"Okay... okay... uhm..."
Rainbow Dash paced back and forth across the balcony. Thunder rolled as the tempestuous waters lapped around the exposed surfaces of Bleak's Plummet around the Herald and gathered sarosians.
"Let's see... let's see let's see let's see..." Rainbow sweated as she stressed over the details.
"Psssst!" Twilight Sparkle leaned in. "The Sword of Solstice—"
"Princess Celestia!" Rainbow Dash blurted, swiveling to face the twilight heavens.
"Present, Rainbow Dash."
"Are you... like... still in communication with the Durandanans?"
"You mean through the Sword of Solstice?"
"Righto."
"Affirmative. They contact me approximately once a week. I speak with both the elders and the First-Bornds quite regularly."
"Do you contact them or...?"
"They must initiate conversation—and only in the daytime Such is the nature of the Sword of Solstice."
"I see..."
"Usually Spike and my sister have to help facilitate communication, considering the sarcophagus that I am always situated in. But—I assure you—I have formed quite a healthy rapport with the descendants of Commander Hurricane's expedition."
"And... uhhhhh... h-have they made contact with any of their neighbors?"
"You mean beyond the constraints of the crater that houses their civilization?"
"Right."
"Several of the First-Borns have elected to venture beyond their prior confines—as you had nobly educated them—and have thus engaged in multiple acts of ambassadorial relations. All fortuitous and peaceful, I assure you."
"Sweet..."
"However, I only ever find out about this second-hoof, seeing as the Sword of Solstice is housed consistently within the Central Tower of their dwelling. And—judging by the slow pace at which they perform their exploratory endeavors—I doubt that they will venture far enough eastward to encounter Val Roa within the year."
Rainbow Dash winced. "Oh..."
"Such was the aim of your inquiry, yes?" Celestia's voice implored. "If you feel that there is a divine purpose behind their making contact, I could certainly pass the message along to them. The elders still hold much persuasive influence over the First-Borns. Surely they can be convinced to embark upon such an eastward expedition—especially with the foreknowledge of the peaceful state that you had left the Val Roa countryside in."
"Awesome sauce..." Rainbow Dash hovered in place, gesturing. "Because... like... here's my idea." She smirked at the Herald and sarosians alike. "There are these two snazzy groups of pon—er... harmony-folk living in the first continent beyond the Grand Choke. Dealing with the huge desert is something you're gonna have to figure out on your own. I dunno what you plan to do; I'd say stock up on a crapton of fish and mangoes. Whatever bat ponies love to chew on while on the move. Anyways... the first place in the Alafreo continent beyond the Grand Choke is this super nifty kingdom called Val Roa. It's run by a bunch of super magical elk, deer, antelope—basically a bunch of royal dudes and dudettes with magic glowy antlers." Rainbow gulped. "The last thing I did before making my way east through the Blight was... like... save their entire friggin' kingdom from a nightmarish changeling coup. To put it lightly, they super-respect me and owe me big time. Heh."
Enix glanced at Xarchelus, then at Rainbow Dash. "You would advise us to make contact with these... deer?"
"J-just so they can lend you a hoof!" Rainbow Dash said. "No offense, but—uhhh—I'm pretty sure they haven't got any room in their kingdom to house the likes of you guys permanently. But if you can prove that the whole lot of you are friends with me—Rainbow Dash—then I can totally see them giving you food, shelter, and enough resources to recover and prepare for the next leg of the journey. Also, I've got some old friends from the Noble Jury hanging around that side of the world who would totally help you out in a pinch too. Believe me. Plus..." Rainbow Dash smirked, winking up at the silver-tinted air. "There's a place just west of Val Roa populated by a bunch of pegasi who call themselves the Durandanans. These guys and gals happen to be descendants of Equestria too, and they possess the Sword of Solstice—which, believe it or not—keeps them in constant vocal contact with Princess Celestia."
Enix said, "Much like you are in contact with the Maiden of the Moon."
