The Circles Inside of Circles
"Nagu'n the serpent Goddess hails from spinning cosmos," Lasairfion said in her thick, rolling accent. "World of constants\ circles before dawning of mortal life." Her eyes narrowed. "It calls it 'Urohringr,' the spheres within spheres. Says the scriptures of much darkening: evil in angles and curve. It bleeds unto itself, devouring and leeching. Circles break and give way to shadows between starlight. Ever since, task most noble it is of Nagu'n to restore balance between shards of Urohringr."
Before Rainbow Dash could say something, Props dashed forward. "And just what's this 'Urohringr' gotta do with this place? Or with Dashie?"
Arcshod glanced aside at his Queen. "Melsun'ielen rekkh'ar threndu Urohringr sara kelem'dreen."
Lasairfion nodded and turned to face the newcomers again. "With great repetitioning appears the symbol of spheres inside spheres around us. Changeling's city of floating prison breathes with the darkness of the cosmic world. Nagu'n's forsaken glory trails off every corner, and symbols sing of die cast before chaos everswirilng."
"Symbols..." Rainbow Dash gulped. "I... I saw a wall before. It was a barrier with this crazy mosaic of rings within rings..."
Arcshod shuddered. "Murielen sep'andrek Austraeoh threanna malakeen Xon-Nagu'n..."
"It speaks of great relavencing," Lasairfion stammered, her eyes falling upon Rainbow and her pendant. "Scriptures speak of Austraeoh, beacon destined to pierce chaos shadow and restore balance for glory of Nagu'n."
"Wait..." Josho blinked awkwardly. "You tattooed dudes' actually foretell color wheel here?"
Rainbow brushed a hoof across his shoulder. "Easy, chief. It's something I've more or less known ever since I landed in the Sacred Hold." She nevertheless gulped. "Just a consequence of the Xonans having inherited the language of ponies far older than anyone else who trots this earth."
"No friggin' way. You talking about the old pegasi that Khao's yucks farted themselves to death over?"
"I don't know what I'm talking about anymore," Rainbow Dash muttered aside. She trotted forward and squinted her eyes at Lasairfion. "Just what is this 'Austraeoh' prophesied to do when she comes into contact with Urohringr?"
"It does not understand." Lasairfion briskly shook her head. "Nagu'n's blessed cosmos exist only in fragments. Urohringr is no longer."
"Er... right..."
"But upon the Shattering of Spheres, many eggs hatched. Containers possessed essence of cosmic glory. Xon only knows glory; Nagu'n chooses not to sing out of reverance. Eggs hatch and glory sprouts wings. Celestial sentries that are neither ponies nor serpents, monitor the skies and bring righteous conviction and blood."
"Eggs... sentries... wh-what?!" Josho wheezed.
"Almost sounds like what Handsome would say!" Props chirped.
"Really?" Rainbow glared at her with thin eyes. "Care to interpret?"
"Uhm... s-sounds to me like the universe of 'spheres within spheres' shattered, and in its place there appeared a bunch of 'sentries' whose job it was to watch over the world as we now know it."
"More like Urohringr was sundered," Rainbow Dash said.
Prowse spoke up, "And Stratopolis seems prime material for one of these crazy-flank'd 'sentries.'"
"And what of the symbols that lie around this place?" Razzar spoke up from where he stood with the Lounge. "Was this 'sentry' waiting specifically for 'Austraeoh?'"
Rainbow Dash rubbed her chin in thought. "Stratopolis floated into Equestrian airspace. It brought tons of bad weather and chaos and crap. Commander Hurricane intercepted it... discovered she and she alone could somehow control it. Hurricane gives up her life to move this thing far away from Equestria. Eons later, Chyrsalis finds this place, studies the symbols inside. Meanwhile, she gobbles up Xonan culture, finds out all about 'Urohringr' n'crap, and senses m-me coming from Equestria..."
"Only Austraeoh has power for piercing Urohringr's seal," Lasairfion.
"Yeah?" Aatxe squinted. "To what end?"
Lasairfion calmly said, "Glory of Xon."
Seclorum rolled his eyes and groaned.
"Maybe... maybe I can do something to that symbol I found earlier," Rainbow Dash said. "I can open a way to what lies behind the barricade!"
