"It wasn't just Seclorum," Josho said, his bruised face staring into the wind. Noon sunlight glinted across his scruffy features as he spoke towards the ponies gathered on deck. "But there were tons of other ponies—on both sides: Ledomaritan and Xonan. As soon as color wheel here did her fireworks act, they all lost their disguise and took off."
"Towards the east, r-right?" Rainbow asked.
"Hell if I know. Eagle got a good look at 'em. Didn't ya, princess?"
Eagle Eye nodded, shuddering. "I saw at least two dozen of them, maybe more. They took off from the trenches where the ground battles was the messiest and flew towards the horizon." He gulped. "They all had dark coats—like Seclorum. Only... they weren't coats per se..."
"It was glossier...?" Rainbow Dash thought aloud. "Like... almost a shell?"
Eagle Eye bit his lip.
"Like a big frickin' beatle with features," Josho growled. "As soon as we lopped his forelimbs off, we saw all this green slime coming out of 'em. Poor bastard didn't know what he was too. I could see the look of pain and confusion in Seclorum's eyes—" Josho winced. "Er, I mean..." His voice trailed off.
Silence hung beneath the warm, windy gusts.
Belle leaned close to Pilate, all the while draping a protective hoof over Kera's shoulder as the filly sat beside her. After a nervous breath, the mares asked, "And the ponies inside the ravine that you found..." She squinted. "They were replacements?"
"Sure as crap sounded like it," Josho said. "Even before we saw the monsters take wing, I knew that we were dealing with something big here. Bigger than this whole war!" He frowned. "And then I learned that the Xonans had been split, all thanks to that Lasairfion bimbo."
Belle glanced over at Rainbow. "She was one of those creatures too, right? Didn't you say you saw her change?"
Rainbow fidgeted. "She was more than that. Crazier than what you guys are describing."
"How so?" Eagle asked.
"I dunno. She..." Rainbow sighed. "She... like... was bigger? And... like... she had this crooked horn that zapped me with some really powerful stuff. I'm pretty dang lucky I didn't have my neck snapped in two."
"Yeepsies!" Props gasped. "Who could do that to Rainbow Dash?"
"The list is pretty long, actually," Rainbow droned with a brief smirk. "But this mare-thingy? She packed quite the whallop. And then she..." She bit her lip.
"What, Rainbow?"
"Well, she changed into something else. Poof! Green flame and all that jazz—and she's gone. But... but that wasn't all. She... uh... she knew something about me."
"Knew something?" Ebon asked, squinting. "Like what?"
Rainbow Dash's eyes twitched. She inhaled deeply, gazing across the Jury until her eyes fell on Pilate and Belle.
The couple were silent.
"She... she just knew stuff, okay?" Rainbow's lips went tight. "Friggin' mind reader or whatcrap. I dunno." Her head hung low. "Lasairfion—or whatever she was—flew away super friggin' fast and I was too dazed by the blast to catch up."
"What do you mean?!" Ebon gawked. "You're the fastest pony alive! Surely you could have—"
Eagle's hoof rested over Ebon's muzzle. The unicorn looked over. "After all you've done, Rainbow, nopony can blame you for losing your breath." He smiled sympathetically. "For a second there, it seemed like every unicorn's skull was going to explode."
"Don't forget what was happening to Handsome's ship!" Props exclaimed, motioning towards the cockpit with her head. "We were about twenty seconds from Kablooey before your explosion powers saved the day!"
"Yes, well, it's nothing to write home about..." Rainbow Dash teetered dizzily.
"Rainbow!" Belle leaned in just in time to catch the pegasus. "Are you okay?"
"Awwwwwww..." Props cooed. "Poor filly-willy must be poop-tired!"
"Eew. Yeah. No more of that talk. Thank you." Rainbow's eyes drifted Ebon's way. "Where's Roarke?"
"I... uh... dragged her down to the infirmary," Ebon said with a nervous smile. "I'm at about twenty-one death threats to my name right about now."
"Don't worry," Rainbow grunted, shuffling towards the stairwell at the stern in a zig-zagged motion. "I'm pretty sure we can find a bunch of gold loot somewhere to pay your bounty off." She wheezed. "Maybe."
Ebon's face paled. "Buh?"
"Right now..." Rainbow slurred, almost diving down the stairwell. "I got someplace to be."
"Like where, exactly?" Josho grumbled.
"Not here."
"You mind giving us a clue, paintbrush?!" Josho cackled. "Cuz I'm really super flankhurt about this whole shape-shifting monster crap!" He stomped a hoof. "What the heck did they do with Seclorum?! He wasn't down in the ravine! So where is he?"
"And for that matter..." Ebon gestured towards the skinny stallion standing amongst them. "What do we do with this dude?"
"Yeah!" Zaid nodded. "What do we do with me? And does it involve something edible?"
"Isn't he—y'know—part of the evil cultist lady's group?"
"You mean the mare who gave her life to save us when all was super crazy metal?" Rainbow hollered back.
"Erm..."
"Meh... Zaid's mostly harmless. Give him food, belly rubs, and cider and he'll sing for you. Speaking of which, a lullaby would be g-good right about now..." And Rainbow Dash disappeared down the stairwell.
"We ain't finished talking, y'know!" Josho growled.
"Will you let her be?!" Kera's voice cracked. "She's been through enough, y'know!"
"And just who hasn't, huh?" Josho remarked.
"Knock it off, old stallion," Eagle Eye muttered.
