Skip, Skip to the Lounge
“Mmmmfff…” Rainbow’s muzzle stirred as she lay on her side across the granite floor. “Gnngh… don’t… d-don’t stick around here for too long… it’s t-too dangerous…” Her tail flicked as her eyelids stirred. “Mmmmff… so what? Leave the hair clip on, Gold Petals. It looks fine…”
A five-finger’d gloved hand raised her hoof to a blade, then sliced a tiny slit in her flesh.
“Aaaaugh!” Rainbow Dash shot up, bucking the cloaked body off her. “Friggin’ stop it, ya melon--Oh.” Her ears drooped from where she hovered. “It’s you guys.”
Razzar stared at the red blood dripping off his blade, then tilted his mask up towards her. ”Do you realize what you’ve done?” his voice crackled through a grimacing mouthpiece.
“Ugh… yeah…” Rainbow Dash brought her hoof up to her mouth and suckled on the shallow cut. “Had another friggin’ dream about a blonde.”
Other Lounge members strolled behind him, examining the lengths of the rubble-strewn control room while their leader leered up in her face. ”Well, this is no ordinary nightmare you’ve caught us all in! Because of your arrogance, you’ve endangered your crew and mine! Now we’re stuck in a purgatorial place with no chance of--”
“Whoah whoah whoah whoah whoah!” Rainbow Dash frowned, waving her hooves. “Hold the sound stone, buddy! All I wanted to do was protect my friends--”
”From what?!” Razzar’s suit glowed brighter in the seams around his mask. ”You had an imposter with you the entire time! A treacherous fiend whom you should have given up to our custody when we asked--”
“You knew, didn’t you?!” Rainbow Dash frowned. “The way you came rushing in, zapping all those bug-ponies off my back like it was regular hunting season?! You knew that Prowse was a changeling the whole time!”
“It did not change the fact that he was wanted by several concerned parties throughout the Wastes--”
“The least you could have done was friggin’ told us instead of being all mystifying and threatening from the get-go, pal!” Rainbow jerked. “No, I take tht back! The least you could have done was not chased us with pew pew death lasers into the storm!”
”You gave us no choice.”
“Like you gave us one?!” Rainbow Dash’s voice cracked. She bucked at a crumbled piece of stone with a grunt. “Grrgggh! I swear! Is Equestria the only land to warm-blooded creatures of sense?!”
To that, Razzar merely sighed. A device attached to his belt flickered, and he tapped it with a pointed finger. ”What’s your report, Vaughan?”
A deep voice crackled on the other end. ”I’m still having difficulty with the skystone core, Razzar. In theory, I could utilize a lightning rod to channel some electricity into the engine, but that will depend on both time and luck.”
Razzar nodded. ”We appear to be in short supply of either.”
”Then I will have to work with great diligence.”
”Do your best, brother. We are depending on you.”
”Understood. Vaughan out.”
Once the frequency ended, another Lounge from the fringes of the room turned towards the leader. ”No sign of the shape shifters, Razzar,” he hissed beneath his mask. ”Knowing them, they could be blending in with the walls and floor.”
Rainbow’s ruby eyes bugged. “They can do that?”
Razzar ignored her, turning instead to the other figure. “Load extra crystal charges into your rifles, brothers. We’ll have to perform manasweeps of the hallways as we make our exit. Alternate rifles so that we can equally conserve our ammo.”
”Yes, Razzar.”
“Wait wait…” Rainbow Dash squinted. “The heck are you guys planning?”
Razzar turned towards her. ”Nothing, thanks to you. We’ve never been inside the eye of the storm before, for fear of how inescapably turbulent the winds are. The act of sabotage you did on our vessel stalled it on one of the lower temples. We were lucky not to be in one of the structures destroyed recently by the shape-shifting hoard. Until our engineer Vaughan can get the skystone drive back online, we are stranded here--and even then we have no guarantee that the winds won’t slice the hull of our ship to ribbons.”
“What do you mean you’ve ‘never been inside the eye of the storm before?’” Rainbow blinked. “Did you know about this place too?!”
”We know enough about it to realize it’s a dangerous, inescapable trap.”
“Balls to that!” Rainbow frowned. “Stratopolis has claimed dozens upon dozens of airships for nearly two decades! I’m willing to bet that most of them happened on your watch, bucko!”
”Call this place whatever you wish,” Razzar said. ”We have endeavored to protect the passengers of the Strait to the best of our ability.”
“Pffftchyaa… and what a fine job you’ve been doing at it, too!”
