One Last Hiatus Before Plunging
"Dude, I'm gonna pre—"
Bard slapped a guitar string off-key. He and Wildcard glared confusedly across the rain-slick marble platforms along the edge of the world.
Kepler and Ariel were also craning their necks with a mutual look of blank confusion. "What was that, Big Show?" the latter asked, her eyebrow arched.
"Mrmmff—" Logan slapped a hoof over his chest. "Sorry. Belched. Whew." The bulky stallion heaved a bag of spare moonrocks over his chest. "I said I'm gonna prepare the last of the runes for shoving off." He limped towards the edge of the platform to where the Stardust was loosely moored. Several sarosians were perched along the port side. Others hovered above the choppy waves, chattering beneath the thunder in muttered conversation. "I mean... there's nowhere else for this shit to go, right?"
Wildcard gestured.
Ariel rolled her eyes and smirked. "'Not unless we want to blow up the entire friggin' Light Side while we cowardly ride the elevator to the other edge’," she translated. Afterwards, she glanced at a particularly scarred sarosian positioned to her right. "Is that even possible?"
"Erm..." Enix blinked, stricken by a curious air of confusion. "I... would imagine that such would involve one hundred million times greater a supply than our current allotment of Goddess-enchanted runes."
"Ha-Hah!" Kepler laughed, and soon the air filled with mutual chuckles from the rest of the Herald.
Bard smirked... before calmly returning to the gentle strumming of his guitar strings. He sat like a lazy statue at the westernmost edge of the final platform, his back to a half-broken pillar. Without his hat, the raindrops formed damp streams that disappeared into his thick brown mane.
Enix's fuzzy forehead furrowed. "Forgive me. Is there a purpose to that hyperbolic postulation and this jovial reaction following it?"
"Grnngh!" Logan heaved, dropping the bag of runestones like an anvil. The Stardust rocked, forcing the sarosians to stumble and throw the obtrusive stallion several curious glances. Ignoring them, he dusted his fetlocks off and turned to trot back onto the granite platform. "It's called a 'joke', lady. Surely you and your bat-friends keep bat-jokes somewhere under your whalebone utility belts."
"Ah." Enix nodded. "Land-dweller humor." Her slitted eyes narrowed. "No wonder you chose a career of mercenary work. Your blade cuts sharper than your tongue, I suspect."
Logan hopped back onto semi-dry ground and shrugged. "They don't call me an 'earth pony' just 'cuz I like to toss fertilizer."
"Depends on where you have your butt aimed," Flynn muttered from where he fiddled with a complex array of boomsticks pointed towards the thunderous sky. "Maybe we should be using you to throw off the Frostknifers."
"Pffft! With the lousy flavorless crap hauled in from Bard's farm? I've digested thicker meat from a lettuce farm!" Logan waved a hoof. "Save the fireworks for the stuff the Midnighters cooked up for us." He turned to glance at Bard from afar. "No offense, buddy."
Bard plucked at his strings. "Thou who smell't it will be mighty glad you hadn't have dealt it."
Wildcard snickered.
Ariel groaned, pulling at her eartips as her rolling eyes scraped the sky. "Blessed spirit of Mortuana... never mind the edge of the world—ferry me safely through this sea of smelly dumbasses."
"Hey!" Logan gargled, kneeling down to give his axe a final sharpening. "I'm not smelly!"
"It is no small wonder that a such a disorganized group lasted so long," Enix remarked.
"What? You mean us?" Flynn tilted his head up from his work. He bore a tired grin. "The Job Squad?" Blowing out the side of his muzzle, the balding unicorn added: "Lady... we barely made it this far."
"Forgive me if I confess that I am not surprised," Enix replied.
"A battle in the northern mountains," Flynn rattled off, waving a runestone in the crook of his fetlock. "A trek through countless ice caverns. Windigoes after windigoes. A run-in with the Right Talon of Verlaxion."
"Don't forget a farm full of flankhole hick supremes!" Logan blurted. Again, he winced… and again he smiled nervously in Bard's direction. "Erm... no offense..."
"Hrmmmmm..." Bard exhaled heavily, plucking the next few notes with extra gusto.
"Of course..." Flynn coughed, squinting Enix's way. "...things got the hairiest when we nearly had our throats slit by you guys."
Enix was hardly fazed by that. "We were training new recruits during the raid on your vessel. Otherwise, we would have gutted your abdomens for fish bait seconds into the assault."
"Jee," Ariel droned. "How comforting."
The nightblooded warrior glanced at the group as a whole. "What—if I may ask—guaranteed your success despite so many innumerable circumstances of misfortune?"
"What else?" Kepler adjusted his spectacles. He bore a tusked grin as he said: "Rrainbow Dash... the one and only Austrraeoh..."
"There he goes." Logan stifled a yawn, attending to his axe. "Jumping straight for the messianic plot."
"Did we or did we not get asked a verry perrtinent question by ourr most esteemed ally of the lunarr perrsuasion?!" Kepler asked, affording a brief frown in Logan's direction. "It's quite trrue afterr all!" The wyvern looked at Enix once again. "It is morre than the fact that we have all pledged ourr lives to the prrotection and safe deliverry of the Rrainbow one to the Midnight Arrmory." He took a deep, proud breath. "She has prroven herr blessed forrtune in morre ways than any of the angelic tomes could everr have forretold! Why... herr wisdom and tenacity within Starrkiss alone is as fine a testament as any!"
"But if you must know," Ariel suddenly spoke up, her voice calm—if not melancholic. "The Job Squad wouldn't be worth our weight in spit..." She gulped hard. "...if it weren't for Mortuana setting us all straight."
Kepler instantly clammed up.
Wildcard and Logan both paused, gazing past the weapons that they had been busy cleaning.
Enix's slitted eyes darted between them. "This 'Mortuana'..." She cocked her velvety head aside. "I heard Ryckmun speak of her. If only briefly." She leaned back in the misty air, sharing the same proud posture as her warrior subordinates who were hovering a few thunderclaps away. "She was... an alicorn... much like the Mother of Nightmares and her solar sister, Celestia."
Flynn nodded, polishing off the last of several runestones in the array. "That's right."
"I suspect that she is no longer among the living."
Ariel hung her head.
"She has..." Kepler cleared his throat before finishing. "...rreturned to the Harrmonic Plains."
"Mmmm..." Enix nodded once again. "I've heard it told that she sacrificed her very essence to assure your team proceeded through the Starkiss Mountain unharmed."
"Damn straight."
Enix glanced aside.
