Like a bronze and red cloud, the Noble Jury coasted over the glittery waves of the Frozen Sea. Its reflection danced like a waving flag across the waters below. Dull gray clouds hung over the east, shadowing the skystone vessel as it proceeded through the drifting curtains of frost.
Far ahead, Rainbow Dash flew point, her leather coat hugging her body warmly. Her goggled eyes scanned the east horizon as midday approached.
There were no birds, no errant shapes along the horizon. It had been several days since any member of the crew had seen another zeppelin. The air of this place felt stagnant, thin, untouched. It was a sensation Rainbow Dash hadn't felt in a long time. She had to glance over her shoulder every now and then to remind herself she wasn't alone. The mare sighed often.
At some point, something caught Rainbow Dash's peripheral vision. She glanced down, and she could have sworn she saw a dark mass swimming eastward beneath the currents, situated somewhere between herself and the Noble Jury. Squinting, Rainbow Dash adjusted her goggles lenses. She thought for a moment that she spotted a flicker of red light.
She exhaled, and for the millionth time cold vapors emanated from her muzzle. Glancing towards her left, she took a few minutes to squint at the northern horizon. A thin dark layer of clouds constantly hovered just beyond the vanishing point of her vision. She saw tiny flashes of light—even in the daytime. There was no doubt that they were within screaming distance of vast skystone deposits. And beyond that... an unapproachable convergence of atmosphere, energy, and firmaments.
Rainbow's lungs quivered. She looked straight ahead, clenching the jaws of her muzzle beneath her hood.
There were times when she wished that some edges of the world were just as easy to scale as others.
She flew ahead with a strong tail-wind, leading the Jury across the shifting, frozen wastes.
Hours later, the group skirted what appeared to be a breakaway chunk of an ice cap. A sudden armada of icebergs surged suddenly beneath the Jury. Rainbow Dash ascended towards the clouds, and Floydien's ship slowly followed suit. Rainbow was careful not to lead the ship to too high of an altitude; it was freezing enough as it was at this spot along the plane.
After about two hours of passing over the shattered arctic shelf, Rainbow Dash signaled to the Jury and dipped down to inspect the icebergs closer. The ship maintained its altitude while she descended, flying adjacent now to the sharp peaks of the bobbing islands.
Her goggled eyes examined each chunk of petrified ice as she passed by. Their surfaces looked like polished sapphires, with thin bridges that the orange glow of the setting sun could pierce through. Occasionally, she would dip beneath a promontory or two, even going so far as to thread her way through a hole in one massive iceberg.
At one point, she passed over a significantly large platform. She couldn't help but slow her eastward movement a bit, admiring the hundreds of feet of rock-hard ice that had been floating in the same current for centuries. If she squinted hard enough, she could make out pockets of translucent blue residing deep within the heart of the shelf. A part of her wondered if she would able to bore her way into the iceberg and breathe the same air that the alicorns did.
The ice bergs thinned a bit, denoting a current of warmer water drifting up from the south. The air grew windier, and the snow was starting to pelt Rainbow's wing feathers. Undaunted, she pulled her jacket's hood tighter and ascended, putting her tail once again to the setting sun.
Night fell, though it was hard to tell. For the second evening in a row, a neon green lightshow played overhead, cascading north where it melted into chaotic red streamers against the converging firmaments. It felt like a Hearth's Warming pageant against the cosmos, and Rainbow Dash couldn't help but breathe warmer for a space in time.
It didn't last long.
Her wings were starting to grow stiff. Rainbow wasn't certain if she could blame the cold or her reliance on the Noble Jury as of late. Regardless, the mare kenw better than to push herself beyond her limits. She flew back, gave Floydien a nod through the cockpit's dashboard, and touched down on the top deck.
Standing there, she lowered her hood and tossed her mane loose. Breathing evenly, she coiled her wings by her side and stood there for a while. Her gaze tilted north, once again watching in mute wonder as the aurora of green bands ribboned out into red geysers, then disappeared into a pinpoint black void.
For a moment there, it looked as if her lips were going to curve upwards.
Suddenly, a pale glow overcame her. She actually gasped, flinching slightly. She glanced down at her pendant. The Element of Loyalty was resonating with sparkling energy. The pegasus was confused at first, until she glanced up to see a full moon piercing the emerald light show.
