Ernest Saves Equestria

by Emerald Harp

Trollmegedon

Earlier

The alarm klaxons howled and shrieked. The ponies outside Sugarcube Corner dove into trenches and entered the ruins of homes. They were armed with as many dairy products as Twilight Sparkle’s strict rationing would allow. The Equestrian leadership scattered, moving as fast as they could to their command centers throughout the town. Ernest ran through the streets with a pink and whilte bullhorn he had found in the bakery. The Redneck zig zagged along the road to city hall yelling, “Troll alert! Troll alert! This is not a drill! Trolls have been sighted outside the perimeter! All hands on deck, batten down the hatches, and prepare for a trollicane!”

Trailing behind the eccentric human was Sunset Shimmer. She was about to gallop after the Troll Fighter when she heard a loud “thud” from behind her. She turned to see the wooden troll had face planted into the dirt just outside the doorway to Sugarcube Corner. Other ponies were galloping around the fallen troll but none was helping him to his feet. The orange pony trotted up to the turtling Rotnart. “Here, let me help you.”

Before Rotnart could tell the pony where to stuff her help, he felt himself being enveloped by turquoise magic and lifted. The sensation was odd. He did not like being manhandled, but at the same time the pony had saved him at least five minutes of flopping around on the ground. “Thanks,” he muttered.

The cacophony of sound coming from the sirens died down enough for Rotnart to ask, “Where is this Fort Botswana thing Worrell was talking about?”

Sunset pointed North to City Hall.

Rotnart sighed. “That’s just lovely. This is going to be the Battle of Briarville all over again. Worrell and the kids have the high ground while every troll in horse land will be swarming this way trying to get at him.”

Sunset watched the slow awkward progress of the troll as he made his way up the road. “I could teleport us there if you like.”

The troll shook his head. “Have you ever seen a wooden troll barf?”

Sunset shivered. “Walking it is.” After a moment she added, “And you’re wrong. Not every troll is coming to get us. One is trying to help.”

Rotnart gave the Equestrian a sidelong glance and snorted. “Careful, horse. How do you know I’m on your side? I did doll six of your friends after all.”

“Five,” Sunset corrected. “You turned Princess Luna back at the expense of your own body. From what I’ve heard you could have let three foals be captured and turned to dolls, but you didn’t. You had an opportunity to kill Ernest in front of Luna and your brother, but you didn’t.”

Rotnart rolled his eyes but didn’t reply. After following the dirt path and Ernest’s shrieking voice, the pony and troll passed a group of Crystal Empire Royal Guards. The guard ponies were layering their weapons in powdered and liquid milk. The soldiers glared at the pair as they passed. One of the guards murmured, “Keep an eye on those two. I still don’t trust them.”

Sunset’s ears twitched when she heard the hushed words. She sighed. She couldn’t blame the soldiers for their paranoia. After all she did steal a piece of the Elements of Harmony, part of the most potent defense system Equestria had. It would take a while before a sin like that could be completely forgiven.

From beside her Rotnart turned and replied loudly, “Oh yeah, you big bad elite Clydesdales had better keep an eye on us. You gotta watch the dude that can’t even stand up on his own and his teenage babysitter.” Rotnart shook his head and muttered, “Those morons are about to die, and they’re worried about us.”

Sunset’s heart sank. “You don’t think we’re going to make it, do you?”

Rotnart shrugged and nodded towards Ernest. The human was standing in front of city hall calling up to a squad of pegasi with his bullhorn. “It doesn’t matter what I think. But as long as that man is still breathing, we got a shot.”

The orange pony nodded. Sunset and Rotnart advanced until they were standing right behind the shrieking Troll Fighter.

“Trolls! The trolls are co---.”

An aquamarine aura enveloped the bullhorn and was lifted from Ernent’s hands. “Yeah, Ernest, the sirens made it pretty clear that the trolls are here,” Sunset Shimmer said from behind him.

Ernest turned to see his pony and troll guardians looking up at the heavily modified city hall. “I just want to be sure everyone knows that trollmegedon is here. Some people react better if they get bad news from a friendly source, you know what I mean?”

“What is that thing?” asked Rotnart pointing upwards.

Ernest followed the troll’s finger to the third story balcony of the government building to see five small ponies servicing a strange-looking device. Two long I-beams of enchanted copper were jutting from a housing that was equal parts steel, aluminum, and plastic. The hastily constructed weapon was mounted on the balcony’s metal reinforced banister and could traverse the circumference of the railing on rollers.