It was Bard. He looked up from his guitar, not missing a single note of his quiet song. "I can't pretend to say I ever knew her like my partners here did." He gave a pointed glance at Wildcard before looking Enix's way once more. "But I was there the moment she gave her everythang so we wouldn't become Windigo food." He swept his way past another note, waited for a roll of thunder to act as percussion, and strummed into another melody. "You and yer midnighter brothers and sisters say you believe in the Mother of Nightmares? Well, Mortuana believed in Rainbow Dash. Up until the very end." He exhaled gently. "Call us a lousy bunch of confused land-dwellers all you like, but I reckon we all have one thing in common."
"Indeed we do." Enix nodded, speaking in a firm tone. "We respect the honor of sacrifice." Her ears folded back. "As far as I'm concerned, you are all true warriors." Somepony belched off to the side, and she cast a tired glance at Logan. "Despite some... curious eccentricities."
"Hey. Love it or leave it, guano-gal."
"Ahem." Ariel stepped a bit closer to Enix, wings flexing as she smiled. "Your approval is touching. It... means a lot to know that you think well of us." She bit her bottom lip. "And... th-that you're not just helping us out because Xarchellus or Princess Luna told you to."
"Together, we are helping the Blood of Luna," Enix said firmly. Her eyeslits hardened. "And assuring the safe exodus of Bleak's Plummet." Her chin tilted upwards. "I can think of no other band of warriors I would rather share battle with." With that said, she let loose a high-pitched shriek.
The other members of the Vigil echoed her cry with a sky-piercing pitch. Full of pride and resolve.
"Grfff..." Logan winced, trying not to drop the weight of his axe. "I appreciate the enthusiasm... but can we not have too much of that? Don't wanna shatter the damned Gondola before it gets here."
"Please, frriend!" Kepler scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous! As if any sonic rreverrberration could possibly damage harrmonic alicorrn technology!"
"I..." Logan rolled his eyes, groaning. "I was being snarky you goddess-forsaken sky monkey, I swear to the Angels..." Clearing his throat, he lifted straight up, casting a plastic grin in Flynn's direction. "How's it looking, nerd?"
"Care to be more specific?"
"The elevator, Flynn. Do I need to rub your bald spot up against it?"
"You're asking me?" Flynn turned to gesture at the two towering stalks of shiny gold metal. With a dull whirring sound, the chains attached to an unseeable weight continued its agonizingly slow retraction through the ancient Emeraldinian pulley-system. "Even if I wanted to sit here and count the links, I've no earthly clue just how thick the body of Urohringr is!"
Ariel shrugged. "So... ... ..."
Flynn shrugged back. "... ... ...so it could be halfway towards us or one fourth of the way."
"Therre's no way to tell forr cerrtain," Kepler added. "Once it gets within a kilometerr orr two—prresumably—the Austrraeoh may be able to tell us!" He smiled through his tusks. "By prroxy of herr ghostly elemental frriends, of courrse!"
Swoosh! Rainbow Dash landed squarely on her hooves in the middle of the group. "Plant!" she barked, then giggled to herself. "Ha! See what I did there?"
"Heehee!" Pinkie Pie floated through a few sarosians as she and the other ethereal mares caught up. "No, but I'm choosing to laugh anyway!"
"Rainbow Dash!" Ariel jubilantly exhaled.
Rainbow winked at her. "Hey Tootszilla." She turned to look at Kepler. "What's this about me and ghost elementals?"
Before Kepler could say something—
"We were discussing the incalculability of the Emeraldinian Gondola's arrival," Flynn said in a dry, dull tone.
"Cool." Rainbow Dash nodded. Her eyes wandered... wandered... wandered. "So... uh... any sign of it?"
"No," Logan blurted with a frown. "We figured that would be your department. Y'know... particularly the two helpful ones. Radiance and Fluttersuckle?"
"Consarn idiot..." Applejack huffed, hovering close to her ghostly friend. "It's 'Fluttershy.'"
"Honestly, I'm rather fond of 'Radiance,'" Rarity said, fluffing her mane.
"Hrmmmmfff..." Twilight Sparkle folded her hooves with a pout. "I am too 'helpful'!"
"Mmmmmm..." Rainbow's eyes kept wandering... wandering... wandering across the rain-slick platforms. "If my friends detected the Gondola by now, they would have told me..." Her breath cut off as she finally made out Remna's figure. The dragonesque mare was a distant violet shadow near the furthestmost edge of everything. Rainbow kept her vision trained as she calmly continued: "...besides—all things considered—I've asked them to keep their senses trained on the two boats coming in from the west."
Enix nodded. "A wise precaution, W'ynlppa yln H'luun."
"Awesome to have you on board, girl," Rainbow said. "And gesundheit all the same."
"Say..." Pinkie Pie blinked. "Where're the rest of the batty-bat-bats?"
Rainbow looked at her. "Don't you remember? They've shoved off and are awaiting our signal."
Kepler craned his neck. "What arre yourr ghostly companions asking of you?"
"Pinkie was asking about Bleak's Plummet."
"Well, we told them what you asked us to tell them," Flynn said. "'Keep close to the surface and await for the signal before taking a dive.'"
"Hrmmmff..." Logan grunted. "Assuming that big Bleakweed turd can swim beneath the Central Guard without so much as making a single damn ripple." He tilted his head up. "I still think we should have thrown all we got at those punks from Frostknife."
"And what?!" Ariel scoffed. "Risk all of Luna's Flock?! Xarchellus is counting on us!" She pointed at Bard. "Johnny's sister and Echo and—"
"Hey hey hey!" Rainbow Dash marched down the thick of the group, gazing at every pony in turn. "Relax! Okay?"
"How can we relax at a time like this?" Logan grumbled.
"Because I told you to, ya friggin' melon fudge!" Rainbow Dash growled. Soon, however, her grin returned. "And because I've been through worse things before! And I'm here to tell you that—no matter how grim things look—today is bound to turn into a real Yukecastrotti for all of us in the end! Just you wait and see!"
Wildcard did a double-take.
Flynn and Kepler looked dumbly at Rainbow Dash, muzzles agape.
"Huh... ... ...?" Logan wheezed.
"Uhhhhhh..." Rainbow looked at Twilight. "Eucharist?"
Twilight Sparkle face-hoofed. Hard.
"Yewgo... Weaving...?" Rainbow's voice cracked.
"Give it up, sugarcube," Applejack droned. "You almost had it."
Rainbow's blue muzzle turned an indigo shade. Nervously, she looked in Bard's direction.
Bard instantly saw her... and it. Clearing his throat, he pivoted the guitar in his grip so that the neck of it poked Wildcard's feathery neck. "Yo. Dubya. Get out the harmonica."
The griffon merely glared at him. He moved a metal talon to gesture something—
"Will ya just do what I tell you when I tell ya?!" Bard hissed, swinging a rear hoof to buck his Desperado partner lightly in the feline rump. "Dag nabbit! Stop squawkin' my ear off and put yer bird-lips to good use! Dayum!"
