The Oldest Spring in Action
Rainbow Dash gnashed her teeth. "I have a good mind to kick your frozen face in!"
"A challenging prospect, for sure," spoke the golem. An ice blue glow shimmered from deep beneath its hood. "Assuming, of course, that I still have a face." The figure cocked its head in the prone pegasus' direction. "Do you still have a brain?"
"Grrrrr!" Rainbow Dash shook and thrashed on the floor. She fought past the dizziness and snarled, "Just shut up and bring my friends back!"
"My little pony, only you can do that. That's the nature of the experiment. It's always been." The golem stepped closer, forming icy hoofsteps in the ground. "Although, it seems as though you've forgotten. How else would you have ended up here?"
"I'm stuck down here because your friggin' brainwashed goons keep chasing me to death!" Rainbow's brow furrowed. "If you suddenly care so much about my journey, then call them off!"
"Oh Austraeoh..." Cold blue vapors rolled over the pegasus' trembling skin. "I can no sooner do that than a snowflake can stop a mountainous avalanche. I've since lost my glorious agency in this world. But you?" Two blue eyeslits flickered. "You're the hinge upon which everything turns. That's why the experiment is yours, not mine."
"Meanwhile, you're just going to let hundreds of thousands of Rohbreddenites suffer and die in ignorance!" Rainbow spat. "You're worse than Nevlamas!"
"Is that you speaking, or the witch you met in Kunmane?"
Rainbow blinked. "H-huh?!"
Cold mists spread throughout the tunnel. "I'm not the only ancient thing in this land that's observing you, Austraeoh," the voice of Verlax hissed. "But, believe me, I'm the only one who can help you transcend."
"Oh yeah?" Rainbow gulped. "Transcend what?"
"Yourself." A sleeved hoof pointed at Rainbow's left side. "Or do you truly plan on being flightless for your entire journey?"
"When the mining communities of Dust and Lichen Prefectures were attacked... bullied..." Sarda's eyes narrowed. "The Consortium's militia simply remained dormant. They didn't even raise a hoof to defend the outlying villages from dredge coal smuggling terrorists."
"They likely had their own interests to protect," Seraphimus replied, gazing across from him in the gentle snowfall. "Negligence and malice are two different things."
"Stop playing devil's advocate and listen to what I am saying," Sarda spoke, leaning closer to the Commander. "The last few waves of terrorist raids on villages didn't happen unannounced. Rumors had spread weeks in advance. The communities prepared as well as they could, but there was no proper way to defend their resources."
Seraphimus leaned her head to the side. "And the Consortium?"
Sarda spat, "As soon as word spread of attacking bandits, the employees of the Consortium all retreated to Steamfall. I'm talking every mare and stallion who worked in the industry—laborer and militia pony alike."
Seraphimus' feathery brow furrowed beneath her helmet.
"I'm telling you... they knew about the raiders, Commander," Sarda said. "What's more, these terrorists with their dredge coal explosives never once attacked a Consortium outpost. Ever."
"What would the Consortium possibly benefit from aligning themselves with such despicable creatures?" Seraphimus thought out loud.
"A sense of supremacy? Invulnerability?" Sarda shuddered. "In the last few years, dozens of villages have sold their souls over to Chandler's operations. Meanwhile, the executive himself ascends the ranks of influential Rohbreddenites. I hear that he's an acting Magistrate now... with his very own seat in the Council."
"Not exactly...
"—even still, he has a voice among the elite of Frostknife." Sarda frowned. "While societies like us here in Braum have to live in terror."
"The Right Talon has spent the bulk of the last year battling these sporadic terrorists," Seraphimus firmly said.
Sarda nodded. "And Verlaxion's blessings on you for doing so, Commander. But..." He sighed. "...I'm afraid that this is just a ploy on behalf of a masterful chess player. Just as my stallions and I have been worn thin trying to protect Braum and our neighbors, somepony out there has been playing you and your griffons." His eyes narrowed. "And now... with this whole Rainbow Rogue business... we're being dealt the biggest distraction of all."
"The fact that the Rainbow Rogue is a threat cannot be argued," Seraphimus said. "That much is clear and obvious... something witnessed first-hand by my wingmates and I." She took a deep breath. "But your accusations about the Consortium are wild at best..."
