“Okay... okaaaaaaaaay...” Props twisted and turned a series of valves, her goggled eyes reflecting a lavender pulse from the center of the engine room. “Loooooking gooood...” She blinked, then glanced across the compartment. “How are you doing on your end?!”
“Everything's stable!” Booster Spice said from the instrument panel he was clinging to. “It's now or never!”
“Ya hear that, Zaidy Waidy?!” Props hollered over the intercom. “Give it a go!”
Something cranked through the metal bulkheads. The entire ship shook and vibrated while the whole room flooded with lavender light. Inside the iron cage, the book levitated, brimming with energy. Within seconds, it maintained a steady pulse, and the instrument panels hummed vibrantly.
“That sounds good...” Booster grinned. “That sounds really really good!”
“Zaid? How 'bout it? Are we up-up-and-awaying?!”
“Girl...”
Zaid smirked, his hooves on the Jury's controls as he lifted the vessel above the trees west of Bountiful. “...you don't know the half of it! Never knew I missed the sky until I could see it with my hot, handsome eyes.”
“Remember, you're just Diet Handsome until we get the ship's pilot back!”
“Jee...” Zaid rolled his eyes and smiled. “Thanks for the confidence.”
“Heeheehee!”
“Is the book doing its glowy thingy?”
“Yup yup! Dashie's last zap did the trick! We should have a week's juice in us, so long as we don't overload the steam array!”
“You mean like 'Handsome' did when we first arrived in his home town?”
“Errr... yeah...”
“Don't worry. I doubt we'll be running into the Headquarters of the Herald anytime soon,” Zaid said. A blink. “Though I wouldn't mind being the Duke of Cheese.”
Roarke trotted inside the cockpit from the Jury's top deck. “What's the status report?”
“We're birds again!” Zaid smiled. “Pony birds!”
“I can see that. But is it stable?”
“Blondie says that Rainbow's pendant has given us enough juice to last a week, assuming things don't go wrong.”
“And they always do,” Roarke droned. “So let's not pretend to hope.”
“Awwwwww...” Zaid pouted. “It's too early in the day for you to be harshing my buzz.”
Bellesmith climbed up from the lower decks of the ship. “Is it working?”
“It would seem that way,” Roarke said with a nod. “We're no longer grounded, thanks to Rainbow's energy and Props' engineering.”
“So, girls...” Zaid glanced over his shoulder. “Where to?”
“Are you certain you have a firm grasp over the piloting controls of the Jury?”
“Pfft. Not like I'm flying an elephant here.”
“Where should we take her?” Belle remarked.
“Where else?” Roarke trotted forward and looked over Zaid's shoulder, squinting out the windshield. “Rainbow felt it was best that we check on the border between the Cartel and Val Roa.”
“You mean down south?” Belle blinked. “Where Constable Jake was patrolling?
“Indeed.” Roarke nodded. “And if that's what Rainbow thinks we should do...”
“Setting coordinates!” Zaid grinned, pushing the throttle and turning several nods. “I always liked going south! It sorta feels like flying downhill.”
Belle raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
“Nah. Just seeing how many stupid things I could say before one of you girls hit me.”
Roarke hit him.
“... ... ...ow?”
Belle giggled.
Roarke's muzzle curved slightly. “Half speed, Zaid. There's no telling at what time Rainbow might call for us via Props' communications array. We need to be ready to fly north at a moment's notice.”
“Aye, ma'am sir... sir ma'am...”
“I'll go inform the others,” Belle said, scurrying down the ladder.
“Might as well.” Roarke took a deep breath. “Without Rainbow Dash, this is... going to be a long flight...”
Forests gave way to rolling emerald plains and lush hilltops. Tall grass swayed on either side of the dirt path, occasionally dotted with trees and thickets. Rivers trickled into lakes at a distance, adding to the glitteringly gorgeous landscape. To the east, hovering like a second horizon, a brown haze of mountains loomed. They parted down the middle—right where the long, long road was leading.
Floydien narrowed his eyes, as if—by squinting—he might somehow be capable of making out the details of Val Roa's West Gate. Alas, there was nothing more to see but the constant line of fine gravel and brown powder that made up the largely abandoned highway beneath him. With a sigh, he continued trudging along, pulling the weight of the double-wagons behind him. His gaze fell to the earth with a dull expression.