“Oh, that’s the railgun I was talking about earlier.” With no small amount of pride, Ernest added, “With this baby we can reach out and touch any troll that’s in front of us.”

Sunset nodded along in thought. “How accurate is it?”

Ernest winced. “Last time I checked we were almost able to hit the target berm.”

Before Rotnart or Sunset could ask anymore questions, Ernest called up to the young ponies, “Permission to enter Fort Botswana with two guests. Password is ‘CMC6BFF.’

Sweetie Belle appeared a moment later at the balcony. “Granted. Hurry up, Ernest.”

The human saluted and threw open the doors.

Sunset’s eyes widened at the devastation that had befallen City Hall. It had been years since she had last been here. She remembered it not only as the beating heart of Ponyville Government, but as a place to have fun. A lot of venues had rented out the building for parties. The pony stepped into the thoroughly ransacked first floor of city hall. She watched the human’s climbing form quickly ascending the wide spiraling staircase.

“Well, $h!t. Is that the only way to get up to the top? There’s not an elevator or something?” asked Rotnart.

Sunset shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

The wooden troll sighed. “Alright, do the thing. We ain’t got all day to wait on my splintery ass to get to the top.”

The pony turned to face him reluctantly. Before casting her teleportation spell, she said, “Sorry.”

Ernest took the steps two at a time. When he reached the top, he saw Sweetie Belle, Diamond Tiara, and Apple Bloom slathering ball bearings with a mixture of milk and yellow paint. The three ponies were distracted from their work when Rotnart and Sunset Shimmer materialized. They were even more distracted when the wooden troll began to violently heave his guts out over the balcony.

Ernest tore his attention away from the barfing tree-troll and looked towards the pile of ammo the crusaders had stockpiled. Judging by the growing pile of ammunition, there were several hundred metal balls ready for use. The human frowned; he had been hoping for a lot more.

Raising his voice over that of the retching troll, the Troll Fighter asked, “Alright, team. What’d we got?”

Scootaloo and Pipsqueak looked up from their tinkering. The pair were adjusting the front and rear sights of the powered down railgun. “Well, we still can’t hit anything,” replied the orange pegasus. “But, the gun still fires reliably. I’m just glad that the mayor is letting us borrow the town’s spare spark battery.”

Pipsqueak laughed. “Yeah, it wouldn't be much of a bloody weapon if we couldn’t hurl metal balls at unsafe velocities, would it?”

Ernest smiled. “Took the words right out of my mouth, Pip.”

Snatching a pair of binoculars off a nearby table, Ernest looked at a very thick earthen berm about 1000 yards away, just in front of Luna’s barrier. The berm stood twenty feet high and forty feet wide. The area where the young ponies were practicing their aim was cordoned off with yellow caution tape. The Redneck could see several deep divots in the ground before the berm where the Crusaders had been trying to hit mock troll targets in front of the earthen mound. Ernest grimaced, there were too many fake trolls still standing. Beyond the berm Ernest could see the troll magic users hurling spells at the great shield. Monsters garbed in bark and metal were using trunks of massive trees to try and bash their way into the town. Ernest’s jaw dropped in terror. There were thousands of trolls out there.

“Doesn’t look good, does it?” asked Apple Bloom. The young pony was looking at the situation with her own pair of binoculars.

Ernest put down his field glasses and switched to his Roman personality. He scoffed and said, “Those ruffians are but dust in the wind. A thousand years ago when Botswana was facing the wrath of Sultan Klepto and his rampaging hordes of Ottoman robots, the odds were less than ideal there too. The Ottomans numbered in the millions and each mechanical warrior had eight limbs and stood thirty hands tall. So you know what the Botswana soldiers did?”

The little earth pony shook her head.

“They built tree forts in the sturdy redwoods of Washington and Oregon and they used their ancestral rail guns to bring down the Ottomans favored form of locomotion, the Black Hawk helicopter. And after many moons of fighting, the Ottomans brought forth their champion, the T-1800 Titanium Titan.”

Ernest’s story had caught the attention of the other five ponies. They gathered round to listen to the Troll Fighter’s tale. Even Rimshot was listening with rapt attention.