”A job that will be accomplished by no one now that you have thrown your crew and mine into jeopardy!”
“What?!” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “For crying out loud! If you had just had the good sense to--”
”It matters little.” Razzar trotted past her, eying the tomb of Commander Hurricane through his mask. ”Perhaps this turn of events was somehow predestined.” He tilted his head up towards the rain-slick stained glass above. ”Judging from both the architecture and the corpses that define this place, it would seem as if it has a common connection with you.”
“Just what are you going on about?”
With a jagged finger, Razzar pointed at the corpses along the barricades, then at Rainbow Dash. ”Winged ponies. If you ask me, it is too much of a coincidence.”
“That’s a freaky trend I’m noticing a lot lately,” Rainbow Dash said with a wary gaze. “What’s it to you?”
”Must I state the obvious? Your group and mine have our differences, but there’s a far more dangerous threat that needs to be met. As much as I hesitate to suggest it, working together is our best option.”
“And what makes you think I can trust you?”
”Please…” His voice hissed as his gloved hands formed dual fists. ”I am risking enough by even suggesting I put a fraction of my brothers’ lives into your hooves. As chaotic as this place may look, it stands to reason that somewhere inside is a key to controlling it and the weather around it. And now that I find that you may have some connection with the ponies who populated this place before…”
Rainbow simply hovered in place, her muzzle clamped shut.
Vapors exhaled out of the yellow light of Razzar’s suit. ”Perhaps there are others surviving in this place who would be more willing to assist us?”
Rainbow flew down, glaring at his level. “What are the odds that you chased them in here as well?”
“Not as slim as our chances of surviving separately.”
“Heh…” Rainbow Dash smirked. “Why is it that I feel that’s the only honest thing you’ve told me since I woke up?”
”Would you rather deal with the shape shifters?” Razzar cocked his neck. ”And on your own?”
Rainbow Dash bit her lip, avoiding his masked gaze.
”I would give anything for the sanctity of my crew,” Razzar said. ”We’ve both seen what can happen to a pony as strong as you on your own. Please, at least let me help you reunite with them, and then we can work out a plan from there.”
Rainbow Dash took a deep breath, then hovered closer to the ceiling. ”Fine. But only because I’m worried over their safety more than anything.”
”As I’m sure you do,” Razzar droned coolly.
Rainbow squinted at him, then cleared her throat. “It’s a nasty journey to the Hold where most of the survivors are hanging tight. I’ll take you there, but it’s up to them if whether or not they’ll shake… uh… hands with you.”
”Perfectly understood.”
“And it’s not gonna be an easy trip on foot,” she said, flapping her wings for emphasis. “Just saying…”
”I do believe we can adapt.” The speaker in his mask clicked as he turned and gestured towards his cohorts. In perfect synchronization, all six Lounge members pressed a button on their wristbands. The backs of their cloaks flared out, revealing twin shafts that vented out yellow manadust. With a low hissing sound, the six figures levitated side by side.
Rainbow Dash blinked, then sighed. “Now I know why all the pegasi outside Equestria died off…” She frowned and floated down the nearest corridor, followed by the Lounge. “They all got shown up by freakjobs.”
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Who needs wings when you got Jetpacks for every pone.
And whaddya know, it seems like the Lounge is not being a jerkass for once. And they reallly should've said Prowse was a changeling.
On the other hoof, they wouldn't have found this place if they hadn't.
*shrug*
And I reaallly hope they don't shoot C!Elma.
Interesting observation: "Razzar" spelled backwards is "Razzar"
An alliance? I'm warily liking these Lounge guys...
Thirty Rocky situps, ):(. Knock 'em out!
Ok, see this is why poor communication is a really bad idea when you are looking for someone like this. It just makes people distrust you and leads to everything going to hell. If they had just said what was going most of this wouldn't have happened.
Eh...figured they'd all join together at some point. It's a tenuous alliance, but it still is one. Let's just hope they listen.
Also, I dunno about everyone else, but I cannot stop thinking about Daft Punk every time these guys show up.
Just call her Rainbow "Raynor" Dash.
En Taro Divan.
The Lounge are idiots. There are alot of idiots in this story...
4234875 And the award goes to you for least spoilery spoiler.
Seriously, none of this would have happened if the lounge had been more forthright in their communications.
Seems like the Lounge are the good guys, and not just because of the mutual hatred for changelings.
The Lounge seem sorta like Searo. They can be decent when the time comes for it, except for those few idiots.
