Something Bad is Coming Down...
The spiraling staircases swished and crossed around Rainbow Dash as she plunged into the depths of the building. Reaching the bottom of the pit, there was no longer any sign of the Lounge to be found. Rainbow's glowing pendant illuminated a dust-laden floor with a tall doorframe that opened up to a large chamber.
Pulling up into a low hover, Rainbow swiftly threaded through the passage and entered the chamber beyond. A couple of flare had been deposited in even spaces across the stone floor. From how brightly they burned and the amber hue with which they did so, she could easily guess who left them there. The flickering light revealed a steep set of stairs leading down into a broad room with widely spaced walls in a hexagonal pattern.
No sooner had Rainbow Dash flew a few feet when she nearly smashed into something. At first, she thought it was a dangling set of rusted chains, or maybe a moldy rope. Pausing, she tilted her crimson pendant up and illuminated what turned out to be a series of dangling obstructions. Upon closer examination, she blinked and halted her forward movement entirely.
The upper length of the room was clustered with various branches of leathery green vines. Fibrous strands dangled off the flat ends of the thorny structures, betraying their age and state of decay. Visions of Everfree Forest flashed through Rainbow's mind, and the more of these ropey structures she saw, the more claustrophobic and confined she felt. Her eyes traced the looping ends of these things, and she found that they had long found surfaces across the floor, walls, and ceiling to cling to eons ago.
Rainbow Dash hovered close to the ground, having to constantly duck and weave beneath the branching structures. As she proceeded along, she noticed several clumps of debris littering the floor. Glancing down, she saw smashed remnants of a granite table, along with a copious amount of shattered glass containers and rusted instruments. Decayed wooden chairs and moldy shelves lingered in the corner, overshadowed by the array of dangling vines.
Rainbow's lips pursed as she spun and looked around some more. In the flicker of a yellow Lounge flare, she saw decrepit stone tablets lying against the wall. There were inscriptions upon the granite slabs that for the life of her she couldn't recognize. They were written in a language completely alien to Equestrian Basic. However, she did recognize several illustrations accompanying the texts and geometric figures. She saw equine shapes with wings, along with etchings of vines, plant leaves, and something that resembled a liquid solution contained within a vial.
"Experiments...?" Rainbow's brow furrowed. "Commander Hurricane?" Her jaw went tight. "No. Couldn't be. But perhaps..." Her eyes trailed up, and she gasped.
All of the vines and thorny branches connected to a central source. In the converging amber and crimson light, Rainbow saw a large tree trunk in the center of the room. Only, it wasn't quite a tree, but rather a bulbous thing, shaped like an enormous pear. The shell of the thing was organic, consisting of a vomitous green carapace and studded all over with rust-red barnacles. The vines and branches converged at the top, where a crimson stem with decayed petals loomed just beneath the chamber's ceiling. Rainbow had no doubt that the thing was once alive, but it lay dormant now, its outer fringes moldy and gray from millennia of neglect.
The pegasus bit her lip. She slowly pivoted about, spotting fibrous green roots that branched outward from the base of the plant and spread towards the furthest walls of the room. At one spot, the bulk of the roots combined, forming one thick tether that ran through a thin doorway and cascaded down a series of winding steps. From the far end, Rainbow detected the faintest hint of yellow amberlight.
Frowning, Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and sailed down the curved, descending corridor. After three and a half spiraling turns, she emerged in a large round room positioned beneath the chamber with the hideous plant. Here, at last, she caught up with the Lounge. Razzar and his five companions were busily snatching glowing purple manashards from the platforms where they lay. The room was shaped like a giant octagon, with similarly shaped panels spotting the flat walls of the place. The roots that had snaked their way down had spread to all eight walls of the chamber, winding their way into the panels that reflected the Lounge's amber managlow.
"Razzar!" Rainbow hissed, fluttering her way into the center of the chamber. "What in Celestia's name has gotten into you?! Are you crazy?!"
"If desiring a way out of this floating monstrosity deems me psychotic, then I gladly subscribe to your diagnosis," he calmly said through his mask while gesturing to his companions. "Every crystal shard, brothers. Don't leave a single one behind."
"Didn't you hear a single dang thing that the ancient hologram said upstairs?!" Rainbow's voice cracked.
"Allow me to guess." Razzar pivoted towards Rainbow Dash, his silver expression reflecting her glinting ruby light. "A copious amount of doom and gloom but with vague descriptions as regarding the true nature of it?" He slinked across the room beneath her. "Ponies may find comfort in wasting their time on fear, but the Lounge have long learned to look beyond it. We had a goal in coming here. Do you or do you not wish to help your companions escape on the Tarkington?"
