When Supremely Noble Tactics Run Out
Eine and Kera shifted nervously from the balcony where they stood. The Council Chamber only grew louder and louder as chaos filled the indoor arena.
High up above, Chancellor Fishberry spoke into the sound stones, undaunted. “So long as we work together in the spirit of Val Roan courage, we can make this future happen! Do not let the structure of the past define our ambition! Our destiny extends beyond tradition and blind fealty!” She allowed the echoes of her voice to be absorbed into the crowd. As the audience only grew more upset and enraged, she tilted her head, glancing up through the rooftop of the place. Her eyes flickered a bright emerald before she muttered to herself: “Where are they? The battleships should be here by now...”
Two balconies below where Fishberry stood, a pair of cloaked figures were nestled in the shadows. Silently, Arcanista and Floydien exchanged glances. A communal nod was shared between them.
“Any moment now,” the Duchess said.
“Yes yes yes.”
Almost as if on queu, a soundstone positioned underneath Arcanista's cloak crackled to life. “We're here! Took us for bloody ever, but we're here!”
Grinning, Arcanista raised the sound stone to her lips and spoke into it. “Marvelous, Mr. Prowse. Touch down and lead the two to the Seventh Level! Saikano should be waiting there with Sharp Quill!”
“I bet it's louder than shagging cats in there!”
Arcanista took a deep breath, gazing up at Fishberry's balcony. “It's about to get even louder...”
Immediately outside the large round structure of the High Council Building, a thick sea of protesting Val Roans were being shoved aside in opposite directions by emotionless Soul Sentries. They approached the possessed guards as closely as they could, frowning and snarling unceasingly.
“What's going on in there?!”
“What is the meaning of this?!”
“We have a right to know what Fishberry is doing to our kingdom!”
“Where is the Prince?!”
“Where is our future King?!”
Without saying a word, the Soul Sentries continued marching in opposite directions. Soon, a solid divide formed in the crowd, leading up to the front steps of the High Council Building.
“Will you please... say something?!” Deer and elk frowned at the deadpan Sentries. “We want answers! We want justice! We want—” Their words trailed off as a thick, long shadow crossed over them all. The crowd gazed up, mutually breathless.
Fwoooosh! The Tarkington roared in, thruster engines smoking as it halted in mid-air, levitated for a bit, then slowly lowered to the cleared courtyard. Citizens who were previously clambering to push against the Soul Sentries now found themselves hobbling backwards, stunned beyond compare.
Within seconds, a metal panel along the port side slid open. Crimson and Phoenix hopped out, immediately followed by Arcshod and his two Xonan warriors.
“Okay, ponies!” Seclorum shouted as he, Josho, and Eagle Eye stood in the door frame. “You know your positions! Lay back and wait for the Soul Sentries to be commanded into a circle, then surround them!”
“Over twenty years of fighting with you and at last we're shooting fish in a barrel,” Josho said with a smirk, cocking his shotgun.
“Nothing of the sort, old stallion!” Eagle Eye exclaimed as he hopped down. “The goal is to keep them alive until well-after Chrysalis is defeated! They're as precious as the citizenry, after all!”
“Feh.” Josho glanced over at Seclorum. “I almost wanna stay on board with Prowse. Now there be some real explosions.”
“Stick to Rainbow's plan.” Seclorum gestured to Tweak and Lucky Strike as the two hopped out. “You boys got the manashards?”
Lucky shook a bag full of black crystals. “You bet!”
Tweak glared beyond the brim of his hat. “Who you calling 'boy,' gramps?”
“Enough dawdling!” Crimson hollered past Phoenix's shoulder as he levitated his hammer. “EE! Josho! Deliver the goods!”
“Righto! Delivering!” Eagle motioned to Josho. “Move your blubber, brother!”
“Excuse me!” one elk peered out through the line of Soul Sentries, frowning. “What in God's name is going on here—” His pupils dilated as he and every other deer, pony, and gazelle in the crowd gasped.
King Lunarius and Azira had hopped out of the Tarkington. The royal buck turned towards the citizens, glaring. “I'm winning back my kingdom. That's what!” He guided Azira along as they bounded after Josho and Eagle Eye. “Come, my love.”
“Is he in there?!” Azira stammered in mid-gallop. “Our precious little Einey?”
“Yes...” Lunarius' eyes narrowed. “...and so is the God-forsaken monster responsible for all this.”
“Right this way, your Highnesses!” Eagle Eye shouted as he and Josho led them beyond the huge marble pillars of the building's entrance.
At last, Seclorum hopped out of the ship and slapped his hoof against the bulkhead. “You're all clear, Prowse! Now go! Make Aatxe proud!”
