All Hooves, Abandon Mountain
A large rumbling noise rolled through the structure. The sheer vibrations alone nearly threw Khao and Rainbow Dash off their hooves. With a gasp, Rainbow stumbled forward, only for the lead Heraldite to catch her and help her back onto four legs.
“Lemme guess…” Rainbow muttered as the two limped along. “The Sacred Hold is passing a stone?”
“I knew that this would happen,” Khao muttered, pulling the two of them down a precarious ledge looming above a large chamber full of abandoned chaos metal strips. “Soon enough, Lasairfion herself will be departing.”
“What, you mean for the machine world?” Rainbow wheezed as bits of dust and debris littered the ground around them. “Where the Ledomaritans are holed up?”
“Indeed,” Khao exhaled as she kicked a door open and shoved Rainbow through it. The two were engulfed in darkness and dim torchlight. “And Nevlamas will follow soon after.”
“Wait… Axan’s sister?” Rainbow Dash blinked dizzily. “She’s not happy to have Lasairfion do all the dirty work for her?”
“It’s hard to say whose work is whose anymore,” Khao said. “I have every reason to believe that Lasairfion is the true puppet master at work here.” She pulled Rainbow Dash around a corridor and led her down a straightaway of doorframes and flickering candles. “With the power of Nevlamas at her command, she’s orchestrated every movement of this war for the past half-decade--like conducting an orchestrated symphony of death.”
“You don’t say…”
“Infiltrating the Ledomaritan army with agents… attacking Seclorum’s defensive line at key locations… summoning an army of serpentine monsters…” Khao slowly nodded. “She’s been using this war to create an age of suffering and chaos that no other continent on this plane has seen.”
“But… why?”
“For all the resources the Herald has its disposal, we still don’t know everything.” Khao glanced at the pegasus. “Even still, I suspect that your presence here as a great deal to do with this.”
“Like how?”
“You’re the catalyst for Lasairfion’s next plans, whatever they may be.”
Rainbow Dash shuddered, gazing down at the passing stone floor. “When Nevlamas… looked into my head…” She gulped. “She found out about the open machine world and where it was located.” She bit her lip. “The invasion was just waiting for me to show up and give Nevlamas’ and Lasairfion’s minions the coordinates.”
“I suspect they always knew where to go, Harbinger.”
“Then why wait for me?!” Rainbow Dash snarled. “Why am I so important?! I refuse to be an agent of genocide!”
“You could have avoided it a long time ago if you had accepted my gracious offer.”
“Are we seriously gonna get into this again?!” Rainbow Dash snarled. “For the last time, you are not--” She froze in mid-speech, however, upon noticing movement to her right. She glanced to the side in time to see Xonan laborers lined up in one of the many chambers that they were passing. The low class Xonans knelt down before chaos strips. Murmuring tiny prayers, they summoned glowing white serpents who spun around until they faced the tattooed unicorns’ penitent bodies. Then, as the Xonans presented their forelimbs and necks, the serpents ravenously leapt upon them. Khao dragged Rainbow Dash along before she could see what happened next, but she could hear their horrific, blood-curdling cries. “Luna poop!” Rainbow Dash’s voice cracked. “What the buck are they doing?!”
“Lasairfion and Nevlamas are leaving!” Khao exclaimed over the bloody bedlam. “The Third Born have outlived their usefulness!”
“Then friggin’ take us back!” Rainbow Dash shouted, thrashing weakly in Khao’s grip. “We gotta stop them--”
“Don’t even jest,” Khao droned, not ceasing her gait for one moment.
Rainbow sneered at her. “Creeps or not, nopony deserves to just give up like that!”
“They gave up on life the very moment they subscribed to their false religion,” Khao said. “We would only doom ourselves and the fate of this plane if we put you unnecessarily in harm’s way.”
“Oh, you’re one to friggin’ talk, lady…”
“It matters little.” Khao paused by a junction of hallways, glancing down both corridors. “We need to get the book, reunite you with the flame, then leave Sacred Hold in time to rendezvous with my brothers and sisters.”
“And if I decide that I’d rather kick your flank in between now and then?”
“You’re welcome to try,” Khao said in a sighing tone. “Although, with the Sacred Relic in our possession, I seriously doubt your stubbornness will prove fruitful.”
Sure enough, Rainbow could only dangle limply from Khao’s shoulder as the Heraldite let her up a flight of stone stairs and towards a lofty corridor deep within the floating mountain.
“Raaaaaugh!” Roarke tossed two Xonans off her, slammed them against a far wall, and spun towards them with a snarl.