"Right! Only—like—they get to talk to Celestia more often. And this means... like... in the time it takes for you and the rest of Bleak's Plummet to reach Val Roa, Celestia and maybe-hopefully convince the Durandanans to open communication with Val Roa..."
"That way their kingdom will be properly prepared for our arrival from the desert," Xarchellus wheezed.
"Exactomundo!"
"And... you are certain they will welcome us in open arms?"
"Like I said... half of them owe me," Rainbow Dash said, gesturing. "And the other half respect me... or—at least—they respect Princess Celestia. Heh."
"It's a most plausible plan," Princess Celestia said. "Otherwise, you might see yourself having to cross the lengths of Alafreo on your lonesome. And after enduring the trials of the Grand Choke, I seriously doubt that you would desire that."
"And..." Enix blinked at Rainbow. "...what of the landscapes beyond?"
"Okay, look..." Rainbow Dash held her forelimbs up. "I exagerrated a bit when I rambled earlier."
"In what way?"
"Yes, I encountered a bunch of cruddy meanie-heads... especially in Ledomare." Rainbow Dash took a deep breath. "However... that nation's called 'Luxmare' now. Wanna know why?"
"Why?" Xarchellus inquired.
"Because I really... really cleaned-up shop the last time I was there!" Rainbow's voice cracked. "Not only did I expose an entire nation to the ugliness of their Queen's Council, but I brought an entire war to a stand-still... mostly by slaying a giant freakish chaos—" Her words trailed off, and she looked guiltily in Remna's direction. "—creature."
"Hmmmmff..." Remna exhaled.
"Long and short of it..." Rainbow turned to face the sarosians again. "Luxmare and Xona were in a state of peace the last time I left it. And I'm willing to bet it's still that way." She smirked devilishly. "You can say the same of Silvadel, Darkstine, Windthrow—heck—most of the kingdoms west of them."
"All on account of your influence?" Enix remarked. Her leafy ears twitched. "You are a far more tenacious warrior then you give yourself credit, Austraeoh."
Rainbow bit her lip.
"Oh please, Dashie." Pinkie rolled her eyes. "Of all the times to be stupidly humble."
Rarity and Fluttershy giggled.
"It is the truth, my foals," Princess Luna's voice answered for Rainbow Dash. Her voice boomed unabashedly. "If you stick to the route that Rainbow Dash took to get to where you are now, then surely you will find a path of least resistance."
"Uhhh... except for Rohbredden." Rainbow Dash winced. "I-I'm afraid I had to break my winning streak at some point or another."
"Indeed." Enix nodded. "Hence, the fall of the Queen of Frost."
"Right. It sucks fetlocks. Still..." Rainbow Dash gestured. "There's an awful lot of ocean to the south of Rohbredden." She glanced aside at Kepler and Flynn. "Isn't that right?"
The Heraldites nodded.
"Right..." Rainbow smirked. "So getting to the Grand Choke should be the easy-peasy part. Then—once you've crossed the desert—reunite with my buddies at Val Roa." She waved a hoof. "Ask for Pilate. He should definitely be able to draw you a path west through Ledomare."
"The best path to be taken?" Xarchellus inquired.
"Totally. And west of Aridstone... er..." Rainbow gulped. "Beyond Ledomare? It should be an easy glide... especially in Emeraldine." She smirked. "And... shucks... you're just about at the doorstep to Equestria."
The sarosians glanced at one another.
Bard whistled, tilting his hat back with a smirk. "Sounds like you did all the gruntwork for these nocturnal yokels, Missy."
"Yeah..." Ariel stuck her tongue out while winking. "Wasn't that swell of her?"
"Maiden of the Moon..." Xarchellus bowed low before facing the enchanted air. "...do you give this plan your blessing?"
Luna answered swiftly: "If the Austraeoh suggests it, then I already do—no question."
"Awwwwwwwww..." Twilight and Fluttershy cooed.
Rainbow Dash hugged herself, smiling toastily.