"Yeah, or what?"
Eagle gave him a glare of glinting violet. "How would you like to eat your own belly fat."
Josho blinked, then chuckled raspily. "Look at you. Tilling the balls farm."
"I mean it, Josho."
"Sure ya do." Josho slapped his hoof over the unicorn's back. "There's hope for you yet, kiddo."
"Gaaaaie!" Eagle plummeted to the deck.
Josho sighed, rolling his eyes. "Then again..."
"Pilate, if you don't mind..." Belle quietly nudged him.
He kissed her forehead and let go of her hoof. "Go check on her, beloved. I'll join you shortly."
Belle hurried down the stairwell, followed shortly by Kera on scampering hooves. In the meantime, Pilate tilted his head so that his ear faced the distant cockpit.
"What course did you take us on, Mr. Floydien?!"
"Any spit-forsaken direction but west!" the elk shouted back. "Unless striped boomer protests!"
"Not at all!" Pilate took a deep breath and faced the other ponies on board.
"You know..." Josho thought aloud in a dull tone. "If those creatures went east..."
"Right..." Pilate breathed deeply.
Silence.
Props leaned forward. "Insect horse dance party?"
Ebon and Eagle Eye simultaneously face-hoofed.
"At the risk of sounding like a total noob, is it okay to like her?" Zaid pointed at the blonde, smirking. "'Cuz I like her."
Yes, it's okay to like her.
~Basso
We all like Propsy. Don't worry. She might even have grilled cheese sandwiches.
Let's go and give some meaning to Arc's Spark-forsaken life! - there's still the chance that he didn't just starve in that crevice a while ago.
Props is sad because Rourke cant now do Tentacle Rope Dance Party.
Things are calming down, and we're back to witty banter interspersed with surprisingly meaningful conversation.
Awesome! I've missed our non-exploding days!
I was sure I would be first.
"Look at you. Tilling the balls farm."
>But there tons of other ponies—oh both sides: Ledomaritan and Xonan
Do you even read what you type?
>Like a big frickin' beatle with features
pictures.picasion.com/pic29/da06a0f73f17c9776fe09aa6973f5047.gif
>Zaid's mostly harmless
Earth is mostly harmless
Zaid is mostly harmless
Therefore Zaid = Earth
Welp i'm dead and the journey is continuing. Now we get to rest before the next great shitstorm of our time.
I am now suddenly terrified that Zaid and Props are now both on the same tiny airship. I shall pray for the rest of the Jury's sanity.
3804122 You and me both. Because I can readily see those two feeding off each other. Terrifying.
So we finally are going East. Eager to see where this is going to go (aside from the obvious) as we have a few troublemakers left awaiting us. But from my understanding, and someone correct me if I'm wrong, East is soon the end of the continent, which means another ocean for Dash and family to cross... and at the other side, will it be our buggy friends? Guess we'll find out.
Feels good to be moving, again. IC PLEASE KEEP THE SPATIAL MOTION GOING.
And Zaid officially joins the party! REJOICE!
Oh gawd... Zaid and Props on the same ship.
media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mch1acKlrY1qb10tt.png
And speaking of Props, what do you suppose the chances are that someone's uncle is waiting at wherever the changelings went?
Zaid has a few good lines and loads of cheap gags. Hopefully we'll be seeing more of the former from him than the latter.
Zaid officially joining the party? I fully welcome this.
This will be some future chapter name. Calling it now.
Is Rainbow going to the infirmary to check in on Roarke or check herself in? Definitely one of those in the next chapter.
Oh God I finally caught up. I thought I was going to be left behind.
I would love a mini quest so roarke can get some new armor.
Man, Rainbow has a story to tell to the princess.
3804546 Not just on the same ship...
I smell a love triangle.
Well, it usually takes a cup of tea as well...
Zaid x Props?
Well, I guess props never was going to end up with Floydien. He had Nancy Jane, after all.
But Props X Zaid is going to be absolutely hilarious.
The nutty engineer and the lovable idiot.
The perfect couple.
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
Well, it's good to see the Noble Jurors all back together again. And I kinda want Props and Zaid to hook up now...I feel like they would get along well. These are my these are thoughts so far.
-MASH
I have only one thing to say about this chapter:
INSECT HORSE DANCE PARTY!!!
ZaidxProps 5ever.
Back to just regular flying. No more explosions! We need a break.
-SPiirt
EDIT: -Spirit*
Yes, Rainbow Dash, because fighting the changelings worked out so well for you in canon.
It's like that whole war, impending doom of two races and an entire continent and the entire world, and the super-mega dragon boss fight never happened. Good luck sleeping tonight, Dashie.
I just read the remaining chapter names.....I'm legitimately scared/worried/concerned now.
I laughed at this more than I should have.
Hey, the gang's all here! Woo-Hoo!
Now, our final arc of the story... Insecticiders!
Future chapter title material.
Insect horse dance party is best party.
6286094
As long as they have Insect Horse Dance Dance Revolution, and feed trough of nachos and cheese.
6202352 Well, since it isn't used in this book maybe it will be used in the upcoming one
05/28/2017 23:39 UTC
I just realised that rainbow started to fly east before cadance and shining armour got married. That means she has never seen a changeling until now.
Congratulations and my condolences
『Zaid』 has joined the party!
This probably should have come sooner, but there wasn't a definitive moment for it really. He's just kind of with them now, like a puppy that followed them home one day.
I ship it. So hard.