"Okaaaaaay..." Flynn grimaced, his horn strobing as he struggled with the craft. "Now we can't stop descending."
Kepler nervously eyed the crest of the crater. "A most inopporrtune time, brrotherr..."
"Look, I'm trying as hard as I can!"
"Try harder, asshole!" Logan grunted as the wagon wobbled and veered its way uphill. "Those testicle-headed motherbuckers will be all over us in a minute!"
"Make that 'a few seconds,' frriend," Kepler said in a somber tone, pointing behind them.
Logan turned to look, and his eyes reflected the shine of the beasts claws. "Holy shit!" he reacted. Th-Thwump! Two feathery bodies landed hard on their wagon. Logan turned around, getting a face full of Seraphimus. "Holy shit!" he reacted again.
Despite being in stabbing distance of the obese stallion, the former Talon Commander did nothing. "I need another weapon," she said coolly.
"What?!?" Flynn frowned over his shoulder. "The Hell happened to the two swords Big Show gave you earlier when he ripped your chains loose?"
"I put them to good use," Seraphimus said over the noise of banshee shrieks. "Now I need more."
"Oh! Sure!" Flynn spat out the side of his muzzle. "Right when you're sitting in the thick of us you need something you can rip our throats out with—"
"Kepler, give her a damn weapon!" Logan shouted.
"Verrily!" Kepler fished through a crate and produced an Emeraldinian rapier. "Should we well weighted—"
Seraphimus plucked it from the wyvern's grasp and gave it a single twirl. "It'll weigh more than their bodies will—once I've relinquished them of their heads."
"Try turning me on when we're not snorkling through the apocalypse!" Schiiiiiing! Logan unsheathed his axe and braced himself on the rear of the wagon. "Double-yoo!"
Wildcard glided over and perched alongside him, staff held high.
The first of several beasts scampered up the hill, coming within spitting distance.
"Make 'em so their mothers won't recognize 'em," Logan spat. His brow furrowed. "Assuming they have any—"
"Hressssssssshaaa!" A few beasts leapt with a surprise pounce from two rows down the advancing front. They scaled the height of the crater's edge with remarkable speed, zeroing in on Logan's plump figure.
Beak clenched, Wildcard stuck his staff out and caught one beast in the gullet. He swung its weight into another pair of leaping monsters—knocking them back in mid-air.
"Htttt!" Logan swung violently with his axe. Ch-Chtunnkkkk! He cleaved two bodies into bloody halves, just as another pair leapt and grasped onto the edge of the wagon. Chaos metal flickered as limbs thrashed and lunged at the Heraldites from three sides at once.
"Raaaaaugh!" Seraphimus snaked her way through the two, thrusting sharply with her rapier.
"Snrkkkkttt!" A beast had its entire nasal cavity replaced with Emeraldinian metal. Seraphimus lifted violently up, giving the beast a new airhole. Wildcard shoved its carcass back into the crowd, toppeling three more beasts as—
"HRESSSSH!"
—four more leapt at the wagon, sailing downward with their claws and fangs barred.
"Hold your breaths—!" Logan shouted, swinging upwards in a vicious arc. Schiiiiing!
Two heads flew one way and two bodies the other. As for the other two beasts—Sch-Schlunkkk—they littered the stone hilltop on either side of the wagon in over a dozen pieces. Their blood, meanwhile, thoroughly sprayed the wagon.
"Ach!" Kepler shuddered, his glasses stained black with wretched juices. "My starrs and garrterrs!"
"Hah!" Logan spat, grinning through the viscera. "Well—my day has certainly brightened up!"
"... ... ..." Seraphimus glared at him, holding her rapier cautiously.
Logan glanced at her blade, then at her again. "Yeah, what?"
"I don't want to be not facing you," she droned.
"Seriously?" Logan's eyes narrowed. "Like I could even afford to do that to you now. Besides... we made a deal."
"And it's not been met yet," she said.
Logan looked ready to retort—
Wildcard let loose a whistle.
