Hoofsteps echoed across the common room.
Seraphimus looked up from a lonesome stupor. Her charcoal brown eyes adjusted to an approaching figure.
Flynn trotted briskly towards her side of the room. At last, the balding stallion approached the pipework she was handcuffed to. Levitating a wrench or two, he proceeded to tighten the rivets of the brass array above the griffon.
Seraphimus watched in contemplative silence.
Flynn continued working... working...
At last, it was Seraphimus who cleared her throat and said something. "Is there a purpose to this?"
"Uh huh..." he said, kept working, albeit with a subtle frown.
More silence.
"Would I benefit in any way from knowing?" Seraphimus droned.
Flynn's nostrils flared. "I'm attempting to adjust the air filtration of the facility in order to ease up on the power supply. We'll need all the crystals we can preserve for the inevitable trip ahead."
"I'm chained to these pipes," Seraphimus said. "Does this have a chance of scalding me to a roasted death?"
"The Hell do I care?" Flynn groaned.
Seraphimus calmly nodded. "Indeed."
And—just like that—silence returned.
Seraphimus grew noticeably restless, and it wasn't because of the work Flynn was doing to the pipes. "Your friend was in here earlier," she stated. "The one they call 'Big Show.'"
Flynn's jaw muscles tightened. Her grumbled inwardly. "Mmmmmmhmmmm..."
"He is... a creature of remarkable depth," Seraphimus said, her tone of voice faltering slightly. The griffon's hawkeyes fell to the stone floor of the common room. "Suffered through many hardships... many conflicts—both physical and otherwise."
Flynn twisted and grinded with the wrench harder.
Seraphimus continued. "He was... simply telling me earlier how he had—"
"Yeah, look." Flynn stopped dead in his works to glare down at the griffon with one angry eye. "I know he told you things. Why? I haven't the faintest goddess-damned clue. Guess trusting in his friends just doesn't cut it anymore. Damn bitter bastard feels like he has to consort with a putrid, homicidal bum instead. Makes you wonder where we went wrong..."
"He values h-his friendship with you." Seraphimus found herself stammering. "I simply find it... remarkable that a pony of such principles could—"
"Could what?!" Flynn's metal lens extended like a knife. He spat, "Risk his fat hide for a psychopath like you?! Cuz then—yeah—me too! Hell, I'm still shocked he hasn't friggin' pissed down your neck by now."
Seraphimus took a fuming breath. "You underestimate the pony's ethical restraint—"
"No! I know all about it!" Flynn gnashed his teeth. "That's just the whole point! Where was your moral insight when you chased us to the edges of the earth, threatening to murder every single damn thing in your path?!" He hissed, "Isn't it awfully convenient to throw reason and respect out the window? Thinking of us as nothing but 'blighted meatbags' must have made the whole ruthless attack on the Gondola way the Hell easier. We almost lost more than one 'remarkable' soul thanks to you."
Seraphimus tried to frown, but her headcrest had drooped noticeably. " You misunderstand me—"
"No, I know all that you're about," Flynn said. "So you lost your whole family to the Great Thaw after Verlaxion bit it. So what? We've all lost something before joining the Herald. Thing is—we've all chosen to put our strengths into improving this world... as well as worlds beyond. But you? Just because Verlaxion took everything precious away from you, that somehow gives you license to be a murderous, selfish bucktard. Selfish enough that you're willing to throw away your own life just to make other ponies miserable. Well, if you're suddenly and inexplicably feeling guilty now, you can just go sit on my forhead and rotate, you sorry sack of self-righteous shit."
Seraphimus took a long, concentrated breath. Her eyes narrowed. "Are you quite finished?"
"No! I'm not!" Flynn shook in place, attempting—in vain—to temper the anger. "Y'know... none of us set out to murder the Frost Queen of Rohbredden. If anything, we just wanted to expose her... to open everypony's eyes to the web and lies she had weaved throughout the ages. Turns out the whole 'roll over and die' thing was her idea... a cruel stunt pre-planned at everypony's expense. So it's no damn surprise that a pitiful griffon like you would worship to her. What irony that you can't see beyond your own sorrow to understand the real tragedy here." Flynn leaned back, exhaling. "You were as much a pawn of this whole mess as Rainbow Dash was. Difference is... Rainbow's got a shred of decency."
"In what way?"
"Because she's keeping us all from slitting your damned throat!" Flynn grumbled. "Even after all the crud you've done! She still has hope for you! Goddess knows why!" At long last, he gathered the semblance of a normal breath. "So—to reiterate—no... my tweaking these pipes isn't going to scaled you to death." Frowning, he returned to the pipework with his wrench. "Besides, you're doing burns enough to yourself to last a lifetime..."
Seraphimus blinked up at him. Her beak opened to say something, but a shiny gray shape reflected off her eyes. She looked across the common room.
Flynn noticed it. He turned to glance behind him.
