“Rnnngnhhh... guhhh!” Josho strained with the bent doors to the crashed Lounge Sphere. “It's no use! It'd take a creature with the strength of a billion mountains to open this damn thing!”
“Well, we have to do something!” Azira exclaimed, gaping at the bleeding pony inside the craft. “We can't just leave him in there!”
“Josho, is Booster still alive?!” Eagle sputtered above the resounding shrieks of incoming eels.
“Hard to tell!” Josho stammered. He squinted through the crack in the windshield, spotting Booster's spasming figure. Blood soaked his muzzle and neck. “It's not looking good, kiddo.”
“Oh Spark...”
“Maybe...” Josho winced, summoning a bright pulse through his horn. “...if I can j-just pry it open from the inside out...” He gnashed his teeth as the task proved impossible. “Guhh... the mechanisms are all bent inside!”
“It's too late!” Lunarius hollered. “Look! Towards the cave!”
Josho and Queen Azira spun to face the wave of advancing eels. The floating monsters branched out, encircling the survivors positioned around the crash. The energy sparkling off their scales multiplied exponentially, and soon they were closing in from all angles, fangs brimming with electricity.
Lunarius backtrotted, standing close to Azira. The Queen clung to him while the Buck intensified the mana in his horns.
Eagle and Josho positioned themselves flank to flank, raising their weapons.
“Whatever happens, kid,” Josho muttered, “I want you to know I wouldn't have it any other way.”
Eagle nodded.
“I mean that sincerely,” the older unicorn said.
“I believe you, Josho.”
At last, the eels shrieked in a matching tone. A wave of energy collectively rolled through them, so that their rippling scales shook one after another, until all hovered like rigid arrowheads around the group. Then, with a mutual hiss, they all lunged at the bodies of flesh in the center.
Eagle and Azira flinched while Josho and Lunarius crackled their horns.
Suddenly, six of the eels burst into bloody ribbons. A chunk of skystone exploded behind them while chunks of rock showered the mouth of the cave.
The rest of the eels shrieked and scurried backwards.
Gasping, the survivors glanced up into the snowy sky as—
SHOOOOOOM!
—a hauntingly familiar airship roared to a stop overhead. Its slender cigar body glinted with a dull green hull. Skystone engines roared vaporously into the frigid air, defying the intensity of the electrical discharges splashing about below. A pair of onboard cannons smoked from a heated discharge. Along its port side, a curved door slid open to a dark interior. Meanwhile, a thickly accented voice hollered through a crackling speaker.
“Brilliant shot, Zetta! The rest of you, get yer arses out there!” Prowse bellowed. “Reduce them bloody sods to Haggis!”
As if on command, a thick and heavy body leapt out of the skystone ship's side. The unicorn sailed earthward, his scarlet muscles guided by a huge shimmering hammer in his telekinetic grip. “Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaughhh!”
WHAMMM!
The encircling eels flew back from the fresh crater formed. Two of the creatures flopped to the ground, their energy completely sapped from the hammer's concussive blast. Josho, Eagle Eye, and the royal couple leaned against Whizzball, shielding themselves from the ensuing dust.
Slowly, the unicorn looked up, standing strong on three legs and an artificial limb as he sneered into the threatening line of eels. “That's as far as you go,” Crimson said. Tilting his head towards the thundering ship, he hollered: “Brothers of Aurum! Thin them out!”
Eagle peered up, eyes wide as his muzzle quivered. “...Crimson?” He flinched as three more bodies leapt down, landing nimbly at Crimson's side.
“Hrrrrngh!” Phoenix charged up past Crimson, flecks of snow clinging to his sandy goatee. He swung a mace left and right in his mouth, reducing several eels' jaws to gravel. Crimson thundered past him, swinging his hammer once again to drive the creatures back. “Mrmmff! Spark spare me, they're ugly bastards! Tweak!”
“Way ahead of ya, fart face.” Cocking his pistol, the crystal pony marched past Eagle and Josho. Tweak squinted past the brim of his hat as he took pot shots at the various eels floundering in the distance. Blam! Bl-Blam! “Dunno whose brilliant damn idea it was to sick a bunch of elctro-turds on these ponies, but lights out!”
“Heh...” Lucky Strike posed beside his brother, firing a rifle into the mess of shrieking reptiles. “Has anypony told you you're beautiful when you're murdering?”