"Well... y-yeah! But..." Rainbow Dash fidgeted in mid-air, eying the octagonal panels with the roots attached. "Commander Hurricane made it perfectly clear that something really dang evil is down here, waiting for us! And I'm not all that keen on disturbing it!"
"And does it seem disturbed to you?"
"Dang it, Razzar, this isn't the time to taunt fate! We're a lot safer up on the surface of Stratopolis and—Guh..." She frowned. "Did you not see that flank-fuggly plant on the way down here?" Silence. "Razzar...?" She glanced down, and her eyes widened.
Razzar was walking up a center platform that was raised above the rest of the room. His gloved hands flexed and unflexed as he approached what looked like a lever and crank-shaft positioned on the top of a slender cylinder.
"Razzar..." Rainbow grunted, then grunted again. "Razzar, what are you doing?"
"We're in the very heart of Stratopolis," the figure crackled through his mask. "Seems like the most logical place for the builders of this structure to house the city's engine... or—perhaps—it's cockpit."
"Cockpit?!" Rainbow's muzzle scrunched. "Razzar, look, we've got the manacrystals! It's what we need to power the survivors' ship and yours. Let's just hoist them over our shoulders and get out of here!"
"You're obviously a seasoned adventurer, Rainbow Dash, but you have a few things to learn about opportunity." He tilted his mask up towards her. "Why run from something when instead you can control it?"
"What do you mean, control it?" Rainbow asked. Her ears twitched to the sound of manarifles cocking behind her. She didn't even need to look back. Instead, she glared down at the Lounge leader, frowning. "This was your goal all along, wasn't it?"
"If you think I desired my comrades and I to be stranded here like a bunch of helpless equines, then you are sorely mistaken."
"But you wanted to gain access to this city nonetheless!" Rainbow gnashed her teeth. "Tell me, Razzar. Aatxe and Lasairfion and Prowse and the rest—did the changelings bring them all here? Or were you running ship after ship into the storm to test how long anyone could survive in this place?!"
"How easily you think ill of me..."
"'Cuz you friggin make it that easy!" Rainbow Dash growled, hovering in the glow of the converging figures' manarifles. "What were you actually doing when you were hunting down Prowse and Elma, huh?! Did somepony really contract you into finding the shapeshifters this whole time?!"
Razzar stood in silence.
"Hmmph..." Rainbow clenched her jaw. "That's what I thought. What do you do when you actually capture the changelings, Razzar? Do they tell you enough about this place under knife and taser?"
Clak-Clak! Razzar pointed a manapistol at her skull. "Enough to know that nothing can be trusted in this city, including a pegasus who is inexplicably gifted with the powers of an ancient to open the inner chambers of this domain. The monsters who run this place can control magic, enchantment, and even the viscosity of their own blood. They've usurped royal monarchs, mind-controlled a dragon, and brought two powerful empires upon the brink of oblivion. Now they shift their focus to the east, and with the essence of a magically-imbued pegasus added to the hive, who knows what they're capable of doing?!"
"Then what does this make you?" Rainbow Dash asked, monitoring the glowing gun sights in the corners of her vision. "Are you somehow the savior of the Wastes, Razzar?"
"No more than you are, Rainbow Dash. Though that is about to change." He side-stepped closer to the cylinder and its lever. "He who wields power wields control in this world. With access to the mobility of this city, one can navigate the furthest reaches of this plane. Don't pretend to deny it. You've seen the illustrations etched into the walls of Stratopolis. You know in your heart the function of this place."
Her nostrils flared. "It's a Sentinel... a Sentinel of the Rings..."
"It is clear to me now why the queen of the changeling hive desires this place so much. It has already served as her secret base of operations. But now, with full access to its operations, she can make that base mobile and attack any kingdom from anywhere, and just who will be able to resist her?"
"She's not succeeded so far, Razzar!"
"That's because she's not had the key to the heart of this place. You, Rainbow Dash. You are both the best and the worst thing to come to Stratopolis. Because of this, now is the time that I must take control of the situation. If the changelings are too hungry for power, and you too frivolous about it, then the Lounge must make their move."
"And just what do you intend to do with it?"
"If I am right about my suspicions of this place, then this city can navigate any spot on the plane... including the far north."
Rainbow blinked. "The... far north?" She pursed her lips. "You mean the skystone fields?"
