A Very, Very Chaotic Problem
The sun was setting red and rosy over the western reaches of Amulek. On the opposite side of the sleepy village, between where the treeline began and where the fog rolled in, a cluster of ponies stood under swaying branches in a chilly wind. Changelings hung in the shadows, several of them perched on the branches as their clear eyes lingered on the town hall at a distance.
"Well, that went about as well as a Ledo passing a watermelon-sized kidney stone," Josho grunted. "And by that, of course, I mean 'as well as could be expected.'"
"I can't understand the Governess! This shouldn't have to take some long, overwrought decision!" Booster Spice stammered, pacing in a loose circle. "Why can't she see what's right in front of her?!"
"More like what's looming above her," Pilate said. His ears twitched to the sound of several sets of hooves swiveling his way. "What? Surely a blind zebra can still use metaphors of 'sight.'"
"Ahem..." Belle turned towards Booster. "The meeting could certainly have gone better. A lot of startling bits of information were thrown on your town all in one heap."
"Granted, there truly is no way to soften that sort of a blow," Pilate said.
"We had to convey the urgency of the situation to her!" a changeling said. "Even before the one called Rainbow Dash arrived, we were starting to realize how impossible our venture had become—"
"You should have known better than to have infiltrated their ranks like they were some enemy batallion!" Roarke shouted, marching into the feeble changeling's face, forcing the creature to fall on its shivering haunches. She further snarled, "At least you could have remained hidden! I don't know where in your cockroach minds you thought it was excusable to use the facade of Keebroo and the other two as some sort of diplomatic bargaining chip!"
"I... but we... we just—"
"Roarke..." Rainbow wheezed, leaning tiredly against a tree. Her eyes flickered red-on-yellow then back as she winced. "Just... l-lay off for once..."
"No! I shall not!" Roarke snarled, all-but-spitting in the nervous changeling's muzzle. "They've made it perfectly clear that they're more than self-aware of their own inexperience! They should have come up with a less risky plan than continuing the hijinks of their putrid matriarch!"
"She does have a point, Rainbow," Josho grunted. "It wasn't very smart."
"We c-couldn't leave these ponies!" The changeling gulped. "We just couldn't abandon them in the shadow of these chaotic abominations! Like Mother abandoned us!"
"I do not buy for a second that you are as helpless as you paint yourselves to be," Roarke hissed.
"Roarke—" Rainbow wheezed.
"I've seen you in action!" Roarke shouted. "I've seen you consume lives and transform entire kingdoms!" She flung a hoof in the air. "You could have stolen those chaos strips away! You could have destroyed them! You could have done anything but just leave them as a death trap for everypony around you! Just look at what the discordant energy is doing to Rainbow Dash—!"
"Dammit, Roarke, would you—nngnh!" Rainbow collapsed onto the grass beneath the trees.
"Rainbow!" Belle shouted.
Roarke spun, gasping. She rushed over to the pegasus' side.
Belle, Pilate, and Josho were already there. Booster Spice and the changelings watched over their shoulders, nervously. Roarke rushed down and scooped Rainbow up.
The mare panted and panted, her thin eyes flickering in and out of ruby brilliance. "Nnnngh... Roarke, don't..." She gulped. "D-don't blame them for that. You and I b-both know it ain't the changelings fault for what's... h-happening to me." She shuddered, ears folding back. "Celestia, it's getting so light..."
"Oh Spark... bl-blessed Spark!" Belle held a hoof over her muzzle as tears welled up in her eyes. "Roarke, we have t-to get her on board the Jury! There's still room in the infirmary beside Ebon—"
"Ding Dong, relax..." Rainbow reached a hoof out and touched her shoulder. She smild warily. "I know it looks bad... but it'll pass—"
"And they keep getting worse, though, Rainbow!" Belle shrieked. She hiccuped on a sob and leaned on Pilate's frame as she said, "How 'bad' are they going to look until you can't even stand to breathe?!"
"I... tr-try not to stress so bad about tomorrow."
"Rainbow, for Spark's sake—"
"For real..." Rainbow hissed, shook, and struggled to sit up. Roarke ultimately helped her, and Rainbow rested dizzily on her haunches. "Let's not change the subject. There's more at risk here than me." She turned and stared up at the changelings in the trees with thin eyes. "What if Merigold decides to move all the villagers out of town. Then what?"
"That's not going to matter!" one of them said. "Don't you get it?"
"Lay it on me."