"And what?" Seclorum remarked. "Get us into the core of this damnable place?"
"Of course!" Aatxe claimed. "If perhaps another of her kind could do it eons ago, then why can't she? I mean, she's the first pony with wings to show up here in ages!"
"We do need to get to the core of this building bloody badly," Prowse remarked. "Otherwise, we'll never get the energy crystals to breathe life back into the Tarkington."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Josho remarked. "We get our flanks to this place, have Rainbow opened the barricade, get what we need, and blow this waterlogged popsicle stand!"
Rainbow opened her mouth to speak.
"I have an even better question," Razzar said.
"And what's that?" Seclorum asked.
Razzar's silver mask tilted about. "Why hasn't Chyrsalis' brood opened this barricade alredy?"
Everypony was silent.
"Evidently, they have copied Rainbow Dash's essence into their hive mind," the Lounge leader continued. "What's to stop them from getting to the core of this place themselves?"
"They..." Props fidgeted where she stood. "They must be waiting for us to make the f-first move!"
"Or waiting to spring a trap," Seclorum droned.
Josho gnashed his teeth.
Ponies glanced at one another and murmured in nervous fear.
"That..." Rainbow Dash winced halfway through trying to speak. " ...that c-can't be a good thing."
"The next course of action seems obvious to me," Razzar stated. "We must bring Rainbow Dash to the symbol as swiftly as possible and access the core of Stratopolis for ourselves."
"But what if that's what they're expecting us to do?!" Aatxe remarked.
"It seems an even greater risk to cower in here and allow our shapeshifting foes complete access to the rest of this floating death trap." Razzar glanced in Lasairfion's direction. "If the monarch's words hold resonance, then there is something far older and more powerful than even Chrysalis to be had in this place. We owe it to ourselves and the rest of the world to make sure that changeling nemeses do not gain access. Val Roa is already doomed. What lies next in the destructive path?"
"I hate to say it..." Josho rubbed his chin, then glanced Rainbow's way. "But I'm with creepy-face over here."
"The first line of defense is a good offense." Seclorum nodded. "I concur. Miss Dash? What do you think?"
"Doesn't look like there's much thinking involved," Rainbow muttered. "Only a crap-ton of doing."
"We will lead the charge," Razzar said, gesturing towards his lackeys. The rest of the Lounge cocked their weapons and stood up straight at attention. "Our weapons and training will decimate the elusive hoard if they try to attack us."
"Ge'salanna hrenna theem drenn'adren," Arcshod said, jaw tight. Several able-bodied warriors stood proudly at his side. "Mer'nassan the'luniel sulien Austraeoh rekkah threen."
"Looks like you've got yourself a regular hoofball team, Dashie!" Props exclaimed.
"She sure as heck does!" Prowse nodded, patting Prop's shoulder. "I'll lend every hoof I have left, even if I have to build a new one. Secchy?"
"We can't do this without you, Missy," Seclorum said, shuffling up to the pegasus. "You seem like a pony of action. You game for a trip to the heart of this place?"
"Absolutely..." Rainbow's voice trailed off, as did her eyes. She glanced towards the far corner of the torchlit place. After a blink, she squinted at the Ledomaritan Enforcer. "On one condition, though..."
Stats
Page generated in 0.055 seconds
Total duration
780 users online
1,117,606 hits today, 2,244,100 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.®
Feels like we're veering slightly into Lovecraft country here.
Hmmm that thing about the Sentries is interesting, I have a feeling that we are going to meet one of these things pretty soon. I have a feeling that Seclorum isn't going to like this condition.
The condition: Bring the Changeling.
Oh look, time for glimmer glimmer to stop with the spitting and get on with the action.
Sentries? huh I'm confused
Aaaaaand they've figured it out.
I think she's gonna ask that they bring the changeling prisoner...
I've had the impression that there aren't all that many changelings around, certainly fewer than there are ponies. sure they can infiltrate and mislead, but they're not the completely insurmountable enemy that this series has made me grow accustomed to.
I like the density of mythos-building in this stratopolis arc, this new idea of sentries could be cool. Is the sentry a creature, or perhaps stratopolis itself?
fc05.deviantart.net/fs38/f/2008/321/9/0/Scent_Tree_Down_by_Mirror_Forced.png
Im wondering if this door is as smart as the control rods, then the Changelings could open it. thing is, is there a seperate guardian behind that door that is somewhat rather more intelligent, and attacks everything, and only Dash, natural abilities, will survive?
