Steam Ships and Snow Banks
"Master!" A deckhoof hollered into a spray of stormy water across a steamship's starboard side. "Master Chandler!"
Brye Chandler marched across the teetering deck. Two servants struggled to keep in pace with him as the vessel rocked back and forth. One nervously held an umbrella.
"Mrmmmfff... damn squalls..." Chandler huffed and puffed, bundling himself with an extra-thick cloak studded with jades. "Alright, out with it!" He stood, shivering before the sailor. "I expected to wait out the whole trip to the outlying harbors below deck. This had better be good."
The sailor gulped and said, "Sir, that pegasus-shaped shadow we spotted earlier? Along the northern horizon?"
"What about it?"
"Turns out it wasn't a phantom after all." He gestured at the rolling waves. "We lit a beacon, and the winged figure is incoming. Appears to be a messenger."
"Yes, so?!" Chandler frowned. "Probably come to alert us of a passing convoy! It's standard procedure! Why bring me out in this... mmmfff... torrent?!"
"Sir, he's bearing blue and white colors."
Chandler's eyes widened. "...that message is coming from Steamfall!" He shoved his way past the two servants and approached the starboard side. "Well, where is he then?! Brighten the beacons! Give him the signal to land!"
"Sir, he has the signal! Right now, he just needs room!"
With a grunt, Chandler backed up. Voices hollered across the steamship. Bright lights swam through the drizzle. Then—within a hot minute—a soaking wet figure landed in a heap of wings and leather.
"Mmmmf!" An exhausted pegasus collapsed across the sea-stained deck. He winced, panting and wheezing for breath. "Important... news... fr-from the n-north...!" He coughed and sputtered.
"Well?!" Chandler stomped his hoof. "Procure the letter!"
A deckhoof reached in, fumbled with the deliverer's forelimbs, and grabbed a cylinder. He opened it up, then slid a scroll out.
"Dammit—allow me!" Chandler swiped the scroll from servant and ripped the seal. His green eyes swam swiftly across the unfurled page.
"Mmmm... w-water... fresh water, please," the messenger wheezed.
Chandler merely stepped over him. He paced and paced... then came to a stop. The executive's ears drooped as his expression paled.
"Sir?" A deckhand leaned forward. "What is it?"
"... ... ...dammit, Longaze..." Chandler stared across the sea, snarling. "I thought you had it under control." His teeth gritted. "Now I have my tail lifted for all of Rohbredden to gawk..."
"Sir?"
"Rrrrnngh..." Chandler crumpled the sheet up and tossed against the wincing body of the messenger. "Change course!"
"But, sir! We're almost to the shoreline—"
"Damn the harbors!" Chandler marched angrily towards the lower deck. "All the coal from South Barge is tainted anyway! Set course for Consortium HQ!"
"Aye, sir!" The deckhoof hollered. "Hard to starboard!"
Bells rang and ponies galloped back and forth. Chandler marked into the dark underbelly of the teetering ship until all that shone was the green sheen of his hard eyes. "I'm going to be running this damned kingdom even if I have to grab it by the genitals!"
Thick violet hooves plowed through the snow of a mountain peak.
Remna came to a stop for the first time in hours. Her breath produced powdery vapors in the lofty morning air. With her back to the rising sun, it afforded her an easy glance at the jagged ridges looming to the northwest.
"We're getting close," she muttered, green eyes narrowing. Her hoof pointed at a trio of sharp peaks. "Those... those mountains over there? They're the final barrier... the lasting bulwark of the Wyvern Tribe's hidden sanctuary! We'll be there within days. Should be an easy stretch. Nothing between us and our destination, except for Snow Bloods and the occasional manticore of course." Her hard nostrils flared. "And if worse comes to worst, we can feed one to the other and skate on by."
Silence... save for panting breaths, light and stifled.
"...?" Remna pivoted, gazing down the mountain slope. "What's taking you so long, little pony?"
"Grfff... jee... I dunno..." Rainbow huffed and puffed, fumbling to catch up with the deep hoofsteps left by the bounty hunter. "Maybe the mountains... or the sl-slick snow... or... y'know..." Rainbow frowned. "Gravity."
"Hrmmfff..." Remna merely turned tail and began her heavy march down the western slope. "For a pegasus, it must be terribly taxing to use your spindly legs for any length of time."
"Yeah, well... for an earth pony..." Rainbow gnashed her teeth, pausing to wince and catch her breath. "It m-must suck..." She stretched her back like a cat, grimacing. "...having to leak the fertilizer... out of your ears every morning..." She huffed. "...jerk."
"Uhm, Dashie?" Pinkie hovered at Rainbow's side. "I really really really wouldn't suggest joking with this super cereal meanie-head."
"Who said I was joking..." Rainbow grumbled, glaring uphill.
Remna's fiery dreads gradually disappeared as she descended the other side. "If the trek is so exceedingly laborious, then perhaps you could try using your wings to cut down on time."
