The Lengths That We Go
Sonikah limply trotted up a steep hill overlooking the glittery waters of Sun Roost. Griffons darted like shadows overhead, briefly slicing the last rays of sunlight across the warm rockscape.
Theanim Mane stood on the dock at lakeside. He stared up the sharp incline, gazing at her lone figure from afar.
Sonikah didn't dare look back down. She shuddered with every step, as if overcome by a deep and bone-splitting chill.
Vapors escaped Seraphimus' beak in rapid bursts. They did not stop her.
The sun had disappeared behind the mountains, casting the world in a frozen gray sheen.
The Commander's paws crunched through the snow as she threaded her way through the trees. One plate at a time, she shrugged the silver armor off her body. Shoulderpieces and chest guards littered the wet snow behind her. Soon she was alone with her fluttering feathers in the cold evening wind.
She shut her eyes, inhaling frost and the scent of pine.
Sonikah tried sitting down. Instead, she collapsed on the hilltop. Everywhere she looked, the world was warm, rosy. A golden crispness invaded her every sense, and it jarred the mare.
Shuddering, she reached up, touching one of her flouncing braids. It hurt to the touch, because suddenly... she was no longer numb to it.
Without a second thought, she found herself toying with the rigid twine that bound the braids in place. It surprised her how little effort it took to unravel the material. Within seconds, a portion of her mane dangled freely in the warm breeze. It had a smell to it: rancid, dirty, likely infested with lice.
Sonikah couldn't remember the last time she ever bathed... or needed to. Did she always smell so horrible... feel so horrible? All those years spent above the waters of the Quade... with zero baptisms.
The mare was finding it increasingly hard to breathe. She reason, she deemed, was due to the sackcloth tunic ensnaring her like a noose. She fought with it... struggled with it. Her fetlocks rubbed red and raw against the coarse material... and it hurt.
It hurt until she cried... unleashing tears in deep, guttural sobs as she fought and pried at the imprisoning material.
Seraphimus paused dead in the snow.
At last...
...she fell to her knees.
The snow stung through her exposed limbs. Nevertheless, she knelt there... crouched there... collapsed there.
She breathed in rigid waves. Her charcoal eyes fluttered shut, blind to all sparks.
"Please..."
She bowed low.
"Please forgive me..."
She bowed lower.
"Please... speak to me..." Her talons rested in the snow on either side of her head. "...I seek your presence... your wisdom..."
Her beak scraped into the soft layers of frost. Her voice echoed like whispers against the dead pine trees around her.
"...I have failed the Council and I have failed my wingmates... but I do not wish to fail you..."
Her tail laid at her side, coiled and dead. Her headcrest drooped as her words poured out in earnest.
"...please, tell me what I must do. As a faithful child, I entreat you. As a humble wife and mother, I beg of you..." Her brow furrowed, tight and tighter. "How can I make up for my mistakes? How can I please you so that you may bless these tribes and bless them through me...?"
A warm pair of forelimbs reached out and grasped Sonikah's.
The mare gasped. Through a layer of tears, she looked behind her.
Nicro sat by her side. "Shhhh... do not fuss with the sackcloth, dear sister," she said. "It is not your true surface."
Sonikah shook... shuddered. "They... they took..." She sobbed like a foal. "They took us..."
"I know." Nicro nodded, jaw clenched. "The Consortium—they used you. How many brothers and sisters died on the journey to this continent?"
Sonikah clenched her eyes shut.
"Do not blame yourself, elder," Nicro said softly. "For it is not the first time that we've been used. Over the eons, we have grown accustomed to suffering. But to suffer is noble only once. It is the beginning of something... the transcendence that Verlaxion desires for all of us. Why else would she unite the tribes unless she wanted us to surpass the greatest plight of all? The plight of misery in the absence of her glory... a glory that is magnified in the presence of each other... and in helping each other..."
Sonikah hiccuped on a sob. "The texts... are drowned. The Kyrons... the Kyrons are all gone..."
"As was their choice. To suffer and diminish. But is that truly what Verlaxion desires of us?" Nicro slowly shook her head, and she hugged Sonikah in the last remnant of daylight. "To heal, sister. To heal means to live... and to enjoy more years of bringing glory to our Goddess."
"I... I don't know..." Sonikah whimpered. "I don't know how..."
"Let us learn together." Nicro squeezed her. "Will you help me? Will you help me heal... and heal you?"
