//------------------------------// // Look and Find the Bridge // Story: Utaan // by Imploding Colon //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash trotted east... ...for all that was left of it. Her petite hooves scuffled over threadbare planks of wood and strips of metal. At some point—countless ages ago, due to persistent weathering—the marble platforms themselves became obsolete. Rainbow judged that some civilization—perhaps a remnant of Emeraldine's own—had fastened several makeshift bridges to the structures in order to make the outward edge more accessible. Beneath her hooves, the fragile structures still held—as they also held for Remna, Logan, Flynn, and Echo marching up the rear. No doubt the "bridges" would shatter after several hours of use—not that it mattered. Soon, nopony else would ever have a divine need to use those platforms ever again. Kepler glided to a stop—along with Nicole. Together, the two trailed far behind Rainbow and the others. Ariel, Bard, and Wildcard hovered above the scene, occasionally struggling against bursts of wet windgusts. Enix and her fellow wingmates flew at a distant—evidently used to the turbulence, even that far out. Rainbow's ghostly companions remained silent. They—along with the Herald—kept their pace slow... because Rainbow was keeping her pace slow. The anchor proceeded cautiously... inquisitively. Rainbow's ruby eyes peered through each break in the mist, and she made her way icily forward, one precious marble platform at a time. By now, the constant roar of rushing water had... become agreeable. Or else—Rainbow Dash didn't register the sheer pain of listening to the endless tumult. She pressed on, drawn towards something she couldn't yet discern—framed in a glowing gold that danced before the Austraeoh's delicate cone of vision. At last, there was a break in the mist. Upon approach, Rainbow Dash... detected something. It was like windchimes... or the tolling of bells. The sound was tiny, fragile, but altogether real. It tugged at Rainbow's pained ears, making them twitch in anticipation. She pierced the final curtain of fog in a righteous stupor, and before her there stretched a penultimate platform—the last ground. The marble foundation formed a broad rectangular solid. Ironically enough, there was a ceiling to it—or at least part of one. Several marble pillars formed an archway at the west end—which connected to two archways along the east end. The eastern "roof" parted in the middle, forming a noticeable gap—a frame through which one saw endless heavens and cosmos forever out of reach. Between there and the outermost edge, Rainbow spotted several... several rusted metal stakes that had been long hammered into the marble floor. From many of these weathered rods, tiny cylindrical crystals dangled—the source of the windchiming percussion. Twilight and Rarity murmured in unknown curiosity as to what the crystals were. Fluttershy—on the other hoof—gasped suddenly. She flashed Rainbow a wide-eyed look. Rainbow glanced at Fluttershy, then back at the stakes. Only half of the metal rods contained dangling crystals. The rest of them had somehow lost their precious ornaments over the nameless epochs that passed. Quietly, Rainbow proceeded forward, following Fluttershy's line of sight. As she drew closer to the ornaments, she realized that the crystals were actually vials, and several of them contained translucent liquids of multiple colors: some yellow, violet, deep blue, and black. But most of them were an unmistakable crimson red. All it took was one nod from Fluttershy to confirm that the crystal-contained liquids were organic in nature. And from the tell-tale shimmer in Twilight's ghostly horn, Rainbow figured they were very special samples indeed. Rainbow's ear twitched again. She tilted her head up... then proceeded to the very edge, standing before the mouth of the gap in the archways. Behind her, Nicole, Flynn, and Kepler lingered, examining the crystal ornaments closely. They murmured curiously among each other. Remna looked on, deadpan and silent. Rainbow's friends held their breaths as she approached the marble precipice. She looked east... and saw nothing. Nothing but cascading moisture. The horizon was now a tear streak away, and directly beneath her was a torrential waterfall of all the world's oceans plummeting over the incromphensible edge. She tried looking down... or—at best—the most she could make of "down" at that point in her existence. To her fragile mind, Rainbow perceived a brand new horizon stretching beneath her: a frothing watery plane between there and oblivion. Somewhere on the far end, flanked by stars and nebulae, was another precipice altogether, the edge of the Dark Side... where chaos reigned. Rainbow's contemplation of the matter was shattered as a brand new tremor broke the air. The fractured foundation of the plane spontaneously shook around them. Nicole yelped in fright, and Ariel and Wildcard looked around nervously. "Omigosh!" Fluttershy clung to Pinkie Pie. "What is that? What is that? What is that?" "Uhhhhhh..." Bard gnashed his teeth. "Folks?" "Be still," Enix firmly—but calmly grunted. "And brace yourselves." The group did so to the best of their ability—clinging to the marble pillars as the shaking intensified and intensified and— CRACKKK! Bolts of lightning issued out of nowhere, making contact with the waterfalling edge beneath them and the platform. The elemental brightness lingered, shimmering multiple times before—THOOOOOOM!