"Nnnrgh... d-dammit!" Brye Chandler fidgeted and fussed, pressing himself into the embrace of one griffon while the other bodyguard struggled to dislodge the spear from his armor. "Careful! You'll cut my flesh!"
"Defense Minister..." The griffon's hawkeyes narrowed as he focused on his task. The three were positioned on a cloud high above the last known sighting of the Stardust. "...if you simply stop squirming, I can more carefully assist you—"
"I'm the one stallion entrusted by Verlaxion to avenge her legacy!" Chandler barked. "I do not 'squirm'!"
"Hrmmm..." The griffon gripping the stuck spear clenched his beak. "...then surely you can weather this."
"What was that—?" CHTUNKKK! "—aaaaaaugh!" Chandler clutched the dented armor where the spear was yanked free. "Are you mad?!"
"But it barely grazed you—"
"Never mind!" Chandler shoved against him and then gestured at the other bodyguard holding him. "Take us down immediately! There's no telling where those Blighted fiends went!"
"Sir, you ordered us to ascend in the first place—"
"Silence and do as I say!" Chandler tightened his helmet as the bodyguards took wing, carrying him off the cloud and descending once again. "If that vessel full of black magic gets away, then we will have sacrificed this entire flanking move for nothing!"
"I... I think I see it, sir!" One griffon pointed with a free talon. "It's right where we left it!"
"Then take us down already!" Chandler cocked his crossbow. "I need to know if our soldiers finished that cretin off!"
A gentle melody wafted through the air.
Acoustic strings and harmonic chords.
Th-Th-Thump! Chandler and his two bodyguards landed heavily on the bow of the Stardust. They gawked at the bloody carnage strewn all across the deckplates.
"What... in blazes...?" Chandler murmured.
His bodyguards grimaced upon seeing the lifeless remains of their former comrades. But that wasn't all...
"Hey!" Chandler craned his neck, helmet rattling. "Hey you!"
There was no response from the source of the music. A pegasus sat near the cabin door, hunched over. There was an instrument in his hooves.
Frowning, Chandler marched towards him in his bulky armor. "I am Defense Minister Brye Chandler of Rohbredden. In the name of Goddess Verlaxion, I order you to stand down and tell me the plans of the Rainbow Rogue!"
Bard's response was to hum in tune to the gentle guitar riff he was playing. He squatted on the corpse of a Frostknifer, plucking the strings with one fetlock and a surviving wing.
"Did you hear me, Blighted one?!" Chandler aimed his crossbow. "I said that I am Defense Minister Brye..." His lips trailed, as did his gaze. "...Chandler of Rohbredden..." His eyes fell on the sword-tip impaling Bard's figured. "...good Goddess."
"Hmmmmmmm..." Bard plucked the strings of his guitar, staining the wooden finish red. "...time it was... and what a time it was... it was..."
The two bodyguards blinked incredulously at one another.
"Funny..." Bard chuckled. Blood squeezed through the seams of his front teeth. "...the sweetest songs are somehow always the shortest."
At this point, Brye Chandler was ignoring him. With a gaping expression, he trotted past the wounded musician and gazed at the cabin door...
...a cabin door that had been slid wide open, revealing an entire glowing stockpile of enchanted runestones.
A melodic sigh. Bard smiled into the reddened heavens as he plucked a final chord. "Well, Amber, it took dayum near forever, but here we are.”
Chandler spun around, eyes wide.
Bard gazed back. Unflinching. "H'rhnum..."
Vrmmmmmmmmmmmmmm— Every single rock inside the belly of the Stardust glowed to the point of blinding.
"Get o-out!" Chandler's voice cracked. His helmet flew into the mists as he scrambled to gallop off the ship's bloody deck. "Get out before it—" He had no more words, for he had no more lungs. Billowing lunar plasma engulfed him, Bard, the two griffons and—
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
The red sky was drowned in a rising plume of orange and silver flame.
Keris, Windburst, and the rest of their company jerked in place. Gasping. Squinting.
