Those Ships In the Corner
Rainbow Dash found herself experiencing a new kind of anxiety.
Between the violent wake that the ships made in the choppy surf and the lumiscent glow of their lunar enchantments, she just knew that any searching equine from miles out in any direction would have no trouble whatsoever in locating the Princess Stardust and the inexplicable fleet that was now guiding it eastward. She even took to the air a few times to confirm her nervous suspicions. From above, the Stardust and its sarosian entourage resembled a pack of gnarled whales rippling their way in a jagged "V" formation. The vessels sliced across a quivering pool of star-lit waters, and she worried over the possibility that they might be giving away their location.
Enix did her best to dissuade her fears—at least as well as a bloodstained warrior with a thick sarosian accent could manage. The entire time, none of the other sarosians spoke to Rainbow or her fellow Heraldites. Every bat pony that she stole a glance at was either bowing in her direction or—even more troubling—stealing angry glares at the likes of Echo. The friend to Theanim Mane nearly shrugged it off, meanwhile Nicole stood close to Bard throughout the extent of the journey in order to stave off her frazzled nerves.
Remna—on the contrary—was the very epitome of "cool." She stood ever-vigilant, hooves planted as close as they could be to the Stardust's bow. No minute wore off when she wasn't training her slitted green eyes on the vessels surrounding them.
After a while, Rainbow felt compelled to mimic the observational methods of her draconian companion. She watched the large, slender vessels covered with twisting reeds, seaweed, and glowing pale stones. Her ruby eyes matched the graceful, circular movements of the spheroid submersibles as they seemed to spin laps around the Stardust in mid-transit. While Rainbow was on watch, Twilight Sparkle and Rarity speculated as to what may have been powering the vessels from the inside out.
Eventually—if only to shut them up—Rainbow posed the question to Echo. The stallion explained that the ships were constructed out of Bleakweed, a generic term for underwater vegetation that grew along the last continental shelf before the frothing, watery edge of the plane. After centuries of floating listlessly across the choppy waters around Bleak's Plummet, the midnighter residents sought solutions from the depths. It was then that they discovered entire forests of kelp with rigid vines and even tighter roots. Once enough samples were taken, the descendants of Nightmare Moon's army found a way to grow and weave the material into any shape they liked. Utilizing lunar runes, they could then pilot these naturally-constructed vessels and power their propulsion in any direction using key spells—all controlled by word of muzzle. It was a nautical art that had been mastered after years and years of experimentation. Now—in the modern era—midnighter pilots could glide and surface through the waves with a swiftness almost equal to how they once mastered the night's sky.
Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were dying to know how the sarosians stumbled upon so many samples of lunar rock. Rainbow brought the question to Echo—but it was Princess Luna herself who answered. Ages ago—even before the rise of Nightmare Moon—Princess Luna endeavored to create a safe haven for all sarosian kind. Her solution was to create a portal that would allow Equestrian subjects to instantaneously materialize on the moon. Over the course of several millennia—Luna explained—she and her royal subjects worked on excavating a grand city from the heart of the moon: called Ponymonium. The materials extracted from such an excavation found a home in Equestria, and it was from them that the countless samples of enchanted rock were preserved for runecrafting. After the Civil War, the sarosians who performed their mass exodus carried with them several tons of the priceless rock, and they had been tapping into the lunar supply for weapons and enchantment ever since.
In a burst of curiosity, Rainbow Dash asked Princess Luna if there were any sarosians left living in Ponymonium following her banishment one thousand years ago. The conversation then grew quiet, and Rainbow's ghostly companions shifted about nervously. When Luna only had a taciturn, melancholic response, Twilight quietly explained to Rainbow Dash that the magic that allowed the passage to Ponymonium had faded away several hundred years ago—a consequence of the harmonic energies that Nightmare Moon had sapped from Luna's spirit.
Hours wore on. The ships continued to guide the Stardust eastward—northeastward, actually. Rainbow found herself gazing off the starboard bow, watching as the flicker of Yaerfaerda grew closer and closer. She felt her heart beating with every random pulse, and the light was getting so bright that it was getting difficult to stare at anything else without squinting.
Nevertheless, her attention—and that of the rest of the Herald—was stolen the moment she heard a shrill cry from one of the flanking vessels. She looked north in time to see what looked to be a thick maelstrom of swirling water... rumbling like a tempest beneath the thunder-split heavens.
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I hope RD mentions Yaerfaerda is blinding her again.
A vortex to the seabed, perchance?
More than plain mud or rock or crustaceans they'll find...
Ye've gone off the edge of the map, mate. Here there be monsters.
oh, will this be like the Nealand Atoll lagoon whirlpool thing?
-Companions are abound, frozen spectres hound. Utaan.
Welp. inb4 we end up in Ponymonium at some point.
Oh boy I wonder what that could possible be. Interesting little bit of lore that we got there about the moon, I'm sure that will in no way be significant at a later point in this story, no way at all.
I'll be honest I kinda like Enix. If she proves to not be Shell Jr. I'd love for her to stick around.
The Harem always needs more members.
