The Chronicles of East Horse, Abridged
“And, so you're saying this... uh...” Twilight Sparkle flailed slightly before “uprighting” herself in midair. She floated like a dangling puppet besides Rainbow Dash's hovering figure. “...you're saying that this 'machine world' lies deep underneath the earth's surface?” She blinked. “In every direction?”
Rainbow Dash hovered at a high altitude. She stared east, peering past the humid clouds that hung over the seascape in increasingly thick convection. She could now see the entirety of Kihutaja—or at least the westernmost body of the archipelago. The K.M.C.A. was nestled on the very tip of a slender strip of land, deeply forested, like a sliver of vibrant emerald in the middle of a sapphire bed. East of the Academy, a small town stretched through a clearing in the foreign planted trees. Then, to the northeast, natural palms dotted a sandy lagoon, flanked by rustic houses and bungaloos. Further east of this, a thickly reinforced wooden bridge had been constructed, and it stretched boldly across the ocean's waves, connecting the Academy's island with an even larger body of land—although Rainbow could already tell from the visible north and southern edges that it was only five times the size of the western strip at most. Several carts full of trading supplies rolled east and west across the bridge. There were no boats in the ocean—not even a single canoe.
“Rainbow...?”
“Ahem...” Rainbow stopped surveying the archipelago, turning instead to nod at Twilight. “Yup. You burrow deep enough into the earth, and—at one point or another—you're gonna run into a layer of solid gold metal that's as old as the earth itself.”
“And... uh... inside, there are lots of machinery and pedestals equipped with... ruby flame?”
“Well, for the most part. Some things are more consistent than others,” Rainbow said. She started gliding over the lush lengths of the island, staring down at the rooftops of the Academy and its accompanying township. “Sometimes there's a flame lit, other times... I have to light it.”
“Light it? But... how?”
“I wish I could explain,” Rainbow muttered. “But, suffice it to know, the metal layer is everywhere.”
“Wow, Rainbow,” Twilight murmured. “I'm surprised you've gotten far enough underground more than once to witness this!”
“Heh...” Rainbow smirked tiredly. “If there's anything I've never been in short supply of during my trip... it's caves.”
“And you can enter this... 'machine layer' at any time?” Twilight cocked her head to the side, inadvertently floating upside down as her ghostly body caught up with Rainbow. “Just like that?”
“Not always,” Rainbow said. “But, usually, there's a door with the Austraeoh symbol on it and only I'm capable of opening it.”
“Osst... osst-strayy....”
“Austraeoh,” Rainbow emphasized. “There's a symbol for it and everything. Whenever I see it, turns out I can... do something, like open a door or turn machinery on or whatever.”
“Where in Celestia's name did you even discover this... this word?”
“Through trial and error,” Rainbow said, shrugging in mid-flight. “But, I've also stumbled upon it in ancient runes... an old-as-flank book. The Xonans had the word as part of their vocabulary.”
“The who?”
“Xonans. Tattooed warrior unicorns situated far east of Equestria, beyond Silvadel and just bordering Ledomare—which is now Luxmare.”
“My head is still reeling from the 'tattooed warrior' part.”
“Basically, they've borrowed a language used by a bunch of quadrupeds who once existed in the continent east of Equestria,” Rainbow said. “Turns out ancient civilizations knew about 'Austraeoh.' Exactly what they knew is something I'm still trying to figure out, but a lot of the information I've stumbled upon has been backed up by the words of the Herald, which confirms the existence of the Angels—the prehistoric pegasi who were... kinda/sorta responsible for splitting up Urohringr.”
“Euro-... what?!”
“Urohringr. The big ringworld that once included the slightly curved plane we live on today.”
“But... I-I thought our world was flat. The alicorns—”
“Discovered it long after the angels split it apart, or at least that's kinda what the Noble Jury and I gathered when we stumbled on board the free-floating symbol where Commander Hurricane had died, otherwise known as... uhm... Stratopolis...” Rainbow looked back, doing a double-take at Twilight. “You okay there, girl? Am I going too fast?”
“I just... just...” Twilight winced, rubbing her forehead. “It's all so much to take in.”
“For real?” Rainbow arched an eyebrow. “I figured you of all ponies would be quick enough to keep up.”
