"Have we all learned from last time?" Logan droned.
"Right." Flynn rubbed his skull, preparing for the extra strain ahead. The stallion's mechanical eye rotated in and out as he focused on the looming drop ahead... and the partially lifted "ramp" of glass below. "Channel 'forward' with the lunar command. Descend. Hit the ramp. Gain air. Then shout it back into 'neutral' once we're airborne."
"And rride it out!" Kepler interjected.
"Precisely."
Twilight Sparkle nodded, looking at her anchor. "Sounds about right."
"Good on us for having a plan." Rainbow Dash looked towards the rear of the cart. "Wildcard? You ready, buddy?"
The Desperado nodded.
"Just shout the side and we'll flap our wings accordingly!" Ariel said.
"Hopefully we won't have to do too much of that," Rainbow said. "This is going to be—like—ten times the momentum of our trip off Darkreach's mesa."
"In theorry..." Kepler said.
Rainbow exhaled slowly. "Uh huh..."
"Wow..." Fluttershy blinked. "When Kepler sounds pessimistic, maybe we should be worried."
"Nawww..." Applejack shook her head. "The wyvern's just bein' careful."
"But he is scared?"
"I didn't say he was scared," Applejack said.
Fluttershy gulped. "Am I scared?"
Applejack blinked. "... ... ...I didn't say you were scared."
"Shut send it already!" Pinkie Pie squawked.
Rainbow threw her hoof forward. "Let 'er rip, Flynn!"
The balding unicorn took a deep breath. "This one's called the juicy-lucy." With that stated, he tightened his limbs, aimed his horn downhill, and shouted: "M'shrynmh L'fynym!"
Vrmmmmmmm...
The Hover Plank drifted forward. The mountain's edge had a slight cleft to it, meaning the vehicle had to clear a tiny ridge before the ultimate plunge.
"Woohoooo!" Pinkie Pie flailed her forelimbs. "Here we goooo!"
"Ohhhhhh...!" Rarity flew sideways until she was snuggly her grimacing expression deep into Fluffershy's chest. "Oh how I do hate roller coasters!"
"It'll be over before you know it!" Rainbow said.
"I'm not scared!" Ariel bounced back.
"Talking to my friends!"
"They're ghosts!" Ariel's voice cracked. "What do they have to be freaked out about?"
"I thought you weren't freaked out!"
"I'm not!"
"Shhhhhh!" Logan hissed, eyes locked on the drop ahead. "Will ya save your rowdy make-out session for later, girls?! We've got some crazy business to attend to here!"
Just as he said this, the hovercraft hit the final crest of the cliffside. Dirt and dust flew under the hum of burning leylines.
"Descending—!" Flynn shouted.
The drop was far more savage than even Rainbow Dash had expected. As soon as the vehicle rounded the crest, it sped up by a factor of ten. The steep slope combined with the forward acceleration of the enchanted lunar stones made for a positively exhilirating plummet. If it weren't for the weight distribution and the counterbalancing stones that Flynn had installed in all the right places, Rainbow was certain the entire wagon would have flipped over.
"Are we sliding or falling?!?" Ariel could be heard yelping.
"It rremains to be deterrmined!" Kepler barked to the whipping winds. "In eitherr case, we arre achieving positive momentum!"
"Flynn!" Rainbow leaned forward against the painful breeze. "Do you see the ramp?!"
"We're headed straight for it!" the pony at the head of the wagon shouted.
"Are we even or do we have to compensate—?!"
"We're good!" Flynn shouted. "We're good we're good we're—"
Logan's dark brown eyes reflected the starlight glinting off the raised plate. As they rushed straight for the ramp, his ears drooped noticeably. "Awwwwwwwwww shit—"
Wildcard whistled shrilly.
"Lean back!" Kepler hollered, doing just that in the process. "This shall be most intense!"
"Here it comes!" Twilight shouted—for the sake of shouting.
Rocks and pebbles flew into the air in mirroring waves on either side of the wagon as it cleared the last length of the slope. At long last, the vehicle hit ground level. A heartbeat later, it struck the glass ramp. The moment was startling—a violent jerk for the ages. The only thing more frightening than the sheer force of impact was the absolute lack of sound as the enchanted stones along the bottom of the craft stopped spraying debris everywhere. For half-a-blink, there was nothing but mana and glass. Then—everything was air. Followed by starlight.
FWOOOOOOOSH!
The blood returned back to Rainbow's ears. She squinted, eyes tearing from the sheer force of their ascent. The launch was hauntingly efficient, so that she felt that herself and the entire Herald had been reduced to a single, weightless cannonball.
The reality—of course—was far more harrowing. Rainbow needed a few breaths to regain her wits. By the time she saw the sloping horizon disappearing beyond the edges of the wagon, her ears filled with the shrieks of Fluttershy and Rarity.
"Dang it!" Rainbow spat. "AJ! Calm 'em down!"
"Shhhh!" Applejack wrapped her forelimbs around the other two ghostly mares. "Simmer down, y'all! Rainbow needs to concentrate—" She winced as a burning friction emanated from below the wagon. "Whoah nelly!"
"Rainbow!" Twilight Sparkle shouted. "The lunar rocks!"
Rainbow threw her voice to the front of the wagon. "Flynn—!"