"No ship, naga, pony, or any other living thing has been able to cross the north or south edges of the plane," Razzar said. "But, with a city—a Sentinel such as Stratopolis—we can finally have access to all of the precious minerals. We'll have enough energy to stage an attack on the changeling hives all across the world. They'll be incapable of defending themselves from our unprecedented speed and firepower. With unlimited skystone at our disposal, we'll hunt the shape-shifters to the ends of the earth, and restore balance to the continents abroad—even beyond the Grand Choke!"
"And does it stop there, Razzar?" Rainbow Dash snarled. "What happens to the world once the 'mighty and powerful Lounge' have rid it of the shape shifting hoard?"
"It's just as I said, Rainbow Dash. He who wields power in this world wields control."
"Grrrr..." Rainbow flew forward, only to stop at the threatening sound of cocking manarifles. She spat from a distance. "I did not go through Hell and back across this world just to see the reins of power thrown into another pair of gnarled hands! If you really wanna do what's best for the world, Razzar, you gotta learn how to repair it! Not fill it with holes!"
"There will be no peace, no tranquility—until the conspiring shape-shifters are completely eliminated."
"You don't know that!" her voice cracked. "What if they can be fixed?! What if they can be healed?! What if... what if..." She gulped. "What if they can be shown what it means to be loved again?! They've been feeding on pain and chaos for so long that they don't know any better!"
"A most interesting sermon," Razzar droned. "Coming from a pegasus who's chief talent is waging destruction wherever she goes."
Rainbow Dash frowned. "Don't pretend to know me."
"Only as long as you pretend to know yourself." Razzar gestured towards his comrades.
P-Pift! Gusts of steam burst along the fringes of the room.
"H-huh?!" Rainbow glanced aside, then gasped as lengths of cord wrapped around her body. Two grappling hooks ensnared her from opposite sides, and she fell—wriggling—to the floor while a pair of figures bundled her up. "Nnnngh! Let me go! Quit it!"
"I knew there would come a time when I would have to contend with you." Razzar slowly stepped towards her, looming above the struggling mare with his pistol in hand. "Somehow, I thought that you would put up more of a fight. Perhaps I guessed correctly, and the brood queen already got to you, Rainbow Dash, if that's who you really are..."
"Whatever I am..." Rainbow spat. "At least I'm not a good-for-nothing snake in the grass son of a—"
"Please, Rainbow..." Razzar waved his gun disapprovingly. "What would your pony goddesses say?"
"'Go buck yourself!'"
"Indeed. Maybe they will have the opportunity, someday, once I have liberated their kingdom from the shape-shifting army." Razzar turned and stepped back up to the cylinder. "Odds are I will have run into you a dozen times by then... at least... versions of you. I do hope they prove more exciting than this encounter."
"Dang it, Razzar! Don't do this!" Rainbow Dash hissed from where she writhed. "Don't try to take this place over! Don't you realize why Chrysalis never attempted it herself?!"
"I believe it's quite clear. She never before had you to—"
"It's because she knows it's been tried before!" Rainbow Dash spat. "Commander Hurricane had access eons ago, and in so doing she accidentally unleashed an evil far greater than the changelings could ever possibly be! Whoever first controlled this place—the pegasi who first had access to this Sentinel—they went off the deep end! They found something or made something that killed themselves off! And it killed Hurricane off too! That's why it was left here in the wastes! Hurricane didn't want anypony else to find it or else they'd make the same mistake you're about to!"
Razzar sighed through his crackling mask, then spun about with his pistol aimed squarely at Rainbow's skull. "Rainbow Dash, the only mistake I've made was not silencing your prattling mouth minutes ago—"
Ka-Pow!
Rainbow winced, only to realize that her skull was still intact.
Meanwhile, Razzar's weapon flew from his singed glove. He winced, stumbling back against the cylinder.
The other five Lounge members spun and faced the doorframe entering the octagonal room, weapons drawn.
"Not another move, scaleys," Josho hissed from where he squinted down his smoking shotgun. "Don't even fart."
"Nnnnngh..." Razzar moaned, still clutching his wrist. "It's always the fat ones..."
"You okay there, paint bucket?" Josho barked.
"Josho!" Rainbow Dash sputtered from where she lay in binds. "I thought I told you and the rest to stay up above!"
"Yes, well..." Seclorum trotted out of the room, his crossbow drawn. "Luckily, we don't speak 'stupid.'"
