Urohringr

by Imploding Colon

Flight of Fancy, Windswept Field

"Rainbow Dash..." Roarke droned, backtrotting.

"It's just like the ones in Sacred Hold," Rainbow murmured, her ruby eyes reflecting the chaotic flock of death. "Spawned from Nevlamas herself!"

"What in Searo's vulva are they doing here?!"

"This... this must be one of Chrysalis' hives," Rainbow murmured. Her eyes twitched even wider. "Where she plans to stage the invasion of Val Roa!"

"Where she did plan!" one of the changelings closest to Rainbow sputtered. "But Mother is gone now! We don't know where!"

"Please, you have to believe us!" another exclaimed above the noise of rising shrieks. "You of all ponies! You freed us!"

"Freed you to do what?!" Roarke grunted. "Take on the form of a dragon and burn ponies' lives to the ground?!"

"All we wanted was for everypony to flee this area!" another exclaimed. "To flee from this!" The creature pointed at the sky as it was buzzing with chaos. "We never killed anyone! We never hurt anyone!"

Roarke sneered, "That's the most damnably stupid logic—"

"This is just a piece of the whole!" a changeling cried. "There are countless more in the heart of the mountain! Waiting to spring on this land and abroad!" The creature shuddered. "We can't contain them for much longer!"

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but you can't contain these things period." Booster Spice gulped. "Uhm... n-now may be a good time to Whizz away."

"Can't," Roarke spat.

Rainbow flashed her a look. "Roarke?"

Roarke frowned. "The ship's too beat. The lizard's tech got battered in that last scrape. If I try to take off in the thing now, its manaengines could rupture."

"Uhhhh..." Rainbow gulped, sweated. She glanced at the descending cloud of chaos. "Uhhhhmm..."

"You've got wings!" Booster stammered. "Can you carry us?!"

"Yeah..." Rainbow trotted over to them. "But not very quickly! We gotta find a cave or a niche or some place to—"

Three changelings instantly darted over. "Is it the village that you wish to go to?!"

"Huh?!" Booster flashed them a look.

"The village of Amulek?!"

Booster squinted beneath his goggles. "How did you—"

"Honestly, anyplace is preferable right about now!" Rainbow exclaimed.

"Quickly!" Two changelings grabbed Booster's shoulders. The stallion gasped as he was lifted up off the ground. "We have to outrun them while we still can!"

"But they'll track us—"

"They'll track you!" the changelings said. "We're invisible to them in this form! It's how Mother bred them!"

"Aaack!" Booster wheezed, his teeth chattering. "I-I-I'm not s-so sure about th-this!"

"Well super-sure yourself! Pronto!" Rainbow Dash took off as she heard the buzzing of changeling wings. "Head west and don't stop for nothing!"

"Grnnngh!" Roarke, in the meantime, was struggling and shoving against the changelings diving down to grip her. "Get your hooves off me! I'll turn your shells inside out—"

"Roarke!"

"The next creature who touches my flesh—"

"Dammit, Roarke!" Rainbow shouted, throwing her angry muzzle in the surprised mare's face. "Let them carry you! You wanna die on me, ya friggin' idiot?!"

Roarke's lips quivered. "But... b-but..." Her lenses reflected fangs and glowing scales.

"Go!" Rainbow shouted as the entire flock lifted up with Booster and Roarke in tow. She looked worriedly over her shoulder. "Go go go go go go go!!!"

With a joint shriek, the chaos wyrms sailed in from the mountainside. Their razor-sharp maws lunged at the three ponies as they were hoisted away. Rainbow Dash flew on her own volition, twirling out of the snapping jaws of one, two, three gliding serpents.

By now, the fir trees were swaying from the artificial wind generated by the multiple surging bodies. As the monsters pursued the three equines, the fog spread like the gray clouds at the head of a cyclone. Despite the energy of their rabid pursuers, the changelings maintained a decent speed. When one or two of them tired, others dove in and swap places—carrying the two ponies for another three or four dozen yards.

Rainbow Dash flung a nervous glance over her shoulder. Witless, she shouted ahead, "They're still chasing!"

"They'll give up soon!" one of the changelings shouted. "They'll feast on the creatures in the forest and retreat to the mountain like they always do!"

