled the bulkheads as Khao's ship climbed towards the heavens, preparing to come around for another heroic pass.
Thank goodness. A pony who actually learns things after getting beaten up by Rainbow Dash.
So does this mean they're fighting in the Land of Wrath and Angels? /homestuck
It's amazing how so many enemies are fighting alongside the heroes for the big finale. Shell, Nightshade, Khao, the Xonans ... Who's next? Will Nevlamas snap out of her insanity and perform a Heroic Sacrifice or something to stop Lasairfion? Will Lasairfion somehow realize she's going about everything the wrong way? I'm getting excited to see how this turns out.
3763810
Well....Shell just wants to stab everything, and Arcshod just happens to be in is way.
I can't believe I'm saying this, but goooooo Khao! If you can keep up this help-Rainbow-without-meddling-in-her-affairs-or-dismissing-her-friends-or-goddamn-kidnapping-them spiel, you'll be alright in my book.
This is significant.
Nev puts the harm in harmony.
3763862
Considering he's still doing so despite discovering that Belle's not possessed by Imre and having the Noble Jury within weapons range, I'd say it's a step in the right direction. Not a big one, mind you; he's still a loose cannon. But right now that cannon is pointed at the ponies who are trying to destroy everything, so for now he's being useful.
Khao. A pony everpony should try to model after because she learns from her mistakes.
3763922
Speaking of cannons.
I predict that when things are finally over, Shell takes control of one of the Lightning Bearer's cannons, and fires it at the Noble Jury heading east.
...and then another story will be published. >.>
Yes! Huzzah! Khao is back, and better than ever! Heck yeah!
Well damn, Khao is cool now...
Alright then. Carry on.
Wow, I certainly did not expect the cavalry to arrive in that way. Good on ya' for finally seeing the light, Khao.
We need a distraction.
Thweeeeeeet Pow. Pow.
Now THATS a distraction
So, Dash, Kera, Nightshade, Rourke, Book, Ring, Managlider and Machine World?
All we need nowis the Dwarf Bread.
i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx81/Johnon/Meme%20collection/that-guys-actually-pretty-badass.jpg
3764213 Audi famam indeed. Have I ever mentioned how cool I think the combination of religious rituals and combat is? That's one of the reasons why I never disliked the Heraldites: being a zealot is bad (m'kay), but fanatics in arms just have that aura of awesome surrounding them. And actually singing hymns while fighting instantly raises badflankery to Warhammer 40k levels. Which is high.
Hot freaking damn, GO GIRL. GO ALL YOU GIRLS.
And guys, keep being awesome comedic support.
Floydien is best waiter.
Whoa, this is a PG-13 story, IC. There are children reading this! Think of the children!
I stopped reading while I was on vacation. Today I return and see I was missing the biggest battle of history (of this story).
Will the rest of the book look like a giant season finale?
Khao is soo gonna get eaten.
I was expecting the Herald to eventually befriend RD, but this was quicker than I expected. Though it was a convenient time.
I sense Khao and the Herald will be in the story for a long time.
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
Awesome! Khao saw the error of her ways. I really like that she changed in that way for the greater good. It's great character development. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
this is so awesome. I kinda figured roarke wouldn't be all huggy after her very emotional goodbye to rainbow chapters ago, I'm glad she wanted to pick a fight. the cultist coming in at the end was great, didn't see that coming.
completely forgot about, Khao, nice timing by the way
Yay for learning from mistakes!
Though I would like to see some true repentance though.
3765912 Perhaps ):( just made a Freudian Slip or should that be "Floydian"?
Yay Khao! THank you for finally understanding. Now let's do this fast.
-Spirit
Salutes Khao
.
You finally understand. Finally, an antagonist who actually understands the lesson they get taught by RD!
3763787 right? lol
Khao suddenly turned badass and awesome. I'm liking this turn of events.
Looks like Khao has turned herself around, even if it only just for this battle. Hoo-raa! I can't remember the last time I was ss happy to see the deranged leader of a cult.
5960925 Yeah. Looks like she figured it out. She was so obsessed with being Eljunbyro that she lost track of the most important goal of her "Order". And that was Helping Rainbow Dash.
5960925 Probably never.
And Khao saw the light, woohoo! Hopefully she says that way!
Looks Like Khao learned her lesson. and
Yes, it does.
Someone call for an A-10 strafe?
6284220 BRRRRRRRRTTTTT
Yeah, figured she finally saw the light there. Whelp, pity that following standerd conventions, she should end up being digested shortly anyway
I don't know about you guys, but she seems trustworthy to me.
I didn't think Khao would get her head out of her plot, to be honest.
Wait, so Roarke doesn't have infinitely regenerating missiles and fuel. My life has been a lie.
Hasn't rainbow carried TWO adults at once before? Shouldn't this be a cakewalk in comparison?