• Published 9th Mar 2013
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Innavedr - Imploding Colon



A broken party of friends struggles to reunite. Rainbow Dash continues to fly east.

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A High Wind

“You're a quiet pony,” he said.

Imre looked up, blinking. “Huh?”

Eagle Eye managed a nervous smile, his ears folding back. “Sorry. I... uhm... I tend to think out loud a lot, especially when things are getting tense.”

“I promise you it will only sting for a moment,” the mare droned, all the while finishing the application of a bandage to Eagle's wounded chest. “I'll never understand how stallions can be such ravenous soldiers and big babies all at once.”

“Oh, I... uh... I can deal with pain, believe me,” Eagle Eye said. “I'm not a big fan of it, but it's something I had to deal with.”

“Join the friggin' club,” Imre said.

“Yeah, about that...” He smiled hopefully. “Everything isn't all that bad once you get to talk to ponies about it.”

She stared off across the chamber. Clark, Tweak, and Props crowded around the manaconduit, operating in close synchronization. Rainbow Dash stood beside Ebon and Pilate, chatting. Towards the far end, Floydien paced about with Simon perched on his antlers.

“I have nothing to talk about,” Imre said in a dull tone. “Even when I've tried, it's only made things awkward.”

“For who? Ponies like Rainbow Dash?” Eagle Eye leaned his head aside. “I find that hard to believe. Looks like she and Mr. Tweak are ready to lay their lives down for you.”

Imre blinked pointedly at the stallion.

His lips curved as he said, “Sometimes, the only pony who makes things tough for yourself... is yourself.” He gulped and stammered, “I-I've lived with a great deal of craziness myself, constantly ashamed of things, doubting where I stand in life. It wasn't until recently that I realized that the stuff that hurt me the most did so because I was too afraid to let it change for the better. When all of this nastiness is over with, I plan on going someplace.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Where?”

He shrugged. “I dunno. Maybe someplace where Rainbow Dash is going.” He chuckled. “Maybe someplace further. I wanna find a new home where I can meet new ponies and... heck... maybe start a new family of my own.”

“You really think it's just that easy?” Imre frowned. “That simple to take off to Spark-knows-where and begin a new life?”

Slowly, he shook his head. “No. No, I don't believe that at all.” His lavender brow furrowed. “But that doesn't make it any less worth it. It's really that precious enough to risk everything for.”

Imre glanced back at the colorful pegasus across the way, then hug her head. “What is it that she has that none of us have, anyways?”

Eagle Eye glanced at Rainbow Dash. After a few seconds, he looked back at Imre and said, “Harmony, I guess. Beneath all of the roughness, beyond all of the explosions, that's what she's all about.” He smiled. “And I find that inspiring. I bet it could inspire you just as much as it's inspired your friend Roarke.”

“What Roarke has...” Imre muttered with a dry chuckle. “It sure isn't inspiration...”

Eagle Eye raised an eyebrow at that.

Just then, a bright spark emanated from the manaconduit where several members of the party were hubbled.

“Woohoo!” Props hopped in place. “Bob from Bottles! We got it!”

“Huh?!” Rainbow Dash spun around with a flurrying mane. “You got what?! What is it that we got?!”

“Do calm down, madame,” Clark said as the group gravitated towards them. “We shall endeavor to explain. Ahem. It would appear that your friend here—”

“We can use Tweak the Crystal Guy to Shiny-Jack the Mana-Jack!” Props chirped, causing Clark to moan and facehoof. “He's like a living manabattery, after all.”

“Whoah whoah whoah...” Rainbow Dash winced in her rattling armor. “Is that really a good idea? I dunno if the dude's told you, but Crimson and I went through Tartarus just to release his brother a bunch of other villagers whom the Searonese were doing the same dirty thing to.”

“This girl speaks crazy, but she's full of more than blonde hairs!” Tweak exclaimed with a smug grin. “Ain't like they're usin' me as a magical battering ram or nothin'. All I need to do is channel a bit of energy into these here manawires and supposedly it'll override the security locks on the door!”

“It's...” Rainbow Dash's eyes narrowed. “It's that simple?”

“Feasibly, yes,” Pilate thought out loud, drawing looks from the group. “Crystal ponies have been known to survive lightning strikes without suffering major damage. There's barely enough energy coursing through that conduit to switch on a toaster. I do believe our friend from Aurum here can help us bypass the locks.”

“Hmmph...” Floydien folded his forelimbs. “Always comes down to the glimmer glimmer, yes yes?”

“See?” Tweak pointed. “Even the moose agrees.”

“Floydien is most certainly handsomer than coat-rack boomers.”

“Sure. Whatever.” Tweak twirled towards the others. “Let's do this before I get back my sense of pride.”