Still hoping Roarke shows up soon.
Someones been watching Ullysses 31 again.
4234875
Mind = blown.
So the Lounge are still competent, and know the value of a life. I'm going to trust them.
Can't wait for Roarke to come back.
That's totally gonna happen, right?
...Guys?
Oh rainy bows, never change!(ling)
The fact that they've only made Rainbow bleed a little is promising. (Now there's a sentence you don't write every day.)
I'm thinking that if the Lounge are turning out to be nice, Roarke won't show up for a good long while.
But in the meantime, I think the Jury is still spinning circles, Belle is on a random temple, EE is somewhere, Pilate is on some random temple, Josho is on another random temple, and everyone else (minus RD and lounge) is in the secret hideout. did I miss anyone?
4235386 Don't be forgetting the non-changeling Seclorum and co. in a random temple.
The Lounge reminds me of 40k Space Marines for some reason. Must be the 'brothers' term after most sentances.
I just had a crazy theory (and for me, that's saying something). Everything we've learned about the Lounge - and correct me if I'm wrong - seems to indicate that they might, possibly, be primates. Most notably: their five-digit hands and bipedal stance. Now, I suppose it's possible they're... I dunno,
fuckinglemurs or something. But the imagination tends to wander off where it will. I recall Flash Sentry being mentioned alongside the westward-bound expedition led by Shining Armor, meaning there's some acknowledgement of Equestria Girls as a Thing in some degree of relation to the Colonverse. I wonder what the chances are that the world of Equestria Girls, the world past the mirror, was simply another section of the Ring of Worlds, as well as the chances that the Lounge, whether recently or sometime in the distant past, had something to do with that other world.Honestly, the chances probably aren't that great. I'm mostly talking out of my ass, but sometimes that stinks a lot less than talking out of my mouth, so...
4236438 confirmed head canon.
The lounge is a bunch of fucking lemurs.
4236438 Hadn't even considered that EqGland was actually another section of the ring. Neat! That being said, Flash Sentry probably exists regardless of whether Brad Sentry also exists or not, at least in Imploding Canon™.
4235612
that's what I meant by the secret hideout
4235625 The mentality also helps.
4236438 They walk on all fours. I mentioned that to my knowledge, there are currently only two kind of animals that would fit what we know of them (five digits, snouts aren't too long, standing on two legs while walking on four, long and slender tails): lemurs and lizards. Lemurs would fit the description better - but would also be completely ridiculous. Seriously, denying tropes is good and fine, but that?
4237429
Oh, they do walk on all fours? I must've missed that. I'd only remembered them standing upright. I gotta admit, I'm sort of relieved, the fun of crazy theorizing aside. Even though I liked Equestria Girls well enough, humans would've been weird, even for this story.
These guys, the Lounge... they feel kind of like a mixture between Star Wars' Mandalorians, and the Tenno from Warframe.
I wonder what they're hiding under those masks.
4235296 A blowjob is better than a freakjob!
They probably should have said PRowse was a changeling. It would have been pretty helpful.
Anyway, time to find our friends and get the hay out of here!
-SPirit
4243514 their masks also make me think of "friend" from Spirited Away
4251783
I concur.
Cooperation! An end game! And a serious situation demanding immediate attention to get this all accomplished. Let's skip to it, everypony!
5800510 So do I.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Guess The Lounge is easy to forgive. Incredibly easy to forgive.
4234875 blew my mind harder than Kurt Cobain's
The enemy of my enemy is still kind of a dickhead.
Ah yes, no doubt they intend to screw over Rainbow and her companions ASAP. I wonder who won't see that coming
6/02/2017 02:10 UTC
I can understand why the Lounge weren't upfront with the Jury on the first encounter. They had no way of knowing if the whole crew was changelings and didn't want to tip their hand so soon. Even so much as testing one member of the crew could have given them away and that's a risk they weren't willing to take. I can respect that and hope that our two groups can come to mutually respect one another in the future, as the Lounge would make for powerful allies on this journey.
I'm wondering how long will the changelings be around for. I mean Shell was the previous primary antagonist, and he was around for 3 books. Technically the changelings came in last book but they only really started to play a major role in the plot in this book. Will they be around till book 7, or maybe less or more. IDK, I'll just have to keep reading and find out.
It is rather peculiar...
I'm reading this at the same time as To Perytonia and if only that Dash had this Rainbow's ability to see shit and yell at shit. (Good story so far though!)
Rainbow does bring up a great point: where the hay are the other pegasi outside of Equestria?