Retirement
“From what Darkstinian scholars have told me, it is a barren landscape of desert and wasteland for countless leagues,” Cold Canter said, gazing at the far end of the massive canyon. He turned around and gave Rainbow Dash a thin-eyed glance. “I happen to know it's more than that.”
“I'm listening,” Rainbow Dash said. She hovered above the elder unicorn as he paced slowly over the creaking wooden boards of the cliffside's precarious platforms. Tattered red flags whipped in the dusty wind overhead as the two wandered gradually south along the edge of the ravine.
“Years ago, when I was much younger and full of energy, a group of earth ponies scaled the cliff.”
“I think you mentioned that to me, yeah.” Rainbow nodded.
“What I didn't mention was how dazed and speechless they were when they finally arrived on our end. I summoned several of the unicorns from posts to the north and south of here to assist in lifting them up to the top of the canyon's edge. The outtrotters were hardly threatening, and we knew we had nothing to fear of their unexpected arrival. The painful elements of the desert had done its worst to them. They were emaciated, scrawny things. It was a miracle that they lived any longer than a day in our company. However, there was something more to their suffering than the merciless gauntlet of the desert.”
“Like what?” she asked, her ruby eyes thin and inquisitive.
“I've seen many a soul trot through this place. Travellers have graced me with all sorts of expressions, both honest and insincere. However, there was nothing that I could read beyond the glossy-eyed gaze of these poor creatures. The will to smile had been utterly drained from the earth ponies, and for a young Darkstinian to notice this means that it was nothing to take lightly.”
“Yeah, I imagine not.”
“We asked them what they had seen. We asked them where they had come from.”
“And...?”
Cold Canter shrugged. He paused and leaned against a wooden railing with his flank to the gaping chasm. “They didn't answer us. They didn't so much as speak to us. By next sunrise, all the ones still left alive had galloped towards the west. To this day, I never found out if they made it to the capital city of New Ring or not. All I know is that something deep and primal inside of them wanted to get away from the east as much as possible.”
“I'm guessing something really freaked them out.”
“I've seen many frightening things in my day, filly,” he said. “Not all creatures with wings are as sweet and innocent as you.”
“Awww. You're gonna make me blush and crap.”
“I'm serious.” His eyes became frigid pinpricks. “Something isn't right about whatever's on the far end of this ravine. Everything is so... desolate and lifeless. At my age, you'd think I would have given up on the notion of danger being beyond this outpost. But with each passing day, I'm glad that I'm here and not elsewhere. I feel as though I have a job to do.”
“Did you ever witness any other ponies coming from across the ravine?”
“No,” he said flatly, then fidgeted. “Well...”
“Hmm?” Rainbow Dash leaned her head down from where she hovered.
He sighed before finally speaking, “About a decade ago, there was movement along the ridge across the canyon. The stallion who was assigned to the outpost with me at the time had a good eye, and he used the state-issued spyglass to observe the figure from afar. He said he saw what looked to be an earth pony wearing rusted plates of armor. We were too far away from the pony to engage in verbal communication, but the stallion seemed to be a smart fellow. He had with him some reflective object, and he started engaging us with a series of bright strobes, using the sun's glint to convey a message.”
“Really?”
“Mmmhmm. We replied back with our own signals, and the two of us managed to perform a simple conversation with the lone figure.”
“And what did he say? Did he tell you anything?”
Cold Canter's eyes appeared to go hollow as he stammered, “He said that 'It was all gone. They had burned everything. I am alone.'”
Rainbow Dash bit her lip. “And then what?”
The elder looked at her solidly. “And then he died.”
Rainbow Dash said nothing. She pivoted and stared towards the far end of the yawning trench.
“You strike me as the adventurous type, filly,” he said in a hoarse voice. “And undoubtedly you have encountered your own fair share of perils.” He paced over and stood beneath her, giving her an imploring look. “I do not know where you are headed, nor is it my place to question the drive that inspires you to scale such immeasurable lengths. But please, consider heading south and crossing the divide there. The canyon's thin stream coalesces into a thicker river that feeds into a far more hospitable landscape with forests and emerald glades to the southeast corner of Darkstine's borders.”
She remained staring, her eyes hard and steady.
He spoke, “It is... a great deal safer to take an alternate route. You can still make it east, I imagine. You need not risk your own life for the sake of exploration, no matter how daring.”
“That's just it, dude...” She turned and looked at him. “How many ponies have been here, just like I am now, and have said the exact same thing you're asking me to do?”
He took a deep breath, giving a weathered smile. “I suppose they all have me to thank for living longer lives, or to blame for experiencing far less exciting ones.”
“Hey, no biggie,” Rainbow Dash said with an airborne shrug. “You're just doing your job. You deserve to be called 'Best Cautionary Guard,'” she muttered. “Maybe once you retire, you should head back to New Ring to receive such a title. Goddess knows Governor Mintelle has a flankload of them lying around someplace...”
“I'm afraid you're mistaken, filly,” he said. “This is the closest thing to retirement I will ever enjoy.”
“Even with your bedroom windows looking out onto dry, arid creepyville?”
He shrugged. “I've known old friends who have laid their heads in places far less conducive to philosophy.”
“To each their own, I guess.” She scratched her chin while scanning the far end of the canyon. “Just where exactly did this earth pony in rusted armor spend his final minutes?”
Cold Canter turned, squinted at the opposite end of the ravine, and spoke, “About twenty degrees to the north, above the batch of exposed minerals.”