They hovered to a stop just above the last remaining ship of Chandler's armada. As other Frostknifers carried waterlogged survivors back on board, the east horizon behind them erupted in runic wrath.
The shockwave reached Rainbow Dash and Ariel—nearly throwing them off balance.
"Augh!"
"Guhhh!"
Rainbow Dash and Ariel spun around, squinting down and towards the west. The twilight faded for a brief moment, as if kissed by a second sun for the first time in epochs.
The explosion ended as dramatically as it began, and despite having produced monumental thunder...
...Rainbow Dash was acutely aware of a shocked gasp to her side. She looked immediately at Fluttershy.
Fluttershy looked back at her. Ears drooped and a yellow muzzle quivered.
Rainbow Dash gawked. "Wildcard?"
Fluttershy slowly shook her head.
Rainbow blinked. Then her pupils shrank. "... ... ...Bard."
A sniffle. Fluttershy's eyes filled with tears.
"Rainbow...?" Twilight looked at Pinkie Pie—who was rubbing a shivering shoulder. She looked back at their anchor. "Rainbow, what is—?"
"Look!" Rarity pointed at the western sky.
The ghostly mares gazed in one accord. As the lasting glow of the explosion faded, a dark figure glided ever closer. Wildcard flew east. His metal arm dangled limply. His other talon gripped a bloodied staff.
"Wildcard..." Ariel murmured. "There you are! We lost you when..." She blinked. "What are you doing with Bard's—?"
Fwoooosh! Wildcard glided past her. His expression was stoic and nothing else. He decelerated slightly—but without turning back. He kept his flight slow for as long as he was within Rainbow's gaze.
"... ... ..." Ariel stared after him. At last, as the twilight returned, her eyes turned glossy above a weak frown. "No..." Wings blurred. She muscled herself west. "No!"
A petite hoof yanked her back with remarkable strength. "Ariel—"
"No! We can't just leave him back there—"
"Rrrrgh!" Rainbow practically threw Ariel after Wildcard. She glared at her. Through her. "He gave his all! Now it's time we gave ours! Or do you really want to shame him that badly?!"
Ariel pouted. She heaved... shook... and caved under a fountain of tears. She shook them dry the only way she knew how—by flying into the stormy winds, making a bitter bee-line for the edge of the world.
Rainbow Dash followed her with no less speed. A cold frown sliced the air in front of her.
And yet... on a softer plane...
...the quiet, sobbing voices of her friends joined her.
"Rainbow Dash..." Twilight glided alongside the mare. Her face was a lavender bowl of grimacing sympathy. "Rainbow Dash, I am so... so sorry..." She reached a vaporous limb through her friend's wings. "Please... if th-there's anything we can do—"
"We move."
"Rainbow, please—"
"We head east!" Rainbow Dash grunted into the cosmos and the hazy line of gold separating them. "Until there is no east left." At last, she caught up with Wildcard. She looked at him.
Wildcard said nothing. Gripping the other Desperado's weapon like a spear, he cut a windy path towards the end of all things.
Rainbow exhaled, ears drooping. She flew close to the griffon, and the two accelerated to catch up with Ariel.
"W'yllsa! W'yllsa! S'ylywym wysll thym!"
"Alright! Alright!" Echo hollered towards the upper chambers. There was a final rush of salty air through Bleak's Plummet, and the walls rang with stomping hooves. "Seal it up! The others will join us when we resurface again!"
"What?" Nicole breathily managed. "Did... did we—?"
"That red signal just now!" Echo's fangs glinted in the runelight. "Rainbow's done it! Our brothers and sisters are flocking west! Keeping a high cover!"
"Are we abandoning them—?"
"Pfft! Hardly! A good bunch of them are already on board—along with Enix! The rest will keep high in the clouds and rendezvous once Bleak's Plummet breaches the waves!"
"Then... then we made it," Nicole managed with a shudder. "Rainbow... Johnny... we—"
"Hold on tight, bae." Echo steadied her shoulders as the entire ship shifted with a jolt. "Dive time."
