Panicked gasps and heavy hoofsteps filled the air of east Braum.
Keris' and Starstorm's heads spun towards the tavern. With single, bursting wingflaps, they both soared over to the building's entrance.
Citizens slumped down in the snow, coughing and wheezing. One group dragged a bloody, beaten stallion through the frosted soil behind them.
"What's wrong?!" Keris touched down. "What's happened here?!"
"It's... it's the Rogue!" The bartender exclaimed.
Keris blinked.
"The Rainbow Rogue did this?!" Starstorm exclaimed.
"Yes!" A mare nodded. She spun and pointed at the entrance. "She's in there!"
Keris rushed ahead in a red-and-brown blur.
"Lieutenant!" Starstorm exclaimed.
But before Keris could enter through the front—
PHWOOOMB! Tongues of flame vomited out.
Keris winced, stumbling back and shielding himself with his good talon.
Starstorm rushed to his side. Both griffons stood before the front entrance, gawking at the flames.
"She can start fires too?!" Starstorm exclaimed.
"This isn't the work of our prey," Keris slurred.
"There... th-there was a unicorn in there!" the bartender exclaimed. "Fighting her!"
"A unicorn?!"
"They both came up out of the cellar! I've no clue where they came from! Honest—"
Keris turned to face the bartender. "What does this unicorn look like?"
The stallion gulped. "Blonde mane... a golden bun. Uhm..." She winced. "Clean coat and a cleaner uniform..."
Keris' headcrest drooped beneath his helmet. "My Goddess..."
Fwooooosh! More flames erupted from the front entrance.
"Dammit to blazes!" The bartender hissed, stomping his hooves. "I'm ruined!" He looked at the Lieutenant. "There's enough alcohol in there to reduce the place to embers in minutes!"
"Never mind that!" A mare shouted. "A bunch of ponies are still in there!"
"Yeah!" Belched the bloodied stallion from where he lay in the snow. "Including Fuzzy Plots! My favorite barmaid!" His eyes crossed and he slumped back down, unconscious. "Guhhhh—" Thwomp!
"Sergeant," Keris hissed, shielding himself from the growing flames. "Go fetch the Commander and the rest of the Talon—"
"Already on it!" Starstorm made a running start, flapped her wings, then flew across the village. Swooosh!
"For Goddess' sake!" The bartender pulled at his mane as he slumped to his knees. "Why fight here?! Why in my bar?!"
"One concern at a time, citizen..." Keris limped sideways, examining every window before him. As soon as he came upon a rectangular pane, he saw fire rising violently on the other side. "Blast...!" Shuffling faster, he struggled to find an alternative entrance. "Verlaxion, I'm praying for an opportunity here..."
Inside...
WHAM! A floating chair slammed across Rainbow's cheek.
"Ooomf!" The pegasus went flying.
Her friends gasped, hugging each other in mid-levitation.
Th-Thwump! Rainbow landed on the burning tavern's floor and went sliding several feet. "Guh!" She stopped hard against an overturned bench. Soot and ash speckled the floor beside her as she spat up blood. "Grkkk..." A snickering smile. "...that all you got, toots?"
FLASH! Golden telekinesis lifted Rainbow Dash up by her throat.
"Snkkkkt!" Rainbow's eyes rolled back as she flailed in midair.
"Stop... talking..." Longaze hissed from across the way.
A huddled group of ponies nervously watched as Longaze suffocated Rainbow Dash, lifting her up until she hovered just beneath the tavern's wooden wagon chandelier.
"Your luck has officially run out." Longaze's eyes narrowed beneath her glowing horn. She trained a heavy, glowing current of magic on the struggling pegasus. "I'm here to finish what was started in Red Barge."
"What... t-took... you s-so long..." Rainbow sputtered, writhing.
"Didn't you hear me?!" Longaze barked. "I said shut up!" Her horn glowed even hotter as the burning air tingled between them. "Once you're down for the count, I'll tear this place to the ground and burrow our way back to freedom!" She spat aside at the flinching citizens. "No witnesses!"
"Pssssst!" Twilight hovered up by Rainbow's side. "Rainbow!" She pointed at the stream of magic shimmering between the two. "She's overloading her leylines! A harmonic blast should be enough to cause a cascade failure and knock—"
"Less... words... snkkkkt-egghead..." Rainbow wheezed, turning bluer.
Twilight rolled her eyes then pointed at Rainbow's neck. "Just touch the pendant, for Celestia's sake!"
"Easy... p-peasy..." Rainbow flung a limp hoof over her ruby lightning bolt. Harmony pulsed bright and ruby from within.
Longaze sensed the ripple of energy in the corner of her vision. "Huh?" She looked straight up—and immediately regretted it. POWWW! Her condensed magic was shoved back into her. "Ooomf!" The secretary found herself barreling backwards and through a stack of firewood. Th-thuddd!
"...!" Rainbow Dash fell. Instinctively, she flung her forelimbs upwards—grabbing the wagon chandelier by her fetlocks. The mare swung, caught her breath, then released her grip at full momentum.