“Shut your gem hole. I'm married stallion.” Taking a lasting shot, Tweak reloaded his revolver and hollered. “How's that, Crimson?!”
“Raaaaugh!” Slam! “That should give you enough room!”
“Good! Let's do the shit we came here for!” Tweak hollered up to the ship. “Send in the muscle!”
The Tarkington lowered slightly, letting more bodies hop out.
“Hrnngh!” Arcshod landed, his armor rattling across his tattooed figure. Two more Xonans dropped down beside him, followed by a graying unicorn.
“Well, I see we're already too late!” Seclorum wheezed, nevertheless shuffling up to Josho's side with a smile. “Cuz we've got a rotting corpse right here!”
Josho's eyes twitched. “...Secchy?”
“Don't kiss me, old friend,” the stallion said. “Not in front of the Xonans.”
“They're slipping through!” Phoenix hollered from far up ahead.
“Nine o'clock sharp!” Lucky Strike hollered over the sound of his brother's gunshots. “Death snakes of doom incoming!”
Seclorum looked over at Arcshod. “Go get 'em, big guy.”
“Dreit...” Arcshod's eyes glowed, as did the brimming blue tattoos below his armor. “Rrrrr-raaaaaaugh!” He thundered on stomping hooves, meeting the eels head-on. Several of the creatures channeled their electrical beams into him, but he simply weathered the blows, knocking the monsters back towards the cave.
Crimson swung his hammer again, watching breathlessly as several reptiles flew past him from Arcshod's charge. He exhaled through a sweaty smirk. “Glad he's on our side. Haaaugh!” He pummeled a few more charging creatures.
“I'm... confused,” Josho stammered. “And maybe just a little bit hard.”
“Relax, ya shriveled old walrus.” Seclorum nodded at the two Xonans. “Prowse's Brigade has got this.”
The warriors nodded back at Seclorum, then pivoted towards Whizzball. With well-toned muscles, they simultaneously gripped the bent door and pulled at it, all the while prying the inner mechanisms apart with firm telekinesis.
“Rrrrnngh... melakunnen drema salathiul Xon-Nagu'n!”
“Dreit! Rekkar threnna hemndulien threem!”
Crkkkk! Gradually, the door ripped open. Inside, Booster Spice wheezed for breath. His eyes opened weakly as he winced.
“Roarke... I... I-I'm sorry...”
“Worry about her killing you later!” Eagle Eye shouted, squeezing past the two Xonans to reach the earth pony. “Just focus on living through this!”
“I'm... terribly confused,” Lunarius remarked, standing close by Azira's side. “Do you know these ponies?”
“And a half,” Josho said, turning to watch Crimson, Arcshod, and Phoenix's hoofwork. “Though I've got a bunch of questions...”
“Well, tighten them up along with your ass!” Seclorum hollered. “The less time we spend here, the better.” He added his telekinesis to the two Xonans' magic. Once Eagle Eye had unfastened Booster from his seat, the three unicorns gently levitated the stallion out of the crumpled Lounge Sphere. “Friggin' lizard tech. Looks dayum pretty on the outside, but inside it's no match for ol' Aatxe's engineering.”
“You'll hear no argument from me,” Josho said.
“That's a shame. I was really looking forward to punching you too.” Seclorum whistled towards the Tarkington and motioned with his hoof.
The ship lowered, pivoting slightly in order to avoid the jutting shards of skystone all around. The wind whipped from its roaring engines. It didn't touch down all the way, but rather levitated just low enough for those left on board to toss down a length of tethered rope.
The two Xonans grabbed ahold, clinging hard. They shouted a word in their tongue and were raised up, all the while they lifted Booster Spice's injured body along with them in strong telekinesis.
“Delivery's a go!” Lucky Strike shouted, looking back.
“Ya hear that, big lugs?!” Tweak barked, shooting out an eel's eye. “Time to make like a tree and shove up Prowse's butt!”
“Scrkkk! I heard that! Now move yer bloomin' arses!”
“Haaaaugh!” Crimson smashed two more eels and leaned on his hammer. “You heard the mad scientist! Go! Move!”
“Moving!” Phoenix spat, spinning around and galloping back towards Whizzball. “These parties are always being cut short these days!”