Having recovered from his motion sickness, Rotnart leaned over to Sunset Shimmer and whispered, “Worrell has to be part troll. Only a troll can come up with a mountain of bull*#$t that large.”

“Shhhh,” hissed the orange pony.

“The Botswanan’s were proud and brave, but they couldn’t hold on forever. But before the Botswanans surrendered, King Arnonld of tribe Schwarzenegger challenged the T-1800 to single combat.”

“So what happened? Did King Arnold win? Did he beat the T-1800?” asked Pipsqueak.

Ernest smiled. “It wasn’t easy. Arnonld had a lot of friends backing him up, preparing him for the fight of his life. But yes, the Titanium Titan was bested when Arnonld covered his fists in skim milk and pulled out the robot’s still beating heart. After that the Ottomans ran back to their homes with their metal tails between their legs.”

Sweetie Belle gave Ernest an appraising stare. “Did all of this really happen, or is this just a story?”

Ernest shifted his weight from foot to foot. “Well . . . I might have embellished some of the details, but the point is warfare is not something you can do alone; it’s a team effort. Now you five are the bravest, smartest, and frankly the stubbornest team of ponies I know. When those trolls step foot into town, they won’t know what hit them.”

The five little foals grinned and hoof-bumped each other. Even Diamond Tiara was swept up in the moment and let out a loud “Yeah!” that Bulk Biceps would have been proud of. Realizing what she just said, her cheeks reddened, and the filly found something very interesting to look at on the floor.

The Troll Fighter clapped his hands together and said, “Alright, gang. Let’s get back to work. We’re going to plan B, and we’re going to need a lot more ammo.”

Scootaloo sighed. “I’ll see what we can do. Common, Pip. Let’s check the hardware store one more time; maybe we missed something.”

Pipsqueak saluted. “Alright, Governor.”

The two young ponies made their way down the stairs when Ernest turned to Sunset Shimmer and said, “Hey, Sunny. If you don’t mind, I’ll be needing Willy back.”

The orange pony blinked in confusion before realizing what the Redneck meant. Her eyes lit up with realization. “Oh. Sure, Ernest.” Sunset closed her eyes and concentrated, and moments later with a puff of turquoise magic, the black cube that contained Willy’s entire being materialized, floating in Sunset’s aura. The cube dropped in Ernest’s hands.

“Thanks again for taking care of him,” Ernest said gratefully. The human walked over to one of the access ports on the side of the railgun and inserted the cube into a square socket. After that Ernest went over to a nearby desk that sported a broken keyboard and a cracked monitor that had once been Willy’s head. Before sitting down Ernest pushed a large red button and activated Willie’s Revenge. The great weapon sparked and coughed but slowly came to life with an intensifying hum of power. The monitor came to life showing Willie’s “Have a Nice Day” Face. The Troll Fighter pushed the alt tab buttons on the keyboard a few times and entered a command prompt. From there the human’s fingers took off, typing at an insane rate. Sunset wiped her eyes as she tried to make sense of what her friend was inputting. She couldn’t and frankly doubted she’d understand if Ernest tried to explain it to her. So instead she decided to keep her mouth shut.

For his part Rotnart didn’t have a clue what was going on. He just sat down as gingerly as he could between Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom and helped load metal balls into a plastic box.

“Howed the meeting go?” asked Sweetie Belle.

Rotnart scoffed. He was about to say something about how they were all probably going to die and that no one knew what they were doing. But a look from Sunset Shimmer made him bite his tongue. “Oh, it’s just a bunch of adults who think they know everything, arguing about what to do. You didn’t miss anything.” The wooden troll poured the milk-paint mixture into the plastic box and made sure all the balls were thoroughly covered.

“Anything we should know about?” asked Applebloom.

Rotnart looked at the yellow earthpony. “I can’t tell you. I’m sworn to secrecy.”

“Ah, you can tell us. We won’t tell anypony,” declared Sweetie Belle in a pleading voice.

The wooden troll thought for a few moments before saying, “Well, okay. All we gotta do is hold back those trolls outside the forcefield for . . . a while, and then the Element Bearers will come back and make everything right again. That’s the quick and dirty version.”

The two little filly’s looked at each other and simultaneously started screeching with joy.

Rotnart covered his ears. “Oh for Fu– Pete’s Sake. Make it stop.”

“Our sisters are coming back! Our sisters are coming back!” The two fillies hopped up and down and hugged each other.