“We're sure this won't hurt him?” Ebon asked. He pointed at the door. “I need we need to get through and all, but...”

“I'll be around, just in case,” Imre said, trotting towards the thick of the group. “You guys can only be so suicidal on my watch.”

“Certainly puts a spring in my step!” Rainbow Dash said with a grin. “Okay, Tweak... Props... do your... uhm... sciency stuff.”

“Righterooni—”

“Wait...” Eagle Eye spoke up, shifting where he stood. “What about all the baddies on the other side?” He gulped. “I... uh... understood that there would be baddies?”

Simon chirped innocuously.

Pilate tilted his head about while O.A.S.I.S. flickered. “Eagle Eye has a point. I think that whoever's on the other side—they know that we're here. I'm sensing at least two dozen bodies in close proximity, just beyond the door.”

“Sounds like a regular party,” Ebon droned.

“Right...” Rainbow Dash cracked her joints as she faced the door with tight limbs. “I know how this works...”

“Re-stabbing of the stabby stabby shall commence,” Floydien grunted.

“No!” Rainbow Dash flashed him a frown. “We can clean these dudes' clocks, but let's not bash their brains in with those lightning antlers of yours!”

“Why not?! Boomer of color has done it before.”

She managed to speak past her wincing expression. “But this isn't the same! I know without a shadow of a doubt that we're more than a match for them. I'm used to being an underdog, but I'm not about to squash ants like a big bully, just because we've got a lot of friggin' firepower on our sides! Certainly your skull isn't that jumbled that you can't understand that!”

“Floydien understands what Floydien understands, and believes what Floydien believes.” The elk's red eyes twitched. “But what of the stabby horse horse?! What do they believe or understand beyond the imprisonment of Nancy Jane?!”

Before Rainbow could respond, Pilate stepped up. “Floydien,” he said. “I think both you and I know that what happens today is no longer going to be determined by the evil party in question. Our group has gotten too big and too complicated to warrant irresponsibility.”

The brown hairs on the back of Floydien's neck bristled under Simon. “Nnnngh! Too much cloud and spit! What is it that striped boomer wants from Floydien?”

Pilate smiled gently as he said, “Restraint... and respect.” He trotted up and calmly patted the quadruped's shoulder. “I think it's something you've mastered incredibly.”

Floydien's nostrils flared. He flashed his antlers towards the far wall. “Hmmph... Floydien isn't a fan of the complicated path. It slows the glimmer, no?” He exhaled. “But if it helps Floydien's friends, then Nancy Jane will understand the delay.”

“Yes, my friend. I am sure of it...”

“We done yapping?” Tweak muttered, stifling a yawn. “I ain't gettin' any brighter here!”

“He's right!” Props sing-songed. “Only a precise crystal pony down the manaconduit will set off a chain reaction!”

“Ugh... can we just get this over with?” Imre droned.

“Do that voodoo that you do!” Rainbow Dash said, facing the door. “The rest of us, be prepared...”

“Oh jeez...” Eagle Eye winced, levitating both tasers as he stood beside Rainbow Dash. “Oh jeez oh jeez oh jeez...”

Imre felt the silver shape of her pistol while Floydien growled at the door like a giant, horned canine.

Tweak raised both translucent hooves towards the conduit. His glowing body illuminated the figures of Clark and Props as they adjusted a pair of diodes with metal tools. Suddenly, a beam of light coursed through Tweak's figure, causing the manastones above the chamber to flicker. The ventilation fans quit, turned on, then quit again. Finally, a shower of sparks ran across the ceiling, and something deep within the door hummed like bottled thunder.

“There it goes!” Props shouted above the noise.

With a heavy whirr, the doors slid open. A wave of cool air flew in, as if a giant was blowing into the chamber. Dozens of bodies flinched, spun, and flinched again. Manarifles and metal clubs kissed the light.

“Everypony!” Rainbow Dash hovered up and prepared to launch an attack. “Go for cover! I'm gonna knock out as many as I can—”

“Stop! Stop!” Ebon Mane suddenly shouted. “Don't!”

Rainbow Dash spun in mid-air. “Huh?”

The stallion pointed, breathless. “Can't you hear them?!”

Just then, the sound of the opening doors dwindled, and in its place came the voice of a pony in the center of the huge crowd. “...surrender! We surrender!” The air rang with dozens of weapons being tossed onto the ground in front of the ponies. Several stallions and mares—all dressed in sweat-stained Nightshade uniforms—stood on slack haunches before the group. Behind them, stretching for hundreds of feet, was an enormous chamber, like three sports arenas dug against each other, and numerous zeppelins of every conceivable shape and model clung to a complicated array of platforms and metal lattices bridging between them. Rainbow Dash couldn't find to gawk at the dormant fleet, for a pony with frightened eyes had galloped up to her, tossing his arms up with emphasis. “We surrender! Please, don't hurt us! We give up!”

