Austraeohnesia: The Rainbow Dark Descent
"I friggin' hate you," Echo groaned, squatting in a huff on the edge of the Bleakweed balcony beside Rainbow Dash.
"Oh hush." Rainbow turned aside. "Bard. If he tries to dive into the water, kick him in the bat-balls."
"Got it. And a pleasure." Bard tipped his hat, then smirked at Nicole. "Ain'tcha glad that yer coltfriend's so brave?"
"Maybe this was a bad idea," Nicole muttered, watching as the sarosians gathered around the edge of the deck.
"Curious..." Remna's slitted green eyes narrowed, following the movement of the bat ponies. Before Rainbow's little group, the pirates were uncoiling an elaborate mesh made of interwebbing vines. Pale moonstones formed at every joining knot and intersection. "...what precisely are they doing? Catching fish for sustenance?"
"Sarosians are nimble divers, Axan," Princess Luna's voice said. "And they can hold their breaths for long periods of time. I doubt they need many tools for doing what you propose."
"Hrmmfff..." Remna's nostrils exhaled. "And that's what I get for pretending to be interested in mortal ways."
"Say, uh... Princess Luna?" Rainbow tilted her head towards the skies. "It looks like we're all about to take a huge dive... erm... s-somehow."
"Duly noted, child."
"Point is... uhm... I-I'm pretty sure we will be out of range of direct moonlight once we've started our descent." Rainbow fidgeted from side to side. "Unless the sarosians here have some snazzy way of channeling moonlight down through the body of Bleak's Plummet or whatnot."
"Possible... but wise to expect a signal break."
"So... like... what am I gonna do now?" Rainbow gulped. "I'm supposed to open communication with the leaders of your lost flock. But... if they can't hear you talking to me down there... then how am I gonna convince them we're on the same side?"
"My voice cannot follow you down there, Rainbow Dash, but I have succinctly enchanted your pendant to represent me nevertheless."
"Huh?"
Princess Celestia's voice interjected: "It's one of the many reasons why my sister took such an extraordinary period of time in channeling energy into the Element of Loyalty, Rainbow Dash. It's more than a matter of communication."
"My sister is right. My essence flows through the connection that has been established. Any sarosian in your presence will know whom you represent—for their souls shall resonate with the spell that you are bringing to their doorstep."
"Uhm..." Nicole smiled cutely, glancing Rainbow's way. She pointed at her flickering eyeslits. "I think she's talking about this thing." Her ears twitched as her body shivered. "Whew... still tingles."
Rainbow took a deep breath. "Well, I sure hope you're right, Your Highness." A gulp. "Or else, you might not be hearing back from me for a while... and by that I mean forever."
Fluttershy whimpered slightly.
"Have some faith in my children, Rainbow Dash," Luna said. "Just as they evidently have faith in me."
Remna muttered aside: "That is the alicorn's subtle way of telling you to pull the stick out."
Rainbow glared at her. "You've been listening to Echo too much."
"The sniveling male is poetic when it matters."
"Meh," Echo muttered.
"Shhh!" Twilight pointed. "They're doing something with the net."
"Yes..." Rarity nodded. "They appear to be lowering it into the water."
"More than that," Twilight said. "Watch closely."
Rainbow observed as the sarosians on the Bleakweed balcony lowered the interwebbing fabric knot by knot. Enix directed them the entire time, pointing and exhaling shrill commands in Moonwhinny. When the entire structure was only a few meters submerged, a quartet of sarosians trotted up to the balcony's edge, cradling necklaces made of glowing runes.
"Y'mnym!" they shouted in unison.
Silver light pulsed from below the waves. Rainbow and her friends watched as the runes situated at the knots lit-up one after another. The waters rippled... then expelled upwards in a smooth, rippling fountain. Slowly, the ropes expanded as mana-barriers formed between the joints, solidifying with translucent energy. Soon, the ropes expanded, forming a geodesic sphere of taut vines and see-through force fields. The combined illumination of the multiple runes revealed a dry-as-sand interior of the sphere, with a copious amount of breathable air.
