My Little Pony: Friendship Is Blarghl
A surly stallion sat at a workbench, assembling together the intricate pieces of a crossbow. His baggy eyes blinked into the light of a dim manalamp. Above the pony, a partially rusted stairwell loomed, and the ambient groans of a tall metal structure settled all around him. He paused halfway through his weaponizing, leaned back in his chair, and produced a long, tiresome yawn.
It was at precisely this moment that a grate a few paces behind him opened. A blue shadow snuck out, glanced at the back of his neck with glinting ruby eyes, then slinked off into even deeper shadows. While making a hasty retreat, the grate behind the figure clattered into place.
“...?” Blinking, the stallion turned and looked at the final flight of stairs below him. He raised an eyebrow, shrugged, then returned back to the workbench.
“Honestly, Rainbow!” Rarity exclaimed, floating alongside the sneaking mare. “I'm almost certain you could take these ruffians on! You're skilled enough!”
“Calm down, girl,” Rainbow whispered, crawling down the rest of the stairwell in utter darkness. “I know it's super easy to get drunk on kickflankery, but there's a time and a place.”
“Rainbow's right,” Twilight said, smirking aside at Rarity. “Let's not get ahead of ourselves.”
“Easier said than done!” Rarity remarked, wincing as she phased through several support beams. “If I was a solid mare again, I'd be bumping my beautiful muzzle into oblivion by now!” She shuddered. “It most certainly is dark down here, wouldn't you agree?”
“They don't seem to care much about illuminating the bottom floor of their headquarters,” Twilight agreed.
“Tell me about it.” Rainbow paused, glanced behind her for any sign of movement on the stairs, then went ahead and illuminated her pendant. A ruby spotlight shone across the steps below. Rats and various other creepy crawly things scurried out of sight.
“OoOoOoOoOooh!” Rarity flinched, floating aside and hugging Twilight tight. “Gross gross gross!” She sneered. “Why do bad guys always have to be... so detestably garish in their locales?!”
“Now let's not oversimplify things,” Rainbow said, descending the rest of the steps, carefully avoiding puddles of rat feces. “These dudes just made several bad decisions and landed themselves in the wrong crowd.”
“Rainbow,” Twilight groaned, prying herself out of Rarity's embrace. “They knowingly work for an organization that sets innocent ponies' homes ablaze and exploits other citizens for their livelihood.”
“... … ...” Rainbow blinked. “Yeah, you've got a point there. Buck e'm.”
Rarity giggled nervously, flinching as she phased through a dangling spider or two.
Twilight spoke: “For all we know, maybe what we're doing here... what you're doing here is going to be akin to harmonic intervention! Once the Syndicate's collapsed, they could find new, far more innocent ways of living!”
“Now we're oversimplifying things,” Rainbow grumbled.
“Well?” Twilight cocked her head to the side. “Isn't it possible, you think?”
“I only care about one possibility right now,” Rainbow muttered, finally reaching the bottom floor. Like a tried and true basement, the chamber was filled to the brim with random junk covered in canvas tarps and layers of dust. “And that's how I can bring this place down without... bringing it down.”
“How do you mean?” Twilight asked.
Rainbow shone her light across the bulkheads, eyeing the various stretches of thick metal and reinforced steel. “Just 'cuz I wanna drown the headquarters doesn't mean I wanna drown the ponies themselves, ya dig?” She paced along the edge of the room, skirting around piles of rusted blades and questionable pieces of armor. “Besides... we want a slow flood, not a crazy deluge. Otherwise, Wildcard and I won't be able to extract any of the vault's goodies in peace.”
“Well, certainly I can be of assistance in that,” Rarity said, smiling proudly.
“You read my mine, girl.” Rainbow motioned along the wall, shining her ruby beacon. “Where is there water on the other side?”
“Mmmmm...” Rarity tapped her chin in thought. “... there!” She pointed in a flash. “The west and east sides, respectfully. Plant a charge on either wall, and the water should rush through the holes in equal volume.”
“And... and what if I accidentally sink the whole dang place?”
“See those thick vertical beams?”
“Yeah...”
“Place the explosives to the left or right, but not directly on the beams,” Rarity said, glancing at Rainbow Dash. “I sense that they support the bulk of the structure's weight. If we blast the walls next to them, it should expose the bottom floors to water, but the foundation will still hold.”