"The abominations are growing restless at an exponential rate!" another one of the shape-shifters spoke up. "We can't guess when or at what time, but they're going to grow weary of feasting on wildlife in the forest surrounding the mountains!"
"They've already done this...?" Pilate nervously asked.
"Several times!" another said, nodding its dark head. "Nopony understands just how many times we've saved the ponies of Amulek time and time again from a narrow brush with death! There were days when the monsters were practically nipping at their hooves!"
"And just now?" Roarke asked, still fuming. "When we lost Whizzball due north of here?"
Josho spun and blinked at her. "Oh, did you, now?"
"Silence, obese one," Roarke grunted.
"Hrmmff..."
A changeling was already replying to her. "That was the largest outburst of the creatures yet," it explained. "They only returned to mountain because either there was nothing left living in the vicinity to feast on, or their silver strips still had cohesion. But, soon enough, the strips will no longer be able to contain their own structure. They've been gradually dissolving since Mother abandoned this place."
"Then that means...?" Pilate began.
The changeling shuddered as it said, "They will have nothing anchoring them to the mountain anymore. There will be nothing to draw them back from their holding place."
"Where will they go?" Booster Spice asked in a quiet voice.
"Simple. Where there is life," the changeling said. "They feast on more than just emotion. They devour harmony, for they are chaos incarnates."
Another changeling spoke up, "They will consume Amulek in an instant, turning all living flesh into ragged strips of distorted meat. And then they will take their feast as far as their boundless energy will carry them. Even to Val Roa and abroad."
"Durandana..." Pilate murmured. "...Alafreo."
Belle gulped. "Luxmare..."
Rainbow Dash sighed, leaning against Roarke's limbs. "Equestria." She gulped. "I get it." She looked up. "And what if we get a powerful bunch of ponies here to stop them? Like the Val Roans."
"Rainbow Dash, there simply isn't enough time!" a changeling stammered. "That's why it's absurd to wait for Merigold!" It gestured at the group. "Even discussing this with our mouths like normal ponies is a terrible waste of time!"
"Surely we must mutually discover a solution to this problem—" Pilate began.
"And these 'Val Roans' will not properly eliminate the threat!" the changeling stated. "It doesn't matter what sort of weaponry they have in their arsenal!"
Roarke's lenses pistoned outward upon hearing that. "Why would that be so?"
"Isn't it obvious?" One of the changelings in the trees spoke up. "Of all emotion, anger is the closest ally of chaos. That's why Mother was so keen to harvest these things from the dragon called 'Nevlamas.' Her goal was to spread malice so that we—her children—might consume it and make her strong."
"So... what you're trying to tell us..." Josho scratched his chins. "...is that if we send a bunch of soldiers into the mountains to blow these freaktards up—"
"It will only strengthen them!" the changeling said. "Of this, we are most certain! The abominable feast will quadruple in strength and ferocity!"
"Somehow, I totally believe that," Rainbow Dash said.
"Then there is no proper solution at this point," Roarke droned.
"Roarke," Belle sighed. "We can't simply dismiss—"
"It was folly to come here," Roarke said. "I don't care what Rainbow Dash has seen in her visions."
"Roarke—" Rainbow protested.
"It's decided." Roarke hoisted Rainbow Dash up and tried leaning her over her flank. "We're leaving. Us, Rainbow, the Jury."
"Roarke, nnngh... stop—"
"We must make as much distance between us and this damned mountain as conceivably possible—"
"Dammit, Roarke, stop trying to protect me!" Rainbow shoved off of her. She teetered a bit, but found her balance in time to glare at the metal mare. "Stop it!" She aimed her frown at the others. "All of you!" Her hooves stomped in the ground. "I love you and I get that you all love me too but why can't we just wrap our heads around the fact that there are some things bigger than me and the rest of us combined?!"
Roarke stared back, lips quivering. Her lenses retracted, and in a very quiet voice she said, "I do not wish to lose you."
Rainbow clenched her eyes shut. She fought the urge to sniffle. One wobbly step after another, she shuffled towards the mare and gently took two of her hooves in her own. "Roarke... sexy girl..." She opened a pair of eyes. Tiny tears refracted the flicker of red and yellow as she said, "You lost me long before you ever had me."
Roarke's ears folded back.