“I'm a long way from my library, Rainbow,” Twilight said. “And I can't exactly write notes down, now can I?”
“Or make Spike do it. Heh.”
“Rainbow...”
“Well, just tell me which part confuses you,” Rainbow said, flying backwards. “The ancient language part? The Austraeoh part? Or the Urohringr part?”
“Buhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...”
Rainbow sighed, twirling about and descending towards the tree canopy. “Okay okay... let's... uhhhh... start over from the friggin' beginning.”
“They actually had chaos strips?” Twilight asked, gawking up at the pegasus.
“Yup.” Rainbow reclined lazily on a bent palm tree stretching over the crystal clean lagoon. “And they were summoning all sorts of nasty monsters. Well... I guess you could just say Sladesteed was, though he obviously didn't have full control of it.”
“Well, of course not!” Twilight paced around, her lavender hooves balanced perfectly atop the glittery water. “It's chaos! No pony can perfectly control it! Nor should they! Please tell me that justice was served!”
“Close enough,” Rainbow said with a smile. “Gold Petals and I grabbed the strips and lured the monsters into the machine layer. Unless I randomly decide to visit Windthrow again, there's no way in heck that anypony's opening the doors to let those creatures out again.”
“And what about Sladesteed?”
“He got exposed for being the moron that he was and the citizens of Windthrow were released from his grip of fear.” Rainbow shrugged. “End of story.”
“Wow, Rainbow. You must be proud of yourself.”
“Eh... things got super epic later on.”
“And that wasn't?” Twilight smiled. “I bet Gold Petals was very proud that she could help!”
“Er... yeah...” Rainbow squirmed where she lay. “She... she was something, alright.”
“Did you talk to her and the other villagers at all about Equestria?” Twilight asked. “Did you tell them about Celestia, Luna, and the Elements of Harmony?”
“I... uh... I didn't stick around that much.”
“Why not?”
“Doesn't matter.”
“But Rainbow—”
“I took off and started flying again,” Rainbow said. “And, after a bit of... y'know... mountain climbing...”
“...she told me about the Midnight Armory,” Rainbow said. “Well, a lot of it I knew about already, but she certainly opened my eyes about the whole situation.”
Twilight nodded, strolling along the beach besides Rainbow Dash. The ponies left only one series of tracks the whole time. “Whitemane sounds very... very wise.” She smiled. “And loving.”
“She was basically you after drinking a lot of herbal tea,” Rainbow said. “Or maybe Fluttershy on any given day. Heh... the two are about as equally flightless.”
“I wonder why she never bothered to visit Celestia or Luna in my lifetime.”
“Oh, I'm sure she has visited Equestria quite often,” Rainbow said. “I... I just don't remember. Fact is, her lifetime is on a totally different scale than our lifetimes.”
“Oh, to be certain.”
“But anyways, long story short, Whitemane could tell that there was more to my journey than just going on some... epic, suicidal quest.”
“Did she explain the machine world to you?”
“No, but she didn't have to,” Rainbow said.
“What... what do you mean?”
“She pointed me someplace where I could learn on my own,” Rainbow explained. “She pointed me to Darkstine.”
“And what happened in Darkstine?”
It was a scarlet afternoon that hung over Twilight's drooping ears. She sat on the grass, covering her muzzle with a pair of quivering hooves.
Rainbow Dash sat across from her. She took a gentle breath, gazing across the college campus. “Look, Twilight... it's... it's not exactly a pretty world out there. I mean...” She shrugged at the nearby buildings. “This place seems to be doing fine, and lots of villages in Val Roa were squeaky-clean. But, for the most part, the further one flies from Equestria, the nastier the continents get. Darkstine was no exception.”
“I... I know...” Twilight sniffled, clearing her throat in order to compose herself. “And... and even in Equestria there are horrible monsters. I know this...” She blinked the glossy wetness out of her eyes and looked up at Rainbow Dash with a determined frown. “But... but to have done that to innocent young foals?!”
“Yeah... the Duke was a real creep, alright.”
“Creep?! He was worse than Nightmare Moon and all of the hydras and diamond dogs of Equestria combined!”
“He was a chump,” Rainbow Dash said. “In the end, Zaap Nator was all talk and no guts, and I introduced his skull to my hooves as a reminder of how lame he was.”