And that's when it dawned on Rotnart. Taking his hands away from his wooden ears, he said, “Wait a minute. Those ponies I turned into dolls on Nightmare Night, the Element Bearers, those were your sisters?”

After a brief exclamation on whose sister was whose from the two fillies, Rotnart scratched the back of his head nervously. “Uh . . . yeah, sorry about that. I don’t know what else to say.”

Sunset Shimmer stopped breathing as she waited on how the two fillies would react.

“Awkward,” said Diamond Tiara, drawing out the word while she ran a brush over some unpainted balls.

Apple Bloom shook her head. “What’s done is done. We’re getting them back. We’re getting them all back, that’s the important thing. As long as you stay on this side of the fence with us, from now on I can forgive you. At least that’s how I feel about things.”

Sweetie Belle nodded.

Still at a loss for words, the wooden troll finally replied, “It’s a deal.”

After breathing an audible sigh of relief Sunset Shimmer heard Ernest ask, “Hey guys, want to say high to Willie?”

“To who? Wait, isn’t he dead?” asked Rotnart.

“Naw, he was just in sleep mode,” Ernest replied.

The group of three fillies, one beagle, one troll, and Sunset Shimmer gathered behind the seated human. Sunset saw on the cracked monitor screen lines and lines of gibberish coding that ran a third of the way down the monitor. After that mess, she saw something she recognized. Ernest was chatting with his creation.

Ernest: Willie, are you there? This is Troll Fighter One.

Willie: Da? Da! You came. I knew you would! Where am I? I feel weird. I can’t see.

Ernest: Oops. I’m sorry, Willie. One second and I’ll fix that for you.

Ernest: ://Camera00_on.

Ernest: ://Camera01_on.

Ernest: ://Camera02_on.

Ernest: ://Camera03_on.

After Ernest typed those commands, the Redneck looked up at the flagpoles that were mounted to the sides of the building. Sunset and the others followed his gaze and saw four cameras zip-tied to four different wooden poles. The orange pony recognized those cameras from the Ponyville hospital. There was one camera covering each cardinal direction that slowly moved side to side. The fillies waved up at the cameras enthusiastically.

Ernest: Can you see us?

The Easternmost camera pointed down.

Willie: Yes. I have so many questions. One of them is why is there a bloody troll standing right next to you? Did we lose? Wait, I recognize him. Is that you, Rotnart? You look different when you’re not pinned to a table like a bug. HA HA HA HA. Oh, hi Sunset, you’re different too. How’d the play go? Hi Rimshot. Hi kids.

The troll glared up at the camera while Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom tried to hide their giggling. “You know I can read English, right?”

“I got this,” declared Ernest.

Ernest: No, we haven't lost. Rotnart is on our side. It's a long story. Sunny was amazing by the way. We need your help Willie. The town is surrounded by trolls.

The southernmost camera turned its attention to the berm and the troll targets. The camera’s lenses zoomed out to see the hordes of trolls outside the ponies’ shield spell.

Willie: I can see that. I’m assuming you need me to be your aiming and fire control apparatus for this railgun.

Ernest: If you don’t mind.

Willie: You don’t have to ask me twice if I want to perforate some trolls. Just keep me loaded and I’ll do the rest.

Ernest: Thanks Willie. Since you’re up and about, I’ll give you admin rights so you can mange your own systems and power outputs.

Ernest: ://Admin_Willie

://Password*******

Don’t go taking over the world now. Ya know what I mean.

Willie: No promises. ;)

Ernest looked at Willie’s last message and laughed nervously. “Eh, heh, heh, heh. I’m sure he’s just playing with us.”

“Hey, do you guys hear that?” asked Diamond Tiara.

************************************************************************************

Iarumas watched his army deploy and surround the town. His chest swelled with pride at the sight. Thousands have arrived and were still arriving. It was the largest gathering of trolls since the final siege of the Crystal Empire. That had been millenia ago, back when his grandfather, Trantor, had personally punched his way through the pony defenses into the heart of the Imperial City. Iarumas turned his attention away from his troops and glared at Ponyville. The troll had a grudging respect for the ponies he was besieging. There would be no single strike to break this barrier like he had done at the hospital. His armored warriors had tried to dig under it, but the dome extended deep below the soil. His spell casters had tried to dispel the shield, but the magic keeping the protective dome active was far too powerful. His flyers had tried to pierce the magic walls with enchanted spears, but they just made greasy messes on the shield’s surface. Iarumas cracked his neck and knuckles, he did not have time for this. He had minutes left not hours before his body would succumb to the dark energy coursing through his veins. He turned to his Lieutenants. “Make ready the host. The shield falls now.” Iarumas’s teeth were so large that his words were barely legible. The command raced up and down the lines of trolls that encircled Ponyville.

