Steam vented from various pipes inside the Noble Jury's engine room. Zebra families who were using the compartment as shelter flinched and hugged one another. Booster Spice gritted his teeth, twirling a pair of valves and redirecting the pressure.
“She's not handling the rapid descent too well!” Booster spat. “Tell Zaid to ease up!”
“Zaidy Waidy!” Props slapped a hoof over an intercom while she glanced at the flickering tome in its iron cage. “Don't shove Nancy so hard! We'll be worth nothing if we plunge into the earth!”
“Snkkkt! Gimme a break blondie! Do you want us—”
“—hidden from bird's eye view or don't you?!” Zaid clenched his teeth as he tilted the ship down, descending into the narrow ravine. “Things would be a whole lot easier if I had a clue just how soon this thing is gonna be on top of us!”
“Rest easy, chuckle nuts,” spoke Josho as he climbed up the crawlspace, followed by Bellesmith. He pulled the mare up into the cockpit with a helping hoof. “We've got your eyes on the sky right here.”
“Go take a gander, funny girl!” Zaid stammered.
Belle galloped out onto the top deck, bracing herself against the railing as she stared up at the starry sky. A black shape loomed along the southern horizon. “It's coming in slowly! I'm guessing it'll be over the ravine in a minute and a half!”
“Y'hear that?!” Josho exclaimed, leaning against the back of the pilot's seat. “Take it slow and easy! Leave the panicking to Roarke!”
“Roarke!” Belle shouted into a sound stone as the ship descended tightly into the ravine. “How are you and—”
“—Eagle Eye doing up there?!” crackled the stone on the metal mare's armored fetlock.
“We'll be doing it a lot better and faster without having to explain it,” the metal mare grumbled. She pivoted and motioned towards the thick cluster of wagons being shoved towards the trees. “Quickly! Quickly! Every strong mare and stallion should be the ones pushing! Anypony else, don't bother—just run to the trees!”
“Get beneath the shade!” Eagle Eye exclaimed, horn glowing as he directed the nervous zebras beneath the petrified branches. “Squat down low! No talking for as long as it takes for the thing to pass over us!”
“Are th-they going to find us?!” a young stallion stammered. “Will they gut us alive?!”
“Not if I can help it,” Roarke growled through her helmet. “Hey! You!” She pointed at a stalled wagon at the rear. “What's taking you so long?!”
“The wheel's busted!” a striped mare stammered. “She won't budge!”
“Move! Go into the forest!”
“But—”
“Just move!” Roarke galloped over, pressed her shoulders into the wagon, and fired the thrusters in her rear limbs. “Grnnnnngh!”
“Roarke, w-watch it!” Eagle flinched from the excess fumes.
Fwoooooosh! Roarke successfully shoved the wagon—grinding—across the stone plateau and into the mess of wooden trees. A few branches were clipped, shattering to splinters along the arid floor. Within seconds, Roarke tugged a few zebras along with her and squatted low with Eagle Eye.
“Spark alive,” Eagle muttered. “If I only knew that months later I'd be hiding out like in Foxtaur all over again—”
“Shhhh!” Roarke hissed, then lifted her fetlock. “Zaid!” she whispered hoarsely. “Make your breeder ass invisible!” The air shook and thundered from propeller blades. “Now!”
“Snkkkt! I'm ass-stealthing already!”
“Trust me!” Zaid grumbled, then used both hooves to steer the Noble Jury down... down into the ravine. The sound of rattling rocks and crackling stones echoed on either side of the cockpit.
“Easy...” Belle remarked, head darting left and right as she checked the shallow walls of the ravine across the port and starboard. “Eaaaasy...”
“Like slipping on a condom inside a graveyard,” Josho grumbled. “Swear to Ledo—”
“Shhhh!” Zaid sweated. “Don't be making lame jokes during the one occasion that I can't!”
