"And then kill Terra," Roarke suddenly added.
Terra's smile left.
"Hckkkt?" Pestiferous' mucuousy eyes blinked.
Roarke's lenses pistoned out as she craned her head back to glare at the Top Spear. "You heard me. Plug a hole in their heads, then three in Terra's." She gestured. "She's a big mare. It'll take several mana blasts to take her down."
"Terra is a mosssssht valued high blade..."
"She's also my friend." Roarke turned towards Terra, and her lips were slightly curved. "A loyal, truly-devoted, honorable friend. I've known her longer than these two weak mares combined." She pivoted once more towards Pestiferous. "What greater sacrifice do I have to offer, as a Top Spear in training, than the one warrior I have grown to love and admire after all these years."
Pestiferous wheezed, studying Roarke intently. Eventually, she muttered, "A mosssssht reasonable assssshessment." She nodded. "So be it." She twirled the manarifle and aimed at Terra—
"Now wait just one second!" Terra boomed. She turned and frowned at Roarke. "What do you think you're doing?"
"You question me?!" Roarke frowned. "The audacity!" She jabbed her metal-laced hoof into Terra's massive chest. "To think that you would challenge my rite of passage! Just what qualities do you have that would make you Top Spear?!"
"What...?!"
"I mean, that really is what this is all about, isn't it?!" Roarke shrugged. She tossed her words at Pestiferous as much as she did at Terra. "You couldn't possibly want me to ascend to the throne above you! This is not just my test! This is a test for all who qualify for the bloodiest spear!" Roarke paced calmly around the two mares kneeling at riflepoint on the ground. "And you want what's best for Searo's daughters, don't you, Terra?"
"Uhhh... of c-course I do! But—"
"Then we must weed out the weak!" Roarke shouted so that the mares in the audience above could hear. "And somepony—anypony—do tell me!" She pivoted about and smirked at Terra. "What is weaker than a mare who thinks she can get her way through intrigue... through politics..." Her lenses pistoned in and out as she hissed, "Through trying to catch her longtime sister-in-arms off-guard with the most ridiculous of conspiratorial gambles...?"
Terra grinded her hooves against the ground as she growled, "Are you actually insinuating that I would stoop so low as to—"
"Not now, you wouldn't. But when I'm on the throne?" Roarke paced back towards the huge mare. "Oh, yes, that would be the time. When Pestiferous is dead and devoured by ravens like a true warrior, and I—Roarke the most Rare—a controversial choice at best, sits in charge as Top Spear, with only a fraction of the daughters of Searo willing to support her..." She stood before Terra and hissed up at her. "That would be the best time to strike the mare who's in power... to slip the dagger in..." She spat venomously. "Like a coward."
Terra was seething. One could almost see the sparks dancing between her teeth.
"So..." Roarke pivoted about and smiled at Pestiferous. "I ask that we eliminate the weak, starting with the frailest pony of all." She pointed. "Lady Pestiferous, most bloody spear, I would be honored if you would put a hole in this bitch's head."
The mares above muttered in mixed feelings. Several shocked faces reflected each other in their wide eyes. Even the guards standing around the scene were fidgeting nervously.
Pestiferous scratched her balding scalp with a metal hoof. "Hmmmm-Hckkkktt..." She wheezed, wheezed, and said, "A most curioussssssssh situation. Thessssshe two sisters shhhhtand before me, and one mussssssht be determined assssssh the weaker..."
"And a true Top Spear knows what to do with this kind of a dilemma," Roarke said, bowing.
"Wait!" Terra shouted. She waved two metal forelimbs like a frightened filly. "Stop this craziness!"
"Shhhhhilence, Terra," Pestiferous grunted. "Roarke hassssssh shown her true colorsssh, and I rather like them." She glared at Terra. "Not a ssssssshade of yellow to be seen, unlike yoursssssh..."
"Oh come on!" Terra barked. "This was not part of the deal!"
"Deal?" Roarke raised an eyebrow. "So there's a 'deal' now..." she uttered in a sing-songy tone. "Now I'm really interested..."
"Hckkkkt! I had to know, Roarke," Pestiferous slurred. "My daysssssh are numbered, and I had to know who would carry on Sssssshearo's legacy."
"Well, now that you do, it's your challenge to decide what to do with that knowledge." Roarke stood between Rainbow Dash and Imre. "That's something I've been practicing for years in the Ledomaritan countryside, hunting to find bounties, as well as to find myself. Surely you've been there once yourself, Top Spear. My question to you, is do you still have the guts to make true with that power? Or do you trust a moronic meatbag like Terra to steer you in that direction, all for a measly show of might?"
Pestiferous' slimey eyes narrowed. She froze in thought; even her wheezing breaths had quieted.
Terra was actually sweating. She glanced nervously between Pestiferous and Roarke.
