"I'm telling you!" Zenith grunted, lending his field of tight telekinesis to aid in the effort. "It hasn't worked the first ten times! It's sure as heck not gonnna work the eleventh!"
"News alert, Sherclop!" Rainbow Dash hissed, using the soldier's polearm in a desperate attempt to pry the door to the black vessel open. "This is more like the ninth attempt! And besides..." Crimson was below her, magically holding his hammer up to assist in the act of wedging the dark grooves of the ship apart. "I think we're making some headway! Keep channeling the telekinesis—"
Her words were cut off by a flash of electrical energy surging beneath her and the polearm.
"It's setting off again!" Crimson grunted, sweating under the starlight as bright bolts danced above him. "Watch it—"
"I'm good! I'm good!" Rainbow hissed. "There's less juice this time! I think we're making progress!"
Zenith tilted his face up. He gulped, his eyes reflecting bright strobes of amber light streaking high above the Foxtaur canopy. "Uhm, guys...?"
"For crying out loud, enough griping! This will only take a couple more tries!"
"Oh jeez—Watch out!" Zenith relinquished his magic and dove to the forest floor.
Rainbow Dash slipped, almost snapping the polearm in two as she hovered bare inches above the sparkling shield of Roarke's vessel. She spun with the weapon in her forelimbs' grip, frowning at the mercenary. "Hey? What gives?!"
A wall of trees exploded behind her.
"Gaaah!" she shrieked, being knocked across the clearing from the sheer concussion of the blast wave. Burning chunks of wood and smoking splinters littered all around her as she twitched on the grass.
"Nnnngh!" Crimson struggled on the ground, using his hammer to pick himself back up. He gazed weakly towards the heavens as another salvo of burning shells landed. "By the Spark..."
More trees exploded, this time with a cascading fountain of burning plumes. With a veritable flash of bright red colors, a ring of fire formed just yards away from the immediate treeline. The forest had become a cacophony of cracking limbs and falling trunks, and beyond it all was the neverending hiss of spreading flame.
"What the hay?!" Rainbow Dash flapped her wings, but wobbled in air from the cyclonic waves of heated air. She evened out in a shivering hover before she could be tossed into the electrocuting body of the metal mare's ship. "Is that coming from the Enforcers' ship?"
"No, they're sicking a dragon on us!" Zenith spat, picking up his polearm. He had to flinch away from a tree landing close to his body. A coat of burning fluid splashed across the grass. "Oh for Pete's sake—They're using incendiary fluids!"
"That'll burn the whole forest down in hours!" Crimson shouted, having to cough from the collecting smoke.
"Why?! What's their gain?!" Rainbow Dash shouted.
"Are you dense?!" Zenith ran and slid under the ship as another chunk of flaming splinters fell past him. "They're done playing around! They wanna flush us out—even if it takes out the entirety of Foxtaur to do it!"
"Fl-flush us out?!" Rainbow Dash gasped as her ruby pupils shrank. She gazed eastward and stammered, "Belle... Pilate..."
"Captain!" Zenith shouted above the rising noise. "We have to move out!" He hissed as a curtain of smoke billowed past them in heated winds. "The ruins might provide cover!"
"Not against flammable incendiaries!" Crimson shouted back.
"Then what should we do?!"
"The Sapphire Ravine!"
"Oh, you gotta be kidding me!"
"Huh?" Rainbow Dash flew left and right to avoid falling debris. "What about a ravine?!"
"Sir, we don't even know if there's a way to cross it!" Zenith shouted.
"It's better than staying here!" Crimson crawled over to the far side of the clearing. "Let's move out!"
"Wait wait wait!" Rainbow Dash's voice cracked as she gestured towards the ship. "Aren't you forgetting something?! We have a ticket out right here—"
A shell landed hideously close, spraying burning bits of wood and mulch across the scene.
Crimson shielded himself with his hammer and shouted, "Rainbow Dash, it's fruitless! There's an underground path just beyond the ruins of Site Beta!"
"I can fly you guys out of here!"
"All four of us?! Including your friends?!" Crimson was already galloping. "We won't have time to think—much less argue—if we stay in place!" Thunder roared on either side of him as he and Zenith threaded their way through the flickering bombardment. "We gotta move! Hurry, Rainbow Dash! Leave the ship!"
Rainbow Dash fidgeted, gazing back at the slender black vessel.
"Leave it!" Crimson shouted from afar, his voice nearly drowned out by the mayhem. "Think of your friends! They need you!"
Just then, a huge tree fell over, nearly smashing Rainbow in midair. She dodged it with a gasp, watching as it landed clear across the bounty hunter's ship. There was a huge splash of debris and sparkling electricity. The ship was covered in burning wood and oil, but it remained in one piece, still invulnerable and sealed tight.
Grunting in frustration, Rainbow Dash pivoted from the scene, flapped her wings harder, and shot east—dodging and weaving through the rain of fire—gliding even with her frantically scampering companions.
No real good options, if the current track record with ravines, caves and caverns is any indication.
So much for peeling the banana.
25 chapters to go! Give it your all, Dash!
Well, this looks real good for Roarke, lying half-dead, tied up in the middle of a burning forest.
Oh, and Rainbow always has bad times with ravines. I think we can feel assured this is not going to change anytime soon.
And really? What's with the title, "Lovable Smell"? Usually they're at least kinda relevant.
2189059 I wondeer what new and exciting monsters we have waiting for us this time.
2189099
"I love the smell of napalm in the morning. Smells like... victory."
Twenty-five push-ups for the epic movie reference, ):(. Knock 'em out!
Makes me think of R2D2 from Darths and Droids, and his dreadnaught.
RD can lift four or five ponies when the need arrives, I'm fairly sure she can ferry them across the ravine.
