It was a queer thing when Rainbow Dash wasn't in the mood for flying.
This was one of those times, a moment that drifted past her icily, like the blacker-than-black windows and doors to ancient stone buildings. Peering in, she could scarcely make out the bodies of Dihmer equines lounging within. Every pony was propped up, sitting, or standing—and she always saw them with their eyes open. Vacant gazes stared off into the granite malaise with no hint of emotion or whimsy. The Dihmers looked in many ways more sterile and lifeless than the stone around them.
Rainbow Dash wondered if they were even capable of sleep... or if perhaps they had somehow trained themselves to avoid unconsciousness—as if they'd somehow suffer more feelings under the threat of dreaming than they would when awake and in full control of their faculties.
There was no past and no future for the Dihmers. It was only now... and even that they couldn't afford to enjoy... to live.
Someway, somehow, the goblins had managed to bleed money from such a civilization. The bitter irony was not lost to Rainbow Dash, and she found herself trotting wide circles to avoid the various imp establishments.
There was a break between metalworking shifts. As a result, the smokestacks and steam vents fitted to the Smelt-Blooders' foundry had momentarily stopped billowing soot and sediment into the sky. The faint veil of twilight peeked through. For the entirety of her journey through the Dark Side, the sunless sky had been an intolerably bleak sight to Rainbow Dash. Now—as the ethereal curtain to this dismal domain—it shone as warm and inviting as a spring sky in Equestria. Gazing up, Rainbow—and Fluttershy—could see swirling bands of cosmic dust dancing with an intergalactic sparkle.
Rainbow wondered if there were other places—other pieces of huge and important things—where wayward automatons of sapient life clung to existence... even if they gave themselves nothing to cling to at all. Back on the Light Side, Rainbow imagined that Scootaloo was assisting Spike in his workshop while Luna paid her meditative older sister a visit. Zecora was cooking up potions for the sick; Mayor Mare was preparing a new speech for that year's Winter-Wrap up. Cheerilee and her schoolfoals were taking care of the local animals in Fluttershy's stead and the Wonderbolts were off being awesome, performing tricks to enchant and dazzle the innocent denizens of Equestria.
That world—with all of its colors and thoughts and souls—was no less real than the nihilistic domain that Rainbow was currently navigating. It was no less special than Luxmare or Val Roa or Rohbredden or Durandana or Kihutaja or Xona or the recovering populace of Silvadel. And yet—with its lifeless citizens lost in thousand-mile gazes, being preyed on by nefarious armies and leeched by selfish goblins—Blobstain was no less important... no less unique... no less special. It was more than a practical truth that Rainbow Dash had to tell herself. She had to see it... find it... if only for the briefest of moments.
It would make everything worth it... everything beyond the edge of the Light.
And yet, everywhere she looked, she saw decay. Withering. Wilting. Pretending to live... or perhaps something else in between... something that was wordless—for the Dihmers had eliminated all the words to describe it. That way, they didn't have to do anything. They didn't have to care.
Rainbow Dash cared. Rainbow Dash cared a lot. That's what brought her across the world and over the side of nothingness. Chaperoned by the Herald or illuminated by her half-resurrected friends, it made no difference. None of them had made the decision for Rainbow Dash to spread her wings in the first place. Nopony but herself had foaled the impetus to challenge the sunrise.
Now—in a world with no mornings—she still felt the insatiable need to move forward. Only this time, it would seem, going forward would require flying in reverse for a spell.
She shuffled past an open courtyard. The air smelled of iron and sour moisture. Rainbow and her friend looked towards the side. Fluttershy instantly winced.
Dihmers sat in rows, saturated in their own blood and in the blood of those who squatted there before them. Barbs, thorns, and serrated crowns of metal rested on their foreheads. They were the authors of the scars that lined the shaved ponies' scalps... among other things. Arranged in crimson lines, the denizens of the ancient, crumbling town repeated the same mantra over and over again, releasing all semblance of pain into the blackness between the stars above.
Fluttershy couldn't help but sniffle. Her ghostly eyes moistened, and she raised a hoof to dry them. Rainbow was helpless to pacify her, so she merely stood closer—in a gesture that loosely resembled a nuzzle... or a hug.
Rainbow's expression was almost as neutral as the ascetic figures before her. She gazed from face to face—observing every muzzle and neck and body. There was a oneness—a uniformity to the Dihmers in their self-punishment. Perhaps, in a way, that reduced themselves to a number that was easy to erase in their minds.