Wildcard sighed. He bore the slightest of smiles as he reached deep into his bandolier, produced the mouth-organ in question, and proceeded to accompany Bard's improvisational melody with matching harmonics.
For a brief moment, the thunder along the edge of the world bowed to a lulling instrumental. Fluttershy and Rarity lost the tension in their ghostly shoulders. Even Enix and her fellow wingmates appeared a great deal more at ease.
From a distance, Rainbow Dash sensed Remna's figure shifting slightly. She chose to ignore it and preoccupied herself with pacing along the fringes of the group. "So..." A gentle smile crossed her fuzzy face. "What's everypony thinking about right now?"
"Tits," Logan said.
"Okay." Rainbow clenched her teeth. "Anypony else...?"
Silence.
More silence.
A bit of awkward squirming, then—
"A vacation," Flynn blurted.
Ariel turned to squint at him. "I beg your pardon?"
"I'd say we all could use one." The stallion's mechanical eye rotated as he looked up from his work. "In theory, of course."
Ariel nodded dumbly. "Of course."
The bald unicorn pouted. "Don't look at me that way."
"How else am I to look at you?" Ariel stifled a giggle. "We're literally standing here at the end of the world and you're talking about vacations?!"
"Well... the Austraeoh asked what was on my mind and—there you have it!" Flynn shifted. "I mean... not now, of course... but when this is all over, y'know?"
Bard looked up from where he made music back-to-back with Wildcard.
"Define 'this,'" Ariel insisted.
Flynn opened his muzzle... but hesitated. His one good eye blinked, taking in the drizzle of rain and distant flashes of lightning raking the firmaments beyond the world's end. "Mrmmmm..." he deflated slightly, hugging the runic equipment to his chest. "Come to think of it, I doubt I'd be able to relax even if I wanted to."
"Face it," Logan muttered out the corner of a gnarled smirk. "We're at our best when we're scampering all over the place."
"Heehee." Ariel smiled. "You said it."
"Wanna know why that is?" Logan threw Flynn a glare. "'Cuz we're the Job Squad, ya bald bastard."
"Still... it would be nice, don't you think?" Flynn's gaze wandered to Rainbow Dash. "Even you, Rainbow Dash. Wouldn't you want a vacation from all of this endless flight? The wackiness? The craziness?"
Twilight and Applejack looked at Rainbow.
The mare fumbled for a response...
"Forgive my ignorance," Enix suddenly spoke up. She exchanged confused looks with her subordinates, then looked at the Herald once again. "What does this word mean? This... 'vacation?'"
"Basically..." Ariel waved a hoof. "...it's when you get to take a break from... y'know... everything."
Enix stared blankly at her.
Ariel arched an eyebrow. "Don't sarosians ever experience a holiday from hunting and killing?"
"You mean such as the freedom that the Mother of Nightmares has most recently granted the Vigil?" Enix asked. "For our sacred journey west to the home of the Royal Sisters?"
"Er... no..." Ariel stumbled. "I mean..."
"Arriel, dearrest frriend..." Kepler raised a talon from afar, smiling through his tusks. "If I may be so brrash to interrject." He gazed at the collective sarosians in their presence. "In effect, you arre quite corrrect in yourr assumption, noble Enix! Princess Luna has grranted you eterrnal liberration! Forr no longerr arre you bound to the militarristic charrge of yourr dedicated albeit misguided forrebearrs!" He leaned back with a contemplative breath. "You have been given the opporrtunity to embrrace both the futurre and the past all at once! One would suspect that a grreat deal of euphorria comes with such a change."
Enix merely nodded. "And this counts as a 'vacation'?"
"Not exactly. No," Flynn corrected. "A vacation is like... the freedom to do nothing," he said. "For a short yet controlled amount of time."
"To what end?" Enix asked.
"Personal respite, of course!" Ariel exclaimed, eyes shimmering. "A chance to unwind!"
Enix stared at her. "The Night Mother's Vigil does not 'unwind'."
Ariel groaned inwardly. "No, I didn't think so."
"These 'vacations' of yours sound counter-productive," Enix droned. "A blessing—perhaps—that you have not found yourselves encumbered by such."
"We haven't had much of a chance to," Flynn said. "So... I guess that makes us kinda similar to you guys."
Enix bowed ever so slightly. "I will take that as a compliment."
"Ha-hah!" Kepler produced.
"It's all for the best, anyways," Flynn muttered, returning to his equipment. "You slow down once? Boom. Your momentum's shot to Hell. We really can't afford that now." His good eye darted across the platform. "Right, Rainbow?"
The sky's thunder answered before Rainbow could.
Then Logan was speaking: "I'd be bored out of my skull if it wasn't for the Herald being called in," he grunted. "If you ask me—I'm pretty damn jazzed to be here."
"Here." Ariel stared blankly at the obese stallion. "At the proverbial toilet lid of the world?"
"Yeah... well..." He stifled a yawn. "I was wasting away at the Lotus Springs."
"Pffft!" Ariel practically raspberried. "The Lotus Springs? In Cleft Prefecture?"
"Damn skippy."
"When were you at Cleft Prefecture?"
"Right up until last month!" Logan retorted. "Before I got the message from Remna—well..." He threw a glare across the rain-slicked Emeraldinian granite. "The Remna wannabe."
"And just what werre you doing therre, frriend?"
"Bah!" Flynn barked. "What else was Big Show doing there?" He smirked crookedly. "Tell me—were the working mares in full bloom this season?"
Wildcard snickered, nearly ruining his harmonica back up.
"Hah hah!" Logan stood straight up, leaning against the weight of his axe. "Nuts to you, chrome-dome! I had a bungaloo all to myself!"
"Oh yeah?" Flynn arched an eyebrow. "Finally got too fat for the bed?"
"For your information, I was taking a few suggestions from our favorite wyvern over there!"
Kepler's four eyes blinked. He held a claw over his furry chest. "Me?"
"Yeah, you."
Ariel made a high-pitched giggle. "No wonder you didn't score." She blushed, smiling at Kepler. "No offense, Keppies."
"None taken." Kepler adjusted his spectacles. "An asexual lifestyle makes forr dull rrecrreation! But—if you ask me—all the betterr! How else can I maintain a suprreme mental collection of the worrld's finest literraturre?"
"Yeah!" Pinkie Pie giggle-snorted, nudging the lavender spectre to her side. "That's some gift you've got, Twi!"
"Why thank you, Pinkie—" Twilight's ghostly eyes crossed. "Wait."
Applejack and Rarity giggled.
Rainbow smiled—but had her attention stoled by the rest of the Herald as the conversation continued:
"So... you attempted to meditate?" Ariel asked Logan. "All alone in your own personal bungaloo deep within Cleft Prefecture?"