“Clever girl.” Rainbow zipped up to the west wall and attached one of the two charges. She then flew to the opposite wall, skirting over piles of junk as she pulled out the second explosive. “Twilight, any idea what could set these off?”
“Uhm...” Twilight suddenly bit her lip. “Oh dear...”
“Huh?”
“Well... I-I suppose we should have thought of that a great deal harder before you split off from Wildcard,” the mare said, floating with a worried expression. “After all, you haven't got a unicorn's horn to connect to the leylines of the manacrystals built into the device.”
“Or I could do this.” Rainbow's eyes twitched, flickering red-on-yellow. The glow of her pendant intensified by tenfold, and soon a solid beam of harmonic energy short forward, encompassing the charge. ZAAAP!
The explosive lit up, humming like mad. Both of Rainbow's marefriends shrieked.
“Good heavens!”
“Rainbow?!?” Twilight yelped, for this time it was her turn to clutch Rarity tight. “What in the hay?!?”
“Hey! It's okay!” Rainbow hissed above the high-pitched wine of the fiery explosive. She zipped back to the opposite wall and did the same to the other charge. Soon, both mana-powered devices were glowing hotly. “Really! Stop freaking out! In the words of a wise zebra, don't panic!”
“You have to be more careful than that!” Twilight snarled.
“Hey! It's all gravy!” Rainbow Dash stood a wide distance away from the two explosives, perching on the bottom of the stairwell. She tucked her wings to her side and smiled aside at the phantom mares. “So... how long do you think until those things' fuses run out?”
KA-POWWWWW! In dual flashes of flame, the charges went off. A conjoined wall of seawater flew straight into Rainbow's face.
“BLARGHLBLARGHLBLARGHL!!!” She flipped backwards like a blue sea otter and disappeared amidst the black, sloshing currents.
Wildcard's beak rattled.
He teetered left and right as a dull vibration ran up through the fourth floor of the Stronghold.
All around him, explosive parts and random junk rattled on the shelves lined up in front of the storage room's vault.
The bruised thugs groaned in the corner, their bodies shifting from the tremors.
Up on the highest level, Bard and Revan felt the tiniest flutter of movement, followed by a dull roll of thunder through the bulkheads.
Bard blinked.
Revan sat up straight, his ears pricked. “What in the Hell is that...?”
“Uhhhh...” Bard glanced aside.
Echo was rolling on the floor, wincing. His ears folded back as the sarosian struggled to drown out the noise.
“What's his friggin' problem?” Revan sneered.
“Blood's rushin' to the wrong end of his body, I reckon,” Bard said. Another dull vibration ran through the structure, causing Revan to stand up. To this, the mercenary brightened. “Hey! I know what could liven up this conversation!”
“Grrff...?” Revan pivoted around, glaring.
Ziiiiiiip! Bard pulled out his guitar from his case. “How 'bout a song, buckaroo?” He grinned wide, twitching.
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Fun times ahead.
...You just had to ask, didn't you?...
Good thing she got to read it before it went kaboom".
...Oh wait, that was a charge, not a mine. My bad.
Oh, yeah. Rainbow still hasn't told Twi and Rares about the whole "possessed by chaos" dealie, has she? That'll be a fun conversation.
Also, if she gets three friends back in one book... what the Hell is gonna take them so long for the last six?
Forty crunches, ):(. Knock 'em out!
... sheeeeeit
I sometimes wonder if RD can even die (Assuming most foreign objects aren't inside her)
Say she gets poisoned, and dies. Feasibly, she could rot to the point the pendant comes loose, than she goes chaos mode. Boop. Alive again.
I think that's simultaneously the most badass and adorable sea otter I've ever heard of.
Admit it. You had fun typing out that sound.
Sneak sneak sneak sneak.
Well, I cant possibly see how this could blow up in my facblurrbleblurrble..
Bard just found out why Im a bad person to ask to knock on the door to wake you up in the morning.
I dont. Doors tend to break.
I knock on the wall.
Drywall tends to break.
I prefer brick and stone.
Now all RD has to do, is find the stairs, then the right direction, then the vault. then the door. Rarity can track the metalwork though.
This is where the plans starts to steadily sink?