Nicole's eyeslits reflected a wave of bubbles from beyond the magic window. "I... I can hardly believe—"
"Believe what?" Echo smiled at her. "Relax, girl. I know it's sappy'n'shiet, but..." He gazed out at the dimming east waters as the entire structure drew away. "...we're going home."
Nicole pursed her lips. "Home." The word was only half-melodic. The shadow of the ocean fell over Bard's hat, then her, then everything.
"Commander!" Windburst shouted, wincing in mid-flight as he struggled to follow his superior. "Commander! Hold up!"
Keris said nothing. He flew over the wall of fire... the wrecked privateer ship and the rocks and shoals surrounding it. As the last few survivors of the wreck were being carried to the remaining vessel west of them, he found a group of pegasi circling a burning patch of debris due east.
"Commander..." At last, Windburst caught up with him. He panted. "What are we doing out here? The troops are gathered above Chandler's ship like you ordered—"
"That explosion, Sergeant..."
"Yeah? What about it? It was loud, stupid, and noisy—"
"Shhhh!" Keris hissed aside as a quartet of armored pegasi approached. "I just need to know..."
"Know what?"
"Commander?" one pegasus stammered, a pale expression spread over her features. "Commander Keris? Is that you?"
"Report, soldier," Keris firmly said.
"It... it's the Defense Minister, sir," the pegasus said. Her three partners fidgeted nervously in mid-air with their backs to the explosion's epicenter. "While we were fishing survivors out of the waters surrounding the second ship, we spotted him flying east with a contingent of bodyguards to engage the enemy artillery vessel and—"
"And what?" Keris' magenta eyes narrowed. "It exploded?"
"I... I'm afraid so, Commander."
"And the Defense Minister?" Windburst leaned forward. "Brye Chandler? Did you find him?"
"We..." The pegasus looked at the others. "We... uhm..."
"Well?"
Gulping, the soldier nervously looked back at the Talon members. "We found his head."
Silence.
"But... we c-couldn't find the rest of him... Commander... s-sir..."
Keris exhaled. He looked at the wreckage... then at the lightning and cosmic nebulae beyond.
"Commander Keris?" The pegasus hovered higher. "With the Defense Minister gone and Seraphimus unaccounted for... that puts you in charge of our offensive."
Windburst took a deep breath and delivered into the thunderous air: "What are your orders..." He glanced stealthily aside. "Commander, sir?"
Keris closed his eyes. His headcrest settled—as did the edge in his voice. "Retreat."
The pegasus soldiers gaped at him. "S-sir?"
"We are to fall back and retreat safely to Frostknife. The Rainbow Rogue's forces have us outsmarted and outgunned here and it would be a tragic folly to waste the most elite of the late Verlaxion's foals in a futile act of vengeance that even she didn't mandate when she was alive." Keris' eyes reopened and they were glaring. "Do you have a problem with that, soldier?"
Silence.
Keris looked around. "Does anypony have a problem with that?"
Dead winds.
Rain.
And...
"N-no, sir!"
"Not at all sir!"
"T-take us back to Frostknife pl-please... Commander... s-sir..."
Windburst sighed with relief.
"Good." Commander Keris sliced his claws west in a dramatic motion. "Fall back. Regather the troops. Tell them... we're heading back home... to protect our loved ones!"
Bodies swiftly, eagerly glided past him, carving a path westward over the rock formations and shipwrecks.
"Fall back!"
"Sound retreat!""
"Move! Move! Move!"
"Listen...!" Raptr tilted his head up from where he and Starstorm squatted on a low-hanging cloud. "Do you hear that?"
Starstorm paused in wrapping a length of metal wire around Seraphimus' wings. The former Commander's talons and paws were already tightly bound, and her silver feathers fluttered in the noisy breeze.
"It... it..." Starstorm cocked her avian head aside. Sure enough—between the thunder and wind—she and the rookie could make out the distant hollering of Central Guardians. "It sounds like they're sounding a retreat."
"Then... then Keris did it!" Raptr exclaimed, smiling jubilantly. "He and Windburst have forced Chandler to change his mind!"
"I wonder if it has anything to do with that brilliant explosion just now," Starstorm muttered.
