Drop It Like It's Heraldic
The ascending guardians of Frostknife had to squint from the blinding bands of electricity branching high above them. Still angered and thirsting pegasus blood—they had nevertheless slowed their flight considerably since the initial pursuit of the Rainbow Rogue began. This was brought on by the increasingly opaque clouds now looming around them, dull and dark and dismal.
Pegasi and griffons craned their necks, peering beyond the serrated ends of their swords and polearms. The sky above them had thickened to an obsidian degree, and—try as they might—they couldn't detect a single shred of blue... much less any color attached to an athletic pair of wings.
While a few Central Guardians shivered with obligatory fright, the majority of the group carried the same surly temper that accelerated them there. They gnashed their teeth and clenched their beaks, looking every which way for their boastful target.
"Where in Verlaxion's name did she go?!"
"The Rogue flew up here! I saw her!"
"Damned coward! It's just like Starkiss all over again!"
"Going to rip her tongue out and feed it back to her—"
"Shhhhh!" An armored pegasus at the front of the group raised a hoof, peering about with dagger-sharp eyes. "Quiet!"
A nervous hush fell over the squadron as they hovered to a stand-still.
"The thunder..." A griffon muttered, glancing every which way. "...it's stopped."
"What..." Another soldier gazed about, her brow furrowed. "...what happened to the lightning?"
Just as she finished saying this, a tingling sensation fluttered through the body of every Frostknifer in the vicinity. The pegasi gawked at each other as their mane and tail hairs stood on end. Tiny blue sparks flickered between griffon wingfeathers.
"The air!" a soldier at the front shouted. Miniature bolts materialized between the molars of his shouting maw. "It's being charged!"
"The clouds—!"
"Move! Move! Move—!"
The panicked shouts of the Central Guard made its way up to the very top of that dense cluster of burnt-gray stormclouds. There—wheezing for breath—Rainbow Dash had collapsed in a sweaty slump atop a bed of mists. She looked over at Ariel and nodded briskly.
Ariel nodded back. In a blink, she flew up high, signaling through the clear starry sky surrounding her.
Enix and Wildcard saw her signal—as did the rest of the midnighters spread across the cloud's summit. In one accord, over a dozen sarosians lifted up, tightened their wings, and dropped straight down onto the roofs of the stormclouds. Their equine figures made hard contact with the mists, sending shockwaves of pegasus magic shooting down, down, down—ultimately exploding through the inner core.
KRA-KOOOOM!
A hundred brilliant blue branches of lightning forked its way down the narrow canyon of charged air between the clouds, electrocuting over a hundred helpless soldiers stuck in the claustrophobic air pocket. Screams and pained grunts lit the sky. Helmets and swords flew—magnetized at random by the electrical contact so that they flew off in haphazard directions, occasionally ricocheting off the skulls and chests of other ambushed guardians.
The squadron that had pursued Rainbow Dash was instantly cleaved in half. Dozens of Rohbreddenites—their muscles spasming and their hair and feathers charred—dropped like twitching anvils, pinballing painfully off lower mists and cloudbanks. The rest spiraled about, shouting orders to one another in panic and desperation. Utilizing their hooves, talons, and gold weapons, they struggled to chop and hack their way through the compact mists.
Keris' hawkeyes twitched.
"Whoah!" Raptr grimaced. Hard.
As the blinding flash above them faded, the air filled with plummeting bodies.
"Lightning discharge!" Starstorm stammered. "The soldiers! They're—"
"Alive!" Windburst shouted. "But barely!"
"Quick!" Keris hollered, stretching both wings backwards and creating drag. He jerked backwards in mid-air, then fell with weighted purpose. "Grab as many bodies as you can—!"
"On it!" Raptr darted left and right, scooping the smaller bodies plunging through the mists.
"Grnnngh!" Windburst caught a relatively large griffon. Shouldering the groaning body, he glided sideways in pursuit of a plummeting pegasus. "Crazy—!"