Surrounded by flames, Longaze stood up. A shadow appeared over her. "...?" She looked up into a pair of leg-dropping hooves.
WHUD!
Longaze slammed against the wall. Burning curtains lapped against her body, catching her neatly-pressed suit on fire.
"Augh! Aaaaaaaugh!" Yelping, the blonde mare thrashed, struggled, and finally stripped herself of the singed article. Her eyes widened as she felt a violent tug on her tail.
"Jee, I'm flattered." Then, with a grunt, Rainbow pulled Longaze's tail. She body-slammed the unicorn chest-first against the tavern floor and wrestled her from behind. "But you're about to get flattened—"
"Another spell incoming!" Twilight shouted.
"H-huh?" Rainbow blinked as she felt the two of them encased in magic.
Twilight winced. "It's a levitation spell—"
Fwooooooosh! Longaze flew the two of them straight up and towards the ceiling.
"Oh come onnnnnn—!" SMASSSSH!
The citizens on the first floor tilted their heads up and winced as they saw the two plow up—
—and into the second story above, leaving a gaping hole behind them. Both combatants collapsed on both sides of a bedroom. Smoke and ash filtered up through the wooden floorboards, forming a dense haze in the chamber.
"Mrmmff... kaff!... hckkkkt!" Rainbow Dash wheezed, sprawled out on all fours. "Celestia I hate fighting unicorns." She gasped as she was yanked up from behind.
Longaze glared as she telekinetically lifted the pegasus in front of her. "Then give up already!"
"Yeah..." Rainbow limply reached aside, felt around, and lifted a tall mirror from atop a vanity. "...about that." SMASSSSH! She slammed the thing full force over Longaze's skull.
"Aaaaaaugh!" The unicorn stumbled back, her face cut and bleeding in several places.
"Hah!" Rainbow Dash landed in a squat. "Not so pretty now, are ya?!"
"That's telling the hussy!" Rarity spat.
"Rrrrgh!" Longaze shook the cobwebs off and summoned another pulse through her horn.
"Careful, Dashie!" Pinkie shouted, ears wobbling. "The creep's reloading—"
"Not today!" Rainbow galloped at full force. "Raaaaaaaugh!" She rammed hard into Longaze as—
SMASH! SM-SMASH!
—the two went sailing through wall after wall, reducing the rooms of the tavern's top story to dust and debris.
After plowing through the third straight wall, their momentum finally ended. The mares spilled out into a hallway above the stairs, collapsing across opposite sides of a mountain of fresh debris. Coughing from the increasing smoke, they struggled to get back on their hooves. Meanwhile, flames climbed up the walls with blazing orange tongues growing... spreading...
"Commander!" Starstorm shouted.
Seraphimus and Sarda spun, blinking.
"What is it, Sergeant?"
Starstorm hovered above the group. "The Tavern! Northeast side!" She pointed with a trembling claw. "You must come quick!"
Seraphimus blinked. "Where's... Lieutenant Keris—?"
"Verlaxion spare us..." Sarda suddenly gasped, his eyes following a fresh trail of smoke.
Ponies stood in tight clusters, their voices coalescing into a worrisome murmur as they watched the smoldering plume.
"... ... ..." Seraphimus' charcoal eyes glinted. "The Rogue..." She whistled shrilly in the air. Windburst and Raptr saw her gesturing from afar. In quick bursts of speed, they joined their griffon companions, violently streaking northeast towards the source of the violent, burning fiasco.
Sarda stood briefly alone, his muzzle agape. "... ... ...Goddess, what have I brought to this town?"
Three way time!
Get your minds out of the gutter, I mean a three way battle.
"... everything you've worked so hard for will crumble and burn from the pressure of everything that's coming to collect me. You don't want that. Let me go. Or else, one way or another, Braum is going to vanish from the map of Rohbredden." "You can count on that." You were explicitly warned Sarda, time to pay the piper.
It's triple the pain, triple the pay!
Oh this is much more entertaining than their last encounter at Red Barge.
I can only imagine what happens once Seraphimus arrives.
She warned ya. Now lets hope the confusion allows Rainbow to escape.
But I don't want to fight any Scenes...
Will we finally see a Talon × Longaze confrontation next? I sure hope so!
Ponies have such fitting names.
Wrath, ruin, and an adoracute Pegasus being chased by silver clad death griffons and Shell 2.0
And now Seraphimus is getting into the mix. I don't know how Rainbow's gonna get out of this one without being captured by one side or the other. Unless Sera and Longaze get into a fight (!) and Rainbow slips away while they're distracted.
Now the battle is going to start heating up even more, and it was already on fire to start with.
Is it just me or does it feel like Longaze has been getting more and more dumbed down for these recent chapters? It's like she's gone from being an intelligent and level headed secretary bodyguard to just another grunting, yelling moron, mostly for the sake of plot. I don't know, perhaps it is just me. At least the action is enjoyable.
