Rainbow Dash poked her head out of the outermost corridor and squinted her eyes at the gray malaise swirling thickly around the center of Stratopolis. Beyond the marble columns and airship wreckage, she spotted the remaining chunks of temple ruins floating through the rainswept clouds. However, her immediate concern involved the cityscape directly around her. She glanced left and right, but spot no sign of a moving shape or shadow. As well as she could guess, the coast was clear.
Taking a deep breath, she pivoted about on flapping wings and motioned towards herself.
With cat-like stealth, Razzar and two other Lounge members slithered out of the corridor, aiming vibrant yellow manarifles in every direction. They covered various points along the balcony, training their sights on every marble column and rusted bit of metal. After a minute passed, Razzar held his gloved hand up and motioned along.
Arcshod, Aatxe, and Seclorum trotted out, along with several Xonan and Ledomaritan equines. Mares and stallions alike carried or levitated crossbows by their sides. Far more emaciated and frazzled than their Lounge companions, they shivered from the cold wind and pelting rain, nervously eying the obscure temple ruins around them as they clung to their weapons.
At last, Props, Josho and the three remaining Lounge members came out, covering the rear. The group numbered no less than two dozen, and they formed a tight line that shuffled counter-clockwise around the broad temple exterior.
"If I recall, the wall with the big ol' Urohringr symbol is on the far side," Rainbow Dash's voice cracked against the rumble of thunder. "Right past—"
"—a hollowed out manaship with rusted steam thrusters?" Aatxe said.
Rainbow did a double-take towards the center of the line. "Why... yeah. Dude, do you take walks on a consistent basis or something?"
The stallion sighed out his nostrils. "You'd do stupid, bored things too if this place became your home for seventeen years."
"I'm ready to make it a distant memory," Seclorum grumbled. He cocked a crossbolt in his weapon and dashed forward. "Let's get this over with—"
Razzar blocked him with an oustretched hand. "We will take lead."
"Excuse me?"
Razzar didn't bother to look at him, instead strolling forward with courageous speed while accompanied by his two masked brothers. "We are a great deal experienced in dispensing with shape-shifters. For the safety of you and your comrades, I suggest you leave this in the hands of professionals."
"In the hands of—?!" Seclorum's eyes crossed, and he shook his muzzle with a frown. "Look, buddy, we're the ones who've been stuck here for eternity! I think if anyone knows a thing or two about these green-blooded freakjobs, it's us!"
"And to what extent has that undying self-confidence aided you in the escape from this prison?" Razzar signaled to his brothers, and they rushed forward, examining every piece of rubble and debris with hot-glowing manarifles. "It seems to me that no progress was had until Rainbow Dash and my own ship arrived."
"Why you—" Snarling, Seclorum's magic twitched and his crossbow raised until it was suspiciously aimed at the masked speaker in question.
"At ease, gray whiskers," Josho grumbled, physically lowering Seclorum's weapon with his heavy fetlock. "Let the creep do his job. He may be ugly as sin beneath that mask for all we know—but he seems to know what he's doing."
"Since when were you so docile, old friend?" Seclorum frowned at him. "You and I never stood for this kind of insult back in Ledomare!"
"When I gave up the bottle, I also gave up a lot of the bullcrap that came packed with it." Josho cocked his shotgun and marched on ahead. "And in case you haven't noticed, old friend, we're not in Ledomare anymore."
Seclorum slumped in place, his glare so sharp it could cut through the wind.
"Hrmmm..." Arcshod trotted past him with a wry smirk. "Bleem'ulien trenna sien thriul. Dreit?"
"Meh..." Seclorum trudged along. "Easy for you to say."
"Come on! Cheer up, Secchy!" Props sing-songed. "Soon enough, you'll be off this floating wreckie!"
Seclorum's glaring eyes swiveled towards her.
Props bit her lip. Her ears folded and she swiftly slinked ahead in a bouncing crouch. "Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm-moving right along!" She galloped until she was trotting "safely" underneath Rainbow Dash's shadow.
Rainbow rolled her eyes, suppressing a smirk as she then squinted towards the far end of the temple. Her ears twitched, and for a moment she turned around, glancing somewhere past the rear where Razzar's comrades were protecting the line with their weapons.
"You see something, Dashie?"
"No, Props," Rainbow muttered. "Not a darn thing, which is what worries me."
"It's okay! We've got a bunch of intimidating guys in cloaks protecting us with their super violent laser weapons! That's a good thing, r-right?"
Rainbow Dash sighed out her nostrils. "To be honest... that's worrying me a lot more." She looked head. "I can't stop wondering..."
"About what?" Props asked, blinking through her goggles in mid-trot.
"Assuming Commander Hurricane could move the temples around from the top room like I could, as well as move Stratopolis itself, then couldn't she also open the door that was sealed when I got here?"
"Well, sure! I mean... I guess. Why?"