Rainbow Dash remembered the first day she flew east. The only number she cared about was five... and it had already been erased from her life. From that point on—as much as she played it off with casual grace and a devil-may-care grin—she only cared about zero.
A full circle. Broken. Weeping silently to be restored.
She dwelt on this, and it was almost enough to purge the problem that was plaguing her, but not quite. She trotted listlessly down the streets and past more and more vacant-faced Dihmers. At some point, she passed by a junkyard of sorts. There, the air filled with chattering, bickering voices. Rainbow and Fluttershy had stumbled upon a trade center of sorts for the goblins. The imps gathered in the thickest droves Rainbow had seen yet. Their pendants flickered with countless shades of gray—the crimson etchings forming a mosaic of random images and emblems that danced amidst the haggling crowd. In sharp contrast to the Dihmers, the creatures here were passionate, amiable, irascible, curious, caustic and confrontational. They fought and squabbled for the most inane pieces of junk, attributing numbers to the detritus of untold necrotic civilizations.
Rainbow shuffled closer towards the group—even as her vision rippled with the onset of multiple dizzy spells. She teetered a bit in her trot, and Fluttershy noticed it—among other things.
“Rainbow...?” Fluttershy fidgeted nervously. “Rai—... ...—sh?” She blinked in and out of existence like a yellow-and-pink flame. “Caref—... … —oo close t—!” Her soft, pleading voice dissipated.
Rainbow scuffled to a stop, as close as she could manage. She clenched her eyes before the red-and-yellow could peek out from beneath her lids. The mare held her breath in, struggling against her unsavory half, precariously, like performing an acrobatic trick on the edge of a cliff.
Then—out from the mess of voices and imp spit—
“... … …you rang, Sparky?”
Rainbow Dash sucked her breath in... but she did not move. She simply stood there—crooked and weak—with jaws clenched tight.
“The least you could do is ask for me. By name.”
In the midst of the goblins, tables stretched in a line, covered with stacks of strips that the Accountant-Bloods counted with dutiful vigor. Every once in a while, a spiraling serpent or skittering insect of chaotic translucence would manifest from the Marrow, scraping at the night sky, terrified at its sudden gift of brief, blissful sentience. Out from this maddening mosaic, the most chaotic spectre of all materialized, sporting a fanged grin as he swam his way towards his anchor.
“You can even adopt a new moniker if the old one still sickens you so much,” Discord said, billowing through the bodies of imps and goblins and junkyard specimens. He twirled around with ballerina grace and cooed, “'Goat Face.' 'Jeremy.' 'Hillary.' 'Boob.'” A twirl of his dragon's tail, and he winked. “”Lancie!' That's a good one. Eh... nobody cares...”
Rainbow breathed through her teeth, forcing her eyes tighter shut.
“What's all this, anyways?” Discord said through a bored yawn. “Your way of embracing the Dark Side literally?” He pretended the play bongos on the head of multiple goblins. “You already spent half-a-continent pretending to have a broken wing, Sparky. I doubt you can pull the same prank with your eyes. Besides...” He glanced over, eyebrow arched. “...you're going to need them all the more now... with what you're having to contend with.”
“... … ...” Rainbow's throat swallowed.
“Oh, I know about it, alright. Being stuck inside you is like being stuck in stone, Sparky. I get terribly... insatiably bored.” Discord rolled his red-on-yellow eyes. “I really have no choice but to subject myself to your insufferable exposition gluttony.” Nostrils flaring, he morphed his wrists into button-eyed goblin puppets and had them do battle in the twilight. “So you've been invited to join the bat-party, eh? Lucky Sparky. Better pack yourself a cape and cowl, cuz them's some brooding motherfuc—”
“They could kill me dead,” Rainbow Dash hissed, as if it poisoned her to expel words towards him. “Lexxic. The matriarchs. The whole friggin' gang. It's very likely an ambush.”
“So she does talk!” Discord's fang flickered in the cosmic light. “Well, if I didn't pick a lovely time to crash the convention! I wonder... does she sing too?” He exchanged curious glances with the goblin-puppets. “Or am I going to have to wait until Season Five for the solo?”
“But sensing their one connection to Luna on me... and then executing me?” Rainbow gnashed her teeth, eyelids tightening. “It doesn't make sense.”
