Panting for breath, King Lunarius of Val Roa galloped out to the opening of the cave. He immediately flinched, Queen Azira jostling on his back.
"Good God!" he hissed, squinting into a mess of skystone structures. Every crystalline shard brimmed with energy, and forks of electricity danced between them at an alarming rate. The sky rolled with endless thunder, and the arctic snowfall melted into warm rain within a hundred feet of the constantly crackling energy field. "This place is practically on fire! A flock of birds couldn't fly in this! How do we expect to get picked up?!"
"My love," Azira wheezed, glaring forlornly back into the cave. "The unicorns..."
"Yes, Azira." Lunarius placed her down and leaned her against the solid stone of the tunnel's entrance. "They're doing a marvelous job of holding back those fiends for us."
"No they're not!" Azira exclaimed. "Lunarius, those creatures outnumber us! They'll be diced to ribbons!"
"They knew the risk when they came here," the King said. "We must come out of this alive so we can rescue our son from Sharp Quill."
"The only reason our son has a chance of surviving is because of their intervention!" Azira frowned. "And we're just going to let them die for a foreign nation's cause?!"
"Azira..." Lunarius tilted her chin up. "I'm your husband, and I am not leaving your side!"
Azira's eyes narrowed. "The King I married is capable of great love... but anger too."
"Believe me." Lunarius gritted his teeth. "Nodeer on this entire continent is as angry as I am."
"Would you wish to prove it?"
Lunarius clenched his jaws tight, staring at her.
"Keep moving!" Josho hollered.
"But we gotta hold them back!" Eagle shouted, warding off energy blast after blast with his shield. "We can't let them out of the cave! All that exposed skystone outside...?!"
"Nuts to that! Booster will be landing any minute!"
"But we haven't heard anything from him!" Eagle swung his sword to knock back another lunging eel. "We gotta keep these creeps from touching the Royal couple!"
Just then, a pair of eels split apart, lunging at Eagle from opposite angles.
Eagle Eye swung his sword, deflecting one. But his shield was too slow to block the other. An electrical spine scraped his shoulder. Blood flew as his insides convulsed with loose energy. "Aaaaaaaaugh!"
"Kiddo!" Josho snarled, galloping straight forward. He summoned a huge pulse of energy through his horn, knocking back four eels with sheer telekinetic might. "Rrrrrgh!" When one eel rebounded, he struck it with the butt of his shotgun like a club. WHACK! "Buck off, ya living pipe cleaners!"
"Gnnngh..." Eagle Eye fell to his haunches, struggling to keep his sword and shield floating. "Seeing... stars..." He sputtered. "C-can't..."
"Just pull yourself together!" Josho squatted beside him. Two more are diving down! Can you launch them up high?!"
"I-I'll try!" Eagle readied himself, gnashed his teeth, and lifted his shield like the loose end of a lever. "Httt!"
Thwack! He uppercutted both attacking reptiles, sending them twirling towards the ceiling.
Josho aimed over Eagle's horn with his shotgun. "Now this might cause quite the headache!" He fired.
"Old stall--"
BLAM! The blast impaled one eel, overloading its nervous system. The creature and its sibling both exploded, taking out a chunk of the ceiling immediately behind them. Shards of rock fell in a straight line, impaling several eels, most of which also exploded. Thus, a violent cascade took place, ripping through the cavern and sending bits of shrapnel flying all over the place.
Eagle erected his shield while Josho did his best to crouch behind him. A flying dagger or two of stone grazed the obese unicorn's skin, and he shuddered with pain. Once the electrical cascade had ended, the cave lingered with smoke and glowing embers. However, the shrieks of eels persisted, and both stallions could hear the crackling of oxygen molecules as even more came lunging down the tunnel.
"We gotta move, Princess," Josho said, tugging at the smaller unicorn. "No arguing!"
"I... w-won't," Eagle wheezed, his shoulder bleeding and throbbing. "Are we going to have a last stand?"
"I've always wanted to have one of those," Josho said, backtrotting swiftly while he dragged Eagle. "Always sounded sexy."
"You suppose the Noble Jury will find us here like this?" Eagle gulped. "Dried out husks like all those dead changelings?"
Josho sighed. "Okay, maybe not so sexy..."
