The group reached a crest of silver stone in the deep shadow of the ruins. Sloping downward, a tunnel formed, at the end of which was an unnaturally smooth disc of granite. Rainbow Dash didn't notice anything remarkable about it, but immediately upon arriving, Ember Speak dashed towards the passageway and gave the polished surface several loud knocks with her hoof.
Rainbow Dash watched nervously, holding the weight of Swirls against her. The injured earth pony was shiver, still murmuring Stu's precious name.
After half a minute, there was a scraping noise, and the disc at the bottom of the passageway slid open. Four earth ponies appeared, brandishing crossbows and aiming towards the dismal gray light above. At the sight of the three, their bodies relaxed but their faces lit up with alarm.
“Ember! Praise the goddesses!”
“We heard the rumbling of a terrible fight! Where is his majesty?”
“Is that... Is that a pegasus?”
“There's a flock of broodlings just outside,” Ember said. “We must get Swirls to the physicians. She's hurt badly.”
“Where's Stu? Is he off helping Sam Rose?”
Swirls sharply inhaled, her face grimacing in sorrow.
Ember Speak fidgeted. She was about to answer when a golden figure dropped down among them. The ponies at the doorway gasped.
“Fear not...” Sam Rose exclaimed breathlessly, his brown coat sheen with sweat and his armor covered in scrapes and scorch marks. “I have taken at least four of the Matriarch's children from her. The flock has drawn back, for the moment.” His nostrils flared as he stared across the group. His eyes narrowed at the sight of Swirls' wounded body. He glanced at Rainbow Dash, then spoke to Ember Speak in a noticeably softer voice. “We are missing one?”
Ember's eyes moistened. She opened her mouth, but a distant scream lit the ears of everypony present.
The group spun about, gazing upwards. Through a fissure in the gray surface of Silvadel, a thick cluster of red scaled monsters descended. The dragons were not alone; they had something in their grasp. A splintery wooden pair of boards was stabbed into the rubble. Resting against the boards, bleeding and burnt, was a hauntingly familiar stallion.
“By the elders...” Samrose stammered. Ember had a hoof covered over her mouth. Rainbow Dash's face was twisted in horror.
The dragons swarmed around Stu, snarling and hissing at the poor pony. One dragon shook his snout and lurched forward. A tooth came loose from the red drake's maw, and another wyrm picked it up and—without wasting any time—shoved it through one of Stu's forelimbs, pinning it to the wooden boards along with the others.
Stu let loose a blood-curdling scream. His body writhed, pinned to the splintery array. As he heaved and sobbed in pain, a bright orange dragon slithered over. His jaw was noticeably larger than the other drakes, and his skull brandished a crown of jagged spines that lined the center of his cranium.
“They have a speaker,” Ember remarked.
“A what?” Rainbow Dash muttered.
“Shhh...” Ember's face was dull and forlorn. “Just listen...”
“Ponies!” The spiked drake shouted, gazing across the ruins of Silvadel with an iron frown. “Wretched vermin of her most holy nesting ground! Come out and face us! We have your brother! We have his blood and tears and teeth! Must you be so selfish that you leave him to such a cruel fate, like all the others?!”
“Here...” Rainbow Dash gently hoofed Swirls over to Ember Speak. “Take her...”
“Huh?” Ember supported the weight of Swirls' wounded body. “What are you—?”
“This will only take a sec!” Rainbow spread her wings to soar up out of the fissure in the ground.
She was blocked by a steel sword straight in her face. “You will do no such thing,” Sam Rose grunted.
“Don't you see he's dying?!” Rainbow Dash's voice cracked. “Somepony's gotta do something!”
“I will not let you expose all of us and this entrance to Sanctuary! This is exactly what they want!” Sam Rose said, grumbling. “For the good of all my subjects, don't make another move!”
“Don't you want to save him at all?”
“There is nothing left to save,” Sam Rose uttered coldly. His green eyes narrowed. “If you so much as consider compromising the rest of us, I'll toss you out there in pieces.”
Rainbow Dash stood there, biting her lip and shivering. As the drake spoke loudly towards the hidden ponies, she let Sam trot past her and gaze into the world outside.