Rainbow Dash breathed heavily, her panic muted by her utter confusion. Just then, a beacon of light pulsed from the shoulderpiece of her armor. She did a double-take at it, then glanced awkwardly at Imre.
"Hey," Rainbow whispered. "What the heck does that mean?"
"That..." Imre glanced up as identical beacons flickered on the armor of every mare in attendance, from the guards to Terra and Roarke to Pestiferous herself. "That is both the absolute best and absolute worst thing that could happen right now..."
Rainbow Dash's face scrunched up. "The heck do you mean—"
The arena filled with a blaring siren as lights along the ceiling pulsed at the same frequency as the beacons in every mare's armor.
Terra jolted, bringing a hoof to her flickering shoulderpiece. "Oh, for the love of Searo..."
The air filled with metallic ringing sounds as every warrior in attendance pulled out an abundance of blades and spears.
The guards above Imre and Rainbow Dash relinquished their pressure on the mares and unsheathed swords, axes, and maces. Even Pestiferous holstered the manarifle in favor of producing an elongated blade from her metal reinforced forelimb. In fact, the only mare who didn't immediately move was Roarke.
"What in Luna's name is going on?!" Rainbow grunted, covering her aching ears. "And why's it gotta be so dang loud?!"
"I've never heard it in all the years I've been here!" Imre shouted back, likewise wincing. "An alarm like this can only mean one thing!"
"Yeah? Like what?"
Imre shivered. "Something or someone is attacking Searo's Hold!"
General quarters! General quarters! All personnel, report immediately to battle stations!
Oh, shit. Somepony's coming to rescue Dashie... or capture her?
One hundred push-ups and one hundred sit-ups, over the course of the evening, ):(. You can do them in however small or large sets you want, but concentrate on form. If you have to do five, then rest for a bit, do it, but make sure you do them right. Knock 'em out!
Hello, Crimson.
A nice little bit of payoff for the seemingly contrived craziness of the last few passages.
Well, I was close. The whole thing with the Ursa ended with no death. But there was some bloodshed.
Damn, what a hell of a convenient time to come under attack.
Top of the morning, Crimson old boy.
...Is what you want to think. In actual fact, it's Steelteeth and a brainwashed Aeterna who has been experimented on by the Crystal ponies' local washing machine company flying aboard a gigantic inflatable sentient crumpet that can breathe fire and crap out nail bombs.
...Okay, maybe not, but you're trying to surprise us. Practically everything I predict is turning out completely and utterly wrong, so I don't feel particularly secure in speculating at this point.
The logic in this chapter is well reasoned, and interesting. Great read.
I was hoping Roarke would see that Lady Pestiferous was the weakest, most pathetic excuse for a warrior and tell her to go put a bullet between her own shrivelled up eye sockets.
This should be interesting.
2450361
Way ahead of you.
2439600
Its like Game Of Thrones/ Warhammer 40K mashup now.
Honour - Bolt Thrower
Saved by the bell? Not likely by the Belle unfortunately.
Aw HELL YEAH, FINALLY. I say we herd them together and slowly boil them in their own shells. ONE BY ONE!
Delenda Searo. Do it now.
2452788 So that's where I got the video from in the first place. Fate made me steal from the ones to whom I wished to sell. Man, that's brutal.
2452640
She has seen it. In fact, by my reading, she'd just started to tell an entire arena-full of metal-worshiping adrenaline junkies all about it when Crimson and Co. came through in the clutch.
...or is it really them at all?
I wonder what Scootaloo is doing right now? I like to think that each time Rainbow Dash does something epic Scootaloo can sense it.
Scootasense - Capable of detecting and analysing awsome over great distances, assigning each event a percentage of coolness.
Please, please, please be something with some decent tactical power. If it's just Crimson in that single ship, he'll get annihilated in seconds. I hope the Ledomaritans are making themselves useful for the first time in ever.
How dare someone attack my land!
For as the last few chapters have been on Dash's side, I have a feeling it isn't Crimson and the Crystal ponies that are attacking, But rather some of Whitemane's people, or the Divine what-its Dragons, I just don't know....
There's our loyalty! Crimson to the rescue!
Looks like the Crystal Ponies are attacking. Good luck without all that armor, Searo!
... Then again, good luck against an entire nation of Amazons, Crimson & Co.
Well, that plotline was a little silly and a little awesome. I mostly enjoyed it, although I get the feeling that it'll read a lot better as one piece.
To battle!
well at least it isn't raining squids. That would be painful.
2453115
That should be a thing.