“Hahahaha!” Discord tossed the puppets into nothingness with one ecstatic shrug. “I know! And that's what makes this side of the cosmic toenail so darn exciting! Then again...” He snaked over towards her and wrapped nebulously about her petite frame. “...going on a suicide mission in the name of 'harmony' isn't particularly sensible either. So... I suppose...” He waggled his eyebrows. “...one pony group is going to have to outnonsense the other. Tell me... who here is more equipped with chaos? You...? Or the ones obsessed with raining down ever vengeful nighttttttttt on their heretical foes?”
Rainbow shuddered. “... … ...there's just no way to tell.”
“Isn't there?” Discord stood up straight, folding his forelimbs. “If you tell this to anypony, Sparky, I'm going to deny it. But...” His eyes squinted and his head spun around three times to scan for “listeners.” When he was finished, he swiveled his cranium to a stop, smirking. “...deep down, I have a soft spot for Celestia and Luna.”
Rainbow's muzzle scrunched.
“How could I, you ask?” Discord winked. “Because far beneath all of their super serious surface smegma, they're champions of chaos—just like me! After all... what sense was there ever in planting the cute little death ziggurat in the middle of this world? Just to have a place to store harmony? Piddlesticks, I say! The piddlestickiest of piddlesticks!” He snaked around Rainbow again and breathed ghostily into her face. “Your precious alicorn progenitors planted far more seeds of chaos than I ever did.” He gestured. “The Trinary War? The exodus and death of Endrax? The sad-sack broken heart of Verlax? I had nothing to do with all of that nonsense! But the alicorns did... straight from the beginning.”
“... … ...”
Discord's face hung between a scowl and a grin, or perhaps it was both. “You can't imagine how unbelievably jealous I've been of such an accomplishment.” One second. Five. Ten—“But now! Everything's just peachy!”—He sprung up and spread his arms out with a joyous expression. “Because we're right here in the thick of it! And now you have the means to do something for this crazy shindig that's been in the cards for far... far too long, Sparky!”
Rainbow seethed. Nevertheless: “And what's that?”
“Uncork the bottle,” Discord exhaled. “Let it alllllll implode.”
She started to tremble, ears flicking as if letting off steam.
“Stir up the bee's hive. Turn the bastards on each other,” Discord hissed. “The bugs, the bats, and the blowhard shards. The imps and the dihmers and the spiders too—rattle the glass jar and then smash it against the ground.” His red pupils slowly enlarged until they took up the entirety of his sockets. “See who survives the longest when the rain sweeps over. Let chaos play out...”
Rainbow shook and shuddered—
“...and when the smoke has settled, you can pick up your precious prism. Oh, and trust me, I'm all for it. I really am. Because there'll be no sense in that either.” Discord grinned a razor-sharp grin, his hairy jowls flaring. “...life... and the quickening of that life... is so very wonderfully nonsensical, once you think about it...”
“You're... wrong...” Rainbow grunted.
“Now now now Sparky, look around you!” Discord gestured. “This whole crap bucket—”
“—deserves to live!” She flashed her eyes open, red-and-yellow as entrails. Spittle danced between fangs. “Even as ugly as it is! Because I've been ugly too!”
“Right now...?” Discord purred, eyelashes fluttering. “I'd say you're positively radiant—”
“Hrsssssssssssssssssssh—!” Rainbow hissed, seethed, rolled her eyes back—
FLASH!
Discord was replaced by a gasping Fluttershy.
Rainbow Dash stumbled backwards, panting for breath. Gone were the fangs and the discolored eyes. Meanwhile, two warm streams of blood ran down her scarred brow. She looked forward with tiny, timid pupils.
The entire crowd of goblins had frozen in place, staring and blinking curiously at the crazed spectral pegasus who had been rambling to herself. Slowly—with awkward grace—they returned to their bustling exchange.
“Mmmmm...” Nervous, Fluttershy floated closer to her anchor. “...Rainbow Dash? Can you hear me?”
“... … ...” Rainbow raised a hoof to her head. She felt the blood... watched as it stained her fetlock—like so many Dihmer she had witnessed before.
She only wished he could be purged just as easily.
“Rainbow...” Fluttershy calmed, her ears nevertheless folding back with mild disappointment. She kept her voice soft: “What... did he say...?”
Rainbow inhaled deeply. “Everything I predicted he would.” She pressed her blood-stained hoof to her pendant. The lightning bolt and the juices matched. That was poetic enough for her. “Everything I'm dedicated to kicking in the friggin' teeth.” She frowned. “Long ago, a circle was broken... and it was wrong. I'm not gonna let it stay that way forever.” She shook her head before glaring at Fluttershy. “I'm not going to give up on this side of the world—no matter how miserable or misguided they may be!”
