A thin corridor framed by several doors in various states of disrepair led to a shallow chamber that was lit aglow with pale slits of light in random places. Lime Tech led the two adult mares along the rocky passageway, far from the torchlit center of Sanctuary. A hideous chill hung in the air, and particles of dust and ash settled continously in the alabaster bands of illumination.
Rainbow Dash looked up and instantly squinted. The ceiling was porous, and several lengthy slices of dense earth led all the way up to the surface of the ruined world. She had to strain to make out the smoggy sky beyond, but there was no denying the fact she was seeing the air above Silvadel in all its desolate glory. Light was seeping through, and it made her heart beat with breathless vigor.
“Some of the elders come here to meditate and stuff,” Lime Tech said. “Is that you wanna do here, Miss Dash? Meditate?”
“Sure, Limey. Something like that.” Rainbow Dash stripped of her saddlebag. She kept her eyes locked on the slits in the ceiling the whole time as she possitioned the satchel beneath her, stood on it like a stool, and tilted her forward body up so that the pendant got the greatest concentration of the dim glow. “Come on... Come on...”
“Rainbow?” Ember Speak narrowed her eyes from the far side of the chamber. “What are you doing?”
“Shhh! I gotta hear!”
“Hear what?”
“If you just keep a clamp on your muzzle, we all might find out!” Rainbow said with a hissing breath. She lifted the heavy end of her pendant and tilted it towards the ceiling. “Please say there's enough moonlight... please say there's enough moonlight...”
Limey wandered over to Ember Speak, adjusting his goggles and gazing oddly at Rainbow. “Does she keep all her feathers on the outside?” he remarked while smirking and tapping his own skull.
“Quiet, Limey,” Ember said. “Give her time to do what she needs to do...”
The two gazed at the colorful stranger in their midst.
Rainbow Dash stretched on the very tips of her hooves. At any second, she would have resorted to flapping her wings. The ruby material of her pendant glinted in the gray haze. She slapped it and even shook the holy element.
“Come on! She's an alicorn older than time! There's nothing wrong with her signal! There's gotta be something wrong with you!” She gnashed her teeth. “Nnnngh! Don't make me find some diamond dogs around here to pawn you—”
The ruby gem glowed suddenly like a becon. A red aura surrounded the pegasus, forcing Ember Speak and Lime Tech to gasp. When their breaths settled down, a ghostly voice majestically took up the space.
“Rainbow Dash? Is it thou which we heareth?”
Rainbow Dash gasped. Her faced wrenched in a smile ash panted europhorically. “Oh, Princess!” She clenched her eyes shut to make room for her curved lips as she tilted her face up into the pale glow. “You won't believe how frickin' happy I am to have gotten through!”
The voice from the other end was distorted, desperately forcing its way through magical interference from the slim availability of light.
“We have been immeasureably worried for thy well-being. Wouldst thou have an explanation for thy silent air over the last two evenings?”
“Last t-two?!” Rainbow Dash stammered. She gazed off towards the side, breathless. “Omigosh... Have I really lost track of time that badly...?”
“Do not fear us; we are in no mood to rebuke thee. We are simply glad that thou liveth still.”
Lime Tech was starting to tremble. Ember Speak placed an assuring hoof on him. The colt leaned in and clung to Ember while the older mare gaped in awe, her ears trained to the event.
“Hast thou faired well in thy travels?”
“I guess you could say that!” Rainbow Dash shouted towards the light. “I've been to a swell little village called Ridgeside! I've seen the country of Emeraldine! I ran into Darkstine and butted heads with a bunch of stuffy unicorns who spoke like they had marbles in their mouths and—”
“Alas, Rainbow Dash! Hast thou come under a powerful enchantment?”
Rainbow Dash blinked. “Huh? What do you mean?”
“We sense a divine spirit, an equine soul of great intellect and power. Not since arcane times hath I or my sister come across such raw energy!”
Rainbow Dash's eyes searched the broken ceiling of the cavern. At least, she exclaimed, “Oh! Oh, you must been Queen Whitemane!” She chuckled. “Yeah! Real cool mare! A little touchy-feely in the mental department, but she totally helped give a boost to this pendant. What, does it smell like alicorn or something?”
“That is quite astonishing. It was not our knowledge that distant relatives of our kind existed outside of Equestria, or beyond the Crystal Kingdom for that matter.”
“Look, your highness, I'm in a really awkward place right now!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, her voice echoing throughout the dimly lit pocket of rocket. “I don't know how much time I have left to chat with you! So I gotta ask you something!”
“Verily.”
“Have you or Celestia ever heard of a place called Silvadel?”
“Silvadel...”
Rainbow Dash waited. On the sidelines, Ember Speak and Lime Tech waited breathlessly.
“Ah. Silvadel...” Luna's voice eventually murmured. “The name is most certainly familiar. It was the title of a civilization built by mortal equines who respected family and the equal appropriation of resources. We remember learning of its beauty and grandeur, but that was several eons ago. We fear that our sister and we hath not visited such a landscape since the creation of the world.”