"This... this is wonderful!" Nicole exclaimed as the rest of the sarosians murmured in agreement. "At first, I had my doubts... but now I'm convinced that Rainbow Dash has made the whole trip super easy for us!"
Bard threw her a double-take. "What do you mean 'for us?'"
Nicole's ears instantly drooped. She bit her bottom lip with her fangs.
Echo cleared his throat. "Uhm... so... we've been talking—"
But before the stallion could finish...
A loud rush of water could be heard from the west.
Startled, Rainbow and her ghostly companions spun to look.
Splooosh! A bleakweed submersible surfaced rapidly, splashing salt water high into the air. Nightblooded warriors hovered overhead, their guarded bodies tensing.
Within seconds, however, they relaxed—for the top hatch rolled open to reveal sarosian sailors. Two rushed out, approaching Xarchellus breathlessly.
"Matriarch!" The two bowed low. "Bless the Mother of Nightmares we found you!"
"What is the meaning of this?" Xarchellus hissed. "We are in conversation with the Maiden of the Moon presently—"
"A thousand pardons, Matriarch." One of the two messengers sputtered, "We could not wait to convey this most alarming message." Bright, slitted eyes reflected the silver enchantment. "Our underwater scouts have just detected two ships coming this way. They appear to be on an intercept course."
"Two ships?" Enix inquired. "Who's on board?"
"Land dwellers," one messenger rasped, fangs showing. "Rohbreddenites. Armored and drawn for battle. They easily number in over a hundred."
Gasps and high-pitched bat-shrieks emanated from the crowd.
"They will be here in less than two cycles!" one messenger exclaimed. "They arrive even as we speak!"
Flynn and Logan exchanged glances. Wildcard tensed up, his metal knuckles clenching.
Rainbow's friends looked worriedly at their anchor.
"Well then..." Rainbow inhaled. "...sounds to me like the fan-blades aren't brown enough yet."
Triple update. Very nice. This is gonna get interesting.
- Prism
...Well then... This will be the bat ponies' last battle before heading home?
So long ago..... but no time for that! The battle must begin!
vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/clonewarsadventurescharacter/images/9/99/Seat_Belt_Delay_-_Jimmi_Simpson.gif/revision/latest?cb=20131001201659
I guess we can be grateful that they're getting a little warning. I was afraid of a sneak-attack.
Also, I'm so happy that, in a roundabout sort of way, the Noble Jury will be getting an Easthorse update.
Well, If Luna wants to talk through the combat, that should shake the faith of quite a few of the Central Guard.
Herald! Midnight Warriors! To arms!
Like the shining stars light the path whenever it's dark,
you keep on blinking at me
You never turn away from me, in this vast gloomy night sky.
Light the fire up in the night!
The journey that we travel for our prize.
No matter where we go, we will not stop the shining forever!
-Companions are abound, frozen spectres hound. Utaan.
...So, are we actually catching up to where Austraeoh abridged was, with the Durandanan's bringing the sword to Val Roa?
Here we go.
Don't kill off Echo or Nicole IC pls.
Pfft. Mangoes.
So, how long exactly can the preparations for the move of Bleak's Plummet take? You know, if you could start to move around the "retribution" forces and leaving them none the wiser?
I'm torn. On one hand I really just want this shit to go smooth, or at least smoothish, for Dash and the bat ponies, because I've only got so much tolerance for dark shit going down and already figure it's going to be like that for ninty nine percent of the Dark Side arc, so it'd be cool to leave off the last bit of the light side of the world on a positive note. On the other hand I'm trying to figure out how a hundred tired Central Guard stuck on a few ships could even constitute a threat. Dash and crew should be able to take these guys on their own if Chandler's force numbers that few, even if we're not accounting for the bat ponies. So I'm just wondering in what way shit could go epically wrong while also kind of hoping it simply doesn't.
7552266 1 word.
Seraphimus.