"And lemme tell you," Logan wheezed. "The experience was absolute shit."
"A thousand parrdons, old frriend," Kepler said.
"Tch. Not your fault, buddy," Logan droned. His dull eyes reflected a million waves reflecting a million sparkles of errant lightning over the next few drifting seconds. "The problem with trying for once in your life to be deep is that you scrape the surface of something really damn shallow. That's when introspection becomes a real bitch, y'know? Like a dagger you're forced to sit on." He sighed. "And so... I practically rotated on it... feeling the sting of the days go by... melting off like the snow against the bubbling banks of those hot springs." His ears twitched as his mind went to another time and place. "All around me was the upper crust of Rohbredden elite. I'm talking all the blubbery fat cats from Frostknife. Trade Consortium executives trying to get away from their families and spouses. A few lucky pirates who had escaped the Seven Seas with a lifetime of loot to burn. Me? I only landed in Cleft Prefecture 'cuz of the money the Herald had stowed away in the most secret of cubby-holes. But... it didn't change the fact that I felt surrounded by so much garbage. There I was trying to relax... find my inner self... all of that nonsense. And all I could focus on was the sweat and the humidity and the horrible smell of the previous tenants plastered to the furniture of that place. And I was thinking to myself... 'This is the best any pony in this lousy continent could ever hope to get in life. This is the absolute top. And here I am merely due to a bonus for the job that I do.' Or... at least... the job that I've always pretended to do."
Ariel, Flynn, and Kepler watched in silence. The Desperadoes calmly looked over from where they played their soft duet.
Logan's nostrils flared. For the tiniest of moments, there was a glimmer of something shiny hidden deep within the contemplative contours of his face. It faded before Rainbow could blink. "An asshole like me doesn't deserve to die in comfort. Not with the highs I've experienced... or the lows." He swallowed something dense in his throat. It took two and a half attempts, but he swiftly had something to say at the culmination of it: "It just wouldn't be awesome." He bore a cynical smirk as his eyes met his friends again. "A Job Squadder is meant to go out anxious and screaming. Heh... I only hope I get to lop off more heads than the hairs I pull out of my own skull."
Rainbow shuddered. "And you just had to go down that kaizo road."
"A million pardons," Enix spoke, glancing humbly at Rainbow. "Would it help to state that I'm almost beginning to understand your protectors?"
Kepler laughed.
"Well..." Ariel smiled. "There's some progress at least."
Logan looked at Flynn. "Admit it, baldy!" His voice took on a booming tone. "Going over the edge of the world in an Emeraldinian barrel?! Whew! Doesn't get any sexier than that!"
Flynn sighed long and hard. His ears twitched to the sound of the Desperados' music as he hummed: "I must admit that there's a sort of... poetic nuance to it."
"Please, dude," Rainbow muttered. "Don't add an extra chocolate layer of fatalism to Big Show's crud cake."
"Pffft. Hardly!" Flynn's smirk was a caustic thing. "If it helps at all, I'm trying to be scientifically optimistic about the whole venture."
"Yes! It helps!" Twilight squeaked, floating through the stallion's corporeal body. "It helps a lot!"
Fluttershy giggled.
Flynn continued, unaware of the words spoken by Rainbow's friends. "I mean... think about it." His one good eye sparkled with awe and wonder. "We're going to be the first mortals to have crossed over to the Dark Side in seven hundred years! If not more!" He fidgeted slightly. "Well—not counting the changelings." He glanced at Remna. "Or Axan."
"Actually..." Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck as she looked across the platform. "...I don't think she's gone the same path that Endrax and Verlax have."
"Killer!" Flynn chirped like a happy colt. "Even better!" He gestured with his hoof. "Imagine all the new creatures that stand to be recorded into an ever-evolving taxonomy! Imagine the landscapes! The geological events! Why... even the heavens alone will yield brand new constellations... the likes of which mortal kind have never witnessed before!"
"Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee..." Twilight Sparkle clutched her drooling muzzle. Rarity had to brace her before her ghostly figured phased through the structure below. Applejack and Pinkie shared amused expressions.
"We will most cerrtainly be take notes, my learrned brrotherr!" Kepler said.
"We can spend forever taking notes!" Flynn's voice cracked. "At least..." His next sigh was a slightly melancholic one, and he aimed his smile vaguely in Rainbow's direction. "...I would like to think so."
Rainbow Dash said nothing.
Flynn gulped, then spoke in a softer voice: "I've lived in Rohbredden all my life. Surrounded by so much tradition... surrounded by so much zealotry... surrounded by so much..." His teeth clenched. "...ignorance." A slight shudder, and he added: "I can't count how many times I've wanted to take the knowledge stored by Mortuana in Wyvern Point and make vast improvements to the Six Tribes' technological repertoire. I'm talking mana batteries that could hold one hundred times more capacity than what Frostknife thinks is possible. Focused leyline beams. Manually controlled levitation devices! I mean... the sky's the limit! Rainbow Dash, you've been everywhere. Surely you know of the possibilities in store for equnie civilization! You've been to places that make Shoggoth look like a sea slug's playground!"
"You're right, Flynn." Rainbow nodded. "I have." She bit her bottom lip. "And take it from me. Technological superiority... d-doesn't always equate to moral superiority."
Bard looked at her while strumming his guitar.
Flynn took a moment to contemplate that. After a breath, he nodded and said, "I understand. Even still... there's so much that civilization stands to improve. And after years of living on this cold friggin' continent... I'm totally ready for an upgrade."
"Or where we're going," Logan burped, "A downgrade."
"Whatever. I get to expand my horizons. That's all that matters." Flynn smirked. "Funny that it takes leaping over the last horizon to make it happen. Heh."
"A blessing, then," Kepler mused. "That we get to brring ourr open minds with us."
"Better than our open pants," Bard mused from afar.
"Hah!" Logan grinned. "Good one!"
Bard smiled. With equal calmness, he threw a glance at Ariel. "Ariel, darlin'? You've been mighty quiet for a while. Got somethin' on yer mind to share? The fellas have been squawkier than Dubya so far. Reckon you should have a chance to get a word in."
Rainbow and her friends stared at the group's fairest flier.
Ariel sighed, brushing her dark bangs back. "Sorry, Bard. I... haven't got anything special to say. I mean... I-I know that this is as epic a place as any for a snazzy speech... but... but..."
"Then save it." A dull voice. It was Remna. Half of the Job Squad flinched as she shuffled up, staring emotionlessly at the group—but mostly at Ariel. "A mortal has no place attempting to summarize the enormity of this current situation with her limited faculties."
Rainbow struggled with all her might to keep from face-hoofing. She failed.