"Believe me!" Rainbow grunted and struggled to push herself up over the mountain crest. "If I could use my wings... I would!" She yelped slightly from aching joints. "Just so I could fly away from you!"
"Cute," Remna grumbled, growing more and more distant as she marched swiftly ahead. "Do us both a favor. Conserve your breath for screams. If your helpless body is almost eaten alive by another errant frost wyrm, I need to know as soon as possible so you won't die before my delivery to the Wyverns is made."
Rainbow frowned.
"Yeesh..." Rarity hovered close by. "Charming to the last."
"Why'd the Despies have to fix Dashie up with somepony so... so...?"
Twilight interjected. "'Sociopathic?'"
Fluttershy looked at the others. "Remember everypony, she is helping Rainbow Dash despite her obvious misgivings. I'd much rather describe her as... 'abrasive.'"
"Fluttershy, I can handle 'abrasive,'" Rainbow Dash grumbled. "Heck, I have handled 'abrasive.' Nuzzled it like a friggin' pillow, even. But this?" She shook her head with an iron frown. "This is downright jerksuckery."
"That's not a word, Rainbow," Twilight Sparkle droned.
"It is as soon as this melon fudge ups and croaks, swear to Celestia."
"Are you plotting my death up there?" Remna's voice echoed.
"No ma'am! Neither of us are that lucky!"
"Well, keep it down! You might spark an avalanche!"
"But I was just answe—"
"Shhhhh!" And the violet figure continued marching.
Rainbow Dash growled. "I'm not sure how much more of this brow-beating I can take," she muttered.
"You have to hoof it to her," Rarity remarked. "She's quite observant."
"Yeah, Rainbow." Pinkie nodded. "You might wanna save talking to your invisible friends for when it's slightly less crazy to talk to your invisible friends."
"Not like it's going to matter with this mare," Twilight Sparkle remarked. "I doubt any sudden concern for Rainbow's mental health is going to distract her from her task."
"Yes." Rarity blinked. "She's quite intent to drag you to Wyvern Point—whether you're a prancing pony or a crazy corpse."
"Girls, please..." Fluttershy shivered. "Let's use the 'c'-word less, please?" She gulped. "Rainbow's been through enough scary scrapes as it is."
"You gotta admit!" Pinkie smirked. "With this mountain of muscle nearby, you can at least count on Rainbow being safe!"
"Don't be so certain, Pinkie," Rainbow muttered.
"Huh?" Pinkie blinked. "Why not?"
"A funny thing about tough ponies." Rainbow shuffled awkwardly down a long, long snowbank. "The harder they look on the surface, the softer and more dependent they are on the inside."
"And just how is that relevant to anything, darling?" Rarity remarked.
Rainbow merely exhaled, her ears drooping.
Twilight Sparkle stared at her, raising an eyebrow.
"Let's just keep moving," Rainbow murmured. "The sooner we arrive at Wyvern Point, the quicker we'll be done with this meathead."
"Careful, Dahie," Pinkie said. "She can already hear your murmurs! What if she can hear your thoughts as well?"
"If that was the case, she would have murdered me hours ago."
"Brbrbrbrrrr..." Fluttershy trembled. "Let's not use the 'm-word' either."
"No promises." And Rainbow marched on.
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Chandler is an asshole. More at eleven.
Also, apparently he knows things are going down up north now. All the points come together closer now...
Heh heh heh....
...
...Awwww, now I'm sad.
Jerksuckery: still with more cuddles than Appledashery.
6984551
In related news, the sky is blue, fire is hot and water is wet.
The slap slap is strong, how long until the kiss?
-Companions have returned, inner darkness spurned. Utaan.
6984579
Hopefully not too long.
Yeah Remna's attitude isn't improving.
I just love where those last chapters are taking us. I'm super excited for Keris-Theanim team and seing the desesperados in action again, aand I'm hoping we will be reading some Seraphimus adventures soon to!
What is wrong with today's treatment of messenger ponies? Every day, hundreds of ponies who deliver messages are mistreated and abused. For only a small payment of a few comments a month, you can help to stop the horrific atrocities occurring every day.
This is a payed advertisement. All proceeds go to the Messenger Pony Foundation of Verlaxion. Totally not going into Brye Chandler's pockets. Not a single bit.
...Anybody else reading this as confirmation (at least from what Remna sees) that Dash's 'wing injury' not being healed by her time in Chaos Mode is entirely psychosomatic? Guilt from everything in the Quade she hasn't let go of yet?
6984582 Probably a while actually, Dash is as reluctant to out herself in front of the other elements here as she is in Dashery.
Enterprising chapters
Friendly reminder that Brye Chandler is not to be confused with the other Chandler.
Something about Remna strikes me as odd. I can't quite put my finger on it.
I can't wait for Remna to come around to Rainbow, I have a feeling that when she does they will make almost as good a team as her and Roarke. Note that I said almost she can never be as good as Roarke.