7552276
Maybe, but Dash basically served Seraphimus her own ass on a platter in their last run in, and I don't care how crazy she is, crazy doesn't make you that much stronger. There's no reason Dash shouldn't be able to take her down in a stand up fight, and if Seraphimus is suddenly gaining some kind of uber power boost from being nuts... I'm preemptively calling bullhockey on that. A bit stronger, maybe, due lack of fucks to give, but Sereaphimus can't be that overpowered compared to how she was before.
On the other hand I can buy her doing something less than honorable at this point and not fight Dash openly, but instead pull off some kind of stealth manuver. Infiltrate Bleak's Plummet while Dash and company are distracted by Chanlder's troops, and find, like Bleck Plummet's one critical weakness that could flood the place or something. I don't know, I'm suspecting some kind of threat that could wipe the population, and that'd require some kind of plot device or someone pulling something out of their rear to make it work, but I'm not discounting the possibility.
I'm just saying in an even fight, I can't see Chandler and his "army" being in a position to be a serious threat without a lot of plot shenanigans. Dash has taken on larger and badder forces with less resources at hand.
...Rainbow Dash, if you're asking Princess Celestia to talk to Val Roa for you, I'm sure there's a metal mare who would like to know that you're not dead n all.
wat.
Only a bit over a hundred? srsly?
The sarosians will crush them. Think about how battle-hardened they are. And just how many it took to take down Rainbow and her cohorts? With the entirety of the Vigil, Chandler doesn't have a chance here. Sure, some bats might get killed, but not too many.
The only real threat will be that Keris and co. are with them, and they might end up being attacked as well. Also, Seraphimus may have been brutalized by Rainbow before (seriously, she was a level 10 mage trying to tank the elite boss with no backup) but she literally has nothing left to lose at this point. When Shell snapped, that's when he became extremely dangerous. Now that Sera has lost everything, she's convinced she has to kill the Rogue or die trying; there is no alternative here in her mind.
7552291 zero fucks, zero reason to return home, zero reason to live, save for killing Dash.
She's going to beeline for Dash, and Celestia help anyone in her way.
And there's no way Keris is going to be able to rein her in without giving himself away.
Edit: What 7552295 said.
7552312
Oh, I get that's her mindset, I'm just saying that it shouldn't make that much of a difference in her abilities. If Dash was able to take her so easily before then even with a power boost from being crazy Seraphimus shouldn't be able to take on Dash in an even fight. Zero fucks doesn't make you magically stronger, faster, and more competent as a warrior. If anything it makes you a worse fighter because you're less inclined to avoid injury, and no matter how crazy you are, broken limbs are still broken limbs. Ultimately there should be little to no reason Seraphimus should pose a real challenge in a fair fight. Which is why I suspect it might not be a fair fight we're about to get.
Are the bat pones gonna go while while they still can or are they gonna stay and help rainbow fight. In a perfect world the midnighters would get going while rainbow and company jet over to edge of the world..
7552343 With Chandler at the helm, how could it be fair?
Happy 800K, Utaan!
Welp, here they are. On the bright side, Dash making a fan joke is way less ominous way to bring in the villains than this:
7552295 Yes, but there are... Problems.
First, the Sarosian scouts reported seeing two ships incoming, but Chandler stole three. And Chandler's army was flying before they got the ships, so there's no guarantee they're all aboard- it's a safe bet most of them are off scouting. He also has a fairly good idea what he's up against, and probably intends to set a trap. So the Central Guard doesn't 100% have the element of surprise, but they'll have a lot of reinforcements up their sleeve if this is what the Sarosians expect.
Second, winning the battle isn't good enough- Rainbow is tired of being chaotic and would really appreciate it if there wasn't a massive bloodbath. So would the Talon. There are one or two nutcases who they may not have a choice about even under the best circumstances, but the goal is never to kill ponies.
And third, the Central Guard isn't even the big threat. What really will do everyone in is any Windigoes attracted by battle- they're very fast, already near the area, and would be extremely effective at ruining Bleak's Plummet (we've seen what they can do to seawater during the first stampede after Verlax died). Even though the Sarosians have a big numbers advantage, home turf, and even initiative at best, there's going to be a battle, and it's going to be big.