—a gargantuan spout of water billowed outward from the cascading edge. This cyclonic tentacle of moisture shot violently into outer space with the force of a million geysers. Then—within the span of a single heated minute—the friction of the Firmaments sent the water wildly falling back over the plane. Thick sheets of rain drenched the platform and the ponies clinging to it... and then everything returned to the normal, constant roar of falling water. "Guh!" Logan sputtered, shivering in his hooves despite his size and strength. "Shit on a biscuit!" "We gotta g-get back onto the Stardust—!" Echo began. "Relax, Ryckmun," Enix insisted. Even as the sheets of rainwater had pelted the endscape, she and her wingmates remained resolutely hovering in the turbulent air. "It is a normal, regular event." Rainbow Dash craned her neck. She and her mare friends peered north and south for miles as—indeed—several indentical waterspouts of epic size billowed outward from the edge of the plane, only to return back to the light side in brief, torrential curtains of rain. "This close to the void, chaos bleeds into the Light Side," Enix said. "We've always suspected that it is merely a taste of what regularly goes on in the Dark Side." She took a firm breath. "And that which has surely tempered the stalwart spirits of our brothers and sisters among the Dark Vigil." "Well... okay then..." Logan frowned. "How in the Hell?" Flynn sighed. "Care to specify your Hell, Big Show?" "I'm talking about the Hell we gotta go through in getting over!" Logan sputtered, pointing wildly at the cascading torrents of water beneath them. "We can't take the Stardust! Even if gravity allowed it to coast on over—" "Highly debateable," Flynn grunted. "Point being," Logan snorted. "It would be torn to shreds by one of them waterspout thingies!" "We ain't takin' the boat nowhere," Bard said through a sigh. "There's obviously... some other way to make it to our destination." "How do you intend to do that, Johnny?" Nicole gulped. "Fly?" "Nope." Echo took one pensive look over the edge of the platform and paled twice over. "Nope nope nopppe." "Could it be done?" Ariel asked. "I mean... if all of us were fast enough—" "Generations ago, nightblooded adventurers attempted what you speak of," Enix said. She exchanged glances with her wingmates before somberly shaking her head. "Their bodies were torn to shreds by the sheer friction of the Firmaments." Wildcard gestured. "Dubya has a point," Bard interpreted. "'It's been done before.'" He looked at the rest of the Herald. "The Midnighters—after all... the Dark Vigil made it over, didn't they?" "Right!" Flynn nodded. "And Queen Chrysalis—the sister of Tchern! She crossed over too! Twice in fact!" He glanced over. "Right, Rainbow?" Rainbow didn't respond. She had turned around completely—her attention once again focused on the crystalline vials dangling from the rusted stakes. "However you intend to get across, you had better discover the method now," Enix said, her brow furrowing. "I escorted you here so that you might come up with a plan, but soon the forces of Rohbredden will be approaching Bleak's Plummet. If you truly wish to avoid a deadly debacle, then I suggest you strategize among yourselves. And swiftly." "How about a catapult?" Echo suggested. "Be serious for once in your life, batdick," Logan grunted. Echo blinked. "... ... ...a big catapult?" "If one rrememberrs," Kepler spoke, "Both the changelings and the sarrosians had a common tool forr crrossing overr into the Darrk Side." "Yeah?" Flynn looked over. "What was that?" "Alicorrn magic, of courrse." Kepler smiled through his tusks. "The changelings succeeded—through Tchern and Chrysalis. The sarrosians had arrtifacts of Prrincess Luna." "You mean Nightmare Moon." "Prrecisely." "Well... what do we have?" Nicole remarked with a shrug. "We lost contact with Rainbow's Princesses nearly an hour ago. Maybe... something in Rainbow's pendant could help us out? An enchantment?" Remna kept her eyes on the Austraeoh. Ariel noticed it. She pivoted away from Wildcard, gazing at the petite pegasus. "Rainbow Dash?" Rainbow slowly approached the rods dangling with vials. Her brow furrowed and her eyes squinted. Twilight hovered closer. "Want... to fill us in on what you're thinking?" "Yes." Rarity nodded. "Please do." Rainbow didn't respond. She couldn't. All of the sudden, she was entranced. Her eyes were focused on a single vial, dangling loosely in the cold, moist wind. "Rainbow?" Ariel repeated, floating down a bit. "Rainbow, what is it that you see?" Rainbow's eyes twitched. All of the gold haze in her vision had coalesced... collecting into the ancient liquid contained within the vial. The blood glowed brightly—a burning platinum. With pursed lips, Rainbow reached a trembling hoof forward. But just as soon as it made contact with the