The Death of Vine(s)
Thwiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiish!
The whipping vines closed in on Ariel's tail as she carried Rainbow Dash.
"We'll never make it!" Ariel's voice cracked as the deadly stalks rippled after them.
"You mean you will never make it!" Rainbow said.
"H-huh?"
Swooosh! Rainbow forward-flipped out of Ariel's grip, flapped her wings, and glided parallel to her. "We... on the other hoof..." She held her hoof out. "Grab ahold!"
"Uhhhhhh—"
"Just do it, girl!"
Ariel slapped her fetlock over, joining it with Rainbow's.
"Flap your wings!" Rainbow hollered, squinting against the beating winds. The rock formations came within spitting range. "Time it together!"
"Okay!"
"Aaaaaaaand thrust!" Rainbow's wings blurred.
Ariel gnashed her teeth as she beat her feathers in time with Rainbow.
With their forelimbs hooked together, the two mares acted as one. They utilized their combined thrust to outfly the multiple lashing vines. As they came upon the rock formations, they ducked underneath the first arch, scaled a second ridge, then barrel-rolled around a third chunk of stone.
SMASH!
Th-Th-Thud!
The air behind them filled with pebbles as the ravenous probisci struck the exposed formations.
"That was close!" Ariel stammered.
"About to get a lot closer!" Rainbow hollered—for ahead of them was a line of living forest already preparing a new volley of earthen chunks. "We gotta dodge 'em!"
"But where?!" Ariel shouted.
"To the left, Rainbow!" Rarity exclaimed. "Lose them through the porous arrangement of limestone and granite!"
Pinkie Pie glided upside down, dropping her head. "You know, Rare-Rare, those are two different things."
"Huh?!"
"Limestone and granite don't even belong in the same geological category—"
"Do you even think I can be feathered to care right now, Pinkie?!" Rarity shouted, her ghostly eyes bulging.
"Rainbow! Through the rocks!" Twilight exclaimed. "Like Rarity said!"
"Hard to port!" Rainbow wheezed, barreling left and dragging Ariel with her.
"Rainbow, no!" Ariel yelped.
"Rainbow, yes!"
The two pegasi awkwardly threaded their way through a hole in the looping structures just as a fresh wave of stones flew their way.
"Wooohooo!" Pinkie Pie pumped a hoof as she trailed behind them. "More sound effects!"
SMASH!
SM-SM-SMASH!
TH-THUNK!!!
Rainbow and Ariel flew low to the ground, navigating the craggy hollow of limestone. The multiple impacts of the thrown rocks outside had an appropriately disastorous effect. The "ceiling" cracked in multiple places. A shower of dust and pebbles announced an inevitable cave-in.
"Quick! Fast as farts!" Rainbow's voice cracked. She continued holding onto Ariel's hoof, practically dragging her through the dim, claustrophobic echo chamber. "Go go go go go—!"
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaugh!" Ariel clenched her eyes shut, beating her wings blindly.
Crkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk!
The overhanging stone split in twain, revealing twilight. Milliseconds after, the weight of the limestone took over, and a wave of collapsing rubble chased the tails of the two mares. They came upon a solid wall—solid, save for two narrow holes that could only fit a single pony each.
Rainbow wordlessly shoved Ariel to her right, all with a wave of debris cascading behind her frayed tail-hairs. The two mares held their breaths, flattened their bodies, and sailed through the two tiny holes. A single breath following that stunt, and the entire wall was pummeled by the collapsing structures behind it. Soon a mess of mortar followed them at the speed of screams.
"Up!" Rarity hollered. "Straight up!"
"It's an exit, Dashie!" Pinkie hollered.
"Got it!" Rainbow grabbed Ariel by the waist.
"Aaaack!" Ariel summoned the breath to shriek. "What now—?!"
FWOOOSH! Rainbow sailed the two of them straight up into a patch of twilight. The hollow earth below them exploded from the blast wave of impacting limestone. By the time they exited into the starry air, a cloud of ash and soot billowed up behind them. Soon, the two were sailing outward from a veritable crater of collapsing rock.
