A Perfect Time to Vent
“Let me ask you just one question, Skagra,” Chandler said.
“Well, you already took the physical challenge by coming here,” Skagra slurred, trotting backwards up the ramp. “Shoot.”
Chandler's green eyes narrowed. “What exactly was it that won Monket's favor?” His nostrils flared. “That made him give up his loyalty to me so that he could serve a muckbag like you?”
“Aside from my good looks and your all-around douchemuzzledness?”
“Please, Skagra. You can stretch my patience... but not my intelligence.”
“Very well.” Skagra shook his glossy bangs to the side and cocked his head with a squint. “I gave him kinship.”
Chandler snorted. “You're kidding me, right?”
“Mmmm... our blood may be filthy, muck-riddled, spawned by bastards and bedsores at best... but...” He reached the door to his office at last. “We are all bloated before birth. It's just that ponies like Monket and myself have the strength to smell it. Morons like you?” He shook his head. “Tch... you're having to catch up to your bloat. And when your nose so much as starts to tickle, you shove lots of money in the way—like pillows—hoping to guard you against the inevitable filth.”
“Are you really that deluded?”
“I like to think of it as endarkened.” Skagra smiled crookedly. “It's like being enlightened... only upside-down with your senses above you. And that makes Monket and I more like brothers than you and him ever will be.”
“Forgive me if I don't pretend to be envious.”
“But you're so good at envy, fat cat.” Skagra pointed. “You've got the eyes for it. Now... let's make 'em rosy, shall we?” He turned towards the open office. “Dredgers! Fetch some dirty... dirty whiskey for—” He froze, blinking. “...what in the blue shit are you mucktards doing?”
Three... four... five dredgers were rummaging all over the office, turning all of the furniture, trophies, and trinkets over. Upon hearing Skagra's voice, one of the stallions jumped a full three feet. He spun about—jittering—and rushed towards the doorway. Sliding on his knees, he bowed low, stammering: “I'm sorry, boss! I tried to fetch what you told me to! I've looked everywhere! I've even called in these guys to help! But we can't... c-can't find it!”
“Can't. Find. What?” Skagra's eyes glazed over with deathly frost.
The stallion gulped. “The p-pendant,” his voice cracked. “It's... it's n-nowhere to be found!”
“... ... ...” Skagra gazed into the office, dead silent.
“Not on your hoofrest! Not on any of the shelves! Not beneath your cot!”
“Something the matter, Skagra?” Chandler asked, blinking curiously.
“Just one moment, Chandler—”
“Because you've taken enough of my time as it is.” The would-be Magistrate frowned. “Now will you tell me what the delay is or—?”
“Grnnngh!” Skagra spun, eyes flaring. “Will you make like a true fat cat and puss yourself inside out for once?! I need time to think!”
“But you never do!” Chandler frowned. “Do you, Skagra?!”
Skagra shook... shivered... snarled.
Chandler didn't hold back. “You think that you do, but you really don't! You float out here in the middle of the lonesome seas like the god of fecal brine and yet you're still as brainless as the slave whore who foaled you.” He gnashed his teeth. “Well I've entertained it for as far as my money and the blood of the servants you've slain can carry! But no more!” He stomped his hoof. “I want my damned Rainbow and I want her now! So where is she, you half-headed moron?!”
“She's in the brig...” Skagra hissed. He pointed a shaking, angry hoof. “I have it... under control.”
“Just like your steam?” Longaze droned from the back.
Every stallion spun to face her, blinking.
“Buh?” Skagra burped.
Longaze pointed south.
Chandler and Skagra trotted up to the balcony's edge, squinting. The top dredger's scarred jaw dropped.
A thick white mist was spreading swiftly across the bulkheads of the southern strut. Along the edges, stallions scampered, panicked and breathless. Something blurred in and out of the clouds, tripping a few of the dredgers along the way. They fell with muffled shrieks, clambering wildly before being dragged back into the mists—silenced altogether. From the sidelines, other dredgers and Red Barge families looked on with nervous expressions. They gradually backtrotted away from the spreading steam—ultimately fleeing to the furthest edges of the platforms.
“That...” Chandler pointed, fidgeting. “That's not right. Is it?” He looked at Skagra and the others. “Is that supposed to be doing that?”
“Looks like the platform's venting steam to me,” Longaze said.
“You mean—like there was a rupture?”
