The Last Pegasus of Stratopolis
Rainbow Dash stood in stunned silence, her muzzle pronouncing the cold, bitter word.
Props sniffled, leaning her weight against her Uncle as she fought the urge to collapse. "He was trying to comfort Elma... or what was left of Elma, when the floor fell apart beneath them." Props pointed at the gaping holes howling with hurricane winds. "It h-happened so suddenly. It's a m-miracle that more of us weren't sucked out. But... but..."
"He fell?" Rainbow stammered. "During the brief fart in time while I was gone?!" Her teeth showed as she spontaneously snarled. "Are you kidding me?!"
"Rainbow, I'm sorry, I—"
"Somepony please tell me there was a temple or a platform beneath us at the time!" Rainbow rushed forward, voice cracking. "Or Elma! The.. th-the changeling had wings, didn't she?! Maybe... j-just maybe she could have..."
"It's as grim as it sounds, lassie," Prowse said as he kept a protective arm over the blonde mare's shoulder. His head shook with a somber expression. "Sure wish we could say otherwise."
Panting, Rainbow stepped fearlessly before the gaping holes, gazing down into the pale, stormy mess.
Josho shuffled over, swallowing a lump down his throat. "Rainbow, I... I-I know this absolutely blows chunks, girl, but we've got to keep it together..."
"Keep it together..." The pegasus muttered.
"We've been lucky not to have any of us drop dead ten times over until now. But with all of the deadly weather and shape-shifting freakjobs around every corner—"
"Josho, I can't even keep my friends together!" Rainbow flashed a frown back at him. "If I can't protect what's closest to me anymore, then what do I have left?!"
"Pilate knew the risk by stepping out of the Noble Jury!"
"And so did I!" Rainbow shouted. "But that doesn't change the fact that I owe him more! That I owe Belle m-more!"
"Will you quit the friggin' waltz of guilt while you're ahead?!" Josho barked. "We're in the middle of a crisis and we can't afford to have you stumbling over something you couldn't have prevented!"
"What, like a good soldier?!" Rainbow spat. "Josho, I never ever wanted to fight in any of your continent's stupid wars! And yet violent crud and mayhem seems to follow me wherever I go! How many friends will I lose before I finally do the smart thing and give up?!" Grimacing, she spun towards the holes and spread her wings.
Josho squinted. "What the Hell are you doing?!"
"I have to find him."
"Rainbow, he fell!"
"Never stopped him from living before!" She plunged into the hurricane winds.
"Wait!" Seclorum shouted.
Josho was already yanking her in place by a telekinetic tug to her tail. "Rainbow, don't!" Josho shouted.
"Buck off!" Rainbow howled. "He needs me—"
"I need you!" Josho loudly retorted. "Props and the rest of the ponies here do! This place is a hellhole and only you have the edge to make any sense out of it!"
"You tell that to Belle when we come back empty-hoofed!"
"Rainbow, the Noble Jury is—"
"Grnnngh!" Rainbow wrenched her tail free, smacking Josho across the face. The stallion fell back, losing his magical grip. A clap of thunder rolled across the chamber as Rainbow Dash descended with the force of a meteorite, rocketing straight down into the heart of the storm.
Props hung her tearful face while Prowse looked on.
Across the way, Razzar adjusted the sleeves of his glowing suit. "She's a creature who thinks with her heart. A most peculiar trait."
"Go sit on an iceberg and rotate," Josho grumbled, staring dully through the gaping crevices.
Rainbow Dash flew wildly through the swirling mess of Stratopolis. There were too many shards of granite flying through the howling maelstrom to make sense of. Dangling bits of rock and mortar orbited the glowing obelisks in limp trajectories, losing bits and pieces of craggy sediment as the merciless winds chipped them gradually away.
Hyperventilating, Rainbow flew through the chaotic debris field, shouting at the top of her lungs.
"Pilate?!"
Lightning flashed. Thunder swallowed the exclamations from her howling mouth.
Squinting into the wet sheets of rain, Rainbow Dash thrust her shoulder against the gales and flew haphazardly.
"Nnnngh... Pilatttttte!"
Temple pieces collided with each other, spraying ash and pebbles over her head like stray bullets.