"Oh wow..." Twilight sported a big dumb lavender grin. "That is absolute incredible!" She gawked at the other ghost-mares. "Rarity... have you ever seen anything so... ingenious?"
"Yes, darling." Rarity winked with a coy grin. "Deep in Shoggoth."
"Oh yeah." Twilight blinked. "Right." She blinked again. "Yes, well... this is... uhm... bat-ponier."
Pinkie Pie giggled.
Rainbow rolled her eyes, then looked at Enix. "That's our way down the shaft?"
Enix was already nodding. "The enchantment will contain itself just long enough for a one-way journey, and it will require preparation and recharging for the journey back up." She pointed at the top of the sphere—the only hole that hadn't formed a shield yet. "Just long enough for us to see the Maria Matriach. I suggest you and your friends enter at once."
"Righto." Rainbow hoisted a gasping Echo in her forelimbs and flew towards the sphere. "Nopony fart, now. Echo, that means you."
"No pr-promises," the sarosian sputtered.
"Uhm..." Nicole nervously flew while Bard hoisted Remna. "How... uh... s-safe is this thing?"
"It is perfectly stable," Enix said, hovering above the floating sphere. "However... you would do well to keep your hooves situated on the vines only."
Rainbow heard this just as she was settling on the "floor" of the sphere's interior. She carefully stretched her hooves out so that she stood perfectly on the ropes between the quivering force fields. "Yeah... that's not daunting or anything."
"Just relax," Echo droned. "The worst that could happen is you might break a shield and cause a chain reaction that will flood the entire chamber with highly-pressurized seawater."
"Ungh..." Nicole settled beside Bard and Remna with a shiver. "Exactly what did they kick you out of Bleak's Plummet for? I mean specifically?" She frowned. "Did they just reach randomly into a hat full of reasons?"
"He insulted his bloodline and robbed his brothers and sisters of prescious enchantments," Enix said, flying into the sphere and tossing a frown Echo's way. "The only reason he hasn't been eviscerated where he stands is due to his blessed association with Luna's avatar."
"Well... uhm..." Rainbow smiled awkwardly. "Score one for the Nu Moon Crew!" She winked at Echo. "You like that? The 'Nu Moon Crew?'"
"Please don't say that ever again," Echo muttered.
"Yeah, sugarcube," Applejack droned. "What he said."
"Alrighty then... uh..." Bard looked at Enix. "Shaftin' time?"
"W'nyhhm!" Enix grunted. Flaaash! The last few pockets solidified with energy fields above them. The sphere was perfectly sealed now. "We are ready to descend." She nodded to two sarosians who had entered the structure with them.
The bat ponies concentrated, grasped their runic necklaces, and murmured rhythmic chants into the air.
The upper knots glowed brighter than the rest. With a magical jolt, the sphere descended—dropping rapidly.
Splooosh!
Those on board the Stardust watched intently as the sphere disappeared beneath the waves.
"Absolutely amazing," Flynn murmured, jaw agape. "I wonder... could they employ that sort of technology in an elemental vacuum?"
"What arre you prroposing, frriend?" Kepler asked. "The means of navigating chaotic space?"
"He's proposing nerd shit," Logan grunted. "Don't encourage him."
"Just think about it!" Flynn looked at the others. "If we could borrow some of those runes—we'd reach the Sixth Seed and the edge of the world in a heartbeat! We could even evade the detection of windigoes along the way!"
"I... don't think these moon-humpers wanna part with their glittery glamour rocks," Logan said.
Wildcard nodded, his goggles reflecting the bubbly water where the sphere descended with Bard and Rainbow Dash.
"Well... I'd better get finished on tweaking the engines," Flynn moaned, trotting lethargically back towards the ship's cabin. "Though—at this point—it feels a lot like banging rocks together. Meh... why does adventuring gotta expose me to... so much stuff?!"
Ariel hovered at the ship's side, wringing her fetlocks together. She bit her lip as her ears drooped.
"Hey... relax, girl..." Logan gave her a meaty pat on the shoulder. "She's got Bard and the dragon-bitch with her. She'll be fine."
"Not... really worried about her, per se..." Ariel gulped. "Just... if these midnighters pull some funny business..." She winced. "...we might wanna put some distance between ourselves and this floating turd... cuz that thing is gonna sink from her awesomeness."
