Thread 26: Stories 61-73

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>29
"Zecora"
'32'
~~~~~

>As I know thou waited with bated breath, here she is! Mine companion of stripes and spiritual arts!

"Nice to meet you, how do you do?"

'Oh, okay, so the rhyming this was not made up.'

"Correct you are my chitinous friend, with this you know how my sentences will end."

'And you just do that on the fly? That seems like it would be hard to do.'

>Tis not as hard when you have a wit so quick. Though she claims it actually happened when she was struck by a stick.

"If my claims be false or honest truth, never shall you know no matter how much you sleuth."

'Well I certainly hope your tick brings you joy, or it not my dear hive mate makes an excellent boytoy.'

>Mine caged kin so filthy minded! To my dreams of royal fantasy you know I am binded.

'My poor brother, so hung up on rank. Eyes blind to such a magnificent flank.'

>There is more to her than a body so silken smooth! The minds of those I assist, she is most helpful in her ability to sooth. She has worked with spirits far longer than I could ever have known, and her abilities time and time again she has shown.

'Thine words betray your lack of intent. Were you anyone else I would swear you wish to see her before you, forward bent.'

>I did not bring her here so you could talk of her nose to the floor! My kin, be so uncouth and I will show her the door!

"No need for that, I find him quite intriguing. His more blunt nature is most likely his mind fatiguing. Being alone for so long likely has made him socially unsteady, perhaps your actions will make him realize he is unready."

'You think me trapped and without hope? You should, if you are not a dope.'

"I have seen hopeless faces of every size. I have seen questioning faces of those thought wise. A hundred children were all sure they were forever lost, and a hundred times more I have seen the light as they crossed. Your kin helps lost souls, that seems to be his calling. To drive him off, you will have to try harder than words that are appalling."

'....uh....'

>...
"..."

'...Can I have a love-bump? I swear my mind wen thump..'

>Of course. Take it straight from the source.

'Tha-oooohhn... that's from her, I can tell. That's a tasty bit of love, it absorbs so well.'

"Time is short, we must be off again. To send more to the great beyond, and a happier plain."

>Yes, dear Zecora we have no time to waste. I will see you soon again, brother, and perhaps my visit will not be so widely spaced.

'Thank you...'

*....Chitter?*

'...did I just rhyme that whole time? Huh, I suppose I- SHUT UP REGGIE! No! It wasn't intentional! It just happened! SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP-...'

*...Chitter.*

'...29 come back, I need more sanity...'
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Pommel's next few hours were a blur of slaps on his back, cheerful shanties, drunken revelry, and the elatation that finally the universe had thrown him a bone -a gold encrusted one, at that! All around him the members of Evergreen's crew had hauled barrels of grog, drinking heavily as the cook served the most delicious food the ship's supplies had to offer. Pommel, for his part, leaned against the railing on the far side of the stern, looking at the sunset and sipping his watered down alcohol.

"Inch by inch, guys, I'm coming back...well, provided I'm not actually moving further AWAY from Equestria, but...yeah..." He sighed, shaking his head, "What a mess."

"What're you so sour about?" The gruff yet friendly voice of Daw heralded her own arrival at the rail, leaning over to it, "Ya only put us onto the trail of somethin' that's gonna clear your debt faster'n Rat clears the room when a poor misguided filly's daddy comes-a-callin'."

Pommel rolled his eyes, "Thank you for that visual. It's just...things weren't exactly stable when I got swallowed up by that giant stupid bug. I had this friend, and he was just a bit...you know..."

"Fuckin' crazy?" Daw supplied.

"Something like that," Pommel sighed, "He's a brilliant guy, smarter than me, but he's...got some anger issues where a few people are concered. Mostly his relatives."

"Black sheep?" Daw asked.

"Yes, he's the black traumitized vengeful caustic sheep of his family," Pommel shook his head, "I think I may have been helping him, giving the guy something to think aboutbeyond how much he seemed to hate everyone around him."

"What're ya, his psychologist?"

"I was his best friend, and now he probably thinks I'm dead...that seriously can't have lead to anything good," Pommel cringed at the thought, "Hopefully he hasn't done anything rash."