The unicorns shook off the pain and gripped their chaos strips. Just as their tattoos started brimming with otherworldly energy, their shocked faces lit up from the glow of rocket exhaust. A cluster of missiles exploded right before them, blowing a hole in the wall and knocking their flailing bodies into the open chasm below.
“Hah!” Zaid chanted as he, Nightshade, and the rest of the group covered the distance behind Roarke’s smoking figure. “I knew there’d be explosions eventually!”
“Hrmmmph…” Roarke retracted the missile launchers back into her armor. Tilting about, she trotted over the groaning, beaten bodies of Xonans and rejoined the group. “We haven’t much time. They’ve set off the alarms and will likely be sending an even bigger security detachment our way.”
Zaid reached over and patted Basso’s shoulder with a smirk. “Why don’t we just catapult this dude at them?”
Basso went cross-eyed. “Buh?”
“First thing’s first.” Roarke spun about with pistoning eye-lenses. “This should be the level where the book’s hidden.”
“Over there,” Nightshade said, pointing down the corridor. “The characters on the wall read ‘High Security Hold.’”
“H-how is it that you c-can transcribe written Xonan?” Zetta stammered, rubbing her aching head.
“I knew that I would be returning to the Eastern Front at some point,” the madame said. “Just… not quite in this haphazard fashion.”
“Whatever…” Roarke grunted as she approached the line of doors. “What we need to do is--” She froze in place, her armor rattling.
“Wh-what is it?” Basso asked.
“No…” Seething, Roarke dashed over a pair of collapsed guards and directly into the room beyond. “No no no no no no!” The body of the Sacred Hold rumbled all around.
Zetta stumbled on her hooves but managed to shout with a grimacing expression, “What’s wrong?! What do you see?”
After a few seconds, Roarke stuck her bewildered, pale face back out. “The book…” She gulped dryly. “It’s gone!”
The Ledomaritans mumbled insecurely. Basso and Zetta exchanged confused glances.
“Well, we’re boned,” Zaid belched.
“Rgggggh!” Roarke punched the wall with a metal hoof. Cracks and rivulets formed as she stood there, panting. “By Searo’s Womb! Who in the Hell could have wanted it more than us?!”
In the back of the group, Nightshade stood back in the shadows, saying nothing.
Stone doors slid open as Kera galloped eagerly into the Xonan brig. “Zaid! Zetta! Everypony!” She turned around and pointed at the doorframe. “Look what we got!”
Dalen stumbled nervously in, glancing left and right as he levitated the lavender book by his side. “Haluu’seem thriul meen’ess.” He gulped. “They’re gone…”
“What are you talking about?!” Kera beamed and spun about with a toss of her straight green mane. “They’re right where you left ‘em--” She froze, her emerald eyes blinking wide. The jail cell was completely empty, and the caged door hung wide open. “...friggin’ Hell.”
Stats
Page generated in 0.042 seconds
Total duration
946 users online
1,579,732 hits today, 2,814,898 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Whoops. Looks like SOMEPONY forgot to discuss their plan with the group...
So Kera and Dalen are looking for the gang, the gang is looking for the book and Khao is doing fuck knows what.
This can only end well.
I get the feeling the next one's gonna be a big one - half way point and all.
Well this is going to turn into a cluster-fuck train wreck real quick.
Kera and Dalen have the book.
The former prisoners are at the former holding place of the book.
Khao and Dash are making their way towards the former holding place of the book.
With the Xonan high command noticing the alarm, they will inevitably start searching for the book.
If you discount the fact that nobody can read it and it's essentially kindling, Twilight's ghost would be overjoyed at this passion for bibliography.
Yay, let's all try to do the same thing at the same time. without telling each other!
Also this is chapter 99, so.....
I wonder what the next book will be called?
the disorganization is hilarious.
Oh my goodness Basso, you're adorable.
I love how this is all coming together in a massive fireball of action!
This situation is getting too complicated for its own good.
~Basso
Chaos! I looooove it. By the way, I have ultimately important question. How many rockets Roarke have? I know she resupplied herself earlier, but still, how many are left? It would end badly if during the "Incredibly Important Fight" suddenly the would be no ammo left.
fimfiction-static.net/images/avatars/62602_256.jpg
Kera just added 20 chapters of grief and complications to the story, didn't she?
3583302
Rule of drama. Infinite ammo until critical moment.
Just realized this is chapter ninety-nine.
The plot thickens.
I'm glad to know I can still kill the mood just by opening my mouth.
3583197, 3583377 Well, that sucks, now everyone is going to be chasing everybody and missing by a few seconds. This is Innavedr all over again.