“You'd have it any other way?!” Crimson smirked, then whistled at Arcshod. “You too, big guy!”
“Rrrrrrgh...” Arcshod gave the line of eels a bestial growl. With snorting nostrils, he reluctantly spun around and joined Crimson in a hasty retreat.
Once the group had all gathered around the crashed Lounge ship, the unicorns lined up in a circle.
“You four go first!” Seclorum said, horn already glowing. “Seems like you've been through enough.”
“Say, who're the deer?” Phoenix said, standing back with his shattered horn as the other unicorns worked their magic.
“Why, I'm King Lunarius of Val Roa—” he and his spouse gasped as they were lifted off their cloven hooves and levitated towards the Tarkington above.
“Well, consider your royal keisters lucky!” Tweak spat, floating after them along with Lucky Strike. “You're about to have an express ride on the safest, most badass ship in the skies!”
“Dammit, bro!” Lucky Strike frowned. “You promised you'd save the big speech for Prowse!”
“You know, sometimes I think I lie because I don't give a damn about your sissy whining.”
“Meh.”
Soon, Lunarius, Azira, Eagle Eye, Josho, and the crystal siblings joined Booster Spice inside the cramped interior of the Tarkington. Josho slipped, almost falling out. A massive hoof wrapped around his, yanking him back into the vessel.
“Wh-whoah!” Josho wheezed. He stared into a massive, muscular chest, then tilted his head up.
“Are you okay?” Basso asked, staring down at him.
“Oh, sure.” Josho coughed. “Though I feel a tiny bit... tiny.”
Basso looked past him. “Crimson? Seclorum? We'll get you guys next!”
“Hranna thenrum sala krehm!” one of the two Xonans shouted. The pair of warriors stood on either side of Basso, concentrating hard as they lifted the remaining equines up. Eagle Eye and Josho swiftly lended their horns, tugging at the magical field.
Soon enough, Crimson, Phoenix, Arcshod, and Seclorum levitated up to the mouth of the vessel's port side. Behind them, a fresh wave of eels swam out of the cave. With mindless shrieks, they lunged up at the ship.
“Zetta!” Basso hollered over his shoulder. “We've got incoming!”
“Smoke 'em, lassy!”
Eagle glanced over to see a mare seated at a mana-powered console. Zetta's brow furrowed as she channeled magic into a series of levers. “Consider them smoked.” She pumped power into the ship's skystone batteries. “You ponies might want to shield your eyes!”
Vrmmmmmmm-POWWWW! Rotating turrets fired flaming blasts into the oncoming charge. Half of the eels disintegrated while the others scattered in panic.
Meanwhile, with throttling engines, the Tarkington took to the skies, flying away from the battle-strewn cave entrance, accompanied by Prowse's roaring voice.
“Scrkkk—and that, colts and fillies, is a wrap!”
...What the fuck.
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Edit 1: I'm certain C2 is waiting around in the mess hall... having a beer with the King of Silvadel... who's making out with Whitemane... while Gold Petals is watching sullenly in the corner...
EDIT 2: RAYVINNE BETTER BE ON THIS FUCKING SHIP
Edit 3: RayPetals = new OTP
Happiness? From IC? Pfft. You're just buttering us up to murder the lot of them, aren't you?
My brain is farting.
As am I Josho, as am I.
Calling it now that RD is gonna end up with an entire armada of airships by the end of the saga
5421541 harem time for dash?
5421613 I would expect nothing less.
howzyerteeth.beacondeacon.com/illusion/escalator.gif
We all knew deus ex machina was coming. I guess you go big or go home.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Silly question: How did the Tarkington know where to find them?
Admit it: you were tempted to use I Wish I Something Something Something.
5421352
The entire series has amazing titles. Every single one has this feeling of epicness. Which is why someday I want to either get someone or myself to do something with those titles.
I drew a title card of Austraeoh in a sketch book a while ago, and it was basically the word with a bronze gear half way poking out the edge of the "A", wings sprouting from the "t" and the "o" was another small gear.
Innavedr was written with letters of fire.
Well, that was about number 5 on the list I didnt get round to putting up on the last chapte, as I underestimated the time between Props calling in Prowse and freinds, times the velocity of what their best ship could do.