Ariel stared daggers at Remna. Her voice—however—was remarkably calm when she spoke up: "Actually, I do have one thing to say." She stood tall on nimble limbs, glancing at Enix and Bard and the rest. "Whatever happens—good or bad—I just wanna say it's been a super big honor serving with the likes of you. We've been through a lot of crazy straits together."
Flynn blurted: "Remember when we ran into that random group of poachers in Lichen Prefecture?"
"Srnkk!" Logan choked on nothing in particular. "You mean those paranoid mountain hicks who thought we were the Right Talon of Verlaxion snooping out their hideout and then fired an entire volley of crossbolts at our asses?"
"You're welcome, by the way!" Flynn spat. "It was my quick-thinking telekinesis that kept us all from becoming living pincushions!"
Wildcard put down the harmonica long enough to gesture something.
Bard laughed, not missing a string of his guitar. "Dayum! I wish I was there for that!"
"Erm... Wildcard exagerrates," Flynn muttered, blushing. "The migraine lasted three days... not a week."
There was a metal middle-claw... and then the harmonica harmony returned.
"Goddess..." Ariel swiped her brow. "I didn't know I could fly so fast until that day. Dodging so many arrows at once..."
"I can imagine, girl," Rainbow said. "Heh... bet you're proud of yourself."
"Huh?"
"Well, you're alive today, aren't you?" Rainbow winked. "Face it. You're one resourceful bag of awesome."
"Whoah!" Pinkie Pie chirped. "She's pulling out the big guns!"
"Pinkie, darling..." Rarity cooed.
"Eee-hee-hee..." Ariel hugged herself, her cheeks more than a little bit rosy. "I... was j-just lucky, is all..."
"It was more than that," Remna suddenly said. Her tone was still stale, but nonetheless purposeful. Green-slitted eyes remained locked on the pegasus in question. "When communing with Mortuana, I was told much about your mother. Granted, it is not as much as the real Remna knows—and I cannot speak for her dying assessment—but I know enough to say without a shred of doubt that you would have made the former Heraldite quite proud."
Rainbow Dash blinked.
The rest of the Job Squad stared at Ariel.
Ariel—in the meantime—was gazing at Remna with her muzzle agape. "Uhm... wow. That was actually... genuinely... crazily the nicest thing you've ever said about me."
Remna nodded. "Of course." A hot breath. "If you proceed to die vainly in the coming wave of Central Guardians, that assessment might change. But, for the time-being, that is what I have to give you."
Rainbow gnashed her teeth so hard they almost produced sparks.
Bard chuckled and kept plucking.
"Hmmmmmmmmm..." Ariel channeled her entire being into a subdued groan. She chose to smile at the tail-end of it. "Buck it. I'll take what I can get."
Remna blinked. She looked at the others. "Did I not give liberally?"
Logan sharpened his axe.
"I'll share Flynn's and Big Show's sentiment, though," Ariel muttered, smiling off into the clouds and lightning. "Life was boring as mud until Rainbow Dash showed up."
"Too many years chasing pirates and terrorists?" Rainbow Dash muttered.
"More like too many years chasing my doubts and regrets."
"You're too young for regrets, girl."
"The same could be said of you." Ariel brushed some bangs away, steeling a vulnerable glance at Rainbow. "All in all... I should be thanking you for giving me the greatest distraction a pony could ever ask for. For giving us all this opportunity."
Rainbow gulped. "One thing at a time. I'm personally betting on a vacation for all of us when this is said and done." She offered a fuzzy smile. "Heck... we could camp out on the balconies of the Midnight Armory and count the stars. Bathe in the warmth of the Harmonic Prism."
"Oooooh..." Rarity purred into the crook of her ghostly forelimbs. "Now that does sound lovely."
"Find some time to talk about all the adventures we've had so far on the Dark Side of this world," Rainbow said. "Write it down all nice and good... then carry it with us back to Equestria. I'm lousy at books... but somepony somewhere has gotta make a pretty killer novel out of all we'll do! Won't that be snazzy?"
Ariel stared back at her. There was a soft sigh, as well as a slight mistiness to her eyes. "A young life without regrets. It's like I said, Rainbow. I'll take what I can get."
Rainbow bit her bottom lip.
Guitar strings. Harmonica. Thunder.
Kepler broke the poetic silence. "A novelization of ourr experriences sounds absolutely superrb! I wouldn't mind attempting such thrroughout the jourrney! Goddess knows it's what Morrtuana would apprrove of!"
"If we're not too busy cataloging the land and stars," Flynn muttered.
"Ah! An impasse! Well..." Kepler gestured with a claw. "I prropose this! Two jourrnals! One of us wrrites down the technical details of the adventurre—for science! The otherr will put his claw to intrrospective commentarry!"
"Ah jeez." Flynn muttered. "You're going to make us go to war over who gets the science journal, ya furball!"
"Ha-Hah! A most sporrting conflict, one-eyed one! I do believe the corrrect terrm is 'brring it thusly?'"
"Oh, now you're just asking for it!"
"Indubitably!"
"Eugh..." Logan rolled his eyes. "Friggin' basket of virgins, I swear..."
"Actually..." Pinkie tapped her chin in thought. "...isn't cuddliest pony back in Ponyville already attempting a novelization—?"
"Guys..." Rainbow blurted, trying to contain her chuckles. "Let's not fight over all that nonsense."
"But—" Flynn squeaked.
"But nothing! Let's just keep our heads intact. We can do the boring writey-write stuff later. Right now? Let's focus on the job at hoof, and then we'll make it just fine." Her gaze fell on Remna. "And we are going to make it just fine... ya hear?"
Remna said nothing. Her draconian eyes reflected Rainbow's face with an emerald gleen.
"You want my vote?" Ariel smiled. She pointed behind her. "Let Bard write our adventures down."
"Heh... yeah..." Logan chuckled.
"A capital idea!" Kepler exclaimed. "He could make an epic song about ourr accomplishments!"
"Think about it, tar heel." Ariel winked at the stallion in question. "It'll give you something to sing to Nicole when you're both back together again."
Bard smiled. He merely nodded... then continued plucking away, his eyes locked on the lightning beyond the firmaments.
Wildcard's goggles reflected him, and then Rainbow Dash's face as he placed his harmonica down. He sliced the air with his flesh and metal talons.
"What's he saying?" Rainbow asked.
"'The best song's yet to be sung,'" Remna said.
Rainbow gave her a double-take.
The draconian mare calmly looked back. "Don't act so surprised. An immortal learns to pay attention to things."
Rainbow scratched her head. She looked at Flynn—and Flynn nodded in affirmation.
"Well..." Pinkie Pie whistled. "...who says there're no surprises at the end of the world?"
"Wish I could say," Rainbow muttered. "It's only my second end."