"Maybe... although..." Raptr gulped, squinting into the rain. "Now you've got me worried."
"What for?" Starstorm returned to wrapping the cord around Seraphimus' wings. "We got what we came here for."
"Did we? How do we know that Rainbow Dash made it?"
"Remember that red flare from earlier?"
"Uhm... yeah?"
Starstorm leaned in over Seraphimus. "If you ask me, that was the signal."
"Signal?"
"For Rainbow's gang to split up. The midnighters are going away for good." Starstorm smirked, tying the cord into complex knots. "And Rainbow's group? They're probably halfway to the Dark Side by now..."
Silver feathers shifted. Muscles tightened. And when Starstorm's last words were spoken...
...a pair of charcoal eyes flew open.
references in case anyone didn't catch it
...Rest in peace, Bard. You did well.
As for you, Mister Chandler...
...Burn in hell, you rat-bastard.
I'd just like to point out that visual...goddamn.
Yeah...at this point, I think Bleak's Plummet is basically home free now. Thank god. I really didn't want another Lerris.
Hmmm...there's either something symbolic, some lavender-ly written action, or both here in this statement.
And that's it for Chandler's forces. However, that only leaves...
Oh fuck.
8169363 Yeah...I caught it...
Everything was coming up milhouse. But then Seraphimus had to wake up.
That isn't good.
When I finally caught up, it was way back when Bard and Wildcard first showed up. And now Bard has left.
Not sure what else can be said. He took out Chandler with him. Goodbye, Bard.
I repeat: Awwwww hell.
Bard got one last screw you to Chandler while going out with a bang. Quite fitting. Now it is just time for the final confrontation with Seraphimus and finally getting to the dark side. Only 3 chapters remain.
*rolls eyes* Well Bard, congratulations, with your last act you managed to murder a few more people who didn't need to die, and for what? A few final strums on your guitar? Was more blood spilled really worth it? Pointless deaths to add to your own?
Goddammit Bard. Did you learn nothing from watching Dash?
And what, am I supposed to feel some kind of satisfaction at Byre Chandler's getting some sort of comeuppance here? As if his death, or the deaths of any of those around him, make up for any of the wrongs that brought everyone to this final stupidity? Living and learning and becoming better people is what makes wrongs right, not more death.
Bard...
...I know I'm the only one who's going to have this sentiment, but fuck you, in your final moments, you did the wrong thing.
The completely wrong thing.
But I guess it'll look good in the trailer.
I cheered. I did.
Though I'm honestly amazed they found anything at all after an explosion like that.
Goodbye Bard, you crazy sonuvabitch.
You'll be missed.
..I'd try and find a song, but I don't think anything could do it justice.
Edit: Oh right.. the list... umm.. gimme a sec to find it... I think the last time I posted it was.. the first time I posted it... I think it was around Never allow the final death...Okay found it... I'm sort of amazed I didn't have to dig it up more often.
Ahem
Mortuana
Kepler
Flynn
Ariel
Logan
Remna/Axan
Bard
Wildcard/Jordan
Theanim
Echo
Keris
Windburst
Raptr
Starstorm
Nicole
Enix
6 companions remain.
red and struckthrough are dead, blue have left the party and are alive.
-Companions are abound, frozen spectres hound. Utaan.
On the one hand, that was a dumb way for Chandler to go, but on the other, he IS that dumb. What kind of commander, especially one so concerned with his own safety, boards an unchecked enemy vessel?
The Only Appropriate Sound Effect
Everything except his head exploded. In the world of Austraeoh, the most ignoble death possible for the most ignoble of villains.
Three chapters remain. Seraphimus is coming.
I am guessing this is the lasty part of this series?
Bard died the way he lived, a guitar in his hoof and a Melody in his heart. Like a true Desperado; going out with a bang.
You're Gonna Carry That Weight
I feel almost like Bard was the character living on borrowed time, having lost his home and family he ended up drifting looking for a purpose. And now everything seems to have wrapped up for him, he did his work and he paid his dues. Rest easy, Bard.