Missed them by that much.
Oh come on. Colon. Stop shitting with me. You would do this wouldn't you.
I really wish that Khao's bad religion would blow up in a way that would knock her to her senses. I know that I shouldn't wish harm for anyone, but I seriously doubt that Khao won't have it coming for her. Bonus points if it happens in a way that was prophesied in a prophesy that the Herald conveniently decided could not apply to themselves.
(Yes, I left out certain Beatitudes. Intentionally.)
Also, note that only half of my username has been given to characters (for a name) so far. And there have been no katanas as of yet.
imageshack.us/a/img803/8337/dibujowq.png
Yeah, I'm not signing up to be third class. Tough luck Kara.
3583695
Yeah...this is pretty par for the course.
"Well, we're boned." Oh Zaid, thank you for reminding me once again why I still like you. Had to struggle not to burst out laughing in my school cafeteria at that line. Also was nice seeing Roarke doing what she does best. I'm starting to see huge similarities between Rampage from Project Horizons and Roarke here. Only sad thing being that Roarke isn't immortal. Good to see Kera and Dalen taking some initiative but really people, you gotta coordinate your plans better than that.
There seems to be a bit of a verbal disconnect here.
I hate those.
Those xonans really know how to waste illusion magic. They didn't need to transform their clothes too. Any uniform they would need to pass off as Lightning Bearers, would be available inside the ship itself, or was being worn by those horses they burned up to the souls without taking their uniforms first.
Ugh, their going to be running around the whole place just missing each other by a bit
...Whoops.
This is what happens when we don't have coordination.
I mean, it's not like there was much opportunity for it in this situation, but it sure is one hell of a good example.
Scooby, Scooby Doo, where are you, you gotta keep on running.
3583204>>3583550
We're only half-way done. Here's to 100 more.
Great plan, now we're stumbling around inside the ENEMY STRONGHOLD KERA COME ON
3583377
Your pic just added a thousand years of laughter to my vocabulary.
Dalen is nice! yay!
now they need to protect Kera from the chaos monsters and stuff, if the Third born are being killed
so who thinks they will hitch ride on the Lightning Bearer and re-take it, then go and kill things with it, specifically a certain evil chaos dragon who might happen to be one of the Divine five
Now that they're split up, I know that things will have to get a lot worse before they reunite. Probably one group will be recaptured or get held back, but big battles tend to have good outcomes.
3583904
You're telling me. Shit like this is going to be the bane of my sanity.
Here goes another dozen chapters in this giant floating turd.
3585606
And then sail it straight into the Steel Wing once Belle jumps ship. What a glorious moment that would be.
Also, there's no "might happen to be," she's confirmed for Divine of Magic.
3583197 Everyone be like
3583760 You know, the religion isn't even technically a false one. They serve the powers of Harmony, a real metaphysical force and their intent is to save the world and restore peace and order. Their not bad people, there's just a teeny little thing they got wrong is all...
3587243 That video somehow sums up all of Innavedr and Odrsjot so far.
~Basso
3583725
Just a clarifier - I left out some beatitudes because I wrote this as though Khao herself might see it sometime. I like all the beatitudes, but I still left some out intentionally.
There aren't enough
s allowed in a single post to express my feelings right now.
IIIIIt's Dashie's Christmas Special Get-Backing Adventure!
Smooth, Kera. Now let's just hope that she finds the rest of the group in time. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
P.S. I shall return tonight!
Friggen hell is right.
I...can't even speculate right now. There's so much potential for dangerous shenanigans. Although, with the amount of chapters left, I don't know how everything can work out in a way that doesn't leave at least parts of the group separated.
Onward!
-Spirit
And then no one knows what's going on.
Zaid, channeling some Bender right there.
With this, right before we reach the halfway mark, I think I can predict how this arc will go down: The Sacred Hold reaches Seclorum, and the battle for the machine world goes down. Sometime before that, Dalen and Kera meet back up with the rest of the group, and RD and Khao get in with them at around the same time Josho gets his ass out of the machine world. As the battle between Ledomartian and Xonan forces draws to a climax, the Noble Jury and the rest of the gang will show up.
Woo-whee, I may be entirely wrong, but dang.
Well, fuck.
Gambit Pileup I believe it is called.
What we have here is a serious breakdown in communication...
Holy hell things have gone wrong for them. Shoulda just sat tight and waited for good things to happen, guys. Dammit! Now you're gonna be chasing each other around the friggin' mountain! Onward!
~SolidFire
THIS IS MY BOOK, AND I'M GONNA READ IT!
Welp... Things we're going a bit fked up here