Sonikah clenched her eyes shut. After several pent-up breaths, she eventually nodded.
Nicro patted her shoulder. Leaning in, she fished her hooves under Sonikah's tunic... then tore the sackcloth article apart completely.
Sonikah's chest stuck out. She arched her head back, inhaling, filling up...
...and she released with a long wail, echoing into the heart of the eroded continent. Nicro held her closely, weathering each sob and shake with strong forelimbs. The two pilgrims shivered together, like sisters, upon the warm roof of a new home.
Down below, several observing Luminards bowed their heads and murmured quiet prayers.
Theanim Mane watched quietly, deadpan. His moist eyes glistened in the sunset. He fixed them by sliding his goggles down, then turning around to stroll across the lengths of Sun Roost, absorbing the warmth in the air.
Seraphimus bowed alone in the woods.
"Speak to me, eternal mother... Goddess of the Thawing..."
She shook and shivered in the gray dimness.
"...I need to hear from you. Please... tell me what I must do." Her beak clattered. "Do I fix the ugliness that I see before me? Or do I follow what your Council has directed, and chase the Rogue... even in spite of the chaos and madness such a pursuit wreaks?"
Silence.
"I am your humble servant... your righteous talon. Show me the way, for I cannot see it on my own." Seraphimus shuddered. "Please, Goddess. I have... I-I have given so much for you." Seraphimus shook. "I have lost so much for your gain..."
Silence.
"Will... will you not help this child of yours?" Seraphimus gulped. "...as she has helped so many foals of yours? Please... I entreat you. Speak to me. Just one word... just one breath... and I shall aim my wings to that current. I shall fly the lengths of this continent... and even the s-seven seas beyond... if you will only speak to me... just... just speak to me..."
The woods hung around her, still and sterile.
Seraphimus stopped shaking.
"Mrmmffff..."
Her claws raked against the snow and the rich earth hidden underneath.
"... I hate you..."
She looked up, eyes like charcoal daggers that scraped at the frost, chiseling.
"I hate you." Her tail flicked. "When will it be enough? When will it ever be enough?" An angry beak hung open. "I've given my life... my wingmates. Must I give myself as well? What, then, will they have to wake up to? Do you want them to hate you as well?"
More silence.
Seraphimus bowed her head once again. Her talons clawed at more snow, made fists... then went limp.
"Alas..."
A breathy sigh. Vapors rippled up through the branches above her.
"...it is only for y-you to know." A sniffle. "And for th-this humble child to follow..."
She closed her eyes. Her beak pressed once again to the snow.
"Please forgive me... and guide me... as you h-have been guiding me." She cleared her throat. "For this child... mmmm... knows b-better than to question your wisdom..."
Her eyes reopened. They reflected the grayness of the dying dead.
"...your will be done."
Eventually, the Commander stood up. She picked up her armor, slowly putting it back on. Snow was clinging to the silver plates, making each square inch of them even colder than before. With a sigh, seraphimus girded herself anyways, and soon she was shuffling off... somewhere.
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Well then, Seraphimus does hate Verlax. Resentment is Magic.
Somehow...I feel there was something more actually going on behind the scenes there...
oi67.tinypic.com/o72fjm.jpg
I had my suspicions about Seraphimus, but until now I had no confirmation. Seraphimus is not devoted at all, but desperate. She likely didn't do anything more than pay lip service to Verlax until her family got dredge coaled. then she latched onto faith because it was the only thing she had left. I am willing to bet that if Rainbow was proven to have a cure than she would stop at nothing to run Rainbow down and make her use it to save her family.
Meanwhile Sonikah has been in pain for so long that she became numb to both her pain and the pain of others. She needs to learn to feel again to move on.
Seraph has given so much, and gotten so little in return.
It's natural to feel a hate like that.
-Companions have returned, inner darkness spurned. Utaan.
The feels. We have once again been cursed with falling in love with a villainous sort of character who isn't really a villain when we get to know them.
The life of a Jurist.
...Does this mean she'll use/work with Longaze and Chandler to capture Rainbow Dash?
wow, this chapter was just thick with symbolism and meaning.
...Am I still in the right story?
Character Development™
YAS!
RENOUNCE YOUR FROZEN CORPSE OF A GOD! 
EMBRACE THE AWESOMENESS OF EAST HORSE! 