At last, the booming voice behind him uttered: “So... why 'Nancy Jane?'”
Floydien grumbled. He tilted his head up. “What does the boomer spit?”
The moose beside him squinted. “This boomer... wants to know what in God's tacky saddle got you to use the name 'Nancy Jane?'”
“Hrmmfff... Nancy is Floydien's beloved,” the elk muttered. “Nancy provides for Floydien and Floydien provides for Nancy. Floydien's boomers as well. Yes yes yessss. We are all glimmer touch in Nancy's womb.”
“That's not the way I heard it!” Jake's slimy nostrils flared as he effortlessly dragged the wagon up a hill, forcing Floydien to fumble and keep up. “I heard that you had gotten soooooo deep in the sack with the General's adopted daughter that you suddenly realized you had to cover your ass! So, when y'all started writing letters to one another, you chose the most bland, boring, unassuming name possible to mask hers!” He cackled loudly. “Porcupines, Floyd Boy! I always knew you were a stupid Duke, but no wonder the jerkwads of the High Council found a way to chase you out of Bountiful!”
“Floydien...” The elk growled long and hard. “...does not remember any of that spit.”
“Oh yeah?!” Jake tilted his head aside, almost smacking Floydien up the head with an antler. “Then why are you bothering to be here in the first place?”
“Because paint bucket boomer and her boomer friends want to make peace peace with the stabby stabs...” Floydien's jaw clenched and unclenched. “And if that means less boomers sucking on the glimmer shimmer, and Floydien is willing to lend hooves and spark spark.”
“And you're certain it has absolutely nothing to do with taking the opportunity to redeem yourself for being a yellow-bellied bastard and ditching everyone who's ever believed in you between Val Roa Proper and Bountiful?”
“For the last time, Floydien does not remember!” The wagon jostled behind him. “Get off Floydien's flank flank! Floydien doesn't even want to be here and yet he is.” He kicked at the earth as he dragged the vehicles along. “Floydien gave up his Nancy Jane and skystone glimmer to be here... to do the anti-stabby thing...”
Silence.
“You know, I met her once,” Jake mused.
“Hrmmff... who?”
“Midnite Bastion.”
Jake winced.
“Honestly, I always figured you could do better. The pony's a freakin' firecracker, for sure, but she's still got that crazy sense of entitlement crap in her head—what... with being Saikano's protege and all. Funny how the girls who are least likely to be princesses act like they totally are...”
“Does the hairy boomer have a point?”
“Let me finish.” Jake squinted. “Midnite was every bit a selfish, manipulative, dominating freakazoid. If she loved you, it's only because a part of her was desperate to stop pissing on everyone who ranked beneath her and instead nuzzle a noble soul for once. And you know what? If that floats y'all's boat, then that's all fine and dandy. Sounds like you burrowed your way through all of her lady gunk and found something worth cherishing, so maybe you're not half the coward I tought you were. Maybe.”
“Rnnnghhhh...” Floydien rolled his eyes.
“I'd give my left testicle to know what it was that finally spooked you into ditching all of us,” the moose said. “But what tickles me funny is that you don't remember Midnite... but you do remember 'Nancy Jane.'”
Floydien said nothing.
“No matter what your Sis thinks, you've changed, pal.” Jake clenched his jaw, staring thinly at the elk. “Somewhere between all the poking and prodding, you squirted out the other side as a different turd. So, I can't help but wonder... what are you really trotting along this journey for?”
Floydien looked at him.
Jake looked back. “You have your 'Nancy Jane.' You have your 'glimmer shimmer.' So... kitten huffers, what's really tugging you along with us?! Huh?! Is it to see Midnite Bastion? Cuz, if that's so, I'm liable to kick your nuts up your throat and leave you hanging off the next tree we find, because that is not what this mission is about, brospunk.”
Floydien took a deep breath. At last, he said, “Hairy boomer calls Floydien a turd?”
“The turdiest of them all.”
Floydien nodded. “And every turd stands to be buried.” He looked forward, glaring into the mountains at a distance. “Floydien has much to bury here. Nancy Jane cannot help with that.”
Jake blinked at him. Slowly, he smiled, then looked ahead. “Yeah, well, when the time comes... I'll gladly provide the shovel.”