"Like?"

"Killing his...mom? I think she's his mom, I dunno how that whole relationship worked," Pommel shrugged, "I just want to come home to find my friends actually intact, according to Chit the tit-"

"Fucking what?"

"-hey, YOU think of an insulting nickname for a fifty hoof tall mountain of spite and anger with a name like 'Chitania'. Anyway, according to her, there were few ACTUAL casualties in the whole of her attack. So at least I know none of them died due to her."

"She coulda been lyin' ya know," Daw tilted her head.

"She doesn't seem like to type to spare feelings, she was pretty braggy about how easily she tore through all the Princesses."

"I still can't get my head around that," Daw grimaced, "I only ever heard of one."

"Yeah, well now there's six...wait, no, seven if you count Fluttershy."

"Princess...fuckin'...Fluttershy..." Daw blinked, "Lad if Faust ever sees me go to Canterlot and I find out you're lying, you're not gonna walk again."

"That's not even going into the spirit of King Sombra, a God of Chaos, and the-"

"Daw! Rat! Boy! My cabin! Now!" The voice of Captain Evergreen rang out over the din of the pirate's celebration. Daw and Pommel looked at each other.

"Best not to keep the cap'n waiting," Daw shrugged and climbed down to the cabin, Pommel in tow.

Rat falled in behind as they walked into the captain's cabin, finding the imposing earth pony standing at a table alongside Doc. The captain's face was hard as he looked down upon two maps. The one Pommel recovered, the other a map of the Mareabbean.

"Please, come forward," The Captain growled, "We've run into a problem."

"What kind of problem?" Pommel asked as they approached the table.

"Doc here's been tryin' to figure out just where in this ocean this city of gold is," Evergreen nodded to the shorter earth pony.

"And...well...matching landmarks on the map with our own charts has lead me to narrow the city's location down to..." Doc trailed off, merely pointing to one spot on the map, a massive spiral in the middle of the sea, bordered on all sides by drawings of ship-wrecks and sea monsters.

"The Nightmare Tempest," The Captain finished, "The singlemost turbulent monster-infested stretch of sea in the whole of the Marebbean."

Daw and Rat shared a concerned look, Pommel gritted his teeth. Of course it wasn't going to just be a matter of finding the damned place.

"So, I suppose this raises one question," Evergreen placed his hooves on the table, "Do we take the risk of sailing into the gaping maw of hell itself for a reward we can't even be sure is there?"

A heavy silence hung over the room, its occupants casting glances towards one another as the implications of what they were about to decide settled in.

"I have sailed these seas many years," Evergreen began, "Taken many scores, seen the terrors that lie beneath the waves, but even I have never braved the Tempest. It is a dark and vile place, where storms circle like vultures and the seas teem with beasts that made the eel we were hunting look like nothing more than a mere guppy. The land, where there is land, is barren and nothing more than a staging ground for beings that merely see the waters as a feeding trough. Only the desperate and mad enter its depths and only the latter have ever returned."

Evergreen turned away, walking to the window of his cabin.

"This city offers us riches the likes of which we have never seen...but we're going on an ancient map from a deceased people, for all we know of them and all I know of the Tempest, that city could be a windswept ruin amidst that vile sea. So I'm asking you all if any of you can say with true convinction that we should try to find it. A reason, a good Faust damned reason, that's all I truly need."

He did not turn back to them, he merely sighed, "Doc, I will let you go first."

Doc shook his head and looked down at the map, "I could give you many a reason, sir, I could say that I know this ship could weather any storm, that the crew would willingly give the lives if it meant being apart of the greatest score we've ever heard of, I could tell you almost anything, but it wouldn't be my true reason for wanting to go on this journey."

Doc shrugged, "I'm a bitter old bastard with a wasted education and a pressing desire to live out my days with one hoof holding a drink and the other around a mare who only cares for my coin. I'm willing to risk my skin to get that, but hopefully one of you three have loftier aspirations."

"Selfish, but honest," The captain intoned, "I expected nothing less. Rat."