Rainbow took a shuddering breath. She swallowed a lump down her throat and looked over at Belle and Pilate. "Bellesmith... Pilate... I... I-I'm so sorry." She tried hobbling over towards them. The pair met her halfway, holding her up. "You... you guys know me. I was soaring my way east long before I made the best friends a homesick pegasus ever could. After all the dragons I've kicked and zombies I've headbutted, I'll be damned if I'm going to breathe the last breaths of my life while running away from something."
Belle nodded, a tear running down her cheek. "We know, Rainbow Dash."
"We do understand," Pilate said. "But..." He tilted his head up. "What can we do?"
"I..." Rainbow winced. She turned towards Roarke, who had her head bowed. A cold breath. "I don't know..."
"It is not your place to know, Rainbow Dash," one of the changelings above said. "It was never your place. Not once did we expect the pony who freed us to cross our paths."
"Yeah, well... she has." Rainbow looked up. "So, what now? There's gotta be some sort of silver bullet."
"Maybe at one point, there would have been," the changelings siad. "But it is far too late for that now. The abominations are restless, and we are the ones responsible for the terror they're about to unleash."
"Hrmmmmf..." Josho folded his forelimbs with a frown. "Told you we shouldn't have dicked around in that Pegasus Sex Crater..."
"Cram it, breeder," Roarke groaned.
"Roarke—" Rainbow entreated her.
"We must not tarry here any longer," the changelings overhead said. One by one, they took flight, their wings buzzing. "We must go."
"Go?!" Booster Spice gawked at them through his goggles. "Go where?!"
"We will head back to the mountain. All of us."
"Just how many of you are there?" Roarke asked.
"Less than fifty," one explained. "Even if we had two hundred, it doesn't make our task any easier."
"And just what sort of a plan do you have in motion?" Pilate asked.
"We will attempt to forge a wall using our own bodies," one changeling said. "A wall that will block the exit from the cave."
"What good will that do?!" Booster sputtered. "We saw these creatures! They were see-through ethereal monstrosities! How could you possibly hold them back?!"
"We must nevertheless try."
"Yeah, and you will die in the process!"
"If that is the case, so be it."
Booster clammed up, blinking. He hung his head with a sigh. "There has to be another way..."
"There is not," one changeling said. "If we go now, we and our siblings can perhaps corner the monsters against the metal walls. There, they might find solace among the metal strips and delay their inevitable—"
"Wait... wait wait wait." Rainbow Dash held her hooves up. "...did you just say 'metal walls?'"
"Mmmm. Indeed." One changeling nodded. "Deep in the belly of the mountain."
"But..." Booster squinted. "Drakshaa and his miners never found any such—"
"It dwells deeper than any possible mineshaft. Mother had the changelings who facilitated our hatching bore a hole to its location months ago. What her plan was with the material, we cannot fathom, but it has acted as a secure base against which the strips were deposited."
Roarke gulped. She turned towards Rainbow. "Rainbow..."
Rainbow, in the meantime, was staring northeast. The Yaerfaerda symbol flicked before her, brighter than ever.
"Rainbow..." Roarke trotted closer, nearly breathless. "Wh-what are you thinking...?"
Rainbow took a deep breath. "...that we need to get on board Floydien's ship right friggin' now." She turned and looked wearily at the metal mare. "We'd better get the whole Jury in session over this..."
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I've noticed that this and Appledashery always get updated at the same time...is there a reason for this?
Into the
rabbitchaos hole we go.Time for the grand reopening of a Machine World door.
I kinda want to see Roarke act like a wrecking ball and knock the entire town of Amulek to the ground.
They can't stay if they got no home right?
I hope drakshaa gets eaten by a chaos serpent too.
4965483
Same writer different accounts
Time to get another stupid plan into action! As usual.
More machine world! More flames! More awesome!
And only nine chapters to go!
...So begins the end?
This is not leaving me with good feelings.
4965652
I get that; and I would understand their position if they believed the place could be salvaged, however its pretty clear that they don't and that this is just for revenge at this point. Revenge that its obvious they can no longer get.
So...
Chaos monsters are coming, Rainbow Dash is running out of time, the changelings want to keep the chaos at bay even if it means sacrificing themselves, and the Jury has to make a mad dash (heh) to the machine world deep in the mountains of Amulek.
And there are nine chapters left.
It's doable.
...I think I'm going to cry. Hold me.
4965689
4965668 Misguided desire for revenge, refusal to let go and move on. Whatever it is, it's clear it'll take a lot to change the mind of the town, still this seems like a fine first step.