“Still...” Twilight shook her head, sighing. “Such a terrible... terrible tragedy...”
“Maybe,” Rainbow said. “Maybe not.”
“But how can you say that, Rainbow Dash?”
“Very easily, Twi.” Rainbow smirked slightly. “In the end, I got in contact with a piece of the machine world beneath the city. I was able to bring all of their tech back to life, and their civil war ended before it even begun... really.”
“Well, that's... that's quite fantastic, Rainbow, but...”
“But what?”
“It's just so unfortunate.” Twilight swallowed a lump down her throat. “I mean... that so many ponies had to suffer before Nator's treacherous ways would be put to an end.”
Rainbow shrugged. “What matters is that the place is better off now.”
“Yeah, but at what cost?” Twilight sighed. “If only you had the rest of the Elements, Rainbow. If only you had us.”
Rainbow gazed at her. She opened her muzzle, hesitated, then murmured, “The jury's still out on that, Twilight.”
Twilight merely blinked.
Rainbow cleared her throat. “Anyways...” She gazed at the red sea to the west. The world grew dimmer, darker. “I didn't waste any time celebrating. I said good bye to Steelteeth and flew off.”
“You never seem to stay in one place for long.”
“Nope.”
“Well...” Twilight smiled hopefully. “Things couldn't get much worse than that, right?”
Rainbow grimaced slightly.
Twilight blinked. “Could they...?”
“You feeling tired at all?” Rainbow asked.
“Not really. Why?”
“Just... wondering if I should tell you about Silvadel before or after you attempt sleeping...”
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I remember pestering Pilot to make a Cliff Notes for Austreaoh.
Never mind, P. ):( did it for you.
Thirty pushups. Knock 'em out!
"But wait, there's more!" "Urgle"
This isn't quite like "Man reconnects with father to play golf/Bioshock" levels of shortening, but it's close!
Surprised no one has walked in on them or something though.
I don't think Twilight really needs to sleep. Either way, knock yourself out. Blow her mind. Isn't that what Twilight loves, anyway? New stuff in that head of hers?
-Spirit (Yeast and Treacle)
I am drinking this all in and lovin' it.
Aha. There's the aforementioned "East Bridge".
That's...interesting....
You'd think there would be at lease some seaworthy craft out and about, especially in an area where a certain unicorn is studying nautical engineering. Best keep a note of this...
Dawwww, Twilie.
Pfffft.
*sigh*...Figured she wouldn't like that story. And oh geez:
If she's that broken up after Darkstine, just wait till she hears about Silvadel...
Nice summary, though I still barely remember anyone other than Gold Petal. Shows I need to go reread the first book, I suppose.
5832975
Jake, you're the only person I know who thanks people by telling them to do exercise
5832992
If that's how she reacted to Darkstine, wait until they get to Shell and Lerris
Yay Gold Petals got mentioned again! I hope Twilight doesn't get too mad at Nightshade when she comes up...
Ah, Silvadel.
5833007
At least he's not like his moosey counterpart and communicating in facepunch.
Oh god, that will absolutely crush her...
*Rainbow* Sit down Twilight and I'll tell you about my first death.
*Twilight* Buuuuuuuhhh
You know, it is a good thing RD had all of that hardship to warm up on... If say Lerris had happened during austraeoh...
I feel vaguely offended, but I'm not sure if it's because of Twilight overstating the Duke's horribleness, or Rainbow understating it.
Yeah, Twi, it gets wayyyy worse.
Let me tell you a story, about how its going to be.
A little story about recursivity.
5833033 We all know that none of that would've happened anyway if they had just joined in the splendor that is Captainia.
I like that we're getting a good summarized rundown of everything that has happened.
It all does seem rather ridiculous and crazy when you do the abridged series...
Jeez, I waited over two years to start reading this story and now I find out that if I had held off another two months I would have been able to just get the cliff notes version.
It's great to see how far she's come. Having her talk to Twilight about all this really highlights how much she's changed since she's been flying.
I'm liking the angle here. We, the readers, have been tagging alongside Rainbow from the first chapter, and... well, we've sorta taken it at face value. Sure, some of the things that happened were pretty unsettling or horrifying, but we just accepted it as part of the universe. But now, through Twilight, the spiritual heart of MLP has been thrust into the center of this saga, and it puts everything into the context of that sweetness and innocence. It almost puts everything that's happened into a new, deeper kind of perspective. It's interesting.