RIP Bard. You will be missed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlfUcnSbKDA
8169460
Morally, i agree with you.
Ethically, i disagree with you.
I guess Chandler really was a...balloon head.
It's not over til it's over...
It always so hard to lose your only Bard as who is good sing a requiem for their death.
Goddamnit Seraphimus, stop with the natural twenties.
8169613
If she's a legendary, when she fails a roll she can instead choose to succeed. Apparently several times per encounter.
8169564
Fair enough. Never have been sure what the larger difference is between the two, although I'm willing to bet I lean way heavier towards the moral scale than the ethics one. Bard's actions here just rub me the wrong way, and personally just couldn't find any narrative or character satisfaction out of either his death or Chandler's. Just didn't work for me on any level. But hey, anyone else is free to disagree.
8169516 Nope, there are 4 more books planned.
It's over now, thanks to Bard. Chandler's gone, and Seraphimus is way too well bound to do anything awful even if she wakes u—
I… I said, she's too well bound to… to…
…
Don't you dare, ):(. Don't you dare.
8169460
You do realize that if Byre Chandler was still alive that he would be ordering his troops to continue this attack, yeah? And that it would likely involve dooming the entire force by forcing them over the edge of the world after Dash? I agree that it would have been more fitting if no one had to die at the hooves of Rainbow's companions, but that just wasn't in the cards.
8169676
I disagree. His troops were losing confidence in him by the second, and I think Keris could have wrested control of things from him. Also he can't give orders if he's unconcious. There's no narrative reason he had to be killed, and honeslty it just came off to me as a too predictable and unsatisfying. It would've been a lot more engaging for him to survive this and learn from it, but I agree that he would've had to have been written with a bit more self awareness for a number of previous chapters for that to work. It might've worked better for me if he'd gotten so mentally out of whack from this battle that he ended up blowing a mental fuse and went full comatose, spirit crushed, and questioning all his beliefs all over again. I would've found it more satisfying narratively for Chandler to be broken on a spiritual and mental level, because at least from such ruin can spring new growth and learning from one's mistakes. But for me his death was just pointless and somewhat cheap. Prop up villlain that's easy for us in the audience to hate so we can cheer when he gets "what he deserves" while crying for a fallen hero.
For me it just doesn't smell right, but I respect that other people can and will feel differently, which is why most of my rancor is directed at the characters and not the writer.
Also, random thought:
What if Seraphimus ends up on the Dark Side with Dash and the Herald? She just woke up, and could well chase them all the way to the Gondola, and end up inside the Gondola with them.
... why, IC?
dammit i was rooting so hard for RariBard
And what a song it was. Seeyah, Bard.
goddamnit bard... its been a wild ass ride.. we's gonna miss ya...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nz_aU2AhLs
as for Seraphimus.. there is no way in hell this is gonna end well for anybody...
Well, i said, i'm so happy utaan its back! Now i can cheer up every morning before goong to work reading dash amazing adventures. Bard dies = god dammit I wasn't prepared for that! :( baaaard i loved you, you were my favorite of the whole squad.... I really hoped you would survive..... At leas chandler died and they are retreating, but this is so sad.... :(
Rest in Peace Bard, you glorious bastard
Ain't no getting off this train we're on...
See you, space cowboy.
8169752
I don't know, holding someone down takes a lot of energy, body weight or not. Seems just as likely Bard could have pushed him over the rail, or just clonked him upside the head. The drowning just seemed pointless and unneeded. More like Bard was just trying to rack up a body count rather than do anything of value. There seemed to be a enough death going around already to spend your final moments adding to the tally. Sorry, I'm not glad he's dead or anything, but I can't bring myself to respect how he chose to spend his last moments making an already tragic situation moreso by ending yet more lives.
Just doesn't jive with me, and I know I'm going to be alone in that sentiment, but its my honest sentiment, regardless.
What a way to go!
Well that's Raptr and Starstorm dead... Shame to. The fight is over now...
Well... It was at least poetic.