"Harrk!" Kepler exclaimed, pointing up.
Logan and Seraphimus spun.
Two beasts had leapt high, and both were descending rapidly towards the wagon.
"Up high—!" Logan began.
"I see it!" Seraphimus held her blade skyward. "Jordan—!"
Wildcard was already stabbing upward with his staff. He caught one beast in the chest, but the other kept descending towards the wagon—headed straight for Flynn's backside.
"Baldy!" Logan tried swinging, but missed the beast. "Look out—!"
"Huh?" Flynn glanced over his shoulder. "Whoah—!"
WHUMP! Ariel's body landed, slamming into the creature in midair.
"Hresshhh—!" The beast flailed, sailing back downhill. It bowled through eight other beasts, tripping them hard to the hilltop and slowing the stampede's pursuit ever so slightly.
"Whew!" Ariel perched tightly in the middle of the wagon. "Am I late?" She winced, then frowned at the ink black blood staining her fetlocks from a sustained puddle. "Ewwwwwwwww... I am, aren't I???"
"There will be time to vomit later," Seraphimus said.
"Oh Goddess, who invited her," Ariel wretched.
"Be alerrt, frriends!" Kepler exclaimed. "We'rre apprroaching the crraterr's edge!"
"Weapon!" Ariel fished desperately through a crate. "Weapon weapon weapon—!"
"Flynn!" Logan shouted, watching as the wave of pursuing beasts closed on the rear of the vehicle yet again. "Get this thing to ascend again!"
"I-I don't even know how I made it happen the first time!"
"Then at least get us to accelerate or something!" Logan glanced nervously ahead, seeing nothing but levitating boulders and scattered starlight. "Awwww shit! The rocks—!"
"Too late!" Seraphimus rushed over to Wildcard's side and branished her rapier. "Prepare yourselves!"
"Got one!" Ariel exclaimed, producing a glaive from the supply container. She looked at the edge of the hill and her ears drooped. "Oh poop."
"Hold on!" Flynn shouted, bracing the wagon as well as he could with his magic. Right at that very moment, half-a-dozen monsters leapt onto the back of the vehicle. The two griffons blocked and parried their beserker swipes with desperate moves. This became all the more difficult as they took a plunge off the side, heading straight into the floating mess of unnatural rocks.
"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh boy," Applejack whimpered, gazing straight down at the crazy fight. As the wagon flew wildly into the floating chaotic array, the pursuing beasts jumped like suicidal salmon, desperate to chase their airborne target down. Pale bodies plunged into the crater, forming a pallid waterfall. "Uhm..." Applejack looked back at Rainbow and the other girls, fidgeting with the brim of her hat. "They're in for one heck of a slobberknocker, for certain."
"It's the Herald, though!" Twilight Sparkle exclaimed. She nevertheless twitched. "They've g-got it covered!"
"Yes! Besides, they've got Wildcard with them!" Rarity smiled cheekishly. Her body produced a bulb of ghostly sweat. "Two of them, if you count Seraphimus!" A deep breath, and she squeaked: "One and a h-half...?"
"I'm scared." Fluttershy looked worriedly at Rainbow Dash. "I-I don't think they have enough to fend off those horrible creatures!"
"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh..." Rainbow looked at the fight down below. "Uhhhhhhhhhh..." She looked at Pinkie Pie.
The mare had curled up into a little ball, her tail curling and uncurling as her eyes struggled to stay even.
"Yeahhhhhhhhhhhh—I don't think so." Rainbow began an arduous dive towards the crater below.
"But Rainbow!" Twilight floated closer, her face twisted in concern. "If you get too close to the wagon—"
"I'm chaos goo. Got it." Rainbow nodded. "But I gotta help my friends."
"More than that, sugarcube!" Applejack glided on the other side. "If we vanish—we won't be able to help you!"
"I just gotta lend them a hoof!" Rainbow's jaw clenched. "I can't leave them alone to face that crud! Especially now that Seraphimus is freed among them!"