“Not like any I've ever witnessed.” Longaze shook her head. “We would have heard the explosion—at least felt it if that was the case.”
“Skagra?” Chandler glanced aside. “Have you got an explanation for this?”
Skagra clenched his teeth. He looked into his office—at the glaring absence of a ruby pendant. “... ... ...” Glaring, he turned to face the southern struts again. “Nixkit, you sad... sad bastard.”
“Huh?”
CHIIING!
Chandler flinched as Skagra unsheathed a dagger.
“Stay right here, fat cat.”
“But—”
“Red Barge business!” He hissed, perching up on the edge of the balcony. “Bleed on the rust of your own home!” He turned and shouted at his fellow dredgers. “Grab every available stallion! Even the non-dredgers! We're going in!” And he plunged completely over the side, agilely shimmying his way down via various lattices and bits of pipework.
“Skagra—!” Chandler barked, but it was far too late.
Skagra nimbly reached the bottom of the platform before Chandler had finished breathing. Meanwhile, every dredger within earshot had galloped down the structure to join him. Skagra whistled to the sidelines, summoning more and more strong hooves as they collectively galloped for the southern struts. Very soon, a veritable army of Red Barge finest was charging the source of the billowing steam.
Chandler shuddered, stepping back from the balcony. “Maybe... maybe it's nothing.” He gulped, shivering. “Maybe it's... yes... maybe it's something other than the Rainbow Rogue.” He looked aside at his bodyguard, smiling crookedly. “What do you think, Longaze?”
She spoke while her cool eyes remained locked on the steamy scene below. “I think you've inhaled too much of the muck's fumes, sir...”
Panting, Swab ran towards another valve. Kicking over a tool box, he stood his little body atop the thing for extra leverage. His tiny hooves reached up, grabbed the valve, and began turning.
“Nnnngrh... grhhh...” Swab gritted his teeth, sweating. His right ear twitched several times, and—
Hisssssssss! The valves all around him began venting steam.
He hopped off the toolbox and backtrotted, watching with an exhausted smile as the new wave of mist merged with the cloud that had already been conjured around the brig. All in all, the vaporous veil grew larger... denser... spreading across the Barge one hull at a time.
And then Swab backed up into a body.
“Gaaah!” He spun around, flinching. “I-I was just... just—!” He blinked, gasping. “Whony?”
Whony panted and panted. He wiped the sweat from his brow and squinted at the smaller colt. “What the Hell, Swab?” A few other colts snuck out of hiding, grasping bent clubs, wrenches, and bludgeons. “I thought you went down below with the Rainbow Rogue!”
“And I-I did...” Swab pointed at the mist. “But now we've—”
“What's the big idea with all of the steam?!” Whony pointed at the valves behind Swab. “Are you trying to sabotage Red Barge or what?”
Swab took a deep breath, frowning. “Enough is enough, Whony. Skagra's gotta go.”
“Huh?!”
“I m-mean it's time to take him down!”
The colts murmured at one another.
“You friggin' serious?” Whony glanced back at the other foals with a grimace, then turned to gawk at Swab again. “Like... for serious serious?”
“What, you don't hate Skagra too?”
“Pfft! Of course I do! We all do! But how in the heck is this helping?”
“It's making cover for the Rainbow Rogue,” Swab said. He shivered, pointing into the mist. “Right now, she and the Lieutenant are kicking the flanks of—”
“Wait a second.” Whony placed both hooves on Swab's shoulders. “Did... did you just say that the Rainbow Rogue is in on bringing Skagra down?”
“Uhhhh...” Swab gulped. “Yeah.” He nodded. “She is.”
Whony blinked once. He spun and barked at the other colts. “Everypony! Run to the furthest ends of the strut! Turn every valve and vent every pipe that you run across!” He shook his hoof, snarling. “I mean it, ya little shits! I want this place covered in pea soup!”
“Yes, Whony!”
“Sure thing, boss!”
“We're on it!”
The foals ran in separate directions, moving as fast as their legs—and breaths—could carry them. Swab gawked at them all, muzzle agape. At last, he turned towards Whony, breathless. “You're... you're on board with this?”
“Of course I friggin' am.” Whony was already marching towards a valve. He stood on his hind quarters and gripped the thing, struggling against the rust to turn it. “I just didn't realize it was worth it until you mentioned the Rainbow Rogue.” He licked his lips. “'Cuz if this whole thing was spearheaded by you... we'd be friggin' bloat.”
