Ofolrodi

by Imploding Colon

Waiting For the Wyrm

Smoke rolled heavily over the clifface.

Every Heraldite was sprawled out across the floor in various states of dizzying shock. One by one, they crawled up on all fours, coughing and sputtering.

"Oomfff..."

"Kaff! Kaff!"

"Grkkktt... guhhhhhhh..."

Ariel shook dust and ash loose from her mane. "Blblblblblb..." She squinted nervously at the hazy twilight above. "Are we dead? Cuz if so, this afterlike sucks."

"The Flatulife," Logan managed.

Ariel blinked. "Okay... after hearing a joke like that I wish I was dead."

Wildcard perched on the wagon and flapped his wings heavily. In so doing, he cleared the immediate air in that vicinity. Kepler could be seen, sprawled out besides a collapsed sniper rifle and an unconscious Flynn.

"Keps!" Rainbow Dash hopped up and crawled over to him. "Are you alright?"

"And so it is the worrld began," Kepler slurred, rubbing the dust out of his eyes with a hairy wrist. "And so it is the worrld shall end."

"Hey!" Pinkie Pie grinned. "Catchy!"

"Looks like everypony's accounted for, Rainbow," Twilight Sparkle said, floating closer to her anchor. "And that magical burst upon our arrival was Kepler's doing."

Rainbow looked at the wyvern again. "Keps? Did you save us just now with that rifle? Or did you suddenly evolve the ability to breathe fire?"

"If only I werre that verrsatile..." He squinted up at her with a tired smile. "Alas, Rrainbow One, I assissted you with mostly prredictable means."

"Sooooooooooo..." Rarity squirmed uncomfortably. "What became of the beast?"

"Rainbow!" Fluttershy floated over and pointed up towards Omega. "Look!"

Briskly, Rainbow spun around to gaze. Wildcard, Ariel, Logan and the rest also looked.

As the haze cleared, a shifting wall of chitinous flesh could be seen... looming above them. By the casual manner in which the wyrm lingered, it appeared as though it only did so by choice. Scarcely a burn mark marred its cranial features. The thing shifted again, let loose a dull bass groan... then retreated slowly back into the earthen depths. Rainbow and the Herald watched as—once again—a seemingly innocuous forest of waving stalks lowered until it was an even extension of the plateau around them. The rumbling persisted... trailed off... then dwindled completely. All was still as the creature found its deep burrow to retire in.

"Did..." Ariel's muzzle twisted. "Did we hurt it?"

Wildcard shook his head.

"If you ask me, sisterr..." Kepler rummaged around, then found his spectacles. "I simply suspect we managed to..." He placed the glasses on, gazing casually at the new alien landscape. "...make it borred of us."

Logan exhaled. "Well, that's a boredom we could live with."

"I'd say," Rainbow stammered.

"Can I cheer now?" Pinkie asked, trembling.

"Ennnghh..." Applejack rolled her eyes, then smiled gently at her. "Eeyup, Pinkie. You can cheer now."

"Wooohooo!" Pinkie pumped a hoof in the air. "We were boring! Go us!"

"Smashing!" Rarity exclaimed. "Or... unsmashing, in this case!" A nervous, ladylike laugh.

"It's sleeping soundly." Fluttershy exhaled with a happy shimmy to her feathers. "All in all, I'd say that's a good thing."

"Way to go, Keps," Rainbow said, turning around. "You totally saved the day on this one."

"Ach! I did not do so on my own!" Kepler waved a talon about. "Arriel and Serraphimus assisted mightily."

Rainbow squinted in the surly griffin's direction. "Is that so...?"

"Don't act as though you're surprised," Seraphimus droned as a shadow loomed behind her. "I simply assisted in what assured momentary survival at the time. You're still a pathetically inept leader, and this entire party is doomed to—" THWACKKK!!! The hilt of a massive axe clobbered her skull from behind.

Seraphimus jolted. A blink... and she actually summoned the strength to throw an accusatory glare behind her shoulder before—

"Gnnnngh..."

Thwump!

She fell out cold with a rattle of her manacles.

"Big Show?!?!" Rainbow Dash gnashed her teeth. "What the buck?!?"

"Her wings still are unbound," Logan said, resting his axe behind him as he stood over the victim. "She could have flown off at any second."

"But she didn't, dude!"

"So?" Logan frowned. "What's stopping her?! You heard the lady. She's still pissed as hell at you—at all of us!"

"And you think this helps?!"

"Bind her wings back together," Logan belched. "You can thank me later."

Rainbow pouted. "I think you're still high on testosterone after wrestling the wyrm."

"You're welcome."

"Ehhhh..." Ariel crawled over to Seraphimus' unconscious body with a length of chains. "For what it's worth, I'm not complaining."

"Herr motives still arren't entirrely clearr," Kepler admitted.

Wildcard nodded.

"Grnnnnghhh..." Rainbow face-hoofed. "Whatever. Let's just get as much distance between us and Lowly Worm as we can." She glanced tiredly at Seraphimus' figure. "Hoooo boy... she won't be fun to deal with when she comes to."

"Cheese omelette," Flynn slurred, drooling.

Comments

[Blaster M]

Herald: Pack up and take flight!

[Zero Moment]

THWACKKK!!! The hilt of a massive axe clobbered her skull from behind.

Seraphimus jolted. A blink... and she actually summoned the strength to throw an accusatory glare behind her shoulder before—

"Gnnnngh..."

Thwump!

She fell out cold with a rattle of her manacles.

That's gonna hurt in the morning.