"We're... we're alive..." Ariel stammered, muzzle agape. She smiled. "Holy shit!"
Rainbow Dash opened her muzzle to say something—
"ROCKKK!" Pinkie shouted, left ear curling.
"!!!" Rainbow plowed into Ariel, sending the two of them earthward yet again.
Ariel grimaced. "Holy shit—!"
THWOOOOOOSH! The biggest boulder yet flew past them. This one slammed into the earth, bounced a few times, then broke up into hundreds of smaller pieces. Within a blink, surviving stalks emerged from the ground, wrapped around each shard, and then tossed their fresh ammo a the two pegasi.
"Back!" Rainbow hollered, turning tail. "Back!"
"Okay!" Ariel huffed, zipping after her. "Just don't tackle me this time—"
"No promises!" Rainbow panted, sweating profusely as she looked skyward. "We just gotta make a break for higher altitude before they throw their rocks over—!"
Just as she said this, the starlight was blotted out by a wave of projectiles... slowly hurdling down from their murderous arc.
"Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww penguin lips," Rainbow cursed.
"Rainbow, you'll never outfly them in time!" Rarity said.
"Hate to say it, sugarcube, but t'ain't no easy way out of this'un!" Applejack added.
"Oh gosh..." Ariel winced as the ominous shadow fell over her. "...ah jeez! What do we do?"
Rainbow looked straight ahead.
A waving line of stalks rippled hungrily upon their arrival.
Rainbow's eyes fell to their bases.
Tiny pony-shaped spaces loomed around the vines' narrow trunks, right at ground level.
"No, Rainbow..." Twilight shook her head. "Don't do it!"
"We're doing it!" Rainbow shouted.
"Doing what?!" Ariel squeaked.
"Follow my tail!" Rainbow dove low.
"Ohhhhhhhhhh for the love of goddess!" Snarling, Ariel nevertheless followed her.
"Faster! Faster!" Rainbow grunted, flying so low her chestplate nearly scraped the arid stone of the ground. "Don't slow down for nothing—!"
"But—!"
"Stay close!" And just as Rainbow said this, she hurled her body straight into the living forest.
SW-SW-SW-SW-SW-SW-SWISSSSH! The dull, dark trunks of the vines zipped past. Almost instantly, they quivered and flexed and waved in order to throw the two pegasi off their daring track.
Compensating, the two mares bobbed and weaved their way through the living forest. Their serpentine motion paid out, because several hundred of the vines were curling over and stabbing down into their own numbers, lashing with scarlet tongues in a desperate attempt to lasso the pair. Within seconds, the stone shards thrown by the stalks' Edgeside cousins slammed into that very patch of the forest, smashing several vines and rendering their fleshy bodies to wet patches of scarlet-stained pulp.
THUD!
THUNK!
WH-WH-WHUD!!!
"Rainbow!" Rarity's voice rippled through the dense madness.
"Kinda..." Rainbow panted. "...busy..." Rainbow sweated. "...Rarity!" Rainbow flew.
A pale ghostly muzzle phased through the blurring trunks. "Pull a hard left and fly into the nearest opening!"
"What?!" Rainbow stammered. She winced as her body narrowly grazed a collapsing stalk. "What for?!"
Fluttershy's face materialized next. "Just do it, Rainbow!" She stared at her anchor. "Trust us!"
"Ughhhhhhhh—" Rainbow shouted over her shoulder. "Veer left!"
"What, again?!" Ariel sputtered in mid-dodge.
"Just follow me!"
"Okaaaaaaaaaay—!" Ariel shrieked as more and more juice-stained stones landed closer and closer.
Rainbow jerked to the left—a difficult task in such a dense environment. Nevertheless, after pinballing off a vine's base or two, she found a narrow space to navigate. She flapped her wings, spiraling through with Ariel close behind. A swath of starlight glimmered through the trunks, and the two mares flew straight for the space beyond.