Palpitating harder and harder, Rainbow Dash zig-zagged her way around the shrapnel bits and continued her desperate cries.
Pilate lay in a puddle, his back pelted relentlessly by drowning sheets of precipitation. His muscles quivered as he fought for the strength to crawl forward.
Just then, his ears twitched.
Something melodic stood out against the raging thunder. He made out two syllables, stabbing his heart into beating faster.
He tilted his head up, ears twitching in the soaking rain.
"Rainbow...?"
More thunder. Once more, the voice cried out, sounding more distant this time.
"Rainbow!" Pilate sputtered, then stood up straight on wobbly legs. "Rainbowwww!" Wincing, he galloped forward, blindly persuing the echoes of that warm voice. "I'm here! I'm over here! Rainbow, I—"
The zebra winced, skidding suddenly to a slippery stop. He stood, panting, his head tilted to the side as he listened to the air in front of him.
The sheets of rain weren't pitter-pattering just a few feet ahead.
Nervously, Pilate squatted low and felt a hoof forward. It ran across a slick surface, then plunged into open air. He was less than two trots away from the precarious edge of the platform.
Panicking, he fell back on his haunches and scooted away from the deathly plunge. By the time the blood stopped throbbing in his ears, he realized the shouts of the pegasus had grown fainter, disappearing entirely.
"Rainbow...?!"
No reply.
Pilate gnashed his teeth, stifled a growl, and ultimately hollered, "Rainbowwww!"
"Mmmmffngh!" Bruised and wincing, Eagle Eye leaned his shoulder against a granite column. He sputtered rainwater from his muzzle, tossed his lavender mane back, and stared out from the platform he was on.
The piece of temple that served as his perch was a sliver of its former glory. It hovered at a precarious angle around an obelisk, constantly twirling about so that Eagle Eye had to scamper across its surface for even hoofing like an insect atop a rolling orange. For the time being, he was in a safe position, at least until the platform rotated about once more.
The motions of the granite structure were frighteningly fast, and Eagle found himself soaring past other large pieces of debris populating his particular pocket of Stratopolis. While bits of rock collided loudly above and below him, he struggled to keep calm, taking the moment to survey his situation.
It was then that he thought he spotted a familiar blue shape flying around the belly of the large round structure above.
He gasped, stepping forward and leaning on his sword like it was a cane. Squinting, his expert eyes spotted the tell-tale signs of blue feathers and a prismatic mane. In a flash of thunder, Rainbow's figure darted from cloud to cloud, lost in the debris field of endlessly floating shards.
Eagle Eye opened his mouth to shout—when he heard a different kind of thunder. The air roared around him. Nervously, he spun around and looked past the nearest column.
A bronze hull soared by, along with the rain-slicked words spelling out "Noble Jury."
"Hey! Heeeeeeey!" Eagle Eye scampered towards the edge and shouted, flickering his horn like a beacon. "Guys! Over here! I'm here! Hey!"
It was too late. The Noble Jury soared past him as swiftly as it had appeared. It spiraled along its grand, clockwise arc, trailing the edge of the swirling storm.
Eagle Eye slumped against a column, his ears folded as he murmured into the moist air. "Ebon..."
The stallion sniffled, closing his eyes for a sad, contemplative moment. Then, eyes opened, he glared into the swirling mess. His head tilted up, and he saw what looked to be a peculiar pattern of rocks floating directly overhead, leading upwards towards a lofty temple that was mostly intact. In a way, the shards vaguely resembled stepping stones.
With a deep breath, Eagle Eye gripped the hilt of his sword in his teeth and climbed the nearest column of his platform with determined hooves.
"The Tarkington?" Razzar remarked.
"Yes," Aatxe said with a nod. "It's a sturdy vessel, capable of carrying a crew of one hundred and fifty. It's more than enough to handle the survivors we've got held up here... or... well..." The stallion sighed, slumping against a brick wall of the hold. "It once was."
"How do you mean?"
"The last time I set hoof upon the deck of my ship was nearly two decades ago," the stallion murmured. "At the time, all it was missing was an active engine core. But it's been so long. Who's to know if it's still operational... or even in one piece?"
Razzar glanced at his fellow cohorts through his mask. He turned back towards the stallion. "During the flight from our ship to this building, we spotted a large vessel with a dark blue hull stranded on a lower temple."
