Persist, With Or Without the Wind
It was midday.
The sun was high, hot, and baking.
Mountains loomed against the Grand Choke's horizon, thick, dark, and oppressive.
Rainbow Dash was gliding eastward, thoughtless and soundless.
She breathed in and out, navigating the arid landscape with ruby eyes and dull blinks. All of the sudden, she dipped. Rainbow Dash winced, squinting curiously. She looked all around, ears perked and twitching. She sensed no shift in the wind, no air distortion responsible for the sudden turbulence. It was almost as if—
Rainbow dipped again, savagely so. She gasped, flapping her wings wildly. They provided no lift, and she plummeted harder.
The mare yelped in surprise. She fell towards a cloud, flailing her limbs towards it. She plunged through the mists like a fuzzy blue anvil.
Her heart beat a million miles per second. Nevertheless, she kept her cool, taking a deep breath as her body twirled about. Her eyes faced the surface of the earth sailing up at her. With expert muscles, she stretched a hoof against the forces of gravity and rubbed her pendant.
A flicker of ruby light emanated from her neck. Suddenly, her wings sliced through the air—but barely. It was just the lift Rainbow needed, and she utilized it.
The wind whistled past her as she flew up, barrel-rolled, then glided swiftly—yet smoothly—towards the desert floor.
She could only wish her landing was just as graceful. Her hooves grazed the dusty ground, but failed to slow her in time. She rolled forward, somersaulted, and tumbled for a full five seconds. At last, her body slid to a stop, forming a dusty trail of dirt and sediment behind her.
The mare coughed and sputtered, wincing painfully. After a full minute, she finally stood up. With a grimacing expression, she shook the dust out of her mane and looked back at her wings.
Rainbow flexed her feathers. She could move them normally. Her muscles weren't stiff that day; she hadn't lost the ability to flap her wings. And yet, try as she try to catch air with the appendages, they consistently failed her.
Her breaths grew frantic. She galloped forward, performed a running start, and jumped high—wings spread. They refused to even glide, and within a second she collapsed again, grunting in pain.
With a shudder, she stood up, gazing thinly at the wasteland all around her. She brought a hoof to her neck and rubbed the pendant. This time, the ruby glow lasted less than five seconds—the shortest she had ever witnessed it. She fought a lump forming in her throat, standing in place as she let the gravity of the situation set in.
Minutes passed... an entire hour... during which Rainbow Dash stood in dumb, silent shock.
Nostrils flaring, she turned and looked west.
A dim horizon of uneven stone stretched behind her.
Her ears folded. The lump in her throat melted away, replaced by a furious frown across her face.
Cracking her joints, Rainbow Dash turned east... and began trotting.
Her lone body formed a blue dot across the desolate brown skin of the Grand Choke. In the distance—forming shadows against the sky—several eastern mountains rose to savage heights.
Rainbow continued trotting.
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And here, mundane magic is at its weakest.
Rainbow Dash Trots East
Doesn't have the same ring to it. The magic has died this far in. Keep at it, Dashie.
Thirty pushups and thirty situps. You double down, ):(, so do I. Knock 'em out!
With this double chapter update, the final chapter will no longer be posted on April 1.
So, how long does the pendant's containment system have left before it fails too?
5706148 The implication is that it also contains chaos magic. One can only hope this is truly the case...
5706156 It makes one wonder if the next thing we'll realize is its eating away at the chaos magic too. The lesser intensity of the last attack makes me think so.
The magic really is gone... literally and figuratively.
5706180 I don't think the choke stops chaos. It *is* chaos. It's a chaos choke designed to prevent magical interference on whatever system it's protecting, on the ring. Chaos is the opposite side of the coin to magic.
Austraeoh will make it across the choke, because at worst, it'll be 'discord' doing the walking.
and now all I can think about is this
Strange, with how fast her reactions are normally, should be feeling some effect on her wngs, just that she wouldnt exactly like gliding at 70+ mph when she can can only run at best 40. Every landing is a Ford.
Since she is carrying the weight, needs to put the blanket and tent over her to tr and cut down the incident sun. also keeps breathing humidity close by.
This place is definitely designed, deliberately or accidentally, to be as impassible as possible.
Goblins are going to enjoy working out how to beat it.
I'm hoping that the location marked by the Yaerfaerda symbol--assuming it is a fixed location, of course--is a sort of oasis against the chaotic assault, within which magic can still function. If nothing else, that might allow her to communicate with Luna one more time, so long as she can get there before the moon wanes too far.
5706258
aka: plated gasbag, helium or hydrogen, big ass steam engine.
Airships aren't as fragile as commonly believed.
Rainbow Dash trots East.
5706130
Shit, you beat me to it!
25 chapters to go. That, as we all know, is plenty of time for Scolon to pull a Lbleep!is on us.
And so her innate Pegasus magic finally disappears. Description for book 7: Rainbow Dash walks east.
5706143 How much do you reckon this was deliberatly a double post to stop our conspiracy theory? Unless... what if IC later skips a day between now and April 1st, just to fuck with us?