"Dashie!" Props sing-songed, popping out of the hallway along with Arcshod and four other ponies. A phalanx of equines trained their makeshift weapons on the six Lounge members. "What in the hay happened to you?!"
Rainbow grumbled, "I picked a bad time to catch up on my filly scout knot-making."
"Get her out of that mess, blondie," Josho nodded towards the mechanic. "We'll take care of lizard breath."
"You speak as if we're not of one accord, Ledomaritan," Razzar said while Props ran over to Rainbow's side.
"Oh, I'm sorry! Did I interrupt your tea ceremony?!" Josho scowled. "Or is it just pure coincidence that you give rambling evil monologues to bound mares in the dark?!"
"What the crap, Razzar?!" Seclorum grunted over his friend's shoulder. "You said you were going to cover the survivors! How does abandoning us in the middle of a strange environment fit into all of that?!"
"You desired the manacrystals, did you not?" Razzar gestured towards the shards clinging to the cloaked figure's backsides. "We were simply retrieving them as planned."
"Uh huh..." Rainbow fidgeted and frowned while Props sliced her binds free with a metal shiv from her saddlebag. "And what about the part where you planned to take control of this city, harvest skystone from the north, and then wield world-wide totalitarian domination?!" She stretched her wings and crawled up onto her hooves, freed. "Didja forget that part?!"
Arcshod frowned. "He'kaata rekulien trenn'adren!"
Seclorum squinted. "Is this true, Razzar?"
"You all have no idea the extent to which the shape-shifters have dominated you," Razzar said icily. "They control you with fear. They control you with paranoia. And now... thanks to Rainbow Dash... they control you with a false sense of self-righteousness."
"I dunno, pal." Josho squinted down his shotgun. "From where I'm looking, I'm not the one with the disgusting hard-on over changelings."
"I've done some nasty things to get me and my companions out of this rathole of a city," Seclorum said. "The last thing I wanna do is take control over it."
"We are in a race against a dynamically morphing conspiracy!" Razzar growled. "Perpetrated by the shape-shifting brood and accelerated by that mare!" He pointed at Rainbow Dash. "If we leave now, this inner chamber and all of its secrets will fall into the hive queen's clutches! The world as we know it will tremble under her control!"
"Let's take things one flankhole at a time, shall we?" Seclorum motioned with his shotgun. "Step away from the colorful mare, buddy, thank you..."
Razzar stepped backwards as commanded. "It is unfortunate that you cannot smell what's truly run afoul here, ponies." His body inched towards the cylinder. "Perhaps now is the time to keep both eyes open..."
Rainbow saw where he was moving. She gasped. "No!" Her hoof stretched out. "Don't let him touch—!"
It was too late. Razzar stealthily grasped the handle of the central pedestal with his gloved hand and gave the crankshaft a turn. A metallic sound reverberated deeply through the place. The raised steps around the cylinder glowed one layer after another with a lavender aura.
Props clung to Rainbow, trembling. Rainbow looked up with quivering eyes.
The room shook, raining dust and sediment down onto everyone's heads. Arcshod and his fellow Xonans glanced about anxiously. Seclorum's fellow warriors clung to their crossbows, shivering.
Then, as quickly as it began, the rumbling ended.
Razzar stood up straight. His panting breath could be heard through his mask. "I... I do not understand. Where is the cockpit? Another chamber should have been revealed..."
"Perhaps the changelings we interrogated lied, brother," another Lounge member said.
"Silence, weakling!" Razzar hissed. "That is impossible! I simply didn't turn it far enough—" He reached for the lever yet again.
"Not another inch!" Josho shouted.
"Do not threaten our master!" a Lounge member growled, priming his weapon in Josho's direction.
"That's it!" Seclorum cocked his crossbow. "You creeps have just signed your death warrant—"
"Everyone stop!" Props shouted in a high-pitched squeal, even making Razzar's gang wince. "Do... do you guys hear that?!" She stammered.
Everyone stood in silence... that is until they became aware of a ringing sound echoing across the dark chamber. It rose and fell in tonality, ultimately undulating with a deep bass hum.
"Sok'ranna rendulien threatta..." Arcshod murmured, nervously eying the ceiling.
"What in blazes is making that sound?" Seclorum murmured.
Another Ledomaritan remarked, "Sounds... almost like d-drums."
"More like a heartbeat," said another pony.
"Alright..." Josho gulped. "Drum sessions are sexy n'all... but I think now is high time we gallop outta here—"
Just then, the noise stopped. It was quiet enough to hear the saliva swishing in everyone's mouths. Then, all of the sudden—
"Look!" Props yelped, pointing up.