I would be lying if I said this wasn't a tad dissatisfying of a death for Bard- As if it came too early, not just in the "I want to see more of this character" context, but also the result of his death as of the chapter itself.
Regardless, death has not been without meaning in the East Horse series thus far. When a character dies, shit goes down- Whether emotionally or otherwise. I imagine they will be having a long... long talk on the elevator ride down.
Also- Calling it now: Seraphimus flies into the elevator last second and there proceeds to be a small showdown. They overpower Seraphimus (Because, I mean, can she really take on the six herald members plus Dash at once?) and then restrain her. Whilst on the dark side, she slowly starts to see their side of things and eventually becomes a great asset to the team.
Or she becomes Shell: Dark side of the world edition. That could happen too.
Regardless, cheers to Bard and cheers to IC- for whatever the next chapters will bring!
Chandlers Ego was so large even a sub nuclear blast wasnt enough to reach through it to his head. Pity for him it didnt extend to the rest of hs body.
RIP Bard, Space Cowboy Valkyrie. Go down in music, and die a glorious death. Just. Dont forget to bury the last meal promised him. Desperados are just in it for the Gelt.
Using metal wires to tie up Seraphimus? Those things are workhardened, stretched and stressed so in order to stretch them any further takes tens of thousands of pounds force per square inch. Far higher stress than mere flesh and bone can withstand, as long as loops are formed and tied correctly. especially if disabling binding layout was possible in the time available. Of course, given they worked on her limbs first, Seraph has at least one wing, beak, head, and tail free? ont help if Gryphon beaks were like teeth, cos that material is harder than worked steel, and she would be able to bite through the wires.
I really wish by this point Seraph was more like Ashi. Enough restraints that she cant break free, and her mind not totally broken enough so that because being restrained she has a chance to start healing. Otherwise the only thing worth doing as an act of mercy, is to send her to her family.
And bard joined his loved ones.
After wrecking an entire squad and minister with explosives.
Farethee well Bard. See you on the flipside..
I'd be all for Seraphimus getting onto that Gondola at the last minute, getting smacked down by Dash and the others, then them basically being stuck taking her along to the Dark Side where maybe she can actually realize just what all this was about from the start and gradually become an ally. At this point we've had enough death going around, and its not like the Dark Side is going to get any easier in that regard.
I set my sail,
Fly the wind, it will take me
Back to my home, sweet home.
Lie on my back,
Clouds are making way for me.
I'm coming home, sweet home.
Do you know the thing that makes stories like this more bearable than reality before all else? To know that he actually is with Ember now.
No words. Only sad
Bard goes off to meet his wife and foal and in a way that allows everyone to win.
Now, how long before Seraphimus screws everything up?
8169892
Do not under estimate the power of The Dark Side.
8170054
The Dark Side, both as a physical place and as a metaphorical state of being equally terrify me. But they do get red lightsabers, so you know, at least the Dark Side is fashionable.
R.I.P Bard. you will be missed
8169797 Personally I saw it as Bard not having much choice. In that kind of situation I think it's harder to hold back enough to keep the enemy alive, and if he was unconscious he would have died in the explosion anyways. The explosion, in turn, was the one reason the Frostknifers retreated. He severed the chain of command and allowed the rest of the soldiers who aren't as fanatical as Chandler to obey the reason they so desperately wanted to listen to. He sacrificed himself to stop the battle. Yeah, he could've handled it better but I don't think most sentient creatures are really thinking very clearly at that point in their final minutes. He decided to go out dramatically as he wanted, rather than as just another corpse on the Stardust among his enemies. Stupid? Yes. But also effective. I'll agree about it being unsatisfactory though.
Also just occurred to me. Bard had eve less reason to kill Chandler and those guards, because there was no way for them to use the weapons on that ship, even if they captured it. Chandler didn't know the sarosian command words to activate the stones, so he would've wasted a lot of time trying to use weapons that would just be useless rocks to him. Dash and company would be long gone by the time he stopped screwing around trying to figure the stones out. Hell Wildcard could have taken Bard with him and at least try some medical attention at that point. Man this scene really bugs the shit outta me.