It was then that they heard a queer thunder—like cedar trees ripping out from their roots. One glance behind them was all it took to see a conjoined spiral of several dozen vines ripping through the thick forest and trailing after them like an enormous octopus limb. The reaching tendrils ripped a maddening path towards them.
"Go go go go—!"
"Aaaaaaaaaaa—!"
At last, the two burst through the living forest's edge...
...and straight into a glinting axe.
"SPLIT!" Logan shouted, swinging his blade from the back of Flynn's wagon.
With a grunt, Rainbow kicked Ariel away. The two flew in opposite directions—just in time to avoid Logan hurling his weapon straight into the forest.
"SUCK ITTTTT!!!" He bellowed eloquently.
The sharp edge of his sword met the incoming "arm" of tentacles. They faired just as well as butter would to his blade. With a prolonged, satisfying splorrrrrrrrrrrch, the mass of tentacles ripped in twain, showering scarlet juices high into the air.
Rainbow and Ariel flew towards the opposite side of the strategically hovering wagon. They pressed their panting bodies to the rim, wincing from the hot rain splattering on all sides.
Kepler and Flynn likewise winced, watching as the attacking vines were rendered to meaty strings.
By the time Logan was done with his savage swing, the entire attack of the conjoined vines had met its end. The remaining tendrils slinked back into the bloodied forest, and a very unsubtle shrieking sound rippled across the chaotic landscape.
"Hrmmmfff..." Logan leaned back, drenched in his armor from head to tail. He spat a dollop of warm plant juices out of his muzzle. "You want fries with that?"
"Ha-Hah!" Kepler grinned, then motioned with his claw. "Flynn! Wildcarrd! Take us out, brrothers!"
"M'shrynmh L'fynym!"
And the hovering wagon glided swiftly away under the assistance of griffin wings.
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That was INSANE! It was really tense in a couple of parts. I know this story is going to be dark so when stuff like this chapter happens I'm just waiting to see if anyone dies and hoping they don't.
So that is how they make it out. Liked Logan's shapeshifting weapon, I hope he held onto it instead of throwing it.
Ariel and Dash are no doubt all sweaty, tired, and wet from those tentacles. The juices certainly helped with that. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
And then Seraphimus jumps out and tries to murder Dash.
Keira Knightley?!
Heh. guess if anypony would know, it would be the former rock farmer
I actually burst out laughing at this. I fucking love the way Skirts writes Pinkie.
Dash and Twilight's interactions in a nutshell.
Like Luke slicing that giant snake in half during the opening to Tales of the Abyss.
This was a fun chapter. Very very fun.
-Through the path long forgotten, into the darkness long begotten. Ofolrodi.
Sometime in the future this whole area needs to just be carpet bombed with napalm. Seriously.
Also, Ariel needs to go spend some time in the Piccolo School of Dodging, that way she doesn't have to keep getting saved all the time.
I found a little typo.
Anyway...
Holy shit, that was intense!
So, it was a sentient entity, too bad they couldn't bargain with it.
And now a small chat with Seraphimus..or a five chapter fight scene.
This chapter is yet another prime example of why austraeoh needs to be an animated series. (coming to netflix this holiday season)
Somehow I feel this is pointed at whoever was complaining about too many sound effects in this story.
Oh, yeah!
Come back from a geology field trip to find my geology nitpicking comment from two chapters ago 8436490 got referenced. That just made my day!
(Skip to 2:16)
I understood that reference
8437528
you never stop being a rock farmer, you just become a less productive rock farmer.
durandal.dnsalias.net/Cloudsdale/Pictures/Video%20Games/wp_ss_20160608_0001.jpg
My Little Pony:Badassery is Magic
On the one hand, the memes serve to take away from the tension. On the other hand I can't stop smiling.
Our comments have been noted by Best Pony.
Well(burp) Ariel, WE will be fine because I(burp) because I will save us, using my wonde-wonderful genius plans like I always do.