Everyone's necks tilted. One by one, the octagonal panels in the wall slid open with errant hisses. When at last all of them were opened, the bass thumping resumed, coming out of one hole on the far side of the chamber.
Rainbow Dash flapped her wings, hovering upwards and squinting. She saw a lavender glow from the deepest recesses of the compartment. The roots of the plant that rivered into the hole shifted and wobbled slightly. Then, at last, something came out of it... or more like dripped out.
A collective gasp filled the room as a viscous globule of muck fell to the granite floor. Lizards and ponies alike backstepped from the slimy mess. No one was training guns on each other anymore. All eyes were locked on the unsightly puddle.
Props fidgeted, glancing nervously aside at Rainbow Dash. Squinting her ruby eyes, Rainbow hovered forward in silence. She gave her pendant a good rub, illuminating the pool of slime on the floor. Upon closer inspection, the bubbling solution took on a sickly purple hue. It quivered all over like living plasmodium, and it was covered in random spots by thick rounded postules. After a few seconds of stillness, those postules suddenly flickered open, revealing an array of bone-white blinking eyes. They swiveled around until they all faced Rainbow Dash.
The pegasus jerked back.
Sploosh! A necrotic hoof emerged from the puddle.
Props shrieked. Rainbow Dash hovered back while everyone collectively flinched.
The hoof was followed by a second limb, then a cranium, then a spinal structure. Inch by inch, an equine body pulled itself out of the impossibly tiny puddle of slime, accompanied by a deeply resonating deathbeat. Soon, a slime-covered pony stood before the group, shivering. Its joints cracked as it took one wet step forward, then a second. Suddenly, it stopped, then spread a pair of bony wings out in a splash of purple liquid. Crkkkk! It tilted its head up, then opened a gaping maw, vomiting out four times the amount of viscous lavender slime, every other square inch awash with blinking white eyeballs that spread the disgusting solution further and further across the floor.
Rainbow Dash flew backwards, grimacing hideously at the display. At that precise moment, the bass noise doubled, and she heard shrieks to her left. She glanced to her side.
Out from two other holes, more fountains of slime were splashing. In quick order, equine figures emerged from the purple mess, lurching across the floor and crushing eyeballs into bloody pulp as they approached the Lounge like a sentient wall of phlegm.
"Back! Get back!"
Snarling, a cloaked member of the Lounge shuffled his way into a wall. The floor around him was already covered with the purple goo, giving him no way to run. At the sound of his distressed voice, two slimey ponies turned and marched his way. As some of the ooze dripped off the figures, Rainbow could spot spread, feather-less wings, rotting from the inside out.
"Brothers! Help me!"
Desperate, the figure fired his rifle into the guts of the approaching creatures. One pegasus fell flat to its chest, bursting with four times as much slime as the puddle it emerged from. The second rushed towards him, its open mouth gargling with the acidic solution. The lizard took one good shot at its scalp, and the pegasus' cranium exploded, splashing purple liquid all over the Lounge member's weapon. The slime wormed its way into the structure of the rifle, making it useless. Panicking, the lizard flung the weapon away and reached under his cloak for a pistol. Meanwhile, four more equine shapes emerged from the slime, joining their headless companion. They converged on the lizard, thrashing and biting as his body from all sides. Their attacks were barely wounding him, but the slime that dripped off of their muzzles and fetlocks spread all over his figure as soon as it made contact.
Hyperventilating upon the smell of his own body going up in smoke, the lizard shrieked through his mask and activated his rocket thrusters. He soared through the room, dragging the clinging equines—and their deathly slime—along with him. "Hraaaauckckkkkltkg-grkkkk-aaakk!" Ponies and naga ran for cover as he slammed into the far wall, then fell like a slimy sack of meat. When he struck the floor, it was with a wet splash, spilling purple ooze marinating in reptilian entrails.
Cl-Clink! The manacrystals that the ill-fated lizard was carrying rattled cleanly across the floor. Rainbow Dash looked at it, then spun to gape at other side of the room.
Seclorum and two other ponies were cornered against a wall, firing at a current of purple slime rivering their way. One by one—equine-shaped lumps emerged from the mess and lumbered towards the trio. Despite their fervent efforts, no amount of crossbolts could stop the death march of the undead pegasi.
