“Rainbow, are you okay?!” Twilight fluttered speedily around the wet-soaked mare. “Omigosh! Rainbow, that was amazing!”
“Ngrnngh...” Rainbow struggled to sit up. As Sinrar reached in, she reached a hoof out from behind the Shard piece and grabbed his fetlock. “Of all the ponies, girl, I'd expect the right A-word from you.”
“Pardon?” Sinrar remarked.
“Not you. Miss You.” Rainbow glanced aside at Twilight. “See? We got things done without anyone having to get hurt after all.”
“Well, I know you didn't stab him in the eye, but is really okay?” Twilight remarked.
Before Rainbow could respond, Nick chanted: “Look!”
Everypony on board the Swan Song spun to look beyond the stern.
The mass shape of Ultimo lingered just beneath the waves. A pronounced tail swung back and forth, but the creature remained noticeably dormant. Even its fins had lost their sporadic vigor.
“What in blazes is he just waiting around for?” Sinrar grumbled. “Did you pull out part of his brain, harpy?”
“No... or maybe... yes.” Rainbow's lips pursed as she squinted at the beast. “The creature didn't bother stalking this Atoll until it took a bite out of the Shard, right?”
“Probably got possessed by her Frostiness,” Sinrar said, nostrils flaring.
“There's only one way to find out. Here, Romeoats.” She thrust the Shard piece into Nick's chest. “Hold this for a sec.”
“Ooomf!” The shaved stallion awkwardly grasped the enchanted object. He looked up while Rainbow Dash trotted towards the ship's edge.
“Rainbow,” Twilight muttered, floating closely alongside the mare. “There's no guarantee he'll understand our words.”
“Well, he doesn't seem to understand spears very well, so what could it hurt?” Rainbow cleared her throat, then leaned over the edge. “Hey. Dude. Fish dude.”
The fins shifted ever so slightly. The weight of the serpent dipped and rose. The snout cocked to the side and a beady eye broke the water.
“You don't eat ponies. You don't eat seagulls. So... like... why's a group of islands so important to you, huh?”
Again, a fin or two splashed at the waters. A series of spines retracted along the creature's back.
“That piece of the Shard is out of you. So chances are you've got a clear head. So listen to me carefully.” Rainbow's brow furrowed and she spoke firmly. “You're free now. You've got nothing anchoring you here anymore. So... go on vacation or something, alright? I'm sure there are plenty of sexy giant eel chicks out there in the depths for you to spawn with. So... uhhh... show's over.”
The eye blinked, glinting with moisture and dumb curiosity.
“Look, do I gotta go shoving my hooves down your throat again?!” Rainbow hollered, teeth showing. “Get out of here, Ultimo! Scram! And take your teeth with you!”
Just then, a deep bass roar undulated through the waters. The spines of the beast stuck up and retracted once more. With a few lasting bursts of vibrating organs, the beast dove under the Swan Song, curved around, and lazily swam its way west. It soon became a writhing shadow that drew further and further towards the bright blue horizon.
“And you're welcome!” Rainbow grunted, slicking her wet mane back. “Oversized melon fudge...”
Twilight smiled at her. “Not exactly the same touch that Fluttershy has, but looks like you got the job done.”
“Yeah, well, not all sea serpents can be calmed with a fake mustache.”
“Actually, that was Rarity, but...” Twilight giggled. “I'll forgive you this one time.”
“I can't believe it...” Nick stammered, gawking at the giant beast as it swam towards the oceanic vanishing point. “That did it! He's gone!” He grinned. “Everypony's free to sail where they please!” He spun about. “Doctor Mane. Please tell us you got that on camera!” Silence. He blinked. “Doctor Mane?”
Theanim Mane was staring wide-eyed at the frosted chunk in Nick's hooves. His lips moved as he exhaled a series of ritualistic prayers.
“Uhhh...” Nick cocked his head aside. “Doc?”
“A piece of the Queen's glory...” Theanim murmured. His goggles turned foggy as his eyes moistened. “A frost that does not melt. Ever.”