"Huh?" Ariel looked at her. "What do you mean?"
"Oh... erm..." Rainbow shrugged. "Just thinking about the Grand Choke. All things considered—that was the end of the world as well. The end as far as the Val Roans were concerned."
"A curious assessment," Enix spoke up. "So you've been in this position before?"
Rainbow froze in place. She felt the eyes of the Herald on her. "Uhmmm... what I meant was..."
"Your courage is quite remarkable, Blood of Luna," Enix said. "No wonder you're so composed at the moment."
"I am?" Rainbow squeaked. She sensed Applejack's eyes flickering in her peripheral. Clearing her throat, she stood up straight and nodded fervently. "I am."
A few of the sarosians murmured to one another. Listening, Enix nodded, then spoke towards Rainbow again: "The Blight proves to be a major challenge to Xarchellus and the rest of the Matriarch's flock. And yet—from what the Mother of Nightmares has told us—it stands to be far less of a challenge than when you crossed such a phenomenal expanse."
"It's... no longer a drain on magic and harmonic energies, if that's what you mean," Rainbow said with a nod. "Should be a whole lot more feasible for the dudes and dudettes of Bleak's Plummet to cross... relatively speaking."
"I know this is hardly the time to be regailed about your countless victories," Enix said, her fangs flickering beneath the barest hint of a smile. "But ever since the lunar revelation—I have been immensely curious." Her head tilted to the side. "Exactly how did you best such suffocating desolation?"
Again, all eyes fell on her.
Twilight looked pointedly at Rainbow Dash.
The mare in question weathered a shuddering sigh. Slicking her bangs back, she tried wearing a devilish smirk for the first time in days. "Not easily..."
"Well..." Ariel bore a sweet smile. "At least you had your friends by your side. In spirit."
Rainbow shook her head. "Not so."
"Huh?"
Rainbow glanced at the lavender unicorn spectre beside her. "I didn't meet Twilight until the first of the Six Seeds... just west of Kihutaja. For the entirety of my journey across the Grand Choke—I was alone."
"But..." Ariel blinked. "But I thought—"
"Yaerrfaerrda—the 'foaling of yesterday' took place overr the courrse of severral visits to the machine worrld, and all of them starrting upon the frringes of the Seven Seas," Kepler explained. "Don't feel bad, featherred frriend. Even I—afterr so many deep converrsations with ourr beloved Morrtuana—could not ascerrtain the big picturre with absolute clarrity myself!"
"I... I-I'm sorry." Ariel bit her lip, gazing apologetically in Rainbow's direction. "For some reason I thought that you had all of your friends except for Applejack the whole time."
Rainbow smiled sweetly. "And I did—right when I met you. But that wasn't always the case. Heck..." She waved at Bard and Wildcard. "When I first ran into the Desperados, I had only 'freed' Twilight and Rarity from the glow of Yaerfaerda."
"And yet, for the majority of your trek, you were bereft of your Harmonic companions?" Enix asked.
Rainbow could only nod.
Enix's mutilated nostrils flared. "I cannot think of a more perilous journey than one taken into the bleak heart of loneliness."
"You didn't have them ghost girls by your side in the Grand Choke, then?" Logan asked.
Rainbow shook her head. "Nope." A surprisingly calm breath. "It was me by myself. Literally."
"And yet you had companions to fulfill Eljunbyrro beforre us," Kepler stated.
"I had... to part ways with them," Rainbow Dash murmured. "It was for the best. I knew that they wouldn't be able to survive the journey."
"Did you know that you would survive the journey?" Ariel asked.
"No. But that wasn't the point. I had to finish my quest. I had to get to the Midnight Armory. I knew of Verlax... kinda... but she wasn't my focus at the time. There simply was no telling what the Grand Choke had in store for me."
"A challenge, no doubt," Enix said.
"I... didn't really expect to live," Rainbow said quietly. It was difficult to outspeak the thunder at this point. The waves splashed against the edge of the platform. "In fact, there in Val Roa—upon the desert fringes of nothingness—I was pretty much staring into the end of the world. Sure, I knew that Chrysalis and her swarm made it past the Grand Choke... along with a few ancient equines from long before my time. But... for a single pegasus to cross such magical Blight?" She swallowed, glancing at Enix. "Sure. It was a challenge. And challenges are awesome. But I didn't totally know what to expect. And even if I did—it turns out that I was my own worst enemy during the trek. My decaying spirit. My lonely heart. My mind." She winced. "It's... all a big friggin' blur... but I very clearly went mad before the stupidly long journey was over. I remember... I vaguely remember talking to ponies who weren't there. Losing my marbles. Sobbing into the starlight and nearly drowning myself in the sea beyond the desert expanse... haunted on all sides by all the cruddy things I had done and all the awesome ponies I had left behind."
"Ohhhhh..." Rarity sniffled as she and Fluttershy hovered agonizingly within a hug's reach. "Rainbow..."
"You poor thing..."
Rainbow shrugged through it. "But I made it through the whole mess... which is what matters. The Herald got their Austraeoh to protect and Mortuana fulfilled her destiny or whatnot. So that's cool. Verlaxion and all the stuff she did? Not so cool. But—trials or no trials—I made it here in one piece. For better or for worse, I'm ready to make the leap again. Only this time..." A smirk formed along the fuzzy edges of her muzzle. "...I'm not quite so friggin' alone. I've got you guys." She winked at the ghostly figures by her side. "And you gals."
Applejack and Pinkie winked back.
"Well..." Ariel smiled sweetly. "I think that's wonderful, Rainbow. And you know what else I think?"
"What?"
Ariel hovered closer, wings flapping in the misty air. "I think you just explained to all of us why we shouldn't feel so freaked out about our trip to the Dark Side."
"Girl, I wasn't trying to make a statement about—"
"No no... hear me out." Ariel waved a hoof. "Where were you before crossing the Grand Choke?"
Rainbow blinked. "Uhm..."
"Ignorant, alone, and friendless. Right?" Ariel shivered. "Brrrrrr... if you ask me, you were ten times worse off than you are right now. And yet..." She arched an eyebrow. "Coming out of the Blight... you ended up finding so much that belonged to you... that strengthened you... right?"
Rainbow looked at her.
Ariel grinned. "So, like... how much more awesome can things get now that you've got so many ponies on your side this time? Visible or invisible?"
"Hmmmmmmm..." Applejack floated closer to Rainbow Dash. "Reckon she's got a point there, sugarcube."
"It's not exactly a logical argument," Twilight muttered.
"Ehhh..." Applejack tilted her ghostly hat back. "Dun be a droopy saddle."
"Still..." Twilight smiled, her cheeks rosy. "It is a lovely thought." She looked at her anchor. "Don't you think so, Rainbow?"
