"This town has seen better days," I said with a nervous chuckle, gazing at the swirling mass of black clouds above us. "That's for sure. Heh." I gulped hard as my vision fell upon the distant rooftops, the waving trees, anything and everything but the tiny face before me. "If I hadn't been slacking off on the job, this place would still be seeing blue skies."
There was no response.
Biting my lip, I scratched my neck and shifted under the weight of Spike on my back. "I just gotta have a word with the Princess. Heh... Wouldn't you know it? I'm flying with the likes of royalty these days. Guess that puts me in the big leagues."
It was still quiet. I heard a scuffling of a tiny hoof, but nothing else.
"But... But that's nothing," I said. Spike quietly climbed off of me and stood a few feet away. I glanced at his scaled limbs as I fidgeted in place. "After all that's happen, I just wish... I just wish that—"
"I'm sorry."
My wings twitched. I turned and finally looked at her. "Huh?"
Scootaloo's face was bowed. She was avoiding my gaze this time, and she did so with fitful spasms and sniffling sounds. "I'm so sorry, Rainbow Dash..."
"Kid...." I opened my mouth, seethed briefly past a wave of dizziness, then murmured, "What in the hay have you got to be sorry for?"
"What happened was so awful. Apple Bloom barely talks. Sweetie Belle's a wreck. And I..." She sniffled again and looked up at me. Her eyes were glossed over with tears. She was just a foal, and I think we both remembered it for the first time in ages. "I thought for a while that you didn't make it..."
I blinked. My lips parted.
"I-I thought that Discord had even killed somepony as awesome as y-you..." She stammered, running a forelimb over her quivering eyes. "I doubted you, Rainbow Dash. I'm so sorry..."
"Scoots... The fact that I'm still around has nothing to do with—"
She suddenly flew into me, burying her face into my chest and sobbing. I winced, feeling her every quiver shaking through me. I glanced over her mane at Spike.
Spike was biting his lip to the point of bleeding. He played with his tail, as if standing in the shadow of a long lost unicorn.
With a sigh, I brought a hoof up and ruffled Scootaloo's mane. I smiled painfully. "Why, of course I'm too awesome to have bitten the bullet! You think some st-stupid goat god thing would be powerful enough to take me out?" I brought the hoof down to her shoulders and squeezed her gently against me. "I'm made of stronger stuff, girl! And all the things too dangerous for me, I can outfly! That's why I had to make an exit to Canterlot for a little while! To catch my breath, y'know? It's my fault for not letting everypony know where I was, but I'm not gonna make that mistake again!"
"You mean... you m-mean you're not h-hurt or nothing?" She murmured against my soiled coat.
I swallowed. As I did so, the pendant around my neck weighed more heavily. Regardless, I said, "Heck no! I'm fit as a fiddle! I've just come back to take care of business. That's all."
"But... But..." She looked up at me, her eyes glistening. "Your Element..."
I blinked. "What about it?"
"I mean..." She sniffled and forced her breath to be steady. "It's loyalty? Is it still gonna protect you?"
"Why wouldn't it?"
"Because... because all the other elements..." She winced at her own words, but still had to murmur it. "All the others are gone..."
I gazed at her. With a sweep of my forelimb, I rubbed her brow and eyelids clean of tears. It was just the opportunity I needed to blink mine dry. When the gesture was over, we looked evenly through space at each other.
"Look at me, Scootaloo." My eyes hardened. The dizziness faded momentarily as I said, "There is always somepony to be loyal to. Always."
She bit her lip. Her lips curved slightly, and I saw her tail flick.
A beam of black energy sparkled over the heights of Ponyville. All the ponies around me had somehow gotten used to it. I, on the other hoof, shuddered. I turned and gazed towards the center of town.
Twilight's treehouse stood, its branches waving. Most if not all of the leaves had fallen clear of the branches, rendered dead from its proximity to the rift. Just a few spaces down, I spotted an interesting sight: a tower that was slowly piling upwards one concrete block at a time. Several royal guard ponies were performing a mass feat of construction, building what looked to be a gigantic obelisk fit to encase the billowing anomaly. From within—nearly obscured by the piling blocks—a bright glow fought with the constantly churning shadow.
"They're building a sarcophagus," Spike said behind me with a shuddering breath. "Once it's finished, it should completely surround the rift. That way, Celestia can stay inside and battle the rift without affecting the landscape around it." He gulped and toyed with his claws. "However long that will take..."
I took a deep breath. "Guess I'm here for the grand opening."
Subject: Rainbow Dash
Suffix Title Obtained: "Loyalty's Medium"
Preview: "Rainbow Dash, Loyalty's Medium"
-Minty
I wonder about the kind of material that could withstand such releases of chaos energy.