Swab blinked... then smiled. He rushed over, hopped up, then grabbed the edge of the valve. The tiny addition of weight did the trick, and soon the thing spun—squeaking—in Whony's grip.
Whony turned the valve. He smirked aside at Whony. “Y'know... you're not so lame... once you've chosen the right pony to hang with.”
“Yeah... she is awesome.”
“You think the monster's awesome enough to save us?”
“With a little bit of help, sure.”
The air filled with loud hissing as the nearest pipes vented steam hotly into the air. Swab and Whony backed up, watching breathlessly. Three ears twitched to the sound of more high-pitched whistles spread across the Barge. To the left and right of them, the whole of the southern struts gained a new ceiling in the form of impenetrable mists.
Croche poked her head out from beneath the bulkhead where she hid. She stared—muzzle agape—as a dense cloud rippled across the southern decks.
Suddenly, the air filled with heavy thunder.
Croche winced, squatting low and out of sight. On either side of her, dozens upon dozens of dredgers galloped, charging south with Skagra leading them.
“Move! Move!” Skagra hollered. “Don't let me catch you dragging your tails—or I'll shove them into the nearest shelf harvester! I mean it! Instant ocean lasagna! Now go!” He perched briefly on a guard tower and waved his dagger, hollering: “And bag her alive! Carve her up if you have to, but the fat cat needs his product alive!” Then he too dove into the mists...
Stallion after stallion...
Everypony went stumbling blindly into the mists.
Croche saw it. She smiled. The little filly slinked back into the shadows... and waited.
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Gotta love a good application of chaos and distraction.
Damn, Chandler caught Skagra's weakness and pounced on it quick. Fun stuff.
Am I the only one kind of hoping that Longaze and Rainbow wind up in combat with one another? That would be kind of awesome.
...Uh...Whony smirked aside at himself?
It's a good thing none of the dredgers ever watched "The Mist", or they'd be a bit more careful.
in before spiders and alien monsters taking
peopleponies... bring on the tentacles!Well, Methinks there is a plan in place. A mad plan to be sure. The steam isn't so blinding to Dash with the girls helping. But it's not so simple as beating them all up.
Dude how do you write so much?! Does time simply halt when you start writing a chapter?
Why is Croche smiling? Curiouser and curiouser...
Things are starting to come together. And the fact that the foals are united against Skagra certainly bodes well for the future.
Like RoboRed, I'm anticipating a confrontation between Rainbow and Longaze. Something tells me Chandler didn't hire her for her personality.
Three chapters ago, I gave Seraphimus three chapters to show up. Looks like she'll have to wait her turn... for the next climactic and suspenseful moment, where she can Barge in and save/ruin the day.
6671845 Likely because she just received confirmation that Rainbow had been broken free.
I love it when a bad guy's house of cards come tumbling down.
Always nice to see the evil mastermind's reaction to their all of their plans falling apart
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
pre09.deviantart.net/c8a0/th/pre/f/2015/074/c/6/last_breakfast__lavander_horizon__by_infinityvoid-d8llufk.png
I miss the Noble Jury :(
I love it when a plan comes together, but I love it even more when a plan falls apart due to another plan. Bonus points if the dismantling plan is stupid.
6671864
For real?
Longaze vs RD. I wonder how many rounds she would last. Roarke survived what, five?
It's going down, everypony. Time to throw Skagra off his throne.
This is going to be one heck of a fight, I wonder how many the kids and Rainbow will be able to take out stealthily before they have to go full on flank kick mode.
Welllllllllll I guess if Skagra's being overthrown then I rescind my wish of destruction on the barge. For now. If things fall apart though, I'm reissuing my wish that the whole thing goes under and White Barge or somebody decent shows up to take its place.
And a big fight for the barge? That's just BEGGING for Seraphimus to show up out of nowhere and wantonly slaughter/wreck everyone.
I'm also hoping that if the above happens, Rainbow is smart enough to flee instead of fight. Seraphimus should be objectively better than Rainbow, and if Rainbow wins on a 1v1 fight I'd call bullshit. No plot armor should be that strong.
Steam sale!
6671945
Let's remember, Roarke is half robot. Though, to be fair, Rainbow's left wing is messed up.