Looks like we have the big battle approaching.
Lasairfion's grasp of the Equestrian (? [considering every culture we've seen with the exception of Xon speaks it]) language muddled things for me a little, but I think I got the gist of it. Lore and world-building are always, always a welcome thing. And now, it's time for action. I just hope bringing the changeling doesn't hurt them in the long run (like, the other changelings can sense him or something).
And speaking of welcome things, I agree with SugarPesticide.
4292161
Hive mind. What (s)he knows, they know. Whether any break in communication is possible, we don't know for sure.
4292285
I thought they said it had been severed from the hive mind when it was captured. Maybe I'm remembering wrong, or maybe the changeling was lying, or something. Either way, I can't imagine that bringing the changeling will make things any simpler (as much as I sympathize with the changeling).
4292301
They said they believed it was. Later events cast doubt upon that assumption. I forget what events.
4292303
Ahhhhh, yes. You may be right. And really, it wouldn't make sense for them to cut off their connection to the captured changeling if it could serve as a (potentially unwitting) mole for them. And if the changeling really is redeemable (as I admittedly hope it will be), I wonder if there's any way Rainbow & Co. can turn that connection to the hive mind to their advantage...
Oh, come on. I haven't even appeared yet.
Okay, this is about to get cray to the z.
Rainbow is Harry Potter. Stratopolis is the mirror of Erised.. The changelings are Quirrell.
See where I'm going with this?
4292454
4292454 Yeah, but you already have a character. One that I'm surprised is still alive.
Savatage - Beyond The Doors Of The Dark
They are so boned.
Does anyone lease hear the Lounge in Bane's voice?
Calling it now, Shell.
4292895 but shell's blood ran red, IC made a fuss about that point.
4293150 Damn, you're right. It would have been interesting if it was though.
DOOOMED!
I agree with 4291467 that RD wants to bring the "chain-geling" (I'm coining that phrase now) along.
And Razzar: If we can't protect Val Roa, you can be damn sure we'll avenge it. There have been parallels to the Avengers since we met the mercs in Eljunbyro. (Roarke=Iron Man, EE=Captain America (throws a circular shield at enemies), Crimson=Thor (nice hammer ya got there), RD=Bruce Banner (don't piss off the Big Guy), etc.)
A sentry. A guardian.
img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110331052532/darktower/images/b/b7/Wastelands_mir.jpg
This doesn't answer much. Well, we know that even Xonan folklore acknowledges the proto-pegasi as evil, that the Urohringr is indeed the Ring or something very closely linked to it (sense has not been made
). The city is most definitely of pre-Sundering origin (assuming that eggs need to be laid before hatching, not afterwards), most likely linked to the proto-pegasi after all. Prophecy is apparently prophecy after all too, and not just empirical prediction. With the Sentries may lie the answer to what happened to the world and especially the pegasi in the period between the Sundering and the arrival of the alicorns. Good times.
I wonder how that would sound like as actual dialogue.
And now she just slipped back into Xonan.
Josho?
4292454 It's time to call in the Val Roan defense forces.
I wonder if those "eggs" are the spheres in the Urohringr symbol?
On another note, I just had a horrible realization. Remember the Lounge member who went after Pilate? What if that wasn't a Lounge member?
Hmm... This didn't reveal much.
What's the condition?
-Spirit
4298533 That made me bust my gut lauging. Been years since i saw an ASDF movie. Moustaches to you good sir!
It's as good a time as ever to do something and possibly die doing it. Onwards!
Today is a good day to die.
Time for another stupid act that ends up working, and is therefore not stupid.
The battle begins, time to squash some bugs! And then open a gateway to a horribly eldritch power source that exists from the times when the planet was just born!
...
YEAH!
Maybe it's just me, but Razzar seems really eager to make the first move...
Since when do you have a problem with that, RD? Do we need another blood test?
6929135
They've already demonstrated they're not changelings, but who's to say they don't have an agenda of their own?
World's deadliest team right there.
They'll totally kill the opposition
Looks like we got us a raiding party!