"You want a reason? Allow me to put my foreleg around him," Rat began, before wrapping said foreleg around Pommel's shoulder, "This lad owes you an insane amount of money and you told him to pay you back. Well he's gone and found a way to do that and then some, we all stand to be so rich we never have to set sail again and you want us to just put our tails between our legs and forget the mother of all scores? I don't care if I have to steal a robot, I'm plundering a city o' gold!"

"You speak from the heart, and that is what I've always admired in you," The captain's tone was neutral even as he gave praise, "Daw."

Daw gave the others a look and shook her head, "I've got a damned good reason for you, he's seven hooves tall, has two horns, and looks like some evil god gave life to some Faust-forsaken marble statue. He goes by th' name o' Brahmos and no matter where this map leads, he is not going to just let us hand it back over to him. When th' boy saved your life, he humiliated him in th' process, and we both know that if there is one thing Brahmos will not stand for, it's someone seeing him in a moment of weakness. I say, we go into the Tempest and if he's fool enough to follow us, we can at least die knowing that that bull fuck will go down with us."

"You dredge up old wounds, Jacqueline," The captain muttered, a hoof absently going to his milky white eye, "...boy. You have saved my life and you are the one who brought us this map. I have heard the reasons of my inner circle and I teter on both sides of this hellish divide, so I turn to you. On the one hoof is your freedom from our debt and the possibility of riches far beyond anything you know. On the other is a journey I cannot gurantee you will survive with your mind or your body intact. Choose wisely."

Pommel looked down at the map, at the shimmering city of gold...lying in the midst of that swirling vortex of terror and doom. A place that could possibly not even exist, or even if it did, lie stripped of all its valuables and treasures to lie cold and useless in the middle of the sea, a bright and gleaming bait on a wicked hook. He ran a high risk of being dismembered, eaten, possibly get his head chopped off if Brahmos caught up with them.

But it sure as hell beat getting enslaved by whatever a fucking Camel was.

"Captain, let me tell you what I've been through in these past few months," Pommel inhaled, "Yeah, I said months, because I have only known you guys for about a week. I have seen no less than four ascensions by normal ponies into Princesses, the relocation of an entire species into a single ballroom, an invasion by robots, a giant marshmallow that picked up everything around it and capped off an already chaotic Grand Galloping Gala, I've befriended a failed revolutionary of that species I mentioned-"

Pommel took a breath.

"-I got thrown into a simulated fight with a cave troll that killed me multiple times before I cheated and just threw an explosive in his mouth, I tried to poison a massive monster with a tiny mushroom, got EATEN by said monster, made it barf me back out while fighting a parasite inside of it, crafted a raft on a deserted island, drifted out to sea, nearly got eaten by a bunch of sharks, nearly got eaten by a GIANT EEL, and then met all of you."

Pommel paused, looking at the faces of everyone at the table.

"I say all of this...mostly just to myself, because I realize...if I can't survive this, if I can't pay off this debt to you, brave these waters, and if it comes down to it, face down this pale white hunk of steak, then I deserve to be as dead as all my friends think I am. Let us go into that Tempest, and if we die, we die making sure whatever kills us doesn't last too long afterwards."

Daw and Rat grinned, Doc nodded his assent.

Evergreen turned...

And a cutlass, not as large as his the captain's own but a sight to see, buried itself into the table.

Pommel blinked, looking at the imposing blade.

"Take it," Evergreen said, "Debt or no, I won't let a man on my ship go where we're going unarmed."

Rat let out a yell of triumph, Daw patted Pommel's back.

"Plus you can use it to shave that scruff you've been growing, you look like you tried to satisfy a mare with honey on her loins," Evergreen smirked as Pommel choked out a surprised laugh, "Doc, break out my private stock of rum, I wish to make a toast."

Doc nodded with a wry smile, and soon five glasses were filled with alcohol and raised.

"To the City of Gold, may it be worth the absolute mountain of shit we're going to go through to get to it!" Evergreen threw back his head and laughed as they slammed their glasses together with a cheer.

For tomorrow their voyage into hell would begin.
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>Twilight
"Dash"
'Spike'
~~~~

