My Lord and Shepherd
Rummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmble!!!
The gigantic wyrm—or at least what could be comprehensibly seen of it—finished its forward collapse. With a cataclysmic jet of ash and soot in every direction, the beast landed fully on its belly. An earthquake and a half later, and the beast had transformed the momentum of its fall into a savage slither... raking forward through the earth as swiftly as its unbelievably large muscles could push it.
Somehow, this only helped the beast increase its ravenous velocity—a fact that was not lost to the three Heraldites struggling to outrun it.
"Faster... faster!" Logan wheezed, still struggling for breath after the last blow to the gut from Wildcard's metal fist. "Must go faster!"
"What... do you think... we're doing!" Rainbow Dash gnashed her teeth as she carried half of the stallion's limbs. "Rnnnngh... why couldn't you just have a fat ego like most stallions?!"
Wildcard's goggles rattled. The Desperado took one glance behind them—immediately wished that he hadn't—and threw his scrutinous gaze forward once again.
Smoke and debris burned hotly at the three mortals' tails.
"I know I tend to be the melodramatic one, but it stands being said," Rarity muttered. "Have any of us actually considered a viable solution for the moving wall of impenetrable death that is currently trailing Rainbow's fragile hooves?!?"
"Evasive maneuvers!" Pinkie Pie barked, panting slightly as she gauged the horrifying sight pulling up on their anchor. "Hard to port! Even harder to non-port! Quick, Dashie! Make a sharp turn and throw this party pooper off!"
"NO!" Fluttershy trembled. "This isn't any ordinary creature! Its gigantic muscles are tensing up! No matter which direction Rainbow might spontaneously go, I-I'm convince it'll outlunge her and her friends!"
"I'm afraid Fluttershy is right!" Applejack exclaimed. "This ain't this creature's first rodeo! I reckon its got Rainbow and her friends on the menu!"
"Well, we must be able to help Rainbow do something!" Rarity trembled amidst the thick malaise of surmounting dust phasing through her as the beast gained speed. "Come on, girls! Think!"
"And fast!" Twilight Sparkle exclaimed. "We're headed straight for a brilliant burst of mana!"
"Wait, wh-what???" Pinkie's eyes crossed.
Applejack squinted. "Come again?"
"What do you mean, Twilight?" Fluttershy craned her neck. "What's happening up ahead?!"
Twilight blinked, then aimed her fluctuating horn at the speck of a wagon up ahead. A bright pale glow was emanating from the cliffside where Rainbow's friends awaited her and Wildcard's apocalyptic return.
"It's..." Twilight's jaw hung agape. "...it's a lunar spell!"
"Lunar spell?!" Rainbow sputtered.
Wildcard flashed her a look.
Logan managed to squint feebly at their twinkling destination. "... ... ...what in the blue Hell are they up to?"
"Uhhhhhhhhhh... Keps?" Ariel struggled to gaze at the blindingly bright assortment of rocks he had tethered to the Midnighter rifle. "Do you think you've got enough runes enchanted there?"
"Shhhhhh!" Kepler's eyes narrowed on his work. With carefully adept clawtips, he poured the last of multiple solutions into a pair of bottles he had fastened with hard twine to an elongated barb. This conjoined projectile was fitted into the barrel of a long rifle gifted by Bleak's Plummet. "This 'ammunition' is farr... farr frrom aerrodynamic. It will need an exceeding amount of prropulsion if it is expected to fly any distance whatsoeverr."
"But what if you overload it and the thing explodes?!"
"I simply do not have the time to account forr two outcomes at once!" Kepler's hairy brow furrowed. "Potency and trrajectorry?! Alas... I must settle for something that can actually make an impact on the apprroaching foe!"
"Uh huh..." Ariel gnashed her teeth as the earth shook and trembled with greater intensity around them. She looked towards where a mountain of death lurched in their direction, with three tiny specks in between. "So... what's the plan?"
"We must rrely on ourr tarrget forr prroximity," Kepler said. "That should allow forr maximum exposurre to this experrimental concoction."
"You mean we've gotta wait for that thing to charge up to us?!"
"Prrecisely..."
Ariel threw Seraphimus a wild look. "Your idea is starting to suck harder and harder by the second!"
Seraphimus calmly shook her head. "It's hardly 'my idea' any longer." Her charcoal brown eyes reflected the wall of incoming mayhem. She had to raise her voice to be heard above the tumult. "I fear it has evolved into something far more... stupid."