“Oh great...” Sinrar rolled his eyes. “And he's a paperweight again.”
“Now that that's over,” Rainbow said, still shaking her legs dry. “Now for the real funky part.” She looked at the others. “We gotta get this thing back to where it belongs.”
“And then what?” Nick asked, hoofing the shard piece back to Rainbow.
“Hmmm...” Rainbow held the pale object in her hooves. “Good question.” She stared at the polished surfaces and the endless mist pouring magically off the thing. “Usually, at a moment such as this, I simply wing it. But it looks like now I'll have to flipper it.”
“The local yahoos can help,” Sinrar said.
“Yes. Absolutely.” Theanim nodded, collecting his senses. “Surely the Nealenders will know how to treat such a holy artifact with zeal and reverance.”
“Works for me!” Rainbow lazily tossed the chunk into a rattling bucket. CLANG!
“Gkkk—!” Theanim flinched, eyes bulging.
“Nick!” Rainbow trotted past him until she perched heroically on the Swan Song's bow. “Take us back to the Atoll!”
Nick smiled, saluting. “Aye, Captain Dash!” He sped over to the ship's rudder.
Theanim slumped into the cabin entrance, cradling his camera with a shuddering breath. “Verlaxion spare us all...”
The Nealend shore was on fire with cheers and whooping chants. When the Swan Song finally arrived in the shallow surf, it was as if the Queen of Rohbredden herself was visiting.
“What a fine day!” Silver hollered, grinning wide. “Bloody but without blood!”
“A warrior who uses her body instead of a spear!” Sora squinted. “How did you do that?”
“I... uh...” Rainbow Dash casually scratched the back of her neck as she smirked at all of the cheering villagers and their guests. “I took a left at his uvula and hit the brakes a block from his tonsils.”
“Oh Great Goddess Verlaxion!” Flare flew up, grinning wide. “You're such a brave, brave hero!” She soared straight for the boat.
“Ehhh, it was nothing—” Rainbow braced herself.
Fwooosh! Flare rocketed past her and pounced on Nick.
“Whoah!” WHUMP! Nick enjoyed a muzzle full of Flare, followed by a full-feathered hug.
“I'm so proud of you! Heehee! My melt beau!”
“Preach it to oceans, why don'tcha!” Nick wheezed, nevertheless hugging her back as well as his noodly limbs could.
Sinrar rolled his eyes and said, “We've got the piece of the Shard.”
“Do you, now?” Kaji remarked, flying close to Rainbow's side of the boat. “Brilliant! We were getting bored of fishing in the lagoon without a whirlpool!”
“That's it?!” Twilight scoffed. “They're not upset about Ultimo being gone?”
“Uhhhh...” Rainbow struggled to speak above the continued cheers and shouts along the shore. “What about the great hunt, y'know?!”
“Eh...” Kaji shrugged. “There's plenty of fish in the sea. And if we get sick of chasing sharks, we'll just cannibalize the next visitors that show up!”
“Uhhhhhhhhh—”
“HAH!” Kaji slapped Rainbow's flank. “Silly landwalker! That's a classic one!” He winked. “Eh, don't worry. If we can't spill blood, then there's always melting. Eh, Flare?”
“Mmmmmmmm!” Flare kissed Nick until the stallion's muzzle was blue.
“Right.” Kaji flew off. “I could use a cold dip.”
“Hey wait!” Rainbow waved after him. “The shard—”
“Dr. Mane!” One of the Continentalists shouted from the shore. “Is it true, then?! Is the beast finally gone?”
“As Verlaxion is my witness, yes, my friends.” Theanim nodded, smiling. “Ultimo has left this Atoll for good.” He pointed at his camera. “I even took a snapshot or two of his departure.”
“Oh, praise the Queen!” The Continentalists smiled and hugged one another in joy. “We can finally leave this blasted oven!”
“First thing's first!” Rainbow hollered to the crowd. “We gotta get this piece of the Shard back into the bottom of the Lagoon where it belongs!”