The pegasus' ears twitched... twitched again... then gradually folded over her heads. Her lips quivered, and she clenched her eyes shut, taking a long and labored breath. She trembled a bit; she only wished it was because of the snow.
Eagle Eye yawned. With softly padding steps, he scaled the Noble Jury's stern stairwell, tightening the bands of his felt hoodie. Coming out onto the top deck for a breather, he caught sight of Rainbow Dash—what's more, he caught sight of her in the spotlight of the lunar glow.
Blinking, he tilted his violet eyes up. As soon as he saw full moon, he gasped for joy. Beaming, he galloped out onto the middle of the deck and froze in place, grinning at the pale glow illuminating Rainbow Dash. Fidgeting, he swallowed hard and inhaled deeply to pronounce her name...
But instead he lingered, blinking awkwardly.
Rainbow Dash had just thrown her coat's hood back over her head. As soon as the moon's glow was cut off from her pendant, the pale aura faded away, along with all the twinkling traces of enchanted light. With sagging shoulders, Rainbow Dash marched coldly—limply—into the cockpit, where she slinked her quiet way down the passageway and into the dull heart of the airship.
Eagle Eye's mouth hung open. With sad, drooping ears, he glanced back up at the full moon, then at the space of the deck where Rainbow's body had previously occupied. In a cold shudder, he plopped back on his haunches, numb to the core.
So...
We missed an encounter with Luna?
4029272
Damn. RD needs to get her shit together. She might as well tell everyone back home she's dead.
Yeah, Rainbow, that'll assure everypony you left back home that leaving was the right choice. It's not like they miss you or anything.
It would be nice if she could get over herself and talk to Luna. But she's too insistent on being a blame sink. I blame the ice wyrm for this.
awww I wanted to see what luna would say
You have reached the pendant of Rainbow Dash -- Rainbow Dash is not in at the moment -- if you would like to leave a message at the beep.
4029300
They all moved on, I think. Rainbow Dash is dead for all intents and purposes, except that one time Scootaloo came to talk. She's more like a memory.
Goddammit Dash! I was hoping Luna would knock some wisdom upside your head, but nooooo. If nothing else, consider what your silence might imply to Luna, or anyone else that's following the communications, like Scootaloo.
That said, I always enjoy these dialogue-free, scenery-based travel chapters. The descriptions are always so vivid.
I'm wondering how long IC will be able to invent such long chapter titles...
But besides that, the behaviour of Rainbow Dash is really worrying, but at some point, it feels well with circumstances and this weather.
She...didn't want to talk to Luna?...
RD phone home.
And here I was hoping to get word of things in Ponyville. More so for my peace of mind that Ponyville's safe after Lerris's destruction than anything else.
You know when you log into Skype, and a friend is online, and then you begin typing a greeting, but suddenly they log off?
And you're like, I think they're avoiding me.
That's probably Luna right now.
Damn, RD. A princess of the land tries to contact you, to give advice and news of the old homeland, and you just shut her out. That's cold.
Hmm... with what's gone on and how close Shell's actions were, I'm not surprised. The wound in her soul is far too fresh to look into right now, and that's exactly what this conversation would have had her do.
Eh, she usually can talk to Luna for about three days in a row. If IC just lets this chance pass by, I'll take my ticket and wait in line to kill him.
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Bullshit. People like Rainbow Dash leave an impression. Ponyville loved her, and they wouldn't forget her. At the very least the CMC and the remaining Apples. She's just afraid of looking back, or letting them see what she thinks she's done.
Thirty-five flutter kicks, ):(, four count. Knock 'em out!
Oh come on.
Chat lag is always a pain, especially when its so cold your fingers dont work as quickly as you hoped.
Also, at least they have some more firebugs for te heating system when they need it, given that eely is following them.
4030103 I think the end of Odrsjot gave me PTSD.
Wat do?
Rainbow, get your shit together. You have an entire world resting on your shoulders. Don't be a Frodo Baggins. Be a Samwise Gamgee.
Rainbow Dash, cut it out.
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Remember that her opportunity to talk with luna lasts a few nights.
I hope the jury takes this as an opportunity to sit down and have a talk with Rainbow. It gives them something concrete, something that can catalyze her recovery. And once she works up to talking to Luna, hopefully in the next couple of nights, Luna can accelerate it even more.