Aatxe's ears twitched as he looked up with a gaping expression. "With copper lateral fins and a steel-reinforced cockpit?"
"Indeed."
"Then..." Aatxe's eyes glistened as he stood up straight. "Then it survived the calamity j-just now! It m-may still be able to fly!" He grinned wide.
Razzar tilted his head. "You seem extraordinarily ecstatic..."
"He has reason to be," Seclorum said as he shuffled up. "The Tarkington has been our silver bullet for a long time now."
Arcshod nodded. "Fesa'lanna creminium le'saranna kyo'taarkan."
"What is this that the Xonan speaks of?" Razzar asked.
Seclorum glanced at the furthest edge of the compartment where Lasairfion sat with her closest subjects. "The Queen's ponies are adept at detecting energy sources. Believe it or not, Xonans are about more than tattoos and fancy tongues. They're natural born mana-sniffers."
Arcshod frowned. "Ranna'krenmar, Ledomulien trent'erm..."
"You're welcome." Seclorum faced Razzar again. "Their Queen in particular has sensed an energy beacon in the heart of this building."
"And energy beacon..."
"They think it's some form of mana crystal... but unlike any of the kind crafted and used by Ledomare or Xona." Seclorum gulped. "Something more potent... more powerful."
"The Tarkington was built to run off of mana-crystal energy," Aatxe said. "If there's something like it inside this structure, then it could conceivably refuel my ship and give us all an avenue of escape."
"It would have to be a sizable energy source indeed to allow you to pierce the winds of this place," Razzar said.
"That's what we're hoping," Aatxe said. "But we won't have any real idea until we get our hooves on the energy source."
"What's kept you from doing so?" Razzar asked. "The shape-shifters?"
"To some extent, yes. However..." Aatxe fumbled for words.
"What is it?"
Seclorum sighed. "There's a barrier... a closed door to the inner recesses of this building."
"Meaning...?"
"So long as it's in the way, we can't enter the innermost chambers of this structure. We always felt it was a hopeless cause." The Ledomaritan officer glanced once more in Lasairfion's direction. "However, if we had a key of sorts to gain access to what's inside—"
With a rush of air and rainwater, Rainbow's blue figure darted back up the hole and planted wetly on the chamber floor. Various survivors gasped while a few of them nervously picked up their crossbows, training it on the pegasus.
"Dashie!" Props exhaled from Prowse's side.
Rainbow said nothing, glaring ahead into the firelight.
"Rainbow..." Josho sat up from where he was sitting against a pile of rubble. "Did... uhm..." He fidgeted, his face grimacing apologeticlaly. "Did you...?"
She strolled past him on heavy hooves.
"Hey..." Seclorum looked her way. "Hey!" He frowned. "Are you forgetting something?"
Rainbow kept marching.
Aatxe nervously bit his lip. Arcshod and Seclorum rushed over, levitating their crossbows as they blocked the pegasus' path.
"Not one more step until you—" Seclorum started.
"Rrrrghh!" Rainbow Dash suddenly had the graying stallion shoved against a wall. She shoved the still-fresh wound of her forelimb into his face. "See?! Still bleeding, jerkwad! Give it a lick if you doubt me!"
Seclorum sputtered, frowning. "We've been in this mess longer than you, lady. The least you can do is show a little respect—"
"For what?!" Rainbow snarled. "You think you're actually in charge here?! What can you do to get these ponies out of this mess?! What have you done?!" She dropped the stallion with a grunt and shook the moisture off her shoulders. "You want off this rock and someplace safe?! Then take a long look! I'm the one real thing to swing by this place since Commander Hurricane died! Rainbow Dash—the last pegasus of Stratopolis!" Grunting, she tossed her mane and trotted towards the far corner of the place. "Take it or leave it, folks."
Everypony watched as she stormed off.
Seclorum hobbled back onto his hooves, assisted by Arcshod and Aatxe.
"Uhm..." Aatxe bit his lip. "Somepony should... uh... pr-probably keep an eye on her."
"Dreit."
Before Seclorum could open his mouth again—
"Give it a rest, Secchy," Josho muttered, then shuffled tiredly after the pegasus at a distance. "She's my pal. I've got it covered."