“I suppose you would like help with that, eh, landwalker?” Sora said.
“Yes.” Silver winked. “You didn't exactly have... a lucky time diving there before.”
Rainbow glanced at Twilight, and both ponies smiled with a contented breath. “Thought you'd never ask.”
Heh, Even Twi gets the wrong A-word. Wonder what Rainbow will do if someone gets it right?
I got such a good laugh out of this.
So, basically... you went through the Durandans, use Find/Replace with "Violence" instead of "Sex"... and now you're going back through and going back?
I am okay with this.
Twenty-five double crunches, ):(. Lay on the ground, hands behind your head, feet flat on the ground, legs bent at a 90 degree angle. Lift your legs and your upper body together until your elbows touch your knees, then back down. That's one. Have fun. Knock 'em out!
To be fair, getting swallowed by a giant eel and hacked up iike a furball isn't really awesome Dash, amazing is a pretty good word for it.
Btw, it is 5:45 am and, according to my tablet, 0 degrees celsius outside on the second day of winter in Australia, if anypony cares.
-Memories given light, ease a lonely flight. Ynanhluutr.
Yaay, Ultimo is intelligent, and made a swim for it.
Next up, Cameron takes a dive. Putting the shard in is going to be the easy bit. Is the ice plug going to instantly phase out, leaving an immediate violent whirlpool, or is it going to take time to melt.
Then Dash gets to fly down the centre of a rapidly swirling tunnel of water, and even worse, come back out, if she doesnt want to get Lost In Space.
6044523 I seem to recall that they did once, but she wasn't in the mood for it.
Finally, whirlpool ahoy. Let's see what the plug is it all about.
Let's see what marshmallow's deal is.
One step closer to Dash's next returned friend huh? We shall see what gets in her way from here on out...
We sure got a lot done this chapter.
-Spirit (Yeast and Treacle)
Well, good bye Ultimo, hello Machine World.
6044570 hehe. Your weather sounds like Colorado in the middle of spring.
Time to introduce a new group of ponies to the machine world!
Woohooo!
Bounces up and down on cloven footses
It's almost Rarity time!
Cocks a tawny fuzzy head
Errr... i think.
Best of luck to Ultimo. May he find many giant sexy eel chicks to spawn with.
Happy waves, Ultimo. I'm glad you aren't sushi.
And now, it's time for things to get fabulous.
Even Twilight gets it wrong. Good to see Ultimo is on his way far away from the A toll. Now it's time to rescue Rarity, or whoever it is.
Eels gonna eel.
Rarity time is near. Who's ready to be fabulous?
6044570 don't feel bad phoenix, it's 3 degrees here at 3 am with gale force winds and rain with bits of hail ... And it's meant to be summer.
Rarara
Plot twist: It's really Applejack and the rest of the book is filled with Rainbow angst.
6044570 6044859 6045817
Living in Illinois, wind chill makes all the difference. It'll make 10 degrees below zero (either scale) feel like -40 degrees (they're the same at this point ), and yes it can get that cold every few years (January 6th, '14 and I had to be outside in the Chicago area that day; noon was about -15F/ -26C where I was without wind, was like -38ish with the wind). I don't even want to think how cold Minnesota or Siberia can get in the dead of winter... I know what terribad winters feel like. Though, once I got used to 3 layers on top of the two thermal layers, I almost couldn't feel the wind. Just wait for a 105+ F heatwave this summer to go and make me eat my words... again.
tl;dr
I hope the wind stays low, and no clouds drop freezing rain on you guys in the southern hemisphere. Have some hot cocoa while I imagine the s'mores I could have camping if I left my computer. In
6 monthschapter 50 of the next book, I'll probably be complaining about the cold again.Maybe Verlax dropped an icy deuce on us then... would've make a lot more sense.
And like that Dash channels a bit of Dr Dolittle and Ultimo leaves. Interesting. I suppose he wasn't Verlaxion after all (wasn't really thinking he was but the possibility was there all the same).