"Hold on, old friend!" Josho shouted between firing pot-shots with his shotgun. "Hey! Connect-the-dots face! A little hoof here!" Arcshod followed the obese stallion as he stood upon the edge of the eye-bobbing mess. With combined telekinesis, they levitated Seclorum and his two companions away from the tiny patch of granite before it could be overwhelmed by slimey pegasi.
From four other holes, more copious streams of gunk poured out. Without wasting any time, moaning pegasi emerged from the solution, spread their wings, and glided towards the embattled survivors.
"Josho! Look out—" Rainbow started to shout.
Ka-Pow! A yellow stream of mana flew in and exploded the winged ponies in mid-air
Josho, Arcshod, and Rainbow spun to look.
Razzar and his remaining cohorts had formed a line, retreating firmly form the center of the swiftly flooded chamber. "Get a move on! We'll hold them off!"
"Like we can trust you!" Seclorum spat.
"I'd be vastly amazed if you can strike up an even better conversation with them!" Razzar fired blast after bright flast into the multiplying wave of slimy monstrosities. "Now go! Whatever you do, don't let the slime touch you!"
"Props!" Rainbow shouted. "Quick! Grab the manacrystals!"
"Okay!" Props scooped up the glowing shards and strapped them to her saddlebag. "Okies! What now—?!" She looked up to see a fountain of purple liquid sloshing towards her. "Aaaaaiie!"
Rainbow scooped her up in the nick of time, then soared over the bubbling death currents. The air was filled with a deafening bass hum by this point, undulating as if with a demon heartbeat. Whille the interior turned darker and darker, all Rainbow could see was the whites of alien eyes bobbing in the current, then lunging towards her as hissing pegasi shapes splashed violently out of the mess. She spun with the weight of Props' body, avoiding the splattering lavender liquid with only a hair's breadth to spare.
Loud shrieks filled the chamber by the time Rainbow reached the patch of stone floor before the exit. She turned her head to look.
Two ponies stood their ground, surrounded on all sides by the viscous liquid.
Rainbow seethed through her teeth. "Josho!"
"Wh-what?!" the stallion shouted back amidst shotgun blasts.
"Catch!" And Rainbow tossed Props.
"Aaaaackies!" Props flailed, only to be caught by Josho's strong telekinetic field.
"Are you crazy?!" Josho sputtered as he shoved Props up the hallway to safety.
"Something like that!" Rainbow hollered back as she soared towards the stranded pair. She had to dodge crossbolts, energy beams, and exploding splashes of purple ooze along the way. Once in the clear, she dove down, spun sideways, and grabbed the two ponies in her forelimbs. They gasped in her embrace as she glided fearlessly over the deadly pool, then swiveled back towards the last remaining patch of unwashed stone. Through the corner of her eyes, Rainbow could spot the cylinder with the lever, remaining strangely untouched by the viscous slime. Before she could dwell on that, a pair of dripping pegasi sailed at her body, hissing and spitting up muck.
Pow! Razzar's well-aimed blast exploded the winged equines before they could make contact. Nevertheless, Rainbow had to dart upwards to avoid the splattering liquid.
"Rrrrghhh... Razzar!"
"It would do you well to fly faster," he calmly said while firing at the advancing pegasi. "Hurry. My brothers and I can't hold them off much longer."
"We're not through, you and I!" Rainbow grunted as she touched down and deposited the breathless pair of ponies. "Not by a longshot!"
"You heard the snake in the grass!" Josho yelled while backtrotting from the flooded compartment. "Let's get out of here! Gallop! Back up to the door with the others!"
"Move it! Move it! Move it!" Seclorum shouted while reloading his crossbow.
"Re'lanna brekken la'sanna'kiel?!" Arschod sweatily exclaimed.
"Yes! Prowse's niece is carrying some manacrystals!" Seclorum nodded. "At least somepony got what we came here for!"
"Xon... drenna diulen thr'akka vreen!"
"Don't need to tell me twice!" Seclorum kicked an errant Ledomaritan in the flank. "Dammit, go! Make like the wind!"
Ponies and Lounge members alike turned completely and ran straight up the stairs. At the last second, a throng of pegasi burst out of the mess and lunged at the group.
In mid-flight, Rainbow Dash turned and gasped. "Look out!"
"On your six!" Josho howled.
Arcshod spun, snarled, and fired a crossbolt. The projectile pierced a pegasus' skull, slamming its body into another equine. However, the resulting purple splash made contact with a fleeing Xonan. The stallion gasped, collapsing across the stairs on his chest while the liquid melted his fetlocks out from under him. "Grrraaaaaugh—Drek threem jaat! Xonnn!"