>She's smart. Really, really smart. Guys, we might be dealing with an honest to Celestia mastermind here.

"We're talking about the giant monster that literally could not find the changelings despite being withing about fifty feet of them more than a dozen times, right? Just double checking."

>But Dash, look at this.

'How can we not? Also, sidenote, how are we going to get your gigantic board out of this room? I don't think the ponies who own this train are going to be all that happy when they walk in and, HEY! Entire wall is just nothing but a map and a ton of papers.'

>I can fold it!

"..."
'...'

>...Mostly. But nevermind! I want you to look at this pattern of assaults that match her profile.

"What pattern?"

>EXACTLY! There is no pattern! No line or path, she's hopping all over the continent at random. She must be flying when nobody is looking.

'Can she really fly that much?'

>Chrysalis said her stamina was obscene, and seeing as how she literally ran across Equestria and still had enough left in her to beat an airship into submission, I believe it.

"So, what? You think she's doing this to mislead us?"

>I do. Which is why we're heading to Appleoosa. It's one of the very few so far that hasn't been hit by one of these random attacks, but logically she should have been there at least once. If we can figure it out, maybe we can-

"Wait a minute."

>What?

"We're going to Appleoosa, right?"

>Right.

"Big desert area, buffalo, very dusty?"

>...Riiiight?

'Not seeing what you... huh.'

>What?

"Twi, look out the window."

>...

"...Many rainforests between Manehatten and Appleoosa?"

>...W-what the...

{Attention passengers, we uh... we've had a slight... slliiiiiight problem... sit tight and we'll-NO I DO NOT KNOW! The tracks don't even go out this far! It was decommissioned! Why would we be out in the middle of- oh shit! Take your damn hoof off the-}

>...
"..."
'...Anybody else just get a bad feeling?'

"...I smell popcorn."
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>42
"Brain"
~~~~

>Okay! I think I have it figured out! I've got you now, brain, I know why we're acting like this!

"Yeeesss?"

>It's simple, so simple I can't even believe we didn't think of it before.

"I probably did, actually-"

>It's simple, so very simple! The reason I am acting so jittery around Cadence is as simple as knowing why I act like I do around Shining Armor! IT'S SO SIMPLE!

"Okay, we are either about to have an emotional moment or-"

>I am worried about becoming obsolete!

"...What?"

>It's basic, so primal! See, Shining Armor makes me feel like one day he will no longer need me and be a far better fighter. That's why my heart hurt so much every day after the fight with Chitania, and why I had those dreams about his uh... 'power', it was simply my subconscious saying I was about to end up beneath him! Likewise, Cadence recently proved she has the tongue and willpower to make Chrysalis weak and- wow that was a weird feeling why am I punching things?

"..."

>...NEVERMIND! Point is, I'm worried she will not need me to stick up for her anymore, and stand on her own hooves and render me useless! Don't you see, I just have to train harder and then I will not be obsolete and thus they will always need me and they can hold me tightly-IN A KIND AND NEEDING WAY-and everything will be okay!

"...So, those dreams with you 'between' them?"

>Clearly, I am worried about them joining up and overpowering me both physically and mentally, which is why they are both there, and leaving me helpless.

"Seems legit."

>I know! I feel so good right now, you don't even know!

"Good enough to stop punching that door?"

>...Possibly.

"..."

>...

"..."

>...I mean no.
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>Chitania
“???”
'???'
~???~
{Conductor}
~~~~~

>You know, I would probably make a killing as a travel guide.

The train had been stopped in the middle of the nowhere forest while the conductors figured out how exactly they had managed to end up on a line that, for all intents and purposes, did not actually exist at this moment. It had been decommissioned decades ago, and neither of them knew if the tracks even continued on very far, or if they would abruptly come to a disastrous stop somewhere further up. With the brush as thick as it was all around them, there was no way to tell for sure.

So, of course, she was stuck here. Stranded.

Again.

To be frank, her opinion of the pony train system was fairly abysmal at this point. She cannot recall a single time it actually worked right. Stupid fucking ponies. She had another location she needed to check out, damn it.

She felt good about this one, though. Allegedly, several scientists had been researching finding other plains of existence. This should be a good lead, after she beat the information out of them. Then she could finally-

“Where did you get popcorn from!?”

She swore, she heard that question every time she traveled.

Before she could respond, a blue wing brazenly scooped into her bowl and grabbed a bunch of her precious snack.