"Hmmmff..." Logan sniffed. "You might wanna share that one with her when she gets back." He trotted off, dragging his axe. "Sure as Hell a better pick-up line than anything you've tried thus far."
Ariel glanced at him, then rolled her eyes. "Buck me... we need a bigger boat, I swear..."
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You know, I just realized… Chandler's army is gonna have a fun time trying to assault an underwater fortress-city, whose only entrance is a runic elevator that can only carry like half a dozen people at once.
Seems a repeat of the wyvern monastery isn't in the cards this time around?
0... Yep. That didn't take long.
They would if Luna commanded it.
But it'd be too useful. Never mind reaching the sixth seed, why couldn't it be used on the other side of the plane? Still got four books to go.
Hands up, who DIDN'T call it.
And that was exactly what happened
Having them tease Ariel is so much fun to read.
7486099
Surely not, but I wouldn't put it past them to kidnap the rest of the gang to use for... leverage.
C'mon, RD. When has splitting the party ever gone well for you?
7486099 Here's to hoping that the concept of depth charges is a little too advanced for the Rohbreddon navy.
Echo, I fear your hopes will be Dashed.
Couldn't they simply use the same spell than in Silvadel to talk to Axan ? They knew it was underwater for quite some time now, Luna could have prepared it without problem.
7486299 It ended an entire civil war in Ledomare, then prevented one in Val Roa. Of course, there's also Lerris. And then that business at Rust. So all in all, it works about 50% of the time, every time.
Even AJ was unimpressed.
"absolutely"
Well, this one still seems to be the same. I'm 100% sure this means "shield/barrier".
7486099
You might be right about that, buuuuut...I'm never expecting things to be that easy.
Call upon the Seabatponies~ Shoo Be Doo~
I wonder if Luna's enchantment has an expiration date, because if it works underwater, where there's no direct moon-signal, there's a chance it'll do it on the Dark Side, too. And that opens up all kinds of possibilities.
Echo is going to screw this up somehow isn't he. Things have been too calm since RD and her crew were attacked a few chapters ago.
Oh please. Dash has been in far more impressive and dangerous places with more faith in herself than others. Her humor is tepid.
Now that they've lost line of sight to the moon, the Harmony Orb will break off in
3 seconds24 hours!Experience tranquility, RD.
Five minutes later...
7486099 It never was, given how the inhabitants of it are the exact opposite as well.
First Jurassic Park and now Jaws. Next lines will be "R.D. phone home" or "it belongs in a museum"
7486099 And, if the batponies have underwater explosives, their underwater demolitionists will wreck havoc on Chandler's fleet.
Curious. . .
Nu moon crew!
Down to the depths we go. Just don't gaze too long into the abyss.
Seraphimus & co are closing in, and now is the perfect time for them to strike.
7503278 for a second i thought you were talk8ng about me and i was lik... whaaat?
7486099
I'm quite late, I know, but they still could pin them down. You've got an army at the top, waiting for them to resurface, and then Chandler goes in with the Talon, Sera, and some lackeys. If they lose, then it's midnighters versus Rohbreddonites, which I find ironic because because that ends up creating even more conflict than they anticipated, causing (most likely) another tribal war, but only between the Sarosians and Rohbreddonites.
I hope that things up top stay calm . . . or as calm as calm can be. An army is on the way, so only bad things can happen when they arrive.
I'm totally shipping Remnecho now.
Remna, if you try to be Roarke any harder I'm going to assume you really are trying to get Dashiecuddles.
Speaking of Roarke, Ariel, maybe you'd have a better chance of winning her prismatic heart if you just go for a no-holds-barred brawl, then maybe tie her up and snog her. Or vice versa.
Foreshadowing?
I mean, how is Rainbow going to reunite the Urohringrs if the ponies cannot into space?
Oh IC. Dont you get my inner-space nerd excited.
65 more chapters to go....
(Formerly 50.)
...yeah, you know....nothing life ending.
Awww, I kinda like it.
That would get Rainbow more interested, truthfully.
Sure didn't work when they first attacked.