"Urohringr Alone," Starring Rainbow Dash
Enix raised a bleakweed tube in her hooves and breathed into a rune. The silver etching of moonrock glowed immediately.
Turning around, the Nightblood warrior trotted across the floor of a large chamber deep inside Bleak's Plummet. She faced a collection of seaweed-woven ragdolls positioned at the far end of the firing rage, took aim, and grunted into the air: "H'rhnum!"
POWWW!
A cluster of shrapnel flew swiftly across the room and rendered the dummies to ribbons. Th-Th-Thunk!
As the thunderous echo from the shot dwindled, Enix expelled the spent rune from the tube and blew the excess smoke from the barrel. She calmly turned around to face Kepler and Rainbow Dash, standing off to the side.
"That command that I just gave..." She spoke. "That is an ancient Moonwhinny word that most generally translates to 'burst' in the basic Equestrian tongue. Now..." She shoved a fresh chunk of shot into the barrel, then popped in an identical rune into the square-shaped notch atop the tube. "...I am loading the exact same ordinance and rune into the weapon, but listen as I give a completely different command."
As Rainbow and her friend watched, Enix breathed into the moonrock, causing it to glow. She pivoted, aimed, and shouted: "M'wynhrm!"
POWWWWWWW!
The blast was considerably louder this time—and the damage far more spread out. Rainbow squinted in the cold lunar light, observing as random chunks of shrapnel embedded into the bleakweed wall at a radius of several meters.
Kepler scribbled briskly onto a sheet of parchment, his spectacled eyes darting up and down.
Enix casually shouldered the smoking weapon and turned towards the two once again. "That last word translates to 'expel.'" She gestured blindly at the embedded shrapnel in the wall behind her. "Observe how the discharge is more widespread... but far less accurate?" Her eyes narrowed. "Same weapon. Same rune. But a different command."
"Most interresting," Kepler murmured, nodding. "And these rrunes... they arre engineerred to rrespond to such vocal trriggerrs?"
"Each rune is pre-enchanted," Enix explained. "Such sorcery does not happen overnight." She breathed. "It takes months... sometimes years of precise alchemy to eke magical substance out of our remaining moonrocks, employing the wisdom and ingenuity of countless elders. Nevertheless." Her scarred lips curved with the slightest hint of pride. "We have acquired a respectable stockpile throughout the ages. It should be more than sufficient in providing a deterrent to the Rohbredden forces."
"So... in other words..." Rainbow Dash gestured. "All you and your Nightblooded warriors gotta do is stick a rune in a tube, load it up with ammo, and say the right code word?"
"It involves more than mere pronunciation," Enix said. "The word must be shouted!" She slapped a hoof over her chest. "And you must believe in the spell! It must come from the heart!"
Rainbow gulped. "I see..."
"Also..." Enix raised a hoof. "One must have a proper memorization of the commands and the runes that they coincide with while on the battlefield. It will mean everything in the heat of the moment."
"So, therre arre multiple rrunes!" Kepler explained. He pointed at the damaged targets. "Forr a moment therre, I thought it was as simple as knowing when and wherre to shout 'H'rhn—'"
Enix shrieked loudly, instantly silencing Kepler and sending his and Rainbow's heads reeling. She frowned... and as they recovered from the ear-splitting outburst, she firmly spoke: "Do not speak the commands out of turn." She gestured at a pile of faintly glowing runes off to the side. "As you can imagine... an improperly-timed exclamation could be devastating."
"Y-yeah..." Rainbow winced, rubbing her fuzzy ear and wincing. "Tell me about it."
"A thousand pardons, Blood of Luna," Enix said, fangs glinting. "But it would have been most unfortunate if we lost half of our available ammunition because of your wyvern's unwitting mistake."
"So..." Kepler cleared his throat. "There appearrs to be a massively glowing setback to the implementation of rrunic warrfarre."
Enix sighed. "Indeed." Her slitted eyes narrowed. "Hence why we've only ever done battle in swift, overwhelming strikes. If our enemies ever managed to escape our attack, it would prove most disastorous to future engagements."