The pile of fallen rocks burst apart as a fresh wave of eels came shimmering through.
"Josho--!" Eagle began.
"I see them!" Josho concentrated hard, raising his shotgun in the air beside him. He fired several blasts from the floating boomstick.
The eels merely dodged and kept on coming, faster and hungrier.
"Can't... h-hold them back!" Josho sputtered. In a burst of energy, he galloped towards the reptilian charge. "Stay behind me, kid!"
"No, Josho!" Eagle cried. "Don't--"
"You wanna dance with the fat horse?!" Josho hollered as he aimed down his sights. "Hope you don't mind if I lead--"
On loud, galloping hooves, King Lunarius came bounding past the two of them, antlers brimming. "Rrrrrrrrrrrgggaaaaaaugh!" He thrusted his head forward, firing a violent wave of mana tendrils.
The buck's energy blast enveloped the entire tunnel, pushing back every single eel. They flailed, shrieked, and collapsed against the stone walls in the distance. Soon enough, the mana beams faded, and the cave became hazy and dim again.
Josho blinked. "Fine, then. You lead."
Lunarius spun around, heaving for breath. "Are you both alright?"
"We are now!" Eagle stammered as Josho helped him up onto all fours. "You took them out, Your Highness!"
"Not for long," Lunarius growled, his antlers still brimming. "They'll be back. And in greater numbers. Now..." He marched forward in a tall stance. "Let us rendezvous with your flying companion."
"You've certainly got my vote, chief!" Josho said.
"Old stallion," Eagle whispered. "It's a monarchy."
"Eh... he knows what I mean."
Immediately outside the cave, Queen Azira spun about at the sound of multiple hooves. She smiled wide. "My love!"
"Sorry that took so long," Lunarius said with a grunt, leading the two hobbling unicorns out of the cave.
"You saved them both!" Azira cooed. "Especially the cute one!"
"Hey, thanks!" Josho spoke ahead of Eagle Eye.
"The entire skystone reserve has run amok," Lunarius said. "Are you certain your companion can land in this?"
"Booster Spice is the best pilot around!" Eagle Eye said, wheezing for breath. "There's... no way that he couldn't... make it work!"
"Look!" Azira pointed. "Above!"
Lunarius squinted. "...is that him now?"
"In a big black ball of metal?" Josho nodded. "You bet!"
"... ... ...are you sure?
Eagle Eye gasped. "By the Spark!"
"Whoah dayum!" Josho gnashed his teeth, because--
Swisssssssssh! Whizzball came hurling down, its skystone engines billowing with smoke and flame. It dove, dove further, and plowed through the summit of several jagged shards. Craaaack! Chunks of skystone and metal hull flew all across the clearing. Whizzball rolled, tumbled, and came to a grinding stop against the stone surface. The bulkheads were exposed, and a savage fissure across the windshield revealed a thoroughly dazed earth pony in goggles lying slumped against his controls, blood trickling down from his twitching ears.
As the debris cloud settled, all four stood up, gaping at the disastrous crash. Before either Josho or Eagle Eye could hear anything, they heard a salvo of shrieks from the tunnel behind them.
Eagle Eye bit his lip.
"Hold them back!" Josho hollered, galloping over to the crumpled Lounge Sphere. "I gotta get him out! If someone could lend me a hoof!"
"Oh, the poor thing!" Azira trotted over, assisting the old stallion in wrenching the loose door off the side. "Nnnngh! Quickly! Surely he can't breathe in there!"
"Soon enough, none of us will be breathing," Lunarius said, standing at Eagle's side and grinding his hooves. "They'll be upon us all in seconds..."
"Ebon..." Eagle Eye gulped, nevertheless lifting his sword and shield as he spotted glowing eyes emerging from the cave. "...wherever you are, I love you... always..."
This is looking pretty bad but I just can't see them dieing here of all places. Maybe someone will but not all of them.
Yeah, sure…
Didn't you read the chapter title?
I don't know how much more fecal matter this air oscillating device can take.
*closes eyes*
I can't watch!
5416900
Don't say that yet, the Jurist's have come out on top of some pretty hairy situations. Apparently the royal family is no slouch when it comes to capability either. It'll suck, EE and Josho aren't the heavy hitters RD and Roarke are, but they'll make it.