4965715 I'm glad to have pleased you, Swanny senpai~!
It's time to get down to fucking business. All right, lets see what happens in the next nine chapters.
TOMORROW WE'LL DISCOVER WHAT OUR GOD IN HEAVEN HAS IN STORE
4965756
I'm aware, t'was a joke.
Grand Magus - Fight
Well, things are currently suspended somewhere between hope and bleakness. Hope, in the Machine World and the possibility of a rejuvenating flame. Bleakness, at a tone more fatalistic than ever and hunkering under the shadow of apparently imminent expiration. On top of which, there are several potential wild cards in play - shapeshifting emotion-feeders, a changeling who doesn't know he's a changeling, and a new, still-explained symbol.
Part of me wants to believe the readily apparent; to think that Rainbow is going to her death. But I sense a twist. Perhaps some curveball having to do with love and chaos and these conveniently-placed creatures that can bend both in unusual ways. There may yet be a way out. Though it's equally possible that a sacrifice will be required (Ebon? Roarke?)
This oughta be interesting.
4965887 Why not Rainbow Dash herself?
Imagine if she let the chaos overtake her in a last ditch attempt at saving the Jury and Amulek.
Then Yaefaerda would be Chaos!Dash & Co. kicking around in ValRoa and the Grand Choke.
4965953
You mean, like, Rainbow being overrun by chaos, staying alive, and continuing on with the Jury? It's possible, I suppose. It would certainly be an interesting twist on the series' premise, and a potentially fun one at that.
9 chapters to go in this book and it does not feel like this can be wrapped up that fast. Just have to wait and see I suppose. Hang in there Dashie, don't you dare die on me
I think I might return to a previous theory. Weakness? Pain? Being debilitated at increasingly short intervals? These are contractions. Dash is in labor. Incoming Chaos-Baby.
4965991
That would kind of invalidate one of the only legitimate negative representations left in this series, what with duesexmachina being a running theme around here. The chaos in her is supposed to be a metaphor for some kind of bad shit. The whole world is decaying in spite of the grand adventure in between. On that level, this story is about the nature of life. If rainbow dash falls to the chaos that took her friends and is totally fine as an antler beast, this story looses all bearing on reality. There would be nothing bad left, literally everything would have fallen to the power of duesexmachina.
However, there is no reason why she couldn't rampage across the country while the jurists followed above. She could inadvertently solve problems for people, hulk-style. The jurists could be protected by the presence of the book while they sat above, watching and judging. Being so close to the book could be a constant pain source. They could cause her to leave certain places and they could herd her by just flying to the right locations. Eventually, maybe after she reached one of the ends of the world, she might find something to help. Maybe she would have to walk over to the dark side in her current form, joining the monsters like herself, until, one day, she found something. Drawn by the massive harmony-imbalance, one of the other elements condensed into a new element gem on the dark side of the world, and was subsequently drawn to the one cursed soul who could be worthy of it. Naturally, rainbow dash would try to escape. Then, eventually, the jurists manage to bring their ship across somehow. Maybe all the elements are following and burning rainbow, maybe the jurists each obtain one of the stones, and maybe they rainbow-beam her, burning to death in the process. Eljumbyro gives austraoh a second wind after yragoroth occurs.
Rainbow awakes to a steadily sinking sky ship with a deck full of ash and trinkets on a dark world with no idea where the armory is.
Going off on tangents is fun!
4965698
4965772
I mean, it's not like you impressed me or a-anything...!
Oh, this arc is going to get really REALLY juicy!
Machine World confirmed.
And it burned, burned, burned, like a broken ring of fire.
She went down, down, down, and the flame got brighter.
And it burned, burned, burned.
The ring of fire.
The ring of fire.
When people are faced with something far too big, in size, in strength, in idea, for them to comprehend, they cannot comprehend, and have to fall back to confusion and denial. Shake a mans world hard enough, and usually its the man that breaks, rather than the world, because so few believe in themselves more than they believe they ,know, how others see them.
Getting Dash into the Machine world is going to be extremely prolematic, given her reaction just to the prescense of the chaos beasts, which gets stronger the more they approach, and they were still a good couple mile off when outside the mountain.
Im afraid, its going to have to be Operation Jonah.
Dash is going to have to enter in the belly of Nevelmas, and Im not sure if theres going to be enough room for even just Rourke as well.
then again, depending if theres enough changelings, but the damage is too great, I wouldve prefered changeling clad Wizball, but we are seriously running out of time. Even using the Changelings for direction and guidance, and just getting the engines stabilised for lift might be taking too long, Theres ony room for three enginners inside for repairs.