Ariel hovered beside a stairwell, squinting at the two. "... ... ...having a little moment?"
Flynn's brow furrowed. "What's it to you?"
Ariel rolled her ocean blue eyes. "Whatever." She motioned with her hoof. "Come quick. Kepler's discovered the last log."
"...!" Flynn instantly dropped his wrench and galloped out of the room.
"What...?" Seraphimus craned her neck. "What has he discovered?" She called out louder. "What happened to the ancient ponies of this place?"
Ariel and Flynn were gone.
Seraphimus slumped back against the pipes. For some reason... she was short of breath. Her shackled talons wrung each other anxiously as her mind reeled with the stallion's words.
And yet another person verbally lets her have it.
It's almost like a domino effect, it is. She's starting to think about things in a different mindset more and more each time.
I really feel sorry for Seraphimus, and I hope she improves. Now let us see what caused those ponies to abandon this effort, it had to be big.
Sera is starting to come around, truely. It is only a matter of time
Well, Seraphimus seems to be getting there, bit by bit. The real test will be when the bindings have to come off at one point or another.
Where exactly did he drop that wrench now? Will they come back to find said murder turkey has flown the coop?
Of all the cast, I never once thought it'd be Big Show who got through to her.
This...almost seems too fast. Either she's finally emerging from her guilt-induced rage and has regained her moral compass, or IC's doing something evil.
8384592
Nice point and nice new avatar.
YEEEES! her scenes are my favorite.
Yet another verbal beat down to Sera. I can't wait for that last log!
SHE'S TURNING
WE CAN ALMOST ADD A MURDERDEATHBIRB TO THE PARTY
Woah. Ease off, Flynn.
Short of cold-blooded murder, you're either going to be lugging a trussed-up killparrot across an entire world, or you're going to make peace with her eventually.
It took long enough for her to get civil. Don't make it take even longer.
And now the walls surrounding Sera's mind are beginning to fall. I approve.
Logan took the approach of opening up to her, explaining to her his point of view. Flynn just Mad Mario'd her into submission. A funny reversal of roles there.
She may not be a monkey, but you don't let a wrench be near anyone with opposable thumbs.
Emotions are running high from being cooped up so long, but it's also given sera time to think.
Uh oh. This last log is gonna be bad isn't it.
This sentence confuses me. If her headcrest had already drooped, which I take to be a sign of sadness/meekness, why would she have to try to frown?
8384845
Another murderdeathbirb!
Who handed out the bitter pills? The Herald is getting extremely emotional lately. They have to do something, or they drive themselves mad without any external reason.
Flynn has a point here, but yelling at Seraphimus like that is not what I would have expected from him.
Wonder what's in the last log...
The vagueness of what exactly happened to that dropped wrench or where it landed with Seraphimus right there is nagging at my mind.
I love these scenes with her. She's slowly turning.
You idiot.
I love how Sera is now very interested in what happened to this place. It makes sense, seeing as she has literally nothing else to do, but I wonder if this is leading to something else. With Flynn and Logan having exploded on her and said some very correct things, I think she might be seeing things from another perspective. This might be a good thing, but who knows if it has taken root. It is a seed right now.
It is a good sign that she wants to be included in understanding what's going on here. The only way she is going to get an answer to her questions is if she changes herself.
Boredom leads to khaos. And I can't imagine that seraphimus has been very engaged.
8396709
I personally think that more than anything, For the first time since her family fell ill, Sera has been forced to stop. She cannot simply hunt down more malcontents, or march from one end of rhobredden to the other. All of a sudden she has so much time to do nothing but sit and face her demons and... Well ponies like Dash and flynn and Logan are making it really hard for her to not take a long hard serious look at herself and the world around her and wonder who the bad guy really is?
Of course as you've said, I think it's more of a seed right now than anything, will it take root? And how strongly? That's another matter
8529678
Ironically, up until now she's always had her faith to shield her from the consequences of her actions. With both her goddess and her allies gone, the only company remaining is the people she's wronged, interspersed with contemplative solitude. She's even been denied the solace of death, courtesy of Rainbow.
She's already changing... but for better, or for worse? What Happens Next Will Shock You.
Is she gonna use that wrench to get out some how? Oooo
Well, this interesting. She’s starting to open up in bits, which is good.
Also, compared to their usual depictions, (as mentioned by other comments), Logan seems to share his view more calmly this time while Flynn is hamming on her with his views.
Role reversal, indeed.
It's been only a matter of time for some time now. Seems like Sera's time is fast approaching though. Hopefully in a suitably dramatic fashion. I wouldn't expect anything less.
It's interesting that Logan is the one who has """some""" sympathy for her when you'd expect he'd be the one ready to chop her down, while Flynn flew off the handle when you'd expect him to be the one to hit with logic.
Also ha! Not so fun when you don't get to be in on the interesting stuff, is it Sera?