“Yes yes yessss.”
5184603
There was the Kaizo draft and the HHH draft. The HHH draft was a bit darker than the Kaizo draft.
And how I long for that day, too (preferably not cancelled)...
Floydien is starting to scare me a bit.
I wonder what the peanut gallery in back has to say about this commentary. But damn, brave Floydien. It takes guts, nuts, and balls to go towards people you don't remember to bury hatchets you didn't know you had and potentially let old ghosts rise in the process. Not sure I'd do it in his shoes.
Also, Jake baiting Floydien. Why do I get this is going to be a Thing(tm) and will eventually strike an -actual- nerve?
Also Roarke, thank you for that well timed smack.
Whoa, suddenly chapter.
Lol, "diet handsome".
...I'm calling it now: the ship's power is going to drop out at the worst, most inopportune moment while all hell is breaking loose...And all hell will then break loose even further.
Yep.
*This Statement Is Treebeard Approved*
Well, isn't that nice. Sounds like Floyd changed Midnite for the better. Or at least offered her a chance to stop putting on a face.
Yaay. Nancy Jane decided to allow Zaid to fly her, and Props design to work. I still think they should have something in the hanger, like a reinforced steam vent store and dump port.
Also, a week of normal, easy ops, and they are heading into the region where The Flood is approaching? I really want to see how they get out of this, cos the first rule usually when sending in something with limited resources into an everescalating opposing foce, is that it has to burn through ever depleting resources ever faster, until it suddenly runs out and goes from holding its own, to kitty litter.
Jake the Moose still thinks Floydian ran away. I wonder if it was a combination of Great choke dust and Then nightshade industries?
Okay, so the General is not necessarily a pony just because Midnite is.
But what am I???
(Well, a platypus, obviously, but what am I pretending to be?)
5185651 What are you? Going to be in a lot of trouble. Really, really soon.
5185651
I'm still not a hundred percent sure there aren't diamond dogs in Val Roa.
the dammed goblings are gonna attack the noble jury with half it's members away, aren't they?
Well...Zaid was asking to get hit as soon as he admitted he was being stupid for stupid's sake.
Also, sort of unrelated, but I'm just curious, if anyone else here checks the daily drawfriends,did they see this in today's and immediately think of Tchern's Applejack 2.0 nickname for our resident cyborg badass?
This story seems to have been going on so long now that they're probably flying west by now.
Ah, Zaid, I do enjoy your banter.
NOW she gets it! Maybe she'll live after all!
I really hope Floydien is able to bury his past here. I just have a feeling that its going to be much, much harder then he thinks it will.
I just hope that his past isn't the only thing of Floydien's that'll be buried here.
Guys...
Guys, we've made a mistake.
Chrysalis isn't Saikano, Sharp Quill, or Fishberry.
It's Midnite Bastion.
Gimme a sec, lemme explain.
Chrysalis controlling her would make it possible for Chryssie to use her real personality(for the most part) and have it be accurate. She would also be able to mind-control Saikano like she did to Shining Armor in Season 2 Finale, and through him get Drones controlling the other two, if she needs to.
Guys, we've fucked up. We overlooked one of the best candidates for the Pretender.
5185603
I've got my eye on you
5186365
I don't get it. Are you saying you want Floydien to be buried too, alongside his past?
Also, "General's Adopted Daughter" warrants a red flag on the "Who is Chrysalis?" tracker. My bet is that Midnight Bastion is Chrysalis.
Reasons for the flagging:
She is in a position close to the nobility, but with no way to threaten them. General is not a hereditary position, and if she isn't the General, she would have no direct authority
If she were adopted, it is very, very likely (in my eyes) that Saikano wanted her as a daughter. Midnight was deliberately chosen as a person the general would love and consider family.
Jake met Midnight. He described her as a "selfish, manipulative, dominating freakazoid." with "that crazy sense of entitlement crap in her head." and that she acted like she was a princess. I don't know for certain when he met her, but if Floydien had already fled Bountiful, who is to say that is the way she actually was?
5186470
No, I said I hope he doesn't.
Interesting point with Midnight Bastion being Chrysalis, especially considering the similarity between her name and "Midnight Armory". That would imply that Chrysalis has been here for years and years, though, which might be problematic (unless Chrysalis simply replaced the original Midnight Bastion).