They may need a ride back to civilization though...
crapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrap
It seems like only a deus ex machina will get them out of this...
Welp. Im all out of ideas. After all, you remember what happened the last time they tried to do a three stage skystone powered Josho port across the continent. And that was only Josho. The only theoretical effect I can think of at this point is to use the skystone, Crysalis mana link. But, to do that, requires collapsing it to use as a teleport. The problem, is causing it to collapse would most certainly cause all that energy to end up in the coccoons at Val Roa. just behind the teleport. And Blast Doors or not. thats an awful amount of extreme prejudice to be next to.
Also. It means you would need to be stood next to the source. back in the cavern, for it to work.
>implying John Wayne wasn't sexy in The Alamo
):(, please. Thirty push-ups! Knock 'em out!
Everyone will be alright, right?
5417511 They better be, else IC will really implode.
i have GOT to see how this turns out.....
Yeah, now would be a good time for Prowse (as I've been presuming it'll be) to show up.
Also, it's good to see Lady Macbeth using her powers for good.
remember the Tarkington, people
5417114 It still works
suntecautoglass.com/storage/ace%20ventura%20broken%20windshield.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1372707251668
Don't suppose they have a way of collapsing the cave entrance. If they had something highly volatile and explosive, maybe.
Should've given Josho an extra helping of chili.
Nuuuu! Don't hurt Eagle! We need him for cuteness!
Whole lotta suicide missions going around right now. Here's hoping none of 'em are what they seem.
chapter 100
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:):(:
Yaerfaerda
Well, things certainly aren't looking up for our heroes. And I certainly hope Josho's comment about his desire to have a last stand isn't foreshadowing.
I mean, I know Prowse is still out there somewhere, but besides him they're on their own.
I like how this sort of mirrors Ebon getting strength from EE some chapters ago.
We're halfway through Yaerfaerda, everyjurist! Once this book ends, we'll be halfway done with the whole series... gosh, it feels surreal to even think that.
*Heavy breathing*
myiphonewallpaper.com/Gallery/keep-calm-examples/keep-calm-because-we-re-halfway-there-19.jpg
Eagle's been reading Harry Trotter?
Oh look, it's Christmas.
This call for giant heaping wad of now what?
I'd like to think a bunch of giant eagles will come out of nowhere and save them, as the RPG trope generally goes. But after watching Battle of the Five Armies, I don't trust eagles anymore.
Back to my old comparisons with Saint Seiya, I say this story will end without everything here being resolved, and what's left will be finished during the next story, and may cost the life of Rainbow's most powerful allies. Second half of the next story will be all about healing, because for now, shit will keep hitting the fan.
these cliffhangers tho
So, after reading this chapter last night, I fell asleep and dreamed about watching the Yaerfaerda movie in theaters, complete with title card.
I recreated it today.
imgur.com/Mr6H3yX.jpg
Black background, text is a orangey sand/wood color, very saturated.
Well, in the spirit of the season, I figure I should wish everyone here a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a Happy Hearths Warming!
Hope that whatever y'all are celebrating that you have a good one!
Help me King Lunarius, your my only hope
Surely it was sexy, and just didn't turn out the be the last stand, right? Maybe?
Now do we not know this raster going on here?
5421352 that's awesome. I can totally picture it too! :)
And halfway through it gets the worst it could possibly be. Well, it could be much worse, really.
-Spirit
Bye Josho. A great character, but somebody has to go.
Ahh, yes, good things aren't happening right now. But let's not give up yet.
5912833 Random unimportant note, I read every one of your comments in the doctors voice in my head.
Electric Chaos Eels like to fly single file, to hide their number.
The jury's still out on whether they'll survive.
I'm not sorry.
6139675 1.bp.blogspot.com/-VSvjfP6JQws/Uo7NnaP5ElI/AAAAAAAACKE/9hD90UzSjZY/s1600/doctor-who-see-what-you-did-there1.jpg
Needs beginning " marks.
_____________________
5837379
He's not going to die. He's so fat that Death knows that Josho'd give him indigestion.
Oh no! Is this the end of our favorite ship?
(Whizzball, that is.)
Now would be a great time for a gunship rescue
10/14/2019
01:30 UTC
Hey Tarkington, ya wanna show up right about now?!