6863266
Her plan to get information was pretty smart though, I would really chalk up how she's acting in these recent chapters as frustration getting to her, she likely didn't expect her to put up this much of a fight and also, from Longazes point of view, be apparently insane and talking to herself about stuff. She might think that Rainbow isn't taking this seriously which can be highly annoying when you have been dragged around quite a bit trying to capture some one.
Tasteful chapters
its almost as if rainbow TOLD you what'd happen
Gambit pileup is a go.
6863266
fwiw, Shell got increasingly deranged the longer he didn't die.
Doctors recommend reminding Imre to Shoot him.
6863320
I feel I'd be more accepting of it if she'd demonstrated more of a penchant for this kind of mindless hulking out on Red Barge as well, that we had actual build up for her character having a meltdown, but pretty much all her previous scenes have painted Longaze as being pretty intelligent and calm minded, even under stress. This recent blast happy change of character feels just like that, a change of character, forced so that the the village of Braum can burn down. Honestly this would've been more interested in Longaze had captured Dash and taken her back to the Consortium factory, forcing Keris to pick up her trail and take the Talon there in search of her. But I digress, IC clearly has different plans. I'm just feeling kind of bumbed out that Longaze seems to be going the route of "dumbed down psycho villain" when she started out with a bit more potential than that.
6863446
Well, to be fair, Shell was before my time commenting on this story, otherwise I would've voiced my dislike of him also getting dumbed down to being a crazy pony, but at least he had a lot more build up for it. Wasn't a fan of how Imre died either. Not that she died, just the way it was handled. *shrugs* It's fine though, this story is, what, over two million words long now and still going? I can't hold it against IC if I don't feel every choice is stellar. Story still rocks, regardless.
Wow, they're really getting into it.
Hurr durr sex jokes!
Now, will Seraphimus listen when Keris says Longaze is the reason for it?
Survey says: No
Dash, Shell tactics!Go!
-Companions have returned, inner darkness spurned. Utaan.
YOU DONE MESSED UP SARDA!!!!
Yeah! Go Rainbow! Beat the crap out of her!
6863242
This made me laugh way harder than it should have...
Yeah Sarda, seems like ya shoulda listened to Seraphimus from the start, eh?
Well, looks like we're gonna have a Talon v. Longaze v. Rainbow fight scene on our hands. Shit should most assuredly get real here.
6863200
Well, she did warn you.
Welp, Braum was nice while it lasted.
Its the toilet scene from Terminator 3, and still Longaze aint washed up.
Being a wood and stone inn, I take it Longgaze wont be beaten by somethng as simple as running her head first into a support beam, getting her horn stuck, then a side swipe or collapsing roof beam smacks her sideways hard enough to snap her horn?
Well, there are customers are trapped inside, and juggarnaught is heading their way to breech entry.
Why was Keris having problem with a glazed window? I thought he didnt only have metal armour but also weaponry? That crossbow alone would be great at opening them? And at the moment, given where most of the burning stuff went, the chimney might be the easiest access route.
At least Lonngaze doesnt seem to be one of those unicorns who are so weak minded they can be beaten by the equivalent of an elastic band around the base of the horn disrupting concentration of casting.
She did warn you, pal.
You must be new to bar landlordship.
And there goes the heart of the village. No pulse, no Braum.
Also something about trashed mining tunnels and their primary export coming under threat.
6863488
Let's just assume that the cold does actually aggravate her... uh, big time.
You have brought your doom to your front door.
The thing that I love most about the fight scenes? Rainbow Dash's witty dialogue.
Are you sure you can afford the seven years bad luck?
6863242 Longaze ain't Shell yet. She still has plenty to live for, plenty to lose/get taken away.
6864391 Yeah, like that neatly presse- oh.
6863488
Always love when a warning comes to fruition. And not those vague warnings but the outright, this is what's going to happen, but sounds unlikely, kind of warnings.
6865068
I'd say it works so well in Undyne's case because she doesn't get much dialogue before she hulks out on you, so it feels more like a way to establish her character rather than a sudden , unusual change. That and Undertale is a comedy based story mostly so it can get away with that a lot easier than most other stories. That and Undyne is awesome and can do whatever the hell she wants.
Oh, and...
*Longaze suplexs a huge boulder, just because she can.
Title of the Next Chapter:
Title of the chapter after that:
John Scene
6866159 I want to slap you so hard right now. Sadly, I cannot reach through the interwebs, so I am simply going to glare at your comment and ramble angrily as I drink.
6863446 Misread instructions, Imre shot self.
He had fair warning
You aren't wrong, Seraphimus, but the "rouge" is only half of the trouble.
6864105 But it was Longaze (her face, specifically) that broke the mirror. Rainbow is excused.
Read this chapter while listening to Duel of the Fates. 10x more epic.
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6863250
Woo!! Go Longaze! Kick her ass! #ProudParent.
A year's break and a few months of reading later, here I am, back to the front. Great to be back to the comments section!
6866234 YEEEESSSS
6868994
Inn walls are cheap.
6863219
I doubt it. Still too soon for this book for that to happen, I think. :P
6868994 Heeeeeeey, welcome back to the front lines!