"There're too many of them!" Starstorm's voice cracked as she struggled to grasp an armored body in her talons.
"I'm certain that's what Rainbow thought!" Keris exclaimed, somehow managing to grasp three figures. "Quick! Find a cloud!"
"Where in the heck were they?" Raptr shouted.
Rainbow's allies remained perched on the stormclouds. They easily spotted the Central Guard's panicked actions below. They did not let up. Following the Austraeoh's gesture, three dozen sarosians—with Enix taking point—lifted bleakweed cannons. Arming them with enchanted runestones, they waited for Ariel and Wildcard to punch rampart holes in the dense stormclouds before taking aim at the remainder of the Central Guardl flailing below.
Fluttershy and Rarity covered their eyes.
"Now!" Rainbow sputtered.
Enix was the first to shout. "M'wynhrm!"
The sarosians all around them hollered into the starspace surrounding their cannons.
"M'wynhrm!"
"M'wynhrm!"
"M'wynhrm!!!"
The twilight at the world's edge lit up as brilliant plumes of lunar dust sailed down into the cloudy pocket...
...and exploded in deafening concussion blasts right in the midst of the scattered and confused squadron.
POW!
P-POW!
BOOM!
The screams of the Frostknifers were swallowed up by the sheer sonic torture of the sarosians' volley. Vaporous explosions bubbled outward in every direction, throwing pegasi and griffons in opposite directions and even knocking breastplates clean off their rainsoaked bodies.
Keris and his group gasped. They had already flown severely off course, dragging unconscious figures through the air with them. As the concussive blasts warbled outward in every direction, they braced themselves against a lower cloudbank. Nervously, the griffons looked up at the remains of the squadron.
In the next few flashes of lightning—natural this time—more bodies could be seen plummeting at an exponential rate.
The concussive blasts had a secondary effect. They shattered the compacted stormclouds clear...
...opening up the sky directly above Chandler's armada.
"Defense Minister!" A crewpony pointed directly up. "Look!"
"Ah! Praise Verlaxion!" Chandler gazed at the fresh patch of starlight with a proud smirk. "They've driven her out of hiding—" Just then, his smile completely vanished.
In place of the stormclouds...
...there was a precipitous string of falling, screaming, smoldering bodies. Burnt armor formed smoke trails behind flailing pegasi and griffons as they fell towards the choppy waves below, accompanied by agonized shrieks and voice-cracking prayers to Verlaxion.
All ponies on board the two ships paled in horror. Soon, they—and Chandler as well—were pelted with wet splashes of salt water as the grunting bodies slammed into the ocean's surface on all sides of the twin convoy.
Splash!
Sp-Sploosh!
Splaaash!
"Guh! Goddess have mercy!" Chandler shielded himself from inside his chariot. He flung a snarling breath at the sky. "What in the burning Springs Havens happened to my squadron?!"
"Midnighters!"
"Black magic!"
"It's the Blight! They've rained it upon us—!"
"Aaaaaaaaah—!"
"Rrrrrgh!" A particularly angry pegasus flung his burnt helmet off and shouted at the rest of the Central Guard still airborne following the one-two punch of lightning and runes. "Soldiers of Rohbredden! Take wing!" He hollered over his shoulder, even as the lunar dust settled around him. "Regroup!"
"Regroup!"
"Formation, soldiers!"
"Up high! Bodies!"
"I see them!"
"It's the Rogue!"
"Attack!"
"Raaaaaaaaaugh—!"
Pinkie Pie whistled. Her ghostly eyes reflected two dozen gold-armored bodies ascending rapidly from the sundered stormclouds below. She turned to flash Rainbow a worried look.
"There's a bunch of them still flying, Dashie!" She gulped. "And suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuper merry-go-round party-poop'd!"
"I... I-I count nearly thirty!" Fluttershy managed to stammer. "They're coming in fast!"