Arcshod gasped, his glossy eyes reflecting a pair of slimed figures as they pounced on the warrior, ripping his tattooed flesh to pieces. In a matter of seconds, their oozing bodies merged with his, and they became one with the fleshy puddle of purple slime. From inside the quivering mound of liquid, the stallion's screams could be heard, curdling lower and lower until they joined with the bass thumping.
"Rem'uttien drenna'draak!" Arcshod howled, charging forward. "Drems'thulien lattar threnn siul Nagu'n!"
"Dammit, it's too late!" Seclorum and another Xonan restrained Arcshod, tugging him back with flickering telekinesis. "Keep moving, ya big lug!" He fired over Arcshod's quivering shoulder at the mess. "Everypony! Just keep moving!"
Rainbow nearly wretched, but nevertheless turned and flew up the winding corridor, shoving several ponies along with use of her wingstrength. "You heard the stallion! Run!"
"Go on, brothers," Razzar hissed as he took up the rear, firing madly into the rising, rising ooze. "We can still salvage this yet—"
Just as he spoke this, a pony splashed out of the bubbling mass and charged up the steps. This one had no wings, but instead freshly mawed flesh brimming with bloody tattoos.
"Master! Look out!" A cloaked figure grabbed Razzar's shoulder and hoisted him out of reach of the undead Xonan's jaws.
As Razzar stumbled up the steps, two other Lounge members fired at the stallion's body.
The creature's skull burst, splashing purple goo all over the cloak of the naga that had saved Razzar. The lizard shrieked instantly, collapsing to the steps as the ooze melted through his cloak and ate away at his scales. He writhed on the floor while the lavender pool swiftly washed up over his body. His mask crumbled away, and a hint of razor sharp teeth clattered through smoke and fumes.
"Grnnngh... br-brothers... brothers, pl-please... help..."
Razzar stood up straight. Taking a deep breath, he reached down... and grabbed the manacrystals off the naga's back before they could be encased in slime. Swiveling, he reached into his own cloak, produced a belt of mana explosives, and shoved them into the quivering mass that remained of his melting companion.
"Do not stop for anything!" Razzar snarled, firing down the steps in mid-march. Kapow!
The energy blast had the desired effect, blowing back a wave of the purple slime and giving the surviving Lounge room to escape. Not long after, the viscous material recoalesced, floating eyes blinking wide as the quivering mass advanced up the curved steps with rapidly multiplying speed, accompanied by galloping and gliding equines.
Stats
Page generated in 0.057 seconds
Total duration
661 users online
1,131,018 hits today, 2,571,732 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.®
Huh...undead ooze that makes zombies. That has to be the most creative zombie making thing I have seen.
I wonder if its related to the Smooze.
You know, I am getting serious Halo vibes from this series. A ring world, a super weapon/city/world from the past that everyone wants to control, a descendent "reclaiming" her past by touching ancient artifacts, prophecies, temporary allies in the face of mutual destruction, and so on and so forth. Awesome.
Of course the Lounge had to awaken the fucking smooze...
4347473 Why do I want to eat pancakes whenever I see yours?
The Smooze? Really? We pick now of all times to reach back to canon... And this is what we pick?
Ugh, fifty push-ups, ):(. Knock 'em out!
Here comes the Flood.
img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20060712033634/halo/images/9/93/Flood_carrier.jpg
Better hope you can swim.
Nothing can stop the Smooze!
4349683
Well considering who the villain is in the Season 4 Finale this is extremely well timed.
Bow-bow, bow-bow, bow-bow, bow-bow, bow-bow...
Nothing can stop it.
Its the Smooze.
Wonder where that yellow things going to go, given all those purple things didnt have the city along a planar edge? Or is that particular city confined to a certain sector, and so there should be other citie elsewhere?
I find it funny that most people only remember The Smooze for covering everything, which it does in spades obviously. However another one of the big effects of The Smooze was also basically Discording ponies (without them graying out) when they got it on them. Also for those who don't know the title of this chapter is lyrics from the Smooze song, I suspect the next few will be as well.
NOTHING CAN STOP THE SMOOZE
Hmm. Coulda sworn that comment was written on the last chapter. Oh well.
Also, Smooze. Thank you.
I think there might be changelings among us.
So if the slime touches them, they get turned into monsters.
This isn't good.
Zombiiiiieeeees!!! Called it!
... 