6217549
If I had to guess, all five of them will be back by the end of the next book (book 8). And after that: the Dark Side. In fact, I would guess that their harmonic presence is what'll allow Rainbow to make the passage in the first place.
6217596
It would be interesting to see us not have to endure dozens upon dozens of chapters with no dialogue and purple scenery descriptions...
6217561 Somehow I think there still has to be at least a trace of life left in her.
Like Axan left her mostly dead, not fully dead, and she was still dying when the Jury crushed her against the mountain outside Val Roa.
I think that by the point her skin and muscle would have rotted off, there wouldn't be anything for the chaos energy to use as vessel and alter.
-------------------------
Probably should have bolted quicker than that Dash.
Poor Echo...he is just having the worst day ever at this point.
-Memories given light, ease a lonely flight. Ynanhluutr.
6217668 But, the Smooze empowered the skeletons of ponies. Who's to say chaos magic can't do the same, and at the same time, regrowing a body for itself?
6217693 I thought it was just using the skeletons as a sort of frame to build itself around, not reanimating them.
A musical exit, eh, Bard?
"Rainbow, one of these days we're going to have a nice long talk about acceptable safety standards."
-- Doctor Who, ep. "Battlefield", paraphrased.
Quick Bard, taunt kill him!
wiki.teamfortress.com/w/images/thumb/3/35/EngyGuitarSmash.png/109px-EngyGuitarSmash.png?t=20111218054516
6217714 Hmm, it's been a while since Urohringr. You're probably right. But I'd say the chaos magic is more powerful. Potentially powerful enough to reanimate.
6217805
pre00.deviantart.net/93b0/th/pre/f/2006/342/e/7/make_way_for_el_kabong_by_gagaman.jpg
6217836
I think your all forgetting that her spirit would be preserved in the element of loyalty, just like the others.
6217549
Yes Sir yes Sir.
40 Crunches have been done.
So now that I'm up to date with Austreaoh, which SS&E story do you guys think I should read next, Background pony or AppleDashery?
6217561 Oh yeah, a couple times. Staying dead is another story.
And now things get hectic. This is going to be quite the ride.
While it's bad she is getting nearly drowned, the thought of her being a blue sea otter is adorable as heck
6218105 Background Pony. Bring tissues.
6218105 I think it probably depends on your personal taste in fiction. Background Pony was bleak and depressing but beautifully written and definitely a must read at some point if you enjoy Skirts' writing. Appledashery so far (I'm only about 3/5 of the way through it) seems kinda like diet Austraeoh with the adventure, explosions, and
eastwardRainbow Dashing.So I'd say if you're looking for a fic full of feels and poignant moments go for Background Pony, if you're just looking for a somewhat more light-hearted and fun story to kill some time, I'd recommend Appledashery.
6218105 oh most certainly BP
seriously though, have someone to hug nearby, BP is an existential crisis in a book
also, read on a rainy day, good for mood setting
Guys, I get that we're having fun here. Resurrecting friends, cleaning the clocks of nameless thugs, questioning the blessed grace of Verlaxion (may her frost grace the windowsills of the innocent), throwing around wicked griffon harmonica solos... Even Spookle and Scarity are getting into the zone, as it'were. But even if we elude Verlax, even if we resurrect every pastel facet of Harmony, even if we make it, triumphantly, to the dark side of the plane, I'm going to keep a box of tissues very, very handy.
Skirts only gives, that the subsequent taking may wound all the deeper. I'm going to savor these moments with the gals, for however long we might have them.
That it is ephemeral is precisely why love is so precious.
6218105
Depends on what you're looking for (though I personally highly recommend both of them).
Appledashery is very Austraeoh-esque. It's also got the daily update thing in common with East Horse (and it's even got the same sort of community around it, albeit smaller) — and it seems like it's gearing up for a finale, so if you want to catch up before it ends, you might want to start now.
Meanwhile, Background Pony is quite possibly the most heart-wrenchingly beautiful piece of fiction I have ever read (only combatted by this series). It's also complete, so you won't need to wait on a cliffhanger. Heads up, though: it's extremely emotionally exhausting (as you've probably heard), so be prepared for that.
Really, just go for whichever one appeals to you more. In the long run, though, I recommend reading both of them.