Seclorum was quiet. Props and Prowse hung their heads while the Lounge watched on in silence.
Rainbow Dash rounded a corner on her lonesome. Once she was beyond the glow of the hold's torchlight, she shuffled to a stop, heaving with deep breaths.
Her face contorted into a frown. Swiveling about, she planted her hooves against a dusty brick wall. Her eyes clenched shut as her body rocked back and forth. Stifling an inward grunt, she tapped her forehead against the brick... then slapped it... then headbutted the wall several times with hissing squeaks of pain and frustration.
Suddenly, she stopped, her body wracked with shivers. Rainbow's face quivered, melting into a perpetual grimace as sniffling breaths fountained from her nostrils. She heaved, heaved again, and slumped down to her knees, bracing herself against the wall as tears trickled down her face. She curled her forelimbs against her chest, feeling the rattle of her pendant with each pent-up sob.
"Celestia... Celestia, I-I can't..." She whimpered, her teeth gnashing beneath clenched eyes. "Not anymore... I don't know how... I-I don't know..." She moaned into her forelimbs. "Why am I here? Why am I even h-here? It doesn't... d-doesn't..."
Her words trailed off, and yet she heard an echo to the sobs.
Sniffling, Rainbow rubbed her cheeks dry and opened her puffy eyes.
The sobbing continued, this time at a distance. To Rainbow's twitching ears, it sounded like it was just around the corner.
Gulping, Rainbow stood up on weak hooves. Pensively, she trotted around the bend, following the melancholic noise. A tiny torch flickered into her eyes. She squinted, her face scrunching at a terrible stench. She heard the buzzing of flies and the rattle of chains.
At last, Rainbow came completely around the corner. A dark shape lay beneath her, but it was too solid to be a shadow.
Fettered to the wall, surrounded by its own filth, an emaciated changeling sat in shackles. Sobbing, it looked up at Rainbow Dash. In a brief moment, its green eyes turned to ruby pupils and back again. "Please... I-I'm sorry," the changeling whimpered. "Just stop... st-stop waving it in front of me..."
"What..." Rainbow squinted, her sorrow replaced by shock and confusion. "...the buck?"
"So much love..." The changeling's flesh turned blue and fuzzy and went back to its black shell. It curled over, clutching its chest as it avoided Rainbow's gaze. "It's too much. It hurts... h-hurts to hunger..."
Rainbow sat down across the wretched creature, her eyes glued to its chains, then to the green bloodstains along the brick wall surrounding it. "What... how...?"
"Please tell her I-I'm sorry," the creature sobbed.
Rainbow cocked her head aside. "Tell who?"
"Mother..." The changeling hissed. "Mother, I'm s-so sorry for hungering..."
Stats
Page generated in 0.069 seconds
Total duration
836 users online
476,174 hits today, 1,960,719 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
What?
Did this changeling steal love from the queen or something?
Or, for an alternative reaction: New party member!
1) Damn it Rainbow, you should know by now that nobody ever gets to fall from great heights and die. Its part of the luck factor from being next to a pegasus. Search harder. Check every building.
2) That Changeling.... what? Ebon? Ebon clone 2? The original Ebon, and the Ebon on the ship is a clone?
media.tumblr.com/b2e6655bfc3b5b010664c25e660efd04/tumblr_inline_mn11ezJV4w1qz4rgp.gif
3)4246501
... sure, why not.
Well... at least this time it looks like Rainbow's BSOD won't last quite as long as the last one...
With all the abuse the changelings get, I'm half expecting some sort of mutiny.
This is interesting. And by 'interesting' I mean awesome, and scary, and sad, and yell-at-the-computer.
Hmmm...seems the Lounge actually do listen...
...Dafuq is that changeling doing chained up back there?
Ugh...so much cliffhanger...
So, I don't think Ebon is a changeling. Am I the only one? Just seems to be a common theory.
Uh.... OK, sure as heck didn't see this coming
4246874 I'm going to go on a limb and say he's part windigo.
Still feeds on emotion.
4246501
Nah, it's reacting to Rainbow's strong show of emotion, and spewing out some random gibberish probably related to how it ended up chained to a wall. I'm guessing from context that this changeling is feeding on love, not the other strong-but-dasterdly emotions.