"That explains why you went super ballistic on the Stardust when we first met." Rainbow gulped. "Talk about a pirate's life..."
"Is therre a chance you can teach the Herrald the necessarry worrds and theirr prronunciation?" Kepler asked.
Enix briskly nodded. "Absolutely."
Rainbow raised her hoof. "I've got an even better question." She squinted in the lunar light. "Those first two commands you showed us look like they could rip ponies to shreds."
"Indeed."
"Are there... uhhhh... any runic tricks that could be used to just knock out our foe?" Rainbow gulped. "Or just scare the crap out of them before we even gotta butt heads?"
Enix stared. She then smiled, fangs showing. "Very much so."
"Well..." Rainbow shrugged, smiling crookedly. "I'm all ears."
Hovering in the air, Rainbow Dash cocked a rune into a bleakwood tube, aimed it sky-high, and shouted: "W'rhynnym!"
Phoooooom! A streak of burning light flew high into the air and—POWWWWW!—exploded in a brilliant fireball. The resulting heat evaporated the lower cloud-cover, exposing the purple starlight beyond. The flames lingered in the air for a full five seconds before eventually dissipating. Rainwater followed, drenching the choppy waves below.
Hovering closely around Rainbow, Ariel and Bard and Nicole cooed in awe. Wildcard also drifted nearby, calmly clapping his flesh and metal hands.
"That's a mighty snazzy trick," Bard said. "Reckon it'll scare the dickens out of them Frostknifers."
"Did Enix teach you that?" Nicole asked, tipping her newly-acquired hat back.
"That's not all she taught me." Rainbow reached into her saddlebag, grabbing another sliver of moonrock and a glass ball of ammo. "Watch as I load a completely different rune and shout a different command." She did just that, aimed into the sky, and hissed: "Y'wyvnym Y'lynwyn!"
Another streak shot into the sky. Seconds later, it burst—this time lighting the heavens with a bright flare of green light.
"Huh..." Bard rubbed his head, squinting at the dissolving glow. "You gave two commands this time."
"Right..." Rainbow lowered the smoking weapon and glanced at the others. "The first Moonwhinny word translates to 'green.' And the second and more important one means 'illuminate.'"
"So you can do multiple colors?" Ariel grinned. "That's so cool!"
"What's even cooler is that we can assign different messages to each of them," Rainbow said.
"I see where this is goin'." Bard's eyes narrowed. "Figures that—when the Rohbreddenites arrive—we're all gonna be spread out if we have any hope of throwin' 'em off their game."
Nicole nodded. "You're going to need some way to communicate with one another."
"We could... like... make a green flare mean 'All clear' and a yellow flare mean 'Rally north/south' or something like that."
Wildcard gestured.
Bard looked from him to Rainbow Dash. "What about signalin' for when the Gondola arrives?"
"Oh! Totally!" Rainbow nodded. "Something big and bright and eye-catching. Like... blood red or something."
"We're going to use this runic sorcery for more than just communication, right?" Ariel inquired, leaning in. "Like... that big fireball you summoned earlier—"
"That—I'm hoping—will enforce some crowd control," Rainbow said. Her nostrils flared. "Maybe keep the Rohbreddenites back."
"And if it's not enough?" Bard asked. "What if they decide to charge us full on?"
"There are a lot of tricks that these runes can do," Rainbow explained, patting the weapon in question. "Between blinding bursts of light, concussion blasts, and fiery explosions, we should hopefully be able to distract the heck out of them. Maybe even put a bigger scare into their skulls than just the fear of Verlaxion. However..." She sighed. "If they do engage us full ham, then... yes... these suckers here can be charged to shoot holes in Frostknife's finest." The mare gulped. "But I'm hoping it won't have to come to that."
"Guess we won't be handin' any of the ammunition to Dubya here." Bard smirked aside. "Cuz it would do nopony no good, eh, mofo?"
Wildcard gave him a metal middle finger.
"I've got a question," Ariel said.
"Go for broke, girl."
Ariel cocked her head aside. "We're gonna need a heck of a lot of runes to make this happen."