"And yet... can you afford to overlook them, Commander?" Sarda shuddered, his breath vaporous in the cold. "You have an opportunity here... an opportunity to grab the Rogue—yes—but so much more." He gulped. "You can help bring back glory to Braum and nab your target and expose the Consortium for all of their foul deeds."
"And just how will repossessing the Rainbow Rogue from the Consortium serve to 'expose' them?"
Sarda spoke, "A pony is most transparent when he's desperate."
"As I'm seeing."
"I'm being serious." Sarda clenched his jaws. "Chandler's playing a wild game here. He's always been doing so. Give him a brief moment of glory. Let his eyes light up at the acquisition of his bounty." He snarled, "Then take it from him... and watch as the would-be savior of Rohbredden shows his true, rotten colors."
Seraphimus sighed. "I am not out here to make new enemies."
"There are monsters out there that are far worse than you even imagine," Sarda said. He sighed. "And failing to respect that is why you all fail as guardians."
The Commander's charcoal eyes hardened at that.
"I don't know why I'm surprised to see you like this..." the golem paced around Rainbow in the tight tunnel. "This continent is a very large spring indeed, and I've spent millennia tightening it."
"A little late f-for regrets, don't you think?" Rainbow's teeth chattered from the intense cold.
The figure grazed past her. "Please, Austraeoh. You're so familiar with frustration that I'm surprised you can't smell it in the air. I expected more from you. But... then again... you are mortal. That gives you as much a crutch as an edge. Still... a little push is needed if you're ever to finish the experiment."
"Rrrrrrrrgh!" Rainbow kicked at the wall. "Dang it! Stop friggin' calling it an 'experiment!'" She frowned hard. "Are you here to gloat and barf lame poetry? Is that how ancient snow dragons get their kicks these days?!"
"Don't be absurd." A ghostly chuckle emanated from beneath the golem's hood. "I relish a good dance and twirl. Circles being as circles do, after all. Speaking of which..." The golem leaned in, exhaling vaporously across Rainbow's limbs.
The pegasus flinched, expecting the worse.
Instead, the binds around her limbs turned solid, fractured, and crumbled to frosty bits... freeing her.
"There we are. The end to a most ridiculous knot." The golem leaned back. "You don't have to thank me. I'd call you a tangle-foot, but... we both know better—"
"Rrrrrrrrgh!" Rainbow immediately launched herself at the figure. She wrestled with the cloaked golem's frozen neck. "Spit it out! What's your friggin' plan?!"
"I simply await for you at the heart of the circle," the voice poured out, dissolving on icy blue streams. The air of the tunnel filled with a gentle hissing sound. "You're likely to meet many characters on your journey. But remember, Austraeoh... only I can help you..."
"Shut up with that nonsense!" Rainbow growled. "Tell me what's your game!"
The blue light faded from within the hood.
"What's your trap at the next Seed?!?" Rainbow yelled. "What must I do to free Applejack?!"
But it was too late. The figure had dissolved entirely. A blue mist faded all around Rainbow Dash, and now she clung to a limp cloak.
The mare stood there, panting.
"...Rainbow Dash?"
Rainbow grimaced. She flung a look behind her.
Twilight Sparkle hovered in place, blinking. "What... what just happened?" Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy appeared one by one behind her. "Is... is your dizzy spell over?"
Rainbow gulped. She looked at the fabric dangling in her grasp. "... ... ...I just had a visit from Verlax."
Fluttershy gasped.
"Oh my..." Rarity trembled.
"She was here?" Pinkie Pie yelped. "And you kicked her butt?!" A wide grin. "Way to go, Dashie!"
"I... wish it was that simple," Rainbow shuddered.
"Wait... Rainbow, your binds!" Twilight pointed. "How did you get out of them?"
With a dull sigh, Rainbow tossed the cloak behind her and began marching forward. "I didn't."
"Huh?" Twilight winced as she and her fellow marefriends were dragged through crates and supplies and earthen corners. "Wait! Rainbow!" She phased through several structures and levitated beside their anchor. "Talk to us! You just got visited by one of Verlax's frost golems, yes?"
"Where is it... where is it..." Rainbow Dash fumbled around the labyrinthine burrows. "I swear to Celestia, if I had a dime for every friggin' time I had to recover Luna's saddlebag..."
"Rainbow!" Twilight pouted. "What just happened here?!"