Is it time for the song?
To bring the islanders tourists to eat,
Summon Bigger Fish!
To launch once more the stranded fleet,
Summon Bigger Fish!
I guess if we're doing this in reverse order, Pinkie's going to be next, there's going to be some kind of haunted forest, and Wraithity & Twilight Spookle will be cracking jokes?
6046396
Maybe I should make frozen offerings to Verlaxion or try to drum up some strife around the neighborhood to draw the windigoes away from our southern friends. In my neck of the woods, they seem to have been driven off, or perhaps the weather factory was sabotaged: it felt like last winter started just before the end of December and ended about a week and a half into January. Only one storm looked like it dropped more than about 18 inches (close enough to 50 cm), and it was all gone in two weeks.
Damn. Ultimo is not boat. I was so hype for fishboat. Anyway. Rarity should be up and around shortly.
Yup, I'm definitely naming my Mawile after Ultimo.
Incidentally, I just finished Background Pony, and I spotted this in the Special Thanks section:
PROGRESS, yes.
imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/funversity/llamas.jpg
You're accepted!
6046396 its not that bad in Illinois, right now its 4 am and I'm in the hammock reading under the light of Luna's moon and its perfectly mild although I am in jerseyville myself so take that as you will.
6046242 suddenly the entire series turns into appledashery on holiday
I love the unexpected optimism of the natives. Whoop, whoop!
Also, that chapter title.
6044570 Why the hurry? Here in Mangoland winter doesn't start until the 21th. But of course, winter here is just an illussion, with one or two cold days every other 25ºC week.
6046634 I don't remember having seen that before. I wonder if it was always there.
Victory!!!
6046584
Yeah, that was the "iguana thing". And I forgot about Nevlamas' poor sacrificial victims too
6046634
We'll give you a few minutes so you can duck tape your soul back together.
6047049 Illinois isn't that bad I
concedeagree. Just the extremes every now and then get to me. Right now here in Champaign, not including tonight, every evening's low is set to be 60F or warmer this week with 70s and 80s during the day. It's a nice contrast to a few years back when we had that drought-hot June in 2012 that screwed over plenty of farms in the surrounding counties.I know that the St. Louis area has had some bad heat bubbles too. Hell, I was in St. Louis that one summer (2010?,2009?) during the week that had that terrible schoolbus-semitruck accident. That week hit 100F+ temps in the area. The asphalt literally burned to the touch.
tl;dr: I don't like the super-extremes in temperature, hotter than body-temp and cold that can frostbite in minutes exposed? I'd like to avoid these if at all possible.
6047696 Try the Pacific Northwest, the weather here is almost always agreeable. Seattle has approximately 312 nice spring days per year, and tales of the rain seem to be greatly exaggerated.
So is "beau" the male equivalent of "bae" or something?
6062061 AFAIK, It's an older term for Boyfriend, I think it's from somewhere in the 60's to 80's range but it may be older.
'Kay then
Or, in this case, a smaller, rainbow colored fish, eh?
6057285 and only a hundred fifty miles away, we get 200 days of summer!
Great... she left the pegasus sex crater behind, but now she just made a... well, a pony sex island. I'm kinda surprised she was even able to hold the Shard though, since the other part of it at the bottom of the lagoon had chaos metal in it... so shouldn't that bit? Eh, I'm just glad we're moving on to the next bit of it.
~SolidFire
6973137
I'm guessing that it's of such a small trace amount that it's not outright toxic. Like how all fish have trace amounts of mercury, PCBs, and other lethal toxins. But in such small quantities that it won't kill you for eating them. [Heck I know the fish I get at Red Lobster / Fish joints have those stuff in them, but it's not going to stop me from getting me some good sea food.].
So she can be in its presence without it hurting her like the big gem does.
well, now comes the easier part.
07/29/2017
18:04 UTC
Shoo! Begone th-! ...well. Nevermind that last part.
They absolutely won't do that and I don't even know why you said those words that you said.
Back into the drink!