The air grew thin as everypony clenched their teeth, among other body parts. The Noble Jury drifted slightly to the right, and the skystone grazed a swath of stone, jostling the ship. Belle winced while Josho cursed under his breath.
“IgotitIgotitIgotit,” Zaid said, ears folded back as he eased up on the controls.
“Zaidy Waidy, I love you, but ease up on Nancy,” Props murmured.
The door to the Navigation room opened and Pilate strolled in.
“Word from above!” the blind zebra spoke in a hoarse voice. “We're in as deep as Zaid can take us!”
“You hear that, Roarke?” Booster Spice spoke into his sound stone. “We should be hidden now!”
“Snkkkt. Good. Now, for Searo's sake, shut the buck up.”
“Ahem...” Booster nodded. “Everpony stay silent.”
A dull hush fell over the engine room—the entire ship, for that matter. Zebras sat in tight groups, hugging each other, eyes locked on the bulkheads as their ears twitched to a tense beating noise.
Up beyond the cliffside, huddled together, the families and villagers squatted as low as they could, hiding beneath obscured wagons and petrified branches. They glanced up at the starry sky, waiting in tense silence as the dull bass reverberations intensified.
Eagle Eye clung to his shield, biting his lip. Roarke calmly reached a hoof up and tapped the side of her helmet, changing the field of vision within her visor. The stars' illumination brightened to her gaze, just in time to catch the outline of a dark shape crossing the heavens. The propellers were deaffening at this point, and Roarke counted no less than twelve blades—six per side.
The ship was massive, about the size of four Noble Juries bunched up against each other. It didn't hold a candle to the many battleships that the group had encountered back in Ledomare, but it was startling sight for the airspace over Val Roa. As the thing throttled overhead, roaring along at an eerily slow pace, it filled the sky with thick fumes of smoldering steam.
Slowly, Roarke stood up. This caused Eagle to wince. He stood up to protest, but she gestured for him to remain seated. Slithering forward, Roarke propped herself up against a tree to get a better look. As the thing passed on by, she got a glimpse of its stern, and she spotted multiple cannons looming. Tiny bipedal figures stood alongside the weapons, tweaking them and hammering away at the infernal construction even as it scoured the countryside.
Beneath her helmet, the metal mare's blue eyes narrowed.
Inside the engine room, the bulkheads rattled from the intense vibrations of the ship cruising overhead. The slow pace at which the vessel moved only magnified the tension inside the room. Booster Spice and Props fidgeted as the lights began to flicker.
“M-Mamma...” a little colt stammered.
“Shhh...” A zebra mare nuzzled him close, holding him tight. “Just stay quiet a little longer, precious...”
Pilate gulped. “From the sound of things,” he murmured. “We'll be safe in two minutes. Maybe three.” He held a hoof up. “Just... no sudden movements or noises, and we should be fine—”
“Scrkkkkkt!” Props' communications array squawked, whining against the bulkheads. “Hello?! Hello?! Bloody Hell, lass! Where are ye?! Do I have to set the whole hemisphere on fire to get your attention, Propsicle?!”
The zebras blanched at one another.
Booster Spice flinched so hard, his green goggles flew off.
Props bit her lip with her front row of teeth. “Ffffffffffffffffffffffff—”
Suddenly, the black ship hovered to a stop, lingering just above the canyon. Its weapons pivoted as the imps along the top row scampered left and right, shouting towards one another.
“Uhhhhh...” Eagle shuffled over to Roarke's side. “That's... that's not a good thing...” He gulped. “Tell me that's not a good thing, Roarke.”
Roarke droned, “That's not a good thing, Roarke.”
...
...
...Well...
1) Definitely not friendly.
2) Definitely not Prowse.
3) DEFINITELY NOT GOOD.
Well this really can't get any worse!
Oops.
well, fudge...
Uncle Prowse to the rescue?
5254972 Oh the magical words.
Holy crap, I actually cringed when I read that. Prowse, your impeccable sense of timing is truly commendable. And so many jokes...