Hmmm I actually kind of expected Verlax to step out and talk to Seraphimus there at the end. Nice way of showing two different ways of losing and regaining faith in something. Now it just depends on if Seraphimus is going to take this to some kind of insane extreme; as I feel that is very unlikely for Sonikah to do at this point.
I was fine with Verlax and her shenanigans up until now, but leaving your most faithful catbird alone in the cold is unacceptable. Seraphimus deserves better.
Quite the poignant chapter. Reminds me of Passion and Sin, Not a Drop, from the ending of Ynanhluutr.
Lovely contrast/parallel between Sonikah and Seraphimus there. They've both given everything to their goddess and gotten nothing in return. When the stress becomes too much and they break, their reactions are completely different.
If Seraphimus saw Verlax's true form and purpose for this part of the world she would probably snap worse than Shell did when he lost Imre.
Reminded me of
6917951
That assumes Verlax actually gives a shit.
Oh jeebus Sera is dead inside isn't she?
People are saying she's not devoted, but desperate - I think she's both, and that puts her on this razor edge she's on. She's volatile because what she is seeing isn't meshing with what she believes and has placed all her bets on.
As a child raised in a very conservative, Christian house, this reminds me of the internal struggle faced with the "from whence cometh evil" argument. Either your god is not who or what you thought they were, and your faith is wrong in a way you cannot reconcile, or you are simply too simple and small a part of it to even fathom the plan at large, and you just need to put your head down and do what you're told.
Having a god with demonstrated powers (that cryogenic freezing is pretty legit) Seraphimus at least has evidence that Verlax exists, and as such I understand why she fell off the other side of the edge than I did myself. And that, in a way, is what makes this so chilling.
Dammit IC, do you just squirt literary gold out your plot everyday? Cause you write some quality shit
6918166
The saddest thing is that she doesn't care. The whole continent is just a test for Rainbow (well more specifically the Austraeoh really) to see if she will come over to her way of thinking, or something to that effect. They are basically just toys to her so she can test Rainbow Dash.
6918197
Yeah. That's what I implied. All this "Verlaxion's Grace" or "by her will" doesn't mean shit.
Touching chapters
Yup, like I thought, this isn't over yet. I feel Sera is starting down that path of turning into a different sort of Shell, one acting out of desperation rather than madness. She's lost and doesn't know where to go or what to do, but Rainbow Dash and Verlax are the only things she has to guide her now. She'll have to turn her back on one or the other; it'll be interesting to see who she chooses.
A great cool down from all the action we've had lately, and a chance to see how one of our antagonists ticks.
Oh man powerful stuff!! we see whats in the wake and rubble of the aftermath...but where is Seraphimus going?
6917872 Just wait for book twelve where IC somehow ties everything together and the whole thing turns out to be one huge metaphor. Every character, every action scene, every dumb chapter title pun will somehow be intrinsic to the greater picture, and it will be regarded by generations to come as a masterpiece of subtlety.
Or, probably not. But it's fun to imagine.
Well. Sarry has had her cathartic moment. I suppose that's enough for her.
... For now.
And that's right, Nicro. Get rid of that nasty old tunic. It's just in the way. Have a wonderful pony hug fuzz to fuzz with Sonikah, just how a pony hug should be.
The fuzz is love.
The fuzz is life.
This can only end in snuggles.
...After a nice hot bath. Ponies who are smelly and matted require washing for optimal fuzziness and snuggleability.
... Seriously. Try interacting with a fuzzy little pony and not having a cuddle. I double-diamond-dog-dare you. You WILL cuddle the pone. Some part of all of us craves the adorable fuzz.
My brain has been full of nothing but ponies and f*ck since November 2010.
What a great chapter. And to think you just put it up along with five others. For me to write something like this, I would have needed to meditate for a year without writing, write this in stone tablets, and then cut my hands off.
346,000 words and we're still not done. I'd say that's pretty far.
Both Sonikah and Seraphimus don't know what Verlax wants anymore. Honestly, I don't either.
A vey real question I have is this:
IF sera's family is healed... Will they love the thing she has become?
She has changed tremendously from the mother/wife into this Right Talon of Justice.
It scares me to think what would happen if they refused her "you are not the griffoness I married"
............
And so the tsun has left the Roost. No more clinging onto what's left of Verlax's old Ocean Play 'n' Punish set. With everything that Sonikah believed she'd lost, a more impenitent life among her brethren is just the ticket to move beyond needless pain and resentment.