“Uhhhh...” Rainbow Dash's face contorted. “The fuzz is going on here...?”

“They're absolutely terrified,” Ebon Mane said as he trotted forward. “Can't you feel it?”

“Can you?!

He said nothing.

“Whatever you're here for, you can have it!” One of the workers stammered, sweating bullets. “We give up! It's not worth protecting anymore! It's not worth this!”

“Am I hearin' this right?” Tweak said in a slightly groggy tone. He and Clark and Props trotted up to the line of ponies facing into the giant hangar. “They're just rollin' over for us?”

“My good pony, do elaborate, if you will,” Clark's voice rang with eloquence. “What is it that you are giving up?”

“The projects!” A mare in the middle of the crowd hysterically exclaimed. “The experiments!”

“Care to be a bit more specific?” Rainbow Dash groaned.

“Any and all of the zeppelins! They're yours!” A stallion bowed low, shivering. “Please! Take them! Any of them! We have nothing against pirates!”

“Pirates?!” Eagle Eye stammered. He glanced with a retching expression at Rainbow Dash. “Is that what they think we are?”

“All of Nightshade Industries is crumbling...” An older stallion said with a weary breath. “We were promised money to feed our families... security to protect our beloveds. But we didn't expect it to come to this...”

“Ledomaritan Enforcers...” A mare shuddered. “And now Searonese bounty hunters? We're risking too much. We don't want our families sold to these soulless ponies!”

“Searonese bounty hunters?!” Props' blue eyes blinked. She then smiled. “Oh! Heehee! I think she's talking about Rainbow's friend with the one measly ship and—Mmmmf!”

Tweak looked over from where he had stuffed his hoof into the mare's mouth. “Pssssst!” he hissed at Rainbow Dash, then waggled his eyebrows.

Rainbow nodded, then turned to frown at the group. “You're right! All ponies who work under Nightshade is in danger! Blue Nova is overrun!”

All of the ponies quivered and moaned with fear.

“Rainbow Dash...” Imre started to drone.

“But!” Rainbow Dash lifted a hoof. Her ears twitched in alternating flicks as she thought hard, then blurted, “You did the right thing by... uh... surrendering to us! There's no need for anypony to get hurt! We just want to grab ourselves a zeppelin and get out of here!”

“And find Nancy Jane,” Ebon Mane added.

“You want to get out of here?!” a mare exclaimed. “That's not going to be easy! We're trapped!”

“Can't you open the doors to this... uhm... hidden base thingy?” Eagle Eye asked.

“We would, but... but...”

“It's a bombardment,” Pilate said in a distant voice.

Rainbow Dash looked at him. “Huh?”

“Shhhh...” Pilate's metal rune-cap flickered as he pointed towards the air. “Wait for it...”

Everything was silent, and then thunder rolled, bouncing off of every metal rafter and rattling lattice that spanned the enormous place. Dust and sediment rained down from hundreds of feet above as every Nightshade worker shuddered in fear.

“Ledomaritan shelling, no doubt,” Pilate added.

“They've been firing volleys at the entrance for the last half-an-hour,” a stallion said. “If we open those doors, the first pony who tries to fly out of there will be toast!”

“And there's word of enforcers infiltrating the old sewers and underground passageways,” another pony said. “All of the buildings on Nightshade's property above ground has been seized already! All that's left is here and the headquarters, and even still so many have fled!”

“We have families to protect in this city and beyond,” another added. “We can't afford to be captured! They'd be compromised too!”

Rainbow Dash leaned back on her haunches. She tapped her chin while her head swam through painful expressions of deep thought.

Tweak trotted up. “Rainbow? What are you ganderin' about?”

“We wanna get out of here...” Rainbow pointed at the trembling crowd. “They wanna get out of here. I just wonder if there's a way to make everything work for everypony...”

“It's rather difficult to see how,” Clark remarked, gesturing wildly to the far end of the hangar as another roll of thunder boomed from the shelling outside. “This city's about to crumble enough as it is. Now may not exactly be an opportune time for us to escape with our coats intact.”

“Nothing was gonna stop us before,” Rainbow Dash said. “Why should it be any different now?”

“In all seriousness, we have to think rationally about this predicament.”

“And I am being serious!” Rainbow Dash grumbled. “I'm being serious for us! For Belle, who still needs to be rescued! For... for... Knickerbocker or whoever the heck the elk has a deer-crush for.”

“Speaking of which...” Ebon Mane glanced wildly around.

“Where'd he go?” Props gasped. “It's suddenly less handsome in here!”