And just like that the fun nostalgic ride through the stories backwards comes to an end.
7552343
7552383
It may not be much, but you also have to take into account the fact that Seraphimus was not expecting Rainbow to be able to fly in their last encounter since she did not fly at all after the Quade. Rainbow got the drop on her there but that element of surprise is gone.
Since Rohbredden is under the belief that Rainbow's "evil Blight powers" corrupted the Wyverns, they've eased up a bit on the hostility towards them. I'm wondering what they plan to do here since they assume the Sarosians are under the same power. Will they try to reason first, or try to incapacitate believing the bat ponies are under mind control? Or will they just view them as the pirates they once were and just start butchering them?
Aww crud... Dumb Rohbreddenites.
Oh boy, here they are. Another fight incoming! Also 800k words!
That last line though. Couldn't breathe for five minutes
May wanna fix that
7552462
FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY DON'T GIVE IC THAT IDEA
7552462 Yeah, I was starting to think I was the only one who remembered the third ship. And I'm expecting it to be carrying Seraphimus at least and probably the most elite of the guard. Maybe the talon and Chandler too. Tho I could see Chandler being on the first two ships to be a distraction, talking peace while Seraphimus sneaks in. I'm really anxious to see how Keris and the Talon play out.
However it plays our, dis gun be good!
7552295
It could be a one-sided fight here, or it could become a bloodbath. You're right about the numbers though, 100 will not kill off the Sarosians.
Wait a second, wasn't there three ships inbound, or is that just me?
And here's the catch, of course things cannot ever be easy.
Aw crap....
Echo is heading back with the whole Sarosian fleet, but they cant get past The Grand Choke?
I propose that the Durandarans work with the Valroans and Alafreons to build a Floating Dock big enough to lift the Entirity of Bleaks Plummet.
I propose it be called the Grand Submersible Vessel Heres Johnny.
Two ships as a head on diversionary tactic, the third one carrying most of the forces ran on ahead to the side, rear to do the best to slip through patrols, or even right to the Edge Elevator, to wait for Dash.
I mean, two ships? If they are sailing close together to support each other, all Dash has to do is Boom between them followed by Battlepods surfacing on teh outside, and the Whiplash will take out most of the forces at least. Especially if the two ships impact together on the rails and jam, sloping.
We need more Turtles.
Well, everypony gets inside Bleak's Plummet, submerge, jink 80 miles or so to the north or south, re-surface, job done!
7552710 The GSV Here's Johnny?
A ship like that ought to have a name with a little more.... gravitas.
Here's where the reference goes over people's head and I look silly
Shit, I knew it. It's gonna be a massacre by that third mysteriously missing ship.
And now it truly begins. Time for the final showdown with Seraphimus which I have to agree with thatguyvex here even if she is able to put up a bit more of a fight then before, there is no way that a seasoned warrior such as herself was beat that easily by Rainbow just because of a bit of surprise. She is going to get stomped on again and hard.
Heeeere we go.
At least they got warning that Chandler's group is on it's way. No nasty surprise here.
In the grim darkness of the Austraeoh's future, There is only War.
7552462
Oh man, I forgot about the windigoes. That'll really throw a wrench in things.
The terrible thing is that regardless of which way the battle goes, it's ultimately going to be a loss for Robhredden. Either they get wrecked by the Sarosians immediately, or both sides get screwed over by the windigoes. Simply laying siege on Bleak's Plummet won't get the job done fast enough to leave them time to get out before the windigoes arrive.
Strategically, it seems like the best idea for Dash is to just stay put in Bleak's Plummet underwater and avoid fighting entirely, wait for the Central Guard to wear themselves out. I don't see how they can effectively mount an assault underwater anyway.
I don't want to say that I called it... but... I totally did
Also, thanks god we finally got an explanation about the celestial sword. It was killing me why it haven't been mentioned in any other moment of their communication with Luna and Celestia. I stil wished that we could have had notices about the Noble Jury, but at least we can assume that when the durandans go to Val Rose to talk about the sarosians, they also send the message to the Noble Jurist that Rainbow is fine, alive, and already crossing to the dark side. Awesome chapters.
