Utaan

by Imploding Colon

Griffons are Nothing but Neat

“Lieutenant Keris, sir!” the voice rang across Red Barge.

Keris looked up from fixing his sling.

Elsaack trotted up. “We finally repaired the damage caused by the pirate attacks.” He pointed north. “The struts there should be completely mobile by sundown.”

“Mmmm... splendid.” The griffon stood up, wincing slightly. “When's the soonest we can transport supplies between the Barges?”

“I'd say within a day,” Elsaack said. He blinked. “Uhm... assuming it's okay with your friends.”

Keris squinted. “'Friends?'”

“More like superiors.”

Keris jolted, then spun.

Commander Seraphimus touched down, charcoal brown eyes leering. Three armored guardians landed beside her, gazing at the recovery efforts.

“You have much explaining to do, Lieutenant.”

Keris breathed. “Indeed, Commander, I do.”

Comments

[RoboRed]

i.imgur.com/XUhy7.png

U got sum splainin' to do, Kerry.

[The 24th Pegasus]

wellllllllllllllllllllllllllllll sheeeyut

[MidnightReflection]

Short chapter. DELICIOUS CHAPTER!

[Frodo]

6714280
>exactly 200,000 words

I think I just got referenced.

[Spade-Heart]

The beginning of a catalyst?

[Tim the Planes-pony]

Hope his tongue is as sharp as sharp as his blades.

[Bread Lord - Galloran]

Best chapter so far!

[Lightning Bearer]

Well okay then.

[AppleTank]

Keris: I got infected by Harmony.
*Throws rainbow glitter.

[destinedjagold]

6717557
Harmony zombies~

i.imgur.com/srjBeaE.png
A screenshot to remember this epic word count milestone.

[Urist Tokmekfamthut]

6717557
You're turning harmonious!

[Fishberry]

Keris- "While investigating Red Barge for signs of the Rainbow Rogue, whom through my investigative efforts I deduced might be aboard and in the custody of the superiors there, I got a surprise sparkly tail-whooping from members of the crew, courtesy of the former second-in-command, who had me placed in metal restraints. The former tyrannical top-dredger, who ran Red Barge like a Neightzi work-camp, irrespective of the well-being and safety of his crew, and Fearing I would bring you fine ladies and gentlecatbirds down on their heads, literally threw me into a prison cell with the Rainbow Rogue who was INDEED imprisoned in Red Barge's brig, where they induced her to transform into a chaotic hell-beast and attack me. A scampy little colt straight out of Chesnut Clopperfield returned a magical piece of jewely around the Rainbow Rogue's neck, reversing the hell-beast transformation and restoring her to her former appearance of a petite eyesore of a rainbow pegasus. The Rainbow Rogue somehow sensed that the bargers were going to own us hard with poisonous dust in the vents, therefore I had little recourse but to cooperate with Rogue and scamp in an escape plot. We successfully escaped and were then forced to fight for our very lives in an epic battle we won, and brought democracy to Red Barge with help from White Barge. As a consequence of my injuries, I was incapable of placing the Rainbow Rogue under arrest, and all of this is outlined neatly and at even greater lengh in an eleven-page report, which I will present to you now and you would be reading if you hadn't decided to chew my feathers off the moment you'd landed."

Seraphimus- "Oh..."

"...'Kay..."

Pregnant pause.

Seraphimus- "Wanna grab some ice cream?"

[remnants]

I imagine this will go down similarly to that moment when the boss catches you slacking off in the copy room making "have you seen this dog" flyers instead of doing your actual job.

i.imgur.com/NA8Aqpb.png

Griffons are Nothing but Neat

What you did there, I saw it.

[Eyes of Avo]

I have a feeling it will soon be "former" Lt. Keris.

[Silver Flare]

6717579

gentlecatbirds

My new favorite word. Thank you, Chancellor Fishberry.

[Fishberry]

6717592

Takes a bow.

Zoobily-woobily.

[Sam the Anti-Ninja]

Oh. well this was a thing. Looks like things are coming to a head. I wonder how the report of Rainbow's doings at Red Barge is going to affect her inevitable judgment. Because I'm betting the Talon are going to catch Rainbow soon, since she's minus her largest asset: her flight. And Keris knows the extent of her spectre senses, so they'll be able to plan around that.

[314]

Amazing how skirts can deliver such a cliffhanger in so few words. Eh, he's managed to do so with less before.

[Fishberry]

6717612

In my firm opinion, zealotry ruins everything. All Dashie did was kill a plant. It's not her fault that a bunch of ponies made the plant the root of their crazy pacifistic ascetic cult. Plant, root? Ehh? Heehee. ... Sorry.

[Tim the Planes-pony]

6717633 Case in point, 'All Looking At The Same Rainbow'.

[thatguyvex]

Been awhile since we had a brief one. The teasing is powerful here. I wonder if we'll get a dual scene intercuting between Dash bringing Luna up to date and Keris reporting the details of the last few days to Seraphimus?

[Fishberry]

6717646

"Case in point, short chapter is short"

Indeed. Well... I try to keep things in perspective. It would be nice if we got long chapters all the time, but presumably the author has a life of their own aside from fulfilling our desire for copious amounts of East-horse each and every day. I too would like to see more, but I would also understand if nothing appeared for a week or so. I'm sure even our dear author is entitled to some 'me' time.

Also let us not forget that the author is writing multiple stories. given how complex and well-written their stories are, I am astounded that they (the author) manage to keep up with daily updates, posting TWO chapters one day to make up for the odd occasion they do not manage to upload a chapter.

The author is doubtlessly a passionate person who throws themselves into their writing whole-heartedly and with a sincere fervor I've only ever seen in someone like Stephen King. It's quite remarkable and I admire their efforts greatly.