To which, Rainbow Dash replied, “Don't you mean the discovery of it?”
Luna's voice was gravely silent for a few moments. “What hast though learned in thy journeys, Rainbow Dash?”
Rainbow winced. “Look, Princess, first thing's first! Silvadel is in ruins! About a hundred years ago or so, a bunch of dragons were born here and it turned the entire place to rubble!”
“A draconian birthing? Was there a Matriarch present?”
“Yes! Yes! Have you heard of such a thing happening?”
“We art vaguely familiar with the nature of dragon procreation. Such ancient creatures typically gravitate towards large deserts and volcanic regions in order to give birth to their offspring. However, this is the first time we hath heard of such an event taking place within range of an equine civilization. Are there any survivors?”
“Oh! Totally! I've landed with a bunch of them!” Rainbow Dash gulped and continued, “It's not a pretty site, Princess! What's left of Silvadelian society is holed up in a bunch of caves underground! Their prince goes out on missions to slay the dragons. And these aren't friendly flying lizards either! They destroy armies, capture ponies, and burn innocent victims alive! They want to wipe out all ponies from this land, and the Silvadelians are doing everything they can to wind their home back!”
“We must declare that such is a difficult task beyond mortal means. If a Matriarch hast given birth, then there are undoubtedly more dragons in the land of Silvadel then there has been in all of Equestria over the past five centuries. It amazeth us that thou art still alive, Rainbow Dash. Surely you and the other ponies do not plan to persist in such an abysmal place for long?”
“Your Highness, I...” Rainbow Dash bit her lip, squirmed, and ultimately spoke, “I haven't got much time. So lemme ask you something!”
“Proceed.”
“Dragons are old, right? But you and Celestia are—like—way older. Isn't that true?”
“Affirmative.”
“So, these Matriarchs—they sound like huge friggin' deals! I can't help but guess that they have been around for about as long as you and your sister!”
“We can only imagine five such draconian beings who could possibly be responsible for the destruction of Silvadel,” Luna said. “And, yes, my sister and we would surely be familiar with them.”
“Then I think I have an idea!” Rainbow Dash tilted about and gazed at Ember and Limey. “When's the Council going to be up?”
“Uhm...” Ember remarked, trembling. “Th-they're usually up pretty early in the morning.”
“How early?”
“I know one or two elders who will be waking in less than an hour. Why?”
Rainbow Dash smiled, her teeth glinting in the smallest hint of light. She turned back towards the holes above. “Princess! Hear me out! We could really, really use your help with something...”
Lifting Shadows Off A Dream - Dream Theater
Time to call in the cavalry, RD-style.
I hope Luna can do something to help the Silvadelians. They have been oppressed for so long by a force which they cannot hope to resist. Rainbow's call for support could do anything from bring a couple of guardsponies to 'assess the situation' to summon a battalion of the finest soldiers in the Princesses' army. Whatever it is, I hope it finally brings peace to Silvadel.
For those of you who participate in our Skype conspiracy theory sessions, you know the abysmal condition in which I am while writing this comment, so please excuse any glaring errors.
love it! cant wait for more.
Yeahso awesome
Here we go!
I knew it was the open sky ^^ Now then, what will this spawn?
Hmmm, the fact that Luna possibly knows this Matriach hints that there might be a more peaceful resolution to this. On one hand, if Dash were to gain knowledge of the Matriach, she might be able to go the diplomacy route and help resolve things. However this has a lot of things going against it: Whatever drove the Matriach to brood there in the first place, the massive blood war between the Silvadelians and the dragons, the fact that the Silvadelians are going to pour dragon-killing acid on the Matriach...
Yeah, just a few things.
On the other hand, Luna's experience might give Dash and the Silvadelians some kind of advantage in fighting/removing the Matriach and her brood. It could go either way, although I have a strong feeling about where this is heading, I just need to see the council's response to clinch it.
" Her faced wrenched in a smile ash panted europhorically."
Probably should be 'and' there, but the sentence would still sound odd. Perhaps re-phrase it a bit?
"They want to wipe out all ponies from this land, and the Silvadelians are doing everything they can to wind their home back!”
wind=>win
It begs the question as to what RD could possibly intend as help, seeing as it's taken her more than a month to get to where she is now.
1399298
Perhaps "as she" instead of "ash"?
1399622
Hah! Your much smarter than I am: I didn't even think of that
1399772
Maybe I am, but probably it's just because I make errors like that all the time.
I'll be typing a word in, and start thinking about how to spell the next word, or a word a few words beyond that, and accidentally put letters from it into the current word. Sometimes I'll end up thinking I've typed both words in, when in fact I've only got some strange mixture of the two written down.
1399808
Ugh, I know the feeling. Once I know what I'm going to say in a sentence, I can write it out without having to think over each word. Because of this, I tend to go on a tangent with my thoughts, and all too often things that I was thinking about make their way into what I'm writing. Just imagine trying to explain off the prescence of 'spaghetti' in your essay
Wait, is Dash doing what I think she's doing?