"You sure about that?!" Rainbow hollered. "Cuz it almost seems like we're leading them to civlization!"

The closest changeling fidgeted, its fangs chewing nervously at midair. "We... we c-could split up or—"

"Something tells me you guys aren't used to making command decisions!"

"It has b-been terribly difficult. We wish we could—"

"Keep flying!" Rainbow hollered, suddenly bending around and flying back in the opposite direction. "I'm going to distract them long enough for you to get away unnoticed!"

"What?!" Booster shouted from up ahead.

"Rainbow!" Roarke yelled. "Don't you dare—"

"Meet you back at Amulek!" Rainbow shouted. "Wear something sassy!" Fwoosh! She sliced against the wind, barreling towards the incoming abominable wall at suicidal speeds. Roarke shouted something else, but there was no making out the words at this frictious velocity. "Hnnnngh... okay, snakes and ladders... you wanna play?!"

The cloud of serpentine monstrosities shifted, coagulating towards her in a silver stream like a ravenous fish of sharks.

Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth. "Let's see how a Celestia-damn sonic rainboom fills your gullet—" Just as she was saying this, her eyes flickered a sickly yellow. "Aaaaugh!" She flinched in mid-air, descending slightly. Her body jolted as an intense wave of dizziness flew through her. She looked up through squinting eyes. "No... not here... not n-now!"

The incoming flood fogged in and out of existence. Between the black shroud of Rainbow's eyelids and the blinding sunrise beyond, she could only make out the glint of their teeth and talons.

"Hrmmmmm-raaaaaaaugh!" Summoning every bit of strength inside her wing muscles, she pulled herself up, sailing skyward.

The topmost row of serpents lunged at her, their teeth slicing within inches of her fuzzy belly. Rainbow wildly flew over them, bending towards the north and curving in a sickly helix. The only thing keeping her steady was a rigid pair of wings. The air whistled violently past each ear as she found herself slicing downward at a shallow angle, approaching the trees once more. All the while, she heard the creatures hissing and snarling at her six. She was successfully distracting them, though there was no time to celebrate. There wasn't even time to scream.

"Come on, Rainbow," she hissed at herself, her eyes tearing. "Find a soft spot... f-find a soft spot..." Her teeth gnashed. "You can do it—"

WHAP! Her body grazed a tree branch.

"Augh!" She spun, toppled, and ricocheted off the forest floor. Her body bounced once, twice, then slid to a stop upon the edge of a jutting rock along a thinning treeline. "Mrmmmfffnnngh... idiot," she muttered to herself, struggling to sit up. "You are the 'soft-spot.'"

Barely five seconds later, she heard the roar of several creatures diving down from above. Dizzily, she rolled over, squinting up at the sky with scarlet pupils against yellow saucers.

Soon enough, the sun was blotted out by their scales, scales, and scales.

"Good luck finding any m-meat." She gulped, then curled up in a weak little ball. "Crud muffins..."

Just then, the air broke with a clap of thunder. Rainbow's foggy vision caught a shadow against a shadow. With her last ounce of strength, she focused her vision on a series of shapes darting in from her peripheral. Ten changelings swooped low—unseen by the ravenous abominations. With careful precision, they flew together and conjoined in a burst of green flame. By the next blink, they had morphed into a miniature Nevlamas, antler-slashing their way through the chaos meat.

Several serpents shrieked loudly as they were torn to ribbons. Within seconds, the flock jerked about, swarming after the faux dragon that was suddenly in their midst. By then, it was too late; "Nevlamas" was swinging about, diving low, and yanking Rainbow off the ground in a metamorphic talon.

Rainbow Dash wheezed, feeling herself being carried away by her unexpected saviors. As the last of her senses gave way, she rolled her head back, caught a flash of sunlight, and surrendered to the darkness.

Comments

[Zero Moment]

Changelings are invisible to the chaos serpents, huh? This is gonna come in handy.

I do wonder how Chrysalis was spawning them there, though.

[IceKitsune]

Wow that was a close one! RD got lucky

[alamais]

Huh. So, has Ebon been reacting to the chaos, to the other changelings, or is 'Mother' in the area but only he can sense it?