“You're damned right we will!” Prowse's voice echoed from deep within the vessel. “Basso, shut the door and get to battlestations! Zetta, scan the air's leylines and find out where the Jury is! Booster?!”
“Y-yes, sir?”
“...now might be a good time to pray to your darling horse god!”
“Er... r-right, sir.”
Swisch! The door slid shut. With rockets thundering, the Tarkington lifted up, pivoted southwest, and roared past the spiraling rooftops of Val Roa's Sandstone district.
BOOM! P-POW! KABLAM!
The last of the Noble Jury's mana blasts ricocheted off the two goblin battleships.
Thwoooosh! The skystone vessel flew past the battered vessels, curving westward with a trail of crimson energy.
Atop the Gamma ship's top deck, Haman and several other imps struggled to stand upright. A few wounded goblins moaned constantly, their pained voices mingling with the ashen smoke billowing from a dozen different spots along the hull.
“Nrnnghh...” Haman gritted his teeth, flexing a limb that sparkled from shrapnel impact. “Damage report...”
“Several deep impacts along the port side hull, Boss!” an imp shouted. “Minor damage to the steam stabilizers! We... we seem to have lost four of our crew in the last salvo—”
“Never mind who dies! I could wipe my ass with the dead!” Haman raised the goblin up by a metal claw around his throat. “Are we still airborne?!”
“Snrkkkt... y-yes, sir! Of c-course... sir...!” The imp flailed in his grasp.
“Boss!” another goblin shouted from where he stood on a clean spot along the portside deck. “Signals coming in from the other ship! They've lost two of their propellors! Their maneuverability is significantly weakened!”
“Grnngh...” Haman dropped the choking imp to the deck and marched over him on metal claws. “Enough of this. Out of the way!” He knocked aside several gunners from a portside cannon. “Bring us about! Forty-five degrees to the west!”
“Aye! Bringing us about!”
Steam vents billowed on either side of the goblin leader's mech suit as he squatted his walker behind a cannon, aiming it at the distant red speck of the Noble Jury.
“I think they're coming about, boss!”
“Let them come.” Haman spat and leaned far enough forward so that his flesh-and-blood hands gripped the cannon's triggering mechanisms. “Load this thing up with three missiles... then back the hell up! I need space to concentrate...”
Ch-Chtung! “Loaded, boss!”
“Let her rip!”
“I will, thank you...” Haman's filmy eyes narrowed as he focused on the distant, incoming shape of the Noble Jury. “Mmmmmm... you think what you're doing here is righteous... you think that helping deerblood will earn you a place in the stars.” He gritted his teeth. “I will drown out the sky with your screams. I was born to murder. What were you foaled for?” He locked on the ship... then deliberately aimed his cannon a bit to the left. “Dodge this, you puissant waste of hooves.”
P-POW! Almost as quickly as he had fired the first missile, he pivoted the cannon far to the extreme right and fired again. POW!
“Hooooooooo boy!” Zaid's eyes reflected a plume of flame from beyond the windshield. He turned and shouted over his shoulder. “Incoming projectile! Coming towards our right side!”
“Good eye, Zaid!” Belle exclaimed. “Veer us hard to port!”
“Righto! Veering—” Just as the stallion began turning the ship, he gasped, for a second projectile was screaming savagely towards them from the left. “Bad day!”
“Center us!” Belle hollered. “Fly on through!”
Pilate suddenly gasped. “Beloved, I don't think—”
Haman grinned.
He pivoted the cannon dead center.
“Go prance in Hell.” P-POW!
And the last missile sailed forward, approaching the Noble Jury dead-on.
SHOOM! One rocket soared past their starboard side.
SH-SHOOM! The second missle grazed the ship's port.
And then, straight ahead.
“Uhhh...” Zaid gulped as the entire cockpit lit up with red flame. “...guys?”
Bellesmith's voice cracked. “Pull up! Pull up!”
“Grnngh!” Zaid yanked back at the controls—
KAPOW! The front belly of the Noble Jury exploded. The observation room and its windows shattered in every direction with Alafreon glass. Burning shreds of hammock rope flew into the wind along with two decks' worth of shrapnel.
As soon as the ship lifted, it plunged, sailing awkwardly past the two battleships and its cheering goblin crew members.
Amidst all the flame and smoke, Zaid regained consciousness. He looked behind him. Through the former entrance to the vertical stairwell, he saw flames and patches of exposed daylight.
“Blondie...” He stammered. The world outside the cockpit went dark. He looked ahead to see the summit of a mountain surging into view. “Awwww poop.”
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Fuck
5508334
Thanks! This is usually the point where I let the story simmer for another forty chapters or so, but I think I'm going to try this "one chapter a day" style again. At the very least I'll be able to try out Jake's fitness regimen.
No one is prepared for how this story ends.
And we're nowhere near the ending yet.