Fluttershy nodded, understanding. “And if the Bloodwings kill you for your courage?”
“They won't. They can't.” Rainbow marched firmly away from the junkyard. “I'm too damned awesome to let that happen to the world.” Her wings spread, and at last she was flying again. “Come on. Let's go.”
Pendant.
Well said, there is that hope for something better that this dark side so desperately needs. Now Make it happen
8921950
Blood-stained fetlock. Poetry.
No mention of Q, the character John De Lancie bases Discord's mannerisms off of. IC I am disappoint.
Was it just me, or was that an exceptionally good chapter? Everything, from Rainbow's introspection and her confrontation with Discord, to the prose itself, was just really solid and on-point.
Nothing really to add, except that I look forward to bat-related shenanigans.
This was great, going over all the reasons that while this side is kind of terrible it deserves to live and thrive and try to be better than what it is now.
Time to be awesome.
...How do you have over 1900 chapters of this storyline under your belt?
Impressive, or worrying
8922027
It was! I think that’s the best chapter we’ve had in the last twenty, maybe fifty. It was as good as the chapters from Utaan or Urohringr. Gives me hope for the Bloodwing arc.
More than that, Dash. Not just because we're all equally capable of being ugly, but because we're all equally capable of being awesome. Even those who are so lost in the muck, even muck of their own making, that they can't see even a sliver of light are deserving of the chance to keep trying. Or being shown how to try by someone who's already been through the sphincter of chaos and come out the other side having made mistakes, and learned from them.
You did it for Seraphimus, or at least set that train to steaming along, whatever derailing cliffs might still await ahead for that particular track. Never forget that if she could start down that path after how far she fell, then it can be done for anyone.
Just, you know, some people might take more work than others.
Seraphimus x Logan Ship Confirmation Chapter Counter: 73
Backtracking flight tends to coincide with suffering (i.e. Lerris or Silvadel). Someon named will not survive.
In another universe, RD would've already had a duet with Fluttershy picking Tank from the pet menagerie.
I was hoping for Dash to say something along the lines of: "So what. Killing me would only delay my awesomeness. Dying a fifth (fourth?) time won't stop me any more than the previous times.
Loved this chapter, especially the first half. When Rainbow starts thinking about the others back in Ponyville, the places she has traversed and why she started this journey, to what purpose. It reminds me of myself. Sometimes I tend to sit and look with melancholy the past, the memories of childhood, the things I’ve done and what will I do in the future. It’s a nice feeling.
Yes!
Confident, awesome, Rainbow Dash may be back!
8922079
Nearly daily without fault ta bout!
Impressive, eh?
Sometimes, it's good to have something you hate so close by, it can give you the drive you need to keep going.
She's not humouring the prick by listening to him, she's letting her hate for him, and everything he stands for, fuel her.
-Through the path long forgotten, into the darkness long begotten. Ofolrodi.
Take flight!
This story has gone 1 chapters since the last use of the word 'fart'.
That was a nice little motivation boost.
Or with a list of names like that, you can just join the Q,ueue.
eww
So she's found a use for him after all, even if it wasn't quite what we expected. Sweet.
8922079
It's Impressively Worrying!
What if motivating Dash is Discord's plan all along? He wants chaos, and Dash is about to (?) go to the Bloodwings and possibly upset the balance of the war.
8922418
If that's the case then Dash's playing into his hand either way and she should do what she wants regardless. No use worrying about making a choice when both options are equally bad.
This chapter was great on so many levels. For a moment I thought we were going to have another silent chapter, but then that was subverted by Discord of all beings. I do wonder though.... Was Dash considering asking Discord for help? I think Dash knows that if the Element is gone, she can and will destroy Lexxic and his followers. Purposefully summoning Discord like that begs the question of why. Or I could be reading way too much into it.
Imagery in the first half is also amazing. And it really solidifies how much Dash has grown but not changed. She still wants harmony. She still wants to help everyone she can. But she's no longer the reckless pegasus that dove in with a bomb to save a dying civilization from a brood of bloodthirsty dragons.
It's pretty telling of how much dash has been through that she isn't even fazed by the dihmer's self-mutilation.
8922141
Spite is a hell of a motivator.