5706394 More likely, April 1 is the day he skips, so that book 7 does not begin on April Fools’ Day.
Seriously. He's been known to take a day or two off between books. Incredibly selfish of him, I know.
Rainbow Dash trots east.
5706414
I wanted to make that joke as well, but two others got there before you or I. It's so tragic, right?
5706407
How dare he not pander to our every whim? I expected better of the man.
5706521 I've been planning on saying it for days because I knew it was going to happen sooner or later.
Now she can no longer deny it. No more flying East for Rainbow Dash
Just keep trotting~
Just keep trotting~
Just keep trotting, trotting, trotting~
What do we do? We trot~
Hmm... Rainbow's officially unable to fly.
5707107
Dang you. Now that's stuck in my head.
5706148
Well, a couple of my questions are answered. Rainbow has officially lost the ability to fly, and the anti magic effect does, in fact, work on the pendant. Which leaves me to wonder if Rainbows chaos attacks are going to get more frequent and worse as she goes on.
Also, if my knowledge of topography, geology, and meteorology is anywhere near up to date, then a mountain chain due east would signify that the ocean lies over that range. Now all we have to do is pray that rainbow finds a way to sail against a prevailing current and jet stream without magical propulsion or any knowledge of sailing. How do you plan to write your way through this, IC? Dare I say it? I do.
IMPRESS ME
5707181 Axan shows up and gives her a lift. It's about time that Divine did something useful.
It's really not clear how RD is supposed to pull it off without serious assistance. Remember that Chrysalis, who can also fly and happens to be immortal, was barely able to cross it.
5707271
That would be nice, except that would also be kinda anti-climatic.
5707133
I am not sorry in the slightest.
you see what it does?
this insanity?
your idea has taken your friends
your love
your princess
your wings
what more must you lose, before you give in?
I think lack of water is her biggest threat at this point, the Nebulum is pretty much worthless now.
Now, on to 25 chapters of clip clop clip clop clip clop clip clop clip clop clip clop clip clop clip clop clip clop clip clop clip clop clip clop clip clop clip clop clip clop clip clop clip clop clip clip clop clip clop clip clop clip clop clip clop clip clop clip clop clip clop clip clip clop clip clop clip clop clip clop clip clop clip clop clip clop clip clop clip clop cl
Self esteem has never been lower!
But sure some otherwordly deity will aid her... again.
The choke does this to all magic right? So somewhere there is a very large dragon walking east as well.
5707650 that's a lot of clopping.
5707392
NO ONE is prepared for an anti-climatic ending.
5699659
Well, there are some things you just can't leave behind, amirite?
Canter on Dash. Canter ever on.
If it's a magic deadzone, there is a chance that chaos magic also won't work. That just throws a wrench into most head canon theories.
In all likeliness, she isn't going to be the same mare on the other end of the sea, if she gets there at all.
I know Rainbow Dash can cross a couple little hills, but she can't exactly walk across an ocean.
So in the face futility, our heroine still pushes forward!
My hope goes to you, Rainbow, but I don't think hope is enough at the moment.
this is what happens when you take flappy bird off the app store
rainbow dash cant fly
And now she trots. Trotting, and trotting, and trotting, and trotting...
-Spirit
5708992 if I recall correctly, the choke was said to be a place where the world was exposed to the surrounding chaos energy, meaning harmonic things stop working. Not that it was simply anti magic altogether.
Oh god, now she has to actually climb. And how is she going to get over the ocean? Maybe a civilization of sorts
Welp . . . here comes the part where depression is sure to get to Dash. Dammit, this is going to be tough. Take away flight from a flying creature . . .
For the rest of her journey the only thought repeating endlessly in her head will be, "buck you grand choke!"
Well, if Rainbow's already in such bad condition when she's in the grand choke, what'll it be like when she reaches the dark side of the world? Cause that place is sure to be affected by the chaos even more than the choke, right?
Well, that just got my mind whirring, so let me take a moment to make a few predictions before moving on.
Rainbow will transform into ChaosDash or some other entity equally unaffected by chaos at some point during the crossing. Jury's still out on whether or not it'll be permanent, though I have a hunch that it will. Then, of course, to contain ChaosDash, there will probably be an obligatory visit from our mystical friend which may or may not be the spirit of Urohringr or something. Or maybe it's just Dash's mother asking for a grandfoal. Anyway, there'll probably be some explanation of what 'foal' and 'yesterday' actually mean, and some more of the confusing stuff like that.
Of course, I may also be totally dead wrong. Who knows? Other than those people who've actually finished reading, of course.
And the wings of harmony were clipped...
Well damn... guess that's all she's got for flying. I bet her trip east is gonna be a heck of a lot longer now that she can't even use her wings. Don't give in and let the sadness take you, Dash. Have hope! Be strong!
~SolidFire
So now she has to actually obey the laws of physics? Womp womp...
Rainbow Dash Walks East.
5927082
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