You know what's even scarier than the Smooze eating things? The fact that the Smooze eats things and multiplies itself exponentially.
Gaaaahhhh!! Not the Smooze!
well this smooze certainly seems unstoppable...
AND IT BEGINS.
The Smooze. It's the god-damned Smooze.
Welp, called the dying squad members. At this rate, though, the entire squad's gonna be wiped. I thing Razzar's gonna live, though,
4349904
4349699
^25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m85bw9fGtf1rqfhi2o1_500.gif
I'm glad I didn't go down there, but soon they will be up here. Roarke needs to hurry and blow the place up. The thing is...where does she need to go to make the biggest explosion? And where's that sword that Hurricane had?
Ah well. Next chapters are chase scenes! Giggity-giggity.
Smooze
even though just about everyone else has already said it
*Sees 5K words*
HECK YES
Eh, screw Smooze. I'm naming this Gak.
Gak's predecessor, eh?
I counted 3 errors in this chapter
inb4 someone else finds more
Well, shit... I sure didn't see that one coming, but it's pretty impressive. It's always nice to see pre-G4 material incorporated in interesting ways. I'm curious to see how this ties into the series mythos.
Also, considering what we've learned about Stratopolis itself in this chapter, it may very well be that we've found our way of crossing to the dark side of the plane (something that's been hitherto unresolved). Assuming, of course, that the smooze/changelings/Lounge/whatever-the-fuck-else-is-gonna-pop-up won't blow it the hell out of the sky or something. It's like racing away from a tornado in a car filled with mustard gas.
Coming down with something bad.
Like necromancy. And the Smooze.
Creepiest villain ever, just saying.
Freaking shoggoth.
I'm going to have nightmares now.
Too gooey.
Tool - Reflection
Nothing can stop the necroSmooze.
All hail lord smooze
This is the most badass and horrific incarnation of Smooze I've ever seen. Leave it to Skirts to take doo-wop singing gak and make it nightmare fuel. Hell, it's still going bow bow bow, only now the doo-wop beat is a fucking heartbeat.
In case it wasn't clear, I love this.
Muahahahahah!!! This is wonderful. Like has been said by just about everyone, gotta love the smooze. Obviously the ancient Pegasi were members of Fluttershy's cult. New FIW head cannon acquired. Fluttershy is an ancient Pegasus that got turned into a child again, and sent forward in time to give rebirth to lord smooze. Did I mention this variation of smooze is my new favorite?
4349699 I read that to the the tune of
Well, shit. Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit... You're on the clock now, everypony. Tick tick... tick tick... tick tick...
I guess it's "classic villains week" in the fandom this week.
And of course it's copied pegasi who can fly. Nowhere in the city is safe!
The best option is probably to crash the city into the Frozen Sea and hope the cold temperatures at least slow it down. Heaven forbid we have to face Smoozed sea wurms, though... 
4350019 Yeah. Razzar might heroically sacrifice himself though:
He wouldn't want his crew to stop for him either.
Yes, it's uber-badass and it's still great and all but it's also still the bloody Smooze. This is what happens if great authors don't take themselves seriously, I tell you! Now I must leave the fandom, live in a monastery and eat a few people too and it's all your fault.
So much about the Smooze being before Rainbow's time like Cold Canter claimed, too. He knows things! He knows!
4354034 Uhhh...Uhhh... Lotsa stuff can delay the smooze?
4349904 I knew it was Grey Goo! Only purple.
FFFFFFFUUUUUUU-
4352180
My thoughts exactly. I can't believe I didn't think of the smooze sooner. It all makes sense! and that chapter title!
4354034
Cold canter was the old guy who lived at the outpost next to the canyon to the east of the industrial city where everypony spoke funny and dash battled Duke Zap nator, right? He mentioned the smooze?
4366625 He did.
One would think the Lounge would have no issue with this fight. Surely they've done a lot of schmoozing.
It's funny how the bad guys always assume every button is the "Give us maximum power and complete control" button.
They were corrupted by the desire for power, just like the pegasi ages ago.
And now they have unleashed...
The Smooze.
...
-Spirit
Icky zombie plant goo battle. Maybe my favorite besides fights in the first book. Also, reminds me of the Snooze.
Something bad is coming down, have you heard the news? Duck and slide, run and hide, nothing can stop the Smooze!
So the changelings = the Covenant and the slim acid zomie bad ponys = the Flood
4369846 they keep multiplying in and of themselves-literaly- its like trying to cut the splash off a geyser. thats an all out losing battle.