I get the feeling she'll be speaking with Luna before the end of the full moon. Still, the way she's going about all of this doesn't feel like she's simply too sad to talk about it.
And with this recent development with Luna, it's looking more and more like she either finds everyone around her inadequate (which I highly doubt) or... she finds herself inadequate. And not the sort of "I failed my task" sense of self pity, but a true loathing of oneself. Like she thinks everyone would be better off without her. As I said in a previous comment, this is a scary thing to see when one has the capacity to simply fly away.
I hope eagle eye drags her back out there
Luna is sure going to give Dash a talking to when they do end up talking. Dash is being pretty stupid here, even if she has a few days to talk to her. I understand why she doesn't but it doesn't make it any less stupid, talking to Luna is likely the best thing to do right now.
goddarnnit rd, you have had a couple weeks to at least get to the point where you can talk to Luna of all people. sure maybe no one on the Jury, cuz reasons.. but Luna!
Eagle Eye, get her back out there
4030103
They built a statue. I don't think they forgot her, I think they've mourned her. She is, for all intents and purposes, as dead as the rest of them. Luna's moonlight chats are a bonus, like speaking to a loved one from beyond the grave.
It just happens to turn out that the haphazard task Luna sent Dash on as a distraction might actually be important. My point is that I don't think think, as there has yet to be, a line of ponies waiting to talk to Rainbow every month. It's just Luna; Scootaloo that one time was a bonus for closure. That very conversation revealed to us how the rest of Equestria has been moving on, as life tends to do. "Miss," therefore, is rather figurative. They miss her like you miss a loved one who has died.
Luna no doubt has valuable insight here, but it's not like Rainbow has anyone but herself to convince of anything. More frustrating is that it seems almost everyone else on the Jury is also reeling. You'd think one of them would mention that they're all together, and should learn on each other.
Really? Seriously? Hahah, okay then.
So either Eagle was too late to bring us into an encounter with RD and Luna, or Dash is just being way too mopey to actually talk to Luna for once. Somebody needs to convince her to talk with Luna before it's too late.
"So I ended a war, killed a guy, killed a few hundred other people not quite as directly, uncovered a changeling hive, devastated two cities, saw another wiped out, had an old friend of yours killed by her sister, almost took magic from the world, broke apart from several of my friends, lost most of the developments I've made through the journey thus far and kind of reverted to what I was before. So how was your month, moonbutt?"
The more I think about it, the less I can blame her.
she's basically acting like Austraeoh rainbow...she's afraid.
4032380 Which is where i believe zaid is going to come in. He was the (surprisingly) sensical that broke Props out of her funk. I think this is where its his turn to take some action and be usefull.
Come on Rainbow Dash. Luna can help you.
Full moon is more than a day. EE will make her come around
Dammit Rainbow.
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
Alright, nice nature scene here. I'm glad for that, and I hope that kind of description makes a comeback during Dash's journey over the Frozen Sea. And I wonder what Luna said as well...These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
Rainbow... I wanted to see what Luna would say!
-Spirit
A part of her wondered if she would able to bore her way into the iceberg and breathe the same air that the alicorns did.
living in Massachusetts, i think about things like this all the time. this state has more history among it than any other <3
You know, it would probably be possible. Ice cores can have samples from hundreds of thousands, if not millions of years ago. It's invaluable to science to find out what the atmosphere was made of in the past.
4030517
Indeed. Become the true Lord of the Rings.
Rainbow . . .
I don't know what this means, but something's up. Rainbow never misses a call.
Well shit. If Rainbow is deciding that she is 'better off' without talking to Luna...I'd say she's given up at this point. I'll admit...just that thought alone brings a stinging sensation to my eyes
It's nice to see another early-Austraeoh-esque chapter.
This is just plainly sad
6009989 Very sad indeed.
it's become a thing, at the start of every book we have Luna time. One of my favorite parts of every story so far and I really hope Dashie doesn't skip out on it altogether. I think she needs it more than ever this time.
Rainbow I love you girl but you can't pity yourself forever
a talk with luna would do you some good, honestly
A different path, a darker path.
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Agreed. She really could use some LunaLove right now.
Oh nooo...