“Would you mind—I dunno—pointing? I left my geology major at home in Equestria.”
“I seriously doubt that after a solid decade of desert punishment that there'll be anything left of his materials to find.”
She smiled placidly. “Humor me.”
Nostrils flaring, Cold Canter trotted up towards the edge, leaned against the railing, and pointed.
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Quest Added: Blood On The Sand
New Objective Added: Investigate the mysterious remains
Title obtained: "The Challenger"
(Flankloads more on the way!)
-Minty
P.S. if you want to see the current list of titles that Rainbow has, click HERE!
Leave it to Dash to ruin a compliment by throwing "crap" in there.
I'm beginning to think that someone really ought to make this into an actual game. I would play the hell out of this story if that were to happen.
The stories about the ravine genuinely creeped me the fuck out. That place seems horrifying. What the hell is going on over there?
Don't go east Dashie...
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Achievement Unlocked: "A Flankload of Titles"
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Woo, my first achievement!
-Minty
It was not a good idea to read this while listening to Something Broke 0_0
I saw this story in the feature box a couple times, and the curiosity finally got to me. Now, looking at the chapter list, I am utterly mortified. HOW THE HELL DO I READ THIS?
Its got like, what, 140 chapters? Welp.
Well, gonna read it at some point, anyway.
I just reread the chapter 'Luna'. Maybe the reason why the 'chaos rift' appeared in Equestria was due to an imperfect set of the Elements of Harmony?
Trophy Get: Mare be Crazy!- Do something that is so stupid and foolhardy that it will likely get you killed.
I am now dying to know what is across that ravine.
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Read it. It's awesome.
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http://bamboodog.deviantart.com/art/Freestyle-Ponies-256281382
150 chapters. 150 of these god damned chapters. So much of my time has been poured into this single fic. Seriously.
150. God damn.
Keep it up, though.
I guess they must have used....
*sunglasses*
Horse code!
YEEEEEEAAAAAAAAHHHHHH
It's all gone...
Cryptic...
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Bwahahaha
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Not to mention it prolly would be a 40+ hour game.
That story with the pony on the other side of the canyon actually creeped me out. Oh, and Cold Canter is the watcher on the walls, the shield that guards the realms of ponies...
onward!
If only I had the fortitude to write a comment on just about every chapter so far.
Alas, marathoning it leaves very little time and room to depart from the story. 6 hours and 150 chapters down! Time for the final sprint!
Oooh, I got chills.
150! THREE QUARTERS OF THE WAY DONE!
IIIIIt's Dashie's Thanksgiving Day Marathon Evaluation Time Special!
Okay, so now I get the feeling that things are gonna get spooky. I wonder what will be on the opponents side of the ravine...But Imploding mentioned it looking artificial a few chapters back. Perhaps it is pony made...or perhaps we are meeting our first chaps rift and the chaos energy is what's killing the ponies! Or perhaps another chaos strip has surfaced...after all, that stallion said that "they" had burned everything. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
P.S. Sweet! Three done already and seven to go! Also...
Ohhhhhhhh we're three fourths there,
Theeeeeeese are not!
The lyyyyyyyyrics to the soooooooong!
P.S.S. 1662603You're not getting away...muahahahaha!
achievements.schrankmonster.de/Achievement.aspx?text=Three%20fourths%20of%20the%20way%20East
I'm in the homestretch now!
So many flared nostrils
And only fifty left to go.
So close... almost done...
The mystery of the other side of the ravine is genuinely really unsettling. It's so odd and terrifying that, even for someone like Rainbow, who has been flying all this time and for whom crossing the gorge would be very easy, that actually crossing it would be such a dangerous thing. Just the mental image of such a weird, astronomically-sized and desolate place is creepy.
I love it.
I shouldn't have read this at 3am...
5942809 I just read this at 4:54 am!
Way to build foreboding terror.
150 chapters in one day... I think I might have a problem. I also commented on most of them I think, so sorry about that flood. Not going to stop though.
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The only problem I can think of is not enough time to read more than that in a day
Eek... That gave me a chill. How ominous.
Let's see... so far we've had a small camp of minotaur slavers, a crazed duke sacrificing children... by the natural progression, this third adventure is going to be pretty terrifying.
I did not expect him to die so suddenly. The way Cold was discribing him made me think that he was pretty healthy.
R.I.P Random Stallion.
I love how cryptic and ominous that message is. I'm so excited to see what in Equestria the stallion was talking about. (Btw, how does one communicate using light? Can anyone explain that to me?)
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they couldve have been making the light flash in patterns to make something like morse code
Hazaa, almost done with my first read, and wow next couple chapters sound like they're going to be good.
Well that's just lovely then!
When I saw Ofolrodi was being updated again I decided to reread the series from the beginning, and I'm having a blast doing so! This story is without a doubt the craziest and most ambitious work of fiction I've ever come across (never thought I'd say that about a fanfic, much less a My Little Pony fanfic). The worldbuilding, the set up and payoff, the myriad original characters that are brimming with the personality, the canon characters who are often written better here than they ever were in the actual show...it's a masterpiece. I have a long way to go before I'm caught up again, but I'm just going to take my time and enjoy the ride.
Even knowing what awaits RD in the east, this chapter is still so chilling. I got goosebumps from this line!
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So I'm not the only one. Also rereading after I noticed they started updating again. But I think I skipped a book on my first read. The one right before the grand choke.
and this is were colon probably went, "hmm, i also wanna write a grimdark horror fic with a vague feeling of courage the cowardly dog or something. into austreoh it goes!"