Prowse, you're awesome and all, but I swear to all that is holy you've got more issues with the proper time than Marty McFly.
Hi Uncle! You may have doomed me, my companions, and several hundred refugees to a probably bloody and painful death or a lifetime of slavery. How are you doing?
So Roarke's a commedian now.
I am ready.
Uh-oh, this is problems. But hey, at least Prowse has made contact, right?
...no? Okay...
stream1.gifsoup.com/view7/2830014/nostalgia-critic-headpound-o.gif
I'm just going to be happy that Prowse is back.
And good job Zaid at probably getting the Jury stuck in the ravine.
Lunapoop.
I still call Prowse being at the West Gate of Val Roa with Lasairfion in tow, which resulted in our platypus secretary getting the letter about xonan imposters. Still, that timing is amazingly unfortunate
Love the scene cuts!
Also, s**t's just about hitting the fan, except in this case it's a dozen propellers instead.
Now they all have to do whale noises, to make the sonar engineer think it's just the local fauna.
Well that was...was, shaping up to be a nice military style camouflage op.
When it rains it pours huh?
(╯°□°)╯︵ ǝsʍoɹԀ
Is it wrong that I'm kind of sad that they aren't Dirigible Dogs?
5256068 This beast was gonna be called "The Big Bitch". Yeah, that's a... let's call it a Red Wings spoiler. ;)
...Some ponies have the worst timing.
5256102 Now I miss Red Wings too...
Goddamit, Prowse!
Wait a tick, it aint a swarm? One giant ship, 6 props on each side and moving slowly?
Holy. Its The Iron Vulture.
img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121127014701/disney/images/8/80/Weapons04.jpg
Im wondering how they managed to hearProwse through all that steel work and so far down, then again, those engines are low frequencies and voices are higher, and far easier to hear. Also, Pirates carry massive sound arrays for trying to keep track of problems and victims. Even if a classic signal is encrypted, they should get feedback, detection at that range.
All we can hope for is that the goblins are as dumb as Don Karnages pirates. Cos if so, Wizball could be useful for a couple of episodes. Course, it wasnt Baloo that had the mad high explosives expert, but that didnt mean the Vulture dsidnt get its fair share of detonation accidents.
I wonder if this is the one with the cliff cannon modification, or even the Lightning gun?
If so. Thats not a good thing, Rourke.
Fffffffack.
What kind of ears do those guys have to hear a spoken statement from inside the ship up there.
Pls.
Well, we're boned.
5256049 Thank you for this.
PROWSE YOU'D BETTER BE WITHIN MINUTES OF THEM OR SOMETHING.
5256391
YES. I will refuse to accept any other description of the ship now. It's the Iron Vulture in my mind forever.
Let's hope they can use the Wiz ball to distract the Pirates
5256665
Even better, a page with general pictures taken from the show, and the specifications.
Iron Vulture Guide
Watch out for those remote activated bomb bay doors hal, you can get a most unpleasant suprise.
DAMN IT PROWSE
Now I need an airship battle over Val Roa between this monstrosity and the Tarkington.
Welp.
Aaaand there's the crap hitting the fan!
5256102
1) Ha ha! Story material reuse! [/philkensebben]
2) 5256149 Same.
5256391
I like this idea. And now I'm really excited.
5257473
This. Airship battles are the best.
Nope, just the massive airship hovering ominously above us please
No no no no no no no!
NO!
This is really, really super freaking bad!
5258652
Neato new avatar tho
5259027
http://bakki.deviantart.com/art/Sunset-Shimmer-493340960
http://bakki.deviantart.com/art/Sunset-Shimmer-Anime-Cel-Shade-test-493463713
Inb4 zombie shell shows up in a ledo battleship for round whatever the hell we're on with another random heretic enemy.
nopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenope
.....
fuck
No. Bad Prowse. This is horrible.
-Spirit
God dammit, Prowse.
We've been made! Scramble!