"Rainbow?" Ariel cocked another runic cannon as she leaned over her friend's shoulder. "What's the tally?"
"There's still a bunch of them flying!" Rainbow sputtered, looking at the rest of her allies. "Fluttershy says thirty incoming!"
"That does not surprise me." Enix's mutated nostril flared as she readied a whalebone scimitar. Schiiiiing! "Time for the tasty part."
"Do we have to engage them already?" Ariel's voice cracked.
Enix hissed, "There isn't enough time to reload a second volley."
"We won't need it!" Rainbow spun and shouted at a group of sarosians. "Signal the Stardust! Time for fireworks!"
"V'ylynwym!" Enix echoed Rainbow's command in moonwhinny. "Ly'lnym sym Stardust thy'wylnnalym sylnm!"
"Ywm, Enix!" One sarosian patted the shoulders of two others.
The nightblood ponies were already aiming two cannons eastward. Ariel joined them with her enchanted cylinder, squinting down the sight. "Y'symma! Y'lynwyn!" the three shouted in unison.
Pffffffffftchooom! Three brilliant flares soared eastward...
...and sailed over the heads of Keris, Starstorm, Raptr, and Windburst. The Right Talon of Verlaxion were just then settling their rattled companions down on a series of cloudbeds when they saw the runic projectiles flying past them and towards the edge of the world.
"Okay..." Windburst shuddered, dropping another soldier onto the wispy cloudbeds. "I couldn't have been the only one who saw that."
"She's got a system in effect," Starstorm stated.
"Quite right, Sergeant." Keris nodded, catching his breath. "Somehow... I don't think Chandler's done being punished."
Raptr squinted. He watched as the flares reached the apex of their flight...
...and exploded high above the clouds in bright yellow splashes of flame, illuminating the waters before the edge of the world.
Bard's eyes reflected the bursts, and he stood up tall behind the rudder wheel of the Stardust.
"Yeeeee-ha! There's the signal!" He grinned from ear to ear. "That means she's still alive! Whew!"
"We are to engage!" one of his two sarosian crewmates hissed. "The Blood of Luna has summoned us!"
"Darn tootin'!" He tipped a hat that wasn't here, then clasped the wheel with two hooves. "Heat up the engines! Then get into position! I'm takin' us out of hiding!"
Within seconds, the Stardust roared at full speed, weaving its way out from where it hid amidst the rocks and ancient seawrecks lining the world's edge.
"I'm gettin' us out into the clear!" Bard hollered, squinting past errant sprays of salt water as he navigated the waves. "Do ya have a fix on our target?!"
The other sarosian galloped out of the engine room. Using a pair of spyglasses, the two nightblood warriors scanned the western horizon.
"Well?!" Bard gnashed his teeth, struggling to steer the Stardust straight. "Time's-a-wastin'!"
"H'nylym!" one sarosian spat. He pointed with a velvety fetlock. "There! To the southwest!"
"Use time-clock numbers!" Bard growled. "Like I taught you both an hour ago!"
"Erm... ten o'clock from our position, I do believe!"
"Gotcha! I see 'em!" Bard squinted at the twin ships in the distance. His eyes twitched as he spotted a column of bodies falling towards the choppy waters surrounding Chandler's armada. "Dayum, girl. Reckon this will feel like stompin' a mudhole dry."
Meanwhile, the two sarosians had armed a pair of bleakweed cannons. "Enchanted and ready!"
"Let 'em have it!" Bard hollered, grinning. "And dun forget to shut the cabin door or else we'll all go up in smoke!"
One sarosian was already slamming the Stardust's sound proof engine compartment shut with a flick of his rear hoof. Then—with the steady support of his partner—he shouted into his cannon. "M'wynhrm!"
The other sarosian did the same. "M'wynhrm!"
Fl-Flasssh! Twin projectiles sailed a shimmering path towards the distant armada.