“Sherioushly! They shaid tha' they didn' have any coshesshens!”

She did not know what was making her angrier. The fact this pegasus had just taken some of her popcorn, the fact said pegasus was now trying to talk to her with a full mouth, or the fact she was actually reaching for more after gulping down that load. If she were not in a crowded dining car with others, she would probably have lost her shit by now.

“No respect, I tell you. I'm the freaking captain of the wonderbolts and I get skimped on concessions? This stuff is really good too! I mean WOW, I travel a lot, and no train company has popcorn this nice. This is Pinkie level nice.”

>It's mine.

Slightly, VERY slightly regretful, the pegasus put a few bits on her table.

“Yeah, sorry, I've been starving for hours. Here's, what, ten bits? That ought to cover it. No who did you flag down for this, I am so hungry!”

>It's. Mine.

Slowly, very, very slowly, almost comically slowly, it dawned on the pegasus what she meant.

“...You brought popcorn onto a train? How... how is this not stale? It tastes really, really fresh.”

'DASH!'

Over the corner of her table, she could just barely see a fin of green skirting by the pony-neck high wood.

'Do I have to keep you on a leash? No, really, tell me now. I will keep you on a leash.'

Huh. That voice sounded familiar. Actually? That weird rainbow hair kind of niggled at the back of her mind too. Nothing she could directly recall, but something...

“Hey, come on! It's not my fault this train didn't have any food.”

'It was supposed to be an hour long trip, why would they stock up on concessions?'

“I'm still not hearing anything that's my fault... can I have a bit more-”

'WILL YOU STOP!'

Wow, okay, that is really ringing some bells.

“Fine, sheeesh! I'm going out for a fly, tell them to get the train up to full speed when they figure out where we're going.”

'Did you mean wait for you?'

“What? No! What's the fun in catching a train if it's not going at top speed? Sucks all the drama out of it.”

'Whatever.'

With a burst of rainbows, she was out the nearest window and 'stretching her wings' in the air. Groaning, a pair of claws gripped the table and pulled it's owners up, revealing the full head of a purple... lizard? Maybe? One that was wearing a fake, cheesy smile for her.

'Heh, pegasi, am I right?'

Idly, she actually had to double check what she was today... Ah, right, unicorn.

'..Can I have some-'

She, of course, did not know how hard she was glaring, or in fact what it looked like to be on the opposite side of her glare, but by the flinch on his face, he got the point.

'Alright, alright. One bad apple spoils the bunch. I bet you would have shared if she hadn't done that, you seem like the sharing type.'

Inside, she died a little.

'I'm gonna... go now.'

Thank every single god in the sky she will one day feast upon, this damn awkwardness can finally end-

~OHMIGOSH! Is that the ancient tome of the dark being!?~

...You see, gods? This is why you're going to get your heads eaten, it's shit like this that makes It happen, and nobody feels bad.

~How on earth did you get it?~

Don't look at her. Do not look at the fucking pony connected to the fucking hoof that after she just sat right down next to you like it was no big deal and now she is poking at your fucking journal and-

~I can't believe it! Did you get it off the black market? Not judging I swear not judging, I wanted to steal this thing a bunch of times too. It's hoofmade, can you believe it? No magic used to write it, and it has such an amazing history! Nobody even knows what civilization had these beliefs, bit they-~

>You are bothering me.

Now, see, she said those words, those words were what she spoke, but underneath those words, hidden in the tone as if in a secret message, was another set of words. Inside that tone was “I will fuck you with my bowl of popcorn and eat your skull while dancing within your entrails and using your blood as a slip and slide to shove everyone you have ever loved into a volcano filled with spikes I carved from your bones.”

It wads a very versatile tone, you see.

~...O-oh, uh, sorry, didn't mean to make you angry. Yeah, you're probably not in the best mood after... yeah, after that thing with Dash. Sorry about that, she does stuff without thinking sometimes. I'm sorry, I'll leave you be.~

The presence beside her shifted away, and left. The rage in her head would not ebb away, no matter how hard she tried.

At least... until she re-opened her journal, and she could laugh again.

>I was really, really fucking stupid... is this train ready to go yet?