Iarumas pointed to a group of spell-slinging trolls. “Music. Tenacious D. Master Exploder.”

In an instant the smaller spindly trolls arranged themselves by what instrument had materialized in their filthy hands. Since they were trolls, many had brass and percussion music devices. But it mattered not; they could make whatever they had sound like anything they wanted.

Iarumas held up three fingers, then two, then one.

The band started to play. Some of the nearby trolls dropped their weapons and put their hands to their ears in preparation for what was coming. Many more though started to cheer as the air filled with the first notes from electric guitars and drums.

Iarumas’s voice rose, gaining steadily in volume. “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, AhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhHH, AhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhHHHH, AhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhHHHHHH, AhhhhhhHHHHHH, AhhhhHHHHHHHH, AhhhHHHHHHHHH, AhhHHHHHHHHHH, AHHHHH, AHHHH, AHHH, AHHHH, AHHHH, AHHHH, AHHH, AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, YEAH!”

Even from a hundred yards away from where the great troll was standing, cracks were forming in the dome.

“I do not need!” Iarumas sang.

“He does not need!” his army answered.

“A microphone!”

“A microphone!”

“My voice is f&*king, powerful.”

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.”

Meanwhile

Princess Luna gritted her teeth at the ferocity of the ocular attack. Sweat poured from her forehead as she summoned more of her magic into maintaining the barrier around Ponyville. Through the magic ley lines she could feel the other unicorns powering the massive shield spell giving their all. But it wasn’t enough. One by one and in twos and threes she could feel her subjects collapsing under the colossal pressure Iarumas was bringing to bear. Even from the top of the Golden Oats library through the wall of magic she could hear the beast singing. They needed more time. The rest of the Element Bearers needed to be here to put an end to this madness. But deep down the Princess knew that this was a fight they could not win. If they tried to keep feeding power into a breaking shield spell then the magical feedback would cripple the unicorns and her once the spell collapsed. Twilight Sparkle knew first hoof what that felt like. Through clenched teeth she said, “Order the unicorns to save their magic. The wall is falling. We can’t stop it.”

Mayor Mare’s eyes widened at that bit of news; she didn’t question the order’s wisdom though. The Government official called down from the Library’s star-gazing station to the radio operators. “General order to the field commanders. Code Blackout.”

************************************************************************************

From the roof of the hospital Twilight Sparkle watched in horror as the combined shield spell faded. Over half of the auras that made up the magical barrier were gone. Princess Luna’s aura was burning brighter to compensate for the lack of magic. Twilight reached up and gently touched her horn. She jerked her hoof away as soon as she made contact. Judging from the amount of pain she just felt she was amazed she still had a horn. Even so she considered trying to add her own magic to the spell. In fits and starts she gathered magic to her horn.

“Don’t try it, Twilight,” Spike said. “Doctor’s orders.”

The alicorn knew her assistant was correct. But if something wasn’t done soon the shield spell would break. Twilight marveled at the power of this one troll. How could this single monster overpower the magic of several hundred unicorns plus a Princess with just his voice?

“By order of the Night Princess. Code Blackout.”

“What?” asked Twilight. Shining Armor’s voice had come over the hospital’s PA system.

“I repeat. Code Blackout.”

Twilight’s magic dissipated as she looked down at the Ponies surrounding the hospital. The unicorns that were still standing glanced at each other in confusion but obeyed the command and stopped powering the shield spell. The Equestrians sighed in relief and exhaustion as they collapsed onto their haunches.

Hearing somepony coming up the ladder to the roof Twilight looked to see her weary brother. Twilight eyed her sibling’s horn. The white unicorn’s horn was still not back to normal, but the black crystals embedded in his horn had shrunk thanks to the magical therapies of Princess Luna and the doctors.