"Biscuits and gravy..." Bard exhaled, squinting at the impending chaos. "This'll turn the ocean yellow for darn sure."
"Sergeant Windburst!" Keris shouted, mounting the western edge of their cloudbed. "How many of Chandler's troops are still airborne?"
"Uhm..." The skilled sergeant stared up at the dissipating stormclouds. "Hard to tell! Over twenty, I think! Why? What's your plan?"
"Rainbow's made her strength known!" Keris said. "With Chandler's charge so swiftly immobilized, maybe there's a chance I can talk both sides out of taking this to the next level—"
"Duck!" Starstorm shouted.
"...!!!" Keris and Raptr pressed themselves down to the fluffy cloud bed. They and the recovering soldiers watched incredulously as two burning streaks of runic magic sailed over their feathery scalps and plunged due west. "Then again," the Commander wheezed.
"Jeez!" Raptr wheezed. "Where did those come from?"
"More to the point." Starstorm grimaced. "Where are they headed?"
"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh boy..." Windburst couldn't help but chuckle, hawkeyes peering at their destination. "...you're not going to believe this."
"Quickly!" Chandler shouted, pointing with a shaking hoof. "Quickly, now!"
Below him, crew ponies were busily throwing nets and ropes over the sides of the ship's hull. The squad members who had been blown from the sky struggled to get a hoof-hold. Pained survivors swam to their companions while several panicked soldiers clamored up the edge of the vessels, their wings too wet and battered to function properly at the moment.
"Get them all on board!" Chandler frowned. "Every second we waste plucking ourselves out of the drink is one more second the Rainbow Rogue uses to get away—!"
"Sir!" A panicked sailor spun to face his leader in the chariot. "There isn't enough rope or netting to get them back on board quickly enough!"
"What about the lifeboats?!" Chandler spat. "Why aren't we using them?"
"Uhm..."
"Well?!"
"We... we l-lost all of them when... erm... you sent the privateers away... s-sir..."
Chandler blinked. A few seconds later, he was pounding his fetlock against the edge of his chariot. "Dammit! I don't want excuses!" He pointed at the waters, even as more flailing bodies from above plunged into the waves. "Just get everypony on board! We need to mount a second attack to reinforce our brothers and sisters who are still in the air—"
Just then, the sky lit up with runic light. Ponies and griffons in the water shrieked. Chandler's bodyguards rushed towards him.
"Minister!"
"Incoming!"
"Incoming?" Chandler turned around with a bored expression. "What's incoming—shit on a bagel!" He cowered deep in his chariot as—
KA-POWWWW!
One concussive rune exploded off the port bow and—
BOOOOOOM!
A second exploded just south of the their sister ship. Walls of water bathed both decks as the bodies of survivors went sailing—and screaming—only to land in even choppier waves on the other side of the armada.
Chandler's ears were full of ringing and moisture—so that he scarcely made out the words of a spotter positioned haphazardly at his bow.
"Enemy ship!" she hollered into the bedlam. "Due east! Coming out of the rocks!"
"Grnnngh!" Chandler gnashed his teeth as he rocked in his chariot. "Fire b-back!"
The spotter flashed him a panicked grimace. "With what?!"
Chandler fumbled for words. Even if he could find something to say, the moment was cut off by a second volley exploding directly above them.
POWWWW!
This time, the runic blast sent the two ships reeling. Breathless survivors gasped and dove out of way before the rusted hulls of both ships could slice their bodies to ribbons. All was confusion and chaos as the waterlogged armada struggled to deal with the surprise artillery barrage.
"Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaugh—!" The remainder of Chandler's airborne squadron continued their ascent—only to feel a blinding sensation in their peripheral vision.
The air was sucked out of their lungs, and their nerves were wracked by even more shockwaves. In a breathless stupor, the soldiers glanced straight down in mid-flight.
They spotted plumes of orange flame erupting on all sides of the Defense Minister's armada. Concussive blasts sent jets of salt water rocketing skyward—until it nearly nipped at their talons and fetlocks.