crystal vial— FLASH! Whitemane's pearl blue eyes twitched. Nevertheless, the alicorn filly stood resolute, her gaze piercing into the churning heavens... the dark everlasting thunderclouds of the Firmaments... rolling with ethereal light, chaotic and sporadic, hungering... Behind her, Onyxxus leaned closer, his whispering breath sailing along the roar of crashing waves. “Tell me, my child, what is it that you see?” Whitemane stared and stared. Her trembles redoubled. “What do you see?” Shaking... quivering... Whitemane clenched her eyes shut... ...and then she bore a devilish smile. When her eyes reopened— FLASH! —Rainbow Dash stared out into the ether. "Hope," she answered, and spread her wings. Both the Herald and her close friends reacted with jolts and gasps. "Rainbow...?!" "Rainbow, what are you doing...?!" "What's gotten into you, darling...?!" Rainbow breathed and breathed. She peered off the edge. The gold haze was now deep below the churning waves. It was so obvious. It was always so obvious. With a smile and a sigh... ...Rainbow plunged off the platform and dove into the rushing waters. Her marefriends clung to their plummeting anchor, shrieking: "Rainbow!" "Are you nuts, Dashie?!" "Sugarcube, don't—!" SPLASSSSH! "Rainbow Dash!" Ariel shrieked, diving immediately. Wildcard fiercely tackled her from behind, holding the thrashing pegasus in mid-air and whistling shrilly to Bard. "Awwwwwwwwwwwww hell." Bard lifted up, floating next to Enix and her fellow warriors. "Quick! We gotta form a perimeter at the edge! Make sure she don't swim off the side or somethin'!" "To what end?!" Enix's fangs flashed. "The moment we even touch that water, we're dead!" "Well, you g-gotta do something!" Nicole's voice cracked as she suddenly hovered by Bard's side. "She's gone crazy!" "Let me g-go!" Ariel struggled against Wildcard. "We've got to save her! She's—" "Relax your mortal breaths!" Remna barked, fuming. She calmed slightly and droned: "The Austraeoh knows what she's doing." "How can you say that?!" Ariel sputtered, on the brink of sobbing. "We came all this way—and for what?! To let her commit suicide over—" "Uhhhhhh..." Logan sniffed the air. "You guys smell that?" "Gnnngh..." Flynn rubbed his glowing horn. "The leylines around here are going haywire!" "H-huh?!" Wildcard suddenly pointed straight into the waters. "Harrk!" Kepler exclaimed. "Behold! Something surrfaces!" Sure enough, the Herald watched as a bright spot of glowing gold light manifested itself beneath the churning waves. The already tempestuous water bubbled, growing frothier as something monumental rose up right at the world's edge. SPLOOOOOOSH! Twin stalks of golden harmonic metal emerged from the shallow depths. The aura around them intensified, signifying an ancient power that was animating them from their previous place of dormancy. With each progressive foot of emergence, the ponies witnessed massive, thick chains dangling from the ancient rigging. These lengthy metal links shook, quivered, and dangled—revealing their massive lengths as they stretched out and over the edge of the world, extending downwards into a dark, chaotic vanishing point. The air echoed with the clattering metal, and soon the emergence was complete. The Herald was so dumbfounded by the spontaneous event that they failed to notice that a petite blue pegasus was clinging to one of the golden stalks, dripping from head to toe with moisture. "Rainbow!" Ariel breathily exhaled. The mare sputtered, shook the salt water out of her mane... and smiled. "Yo! Check it!" She leapt off the structure, did a double-flip, and landed nimbly on the marble platform below. Her frazzled marefriends hovered after her, still nerve-wracked. "It's the bridge!" Rainbow's voice cracked. "The piece of the Gondola! Our piece of the Gondola!" She flashed a look at a certain wyvern. "Kepler! You remember, don't you?!" "Mmmrrrm... rrrememberr...?" He blinked behind his fogged glasses. "Friggin' duh!" Rainbow smiled stupidly as the Herald gathered around her. "Mortuana talked to you about it, didn't she?! The mechanism that her father Onyxxus had built ages ago so that the Emeraldinians could make it to Darkreach?! Well... this is it! The alicorn link to the Dark Side!" Kepler blinked, his muzzle agape. "Yes..." He grinned. "Yessss... of courrse!" He pointed with a winged claw. "Crrafted out of purre harrmonic energy! To assurre safe passage to the rrighteous colony! Ha-HAH! Glorrious!" "But... but..." Flynn scratched his bald head. "How did you make it surface?" "How else?" Remna droned. "I didn't surface it! Whitemane did!" Rainbow cheered. "Huh?" Bard made a face. "Whitemane?" "Heehee... Does it matter?!" Rainbow grinned. She spun around to smile at her friends. "It's... it's just bursting inside of me. The answer... the truth... the... the friggin' everything!" She gazed at the twin stalks. A gold beam of light was plunging down from the summit, leading across the plane and to the furthest end, accompanying the unbreakable chains. "Somewhere... on the other end... there's a gondola with our name on it... just waiting to be retrieved..." She exhaled through a soft smile. "Our awesome ticket to beyond."