"Thus, my faith forr this worrking! Ha Hah!" Kepler nevertheless sighed as he capped off the last of the fastened bottles. "Ohhhhhhh how I do wish I can afforrd morre of those in the not-too-distant-futurre."
"How's it going to work?" Ariel asked.
"Well, the bottles arre fastened in such a way that shatterring them will expose theirr contents to one anotherr, thus prroducing a densely compacted patch of flammable gases that—when prropelled forrward and exposed to enchanted lunarr frriction—"
"Scratch that!" Ariel grasped Kepler as the tremors grew deafening. "How do we work it?!"
"Errrrr..." Kepler adjusted his spectacles. "It will take verry, verry prrecise aiming. I will need help."
"What kind of help?!"
"I am cerrtainly no sniperr," Kepler said. "And I will need some special means of aiming this most imporrtant shot!"
The two Heraldites stared at each other. Hesitantly, Ariel bit her lip and looked across the wagon.
Seraphimus blinked back at her.
"It's gaining..." Pinkie squealed, teeth rattling. "It's gaiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiing!"
"Fart, you fools!" Logan stammered, danglingly helplessly in the two speedster's grasp as the monster closed in on them. "Come on! Frickin'—"
Wildcard whistled shrilly, a confused look on his windblow expression.
"I see it, Wildcard..." Rainbow managed as utter death roared behind her. She squinted at the bodies gathered before the wagon. "...but what is even...?"
Light flickered.
Metal glinted...
Seraphimus squatted low on all fours.
Kepler and Ariel knelt behind her, cradling the stock and trigger of the Midnighter rifle. The barrel itself was resting over Seraphimus' straight shoulders as the Heraldites struggled to aim neatly at the incoming creature.
"How's this...?" Ariel remarked.
"Closerr!" Kepler licked his tusks as he scrunched right in, lying cheek-to-cheek with the pegasus. The two of them were uncomfortably close to Seraphimus, but nevertheless relied on her to steady the barrel. "That's it! Yes—rremain still, please. You must."
"Indeed." Seraphimus breathed slowly. Steadily. "If you honestly believe this will stop the creature's charge..."
"It is ourr only hope at this venturre..." Kepler squinted... squinted... then yanked off his spectacles altogether. "Spirrit of the Mountain Matrron, grrant me strrength." He exhaled heavily, lining the sights up one degree at a time. "Therre... that's it..."
"Have you adjusted for the wind?" Seraphimus calmly asked.
"Attempting to."
"Keps, what do you need from me?" Ariel asked.
"Yourr voice, sisterr..." Kepler inhaled. Exhaled. "When I tell you to, shout the two commands that I scribbled down."
"This will trigger the runes to propel your compound?"
"Absolutely."
"The wind is shifting," Seraphimus said. She cocked her head aside, glancing at the incoming beast. "If you're aiming for the mouth..."
"I've yet to see it!"
"Anticipate it," Seraphimus coached. "Judging from its muscular structure, I suspect the thing's maw will be opening any... moment... now..." Her words trailed off as her headcrest lowered.
Even from a long distance, Seraphimus could make out the prismatic speck that was Rainbow Dash. The shape drew closer and closer. The glint of the mare's pendant became more distinct. She saw Rainbow's approach vector—how she was anchored by her and Wildcard's grip to Logan. With expert calculations, Seraphimus realized that the pegasus' approach would bring Rainbow Dash to that exact spot seconds before the monster's churning mass arrived. If they maintained their speed, they would inevitably fly directly above the group.
Seraphimus glanced up at her backside. Her wingfeathers flexed. With just one swift stretch of her muscles, the rifle's barrel would be pointed upwards...
"Adjusting..." Kepler droned. "Adjusting... ... ..."
"Kepssssss..." Ariel whined.
Seraphimus took a deep breath. Her manacles rattled around her wrists as she looked at Rainbow's approach again. "Aim slightly lower," she said. Her wing muscles coiled tightly to her sides. Unmoving. "I suspect the frictious draft from the creature's approach will raise the projectile high enough to impact its orifice."
"Agrreed!" Kepler swallowed. "Alrright... arre you rready, frriend?"
Ariel nodded. "As ready as I'll ever be."
"Everypony, exhale!"
Seraphimus's lungs tightened.
"... ... ... ..." Kepler's spectacled eyes twinkled. "Now!"
