//------------------------------// // That Is No Turd... // Story: Odrsjot // by Imploding Colon //------------------------------// “Mmmmf…” Rainbow Dash made little trilling sounds as she turned over in her restless slumber across the prison room floor. “Mmmm… just… j-just a little more…” She shivered from a dizzy spell, the edges of her eyelids turning moist. “Just a little more cider…” Her ears twitched to the sound of the force field buzzing out. Several heavy hoofsteps trotted in, and with a telekinetic beam the pegasus was lifted viciously off the floor. “Unnngh…” She instantly winced from a lavender glow in her face. “Kii huu taa jaat, Trentte.” Dalen leaned past two burly guards, levitating the book of runes in his magical grasp. “The Princess awaits.” Rainbow Dash could barely grunt a response. As she was being led away, her hooves brushed past Zetta, knocking the petite unicorn in the head. “Mmmmmf…” The mare looked up, blinking. She gasped. “Hey… Hey!” She scampered up onto her hooves and rushed the exit. A guard trotted in and blocked her. “Where’re you taking her?! What is this?!” Zetta’s commotion awoke, Zaid, Nightshade, Basso and the others. Soon, the entire cell of ponies was alive with confusion and anger. They rattled the walls and metal floorboard as more Xonans rushed in to hold them back. “We’ve reached our destination,” Dalen spoke sharply over the crowd’s noise. “The pegasus is needed in royal company.” “Not by herself, she isn’t!” Zetta exclaimed. “Yeah! What happens to the rest of us, huh?!” a Ledomaritan soldier grunted. “That is up to the glory of Nagu’n,” Dalen said, then motioned towards the guards carrying Rainbow Dash. “Juut senn hraak.” “Dreit, Dalen Xon-Nagu’n.” Zaid and Nightshade exchanged helpless glances. “Funny thing about Nagu’n!” Zetta suddenly spat. “You wouldn’t have gotten a clue about how she was doing if it weren’t for a certain pony willingly giving her talents!” Dalen froze in place. He closed his eyes and remained still. “I had the honor and integrity to study her Song even though it was against my will!” Zetta frowned. “Have you an ounce of the same in that tattooed body of yours?!” She motioned at the group with her head. “This party is to stay safe!” A heavy sigh ran through Dalen’s figure. He turned around, glaring lethargically at the mare. At last, he turned to the guards and nodded. Several more shuffled in from the outside hallway. They formed a thick cluster around the guards, then ushered them single-file out of the brig and onto the deck above. “Well done, my little pony,” Nightshade said as she trotted towards the front of the group. “Yeah, for a unicorn with pockets you sure have some stones to fit in ‘em,” Zaid added with a wink. Zetta shuddered as she shuffled ahead. Basso leaned in as they trotted single-file. “Wow, you really know how to talk some sense into these Xonans, Zetta. I’m impressed.” “Could you stay behind me, Basso?” He blinked. “Uhhh… sure! What for?” “If I faint, I wanna know I’ll fall on something I can trust.” He gulped and nodded. “Totally. You can count on me.” She bequeathed the walls a tired smile. “And that’s what keeps me going.” Kera stood on the top deck, fidgeting. She chewed on her lip in a pensive manner, weathering the cold gusts of high altitude air blowing at her emerald bangs. When Rainbow Dash was at last carried onto the open surface of the Lightning Bearer, the filly spun around with a gasp. “Rainbow!” She scampered within spitting distance of the guards carrying the pegasus. “Rainbow, are you okay? I haven’t seen you in two days! I was starting to get worried?” “Never be worried, kid,” Rainbow stammered as she slowly regained control of her hooves. Her ears folded as her head tilted away from the tome and its lavender glow. “Try being bodacious instead.” Kera’s eyes glanced worriedly between the book and Rainbow’s limp figure. “Did… did they beat you up?” “No, but I almost wish they did.” Rainbow glared daggers at Dalen’s figure. “I almost think I prefer the murderous psychopath bad guys over the unfair advantage exploitation bad guys.” She paused to rub her head, but was shoved forward. “Nnngh! Hmmph… at least one of them I knew I could pummel in the face, no problem.” “Where are the others?” “Right behind me, scamp.” Kera glanced back as several more ponies were ushered up from the stairwell. “Hey! It’s the mare with the pretty hair! And the big guy! Heeehee… and the funny guy!” Just then, her face hardened into a frown as her green eyes reflected Nightshade. “What’s she still doing