5186504
I reread it, knowing what you mean, and I still don't get it. Then again,
img.pandawhale.com/42255-Im-not-a-smart-man-Forrest-Gum-W2X0.jpeg
Also, I didn't mean to double down on the conspiracy theories. I just wasn't smart enough to hit refresh comments before posting. Whoops.
5186550
Oh crap, I just read my comment, and you're right. I shouldn't have thrown in that negative. Should have been "is", not "isn't".
screencrave.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/Yes-Man-Jim-Carreys-Disfugured-Face-3-1-10-kc.jpg
5186570
Hey, at least you realized it relatively quickly. Once I spent days arguing with a guy because I mistyped something. He said I was wrong, and I got SUPER butthurt over it. It turns out that we both had the same point of view.
they're all gonna die
I'm late to the comments party, so I imagine this has been discussed heavily, but... this is clearly important, somehow.
5185708 I expect so.
5186782
Land's sakes, this is why we don't split the party.
5186834 If Roarke, Belle, Zaid, Props, Pilate, etc. do not decimate the goblin horde, I will be disappointed. Don't forget they also have "I Cleaned My Gun" Josho and EE.
''Hitting Zaid is the best therapy''
No, wait... that was already done...
5186359 5186365 5186470
Shovel. You guys. Seriously.
M O T H E R F U C K I N '
F O R E S H A D O W I N G
The entire notion that the Noble Jury can fly without Floydien basically just screams, "FLOYDIEN'S GONNA DIE" to me.
teampwnicorn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Joffrey-gets-slapped-5.gif
5187107 replygif.net/i/272.gif
I will go now, and further practice the art of nonverbal communication.
5185848
Nah, there's still some east left to go (around about six books).
Finally fim fic starts working for me. Anyway so we find out midnite is a pony that's adopted....yeah no chance for her to end up being some spy or changeling or some other crazy thing that wants nothing more than to cause chaos or stop rainbow in some classic IC twist
5187149
Pretty sure that typing text counts as non-verbal communication
5186400
...bruh i think u just mad u got accused
Although, to be objective, it's not out of the realm of possibility...
5187107
...Goddamnit, half the Jury is gonna die by the end of this arc.
Is it odd if I know a guy who legitimatly owed me his left testicle? (Never bet this thing), also adopted daughter yadda yadda man I'm late on this stuff
You sure that wouldn't leave a mark?
5188473
Actually, I think I may have accused myself before I actually knew it was me. Something about Midnite Bastion's personality, as described by Jake, just seems like a bad thing to throw into this mix.
5188984
I just hope that if it does turn out to be true, then it's a case similar to the Canterlot Wedding, and the real Midnite is still alive, locked away hidden somewhere.
Heck, she could plausibly be feeding off love from a mentally-stunned Saikano. That could also possibly explain the open gap in the Val Roan military's forces.
5189165
My thoughts precisely. I hope it's not true, but it's very plausible.
I wonder is perhaps Midnite is Chrysalis?
Zaid confirmed for an ent.
Also, poor Midnite is probably now changleing candidate #1, what with the very 'Chrysalis' personality
dying here
Zaid is wonderful as always.
-Spirit
I can't wait for the eventual reveal of who's actually Chrysalis. I like all the theories going on, but I have a feeling it's going to be the one we all least expect it to be.
5897119 Its gonna be someone completely unexpected, like Jake. XD, or the duchess.
Jake may not understand Floydien, but he understands revenge.
Spoiler alert: Of course they do.
(I have a bad feeling about this. If RD really does enter the Choke by the end of this book, and she really can't take the ship with her, then the ship and everyone in it is without plot armor. And we know the goblins are gunning for it. Let us hope that our heroes' mysterious aversion to fall damage holds.)
Well, time to make like a tree and lay the smack down on these goblins, burarum.
Our IC seems familiar with the Lord of the Rings, I have to wonder if it is from the books or the movies?
07/01/2017
02:43 UTC
Ouch, Diet Handsome.
Pfft, Zaid, you butthead.
Man, Floydien really just wants to skedaddle but it's nice that he realizes that the Jury needs him here to help.
The only thing I really hate about this series is the over-abundance of fart and poop talk. It's just disgusting. Other than that, this series is incredible.