[Pilate]

4960354
Not changelings, Nevlamas. They take on that specific dragon form.

4960363
He's reacting to the local hive mind.

[Arcanist Ascendant]

I just thought of something extremely disturbing.
With the 12 total books we're generally entertaining the idea that the plot will be divided into 6 books for light side of the world, 6 for the dark. But what if we get through faster than we anticipated and get back to Equestria, only for the climax of the book to take place there? Like Discord says, 'Twists and turns are my master plan'...

[Rust]

Better bug out.

[Ms_Fruit_Bat]

For a second there I though the chaos!Dash monster was going to make another appearance.

[Zaid ValRoa]

4960430 That would make one great end for the book and cliffhanger.
...
So now that it has been said, it probably won't happen.

[VNilla]

Man, why ya gotta be so mean, Chryssi? Your kids are nice enough for the bunch of you, but damn.

4960454 Agreed, that would be fantastic. Ending on a not-dead, but fully corrupted, RD... would be a hell of way to start next book.

[Lightning Bearer]

4960378

I've speculated the same thing. I've often wondered if there's a route from the Midnight Armory to Equestria (which, as I understand it, are on precisely opposite points on the world plane). Perhaps a door to the Machine World down in the crystal caves under Canterlot? If that's the case, though, it raises intriguing questions about the "Find the Elements back where you began" part.

[Booster Spice]

The Changelings are crippled because Chrysalis bugged out on them, such intense emotions and change in thinking flowing through the hive, pulling it apart within itself. Will having Dash nearby help stabilise it?

Will the pseudo Nevalmas take Dash into the centre of teh swarm and swarm, and in doing, stabilise the hive, recreate the full size pseudo Nevelmas, and then go mount hockalugy on the chaos flight, as its difficult to take out something you cannot see, and apparently is super effective against them?

Poor Wizbang, its going to take a bit more than just squirrel fur to get it up and running again.

If these changelings can seriously hurt these chaos beasts, if Dash did go full pseudo Discord on them, wouldnt they, as a hive, have super effective attacks in fighting back, and even defense if the green stuff works similarly as a shield?

Hmm, pity, given time and resources, my favourite trick I think in this, would be to get the changelings to build a lurgy enclosure, spherical, to fully contain all the chaos beasts, then let Rouke and co go all out loading up the outside of the lurgy sphere with explosive mana crystals in a very careful pattern. then. Josho shoots the distribution detonator and teleports a Very long way away, as the sphere implodes. Not sure if the mountain would remain, but the chaos swarm certainly shouldnt.

Then again, Im half asleep and just along for the ride. 5AM, on a Saturday morning. Look, a wild song appears.

[Arcanist Ascendant]

4960655

I would hate if there was a direct route from Canterlot to the Midnight Armory, that would actually piss me off to no end. But I do believe, like you said, that Discord will probably play a role at the end of the book.

Maybe Celestia spends to much with the chaos energy and is corrupted?

4960602

I'm pretty sure ):('s thought of that. It would probably work better in a later book though, like on the Dark Side of the Ring.

[Zaid ValRoa]

4960655

Rainbow Dash kept making her way through the soil beneath the Midnight Armory.

Had it been hours, days? She didn't know, but she kept shoveling, using the broken piece of bronze armor as a shovel, pushing dirt away from her path. She could barely see, both due to the still flowing tears and that the only light source was her battered ruby pendant.

Rainbow Dash had lost everything, just like when her journey began, only her refusal to give up kept her going.

"C'mon, girl," she said in a rough hoarse tone, "it can't be that far now."

Every movement send jolts of pain through her body, every hoofful of dirt stained her coat even more, and every centimeter she advanced brought back painful memories of times long gone.

"You've been through a lot."

The piece of bronze hit something hard.

"Don't give up when you're so close."

Rainbow Dash swept the dirt with her hooves until she found that which she had hit. A large wooden panel.

The pegasus stared at the planks with confused eyes. Nevertheless, she pressed on and pushed her whole weight against the wood. She put all of her in that push, every memory, every event of her journey, every friend she had made...

...and every friend she had lost.

Eventually, the planks gave in, and a warm light shone on Rainbow Dash as she fell forwards on the room ahead of her.

Dizziness overtook her, not the usual chaos-induced dizziness, but a less unsettling dizziness, a disorientation that made her cling to the ground.

She looked around for anything that could tell her where she was, and if she had finally reached the end of her journey.