But the unicorn was already shouting to the glowing materials below them. "M'shrynmh Thymmk!"
The rising heat swiftly cooled off. Already, the wagon jerked with violent turbulence, threatening to stall.
"We need to maintain momentum!" Logan shouted.
"Wildcard!" Rainbow hollered over her shoulder.
The Desperado took a deep breath. Gripping the back of the wagon, he extended both wings and began flapping violently.
"Ariel!" Rainbow stretched her left wing out. "Right and left sides! Glide!"
"Got it!" Ariel extended her right wing feathers.
The vehicle was saved from a full-on stall. The turbulence dwindled, and suddenly it felt like they were neither falling or flying. For a brief moment, everything but Curveside was full of stars. Rainbow knew that the wagon was sailing somewhere, but she could no longer account for a horizon to properly judge.
"Verlaxion's sleet..." A certain griffin stammered from the back.
"Ha-hah!" Kepler smiled through his tusks. "Quite imprroperr to use herr name in vain, yes?"
"We are going to perish," Seraphimus wheezed.
"Oh get off your butt spurs," Logan grunted. "We are not going to die." The large stallion took one pale look over the side of the wagon. "... ... ...holy shit, she's right."
"Sit in the center!" Flynn growled over his shoulder.
"Baldy! Look! We're sailing straight for the ground—"
"Sit your fat ass in the center!" Flynn bellowed louder. After Logan actually acquiesced, the unicorn calmly spoke: "What you think is the ground is actually Curveside. We're sailing out over the ground just as Rainbow and I predicted."
"You mean..." Seraphimus squinted. "...this chaotic plan actually worked?"
"That's right." Flynn huffed. "So stuff that in your beak and huff it."
"Woohoo!" Pinkie Pie spun ghostly circles in the air. "A chaotic plan for a chaotic plane!"
"We..." Fluttershy and Rarity peaked up from beneath Applejack's forelimbs. "We did it?"
"See?" Applejack smiled. "Now why do y'all have to go and doubt Rainbow like that?"
"I'll be damned," Logan said with a grizzled smirk. "It's like flying a fart into the heavens."
Rainbow nodded. "Couldn't put it more poetically myself." She took the time to look over the port side of the wagon. The forest of living stalks resembled seaweed beneath deep bay water. "Luna Poop... will you look at that...?" She looked behind her shoulder and past Wildcard. The mountain they had used to slide down was growing into a dark silhouette. "Ha! Will you look at that?! Hah hah hah!"
"Excelsiorr!" Kepler cheered.
"Heeeeeeeeeey..." Ariel grinned wide. "You gotta love it when everything works out perfectly for once!" Just as she said this, a swift and sharp object flew wildly past her head, scarcely piercing the winds. The pegasus wouldn't have noticed—had it not been for the billowing of her mane and wingfeathers. She blinked. Hard.
"Uhhhhhhhhhhhh..." Twilight Sparkle peered.
"What was that?" Logan exhaled.
Ariel looked wildly into the heavens. Sure enough, something was blotting out a patch of starlight. Seconds later, it was falling just as swiftly as it had flown skyward.
"Is... is something out here trying to intercept us?" Rainbow Dash remarked. She looked at Fluttershy. "Some sort of flying creature? A chaotic bird of prey?"
Fluttershy shook her head. "No, Rainbow! All I'm sensing out here is the stalks beneath us!"
Just as she said this, another object flew up—far closer this time.
FWOOOOOOOSH!
"Guh!" Flynn stammered as the entire vehicle wobbled in mid-glide from the disrupted air.
Wildcard winced, struggling to maintain momentum at the rear.
"Counterbalance!" Ariel shrieked.
"You're good! You're good!" Rainbow's voice cracked, flapping her wing. "It's my side!"
"Okay!"
Within seconds, the two pegasi had compensated for the turbulence, easing Wildcard's task.
"The Hell is going on?!" Logan exclaimed.
"Something is being launched towards us," Seraphimus droned. "From below."
"No... no..." Rainbow Dash shook her head. "It's gotta be some freaky monster crap."
"I'm telling you, Rainbow!" Fluttershy squeaked. "Whatever it is—it's not alive!"
"They're rocks, darling," Rarity said.
Applejack and Twilight gave her a double-take.
"Rocks?!?" Applejack burped.
"Mmmm..." Rarity hugged Fluttershy close, trembling. "...mmm-hmmm."
"But... but how...?" Twilight gazed straight down. Her pupils instantly shrank.
Rainbow looked too... and that was when she spotted three dozen stalks twirling around to become one tentacle. With otherworldly coordination, the tendrils grasped a random boulder lying in the valley far below, coiled up, and whipped skyward, unfurling—
FWOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!
"Ohhhhhhhhhhh!" Pinkie cooed, casually gazing upside down from where she hovered above Rainbow. "So that explains the flutter in my pancreas!" She cupped her muzzle and shouted. "IT'S A LONG DRIVE TO CENTER FIELD!"
Seraphimus squinted coldly across the wagon. "...you were saying about your 'plan?'"
FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!
"Right side!" Rainbow hollered, leaning into Logan and Kepler. "Right side!!!"
"Gaaaaaaaah!" Ariel yelped as she flapped her wings.
The wagon tilted sharply in a desperate attempt to dodge the incoming boulder...