Ohhh Lunapoop.
Because fuck your plans, Chrysalis.
Now: does the Tarkington stick to the plan and stop the goblins, or do they go help the Jury?
Bugger. The Jury is dead. There goes Floyd's newest ex-girlfriend.
They've crashed ships before. it's de rigeur.
Note: queu is spelled cue.
Three shot targeting from an expert. this is why fast traversing projectors are so important, which are limited by support mass, shielding mass and power available. Hamans mech suit gave him that higher power ratio to make targeting that much faste, an so far more effective.
Im still thinking of whts the possibility that Chrysalis just used the good guys to get her, as king and or queen, into ValRoa?
Also, we didnt hear any Jury on the Soundstone, so we dont know what timing is occuring between the Council, as the battleships were supposed to already be ther, and th Tarkington dropping off, and taking off.
If th Tarkington approaches out of sight, high, and drops Basso off, would the top deck stop him going straight through, or would the ship just bend under the impact?
This chapter almost made me think that Kera is Chrysalis.
Haman's a smart one. I wonder if he'll suffer the same fate as his biblical counterpart.
5508620
I tried to be a body builder like you, but then I took an arrow to the knee.
Well, if Zaid isn't dead yet, he will be when Floydien gets his hooves on him.
5508905 Chrysalis probably isn't the king and queen. Ebon knows exactly who it is, and so does Rainbow. If it is the king/queen, then there is a trap set for them.
We can hope.
5508808
They'll be k.
Enter the Lounge, stage left.
download.chip.eu/ii/16271584_9471cdeb39.jpg
And Haman?
What if all the plans you made
Were not worth the price they paid
Even with the lives you stole,
still no closer to your
goal?
...And just when you thought things weren't about to get anymore bat-shit crazy...
Haman's getting up to Shell levels on the Motherfucker-Needs-To-Die meter.
RIP Rainbow's hammock.
Gotta stop the jury from trying to follow Dash into the choke somehow I guess.
It seems as though Floydien has found a place to call home though, as have the rest of the jury it seems.
Kera might have a life as a duchess.
Belle and Pilate will stay wherever their daughter stays.
Eagle and Ebon seem like the type to be happy no matter where they are.
As do Zaid and Props
Josho's bound to stick by Eagle.
All that leaves are Dash and Roarke.
And seeing as the latter is without her armor....well Dash might be making her trip alone after all.
I bet Props is in trouble in the engine room.
I'm hoping Zaid gets all heroic and saves her, scoring some points before the story's end.
(Y'know, after Prowse murders him.)
This reminds me, I need to sketch out the Jury sometime.
Nooooooooooooooo!!!
That can't be very hygienic.....like at all.
5509249 Impossible...Shell stuck around for multiple stories...
Well this is a pretty big problem for the Jury, but they have been in worse situations before. They will pull out of this one.
5508919
Is it weird that I've actually considered this a possibility before? I just could never figure out when she would have switched with her, so I think it very unlikely for that and various other reasons.
Yes! Finally caught up!
...Of course there would be a cliff-hanger with The Jury about to hit a cliff today...
5510497 welcome back.
I don't know who made these or whether or not they're fanart of this story, but here's what Lunarious and Azira would probably look like.
img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20150112162124/austraeoh/images/thumb/8/83/Lunarius.jpg/210px-Lunarius.jpg
img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20150112162213/austraeoh/images/thumb/9/9e/Azira.jpg/210px-Azira.jpg
Haman is Chrysalis.
5509239 Things will always get more guano loco.
Oh almighty Fausticorn, please let everypony be safe, and deliver thy furious wrath upon the wicked who would see them harm,preferably in the form of tandem Roarke/Rainbow violence.
Amen.
"How much time has passed? Are my funerals over? Damn, there goes my dramatic entrance"
Turining up any minute there with those Lounge spheres would be nice Roarke
5510366
Whoever Chrysalis is, I'm already dreading having to reread most of Yaerfaerda in the light of that revelation.
This is when both Roarke and the Tarkington appear and kick some ass.
I see it coming that when there will eventually be an actual character death, I won't even see it coming anymore.
That's what you're doing, aren't you? You trying to make me let my guard down!
The backup is here. :rainbowetermined:
,,,
-Spirit
What a cruel irony . . .
Damn, it's always the observation deck aint it?
5718810
FTFY
The Jury has to succeed constantly, Haman only has to succeed once
That deck was well and truly observed.
Oh no oh no
Holy crap. We better not have just lost Props!
123,
come sail the feels boat with memay the Spark be with thee.Rainbow's Hammock, you ushered a great hero to sleep many times and will be sorely missed, mainly by Rainbow
10/14/2019
21:03 UTC
Oh this is baaaaaad.
It's okay, we're still flying half a ship!