Heh, that part with Dash her eyes flashing rd on yellow just reminded me it's been a while since she had a dizzy spell... going to be awkward to explain that to Twi and Rares
It's happening
Aww fudge... IT'S HAPPENING!
6218009 Not necessarily. It is more likely that the Mane Six got trapped inside her pendant because of how they died. If, for example, Applejack had gotten bitten by a Tartarusian Venomancer, her spirit wouldn't have gone into the element. But because they died due to a backlash of harmonic/chaos energy, something different happened. I wouldn't be able to say for sure what happened because this is all highly theoretical (though would be awesome to study), but what likely happened is that because one Element (the shiny magic stuff, not the bearer) couldn't exist alone, the spirits of the Elements got swept up together and into the closest reasonable host, the Pendant of Loyalty, and the spirits of the Mane Six got dragged along for the ride.
6217836 Hmm..we could probably call upon the fact checker, or one of us could go look it up.
but iirc when the smooze killed one of the naga it melted the flesh and muscle off the body and used the bones to build more pegasi zombies.
6218737
True, but if she while wearing, or being anywhere near her pendant, the same should thing would hypothetically happen to her. She is still full of chaotic and harmonic energy that would seek it out.
Quick! Austraeoh Fact Checker, was the last time Dash went blargl with water in Eljunbyro when the blue tower rose?
6218105
I recommend Scale if you liked the travelling-in-solitude parts of Austraeoh.
Definitely read Background Pony. Not all of it is depressing, by the way, there are also lots of heartwarming parts.
I also recommend End of Ponies. Although it is unfinished and may remain so, the current story has three mostly self-contained arcs (acts two, three and four) plus the prologue (act one) that can be enjoyed on their own. Myself I didn't like Act 2 for several reasons, but the rest is very good.
More lighthearted Skirts stories that I most recommend are The funeral of Derpy Hooves, Rumble and Tumble and Couchtavia.
As for Appledashery, it's fun, but I would rather recommend the other stories if you have limited time. Don't expect a lot of Appledash, or Applejack for that matter, for most of the story, by the way; it's mostly just "Dashery".
"I thought of a new word: Blarf! I don't know what it means, but I can tell it's gonna be big!"
6218846
In the initial attack of the Smooze, a Xonan and a Naga were specifically mentioned as falling into the muck and coming back out minutes later. As far as the reading shows, they came back more-or-less in their original form, except with more "necrotic" flesh (scales intact), and they spat purple ooze. Though the smooze causes burning when it touches flesh, it doesn't appear to wear things all the way down into skeletons
6218905
The only time anyone has said "blarghghhl" in this series was Ebon in Urohringr 116. I can't find anything during the golden obelisk part of Eljunbyro....
http://www.quickmeme.com/img/fa/fa3e19ffd513583d5f7ae60382262d9a0505d72589cd2374af2b2a7de75e057d.jpg
Silly Rainbow, thinking she'd have time after giving them a harmonic jumpstart
6218105
6218498
I'm going to back up/second Yoshi's assessment and recommendation for the two stories. If you like the daily format that this series has, AppleDashery will give you that same feel with a different set of challenges for Rainbow to experience. If you like complete stories, Background Pony would be the better bet. Although it is not for the timid, there's a reason the phrase 'soul crushing' has been tossed around when describing the emotional experience one goes through.
Rarities knowledge of architecture is impressive. Must be an extension of her like, designer brain comboed with metal sense.
6218105
I'm going to say Background Pony. In my opinion it is SS&E's best fic.
derpicdn.net/img/view/2013/12/27/507510__safe_solo_rarity_species+swap_dinosaur_velociraptor_artist-colon-briannacherrygarcia.jpeg
Velociscarity confirmed.
Not a single Thornberry yet? I am disappointed.
Oh pilate how I miss thee.
6218683 How goes it dude?
Bard, you are bad at stalling.
-Soirit (Yeast and Treacle)
Guitar Horse Guitars You!
In other matters, Rainbow is still reckless.
What a surprise.
Well, here we go again with the musical numbers. Let's see how long this distraction lasts.
Not enough
in the world.
Seeing as how Rarity can find metals and precious gems, I guess she really could read a mine.
the catchupening while sitting in the bath tub part 5
Bard should've at least acted surprised.
Skirts and explosives... half life 3 confirmed.