Ariel shouted into the runes of the rifle: "H'rhnum!"
POW! The barb flew free from the gun, carrying the bottles with it. It sailed clear past Rainbow, Wildcard, and Logan—whizzing past their heads.
Seraphimus watched. Still. Silent.
Ariel timed it perfectly: "Y'hnyrr!!!"
Their three Heraldite friends became black sihlouettes against a blinding plume of flame erupting in front of the creature's face. Everyone flinched—including Seraphimus—as an infernal cloud fountained towards Omega, broiling over every chitinous surface it could find for hundreds of meters.
PHWOOOOOOOOOOOMB!
And somewhere in the process...
...Rainbow Dash landed. Gravity followed shortly afterwards... along with Logan's butt.
THUDDD!
"Guhhh!"
"Aaaaaugh!"
"!!!"
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First the explosion, then followed by the massive tremor from the worm hitting the ground. They were so massive that not only did the fourth wall get broken, causing the loss of everything that wasn't SFX and dialogue, but they also stole Logan's BUTT.
GET BURNED!!!
>Inb4 it actually survived that
Man, this is the most tense this story has been in a while. And it looks like Seraphimus is trustworthy completely now? Maybe?
That's one helluva artillery strike they just pulled.
HEADSHOT.
Ahem. Sorry...
IC pls
You were this close to dooming yourself on an essentially different plane of existence and gaining my infinite disappointment and sadness, Seraphimus...
But it's nice to know you're worried, Seraph. Really, really, really nice. You're so close. So close.
But you aren't a Heraldite yet.
At this rate, she'll find herself loathing how much she's grown to like the Herald, and she'll face an even harder dilemma in the future that hinges on her abandoning/betraying the Herald or helping them out.
Well.. if nothing else, they knocked it down/out.
-Through the path long forgotten, into the darkness long begotten. Ofolrodi.
Kepler used Goldeneye on Skyfall.
Doomsday used Flail.
Roll to Dodge.
8456828
I think it's a combination of coming to terms with the idea that this whole venture isn't doomed by definition, and her survival instincts finally rebooting.
So, cooperation for the time being, as it's the best way to survive for now. Trust might come, with time.
Well, they are alive, question is, is the wyrm?
8456821
That was so close a shave, it took a T.
Seraphimus keeps earning points. At this point is there even a reason to keep the manacles on her?
So we got a big boom, but we haven't yet seen if it did anything. Be convenient if that thing just happened to be specifically susceptible to being lit on fire.
Whelp. A big boom should do something. Hopefully, the beast just had its senses burned. It may even be possible that it'll be "dissuaded" from pursuing the Heraldtes. Remember folks, hitting a meteor's worth of momentum with a relative firecracker certainly isn't gonna stop said meteor from impacting, just alter its trajectory. Time for the group to dodge a giant singed maw falling at them.
BIG BIIIIIIIIIIIG BADA BOOM
Most ideas are stupid but they work...in some way.
That, my friends, was an earth-shattering kaboom.
What it's like to use the Krysae sniper rifle
It'll explode anyway, possibly twice. But that's the point.
Boss' phase 2 starting in 3....2....1...
Bruce! Matilda!
I now imagine Kepler as having the voice of Allan Quartermaine/Sean Connery.
8456853
But do they grapple?!
I'm just saying.
I doubt that the external explosion killed it, but let's hope the worm has received enough damage from the blast to consider a retreat.
And now Logan turns into Gandalf.
Right between the eyes.
8457579
"Just take your time."
Sera had her biggest chance yet to kill Dash and she didn't take it. Something tells me not even she could tell you exactly why.
This smell is beyond any of you!
Boom!
professionalmorondotcom.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/must-go-faster.gif?w=723
Nice thinking, but hopefully it was effective. They need to get moving as soon as possible.
Also, Seraphimus? Whats going on? Why didn't you take the chance to kill the "Blighted One?"
Oh this is it, ain't it? The Point where she finally turns over a new leaf?
Have to play the light side theme:
Good gravy, you stop reading for a few days and then you're behind 12 chapters! Welp, time to get cracking.
This isn't even my final form.
8481478 That's what happens when you are spoiled by an author who updates nearly daily
11/08/2017
16:03 UTC
Aaaaand I'll never be able to watch Fellowship without thinking of that ever again.
Ey, looks like Rainbow's rubbed off on ya, Keps.
Alright, alright, Logandalf.
And BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE!