Another shriek reverberated through the cave, followed by the unmistakable scraping of rock. Josho hurried along, training his horn in one direction and the shotgun in another. Squinting, he studied every corner and crevice that his conjured light touched. Once satisfied that the coast was clear, he motioned with a hoof.
“Okay! Move on down! It's a bit of a descent here, so be careful!”
“Don't move so fast, old stallion!” Eagle Eye called ahead, galloping swiftly to make up the distance. “We've got some precious cargo back there!”
“Right! So look after them like all of your accessories, princess!” Josho barked back at him. “Something's awoken, and I'm willing to put my money on the chance that it's faster than us!” He hopped down several rocky platforms. “I've gotta scout ahead! So move it!”
Eagle seethed, fidgeting in place. “Can never have a merry vacation in Fluffland, I swear to the Spark.” He turned and gestured towards the two deer following. “Watch your step, Your Majesties! We're descending into a lower level! The platforms are small and slippery!”
“That's it, my love,” Lunarius said, helping the regal doe down, holding her hoof in his. “Easy... easy.” Pulses of electricity flickered far behind them, issuing out of the chamber from which they came. “You're doing well.”
“I was in that prison for so long,” Azira said, wincing. “It's... h-hard to move.”
“We can make it out, Azira.” Lunarius gazed deeply in her eyes. “Think of our son, love. Think of Eine. He needs us. All of Val Roa needs us.”
Another roar rolled through the chamber. Eagle Eye gasped. From down below, Josho shouted. “Move our asses!”
“Uhm... King Lunarius, sir.” Eagle Eye smiled nervously. “I mean no insult to your grace and poise, but it would be most beneficial if we sped this escape.”
“We must allow my wife to take her time!” Lunarius said with a frown. “There is no sense in escaping if we cannot do so in one piece! So you'll have to be patient!”
Within a second of him saying that, the brightest pulse of energy yet rippled from the chamber above. The red and yellow light of skystone nodes bled down the corridor, illuminating every crevice. Suddenly, the roars grew in volume, coming from various unseen sources beyond the distorted light.
Wincing, Lunarius heaved his wife over his shoulder. “I'm sorry, Azira! But we have to haul tail!”
“Waaaaie!” she yelped, draped over his backside.
“Hnnntt!” Lunarius bounced, hopping down each descending platform like a frenzied mountain goat.
Josho's hollering voice could be heard: “Get a move on!”
“We are! Trust me!” Eagle Eye struggled to keep up with the King. “We are and a half!”
Meanwhile, the cave behind them exploded with electrical energy. Several writhing forms came sliding down, gliding through the air like leathery confetti tape.
Outside, hovering above the skystone fields, Booster Spice felt an intense jolt to the Lounge Sphere. Adjusting his goggles, he leaned forward in the cockpit and stared down through the windshield.
Countless bolts of electricity danced between the jagged crystalline structures. The sudden energy disruption increased exponentially.
“What in God's name are they even doing down there?!” Booster stammered.
Soon enough, the electrical discharge was flying straight up.
“Hoboy—” Booster jerked at the controls, lifting Whizzball up.
It was too late. The bands of energy rippled across the ship, sending it into a crazed spin.
“Gaaaaugh!” He seethed, struggling to keep his grip of the steering mechanism. His body rocked between the adjacent seats and the instrument panels hanging above. Through the corner of his goggled vision, he saw the world spinning, and it was getting harder and harder to tell the chaotic sky from the chaotic surface. “Mmmmff... c-come on...”
He tried uprighting the craft, but just as he got level, he witnessed a layer of energy rising up, encompassing the ship. The console lights flickered, and he heard the skystone engine inside Whizzball stutter and stall.
“Oh no. No no no no...”
Soon enough, everything directly outside his window was ablaze with energy distortion.
“Darn it! Keep 'er together!” He pulled back hard, attempting to ascend. Instead, Whizzball did the opposite, plummeting swifter and swifter towards the jagged landscape below. “Awwwwwww sushi.”
By now, the bedlam inside the caves was deafening. Josho and Eagle Eye no longer needed their horns to light their paths; it was so bright that they could see the tunnel ahead of them as they evened out on a solid floor. With each passing second, the glowing lights behind them intensified.
“They can't be far behind us,” Lunarius said, galloping with Azira on his back. “All of them are alerted!”
“Then you'd best take point!” Josho stepped aside. He looked at Eagle Eye as he backtrotted. “We gotta get the head hauncho of Val Roa out of here!”
Eagle gulped and nodded. “I know.”
“So whatever ugly motha is chasing us, we'd better slow 'em down!”
Schiiing! Eagle Eye unsheathed his sword and shield. “I know.”
Josho stood flank-to-flank with Eagle Eye, squinting into the brightening energy field. “Here they come. Someone or something really wants a manabullet sandwich...” His voice trailed off and his mouth hung open.
Eagle's eyes twitched.
Out from the anomaly, several serpentine bodies emerged, only they weren't slithering on the ground. They swam through the air in rippling motions, their tails thrashing wildly behind them. As they came closer, the two unicorns could see their mouths brimming with fangs. They resembled oceanic eels, only they had sharp needle-like spines sticking out of their backs and bellies at regular intervals. These slender “poles” sparkled with electrical blue bands that jumped from one spoke to another—ultimately ending in the cranium and electrifying the beasts' jagged teeth till they glowed.
Josho exhaled, his lips limp. “Wasn't expectly crap like that.”
Eagle whimpered. “I know.”
All at once, the eels shrieked. Neck crests flared with reptilian scales. Finally, with bolts of skystone energy jumping from their spines to the surface of the cave walls, they accelerated, swarming towards the two unicorns.
Eagle held his shield up while Josho aimed over it. With two successive blasts, he sent one eel reeling. Two more “swam” past its writhing body, viciously propelling themselves at the stallions. Josho stepped back while Eagle lowered his shield and telekinetically swung his sword in a high arc. He lopped off the head of one beast—which caused it to exploded with skystone energy.
“Ooof!” Josho and Eagle Eye were knocked back several feet. By the time they got up, three more eels were diving towards them. Josho got off a good shot, but when the blast punched a hole in the unlucky serpent's hide, that creature also exploded, sending a violent tremor through the cave that caused the stalactites overhead to fall all around the stallions. The two of them had to duck low to avoid the random forks of ensuing electrical discharge.
“Old stallion, I think—”
“Yeah! I get it!” Josho winced, already pulling back. “The less we kill these bastards, the better!”
“Join the King!” Eagle hollered, holding his shield up as he trotted backwards. “Best that I beat these back!”
“Are ya kidding?” With a slight grin, Josho twirled his gun around, reached in, and started swinging it magically so that the butt of the rifle smacked several creatures across their jaws, holding them back. “That's as far as you go, ya ass-munching light-bulb huffers!”
“Don't... m-make them... more mad!” Eagle gnashed his teeth as sparks of energy spat out from all sides of his shield.
“How the Hell did Chrysalis even put these creeps here?!”
“You don't suppose they're chaos monsters, do you?!”
“As in there's chaos metal nearby?!”
“Yeah!”
“I doubt it!” Josho said.
“Why's that?”
“Cuz they're all sparkly and bright, not creepy and necrotic!”
“Since when were you the expert on floating death eels?!”
“Since one morning back in Green Slope when I stupidly decided to step out of an outhouse and begin this dumbass dance!” An errant spark struck Josho in the shoulder. “Aaaugh!”
“Careful!” Eagle hollered.
“You tell them that!” Josho nudged the smaller stallion and the two of them backtrotted more swiftly. “Move! Move! Keep the snake party at bay!”
“Dear Spark, what I wouldn't give for a cave full of fluffy kittens one of these days...”
We haven't seen Booster's corpse yet.
Ahem, I think you mean to emphasize 'explode' rather than exploded.
I would be wary of kittens too. THEY HAVE TEETH AND CLAWS AND OW.
Well great Whizzball is down and they have to many people to haul back to the ship. This is going to be a tight one.
You and me both, Princess.
Finally. This is it.
After about 1,090 chapters, those Quarry Eels will be avenged by their brethren.
Is that where fluffy ponies come from?
THE EELS ARE BACK
Eels? Again?
5411223 yes. again. except this time they're eelektross now
hmm, was thinking based on the title they could wrangle and ride one.
but electric eels? yea, this is gonna take some effort to get them out of
If mistah autha intends ta get 'em out
he may end it in death
please goddess no
When Kera and Eine go cave exploring, they end up having long talks about past performance anxieties. When Josho and Eagle go exploring, heads get chopped off.
...
You Jurists have horrible luck with love.
5411130
5411164
Inb4 Fluffland is the next Zadubadabu, except instead of changelings and long dead pegasi it's filled with whatever race Flufflepuff happens to be.
I bet Booster is in the sea bobbing around In the Lounge sphere, having a nice little chat with sea-serpent Shell.
Yes, Josho, do us all a favour. Lame joke is lame
I tried to picture eels propelling through the air, but all I could come up with was this...
38.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6pzzuVLFt1qm6oc3o1_500.gif
My imagination needs some training.
Things aren't looking good for our heroes. I'm just waiting for Booster to miraculously rescue them.
5411128 and unlike full grown cats, kittens like to take any chance they can to unsheathe those paw knives.
So yes. claws and teeth and ow and 'they were just playing...'
Of course, a Careful nature increases the special defense of the pokemon. That would help when dealing with electric discharges. But it also decreases Special Attack, and that's not good for an unicorn. Any other unicorn could use a nature that decreases the physical attack to increase some other stat, but Josho is fond of using the physical attack Heavy Slam, so that won't do.
He can sacrifice some speed now that he's stopping the eels, instead of running from them, so the best nature for this situation would be Sassy (+Special Defense, -Speed). Is Josho sassy enough for those eels?
5411128
Also they're the size of a pony and their mother is right behind them. Because that's the kind of story this is.
"Oh sushi!"
Best "swear" phrase ever!
5411626
I do believe that is from the Disney film, Robin Hood.
Oh, look, another site redesign. Let's see how much hate Knightly gets over this one!
And right after Twilight's Library implodes, too. Coincidence?
5411519
Ands now I feel like we should expect fluffle puff in a later story.
How are they going to get out of this caper?!
Lunarius is awesome. But he's also a recently introduced background character. His chances of survival are not high
Begs the intresting question, just how incompatible is electrically conductive sea water and sjystone engines, when faced with excessive mana discharges.
For the occupancy problem, well, Wizball got all the wy there with four inside, Josho counts as two, so it can get back with everyone, as long as Josho uses Thick Fat, Protect, and rides Shotgun.
The ariel electric eels are coming out of the walls? no Sanchez today please, given the Lounge built that vehicle, where Are the weapons? After all, for this set up, we have to take off and nuke the place from oribt. Its the only way to be sure.
Couple typos there.
Well, that wasn't what I was expecting, but I wasn't expecting anything in particular.
5411175 Now all we need are giant centipedes and some demonic lizard thing.
...and Axan. She can come too.
Somewhere, Rainbow is like:
barkpost-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/sleeping-dog-running.gif
...and doesn't even know why.
The eels are mad! They want the banners back!
5412213
s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/2f/88/c4/2f88c4012779a9c3f15f5e6bef755d93.jpg
The king can restart whizzball
The king can restart whizzball
The king can restart whizzball
The king can restart whizzball
please be able to restart whizzball
and it seems my 9 chapter binge has come to an end, and at a cliff hanger. yay
Yes...the old "sack o' potatoes" maneuver... very regal
Booster = alive
Whizzball = ???
Oh you know - in the Far East, it's always eels.
static.tumblr.com/rlumtds/aRXldpbos/flynn_eyebrow.gif
Seriously though. It's totally Chaos. Because I say so.
5433808
oh hush almighty death Dragon who spawns death eel s.
The eels make a reappearance. Well, not the same eels, but still, eels. Exploding eels of energy fluctuating death.
-Spirit
Ugh, eels. I think we've had enough serpents and other flying, slithering things for a lifetime.
5911817 rainbows luck with caves is rubbing off on em.
If this doesn't happen at some point in the story, I will be very disappointed.
those who lived aboard the Noble Jury are going to have one heck of a resume when all is said and done.
Caves...why is it always caves.
The midnight armory should be a cave full of fluffy kittens. That would be really nice.
expecting
____________________
explode
____________________
Poor EE and Josh. All those eels and not anything near them to make a good sushi.
Wait. That title expands out to
Why it would have to be eels?
Should be why'd it have to be eels?
When the king days this, decorum be damned.
Looking back you will probably call that the best decision you ever made, should you live through all of this.
10/14/2019
01:18 UTC
Aw crap, is it the weird worm things?
Also I love the comedic timing -
King: We can't rush my wife!
*Horrible shrieking of the damned*
King: *throws wife over back like a sack of potatoes*
inb4 it happens