The question is who chained said changeling there. The "survivors?" If that's the case, they have their key, but it also presents something much more sinister.
Well, that's a twist. I dunno what to make of this yet. Is this band of changelings (led by Tchern, I'm assuming) forbidden to feed on love, preferring, as they seem to, hatred? Might this changeling be a potential ally?
Also, that door to the central crystal chamber? How much do you wanna bet that when/if Rainbow checks it out, she finds a sun and hoof print? Despite being in the sky, this place stinks of the Machine World.
Well well. This is interesting.
Back the fuck up... who he hell is this joker and what the hell is he/she referencing?
Well, we will see.
... I feel like I need to channel my inner George Takei right now.
Dammit Rainbow! You're a Pegasus! I don't care if Pilate is blind, pegasi have superior hearing and eyesight.
This is Australia...
Interesting...
I REALLY hope RD doesn't leave the stranded crew (Pilate, EE, Belle) behind and ship off in a hurry.
4246874 Still not convinced Ebon's a changeling either, but I see where y'all are coming from... especially now that yet another one is talking about its Mother.
4247130 Normally, I'd agree that "big huge alien mana source" generally means "Machine World," but two issues arise: one, they're not on the ground. Two: RD hasn't been seeing any lavender light in her flights through the city. I'm guessing its some prehistoric Equestrian artifact Hurricane had with her or something like that.
4247010
Yes, I am sinister. I don't mind.
On another note. I don't know how this hasn't been mentioned before, but if the Changelings make regular trips to keep the captives fed, they must have a way through the storm that is pretty safe. Or it would almost be more effort than it is worth. Why keep them alive at all? Their counterparts have been unmasked. Or there is something even more sinister going on.
Are they sharing that floating rock with an entire colony?
The plot is so thick right now you'd need a plasma torch to cut through it.
4247929
Don't forget the obelisks, though, something that have always had something to do with the Machine World. I dunno, maybe you're right. And you raise a good point about the lack of lavender light. But it still seems like it must have some connection to the Machine World.
I will take this time, since we have mentioned a changeling saying Mother, to say why I think Ebon is a changeling.
There is no way that even with Elma and Prowse as changelings the changelings could have copied RD. Any other pony, sure. But they are copying a creature with different genetics, different bone structures, different magic, different everything. It'd take quite some time. Ebon has been with Dash for quite some time.
Just missed, just missed, just missed, oops, there it goes. Theres a right cement mixer outside.
And, next twist, Mr Chainy the changeling.
Big mana gem behind bio locked door?. Laputa. Good thing it aint the battle version. All those flying laser golems.
Okay, so I just got the joke.
Lounge Lizards. Man, what was I even expecting? If they don't croon something by the time we're done with them, I'll be disappointed.
wat. brane iz braked. hoo iz dis changerlin?
also that door is one of the machine world entrance types, as in you need to be one of the special people to open it (i think)
>Go sit on an iceberg and rotate
Let's hope the lounge let this changeling live long enough to let it enlighten us as to its peculiar situation.
-Spirit
Okay, Rainbow, the self-hate's getting stale fast.
4251824
Advanced insults. So advanced that no one knows what the Hell you're talking about.
So it's feeding off of love, and it is apologizing for hungering for it. This Changeling . . . it's interesting, I'll give it that. But I had hoped it'd be Elma-changeling.
Now what is with this changeling?
The least elma could've done was put Pilate in a visible spot.
Woah! Possibly Elma? probably not, but...
4251824 It's a longer way of saying, "screw yourself" or "screw off" I think.
So much crazy stuff has gone down in this book already. What in the world could possibly be next? It's been cool getting to learn more about the changelings, but... I fear it won't be enough for our party to work with at times. Power source for Stratopolis? Maybe another flame? Onward!
~SolidFire
Dashie gets it.
I mean...it sounds mean, but Rainbow really shouldn't have taken Pilate along. Dude is currently blind on a floating city. The fact that he hasn't done a forward dive off is a miracle.
Dash is also right about Seclorum. While his situation blows, he's not helped with the constant paranoia.
And who is this changeling? It ain't 'Elma', so...
8125216
The Zebra almost as resilient as Shell.