The spiked dragon rested a claw on the top of the wooden boards to which Stu was pinned by the teeth. “You pathetic little ingrates never learn. And it is for that reason that you suffer. Leave this land! It is no longer yours! All that remains is meat and ashes!” The dragon glanced at his brethren. With a toothy grin, he stepped backwards and nodded their way. “Release her holy breath!”
Two red wyrms leaned forward. Taking deep breaths, they exhaled, unleashing waves of flame all across Stu's figure. The stallion screamed as his body was consumed from tail to mane with bright orange fire. He writhed and he shrieked and he suffered, but he was not dying. Not even close to it.
Swirls was sobbing to the point of collapse. Ember struggled to look at the horrible spectacle. She glanced tearfully over at Sam.
Sam took a deep breath. He held his hoof out.
Closing her eyes, Ember reached back to her belongings and passed the prince her crossbow.
“Everypony get to the tunnel and prepare to run...”
“Yes, your majesty.” Ember ducked down with an inconsolable Swirls. The ponies beneath the tunnel entrance prepared to seal the door at a moment's breath.
Rainbow Dash watched as Sam Rose walked up to the crest of the hole, aimed the crossbow, and yanked at its trigger. The iron bolt flew skyward, soared into the flames, and silence Stu's screaming.
The dragons all jolted in surprise. The speaker with his spines bore a confused expression. His slitted eyes scanned the nearby rubble for a sign of where the projectile had come from.
Sam Rose was dashing towards the entrance to Sanctuary. He paused at the door and hissed at Rainbow Dash.
Chilled to the bone, the prismatic pegasus followed him. Stu's burnt body may have been rendered silent, but his screams still echoed in her twitching ears. The door slid shut behind her, cutting off the scent of burning flesh, and casting the survivors into darkness.
Dragons... torturing... ponies...
...
LET DRAGON BLOOD FLOW LIKE A MIGHTY RIVER
Oh my...
Objective Completed: Travel to Sanctuary
1365760
Is it wrong that I read that in the voice of Geroge Takei?
1365823
This is the first time I can safely say that, yes, George Takei is very much inappropriate here.
Well then. There's that old trope about getting worse before it gets better, I'm wondering how much worse it will have to get before poor Dash snaps.
1365823
No. Sulu is appropriate at all times. ALL. TIMES.
Inventory Item Lost: Confidence
Deceased: Stu
Title Obtained: "The Brave"
-Minty
1365720
Friends, Silvadelians, ponies all. Lend me your ears.
Today we come to bury good Stu, a stallion of honor and of fury, who, in the face of death, did not flinch, but rather rushed forwards to save the lives of his fellows.
The story is well told, by now, of how Stu attacked a dragon armed with naught but a mouth full of arrows pulled from his quiver. And we have all seen the way he was tortured by those same monstrous beasts.
These beasts who fight us, what leave do they have? From where have they come, and for what reason do they take our lands for their own?! Is it not by the divine right of the Goddess that those who took this land, those who settled it and nursed it to fruitful bounty, be given the right to stay and to live?!
For generations upon generations, we Ponies of Silvadel have worked tirelessly to turn our noble kingdom into an oasis in the desert. To turn it into a bastion of all that is good in this world! Our elders were here long before any dragon made claim to these lands, and it is by the wisdom of our elders that we lived and died for centuries without disruption!
And yet, by the right of brute force, these dragons now claim this land to be theirs. None now living remember the time when the Kingdom of Silvadel glittered in the desert, its white stone walls reaching high into the sky, guardians from the lashing of the desert wind. None now living remember the time, when water, clean and pure, ran throughout the city without need of buckets or wells, ready for all who thirsted to drink when they were desirous of it.
For centuries, we have cowered beneath these stones, thinking them the only defense we have against those who would oppress us and drive us out. For centuries, it has been the belief of our elders, and their elders, and their elder's elders, that we are unable to combat such a force as now resides beneath our ruined citadel.
I say nay! Today was but a reiteration of their past atrocities, and for too long have they done so without retribution!! Do we not have a duty to ensure that no more of our fellows will be scorched and burnt, turned into tortured effigies, monuments to our cowardice?! Do we not have a duty to ensure that those that we love will be able to live without fear of death in the oncoming days?!
DO WE NOT, have a DUTY to ensure that OUR CHILDREN,
AND THEIR CHILDREN,
AND THEIR CHILDREN'S CHILDREN,
have a FUTURE that is BRIGHTER than ANYTHING we can imagine?!!