"Rainbow..." Twilight sighed. "Is there ever a day that goes by when you don't rely on stupid guile?"
"I understand one of those words. So sure!"
"Uh oh..." Fluttershy grimaced as she and her friends started to flicker. "Rainbow Dash! We can't stay long—!"
"Time for you to warm the bench in my place!" Rainbow picked up speed, diving. "I'll see you on the other side!"
"I hope you don't mean that the way I think you mean," Twilight said. She vanished...
...and Discord materialized. "And who said all scientists were agnostic?"
"Shut up." Rainbow clenched her jaw. "I need to concentrate."
"Yes." He lazily examined his paw while free-falling ghostily beside the mare. "Because whopping monster melons with your fetlocks has always depended on your mental fortitude beforehand."
"You wanna help?" Rainbow gnashed her teeth as tears formed from the frictious winds. "Show me where it hurts the most to punch these jerks!"
"Hah!" Discord brandished a fang-glinting smile. "And who said I was ever about helping anypony, Sparky?"
Rainbow said nothing. Her eyes locked on the hectic fight below...
...which was descending into a gradual free-fall through a veritable asteroid field of chaos.
"Hressssh!"
"Hreshaaaa!"
Clank!
Th-Thwack!
Schiiing!
Pale bodies fell left and right as metal clashed with claws. The wagon threaded its way through multiple floating rocks, made contact with a hovering boulder, coasted over its surface, then took off again. Every other second—the surface of the vehicle tilted up and down, left and right—throwing the balance off for everypony on board. Wildcard was the quickest to recover, knocking the skulls of attacking beasts away while using the back tip of Bard's staff to help Seraphimus or Logan back up.
Once recovered, Big Show and the former Talon Commander thrusted forward with their blades, skewering the chests, throats, and thighs of countless monstrosities. Black blood sprayed into the air—collecting and coagulating before staining the undersides of floating boulders above and below them.
None of this violence stopped the creatures from pursuing. Those who didn't plunge like dead meat into the bottom of the crater found traction on many of the innumerable floating chunks of earthen debris. They ran rightside—and upside down—scampering across the fringes of rotating boulders, keeping up with the craft before leaping from above and below.
Ariel blocked several attacks with the glaive. Flynn stole a moment or two to zap the beasts with his horn before swiftly returning his attention to the chaotic descent of the wagon. His natural eye twitched, judging the feasible route to take through the sea of floating rocks. He steered the craft towards one boulder after another—which made for an insanely bumpy ride—but at least the craft hadn't plummeted completely down the gullet of the chaotic crater.
"Grnngh...!" Logan swung his axe harder and harder. The beasts were learning, eyeing his body-cleaving weapon and side-stepping at the last possible second. Soon they were pacing themselves, jumping and scattering across a dozen levitating boulders before charging at him from all sides. "Dammit! Can't touch any of them to save my—"
Seraphimus' grasped his shoulder from behind, startling him. "Let them reach the wagon," she said calmly despite the insanity of the moment.
"What?!" Ariel struck a pouncing beast with her glaive and looked at the griffin. "Are you nuts?!"
"No... I think I get it!" Logan took a bold step backwards, bunching up with Seraphimus in the middle of the wagon. The vehicle glided over a boulder at an awkward angle as he shouted to the side. "Wildcard—!"
Holding his breath, Wildcard leapt off the craft entirely, opening up over half of the vehicle's available space.
The monsters saw the opening and immediately capitalized on it. Six leapt mightily from multiple angles, converging on the chassis of the levitating wagon. They clambered over each other and began to get up—
"Now! Lunge!" Seraphimus shouted. Charcoal eyes burning, she stabbed forward with her rapier—impaling two beasts at once. Schluuunk!
The six monsters stumbled, clumping together at the back of the wagon.
"Haaaaaaaaaugh!" Logan swung his axe up, catching them beneath their legs and swinging the six beasts like a catapult into the broken sky above. Their bodies slammed into a randomly floating boulder, then scattered in all directions.