The plunger has triggered, the primer has fired, the fuse is burning. Boom is Very soon.
The time has come for epic harmony power levels of almost 9000. Almost.
4965573 Aw man, you gave it away. We could've made this last for days.
4965689
4965698 Ask Zaid. We've outsourced that duty to him.
RD should totally ask about the symbol to the changelings. I suspect they may recognize it.
My current theory: RD is going to die and become a changeling. She is "cured" of the chaos, but she has to constantly be supplied with love and fight off the influence of Chrysalis.
Woop woop battle time!
Friggin yes! There's the dues ex machina I've been waiting on!
Hoboy.
4966789 ...What.
4967228 If you didn't want me to real-life ship you, you shouldn't have acted like that.
fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2011/168/b/9/rainbow_dash_shrug_by_dropletx1-d3j6g5i.png
How does it feel to be on the receiving end of that equation for once, hm?
4967266
Pfft! I never shipped you with anyone.
...yet.
Okay. Now I'm going to comment.
This symbol better be the temporary antidote that Dashie needs. Or I'm going to go ballistic over the constant waiting.
4967284 I know I will be shipping myself with the first major donkey character showing up here. Because dragons and donkeys.
10 DAYS UNTIL BOOK 6
MMMMMMMMMMMMM. Metal walls!
4967284 Yup. I'll be sobbing if RD dies here.
4967602 Less, really. The last chapters usually come out 2-3 a day.
4967893 The one constant is ruined! Chapters =/= Days?! MY LIFE IS A LIE
You know it'll be a macguffin that extends her life. Dash could easily die before the end of the story, but not now.
4965573
Are you sure?
I have noticed the same distinct fondness for non-words, but i still feel like there is a difference in the writing style. Also, whoever the author is must be writing absolutely CONSTANTLY to keep up this pace...
4967396
Nobody will ever ship me with anyone
Time to take matters into my own hands
I DID IT! Sweet Celestia, I did it! I caught up! Why do I keep making the mistake of taking breaks from these stories?!
4966344 That has to be the most accurate representation of rainbow I've ever seen.
So, it's taken me some months, a lot of time away from writing myself, and plenty of endurance, but I've finally made parity with this series. As with all roller coasters, there have been ups, downs, and loops. I, though, am glad that I took the time to catch up.
It seems to have hit the fan with this one. Poor Rainbow is spending more time unconscious (or halfway so) than awake and is now essentially a flying version of Miss Daisy, the Village of Idiots have snapped in the wrong direction, and the recurring chaos strips seem entirely hellbent on making life miserable for our heroes.
The way I see it, somepony important is gonna die soon, and Roarke strikes me as a key candidate. At this point, she'd throw herself under ten buses for Rainbow Dash -- or into a swarm of chaos wyrmlings, and do it with her version of a smile on her face.
Either way, it's going to get ugly. It's as I've always said: When it rains, it shits.
Happy reading!
-TUC
4966344
Then I'll just work harder next time.
4968874
I think it's safe to assume that's indeed the case
4968973
i.imgur.com/Q4ecVzG.jpg
4969054
So you can binge read it later. There's no shame in that.
4969749
I support A.A/Noble Jury completely.
HOT SHIP ON SHIP ACTION? TUNE IN ON THE NEXT BOOK OF AUSTRAEOH- YAERFAERDA!
4969813 Floydien won't be happy.
I smell draaama~!
so, someponie is dying, and it'll be someone we've grown fond of......
voting Roarke, Josho, or east horse herself, in order of likelihood
4966510 i was listening to this when i came across your comment......
4969852 Juryette Montague and...uh... i-don't-have-any-clever-thing-to-make-this-sound-like-romeo Arcanist?
4968874
What 4969749 said, he confirmed it. Also its likely not as hard as you think. Given how short the chapters are, its very likely he writes multiple a day and then posts them up at a given time every day. Say at minimum he writes 5 chapters a day and only puts up one, yet he keeps writing every day (chapters this short likely wouldn't take that much time to write for a good writer; 20-30 minutes for multiple chapters most likely), hes going to build up a huge backlog. Its likely why the end of each book and the beginning of the next is usually put up as like 5 chapters or more at a time.
Of course that is just my speculation on how he does it but its one way.