Her eyes adjusted to the light and she thought she recognised a blue shape in front of her.

"Welcome to Sugar Cube Corner!" Mrs. Cake said. "How can we-- Rainbow Dash!?"

Rainbow Dash felt her left eye twich.

"Ok, that's it, I'm done."

And with that, she flew away.

[Lightning Bearer]

4960767

"This time," she said to herself, beating her wings furiously against the frigid air, "I think I'll head west."

[Eyes of Avo]

Chrysalis must be hurt far worse than I thought to abandon such a powerful weapon as these chaos serpents. It makes me wonder if she has enough juice to even threaten Val Roa.

[Tillion]

well....
that happened
and Dash is getting worse by second now...

[not_a_rainbow]

charge the hole with the dragon and Roarke, get the harmony flame and gtfo

[Acceleron]

Something tells me the silver in the mines is actually chaos metal, probably enough to make the cycle of creating serpents automated.

[RoboRed]

You'd think she'd have learned by now that the dizzy spells can and will hit at the most inopportune time...

Also, poor Whizzball.

[Keebroo]

There's gonna be some serious talks abut all of this solo pseudo-suicidal stunts Rainbow keeps pulling. Wouldn't be surprised if Roarke did something a little drastic.

[Jonathon Smythe]

I'm starting to wonder whether the climax of this will be RD dying, or falling into a coma, or becoming DiscoDash.

[xXshaydXx]

Im dying to know what the light and symbol can do for rainbow..SHE NEEDS TO LIVE!

[Nevlamas]

I recall that the chaos creatures - unsurprisingly - cause increased and stronger dizzy spells for Rainbow. I've always wondered what would happen if she had another meltdown, a partial transformation, with them around. With her current condition I have a feeling that to some degree we might be about to find out.

[Meridian Prime]

I CAUGHT UP!
100,000+ WORDS
HELL YES

[YoshiFawful64]

4961956
Congratulations!

[Ms_Fruit_Bat]

4961956 Welcome back, brother!

[Meridian Prime]

4962229
Amen to that. I have missed out on far to much awesomeness recently.

4962189

[Hoof of Approval]

Again, kinda breathless here. Waiting until all this dies down before I comment.

[Arcanist Ascendant]

4962240

Welcome back to the land of the living...er, easthorses? I was going somewhere with this and then I forgot.

[Meridian Prime]

4962660
East horses are best horses.

[Arcanist Ascendant]

4962932

Oh wow, everybody's catching up this chapter! Hello again! How long has it been since you were current?

[kajisora]

4960731
A direct passage would be a terrible, terrible thing
The destination is an armory, probably filled with weapons terrible beyond imagining.
And this would not be the story of our eastbound horse if explosions were not involved at some point.

Ergo, there is no direct passage.
Yet.

[Cynderfall]

Wooo! Go Changelings!

[CasualMarshmallow]

Whoah, miniature dragon...

[Swan Song]

4960767 Bro. Fake chapter passages are my schtick.

fc04.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2014/120/6/0/get_out___twilight_sparkle_by_kryptonpony-d7gmj2z.png

jk senpai approves

[Super Trampoline]

Man, Imagine rainbow dash an army of reformed changelings into battle against chrysalis. That would be so fucking metal.

4961956 I'm almost caught up!

[Vandratha]

Stupid, but heroic. That's Rainbow Dash for you.

[Zecoro]

Ok these dizzy spells are REALLY starting to piss me off.

[tailspin]

5147803 you and me both

[whizzball1]

*slow clap*

-Spirit

[JustAnotherTimeLord]

Saved just in time. I guess Rainbow won't be kicking ass anytime soon.

[Hazard]

They could've left the village behind, but that is not the Austraeoh way.

[Regidar]

Time for epic final fight number 5, alright!

[Tim the Planes-pony]

Well, one crisis temporarily averted, but now comes something far more dangerous, facing other ponies.

06/12/2017
19:15 UTC

[FOXTrot2]

8227968
"Surprise guys! I'm secretly a mini Discord in Rainbow clothing! Whatcha think of my wicked talons and fangs?"

[FOXTrot2]

4964596
I can see your name making it into this story.

[hypervelocity]

Changelings with the save! But Chrysalis having access to making more of the chaos serpents doesn't bode well.