(Well, that is if Chandler and the stupid Seraphimus don massacre all the sarosians, I hope not )
7552601 Since I wasn't here to talk about this when Dash and Sera actually fought...
The element of surprise really shouldn't be much of a factor in what happened last time. Think about what Sera's combat situation is: she's extremely fast, has armor and wingblades, and is primarily used to fighting as a team against enemy teams. Dash more or less perfectly counters that: she's even faster, has a ton of experience fighting armor, the wingblades are mostly good in mob combat situations, and the rest of the Talon is on Dash's side. Dash also has a lot of experience with 1v1s.
Furthermore, Sera possesses no way to exploit Dash's weaknesses. In the past, the main things that have given her issues are things that can slow her down and keep her out (unicorn magic like Shell and Longaze), too much bulk for her to stunlock (Basso), or magical artifacts such as Nightshade's flame and Chaos Metal. In fact, Sera probably doesn't even know what those weaknesses are.
7552652 Don't worry, ):( doesn't have a precedent for letting us think he's forgotten about something super-dangerous we really want him to forget about...
It wouldn't be L***** without little details like these.
7553269 It's actually not a hopeless situation. There are ways this could go wonderfully right. It's just that we can't really afford to get our hopes up, given how bad it could be... So yeah, it's kinda hopeless after all.
For realsies though, the pieces are there if ):( wanted to give us a good ending. Windigoes will come, but we don't know that the magic of friendship can't repel them. Rainbow's said it can't, but the one time she tried, it worked (on a small scale, yes, but lack of proof is not the same as disproof). As gone as Seraphimus is, she still has griffons who care about her. And Chandler's group has enough star power that they could make a pretty big difference for good in Rohbredden if they really wanted to.
From a literary/symbolic perspective, there are other reasons for it to/it could go well. Lerris came on the heels of the biggest victory Rainbow had yet won- slaying a chaos dragon, exposing the Changelings and ending a massive, bloody war. Right now, though, she's currently sitting on the biggest losing streak in the series (Ledomare is more of a neutral streak, and at this point is shorter than Rohbredden). Sure, the likes of Red Barge and the Luminards got happy endings, but it doesn't matter.
Does the story have anything to gain from continuing this losing streak? It's reached the point where more subsequent losses won't make the next major win any sweeter- in fact, it probably reached that point after the Quade. There's always the possibility that ):( just wants to keep it going all the way until the end, but that doesn't sound very fun to read or to write, given how long the rest of the series will be. I, for one, like Rainbow more when she's winning.
Eh, we'll see. Just because I said all of that doesn't mean my hopes are up.
7552764
"Hey, should we go to Jurassic Park?"
"Nah"
*roll credits*
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7552230
PHHHBTBTBBBTBT!!
7552312
Wasn't his whole plan on comin' with Chandler's force to help Rainbow? Once he reaches the Herald, he doesn't have to cover anything
7554563
Silly Rainbow, the fan blades are never brown enough
I have a sneaking suspicion Keris will go to the dark side with Rainbow.
7555400 it needs to be about 20% more brown.
Ah, the first Bonds!
Heh.
7553129
Squints in Inquisition
-------====-------
Personally, I don't think the guard can stand up to the Saros. But, I think everyone is forgetting how ):( can make this fight heart wrenching.
Seraphimus probably can't take rainbow in a fight, RD has too many factors in her favor. So how would a masochistic, suicidal, everyone-I-love-is-dead, murder machine hurt Rainbow?
By killing her allies.
Yep, Dash is right with that ending statement. Shit is going to hit the fan yet again in this story.
~SolidFire
A little immersion breaking detail for me here is that the scouts spoke in equestrian, not moon whinny.
Here we go! I knew that they'd never be able to embark before the army arrived.
7552820
Gravitas. . . gravitas. . . . No, don't help me. I'll get it in a moment, I'm sure. . .