Twilight wanted to scream, “What the hay is Princess Luna thinking? Has she lost her mind?” But then she thought about what happens when a shield spell is overcome with enough force. A twinge of pain radiated from her forehead; she was still recovering from that hard lesson. Instead the Princess of Friendship asked, “Is the order real? These trolls can fake pony voices very well.” She knew the answer to the question but paranoia begged her to ask it anyway.

Shining Armor nodded. “The order is real. We received it over the radio in modern Crystal Guard cipher.”

This time Twilight nodded. The Crystal Empire developed new codes for their guards’ ponies over the past year so there’s no way the trolls could know about it.

“Guys, look!” Spike yelled.

Everypony was looking up at the sky. Gone was the multi-hued sphere of magic. Only Luna’s dark blue aura remained, and it was waning. A few seconds later, and it was gone.

“What do we do now?” asked the little dragon.

Before Twilight could answer, a great shriek rose from the voice of Iarumas.

************************************************************************************

Iarumas took a deep breath. The shield was about to break. Deep cracks ran down the 100 foot tall magical structure. Gone were the many colors of magic that made up the shield. It was now down to one solid midnight blue hue. It was phasing off and on like a faulty light switch. With the army cheering him on, he was about to scream his way into Ponyville. But before he could let out the first notes of the next verse, the shield disappeared for good. Not wanting to waste his gathered energy, the hideous troll let out a piercing wail that destroyed everything in front of him. Any troll that had been close to Iarumas that wasn’t trying to block out the song had their eardrums ruptured. Several of the trolls were bleeding from their noses and eyes. To the pegasi that were now free to fly high above to the town, it was like a giant had taken an iron and had pressed the land flat. Gone were the hills, trees, and homes that stood against Iarumas and his scream, even the berm that the earth ponies had made was destroyed. In Ponyville, several ponies were caught underneath collapsing buildings or knocked back on their haunches by the troll’s bad breath and gail force winds. Iarumas pointed at the destruction and in a tone louder than any Royal Canterlot voice he said, “Raze this hovel to the ground, take no prisoners, whoever brings me the heads of Ernest P. Worrell and Rotnart will rule in the name of Ra- - -” Before the troll could finish his speech, he heard a loud bang from the center of town. At the same time he felt something tear through his body.

Iarumas staggered and took a step back. He blinked in surprise, and with his clawed fingers, he dug into an entry wound in his midriff that had not been there a moment ago. The massive troll’s talons grabbed the forign object and wretched it free. In the troll’s palm was a marble-sized metal ball.

Before Iarumas could wonder at this new development, he heard two more bangs, and the armored bodyguards to either side of him reeled and then melted moments later.

Iarumas tore his gaze from the twin goo puddles and followed the trajectory of where the attack had come from. The troll’s demon-enhanced sight was so precise that it didn’t take long for him to find what he was looking for. There. In the center of town on top of a wrecked three story building was a strange horseshoe looking structure that crackled and sparked with power. The demon troll’s eyes narrowed in hatred. “Worrell,” he whispered.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

15 more trolls around Iarumas died. The ordinance was moving so fast that it was penetrating the trolls in the front ranks and hitting the trolls in the back.

“Attack!” screamed, the demon troll.

The troll army surged forward; all the while the Equestrian artillery continued to sound. The troll mages tried to shield the advancing army, but whatever was killing the trolls was shooting through the magic wards like arrows through paper mache.

Iarumas turned and pointed to one of his flying Lieutenants. “Take your warriors and silence that weapon.”

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

This story takes place right after the events of the movie, “Ernest Scared Stupid.” No knowledge of Ernest is required to enjoy this story, but it is highly recommended by the authors that you watch this incredible movie.

...You might not want to watch the Nostalgia Critic's review of that movie, then.

[Stalin with Da Spoon]

IT RETURNS.

[Emerald Harp]

11339096
Yep. I take forever but I eventually get there.

[Blue Cultist]

11339112
Right there with ya.
always great to see a new chapter man, really.

[Emerald Harp]

11339907
I really appreciate that.
There will be more to come.

[GMZ_Casper]

I finally got the chance to read this chapter, and like the usual, I've enjoyed it greatly. Nice to see this again, and the same can be said of you. Can't wait to see how this all will play out.

C&Cs will be PM to you.

[Emerald Harp]

11350834
Hey good to see you too. My sister and I greatly appreciate you giving us your input on this story through the years.

I'm going to try really hard not to botch the ending and give Ernest and the gang the conclusion they deserve.