Rainbow was slowly nodding. "That's a snazzy way of putting it. Thanks, Ariel. I guess it's nifty to know that—even back at the Grand Choke..." She glanced specifically at Remna. "...I'd been in worse conditions before."
"And surpassed all obstacles," the draconian mare added. "Better than before."
"Doesn't mean I had to like the crud that I went through." Rainbow stuck her tongue out.
"Mrmmmmmm..." Remna shuffled a few steps away. "You're welcome."
Rainbow prepared to say something else—
—when Fluttershy suddenly squeaked, rubbing her soft head.
"Flutters?" Pinkie craned her fluffy neck. "What is it?"
"West of us... beyond where Bleak's Plummet is submerged." Fluttershy inhaled sharply. She lifted her head, turquoise eyes pulsing. "They are arriving."
"The Central Guard?" Twilight asked breathily.
Fluttershy merely nodded.
Rainbow spun about. "Rarity?"
"She's correct, darling," Rarity murmured. "I detect... bodies from the west. Metal constructs. Vessels. They've got to be."
"Ships...!" Applejack exclaimed.
"Yes." Fluttershy nodded, her voice growing firmer and firmer. "Yes. This is it, everypony."
A pair of green eye-slits narrowed on Rainbow Dash. "Austraeoh...?" Axan's voice echoed.
Rainbow waited for the latest crack of thunder to ripple through the sky. "Break time's over, dudes." She flexed her wings as a flicker of lightning glinted off her ruby pendant. "We've got company."
The guitar strings ended as Bard and Wildcard instantly hopped up on all fours. "About dayum time."
Schiiing! Logan shouldered his axe. "Where are the bastards coming from?"
Fluttershy was already pointing. "Due west. Slightly... slightly south of where Bleak's Plummet is located."
"They'll be cruising in range of the bluffs within minutes," Rarity said. "About ten."
"They're almost here," Rainbow Dash explained. "Slightly south of Bleak's Plummet, speeding east. The girls say they'll be approaching the bluffs in just a few minutes."
"Right." Logan spat on the granite platform. "Let's bust some heads!"
"W'yldymym yln H'luun!" Enix shouted, followed by a high-pitched shriek. All of the sarosians surrounding her took flight, hovering high above the windblown platforms. "Ly'wyllym syln w'ynlppa hy'nymym!"
"Hold up!" Rainbow's voice barked as she hovered slightly below them. She twirled about, centering herself in everyone's gaze. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves here. We've drafted a plan, remember?"
"Absolutely, Austrraeoh!" Kepler nodded briskly.
"Then let's stick to it!" Rainbow looked at Rarity and Twilight. "Do you sense the Gondola coming up yet?"
The two ghostly unicorns exchanged glances. Eventually, they shook their heads.
"Sorry, darling."
"It's arriving—but still at a distance," Twilight explained. "It's just as we thought; we'll need to stall for time."
"Right." Rainbow looked at Enix. "Looks like we won't be making the plunge until a few minutes yet."
Enix exhaled. "Bleak's Plummet..."
"We'll have to make sure they get past the advancing Rohbreddenites safely." Rainbow's brow furrowed. "Now's as good a time as ever for the signal."
Enix nodded back. She shrieked to her fellow wingmates. Two sarosians saluted, then glided swiftly to Flynn's side. The Nightblood leader gazed down at him. "I trust you have made your final improvements?"
"Definitely!" Flynn exclaimed, furiously rummaging through a last pile of equipment. He assisted the two sarosians in carrying a cylindrical tube of interwoven bleakweed towards the westernmost edge of the platform. A faint runic glow illuminated his muzzle as he said, "I layered this with some aquatic spells from the old sarosian scrolls you shared. Hopefully—they should keep the light pulse from piercing the stormy surfaces."
"Huh?" Applejack blinked crookedly, watching as the three ponies carried the object towards the platform's edge. "I dun get it. I thought we were shootin' flares to send messages."
"We are," Twilight clarified. "Once we've engaged the Central Guard. But this? This is for Bleak's Plummet."
"It's bein' sent underwater?"
"Yes." Twilight nodded. "It would seem that Flynn's built a torpedo." She smirked aside. "If all goes well, only Xarchellus' flock underwater should see our signal. That'll get them to cruise west—"
"—and avoid them creeps comin' in from Frostknife!" Applejack folded her forelimbs. "Whew-wee! Rainbow's partners here really have thought of everythang!"
"I don't choose these guys just because of their good looks," Rainbow said. "I mean, aside from Wildcard, of course."
The griffon in question saluted as he passed by—assisting Flynn and the two sarosians in heaving the tube into the waters.
"That'll do it!" Flynn exclaimed. "Thanks, Wildcard." He turned to look up at Enix. "Do you want to do the honors?"
Enix's slitted eyes narrowed. "You made the propulsion command the main conduit?"
"Yes." Flynn nodded. "Once triggered, it's timed to set off the rest of the runes in sequence." He gestured. "Including three strobes of colored green pulse."
"Will Nicole and Echo be able to see it?" Bard asked.
"I wouldn't be doing my job if they couldn't."
Bard took a shuddering breath. "Good enough, I reckon." He looked at Rainbow. "Well, what are we waitin' for?"
"We're all ready Rainbow," Ariel said firmly, standing beside Kepler and Logan. "Let's do this."
Remna's voice rumbled: "It is your command to give, Austraeoh."
Thunder rolled. The waves rolled and splashed as they had done so much before, only now—in the tense lapse of breathing and talking—the tempestuous scene took on an undeniably ominous tone. The wings of multiple sarosians flapped in the air, adding to the percussion's thunder. Nebulous lights flickered from beyond the firmaments, and at last...
...Rainbow Dash nodded. "Okay." She gestured at the torpedo. "Do it."
Flynn whistled. He, Wildcard, and the two sarosians dropped the torpedo into the waves—pointed west. They leaned aside as Enix leaned in.
"M'wynhrm!" the Nightblood warrior exclaimed.
The rearmost portion of the cylinder set aflame—causing the waters to boil. Within a heartbeat, the cylinder was rocketing west, diving deeper as it formed a frothy swath in the depths of the world's end. For the last few glimpses when the Herald could make it out, they saw the other runes illuminating one after another—then all was bubbles.
"Out of sight," Ariel said. She gulped. "As well as it should be."
"I only hope those underwater bat ponies see it," Logan muttered.
"They will," Kepler affirmed. He pivoted about, spectacles set straight. "Rrainbow One?"
"Okay, folks!" Rainbow hovered higher. "Let's get into our groups! This is what we've been waiting for!"
As Rainbow broke into a bombastic speech...
...Pinkie Pie was rubbing her nose, furrowing her brow in a concerned manner. "Hmmmmm..."
Applejack glanced aside. "What is it, Pinkie Pie?"