"And the sarosians have a whole lotta runes to give."
"Sure. Cuz they're all locked up in Bleak's Plummet. But where are we going to stockpile it all?"
Flynn trotted out of the cabin of the Stardust.
"Okay. So I've absolutely gutted the whole interior of everything except for essential components to the manaengine." He pointed into the rusted metal hollow behind him. "You should be able to fit a crapton of glowy rocks in there."
"Right." Logan nodded, leaning against the railing of the starboard side. "And the rest could go on the granite platforms right at the edge. Think of it as a final line of artillery." He grinned wide. "Between the Stardust and the brink, we can shell the ever-loving Hell out of the Rohbreddnites up until the arrival of the alicorn elevator thingy."
"Right!" Flynn smirked. "Heck... if we time it just right, the dudes from Frostknife won't even know what's attacking them! We may never even have to come into physical contact with the creeps!"
Upon hearing that, Logan glanced at his axe with a pouting expression. "Well, now that you put it like that..."
Rainbow Dash cleared her throat. "It's awesome to be optimistic and all, but l-let's... just plan for any eventuality." She turned to look at Flynn. "I dig it. Place a bunch of rune guns here on the Stardust and another throng of them at the very edge. While we pelt these melon fudges, the rest of us can fly in the air, distracting them for as long as necessary."
"This plan already has several glaring holes," Remna muttered, shuffling up.
Rainbow sighed, her every body part drooping. "Yes. Please, Axan. Do tell us why."
"Namely this." Remna gestured at the boat. "The Herald's vessel here is mostly defenseless. Meanwhile, the enemy will be arriving in more than one vessel, and each soldier is capable of swift flight." The mare's green eyes hardened. "What is going to stop them from sinking the Stardust to the depths the very moment that they discover it?"
"Well, it'll be mobile!" Flynn stuttered to say. "My baby's fast, y'know! We can... uh... totally outflank them!"
"Not good enough." Remna shook her head. "And with such a massive stockpile on board this craft, we cannot afford to give it over to the attacking forces."
"Like they're going to know how to speak moonwhinny and use those weapons."
"It's not the weapons I'm concerned about," Remna said. "It's the ammunition. From the description, I trust it's highly explosive."
"I hate to admit it..." Rainbow exhaled. "But Axan's right."
"Well..." Flynn flailed his forelimbs. "What else are we going to use the Stardust for?!"
"What about that crap?" Logan remarked.
Rainbow turned to squint at him. "What crap?"
He gestured at the rock formations and shipwrecks lingering in the distance—eastward across the choppy seas. "All that crap. Seems to me it's a good place for the Stardust to easily hide."
"More than that..." Flynn tapped his chin in thought as a bright grin slowly crossed his face. "...but it would be the best place to stage an ambush!"
Remna raised an eyebrow. "An ambush."
"Right! It's brilliant!" Flynn spun about, gaping at Rainbow Dash. "Think about it! This close to the edge, it's clustered... the water's shallow... and there are obstructions that the Rohbreddenites will have to avoid at every turn! They're likely not familiar with this waterscape, but we have had a good few hours ahead of them to map it out! That gives us an edge!"
"So... we draw them into the narrows..." Rainbow pointed at the rocks and wreckage. "...and once they've made it through at least half of it..."
"Whammo! Logan punched his fetlocks together, grinning wickedly. "Ambush time!"
Remna exhaled. "This suggestion brings the enemy awfully close to where the Gondola arrives. I feel that with each new plan that's being made, the entire scenario becomes increasingly and unnecessarily risky."
"Risk is as risk does. But still..." Rainbow studied the formations neatly from afar. "...there may be something else that can give us an edge."
Flynn leaned forward. "What are you thinking, Rainbow?"
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So... the Moonwhinny-Cannon-Thing is basically Roadhog's gun. Got it.
This is gonna be one awesome battle.
Remna has a pretty good point this is a very risky plan but really given that she hasn't come up with a better one herself I think it likely the best one they have; that doesn't involve killing everyone anyway.
...
...
There is no possible way...
...That this can go wrong. At all. Nope.