And saved by the warning beacon! I'm not quite sure what to make of Roarke right now. Was she coming up with her convoluted ruse to buy time for Dash and Imre, or was she merely trying to further her own career and wipe out her rival in one go? Also, who the crap is attacking? If its Crimson I really hope he had a plan beyond "Fly at evil Amazon capital and shoot," but then he might just be badass enough to pull it off. For a few seconds, anyway, before he got bombed out of the air by a billion suped up mana-cannons. Well, all caught up now - until tomorrow!
Could this be Axan?
And then there was Crimson.
Who the HELL would be crazy enough to...oh hell...
Lawlz, that is all.
My only reaction to this was:
troll.me/images/oh-lawd/whats-going-on-outsid-thumb.jpg
A wild Crimson appeared!
Also, that sure is a risky game Roarke is playing. I like it.
Well, finally...FINALLY I've caught up. It feels a little weird, after all this time of being able to read as much or as little as I wanted, to suddenly be cut off and put on rations. Sort of a double-edged sword, I suppose. But I suppose I have no right to complain, what with some of you poor souls having been in this situation for...jeez, almost a year now? Oh, well. Onwards!
Let's dash up the rainbow report!
AW YEAH. Called it! Seems like we finally got the re-introduction coming up! Crimson and those crystals better kick some serious flank! My only concern is that if in natural state they harm everypony, they might accidentally kill those who they came to save. "Woops" Some nice banter back and forth here, and definitely an interesting way to climax multiple storylines at once. IC just continues to amaze. In other news, I finally caught up! AW YEAH. This means I can read the 9-12 other stories I had on standby since I began this epic adventure with RD. Have to say, I'm going to miss being able to just continue whenever I wanted, oh well
True loyalty never dies.
Holy shit, Short Skirts, if I had the gear I would bear your offspring.
2454071 Don't make this turn laggy minecraft servers now!
Bounty Hunting? Warcraft? Badflankery? By the way this chapter played out, Roarke has mastered a far darker art than all of Searonese traditions combined... politics.
Seems Crimson and his posse of crystalline equines are about to leap into the fray. Kick ass.
IIIIIt's Dashie's Kentucky Derby Speical Evaluation Time!
Just as I thought. Roarke wouldn't just let Rainbow die like that - she had to have had a backup plan. It does disappoint me, however, that I never guessed what her specific plan was. I'm getting a little rusty...also, that alarm has to be Crimson. He's the only one who knows that Dash is in Searo, he's got that managlider to take him there, and the only other pony with the resources to attack Searo would be Shell, which wouldn't make any sense. Speaking of Shell, my guess is that he'll go and look for Belle and co. He's got the most solid lead on her, and he'll want something to show to the Council to at least try to appeal to them. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
P.S. And here we go again! It's been a while since I've done a Marathon, so I hope that I'm not too rusty. Also, today is the Kentucky Derby, so that's what this one is dedicated to!
(Also, I can't remember the number that we're on and I'm too lazy to go back and check.11? 12?)
Mare, I approve.
2526819 11
Hah! So she planned to kill Terra too!
...
But that still wouldn't save Dash and Imre.
Ooh, never mind.
-SPirit
This is intense.
2457314
Well, with the advances in today's technology . . .
This is an interesting turn of events. Crimson, old pal, it's good to see you.
Pretty certain that the Ledo army is here to get RD back...
Hi Crimson. Your timing is impeccable.
Most fortuitous timing on the attacker's part...now we just have to hope Terra doesn't make it through this scrape.
2452390
I know this post is very, very old, but I just had to pay respects to this amazing arrangement of words.
6429726 No problem. I rather enjoyed this little spelunk into the annals of Austraeoh past. Since this was over two years ago, I had forgotten about that particular arrangement of words myself. And all the other comments I made. And the context of this chapter. And who the hell is Aeterna?
It seems I'm doomed to re-read this story at some point in the near future. Which isn't so bad, Innavedr is quite thrilling, considering that in all its 200 chapters, it only covers five days in the story. That should give you an idea of how frantic those five days were. I almost envy you, getting to read through it in a single gulp, whereas we who came before had to agonise over daily chapters, making silly predictions to sate our thirst for East Horse as we awaited and anticipated the next grand gesture of the almighty Colon. Which often ended up being a sudden perspective change, to the distress of all those who had awaited and anticipated the conclusion of the chapter beforehand. A captivating venture indeed.
I wish you luck in catching up to the Noble Jury. May your journey be as smooth as one taken on a gigantic inflatable sentient crumpet.
Hahaha! Nice.
Nice.
Whoops, looks like the completely unexpected crystal invasion is on.
Haha! I don't think I've ever laughed so hard at the first line of a chapter
so Roarke called Terra a coward and a double-crosser.
i was sort of hoping RD would call her on her treachery.
"Lady Pestiferous, most bloody spear, I would be honored if you would put a hole in this bitch's head."
Yesssssssss
Round 3! Priority switch! Calculating new goal!