I just hope Josho or EE get to Prowse in time so they can deliver a most heartfelt replay to the very centre, the bullseye even, of that skystone field, and the corrupted mana source beneath.
Sorry for the trouble. Ill go lie quietly in the corner, and hopefully wake up in a better place, when its all over. Or boxing day, whichever is later.
Christmas Eve Reunion, fuck yeah! Thank you, Based Skirts.
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Oh boy this is the best Reunion ever!
Boom! Happy Hearths Warming ya dirty eels!
Tarkington Crew is the Expendables of this story.
That means: FUCK YES
Happy Hearth's Warming ya melon fudges!
Said this a few hours back thinking IC would take a holiday break. Then he releases a chapter anyway. Go figure.
5421717 He's most likely saving that for either a Rainboarke Reunion or more Applejack Nightmares. But I can guarantee Gold Petals is probably thinking those same six words about Dashie.
Finally, prowse and friends to the rescue. Well technically no prowse on screen yet, but close enough. Seen as some xonans are aboard, let's see if they can play diplomats to recover to kerine situation
>> 5265279
I was only like 20 chapters or so off...
5421541
Agreed, I better be
fucking on the shipon the fucking ship.10/10
Well, this seems like an opportune time to kill off all those beloved characters we thought were safe.
Or maybe just utterly wreck some goblin battleships, storm the gates of Val Roa and anticlimatically blitz across the Grand Choke in the two most awesome airships ever devised.
Sadly, I know how the story ends. Tweak and Jake meet each other, which since they are the same person inevitably destroys the fabric of the universe and they all die an agonising and painful death as the very nature of existence is obliterated, molecule by molecule as if it was knocking out push-ups. There could not be a worse fate.
Well, at least there'll be an airship flying in a relatively Eastern direction for the first time in a while.
(I would've used "Happy Holidays," but I couldn't get it to fit the meter...)
5421723 Thx man. In my mind, Innavedr is metallic/stencil/machinery (as it's the book of Searo's Hold and the intro of the Noble Jury), Odrsjot is either simple runic-style text or tribal tattoos, and Urohringr is shapes with the various holes burned into them to make them look like changeling legs. Eljunbyro is simple, but hard to explain in text; I might sketch it up tomorrow and post it. I have no idea how to handle Austraeoh, but your machine-world aesthetic would work perfectly.
My guess is the Tarkington and Noble Jury team up to spread harmony throughout the light half of the world while Rainbow goes through the Grand Choke alone.
5421986
Sometimes, I wonder how much effort it would be to make Austraeoh into a copyright compliant epic.
Well then...A good gunship rescue is always nice.
5421889 Your first version was better dear.
Damn, right the gang's all here. Hell yeah.
Also, R.I.P. Whizzball?
5421889
This never gets old.
May Aatxe live on forever in the spirit of the Tarkington. If only he could see his ship now in its full skystone glory. Luna bless his soul.
5396131
Merry Christmas IC, thanks for the awesome early Xmas gift.
Inb4 Nancy Jane x Tarkington ship shipping
...
):(, this is the best Christmas gift I could ask for. Seriously, I need a cigarette and a nap. No push-ups. Merry Christmas.
This is so epic I got wood.
Best. Christmas present. Ever!
*ride of the valkyries plays as the Jury and Tarkington wipe the floor with Chrysalis' goons*
This whole chapter...
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Thank you!
Now if Roarke could comendere a goblin ship, it would be a party
Hell to the fucking yes.
It's a Hearth's Warming miracle.
The whole Innavedr team! Very excited to learn what's been going on. I never thought we'd meet them again, that farewell chapter at the story's end was one of my all-time favorites. Though on the other hand this cheapens that part a bit, I always preferred the finality of moving on, creating that original Austraeoh feel. Ah well.
And it's onward to Victory!
.... does Sparky and a pitchfork mean anything to you?
Well so much about 'too far west'.
5421997
5421691 Yes, that's the thing. We all knew it was coming.
Bahaha yes!
Holy crap that was amazing!
OMG yes
Holy fuck.
5422125
Holy crap. What a gift; and I missed it. I'm speechless.
...
The gang really is all here.
-Spirit
Basso
Although he's pretty much the opposite of me.
Quaint
Fucking fantastic. It's crazy to think that the Jurists met enough ponies to fill a ship and be useful coming in at the last second.