"I..." Pinkie's blue eyes blinked blankly. "I don't know..." Her muzzle scrunched. "My nose. It feels... sneezy..."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I'm not sure. I've never felt it before." Pinkie's nose wriggled and wriggled. She looked at the waters... at the invisible path that the torpedo was taking as Rainbow spoke to the others. The thunder and noise drowned out as Pinkie murmured. "I've... just got a bad feeling."
"About what?"
"I dunno. Just..." Pinkie grimaced. "...bad."
Applejack raised a ghostly eyebrow. She looked west... then squarely at her companions.
Fluttershy had a distant expression on her face. Beside her, Rarity was rubbing her head as her horn pulsed in curious pale strobes.
Applejack bit her lip. She looked west again... then once more at her friends. Suddenly, something washed over her... and the mare's pale visage flickered in time with the lightning. "Oh no..."
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:D
:D
:D
:D
The prodigal son has returned! Time to read and bask in the final moments of this legendary story.
~SolidFire
It lives!
And so do I. Twenty-five push-ups, ):(. Welcome back to the suck. Knock 'em out!
Hoorah!
HAPPENING
Welcome back!
...Of course, this doesn't bode well for the group.
HERE WE GO!
And here we go.
...
...
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Pffft.
Never change, Logan.
I like all the interaction going on here among the team...right before everything is ready to go to hell...
Get to learn a bit more about Logan, Flynn, and Ariel's backstories, too. I like that.
....God, I sure hope nothing bad happens to them.
Hoooo man...Ledomare feels like forever ago now...
...
...
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At the size that this saga's at right now, carrying a book like that...well, let's say I can think of industrial-strength building materials that would be lighter than that...
...Hoooooooooooooooooooooooocrap please let Bleak's Plummet be safe...
HOYLSHITJGFDA;LKHSDGK;AJLGF
IZ BACH BEECHES!
*proceeds to east horse*
Also, damnit IC, what unspeakable horror have you conjured up this time?
8159634
I was thinking Darkstine.
ARIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!
8159594 God DAMN IT JAKE! *does the pushups*
I fucking missed this!
IT LIVES!!!!
The first chapter in seven months, and you leave it off on one of your trademark Evil Cliffhangers? You magnificent bastard, you.
And we are back ladies and gentlemen! And what a way to get back into things, some nice recaps of stuff and I loved the whole thing with someone writing a novel of the adventures. So the final battle begins in earnest and we already have something likely going wrong.
8159594 Let the pushups recommence.
You win the prize for updating before Prequel, so that's gotta count for something
YAAAAS
I'M SO READY FOR THIS
Beware the Pinkie Sense.
Does the torpedo *hit* Bleaks Plummet? Have they already been found out?
Eitherway, glad to have ya back ):(
It's here? It's here!
*cliffhanger*
NOOOOOOOOOO
It's back!
The ride never ends.
It may have been the hardest part.
But this was absolutely fucking worth waiting for.
Thank you, IC.
I thought to myself, "Why would I continue re-reading Austraeoh when I could be reading this?" And then I read this, and then I was hanging from a cliff. So glad to be caught up and waiting for new chapters.
It lives!
...
... but the cute Batpones probably won't...
AND WE'RE BACK, BABY
BACK JUST IN TIME FOR EVERYTHING TO GO TO SHIT
It is so good to have this story back, I will be honest, this story has touched my life in a way I don't think any other piece of fan work has for a very, very long time. I legitimately find myself missing the characters who have been left behind in our travels, and hoping that we do one day get to see some of them again.
As far as this chapter goes, I feel that this was just what we needed at this point in the story, both in terms of what came before it, and the wait since the last update. Here we they are, just a bunch of ponies at the end of the world... and with so much yet to come regardless. I guess it makes perfect sense that they would have a lot to talk about.
It is also good to finally see Dash talking about her expiriance with the Grand Choke with the group.
Now we just need to see what went wrong, and what the Pinkie sense we have just gotten means.
I never been so happy to see a cliffhanger before.
I know cliche and all but literally have I never clicked faster for a story update
8159854 No-one wants to get off Mr. ):('s wild ride
8159594 Indubitably!
An update?! Is this real life? I think this must be my fourth or fifth dream now...
The train has left the station and there is once again no stopping it! The legend of Easthorse is back and I couldn't be happier
DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!!
Remembering that May 13th is National Apple Pie Day in a continent to the west and you have no way of celebrating it
Not that that should overshadow the revival of a sleeping giant on its wooden anniversary which is all kinds of apt and symbolic. Also a great relief to see you beating the funk.
Ayyyyyy lessss gooooo
The long night is finally ended.
I can't wait to see everyone's reaction to the end.
HOLY
FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!
ITSBACKITSBACKITSBACKITSBACKITSBACKITSBACKITSBACKTISKBACK!!!!
Also:
SIDES = IN ORBIT
IT LIVES!!! :D
There we go. Next chapter we will have Shell riding Seraphimus into the fray wielding the chaos-strips from Windthrow. Oh, sorry for the spoilers.
Welcome to the end of book 8! It's been a long time coming, but we've finally gotten past the hard part. Now for the hard part.
Alright boys and girls, grab your shit, we're going on a feels trip right out of the gate it seems.
*blows the dust off my collection of rhymes*
-Companions are abound, frozen spectres hound. Utaan.
This chapter only serves to solidify my conviction that this is the definite theme of the Herald. Keepers of the prophecy, keepers of the Spark - but perhaps most of all keepers of the past, its values, its knowledge, its wisdom. Don't tell me you can't see Bard composing this little tune in commemoration of his joining their ranks. It actually made me read him with the musician's voice instead of that of just another Braeburn.
In other news, I find it curious Flynn is itching for a vacation. He's just spent seven months sitting on a slab of marble after all.
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Kepler is the spirit animal of us all.
Stars freaking damn it, it's good to be back to normal.
And WE ARE BACK, HUZZAH
Lots of review, reflection and readying for the oncoming. Now what has gone wrong this time, after all, no plan survives first contact with the enemy
.
The third boat is carrying the troops, armed with Chaos Metal wepons, while the first two are running sacrificial skeleton crews and packed with explosives, laced with chaos metal?
Im couch potatoed out. I only managed 5 push ups straight off and another 5, slowly, before arms started aching. Been over 20 years since I could pump out a hundred in a couple minutes.
We're back, baby! Aaaaaand immediately into the suffering. ):( don't mess around, folks. Can't wait to see just what ya dreamt up this time. (Totally hoping for that Shell riding Seraphimus into battle thing).
IT'S ALIVE! And about time!
It's so nice to be reading this again!
But now I'm terrified.
....and Cyan Sings is heard once again.
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I'm scared but in a good way?