here?” “Sorry, I’ll beat her up eventually too.” Rainbow’s eyes searched the masts, rafters, and support struts of the dirigibles above. “You looking for somepony, Rainbow Dash?” The pegasus muttered, “Can’t see a single thing.” She gazed forward in a tired lurch. “Which means she’s doing her job.” “Laak suun dree mehk rekk!” Dalen shouted. Several Xonans lined up, their hooves slapping into place as they stood at attention. The small group of prisoners--about sixteen ponies total--stood nervously within a thick circle of heavily armored guards. All around the ship, the air was gray, as if the world couldn’t decide where the fog ended and the clouds began. Several vertical columns of smoke hung across the horizon like pillars. Unless one squinted hard, it looked like the landscape had gone crooked, and everything was at a perpetual lean. It was very disorienting, and it made Rainbow Dash feel even dizzier. With the sound of humming manaengines, the twin battleships escorting the Lightning Bearer roared off in opposite directions. A patch of dull haze parted through the cloudy sky, filling the air with an ethereal gray mist. Zaid tilted his head about, blinking. “So, like, where’s this super badass leader dude who staged this whole take over?” No sooner had he finished uttering this when a salvo of high-pitched shrieks filled the air. Every prisoner except Nightshade and Rainbow Dash flinched as a flock of glowing serpents flew up past the port side of the Lightning Bearer. Every airborne snake was being ridden by a Xonan warrior, and at the head of the group--flying the largest and most threatening serpent of all--was Zytharros. He spun around, banked hard, and came into a hover before the bow of the Lightning Bearer. His armor pulsed in sequence with his bright eyes as he shouted above the whipping winds. ”Haasulieth messen lesso thriulen trenttenne Buch Tania Lasairfion Xon-Nagu’n! Rekkhuusuth melendriette hassaal mecrieth thrien dresdunadar!” All as one, the Xonans slammed their hooves down and shouted, their tattoos glowing for a sparse few seconds of absolute fury. ”Dres dunn darr Nagu’n! Trendt Xon-Nagu’n!” Zytharros pulled at the reins of his beast and pointed towards a patch of gray sky. “Rekku blassuun thien varr!” Two beast riders flew up alongside him. The mounted ponies levitated horns to their muzzles and blew liberally. A loud bass noise filled the air. Rainbow Dash listened curiously. To her left and right, she heard the noise multiply. She and Kera and the other ponies looked to see several Xonans lining the edges of the top deck, blowing through identical horns. Soon, the sound echoed from the horizons, as multiple airships appeared through the mists, their crew complements blowing at similar instruments. The entire atmosphere vibrated with the righteous noise. And when it ended, a different sort of rumbling cascaded through the heavens. “Whoah…” Zaid pointed up high. “Far out!” “What?” Basso craned his neck to see, along with Zetta. “What’s far out?” Nightshade, however, was gulping with a pale expression. “Spark spare us…” The heavens parted--not in one crack, but in several. Multiple schisms broke the air, for soon a piece of the sky was unraveling, one abomination at a time. The world above bent like a warped mirror reflected off the back of enormous manta rays. These devilish monstrosities fell back, shrieking in twisted birdsong as they descended from an enormous spherical cluster that they had been clinging to. As their muscles woke up, their scales rolled back, no longer reflecting the mirage of a gray sky. In the span of a minute, the entire illusion faded, and high above the Lightning Bearer--several hundred meters in diameter--hovered a massive globe made out of jagged rock and granite. Several glowing clusters of magically imbued crystal were placed within the surface--embedded in the thick crust--at equidistant intervals. The gigantic Xonan stronghold hovered like a second moon, orbited by hundreds upon thousands of shrieking reptilian monstrosities on leather wings. Several large holes--like polished caves--loomed along the middle and upper sections, and they were brimming with airships, battlecruisers, and Xonans on mounted serpents. “That…” Kera murmured, her jaw hanging. “...is kind of awesome.” “Pffft…” Rainbow Dash muttered. “Giant flying turds don’t deserve that word.” Zytharros shouted to the air and flew forward. The Lightning Bearer followed him, and soon everypony found themselves hovering into the largest cave, and into the heart of the Sacred Hold.