This could be make things very interesting.
Never underestimate the power of a polychromatic pegasus and her lunar princess companion.
1399210
If Luna helps out, it's by sharing her knowledge. Keep in mind that at this point, Dash is really, really far away.
I don't see this ending with a peaceful resolution, so I guess Luna's going to give them some information pertaining to the destruction of the Matriarch
Title Gained: Prophet of The Moon
Well, I will certainly eat my words earlier about Rainbow Dash not being able to contact Luna...Definitely glad she got to.
Ooooh...somepony's not telling somepony else something...
1400109>>1399210
I agree. If Luna's going to offer any help, it'll be from knowledge/advice, not direct intervention.
Ok -- this prompted a chat on "What would be the difference in reaction if Celestia were Dash's guide and Luna were minding the rift instead?" I think Celestia would have had a much larger reaction to the news and would have insisted on more information etc rather than letting Rainbow go into her "Save Silvadel" spiel.
Time to call in the big guns!
1400185
I'm not sure, Luna seemed to immediately take the "turn tail and run" (aka the smart) stance on the whole thing, somehow I don't think she'd be totally onboard with violence begetting more violence. Then again, chaos rift, Midnight Armory, etc, not exactly peaceful times across the land.
I am way more interested in this than anything else, despite recognizing the need to take care of the more, er, pressing issues. Though, I do not think Dash has much moonlight left to go down that rabbit hole this month.
1399977
Damned Cliffhangers. Let's see what happens next chapter.
Contact has finally been made with the Princess yet the only help she can offer would be knowledge. But knowledge can be a powerful thing it seems. I wonder if we will get the Rainbow tries diplomacy with the dragons and while its nearly working Sam Rose bombs em or something of that type.
If I may reiterate, because I'm sure I've said this before: Damn you cliffhangers! I think I know what RD's up to, but I wanna know!
Requesting permission for Magical Lunar Strike.
Aha! Now Luna can use her moon powers to unleash a crazy awesome spirit attack on the Dragon Nation! Or she could just grant the Silvadelians the knowledge and wisdom to defeat them - that's cool too. Really though, I'm not sure what RD thinks Luna can do, seeing as it took her a long-ass time to get that far, and she's the fastest flier in Equestria. Maybe grant her another power boost like Whitemane? One that involves blowing ice or something? Eh, I dunno. And Luna has obviously been keeping stuff from RD, but didn't RD already find out about most of it from Whitemane anyway (the whole mechanical world thing)? Or is there more to it? Anywho, more answers and more questions, as per usual. Can't wait to find out what happens next
CAN'T RESIST
IIIIIt's Dashie's Seventh Marathon Evaluation Time!
So I think that I might have an idea as to what's going on here. The gist that I picked up is that Luna says that there are only a few Matriarch dragons who exist, all of whom are known her and Celestia. Depending on how much they know of the Matriarchs, Luna may be able to negotiate with them over the Silvadel war. They may still come to a peaceful resolution yet...Although I'm not sure why Dash was interested as to when the council would be waking up. I suppose we'll know in the next chapter, though. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
P.S. It just occurred to me that I'm going to possess incredibly massive fingers from all of this typing after Austraeoh is done. Hmm...strange thoughts. Well, six left. Hup hup!
Well, this told me that at least a month and a half as gone by, since RD seems to sorta get all the full moon days for communication, plus some indeterminate time before the first moon chat.
>Oh, you must been Queen Whitemane!
Do you been "mean"?
Time for the Treaty of Paris.
Ooh, let's see what Luna wants to do about the dragons. Maybe a treaty? Or maybe Luna will do... Something else?
Praise the Moon! If only I could be as grossly luminous.
A little Equestrian alicorn help of almost any variety would be deeply useful right about now.
mean
________________
win
_____________
Interesting chapter.
1399298 I realize that I'm nearly 4 years late, but I believe that imploding colon was aiming for "and she" but accidentally combined the two words into ash. Also, I am sooooooooo late to this party, I had this story in my read later list for nearly 4 years, added it before it was finished, much less had any sequels. I have been faithfully reading the comments, including a certain someones evaluations! Which is part of why its taken me nearly a month to get this far. I have loved every minute of this journey, and hope to see the rest of you in the comments section once I finally catch up completely. The speculations, evaluations, and theories have been nearly as entertaining as this story itself! It's made me feel like a time traveler, seeing all the thoughts and ideas along the way.
To whomever suggested Moonlight Sonata last chapter: can confirm, is pleasant.
And she; euphorically.
Nice to finally hear from Luna again!
7433798
You call 4 years "late to this party?" Pssh, get on my level.
10967311
Cool, another person doing a run recently. Glad not to be the only one lol
Uh oh, looks like Whitemane may have spilled the beans on something her more powerful cosmic cousins don't want widely known.