“Uh... guys?” Imre pointed.

Rainbow Dash turned to look. She gasped at the sight of a familiar brown quadruped galloping loudly down the hangar and up a steep incline of metal lattices. “Antlers on the run! Darn it, I knew I couldn't keep my eye off him!”

“Rainbow, just be calm!” Pilate shuffled past him. “I can talk some sense into him!”

“Can you really?”

“He's not as far-gone as you th-think! Augh!” The zebra tripped on a loose piece of metal. “Blast it... Ebon? Would you mind, good sir?”

Ebon Mane trotted up and gave him a shoulder to lean on. “I'm right here. Let's go.”

“I'm with ya guys.” Rainbow Dash flew along with the two as they darted after the elk. “The rest of you, try to get a head count! See if they've got weapons or medical supplies here! We'll need every ounce we can get!”

“Every ounce for what?!” Tweak shouted back.

“Just humor me!” Rainbow Dash bobbed and weaved around zeppelins and support struts, zeroing in on the elk and the two stallions catching up with him. Simon chirped excitedly from where the rodent rode Floydien's antlers like a lookout sentry. “Hey!” Rainbow shouted at the bizarre sight. “Hold up! No need to go biserk on us!”

“Nancy Jane is here!” Floydien stammered, breathlessly throwing himself forward as he scaled a metal bridge several stories up. “Floydien can smell her! Can feel her glossy contours through the metal mess! Yes yes yes!”

“I'm sure she's fine! It doesn't look like these pansies here would harm a fly!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “Just slow down and we'll help you find your beloved moose!”

“Rainbow Dash,” Pilate spoke calmly from below. “She's not a moose.”

“Pfft! Fine! Elk! Caribou! Whatever—”

“No, that's not what I mean,” the zebra interrupted. “Look...”

“Huh?” Ebon Mane muttered as he, Pilate, and the armored pegasus came to a lingering stop.

“Yes yes yessssss...” Floydien's muscles grew lip as a drunken smile rolled across his lips. He leaned forward and nuzzled the rust-red hull of a two and a half-story tall barge. Moored to a pair of docking clamps, the airship glowed with otherworldly effluence, making it a great deal more astounding than the rickety wooden or brittle metal facsimiles of airships stationed around it. “After a sizable spell, beloved Floydien returns to beloved Nancy Jane. A little more spark and a little less spit, but still the same vanquisher of boomers. Yes yes? Floydien thanks and loves Nancy Jane for keeping her heart warm for Floydien. Among other things.” Floydien giggle-snorted in an awkward fashion.

“I...” Rainbow Dash gawked at the airship, shaped like a bullet carved in half down the top. “I... uh...” She glanced at a giant shard of red crystal—the size of a small whale—that hovered above the open deck of the craft, braced by four metal rings of various diameters that rigged the horizontal chunk of rock in place. “I don't get it...”

“What's not to get?!” Props beamed, her blue eyes sparkling at she stood with the group. “It's a East Arcane Void-Skipper! The most ziffy of zeppelins there is!”

Rainbow Dash jolted in mid-air. “Gah! How'd you get here so fast?”

Props smiled. “I swung!”

“Uhhh...” Rainbow Dash blinked. “Okay...”

“Powered by pure enchanted skystone!” Props cooed as she trotted along the craft, running a delicate peach hoof across it. “Only known to fall in special places along the north and south edges of the world! Hee hee! It's like the thing runs on outer space itself! How'd you find such a neato-keano craft, Mr. Handsomeness?”

“Floydien did not find Nancy Jane!” the elk grunted, then turned to caress the hull some more. “Nancy Jane found Floydien... yes yes yessssss, she did, even if Floydien had to carve his way through frozen chunklands to find her. A more beautiful beloved there never was and never will be. Floydien protects her, so that only Floydien knows her name...”

“What...?” Ebon Mane asked.

“Right here...” Pilate pointed at a piece of the hull that his manasphere had just finished scanning. “I do believe this is the vessel that the think tank was working on. It matches the dimensions to a T.”

Ebon squinted at the words across the hull. “'The Noble Jury?!'” He gawked at Floydien. “Who in the heck calls their ship 'The Noble Jury?'

'Jurisprudence' was taken!” Floydien snapped. He spun about and jumped onto the deck with Simon in tow. “Be the hush hush around Nancy Jane! She doesn't like being stripped by your eyes. Names are like lengths of silk, and she's danced behind many a veil in her day! Now, Floydien returns to help her sing again!” His voice echoed from beyond the hull. “Yes! Be jubilant, fair maiden! Serenade Floydien's friends, if Nancy Jane has the spit! No?!”

The rest of the ponies looked at each other, lost between shrugs and smiles.

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