6671986
So, remember, RD's left wing is still kinda banged up. She winced when it rubbed against metal a little while ago (Shame, guess transformation reverts her to whatever she was like right as the pendant was removed when she changes back). How exactly is she to escape? Can't fly. Good luck trying to boat away from angry bird-lions.
Sure, she could try to sneak away, but how? Holding together a cloud of steam and hiding in it?
Further, it would never be a 1v1. I highly doubt Seraphimus is stupid to the point that she tells the rest of her Talons not to interfere, or that Keris would even listen after what he has seen Dash do. In Dash's corner, we have what seems to be a Barge's worth of sea-foam, sea-foam that just dropped all allegiance with Skagra , who scares the living shit of them, to work for Dash. This is assuming that Dash is still there when Serpah and Co show up.
Now, my above arguments against fleeing only applies if said bird-lions show up before Dash leaves the Barge. We have no idea whatsoever how long it will take them to get there. True, drama states that they show up at the most dramatic moment, but that's not a requirement, they could show up and see the aftermath.
I personally think that if a showdown were to happen, Dash winning a 1v1 with Seraph would be too much of a stretch. She's beat to hell, emotionally exhausted, and poisoned with even moar Chaos, while Seraph would be almost fresh (minus the flight there) and have a SpecOp team with her. However, I am arguing that given the current setup, a 1v1 duel is unlikely.
While a showdown would be dramatic, I think it's too early to be certain that one will happen. Also, Swab for Head-Priest of Dashism 2015/16.
Oh shit i just had a thought. Is Red Barge going to be Dash's replacement for the Noble Jury?
6671807
Not exactly what I was thinking, but, sure.
6672061
Uh, actually, when RD literally got half her torso crushed by the Nancy Jane way back in Deer country, Roarke managed to revive her by removing the pendant, then putting it back on again. Also, RD has said that she could heal her wing by temporarily going chaos mode, so I'm pretty sure she's all healed now.
What, is there no mares?
I can't be the only one that really likes Longaze, right? So far she's great.
While Chandler may be a douche and of questionable intellect himself, it was very satisfying to listen to him tear into Skagra. Also Longaze seems to be getting more cheeky with each chapter. I approve.
Here's hoping that Dash and Keris' Batmare&Robin routine continues to go well. While Dash has the advantage of the obscuring steam and her friends' ghost powers, Skagra has demonstrated that while he may not be much for a stand up fight he knows the Red Barge so damned well that I'm not sure not being able to see clearly is going to slow him down either.
And tick tock on the arrival of the rest of the Talons. Will it happen mid confrontation with Skagra, or will it be a "oh shit" moment for when Skagra is overthrown to prevent Dash from getting any kind of break in between crisis?
I like Longaze.
6672015
...I cant make a witty enough comment, so have a moustache instead.
6671845
Maybe Croche is Verlax? I mean, she did kind of show up out of nowhere earlier in the story. Swab didn't recognize her, although that could be because he had no motivation to recognize any of the other orphans. Although she simply could have other intents, like seeing an opportunity to break into the harvesters to set family members free.
Also, I'm detecting a disturbing lack of workouts. Any particular reason why?
Longaze deserves better than guarding my sorry ass. She reminds me of peppermint Patty or whoever her friend was
ALSO YAY I CAUGHT BACK UP!
Chandler is a slimy little shit ain't he?
One could say this is all Monket's fault for even mentioning that he was trying to nab Rainbow in the first place, if Skagra hadn't caught wind of that...
Whony is being awesome right now!
6671845 I'm starting to think Croche is on her own team with her own agenda....
6671843 IC is such a force of fanfiction that when he starts typing time stops so that he may keep his daily update schedule.
-In the end isolation, hunted by a nation. Utaan.
i.imgur.com/vNvNLoa.gif
6672072
In the name of obligatory anagrams for Dash-affiliated vessels, I shall rechristen this floating sauna Grab Reed.
6672143 recall what happened after the pirate attack? males dredge, foals maintain and mares make food and the like on red barge
6671845 I believe she is simply taking the current situation as confirmation that Swab was successful. Especially seeing as she wasn't able to get across the bridge.
Interesting..., looks like Skagra is taking things into his own hands... Er, I mean hooves
6672143 From what I've gathered, the mares either take raise children with the dredgers or go down below.
Wonder how many hundreds of miles away that massive plume of steam can be spotted by eagle eyed high altitude fast flying combat Gryphons. Oh wait, no curvature, only atmospheric haze and magic diffusion?