It's been almost five years, and I finally learn what that word actually means. I feel fulfilled.
Nearing four for that one...That translation seems to explain it's longer-lasting effect, though.
Rainbow Dash...with a rune rifle.
*squeeee!*
The plan is risky, but in this situation, it is likely the best they got. Unless they feel like just dropping moon rocks onto the Guard ships ala MLP carrier airstrike style. Though even that has it's own risks.
Battle strategy chapters are best chapters. Possibly second only to actual battle chapters.
is anyone else getting some Dune flashbacks from all this moonspeak powered weaponry?
Damn... Rune weapons kick flank!
Skyrim anyone? FUS ROS DAH!
"Plans are useless but planning is indispensable.
I'm not really sure I like this plan so far, like Remna. The more moving parts this thing has, the easier it can fall apart if---when something goes wrong.
Alternatively, they could set up some of the sarosians on the wrecks with their rifles to create snipers.
Another good plan would be to sink the boats the guard are using, that forces them airborne, and anycreature that can't fly has to either drown or be carried, it also prevents the medics from having a place to actually heal anyone.
Provided the flight capable creatures actually save the others from drowning, that should reduce combat capable numbers a bit, forces them to either be carried back to dry land, or left trapped on the other wrecks.
Also Dash, you're forgetting something.
Lots of groups outfit their vehicles with a self destruct. Which you now have.
The Stardust can be scuttled if need be.
-Companions are abound, frozen spectres hound. Utaan.
Fireship?
Fireship.
Looks like Dash is about to put the Fear Of Dread into these guys.
High Explosive.
Your Move, Creep.
7603296 Dreit
I would imagine that there are also moonwhinny rune combos that perform menial tasks as well like making funny noises and spraying water at a target or creating pungent smells 'n stuff. Just don't mix these popping rocks with soda and we are safe.
Good god, this is taking me back ages. It's really cool that you've managed to tie the story into EoP/Saros, even tangentially.
Signs of Lerris are diminishing.
Rainbow's just been given a really awesome new toy, and doing so would be rude and pointless if she wasn't going to play with it soon (otherwise, we'd just find out later on the Dark Side, when it's more relevant). So I'm assuming a battle is indeed happening, and if Rainbow's already in the fray, she's less likely to be caught with her pants down and have all her allies killed before she arrives on the scene- and if something does go wrong, she'll be in a better position to do something about it.
Of course, we could always just see Rainbow engage the first two ships and win, while Bleak's Plummet is captured offscreen by the third one. That would be sad. But assuming Chandler somehow manages to take them captive instead of drowning them (not likely, but live bait is better than dead), it still could go very right...
Anyhow, Ledomare was the arc of manapunk, and Rohbredden the arc of steam and steel. I'm pretty sure we're getting a look at what Dark Side tech will look like, and it's very pleasing.
7603281
There's no way that IC would put that many explosives in one place and not find a way to blow it all up.
With all this set-up, we're either gonna be looking at one hell of an awesome showdown, or a disaster where something goes majorly wrong or something unforeseen happens. And there's still a tiny, nagging feeling that, in the end, Rainbow will be forced to make a difficult decision and abandon her friends, taking the gondola alone, sacrificing her loyalty for "the greater good", the same way she sacrificed honesty in Frostknife and kindness in the Quade.
On a lighter note, I wonder what a Seraphimus vs. Enix showdown would look like.
7603194 From what I've been told of EoP, it's waaaaaaaaaaaaay more versatile.
Kinda makes me wanna read it.
7603420 With how they're acting? They'll let the unworthy/injured die.
This is going to blow up in their faces so bad.
What are the current odds on Rainbow being the only one to make it out?
So much for them needing to be both shouted and spoken with conviction.
And now we have the explosives set. Can't have a good battle without any explosives now can we?
Still not sure of the wisdom of having Bleaks Plummet stick around to get spotted. Sure it will mean thise ships will have to keep an eye out for an ambush that will never come. But it also means any survivor's might try to get revenge on it. Long way to the west. I don't think they brought depth charges for those random fishing boats they happen to pick up, I hope I'm right.