The group gawked one second too long. And as their charge carried blindly into the tenth second, they heard an echoing salvo of shouts directly above. Glancing towards the heavens, they spotted several velvety figures clearing the dissipating cloudtops... just as two burning flares flew in sharply from the east—exploding in blinding glory.
Pow!
P-Pow!
Kapow!
A few of the guardians shrieked, clutching their helmets in momentary blindness. Others were rendered inert as the intense concussions overwhelmed their figures. The rest summoned strength and adrenaline from deep within their armored bodies and continued with their murderous charge.
"Kill the rogue!"
"Gut the demons of Blight!"
"For Verlaxion!!!""
"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh they're angry," Fluttershy whimpered, shivering as she phased through Rainbow's body—almost as if to hide.
"They're coming in fast!" Ariel hollered as she and the rest of the group levitated directly above the violent charge. "Bard's runes didn't knock 'em all out!"
"We'd be stupid to expect them to." Rainbow Dash gnashed her teeth, waving a hoof high for the rest of the flock to see. "Okay, dudes! This is it! Time to get dirty!"
Schiiiing! Wildcard unsheathed both nightsticks as his goggles reflected dozens of angry faces.
"S'lyppa w'lyssa yln H'luun!!!" Enix shrieked, making the very stars above them shake with her penetrating voice. "Sy'lymma w'lymm wyssl nymym thrym!!!
"Bruise and incompacitate! Remember that!" Rainbow Dash wheezed, holding her place as the air grew heated with the incoming wings. "Beat 'em up! Not slice 'em up!"
"Try telling them that!" Ariel's voice cracked. The enemy was flying in fast.
Rainbow nevertheless growled, "Let's be victors today! Not killers!" She threw a fetlock downward at the incoming charge. "For Harmony! For Bleak's Plummet! For Luna!"
"Vylm H'luun!" Enix echoed, soaring forward with dual scimitars unsheathed.
"Vylm Hluun!!!" the rest of the nightblooded flock joined her charge.
Swiiissssssh! Wildcard stealthily barreled his way towards the front of the charge.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa—!" Ariel shouted as she and Rainbow rushed in down the middle.
"Whoah nelly—!" Applejack grimaced, clutching her hat.
"I-I can't watch!" Fluttershy covered her eyes. She murmured something else, but it was drowned out by the angry shouts of the Central Guard rushing up to meet the Heraldites, face to face and beak to muzzle.
Golden spears and polearms stabbed the upper troposphere.
Wildcard made first contact, deflecting several blades with his nightsticks and giving room for Enix and her warriors to rush in and tackle the initial wave of Frostknifers. Soldiers of Chandler's armada tackled sarosians while Rainbow Dash and Ariel collided with them with a flanking swerve. Soon, the air was a cacophonous sea of metallic percussion, lit up by runic explosions as the Stardust continually pelted the lower half of the enemy charge with lunar flak. Before long, the violent, angry screams of several dozen figures blended with the thunder at the end of the world, sending shockwaves back down towards the rippling waters below.
The sonic reveberations eventually reached the Emeraldinian platforms in dull thuds.
Logan stopped his anxious pacing. Ears twitching, the large stallion turned on his rear fetlock, squinting towards the source of the thunder-piercing noise.
Remna stood beside the swaying chalices. She peered in a draconian squint towards the line of rocks to the west. All she could make out was yellow splashes of runic light high above the dissolving stormclouds.
"I can scarcely tell," she grumbled. "Have they or have they not engaged the enemy?"
"Uhm..." Flynn took a moment to gaze west. His mechanical eye whirred, the lense circling in and out as he took a survey of the situation as well as he could manage. "... ... ...affirmative." He exhaled with a shudder, managing a nervous smile. "Looks like Bard's set out to take on the armada. That's the Stardust's arsenal going off for sure." He cooed, "I'm so proud of you, baby."