"Ah-HA!" Rainbow grinned, leaping towards a table where her two backpacks were hiding. She slipped on Luna's midnight purple accessory, and then the saddlebag she got at Kunmane. "Still has all my stuff in it too. Heh... gotta hoof it to these... Braumites... but at least they're not thieves."
"Rainbow, please don't ignore Twilight," Rarity insisted.
Twilight gulped. "Did... did Verlax just free you?"
Rainbow lingered in place. She muttered, "Looks like it."
"But..." Pinkie scratched her head. "...why?"
"She kept insisting that I'm supposed to 'finish the experiment,'" Rainbow explained. "And she claimed that only she 'could help me.'"
Fluttershy gulped. "Crazy as ever..."
"Seriously, why must she be so cryptic?" Rarity remarked.
"She's obviously making a lot of assumptions," Twilight said, rubbing her chin. "Both about Austraeoh and Rainbow Dash."
"Yeah... but just how blind is she?" Rainbow looked at her friends. "I mean... she has so much time on her side and—"
"You're not saying that you actually believe her, darling?" Rarity exclaimed.
Rainbow sighed. "No. Not at all. It's just... she knows something." Her jaw clenched. "And she's hiding it from me... at least until the hammer falls."
"I don't like the sound of th-that hammer," Pinkie whimpered.
"Rainbow's being metaphoric, Pinkie." Twilight trembled slightly. "...right?"
"Look, all I care is that you guys are back." Rainbow tightened the bags around her flank. "And now I've got the opportunity to get the heck out of here. Which way to the north passage that exits out of this crudhole, Rares?"
"Uhm..." Rarity pivoted, then pointed. "That way."
"Good." Rainbow began galloping. "Cuz screw this place. Screw Braum... screw Sarda... screw the Talon..." Her nostrils flared. "But most of all... screw Verlax."
"I just don't get it." Twilight shook her head. "Verlax goes to all this effort to establish a society that utilizes a griffon attack squad. And yet... she wants the chase to continue?"
"Don't question madness, Twilight. I've run into it more than once. Most uncool."
Fluttershy suddenly gasped. "Rainbow...!"
"And I'm not trying to be unsympathetic to the mentally ill, Flutters," Rainbow said, galloping down a straightaway. "It's just that some creatures are purely..." She scuffled to a stop, staring muzzle-to-muzzle with a blonde mare blocking the exit. "...evil."
"... ... ..." Longaze's eyes narrowed. "There's my bounty..."
"Eeeep!" Pinkie eeeep'd.
"Holy..." Rainbow Dash stumbled back, eyes wide.
"It's the mare from Red Barge..." Twilight exhaled.
"How in Queen Ledo's gold-embossed butthole did you get here?!" Rainbow stammered.
Longaze's horn glowed brilliantly. "The same way that you won't get out," she snarled, and fired a blast of magic down the tunnel corridor. FLAAAAAASH!
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sojourn
noun.
1. a temporary stay.
2. stay somewhere temporarily.
I'm sorry to be a nitpicker, but sojourn doesn't mean a journey.
Circles...
Craaaap, this isn't good!
Well, Rainbow doesn't know how to deal with such a mare in front of her. After all, when was the last time she stammered?
I couldn't agree more. *proceeds to rev chainsaw*
Alternate Chapter Title:
Kk
Ass-kicking time.
I see your self-reference, IC.
But also, what do you mean, Verlax? Do you want Rainbow to become an Alicorn? Or something else?
Verlax is full of herself (no surprise there), and things go from bad to EVEN WORSE
.
Roll for Longgaze blast hitting dredge coal store.
..Well Dash, you don't have access to Keris this time.
Also..holy shit, how fast can Longaze move that she reached the tunnels on hoof before Dash left?
-Companions have returned, inner darkness spurned. Utaan.
Um is Verlax talking about Nana Pearl here?
If so, Nana Pearl, would you like to share something with the rest of us?
6858671 V could be talking about Dashie's sojourn in Rohbredden
A sojourn in France could be traveling the countryside, so Dashies sojourn is zigzagging through Rohbredden
Less time than you might imagine, I'm beginning to suspect.
Hmmm... Longaze didn't even blanch. She must get that reaction a lot.
And now we've got spells plus potential traces of sexual angst flying around dredge-laced caverns. If this is happening directly underneath Braum itself, I wouldn't count on those glory days returning. Just an awkward summary of why the place appears as a sink-hole on future maps.