Well, now they are ready to clean the redshirts and leave mostly named characters for the big battle.
7604073 You should read it. It fills you with hope and despair at the same time, somehow.
7603823 I find the voice activation extremely fiddly. I can't believe it to be the pinnacle of the moon rock user interface... Maybe this method was never meant to be used in combat.
Sigh of relief, up to that last line I was sure that their plans were not going to work..... Rule of plot says that if a hero explains all the steps of a plan then shit HAS to hit the fan. ... But fade to black or whisper it out and success is guaranteed! (well there is one exception I know of, 1970s version of Charlie's Angels, the writers of that show had so little respect for the audance that their writers guide said 'tell audance what to expect, do it, then tell them again what they just saw,) I think IC is better than that.... Despite the self-deprecating alias of "short skirts and explosions" which I belive is a refrence to that sort of thing.
So, magical muskets that are way better than the original muskets we used?
Also:
So there are now two ambushes in the offing. Which one will be more successful?
Moon muskets confirmed for awesome. I have a feeling we'll see more of those in the dark side. Though I don't think the ammo is explosive unless shouted at.
Yeah. The edge.
7604954
I found this far more amusing than I probably should have.
7604901
I've been pretty much assuming Seraphimus is on the third ship. If Keris is on it he's not alone - like you said they're keeping an eye on him. I'm kind of expecting the two ships (with Chandler) to show up, he'll start monologing pretending to maybe try to get the Sarosians to side with him while the third ship with Seraphimus sneaks in. Tho I'm a bit surprised they've been able to hide it so far, the Sarosians are quite the mariners and I would think pretty difficult to hide from..
Also, do the Sarosian submersibles have weapons? Wondering if they could have snuck up on at least the two ships and targeted their props / rudders and disabled them. I know there are a lot of pegasi and griffins, but making them attack from farther out seems like it would have helped a bit,
This is going to be brutal I fear...
Okay so now I'm just thinking that maybe yeah they draw the Rohbreddenite forces towards the edge, and stage the ambush. But something happens and the Job Squad is followed and pushed back against the edge. And given how slow the gondola is maybe they can't all just jump on and set sail without risking the Rohbreddenites doing the same. So the Job Squad might have to stay behind and give their lives so they can stall the army enough so RD can get a head start and avoid them, and RD will just stew in all the accompanying shitty feelings allll the way down. Hearing the screams and shit. Can't wait.
Hey, Enix is there a Moonwhinny word for, "explode"?
Jesus IC people are trying to sleep here, they don't need my breying hyena laughter waking them up! Have some consideration!
7604901 Also I just remembered that with Fluttershy's and Rarity's abilities, a sneak attack is practically impossible unless both are in vanilla zone.
Now if Dash is alone or separated, then I hope there is a color code for that.
That awkward moment when you look at the austraeoh series and realize you are 100 chapters behind.
7608583 Utaan's going to be wrapping up in about three weeks, and the finale is just about to start, so you noticed just in time. To the front lines!
7604451
All we're missing now are the short skirts.
7604400 A gun's trigger must be pulled, with the safety off, in order to fire.
Doesn't mean you load it and wave it around at folks with the safety on.
That is way too ominous a color you nutter.
This is like the ending for Saving Private Ryan where they come up with all these brilliant defensive plans that are executed well that work great until half of the defenders die suddenly. But hot damn it was a good movie.
7608583 you can do it! I believe in you!
Why do I keep on thinking about Skyrim when they use the runes? XD
8486174
fus ro dash
8839311
Perfect. I applaud you, good sir.
Would’ve laughed if “whammo” ended up setting off one of the artillery into something crazy like an explosion of skirts…
I wonder if the runes lose their potential when used, or if they can be re-enchanted for future use. They have a lot of non-combat uses as well, propulsion for one. Lamps? Doors? Forcefields? Check. I hope they're reusable, or they've burned through a lot of rock.
CLENCH YOUR BUTT CHEEKS AND SCREAM IT FROM YOUR HEART!!!
MORE explosions!