Part of that admiration stems from the author's consistent efforts to please us, the readers, which is one of several reasons I choose to voice my appreciation for their writing now and then. It isn't often someone goes to such extraordinary lengths to weave a marvelous story with such complexity and with such a focus on tailoring the content for maximum impact.

[Sam the Anti-Ninja]

6717639 True. The most she can be given is assault charges, since none of the actual deaths were directly at her hooves. At the same time, Chandler is no doubt going to play up those charges to something more extreme and death worthy. Meanwhile, Thunker Meat will be playing the role of Pheonix Wright. Bard and WC might even show up, and I wouldn't be surprised if Echo managed to spring himself in time to do something heroic and stupid.

6715564 You mean the same black magic you used to establish your own personal summoning ritual?

[Fishberry]

6717685

Chandler is such a dick!

I hope that Chandler explodes. Twice!

Hmmmm. If Dashie was so gobsmacked by Chandler's blonde umber-pelted battle secretary, I wonder what this version of Dash thought of Mrs Harshwhinney...

Harsh- "Miss Dash? Why are you staring at my flank?"

Dash- "Oh! Uh. I-I'm analyzing your cutie mark. Uhm. Professionally."

Harsh- "I see. What do you ascertain through your analysis?"

Dash- "On no offense, your professional-ness, but I think I just learned more about me than you."

[Sam the Anti-Ninja]

6717713 Whinneydashery?

[Zero Moment]

Short and to the point. Noice.

Did anyone else not get the chapter update in their bookshelf? The only reason I found this was because I checked my Feed.

[Fishberry]

6717737

What do you call a rainbow with a dash of harsh apples?

One lucky pegasus.

This joke would confuse the Skittles out of anyone unfamiliar with the subject matter. Crack it and watch their eyebrows go into orbit.

[Phoenix Kitten]

welp... how are you going to explain this LT?

-Companions have returned, inner darkness spurned. Utaan.

[IceKitsune]

It's been quite a while since we've gotten one this short, it's kind of bizarrely refreshing really. Keris has a lot of explaining to do but I'm sure just about everyone on the Barge will back him up in his story.

[Rayvinne]

Way to show up late Seraph.

6717576

Free ponies humans for all!

[August Books]

*sees new chapter and gets excited*
*sees that it is only 120 words long and is less excited. *
*reads chapter and is pleased*

I think that sums up most everyone's reaction.

[RagnuPony]

I might give it a go. How many words would I have to read to catch.. all... the way... up? Over two MILLION words?!
If that doesn't spell continuity lockout, I don't know what does (and I thought FoE was long).

[Kairee]

6717750 Same here. For some reason this update did not show in my lists - I had to unfollow and refollow the story again, and then it appeared as having updates. This seems to be common from what I've picked up from other readers, not just on this story.

[Fishberry]

6717888

The peanut gallery will be waiting for you, Ragz!

Buckle up, it's a bumpy ride!

And by a bumpy ride, I mean something like having a pleasant country drive, but then the trees begin smashing the car with their branches while all the rocks in the road turn into gymnasts. Then all the rocks start to explode, and a bunch of angry badgers tumble in through the passenger side window. When it appears you're almost safely back onto ashphalt, a giant cyclops picks up the car, tosses it into a big steel drum filled with lit dynamite, and heaves the whole thing off a cliff

[Nevlamas]

I'm having a lot of fun imagining you running down the chapter word count to just so fit that 200.000 mark.

6717589 Promoted to Surgeon General Keris.

[mastermenthe]

6717888
It took me a month, including reading the comments sometimes, which is half the experience and i hope if this ever goes to print or ebook the comments find some way to remain.

[mastermenthe]

6717888
Oh and if you want spoilers before you dive in pm me whatever query bugs you the most.

[Phoenix Kitten]

6717976 each book has a collection of the best comments from that book at the end.

[Sam the Anti-Ninja]

6717308 You just won a my friend. That was flawless.

[TwilightUCrazy]

Skirts... I read these on the forty-five minute ride to work, dude.

[The Whiskey Spirit]

Bruh. No~ I-I-I need my fix man. I need it.

[Seraphimus]

I love that he totally did this on purpose to make I 200k words exactly

[Leftover of Saikano]

Time to griffon the brush off.

[digif]

6718041
where? I can't seem to find them

[Emotional Flight]

Here we go again!

6717888
I managed to do it in nine days for the first time just four months ago. I had to do upwards of eight hours a day.
(Cram reading for the win!)

[Cyonix]

I went to check up on Utaan, and then I saw 200,000 words, exactly.

Cool.

I need to catch up faster

[Jern]

6718196 I feel your pain man, east horse withdrawal is a hell of a thing. I'll probably be reading skirtsian oneshots each night for months trying to ween myself off once this series finally finishes.

6717888

If that doesn't spell continuity lockout, I don't know what does

It's actually not as bad as you might think for a story with over 2.5 million words but I would definitely recommend staying away from any spoilers or summaries. No summary could ever do this series justice and you'd be missing out on too many impactful moments to count.

[Revan]

6717888 I read the first six books in six nights' time, so it's not as bad as you think. And it's totally worth it. Join the Austraeoh fandom today.

[Tim the Planes-pony]

6717669 Indeed, his (frankly insane) schedule is why I am willing to cut the author a LOT of slack when it comes to his updating schedule and even the updates themselves (some are clearly better than others, but each one is always worth the read), with not even a ddos of the site stopping him. Also note the one word chapter linked was entirely for storytelling purposes, as he posted another longer chapter on the same day as that one, and an effective use of the medium to get an audience reaction.

[Lazy_]

*Chapter isn't even 200 words long*

Me: U wot m8?