8437536
Seeing this exact clip on an unrelated story got me into DBZA. Hopefully the gift will keep on giving.
8437551
Well, that's how we found the last girlfriend.
Oh man, the nudges in this chapter are not subtle at all.
Ariel's... urges must be in an overdrive mode right now.
8437495
There, fixed it for you.
8437603
To be fair, Skirts does use a LOT of sound effects in his action scenes, to the point where they kind of start to lose their impact. While if it works for other folk here, cool, I tend to find my eyes glazing over a bit when I see all the THUNKS and WHOOSHES and CLANKS getting busted out. Not just the sound effects, but Skirts also tends to way overuse his characters grunting and making other random noises in place of description or actual dialogue. I can only imagine what it'd be like if he outright wrote a sex scene.
"Grrrnnnn!"
THUD
"Gwwwaaah!"
PLONK
"Hmmmmphffff!"
"Errrmmm..."
TH-TH-THRUMP!
"Aaaaarrrr."
SMACK SMACK SMACK
"Zaaaa?"
SM-SMASH!
WIFFLE
"...Oooooo..."
"...Aaahhhh..."
"The hells are you two doing in there!?"
"GWWAAHH!"
"WHOOAA!"
...plip...
Hard to tell if this chapter qualifies as action or foreplay. Either way, at least the death grass is taken care of.
Slightly concerned at how intelligent it was though.
See? We just had to put those moon rocks under the glass and ramp over all the stalks.
No means no, Rainbow. Even if you're sure she wants it.
The concentration of comment-directed sass in this story is definitely rising. I wonder to how many meta levels we can push it.
Somewhere on the other side of the world, Maud is... well, showing absolutely no reaction.
Trench run and core run all in one exiting miniboss level. Its like Bulletstorm, but you aint got no ammo. Oh, forgot about the hoverbike in Forest of Endor thing. Oh well.
Which is bigger, AT-AT or Emperor Titan?
Looks like Logans running the Reaper, will the Weed realise that and stay away or arat working on something even nastier, or ar they far enough through to make it out before the next scale can reach them?
8438118
her muzzle flickered into a smile for a fraction of a second before returning to it's usual stoniness.
Rainbow Dash just killed those vines. And Seraphimus saw it all. Now Dash cannot say she didn't destroy the vine home of those monks at the fourth seed.
8437844
Clearly you are forgetting Durandana
So, did big show's axe turn into a sword or did he just throw one of the ones they picked up in darkreach at it? That paragraph is inconsistent.
The meta sass is real.
Well that was intense. Any of the party know how to massage?
8438450
Of course you have a graph for this.
8438461
Awww, but fade to blacks don't count. We need a full sexy scene consisting solely of sound effects and character grunts.
8438124
Imperator Class Titan for sure. IIRC an AT-AT stands just over 20 metres tall in official SW materials, while depending on the sources (a mix of codices and novels) an Imperator Titan is anywhere from 40-100 metres.
Heh!
Hey Rainbow, that's Ariel's line!
... In her fantasy that is.
New favorite line.
This was waaaay too close. I think that they need to work on not getting into crazy situations like this.
I vote that we nuke this area after Rainbow and co leave it.
8440624
I second this motion from experience.
On another note I don't think any other these characters have literally farted once.
Good grief, that was an intense chapter!
8437844
8438034
8439780
d'worry, bros, I gotcha covered. See my comment above.
8440622
You.... You good sir are a God!
blog.gentlemint.com/media/photos/labeuf-slow-clap.gif
8441452
Oh Boy!
Even the weather is shipping them
Glad that Rainbow got to show that she isn't just a ghost taxi, and that she can contribute just as much as the rest of the group, even without extrasensory powers
. Logan was the real hero or the hour however
10/25/2017
00:14 UTC
8440622
This is how you make clop without making clop.
Oh thank God, we're done with Hentai Forrest.
8441325
Adding methane could help with burning down the Hentai Forest of Death