Also, on a less serious note, I wonder what Twilight will think about Rainbow having been shacked up with a mare. Rainbow doesn't seem to have "come out of the stable", as t'were, until after she left Equestria. It'll be interesting to see how Rainbow handles that, if nothing else as a measure of her growth in... that department.
''And you thought Silvadel was bad? Pfft! Just wait 'til I tell ya about this lovely fella called Shell.''
''And this super smexy Cybernetic chick Roarke.''
''And about Shell again.''
''And again.''
It took Rainbow a whole day just to get to the Silvadel part.
5833288
>Ghost Shell floats by.
"Hmm. No."
>Sinks into the ground.
I've actually been looking forward to the Recap Episode™. We needed us one of these.
5833368 One, yes, but we haven't even reached the end of book one, yet. Will there be a dozen or two recap chapters?
BTW, calling it now: the next pony to be disgorged from the Yaerfaerda symbol is Shell.
5833368 Agreed, it is always nice to be reminded of what has been left behind. Especially Darkstine, why do we always forget Darkstine? Hmm... might be the alcohol?
If Twi thought Darkstine was bad...just wait til Dash tells her about the shit Nightshade was up to. Much protective curling/rocking I bet.
Heck even hearing about Belle might screw with her head. Unicorn's with cracked/bisected horns would probably touch on some... primal fear of hers I bet.
Though the tale of Lerris is probably going to have her openly weeping.
-Memories given light, ease a lonely flight. Ynanhluutr.
Stratopolis is a myth.
5833420
I bet you think you're so fucking clever.
5832983 I don't think she would enjoy joining me for the all you can drink sale at the local tavern.
5833418 Nnnnope. Rarity. Calling it. Lavender light is to lavender fur is to Twilight as white light is to white fur is to Rarity.
5833420 How could you do this to us, Arcanist?
5833447
I do, actually.
5833456
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Oh boy, I wonder how she'll feel about Shell. You know, a unicorn about as powerful as her and utterly ruthless and insane?
5833463
You aren't funny. I hate that fucking face.
5833454 It's a joke. Not a funny one, apparently. You see, Shell always comes back, and this is how he can come back even though… oh, never mind.
And eels
IC is mocking us.
You dun know half of it.
Actually, less than half.
5833463
5833470
I also hate that face. The sight of it in fact almost makes me sick, although I haven't had any bad experiences concerning it. It's just an absolute despising for it.
5833454
Sir, I am under the impression that he was making a joke. People do that around this time of the year. Do not be alarmed.
5833470
5833487
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5833274
Either I or someone else mentioned at that point, though you put it into words better. I really like that as well.
5833482
When is he not?
Definitely after.
*nods sagely* I approve of this chapter
5833418
I doubt it, Rainbow Dash wasn't present for most of Innavedr. When the parties got split up there was a lot of action but Rainbow Dash could tell most of it in a few sentences.
Thanks, that clears things up.
...
Heh...
Next time on East horse abridged: "Wait, you mean they were using you as an experimental weapon, forcing innocent ponies to work themselves to death, and forcing this 'Bellesmith' to look through your memories round the clock to find out how your Austraeoh powers work, so they could access the machine level in hopes of finding a way to weaponize it?"
"Yeah, that's about right."
"What kind of amoral, backwards, deranged monster would even think of doing those things?"
"...lemme tell you about a pony named Shell."
Meep moop.
I's been so long it's nice to get a recap on all this stuff.
Twilight seems to be having a lot of trouble with the... not so nice parts though.
After. Definitely after, because Silvadel isn't even the worst. Once Rainbow gets to He-who-must-not-be-named and Lerris, Twilight's never going to get a good night's sleep again. Actually I bet there'll be a whole chapter of just her freaking out about that.
5833274 I do wonder, when mentioning having shacked up with a mare, anything about Dash's attraction to Aj will surface. Dash might not have been as subtle as she thought and the others might've noticed... Twi might get to tease Dash with something, after all that terribleness :P
5832992
They probably had the same issue as RD. Their forms of propulsion didn't work in the water.
5833439
I like the new poem/comment signature.