[Sam the Anti-Ninja]

Note to self: wait till Equestria develops nuclear arms, then glass the dark side of the plane.

"Her wings still are unbound," Logan said, resting his axe behind him as he stood over the victim. "She could have flown off at any second."

Yeah, but, where would she even go dude? Admit it, you just wanted to do that.

[Tim the Planes-pony]

Well, one obstacle down, who knows how many left to go. Assess what you have, and start moving again.

[Booster Spice]

Doomsday:Sod this fart, Im going back to strata Bed.

This has Got to be one of the biggest Checkovs guns ever created? Cos currently, given they dont have a spare Tsar, Doomsday is the next best thing for Cleaning up the Midnight Armoury.

If it isnt used, Id Love to see what is being considered.

Wonder if Doomsday is big enough to span the end of the plane?

[Hawattie]

I thought hitting Sera when she's being stupid was Wildcard's job...
Dammit Big Show, stop being cooler than WC!

[Hyped for what]

"Don't act as though you're surprised," Seraphimus droned as a shadow loomed behind her. "I simply assisted in what assured momentary survival at the time. You're still a pathetically inept leader, and this entire party is doomed to—" THWACKKK!!! The hilt of a massive axe clobbered her skull from behind.

Ouch...

[Mocha Star]

Sera's dream sequence!

[Equestria Buck Yeah]

[Merula]

Well, I predicted the wyrm surviving, but not leaving them alone and just buggering off like that!

I wonder why...?

[Boersencrash]

That was unexpected. I thought the creature would be either hurt, intimidated or completely enraged. But how can a worm become bored, especially after this detonation?

"Wooohooo!" Pinkie pumped a hoof in the air. "We were boring! Go us!"

That statement coming from Pinkie makes it almost ironic.

[Revan]

Watch the Worm come back when they reach the Armory.

[Golden Rule]

urg, dang it Big Show! You were the first one to talk to her like she had a soul! I hope this doesn't undo all the progress they've made. I honestly hoped they would move towards setting her free since she helped of her own free will multiple times in this last fight instead of flying away.
-10 points to Gryffindor for burning bridges.

[IceKitsune]

Well that was anti-climatic, I guess it figured they were more trouble than they are worth to eat.

[Phoenix Kitten]

Yeah, that was a bit of a dunderheaded move Big Show, ya melon fudge.

I don't think the wyrm got bored, so much as you just made yourselves wholly not worth the effort anymore.

-Through the path long forgotten, into the darkness long begotten. Ofolrodi.

[Lightning Bearer]

Not sure how to feel about Big Show going all extreme prejudice on Sera. On one hand, it makes a cynical kind of sense, knowing what they know about her bunion of a personality. But I also fear it might've depleted whatever reserves of goodwill she'd accumulated of late.

Whatever. You can't unring a skull.

[General Lemarc]

As the haze cleared, a shifting wall of chitinous flesh could be seen... looming above them. By the casual manner in which the wyrm lingered, it appeared as though it only did so by choice. Scarcely a burn mark marred its cranial features

Well frick.

e thing shifted again, let loose a dull bass groan... then retreated slowly back into the earthen depths. Rainbow and the Herald watched as—once again—a seemingly innocuous forest of waving stalks lowered until it was an even extension of the plateau around them. 

Wait what?

[Spectrumancer]

...dammit, Bigshow

8458468
Figure out how to pilot this Urohringr piece, evacuate it, then fly it into the nearest fusing stellar mass.

[The_K_Man]

Time to salvage what's left of their supplies and hover out. Something darker waits on the horizon.

[Luminard]

Uhh GG I guess my worm dude

[Nevlamas]

What, bored by explosions? That thing really is anathema to anything Harmonic - is to say, to Rainbow!

[Tea Leaves]

Oh, worm?

[FloydienSlip]

i.ytimg.com/vi/OGI51TPWfEM/maxresdefault.jpg

[arancaytar]

"Don't act as though you're surprised," Seraphimus droned as a shadow loomed behind her. "I simply assisted in what assured momentary survival at the time. You're still a pathetically inept leader, and this entire party is doomed to—"

It's not like I even wanted to save your lives. Baka.

[Cynderfall]

*Pets Sera*
She was a good catbirb today.

[Hazard]

Now go, before it changes it's mind!

[Lamplighter]

I have to agree with Big Show on this one. Murder turkey only sided with them because this was a life-or-death situation. Once the tension had passed and she realized she had all but free rein, she would probably have made her Escape.

Being lost and alone on this side of the plane with no supplies, bearing or even a means of navigation would have spelled her eventual Doom. If she hadn't simply started brooding out there in the darkness, then come back in the night to try to kill them all.

[FOXTrot2]

8461124
Give her a cookie...then an aspirin.

Also, Cuddles the Deathworm seemed very interesting despite the low personality traits. It was one od those "incalculably dangerous" things that would give a dragon or linnoworm a run for their hoard.

[Tim the Planes-pony]

Logan, that was extremely rude, maybe it was necessary, but still rude.

11/14/2019
23:21 UTC

[Zytharros]

Every time I hear a sentence, then “pony belched,” then they continue talking, i literally imagine them burping.

[Level Dasher]

Still having a nice breakfast there, eh, Flynn?

[hypervelocity]

" Wooohooo! " Pinkie pumped a hoof in the air. " We were boring! Go us! "

Uh....yay?

"Grnnnnghhh..." Rainbow face-hoofed. "Whatever. Let's just get as much distance between us and Lowly Worm as we can." She glanced tiredly at Seraphimus' figure. "Hoooo boy... she won't be fun to deal with when she comes to."

Objectively, I would be pissed too.