Wildcard—flying—leapfrogged off the flailing corpses, then dove daringly into a flanking cluster of beasts. THUNK! He caved one's skull in with his metal fist, then spun in a full circle with his staff. Cl-Cl-Cl-Clankkk! He deflected multiple attacks, then knocked several creatures into one another. This angered the horde, and two extra waves converged on the Desperado with serrated claws.
"Wildcarrd!" Kepler hollered, holding up a smouldering concoction of chemicals that he had just finished mixing into a black glass jar. "Move away—!"
"What the Wyvern says, Jordan!" Seraphimus shouted.
Holding his breath, Wildcard tightened his rear legs and kicked off a passing rock. Swissssssh! He flew earthward in a murking streak as the pouncing beasts collided with each other behind him, forming a gnotted core of writhing, pale flesh.
"Let 'er rip, Keps!" Logan boomed.
"Hrnngh!" Kepler flung the fresh alchemic grenade into the mass of bodies. The bottle made contact—clink!—then—POWWWWW!!!
Ariel flinched as blood and body parts ricocheted off the field of rocks all around them. The wagon wobbled, and she braced herself against Flynn's body as she looked up. "Wildcard!" She reached out with her hoof. "Come on! Back to the wagon—!"
Wildcard curved his wings. He bent his flight and sailed towards them.
Wh-Wham! Two creatures randomly leapt from a boulder above and impacted his body in mid-air. One's claws grazed the wound already gaping in his back, and the Desperado flinched in mid-air, paralyzed.
"Brrotherr!" Kepler hollered.
"No!" Ariel shrieked.
The Herald's wagon passed underneath, its occupants watching helplessly as Wildcard was overpowered by the two beasts.
"Goddess dammit!" Logan stood up with his axe, preparing to leap clear off the wagon. "Hold on, buddy—!"
Seraphimus yanked him back by his tail. "Don't."
"Dammit, lady!" Logan spat back, frowning hard. "I gotta save him—!"
"You do not have to." Seraphimus' eyes reflected a prismatic streak.
Ariel gasped—
Swoooooooooosh—WHAM!
—as Rainbow Dash sailed in hard, slamming her lower legs into the skull of one beast. It slipped from its grip of Wildcard, and the petite pegasus was then yanking the other monster off. The two wrestled briefly in mid-air... until Rainbow Dash overpowered it by flapping one wing mightily. The two spun three times... with Rainbow releasing the creature violently into the ether with a shout. She watched—panting—as the shrieking thing flew upwards through the array... only to be crushed into a bloody pulp by two randomly colliding boulders. Crunnnch!
"Oooooh..." Discord winced, fazing through a passing rock. "That guy really had some stones to mess with you."
Rainbow huffed. "... ... ...I kinda wish the giant wyrm ate me."
"Rainbow Dash!" Ariel could be heard shouting.
"I'm here, girl!" Rainbow looked down at the wagon. "Hold it in! No need to drown Flynn—" Her eyes locked on Seraphimus.
Seraphimus stared calmly back from afar.
Rainbow bit her lip, gnawing at the urge to say something—
"Rrainbow!" Kepler shouted. "Don't come any nearrerr! The chaos metal—!"
Banshee shrieks lit the air as the beasts found a new route through the floating array to re-engage their prey.
"I won't have to!" Rainbow shouted. Perched upside-down on a floating boulder, she reached over and lifted a dazed Wildcard to his feet. "Dude! Think you can fly?"
He winced from his wounds... but nodded shakily, goggles rattling.
"Good. Let's try to pull some of the heat off our friends." Rainbow took off, dragging Wildcard behind her. As the Desperado flapped his wings and gained traction, she shouted towards Flynn and the rest. "Just try and clear the crater!"
"But Rainbow—!"
"We'll meet up Curveside!" Rainbow winced momentarily as her eyes flickered red-on-yellow. "That's a pr-promise!" She flew faster with Wildcard as a group of monsters tore off from the rest of the pursuing stampede and flanked them. "Oh goddess... they smell horrible..."
Wildcard breathlessly nodded.