So, Nana Pearl is:
-old and wise
-known and hated by Verlax
-if Verlax hates her and hasn't done anything about it, does this have any relevance?:
-sympathetic to Rainbow
-knows more than she let on, especially about Verlax and possibly Austraeoh
-has no description of her physical appearance besides 'wrinkly' - hiding something, such as a particularly distinctive coat color?
Mortuana, perhaps?
If Verlax or someone doesn't eventually attack Rainbow with a ice hammer, I'm going to be disappointed.
How? She's all tied up.
Verlax couldn't stick around for just a few more minutes.
Welp, so much for making a clean getaway.
Eep.
Swiggity swoogity, ever'bodies coming for that Rainbow Booty.
Ok so she needs her to keep going on her own. And then Longaze shows up, nice timing. Time to kick some butt again. I have a feeling that Longaze will be exposed to the Talon really soon and therefore expose Chandler.
6858671 The use of such a word by Verlax could be interpreted as a species of sarcasm, as in "Are you enjoying your little tour?", or some such. i think she's just needling RD.
6858856 Erm, yeah, what he said.
Song of the day:
Feed her, her own intestines Rainbow Dash!
What does she mean that she's lost her agency? Does that mean that someone or something is controlling her in a way? What could that possibly be? And then there is this experiment... Is that her doing? Or is the experiment part of this whole quest?
Well, that adds an interesting bit to her character. Now I'm trying to imagine a large blue and white dragon spinning around and dancing.
Alright chapter
The more I try to figure Verlax out the more I just don't get it.
Oh, shoot. Longaze is here already.
And Verlax continues to be as incomprehensible as ever. I still can't figure out if she's a master tactician or just batshit insane. Or worse, both?
Also, that bit about Nana Pearl was most intriguing. I had a feeling there was more to her than met the eye, and I can't wait to see what it is. My money's on it being something relevant to the first chapter of Utaan.
Sarda's conversation with Seraphimus just got him some serious awesome points. Fucking fearless.
Well, there's
dat assLongaze. Let the LongBow shipping/fighting/slap slap kiss kiss commence!static.fjcdn.com/pictures/Braum_f75218_5557353.jpg
Damn longaze got there quick
I nominate this quote as this book's best quote so far.
6858714 What, are you Minty all of a sudden?
...
...
...
I miss the alternate titles and achievements.
You must ship the Seralongbow too the Church of Shipping. Only then will your apples be jacked.
Oh, intervention, I knew it.
Now it's time Rainbow shows Longaze her moves ;)
Nana Pearl confirmed for Galadriel. Hah, totally called it and stuff.
What's a devil? Some kind of Windigo?
And I would like to point out how completely ridiculous this sentence sounds when taken by itself.
6859398
Plot twist:
Verlax died a long time ago, and only pieces of her remain in the golems that rainbow encounters.
austraeoh fact checker, how rich would rainbow be?
I'm still nowhere near to figuring Verlaxion out.
Longaze X rainbow ship.. wait, I promised I wouldn't do that anymore after what she did to those stallions
CALLED IT! Set her free and went poof!
Verlax chose that exact moment to intervene. Now Sarda might not have as much credibility in Seraphimus's eyes.
6859606 considering she could cut him seven ways to Sunday within a blink, yep.
You're damn right.
One of the silly things I love about this series is the surprising frequency of the word "madness" at just the right points where I can pretend it's applicable to me.
If only things were easy from this point on.
6860968
aren't those golems chained pieces of what's left of the Windigos?
6887108
That's what Nana Pearl said at least.
I called it. Nana pearl is Tom bombadill
Oh wow, Rainbow is going to be an alicorn! She's going to grow wings!
... wait
Yes, Yoda.
Hello Longshell.
6860681
After Whitemane and Camellia, that makes her Galadriel number three I guess.
I suppose that is a mistake I have made reading this story. Trying to understand the mad-dragon
08/19/2017
14:55 UTC
So just who IS Nana Pearl then?
This doesn't seem to be a common opinion, but I respect Seraphimus a bit better after this conversation with Sarda. Some people have been comparing her to Shell, but I really don't see her going down quite the same path, particularly in light of this here. Then again, there's still plenty of time for me to be proven wrong - and if I am, I'll eat my words with barbecue sauce and enjoy the show all the same.
Also, can't say I anticipated Verlax ever being so directly helpful? I'd have bet money she was going to just show up, taunt, and make like a tree. Great deceiver, to be sure...