So there was a city on the moon? Pretty neato. And now at least RD has an army of batponies to help her fight off the army that Chandler is bringing with him.
7478167 Because it isn't a huge pain to say. Also, it'd be too easy to ridicule when the squad inevitably plummets to a watery end courtesy of the residents of Beak's Plummet and the Herald.
When the green light is lit, it's time to buckle up.
7478741 I dunno. We know what shape it was in during EoP. I don't think there's anything there but moondust.
A city on the moon... well, that sounds interesting. Dash needs to impose her new Blood of Luna status and get all these other sarosians to give Echo a break, because I feel like some particularly mean ones are gonna nab him in Bleak's Plummet and try to kill him. For now though, yay for things going a little more smoothly for a while longer.
~SolidFire
I think that the city is about to surface. After all, if you've got a watertight, growable material and centuries to work with it, why not make a mobile Rapture?
7478936
'We' do not.
I predict the Maria Matriarchs will be located around the 7th seed, which coincidentally, will be a very sacred and ancient place that Rainbow needs to prove her worth for, similar to the Quade.
7479047 Y U SO CASUL?
I always forget that you never read it.
7478741
I loved the whole vibe of Ponymonium I got when I read Saros. That vibe was only enhanced by seeing some ruins of it in EoP.
Wait a second was that four years ago!?
Gotta go reread Saros sometime, it was a great short story...
Best chapter name.Ahem.A city on the moon? Seems like something Luna would do pre-Nightmare Moon.
And I have a feeling that the Bleakweed will come into play later. Definitely the excavated moon rock. I just hope it isn't when Chandler's battalions get there.
- Prism
Is there a specific reason why this entire chapter was written in indirect speech?
7479318
I can only speculate about this but i guess it is meant as some kind of transition/lore chapter, not much happened.
Speaking from my personal experience it is more easy to wrap up things faster when writing it in indirect speech, no need to flesh out a conversation that is not really meant to go anywhere in the long run.
So my assumption is rather pragmatic and leads to a minor case of 'the lazy'.
Sounds like its time for some Moby.
Ah.. here we go. Longest running SciFi series
Arkon Spheres.
Maybe when this is over they will be able to access Ponymonium again. Though i suppose at that point the question is 'is it really necessary to do so'?
... Will Ponymonium be reopened? That would be cool.
7478824 Enix'll need to dethrone Seraphimus for that spot... Crazy fight scenes abound.
Huh, I hadn't considered that Ponymonium might actually factor directly in this story, but the idea excites me. Have to wonder how it, and the Moon in general, fit into the whole Machine World thing.
Ah, hello again.
7479397
7479550
If they do, they're probably going to get a nasty surprise.
"Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair."
Rest in peace, Ponymonium.
...anyone else waiting for Bard or Echo to call Enix a Square, or is it just me...?
Come, slice yourself with me. You'll be too lightheaded to worry about anything afterwards.
7479089 7478936, I really need to read these other fics, they look interesting.
7478824 Oh you.
7480480 I've been waiting for years since I've made this account. Guess I'm 2hip2b^2.
Ugh, that was really cheesy. Like moon cheese, cheesy.
7480609
Zaid and I agree that cheesey is good
Skree!
7479318 I was gonna say... this chapter feels very different.
I'm starting to wonder how many more chapter we have to go? It feels like we are nowhere near the end of this book.
7479318 Passage of time and distance can be easier to narrate when there is no important dialogue or specific character interaction.
In other words, ):( is trying to hurry along to the next checkpoint.
7479375 ha ha, Allis English-speaking people assume the longest running science-fiction series is Doctor Who.
6521036 you should do less drugs and more catching up on this series.
More Ponymonium stuff, I love it. It does make me wonder if you're ever going to write that old story idea you had about Ponymonium itself. God knows I'd read that in a heartbeat. I suppose I should probably read the Saros fics at some point, too...
Time to retake Wall Maria.
img12.deviantart.net/45fc/i/2012/346/2/4/shadow_and_maria_by_idolnya-d5nvdfl.jpg
7483753 Also the paragraphs are super long compared to most chapters.
"Storm's comin'."
I don't think that's a natural storm...
Well, this was all enlightening. Ponymonium, huh? I really like that. It reminds me eerily of the Call or Duty: Zombies storyline, since the moon is technically how everything started. It was in an ancient city built eons ago by an ancient race with wings and stuff that dressed up as knights and protected something. I can't remember. Even those beings are based off an earlier work reminiscent of Tolkien-like fantasy, but anyway, I must have zombies on the brain to make this kind of a stretch.
Nice to see things going smoothly for a change. Of course it won't last but I'll enjoy it while it does. I also love the idea of a sarosian city on the moon, that's just so cool!
So there could still be someone living there...
And I mean, so far they've got a decent track record finding lost legendary cities.
So is there a chance anyone is still there?
Sounds like windigos
Sunglasses - despite the fact no one needs them.
8979261
Somehow i doubt it. Windigos freeze the water they tread.
A sarosian moon dwarf fortress? That's such a cool idea! *takes notes*
We arrive at Bleaks Plummet, and not a moment too soon.