"Then..." Rainbow Dash chewed on her bottom lip as she flapped along. "Maybe she kept the door shut for a reason..."
Props fidgeted slightly.
"Oh Props..." Rainbow grumbled aloud. "I have a very bad feeling about this."
"Yeah..." Props nodded. "It was hard for me to keep the faith after the prequels too."
"...the hay are you even talking about?!"
"You're assuming I understand half the time myself." Props let loose a melodic moan and trotted ahead. "I really, really miss Ebony right about now."
Rainbow Dash watched her trot along. Her body slumped as she exhaled, "I miss everypony." And she glided forward, scouting ahead of Razzar and the group.
In the door was the Gangnam Style elevator.
Yay for reference.
Props is a nerd. A true, true nerd. Me gusta...
Forty flutter-kicks, ):(. Knock 'em out!
Im wondering if teh changelings try and read Props mind, one of them is going to turn into Jar Jar Binks.
Heh. The forth wall falls again.
4329714 Done.
4329946
'Bout dayum time someone reported back!
Only Imploding Colon would refer to over 1 million words of writing as a prequel.
4329681
4329999 lel
the mysterious third party is behind the door, along with the main control room that uses skystone
Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Tchern will be playing poker. Luna has almost all of the chips.
Props is... the only real pony there!
It's looking like the Stratopolis arc will be as intricate and massive as the Blue Nova and the Sacred Hold were. Even though the specifics of the plots are significantly different, overall they feel quite similar. They all feature the jury being separated, each group experiencing separate but interacting conflicts of their own, involving multiple enemy parties, and eventually all converging in one single place to fight a massive battle on the scale of the Hobbit, where against all odds they come out on top, but short of actually crippling their enemies. I'm not complaining, Colon does a good job of executing these, and so far each plot has felt original during the action. But I don't want the series to turn into an epic-battle-of-the-year fic.
I can't really see Stratopolis working itself out in a way that deviates much from the structure of the previous two installments, but it would be nice if for a while we could move to a different format. This isn't just Austraeoh nostalgia, while a shift back to the Odyssey-structure of Austaeoh would be welcome, I'm all for something new.
I'm interested to see what will happen when Rainbow runs into Pilate, and then her reaction to hearing about Roarke's return, I'm sure she would have conflicting emotions about that.
Not sure if reference to the previous stories in the series, or Star Wars. I was kinda hoping it was the latter, just so I could make a joke involving "J. J. Haybrams". Oh well...
How does that work, exactly?
Time to get this show on the road. I just hope that the Lounge doesn't betray everyone or at least Roarke and Pilate show up before then.
I think we're about to lose a whole bunch of ponies here... This is going to be a huge loss on Dashie's part...
On the plus side, Dash, Roarke, Belle, Kera, Ebon, and Elma survive.
...Props is slowly turning into Pinkie...I approve of this.
Props = pinkie with an engineering degree.
4331376 Pinkie probably had an engineering degree considering that she made a pedal-powered helicopter thing and her party canon.
4330998
Definitely a star wars reference, and I love my little namesake all the more for it.
4329965 I apologize for my colleagues tardiness, SIR!
Lots of silence before this storm. I will be over here, bracing myself.
4327277 Yah, thus the "I hope." It's unfortunately looking pretty obvious, but I can just pray that ImplodingColon fulfills his appetite for being unexpected and brain killing by taking a different route.
Nice reference, IC. I presume the negotiations with the changelings will be short.
4331376 You're just getting that now? (And don't forget that Props has a much dirtier mind than Pinkie ever displayed.)
4329946
4329965
And yet Tweak is no longer the Drill Sergeant... Thus meaning he no longer has to official power to hand out PT.
Phew, it looks like I overtook whizzball1 again. Now I just have to keep ahead. Marathon time...
I can just see Razzar suddenly threatening all the others.
I wonder what will be behind the door?
That was all prequels? One million words?
-Spirit
4496392 i think that might have been a star wars referance
What better way to find out why something has been shut for millennia than opening it?
5119306 That it is!
the pinkie is strong in this one...
I'm not betting it's the flood, but that's the kind of vibe I'm getting.
When Rainbow and Roarke's teams collide, shit's gonna get brutal. Their oh-so-tearful reunion will have to be put off for a bit in favor of reptilian ass-kicking.
Why do I have the feeling the lizards just plan on shooting them as soon as they've got what they want?
It is actually smart to let the guys you don't trust take point if facing a common foe, that way they get mauled first if there is an ambush, and it is harder for them to shoot you in the back at an inopportune time.
06/03/2017 14:49 UTC
Axan ignores Rainbow's call for help through the storm and sees her land "safely" in Stratopolis. Austraeoh doesn't need help, the dragon she thinks to herself, "the force is strong with this one."
4th wall breach detected again!
Theprequels werealright.
Pretty accurate statement there Dash. My guess is shit pops off real quick.
Yeah, the Ebops was friggin' strong at the beginning when they came aboard.