Dashs biggest problem is unicorns. All they have to do is TK her in place, and shes stuck. As long as Keris can follow indirect commands, he has a better chance of something occuring. Longgaze cant keep track of All the foals.
6671845 became hopeful... they can all resign
6672238
Darn, that was going to be my comment
Are there any berets on the barge? Rainbow would need one if she were to become a captain.
6672015 All Steam must go, Friday FRIDAY FRIDAYYYYY!!!
So how's that philosophy of "Better to be feared than loved" working out for you, eh Skagra?
6672490
The Element has shown some ability to disrupt unicorn TK.
6671807 6671945
Keris is still the wildcard, guys. Chandler remains unaware of the Right Talon's involvement: once he figures that bit out, he's gonna have to make a choice--fold, or go all in. Given how utterly disastrous tangling with Keris could be, I'm thinking if Chandler sees a way to slink away, he'll take it. He'd rather go back to the drawing board and work out some other twenty year long plan to assume control than pin everything on the slim hope of subduing Rainbow and Keris, securing Skagra's loyalty, and somehow ensuring that when the rest of the Talon arrives, they don't immediately torture some random Red Barger for all the juicy details.
6671986
As for Rainbow vs Seraphimus, well, that sort of showdown'd be premature right here, surely. That aside, I disagree that Seraphimus ought to be better. Rainbow's fight with Roarke showed she can tangle with the best, and didn't she take down a fully grown chaos dragon at one point? Since then, she's picked up four new senses, including a tactical health bar, the ability to see armour weak points, perfect, precise awareness of her surroundings and enemy movement, and the utterly broken ability to sense movement and attacks just slightly into the future. I swear, Pinkie Sense is a downscaled version of Atium from Mistborn, and if you've read that, you'll know just how ludicruously powerful that ability can be. Two to three hundred users kill tens of thousands of enemies with it, without taking a single injury, let alone casualty. And we've also got the Element for a temporary blind/energy blast/magic disruption.
Seraphimus' main advantage is her willpower and her lethality. It's not going to be enough.
Think I enjoy seeing Skagra panic a little too much
Well, all of those Stallions gonna into the stream are toast. Unfortunately, Skagra will be the hardest to take out since, due to his "rebirth" in stream, he is going to be way more comfortable in it. He might even be on par with Rainbow in terms of his combat in fog.
6670983 I'm afraid I don't quite understand the connection you're making. Rainbow is unquestionably responsible for the destruction of the reed. No, she didn't harm any of the monks directly, but she made her decision knowing that they would suffer from it. That's quite far removed from the idea of white guilt.
Unless I'm completely missing your point. Which is certainly possible.
Stay here for a moment whilst I go and get some steamcreams
Well after my sabbatical, I'm back, and I have to say, I enjoyed the binge read it took to catch up.
Steam based death for Skagra! Friggin called it! It's almost as if it was heavily foreshadowed...
... I might be giving myself a bit too much credit here.
It looks like all of this is going to end with Chandler back in control though, which is a bit of a bummer. Skagra is a much more amusing antagonist.
6672877 iirc Dash was only able to fight Nevlamas to a standstill, I think it was Khao and Axan that actually took her down.
I'm betting on more of a verbal confrontation when The Talon arrives between Keris and Seraphimus. Keris seems more likely to consider the extenuating circumstances surrounding Dash's actions in the Quade while Seraphimus, being the strict law and order type, will probably want to see Rainbow punished regardless of her reasoning or intentions.
6671843 Write 500 words a day, every day, for a week or two.
You'll find that hitting 750 isn't such a stretch, so you start doing that. Then, 1000 doesn't seem like much more...
Now, do that for YEARS.
6673364 Yeah. Nevlamas. Fought to a standstill. That's so far out of anyone else's league it's ridiculous.
But then, I'm not trying to guess at what's going to happen. A verbal match between the enlightened Keris and Seraphimus would be pretty great, actually.
6672099
revive being the important part
if i remember correctly, we never heard the full details of how long dash was out after the revival, or if there was any extra recovery time at all
injured wing may still be a thing, though from the way she's moving, it's likey flyable, if painfully so
Mr. Austraeoh Fact Checker, hate to bother ya, but is that accurate? or have we seen the healing properties of Chaos!Dash
6673290 No, no, Skagra's death is obviously gonna involve shiny dolphins