Something tells me twilight is starting to suspect that rainbow and roark were a thing. Even if she doesnt kno about roark
I think most the reason Remna is grating so much to Dash is that Dash is being reminded too much of Roarke and its making her a grumpy Austraeoh.
Talikng from personal experience, Dash?
6984623
One wonders what Chandler is doing to convince them to keep working for them when they keep on getting shat on for being a
humanpony text messenger.Hmmm, AJ?
6984715 You're preaching to the choir here, friend. Praise be to East Horse!
Oh, yeah! Along with suplexing, throwing, punching, kicking, headbutting, yelling, whispering, agreeing, disagreeing, hating, loving, and having crazy cyborg sex. That's just a few things I remember off the top of my head. I'd say Dash is very familiar with 'abrasive'.
Remna's doing all this for a reason, Rarity. Probably to protect her "dependent" with what the wyverns can offer. Which means she's not has tough as she appears according to Dash. Which means Dash isn't letting her guard down just because some muscle was hired to keep her safe.
Also Twilight seems to notice a piece of a puzzle. One step closer to your secret Dashie.
My personal Remna theory is that she's egging RD like that because a pissed pegasus is a less-cold pegasus.
The entire Renma episode is painful to read. I know it's a currently necessary plot device, but I'd love to see Rainbow get her wings back soon.
I can't wait for Dash to get out of Wyvern Point just to see that Chandler is already imprisoned/dead and the whole continent is fixed thanks to Theams and Keris.
Chandler is finding out just how bad it is having loose cannon Dash as an enema is.
Trudging through the snow, avalanches on the way, you aint gonna outride this one, onna one Ranma sleigh.
6984579 It took (too) many books for Rainbow and Roarke to kiss, so I wouldn't count on it.
I'd love to see a map of Rohbreddon with the locations of each party right now.
6984631
I mostly agree with you. I think that Rainbow could be using her wing some, but I'm not convinced that it is 100% physically healed. If it was, the desperados wouldn't have asked her stressful the train.
Uh...
So, does Remna not know about Dash's adventures? I can't tell anymore.
6984828 Lack of options would be my guess.
Fraggin Consortium... May the warp take them!
6985579
She might through Bard and Wildcard, or she might not if they felt it more prudent.
Chandler would burn the kingdom to the ground if it meant he could be king of the ashes.
I'm not sure they're all dependent, Rainbow.
6986004 He'll kidnap a thousand
childrenDashies before he lets his company die!6986347 s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/ff/7d/3d/ff7d3de80c8eb65a24daeb6bc018c41d.jpg
6986364
Let's not use this 'm-word' either
6985138 I'm getting worried about some of the foreshadowing that might be happening. Dashie might arrive at her destination as close to a corpse as she can get.
I'm keeping my hopes up for the fact that Renma is just testing her, and RD will make the choice to save her in the end which demonstrates her goodliness.
6984857
Roarke, ya big doof! She's just remembering that her life is meaningless and empty without Roarke!
6987190 my life is meaningless without Roarke
I don't think Remna'll be around for too long. She seems to be the type of pony who really, really just wants to get the job done as quick as possible, with the least amount of interaction with Wildcard and whomever might be with him. Though I may be wrong, if fate jumps in the way.
6985240
I hope that was a Freudian slip, because otherwise im confused and have some bad imagery to get rid of...
6988080
Oh, that came out all right. Dont worry, Longgaze will turn up and make it alll better.
What if they are going to a place outside the reach of the Sun? Sunset prefecture would be a fitting name, then. Maybe that's where that sarosian place is, don't remember the name.
Also, it now occured to me that Seraphimus found the
lettermap Dash lost, and that's what she's investigating right now.A surprisingly deep statement from Rainbow, though she would know best. Applejack, Roarke, and herself all make for good examples that she knows personally of this.
6984751
If anyone would put the pieces together, it would be Twilight. Rainbow has slipped up before while taking about her past so if Twilight is keeping good track of what's going on, she'd have some evidence to form at least a hypothesis.
THE RAINBOARKE WILL LIVE FOREVER DAMN IT
At what an arsehole you are?
I think I'm weird. The first thing to pop into my head was the question "How are kingdoms made?"
Personally I enjoy the Rainbow/Remna back-and-forth. Pretty sure it does a lot to keep Rainbow on her hooves mentally too.
7000980
Chandler is so full of arseholes that you can hardly look at the guy without his stink holes glaring at you. I'm surprised that with how full of it, that he's lavender and not brown.
What a lovely couple! It's love at first sight.
6991732 Counterpoint
What's a bit of deleterious banter between friends, hmm mmmmm.
Someone's day is about to get worse.
For some time now I've had this suspicion that her wing totally works by now, but she's not trying because it still hurts and it's also atrophied a bit.
Remna's earlier examination might have yielded the same result.
(Or maybe she's just yanking her tail.)