"Easy, baldy," Logan grumbled.
"Mrmmffff..." Remna gazed skyward. "And what of the Austraeoh's flock?"
"That rremains to be seen!" Kepler hollered from where he perched beside the Gondola's golden supports. Water-slick chains of alicorn metal continously threaded through the rigging, glinting with lightning from the thunderous beyond. "Until we get anotherr signal frrom them, we can only wait and hope!"
Remna hollered back, "Any sign of the Gondola?"
"Negatorry!" The wyvern shook his rain-soaked head. "That is also the Rrainbow One's position of knowing rright now! Not ourrs!"
Remna exhaled. Turning her back to the clattering vials, she faced west once again... staring at the stormclouds... still as a statue.
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Thunderbolts and lightning.
Very, very frightening.
Never underestimate the power of a good storm.
Nor focused artillery.
Nor WildCard and a battalion of pissed-off Sarosians.
i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/056/730/597.jpg
There's a missing apostrophe here.
What happened? Your horrible tactics, of course! Get used to it, bucko. You're no commander.
I know this was written weeks before Austryeoh, but... bagels.
They've been ruined for me.
Seraphimus was not mentioned at all this chapter, last chapter she made it appear as she struck by lightning yet the Talon didn't spot her. I really hope she isn't at
Lerris v2.0Lerris v3.0I just thought of a great tertiary name for the Job Squad/Herald-The Stardust Crusaders! ...I'll go sit in the corner now.
Well, the plan looks like it's going well so far. So far anyway.
This fight seems to be going about as well as Rainbow could've hoped for
I'm willing to bet Remna drowns or at least nearly drowns before this is over.
Southwest and ten o'clock are mutually exclusive, sir!
DERP!
It's dependent on where you're facing. I'm such a fool!
8164427 Get back in the bag, private!
Those "firework rounds" are a LOT more destructive than advertised!
Renma REALLY wants in on this action, I can just feel it
It worries me that we heard nothing of Sera this chapter...
Patience Remna, Your time will come...
8164427
Pretty sure time-clock numbers are determined by the way you're facing. They're facing west, so that adds up.
Combat Porn: The Chapter
Also
So far things are going well, how long before it goes pear shaped?
Things are going better than I expected. I give it two chapter before that change.
8164953 You and me both, Buddy.
I sure hope Rainbow can keep the casualties down.
Do you know what happens to a pegasus when it's struck by lightning?
Same thing that happens to everything else.
Incowhat?
Ambuuuush!!!!
And I just know that Seraphimus is going to show up at the worst possible moment...
I am so excite for this
I love it when a plan comes together.
Just wounding them is actually a great way to stall for time, since it requires more effort from the able bodied enemy to deal with. Maybe they should blind 9/10 of them and leave the others with one eye?
I really should have commented on the gdoc beforehand...
Blood for Sear-oh, wrong book. Umm...
Bruises for Searo!!
Mama mia mama mia
Lets go!
Knocked out one ship by torpdrift, and dragged the enemy into a full trap.
Yeah something bad's gun go down.
Just saying, Remna and Seraphimus going at it would be an awesome duel. I have a feeling this will soon come to pass.
8185362 haha I'm just a few hours behind you!
A dozen of them in one Accord? That's one crowded car.
I'm a bit worried -even with the earlier surprise this is going too smoothly. Waiting for another terrible twist...
w h e e z e
Look, mistakes were made.
It’s clear Chandler has no idea what he’s doing.
But Seraphimus does. And I feel like she’s about to make her appearance.
Oh man, this was some comedy good right here.
And by that I mean he is hilariously screwed beyond anything comparable.
... what's incoming. Pah!
Seraaaaaphimuuuuuuus....
Wheeerr aaaaaare yooooooouuuu??
This is going to get ugly...
Something something Titanic something Chandler is a butthead~
Also where you at Sera?
Looks like the... weather isn't on their side today.