Until the inevitably fatal HNNNG that comes with aiding dem little catbirbs.
Or Sera's interpretation of Verlaxion's will. Which could still mean either following the given order or leaving Dash to trek across the kingdom herself without her and the other Claws lending to the mayhem. But as someone who is an increasingly unwilling prisoner to their beliefs, I guess it may be a question of how far she'll try to act upon said will before reaching absolute breaking point. It could prove messy, awesome, or both.
Flight jackets?
Hey kid, whats with the life preserver.
Verlaxion takes her copy of Overlord back to the shop. My Minions are not breaking like they should.
I've come to love getting my daily dose of adventure and shenanigans that make up the bulk of this series but it's every once in awhile that IC throws a chapter like this at us that, to me, the series really shines.
I thought that Nicro and Sonikah letting go of the past together provided a great contrast to Seraphimus desperately trying to cling onto it alone and really helped drive home that final scene.
Seraphimus.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close.
IC does an excellent job at interweaving these two scenes together.
Wonder if the next chapter will have Wildcard and Bard?...
Man, this just keeps getting better and better! I salute you IC, and I look forward to the next chapter!
I'll say it since no one else has; I'm really worried about why Seraphimus insisted she take Longaze without Keris.
One pillar lies in ruins. The other is jagged with splinters of cold stone.
The Luminards are seeing the light, while Seraphimus taps around in the darkness.
Wonderful chapters. You can feel not only the mind movement of the characters, but the upcoming changes of the whole continent.
6918685
About that thing Sera said.
I think that in this context it's meant more as like the end of a prayer. As equivalent to "Amen."
Basically the entire meaning behind it would be that "Life is out of our control, let it be in your talons and see to it that your ultimate will be done according to your master plan."
Which it will. Whatever her master plan is.
I get the feeling Seraphimus is about to do something she will regret.
Yep, she's not anywhere near done with 'the rouge' yet.
6919040
Mirrors will shatter
Crushed by the weight of the world.
The pillars collapse
in shame.
6917867 Oh. Of course! That's why she kept Windburst, who hates Rainbow more than anyone.
Well, then make a new one. While much of the material things of the Quade are gone (to some of which I say good riddance), some things are immaterial, such as memories and tradition. While some of these things should not be practiced, as they run distinctly counter to what the Luminards (are they still Luminards? Or has the name changed?) now practice, others can be adapted to fit their new setting. Other things further should still be remembered, as both lessons from the past, and as a record from whence they came.
Laymans terms: The Luminards may not have brought the texts with them, but the traditions still exist in their memory. They should totes adapt some of them to their new way of life. Maybe not the pain-causing ones.
[Also, are they really gone when their teachings still exist?]
[I'm never gone, just lurking out of sight, waiting for philisophical concepts/tropes/comments to pounce on]
Sonikah and Seraphimus are two halves of the same coin, losing everything and still think to put their devotion to the fake goddess Verlaxion. But of course Verlaxion is one divine dragon and has little to no concerns on the affairs of mortals outside of Dashie's affairs. Both Sonikah and Seraphimus are beginning to have doubts and see the contradictions in their faith, after all Verlaxion did nothing while family fell ill and the quade destroyed. But where Sonikah has hopes for a better future, Seraphimus is left with tragedy. With nothing to go on, Seraphimus is sure to either take off by herself on a self-destructive quest after the Rainbow Rogue, or perhaps something even more dramatic. Seraphimus is stuck to her faith mainly because she has no one else to save her, she can only hope for Verlaxion's gaze to finally turn her way. Very dramatic chapter and I loved the symbolism to it.
We all know where anger and hate lead, Seraph.
Suffering. And cookies.
6918685 Your comment made me think... What is the 'baby' equivalent in regards to "catbird"?
I'm going to answer kittenchick. I suppose it's only a matter of time until someone else gives a better name than me, though.
6917951 WildCard is best catbird. Seraphimus is best served cold over a bed of desperation with a heaping side of guilt 'n gravy.
Verlax just might be ready to chow down on this volatile dinner. And if she does.. It will give a lot ponies this side of the blight a pretty big stomach ache.
Doctor Bomb here. I'm going to go ahead and prescribe you some of the sterner stuff. Vicodash should do the trick, but it might knock your socks off in the process. Take one before bed and call me in the morning.