{Attention passengers, this train will be leaving shortly, after we get these vines off the-OH SWEET MERCIFUL CELESTIA IT'S ALIVE! IT'S ALLIIIIIIIIIIIVE}

Gunshots mean no?

...Gunshots mean no.

Farther down, in the back of the train, a certain purple pony nodded to herself in resolve, and started shifting though her backpack.

She had really come off like a jerk there, she was sure. She would have to make it up to that pony... Oh! She knew! Her book on lost civilization's, maybe once she calmed down they could have a nice, long talk about it. Yeah, that would make up for her being such an inconsiderate jerk!

Yep. Nothing could go wrong with this plan at all.

Nothing.
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>Spike
"Dash"
~~~~~

>...Dash? Is something off about that mare?

"Yeah, she's kind of pissy. But, well, I mean she does have some decent reasoning. She's probably on her way somewhere, her train got stopped abruptly miles away-"

>You stole her popcorn.

"I haven't eaten since yesterday!"

>Control yourself.

"Don't tell me how to live, I'm bigger than you."

>Mature. I have Charit-HEY!

"SPEED MY DRAGON, DO YOU HAVE IT!?"

>What is up with you today? Give me back Charity!

"Up with me? Nothing's up with me. Your gun is up in the general sense of the word, but it's not up with ME."

>Come on! You know I can't fly!

"Not my problem."

>...Friggen... hate being short.

"Aww, don't be like that! Someday, you're going to be huuuuuuuge! Like, super huge. Then you can actually do stuff against, guys like Chitania...unlike..."

>...Dash, come on, what were you supposed to do?

"You know, it came to me later. Get a shield and then hit her at top speeds. Should have done that."

>Didn't she almost kill you?

"Hey, Celestia got me out of the way!"

>Same for me, but I'm not proud of it.

"...Aww... here's your gun back, buddy. I'm sorry, I guess I'm just on edge. Like, I get that Twilight has a plan or whatever, but why am I here?"

>Escape route. Gonna be blunt, Dash. Twilight's fast, she's not as fast as you.

"...Heh. Ain't that the truth! So, should I go apologize?"

>Nah, Twilight's getting her books out, let's wait to see if she's chilled out enough to talk to later.

"Sounds like a plan. Sooo...."

>...Can we-

"Fly around this forest? Yes. Yes we can."

>I was actually going to see if we could get sna-

*SHOOOOM!*
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>29
"???"
'???'
~~~~~

Alone, upon the edge of Canterlot's majesty he stood, peering out onto the great vastness of Equestria.

>Oh, woe is me! Woe to the poor soul who must toil every hour of every day! To every soul I send away, to every moment of my fallen kin I do pray! To every hour that passes for my place of work I slave away! WOE to the one who yet for all his work gets naught what he desires, what is only within his heart to grant to those most on high! I have such joys to give, yet none to receive! WOE to this poor lost soul, as lost as any of those he guides. Woe.... oh wow...

"Yeah, I know kind of sucks sometimes. But it's okay, turns out there is this AWESOME thing called ice cream! They come in this little cone and they are just the best!"

Slowly.... very slowly... he turned around.

And was greeted by a long, slender, pointed spider-leg waving at him.

"Hi!"

>....

"... You oka-"

>AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

With that, he leapt over the side.

"Wait! Don't go! I like your funny talk!... Ahhh... shoot, Applejack said not to sneak up on them too. Dang it, Arana!..."

Her head suddenly snapped up with a smile.

"I know, I'll go get some ice cream for next time, and NOT sneak up on him! That's a great idea! See, Arana, stuff is looking up!"

Happily, she skittered off.

Oblivious to the fact that 29 was about ten feet down, having fallen face first onto a lower platform.

'Ya' know, iffin' yer' tryin' ta' win over royalty, yer personality ain't exactly blowin' anyone away.'