What do you call a checkov's gun that is actually a giant black airship? Checov's ship maybe? I dun know. I'm not even sure if this counts as on, but the way every character has flat out denied that maybe they will fly it later makes me think so.
Also, if I had money to bet with, I'd put it on the chance that RD and the metal mare become friends (or atleast see eye to eye), and the group returns to the airship later to preform their final escape.
Also, at the rate that pony is gathering party members, she might end up heading a small army by the time she reaches the end of the world.
Man rd was way faster when she was flying solo
Damn...so much for that ship...
Maybe...nah, we'll probably never see it again...
2189328
Makes me miss Austraeoh a bit and the whole world building as she navigated east and watched as the world emerged before her in plain view.
2189157 Oh. Oh wow. You sir, are an intelligent individual.
And I lament on the fact the only space big enough in my house for me to do push-ups has laminate flooring, so I just slip and fall on my face every time.
DUN DUN DUN (sorry... )
Time to go down into a ravine/cave/underground thing again. There's probably going to be some random huge monster, and one of the party members will die (sorry for the pessimism, but their situation seems hopeless right now). Also, Rainbow might find another one of those "machine temple" things, seeing as there was runes in a nearby set of ruins...
Dang.. Well I thought RD would have busted into the ship by now...
I sure hope RD is feeling pretty awesome right now.. Cause I think it is about time for...
A SONIC RAINBOOM!!!
2189328
At the cost of friendship, though.
And we can't have that now, can we?
Oh my. I don't think RD is in a very good situation here.
2186287You're probably right.
2186356Yes, you are "others."And I felt the same way towards the end of Austraeoh. It was such an epic ending that I didn't want it to end...
Open fire! Hahah, damn I love artillery bombardments!
Oh. Uhm. I mean, uh, go Rainbow Dash, y'know' and stuff.
I have a feeling that we haven't seen the last of the flying black banana.
2186657THERE it is! It was on the tip of my tongue.
2186764You're moving (back) to WI?I'm all the way over in MA.
2186768That's good, at least.
2186787Whoa. I think you're right...She fought longer than she ever has before, which would be explained by your theory. Although she is a bit overdue for a bout of dizziness...
2186827
2186846...Yeah. Imploding would force her to.
2186929It's fate. The same thing happened when I caught up to the end of Austraeoh.
2187801Every single day.He'll do one, two if we're lucky.
2189114Well, in my defense, I usually do my evaluations at night. Except on weekends, sometimes.
AND HEY. IT IS SPECIAL TO GET PAST ME, OKAY?!?!
She could've just *asked* Roarke. They're not going to leave her in a burning forest are they?
2189157
The smell, you know, that gasoline smell, the whole forest... smelled like... victory.
Someday this fic's gonna end.
>Indestructible gunship
>Impossible to access
Lady Luck is the biggest troll of them all. She'll sensuously glide her hand down your pants, only to crush your balls and call you an ugly woman.
SO MUCH CHAOS!
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
So apparently there's a dragon thrown into the mix now. I didn't know Shell brought something like that with him...also, a few references here when Dash turns eastward and is, once again, more concerned about Pilate Belle rather than herself. Also, as mother note - Dash should be totally exhausted from the Roarke fight. I just want Imploding to know that it might be just a bit unrealistic if she goes up against the dragon and wins. But hey, not much is realistic in Austraeoh and Eljunbyro, right? These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
2190687 I think they're just torching the place, there isn't a dragon.
If there is, however...the Divine from way way way back will probably make an appearance.
2189998 Surely not. Rainbow is far too kind to not at least untie her.
Raining Blood - Slayer
I dunno, its been a long day, can't I just read shit and listen to Slayer?
2190949Well, didn't Crimson say that it was a dragon?I thought he did...
2193453 Crimson said it was a dragon, then said that they were pouring flammable liquids on Foxtaur.
2193509Okay now I'm totally confused.We'll figure out soon enough.
2193679 If it is a dragon, we'll probably see that Axan-like being again.
Now there's gonna be cave creatures, I'm betting. Also, this music helps set the scene:
Now that this fic is starting to wrap up, I can only hope there aren't any tragic "deaths" like last time... onward!
So the big black banana was just a red herring in the end? Yeah, not buying that, somehow.
2191362
Sounds like a plan to me.
2242908 Ah, Thomas Bergersen. Good sir, your taste in music does serve to delight me.
Chaos, chaos is the result of the orders of Shell's blind orders. Frustration, and confusion is what has resulted in the minds of our heroine, Rainbow Dash. The surprise brought on by the impulsiveness of Shell's decision could potentially be fatal, and at least will be damaging.
However, there is a glimpse of hope! If our travelers can make it to the Sapphire Ravine before the fire catches them, then there is a chance. The issue arises when this is not the only ... issue (?).
Can the Sapphire Ravine be crossed? And what will be waiting for them on the other side; in the land of the Metal Mares?
Can our travelers make it alive? Can anypony even make it?
Onwards!
Like I said in the last chapter: Uh oh.
And we've had so much bad stuff in caves, I don't know if this underground passage is a good idea...
Also, I got a mechanical keyboard, yay!
It doesn't get any easier.
And now it's time to beat flank for the ravine
my environmental efforts have been fruitless. Foxtaur burns.
I knew it was too easy.
But... the banana ship! Also, in that last chapter, I very nearly thought Josho's words would bring doubt into Shell's mind. They may yet. Time will tell.
I love the smell of napalm in the morning
Oh, I forgot about that. 5 days will do that to you.
So, they’re not taking the ship, but they might take a different path. I’m definitely interested in this Sapphire Ravine place, where is it?
Let’s hope pegasai can fly fast.