Then let us take up arms, Ponies of Silvadel, and let Dragon blood FLOW LIKE A MIGHTY RIVER!!
1365720
1366140
i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/353/279/e31.jpg
Hahaha I kid, I kid. That post definitely just made my day. Maybe my week. It's still Sunday, so it's kinda hard to make that call.
Okay yes, definitely evil.
Was afraid Sam was going to turn out to be a heartless stone-cold bastard, but he at least performed a mercy killing.
But damn, this is about the darkest this story has gotten.
...Well, except for the foals impaled on the Obelisk.
1365720
a riot, is an ugly thing.... and.... i think its just about time that we had one!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XazOmi4yIbU
1365922
lamebook.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/oh-my.jpeg
I have a feeling that this time Rainbow Dash won't just be flying away unchanged. This is definatly the biggest test of courage, loyalty, and mind that she has ever had to face.
Dragons and fire and torture, oh my!
1366521
jaypgreene.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/sulu-fencing.jpg?w=450
Darkest...chapter...yet...
Oh wow. Yeah, this is definitely getting darker. Its like the closer Rainbow gets to the other side of the world, the more desolate and violent everything becomes. She can't just dash in and save the day no problem anymore...Hmm, I'm liking this, but Rainbow definitely needs to kick someone's ass soon to prove herself to Sammy. Can't wait for tomorrow's installment
I'm loving this arc!
Description: Rainbow Dash flies east.
An expected chapter amount: 5
Actual amount: 172 right now.
That is damn amazing. One short description becomes a friggin' great story.
Woah.
Austraeoh just leveled up!!
+30 points into dark.
This chapter was quite horrific: ponies suffering and dying, torture, an impossibily powerful foe. All of this and RD can't do her usual 'I'm awesome, let's kick some flank!' solution... I'm really interested to see how IC is going to explore RD's character in the face of such atrocity and darkness.
Well, there goes my prediction for a rescue Stu story arc.
FUCK YOU! YOU FUCKING DRAGONS! STU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
IIIIIt's Dashie's Ultimate Marathon Evaluation Time!!!!!
Oh my God. That was...really, really dark. Umm...okay, I'm...I'm sorry, I really don't know what to say to that. That legitimately scared me. The Silvadel Arc is shaping up to be the darkest one yet. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
P.S. I...heef...huff...did it...hope...you...enjoyed...it...
P.S.S. Yeah! I beat Regidar! Whadd'ya think of that?
1678211
DRAGON BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD
1365823 Not at all.
I don't cuss a lot in real life. But the amount of fucks I've thrown out reading these chapters is a testimony to how intense and well written this is. So here:
Wow, this is fucking dark.
>“By the elders...” Samrose stammered
Isn't it "Sam Rose"?
Eh, he was just another Gary Stu anyway
3681788
Fuck you, I was going to make that joke.
This is not the life ponies should live.
3905478
Mercy. There are many ways to perform it.
This is a terrible life for these ponies. Dash! Save them!
Welcome to Sanctuary, enjoy your stay... Oh wait that's next chapter.
Also how the hell did the dragons know they were going to need a speaker for that stunt? Among a few other tiny things, I'm sensing a form of telepathy/hive mind between the dragons and the Matriarch.
1366140 i just have one question...did you get that first sentence from the shakespeare story "Ceasar"? c:
4911374 Everything about the way you asked that saddens me.
And here comes the deconstruction of Rainbows home, you can't save everyone.
Ah hell.
RIP Stu. We hardly knew 'ya.
3980048
I agree wholeheartedly.
6600396
At least he had a tasy and befitting name. May he Rest in Piece(s).
Riparooni Stu.
Best memorial speech rit dere.
I haven't kept count, but I think this is the first on-screen character death. Story took a level in darkness.
Stu is a character in AppleDashery. Wish that one got this fate instead though...
STU! NOOOO!
Darn it! Why do you play with my emotions like this, IC?! I was just starting to like these characters! :
Rest in peace, Stu.
And rest in peace, Stu x Swirls.
m, like Fluttershy, knows that sometimes all you can do is offer The Final Kindness.
R.I.P.
The price of restraint is often terrible, but the price of removing that restraint even more so.
07/27/2019
02:08 UTC
Why do I delight in this darkness? When I can't stand misery porn.