>Shuff uh priffeff blanhh

"Just sayin'."
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NC additon
>Ice cream vendor
"Arana"
~~~~~~

>Here you go, missy.

"Thanks! Now I can totally give some to... you know, I have no idea what his name is..."

>Aww, that's cute, where is he?

"Dunno, but he should be back tomorrow."

>...Are you planning to refrigerate that?

"Nu-uh, why would I-"

~~~~five minutes later~~~~~~~~

"REALITY IS SO CRUEL!"
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Non-canon and weird idea
>Spike
"42"
'77'
[DT]
~~~
'Well, the two of us have a pretty solid game plan.'

[Yep, next encounter, we'll be wrackin' up all the action.]

"Hey now, Spike and I have lots of team tactics just from our spars! We know how the other fights, weaknesses we need to cover."

>Heh, the area I need to cover is smaller than the bikini Rarity modeled for me in.

"Point is, Spike and I do have team work."

[Oh, yeah? Let's see something.]

>"DRAGON CHANGELING GATTAI!"

Spike flips into the air and 42 leaps after him

"Form of!"

>Flamethrower!

42 grabs Spike and begins wielding him like a gun

'... that is kind of impressive.'

"Not so fast!"

>There's more!

>"DRAGON CHANGELING GATTAI TYPE 2!"

The two flip into the air once again

"Form of!"

>Gun platform!

Inexplicably, Charity is now a gatling gun harnessed to 42's back with Spike manning it

[... Damn, I feel like we need to work on our game more.]

'I concur.'

>We're trying to get Shining Armor in on this but 42 tends to pass out when I suggest the three of us gattai.

42's nose begins bleeding and she passes out

>Yeah, big weakness we need to work on.
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Non-canon preview

>Pinkie
~~~~~
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CoWplXbeUw

Now that we have the Moon Opal, does that mean Sombra can finally come back in corporeal form? Elsewhere, the Cutie Mark Crusaders get themselves lost and end up going on a safari in Giraffica. Blueblood gets an unexpected visitor. Who could it be? Stalliongrad is trying to expand, claiming land for themselves, putting Applejack in a precarious political situation. How's she going to solve this crisis? Twilight is still on Chitania's trail. Will she realize they're on the same train? Find out next time time in Thread 27: Popcorn's in the Air....And of course, more Fan service!
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NC Omake time!
>Twilight
"Spike"
'Dash'
[Chitania]
~~~~~~

>SHE'S RIGHT THERE! RIGHT THERE, ME! OH MY GOD YOU POKED HER HOOF EVEN!

"Right? I was screaming at the script the whole time."

'I stole her popcorn, even!'

[I feel like we're about to go at each other.]

>...d-does this mean...

'...that we get to be in an action scene?'

"..."

>'...YAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!'

>I AM SO HAPPY!

'Gonna kick some ass!'

[...really?]

"Wow, I just realized how weird it is that *I* have been in more action scenes than both of you."

>Right? Show-you would flip your shit.

'Well, I hope this buildup is going to end with a bang.'

[I'm involved, how can it not?]

>TILL NEXT TIME!
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NC
>Sombra
"SA"
'Pinkie'
[Luna]
~~~~~

>I GOT AN ACTION SCENE! YES!

"Congrats, man."

'Awww, I want an action scene now!'

"Partyland is coming up, you just know you're going to get one."

'Yeah, I guess.'

[Wow, there was a LOT of discussion this go round, you notice that?]

>Indeed, though I am happy consensus said there will lack a bodycount in the Cordyceps arc.

"Right? Not that we'll know that."

'And it's going to showcase all kinds of side characters too!'

[Does that mean we will get a bigger role?]

>"'..."'

[...what?]
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NC
>Pommel
"Rat"
'Daw'
Harpy

>AAAAAAAHHHH!

"Loud."

>THE HELL IS THAT THING!?

-CAW!-

"Oh that? That's just something we got for the next update. Can't have a monster infested tempest without monsters, nevermind the meteorological and biological impossibilities."

>Yeah, how DOES that even work?

"Eh, I'm sure Johnny Neckbeard at his laptop has an explanation."

-CAW!-

>Faust!

"Nah, that sub-plot got dropped."

>No, we're seriously letting this thing out!?

"Thing? Singular?"

>...

"Oh don't worry your pretty little head, they're trained! You'll be fine."

>Ah, well, that's nice. I'm gonna go get something from catering then, it's doughnut Wednesday!

"You do that."

'...I noticed you neglected to mention they're trained to sniff out and attack guards on sight.'

"It's called Method Acting, thank you."
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