"cranks up speaker volume and play's Danger Zone by Kenny Loggins"
A chapter acknowledging the fact that we've been having a dry spell in action for a while.
Well I just love it when that happens.
Next chapter can we just pack up and go?
8909277
Welcome on board the train! There ain't no stopping anytime soon!
Will Rainbow Dash save the Bloodwings? Or will the practicality of murdering and destroying them win out? Find out next time on *dies*
8922027
Not just you, it was a great chapter.
8922027 I was about to say something similar. The first half of this chapter was balm to the entire story.
I still quibble greatly with Discord's speech. Not only is that kind of narrative self-irony, fourth wall breaking and self-citation disruptive to immersion and the structure of the story itself, it is downright out of character. Discord simply does not talk like that. His insanity is very strictly confined to the narrated world.
Purge indeed, all the same. Nothing is perfect, yet with only my own judgement to offer, I welcome this turn of tendency with relief and delight.
Period.
When IC gives us his full attention, it really shows. Oh man, I really love this stuff.
Gawdammit, skirts.
You could make me chuckle in the sixth circle of hell.
This was an exquisite chapter.
I mean, it's been tried. Like two, three, maybe four times.
It didn't take.
Well, it took 7 months, but it seems I've caught up to the rest of you all. I'm still shocked I got a name drop before I even caught up. (I bet y'all didn't know Nat'rdo was a commenter's name.) I suppose I should give a mention to Argodaemon whose animation led me here.
Also... I ain't usually one to bring up the past but... This is from Yaerfaerda chapter 24.
Did you think you could just sweep this under the rug, IC? SS&E? Whoever you are? Know this:
I'm waiting...
PATIENTLY
If I don't see a cyborg penguin (or something close to it) by the end of this series then I'll throw a boot or something at you.
Now that that's all said and done...
I...
Can't...
BINGE ANYMORE!!!
(Sits in a corner and cries)
The dark side needs a good dose of Awesome.
8922209
Probably why this chapter is so good. Oh well on to the.... Next... One..?
It's taken about 3 year to catch up to this incredible story. I can't believe I'm here right as the group makes it's next big step.
It's been almost comforting to know how much was left, that Dash was still moving. Now? Jeez, I don't know what's going to happen next. And my impatient self isn't so happy to wait now. But I will, I (we) made it this far. Curvside or die trying, right?
In any case, I'm glad to finally board the Noble Jury.
YES! After 5-6 months, I've finally caught up.
Two and a half weeks ago, I got curious about an oddly named story in the feature box, and read its description. Realizing it was a sequel, I looked to the one before it... and the one before that... and so on. I ended up at Chapter One of Austraeoh, and have been reading since. Now, two and a half weeks later, I'm caught up over 8 full books and one incomplete one that i'm commenting on now, and it's been one hell of a read. I'm glad to be a part of this crazy group, and remember: Ain't no gettin' off this train we're on!
8945665
How on earth did you Cath up in 2.5 weeks?
8946094
A combination of an absurdly high reading speed and an interest in this story bordering on obsession, which combined such that essentially every moment of free time for the past 2.5 weeks, I was reading Austraeoh.
8946347
Not sure if impressed or worried for your mental fortitude.
Go kick ass Rainbow, I mean, talk, yeah... that's totally the plan.
(I do want to see if you what happens if you sonic rainboom in a world without sun though)
8946361
Let's stick with impressed, I just have a habit of latching on to stories in the way that I described before. You can tell by my profile picture that I'm a homestuck fan... It took me 5 days to read from the start to the last page before the Omegapause... e.g. over 1 million words and 1.6-ish hours of video footage in 5 days. If everyone spent time worrying about my mental state, then that's time that could be spent doing... idk yoga or s/thing.
8947123
I'm a more casual reader. Took me about 8 months of on and off reading to catch up with this story.
Usually read around 15-25 chapters almost every night. My time also included reading the comments on almost every chapter cause I liked reading people's thoughts, opinions, and theories on it.
Can't imagine reading this whole thing in only 2 and a half weeks.
8953602
Indeed.
8947442
Yeah, I feel like there's a lot of cool stuff to miss when you skip reading the comments. I thought it was interesting that Flynn, Ariel, and Big Show was named after a single comment (thanks AFC). I personally loved another chapter where everyone was linking songs to give the story a theme song. Heck, even the last chapter's Pinkie "farty" outbursts could be overlooked if you didn't see the commenter that sparked them. I almost feel like missing out on reading the comments is like missing out on half the story.