Sealing in your princess, though. Yeesh, that's not a job to smile about.
The worst part about all of this is that Rainbow Dash is just setting them up to be knocked down when she eventually has to leave eastward.
Scootaloo mentioning how the other elements betrayed their bearers is also something I hadn't really considered before, but it's rather interesting in the context of how malleable loyalty has been these last 260 chapters.
Now that's a quote I can get behind.
Pretty neat chapter. Now that the feelstorm is over, I figure we can repurpose the feelbunker into a... sarcophagus of sorts. Who knows? If it can withstand feels, maybe it can withstand chaos energy.
1683428
Well, like Luna said, it's not forever. A hundred or so years is a blink in their lifetime. But, you know, fate of the world and all that.
Also, dat Dash wisdom
Dash, lying to Scootaloo is only going to make it harder.
1683596 are you crazy? knowing this story, this is just the eye of the feelstorm...I don't even think we should be sticking our heads out of the bunker yet, the safe point would probably be when this series has finally ended...and now I'm sad, guess we'll be needing that feelbunker even after the story is over...
Man On The Silver Mountain - Rainbow
1683766
Either way, when she emerges, everything will have completely changed. It'll be like when Luna came back. Despite her immortality, it's still a huge sacrifice on her part. She just got her sister back, and now she has to leave her for centuries. I wonder if Celestia's decision, if it can be called that, is what Dash gets so upset about. Maybe some bit of information is just about to be revealed. It would certainly fall within the scope of reason after the exposition we've gotten lately.
I've been wondering… if Dash does get a new copy of all the elements, how will she get them back to Equestria?
1684971
Fly west, I assume. Either that or she'll just keep going east until she goes around the world again
So...
This is all depressing. Nopony really knows what's going on, they've all lost something...
In any case, i want to know what Dash will talk about with Celestia. And when will she learn about the armoury?
Questions for days...
Onwards!
"Its called cocaine. It turns your bad feelings into good feelings and your good feelings into bad.'"- the drummer, walk hard.
This chapter made me happy, and I'm not sure why. Maybe it was Scoots
Triple 8 word count! *fear*
D'aww, Scoots.
1684971
She will take the elevator between the Midnight Armory and Canterlot
1683952
Good thing she isn't the Element of Honesty!
1683596
Well, since the last story took 200 chapters, and this one's showing no signs of slowing, have fun in your bunker, you may be there awhile.
Agh. Constructing a bunker might be a good idea. Still wondering about the goggles. They been forgotten? It kinda sucks to be Celestia - immortal or not, its got to be tiring, not to mention boring, sitting there and battling chaos energy for a century or two. Hope she's not claustrophobic. Plus everyone she knows will be dead (except maybe Spike) by the time she gets out. Hearing about Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom after watching the newest episode is kinda a punch to the gut too. Well, onward - to more depressing yet thoroughly engrossing back-story!
1699210
Its almost like Luna getting stuck in the moon!
IIIIIt's Dashie's Ninth Marathon Evaluation Time!
So it appears that I picked a good time for a Marathon. It's all feels - there's not a whole lot to evaluate.
Not that I mind.
Scootaloo here was great. I feel that, even in canon, she would've been sorry for something as silly as doubting Dash, so props to Imploding. Also, this chapter contains what I believe is a very, very deep phrase - there is always someone to be loyal to. Reread Austraeoh - Dash always finds someone she decides to be loyal to. And think about life that way - there is never a moment where anyone truly does not care about anything. No matter how dark or deep or miserable one's life gets, they'll still have something that they care for as strongly as higher class people care for their idols they hold dear. And that care - that Loyalty - is something that overcomes all social, economic, spacial, and political boundaries. It applies to everyone. Everywhere.
...
Philosophy 101. Check out my novel.
These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
P.S. Ooooooh we're halfway the-ere,
Ooooooooh-Oh!
Liiiivin' on a pra-ayer!
feels...Honeytiger of scootaloo for doubtingrainbow!
Honeytiger means ashamed of scootaloo!Honeytiger is ashamed of scootalo!
This chapter:
Damnit, you made me shed a tear.
For real.
Lemme go and compose myself.
1689937
Not funny.
How could Scoots ever doubt Dash? If Dash had been there in time, they would have won, if Dash hadn't, she would have survived.
Sometimes lying makes the truth easier to take. So they say . . .
But the truth always comes out eventually. That said, nice to know Rainbow is still Loyal, Semper Fi.
Aww... Even when she's just been told she's dying and she's still dealing with the grief of losing her friends and the mare she loves, RD still has it in her to be the hero she knows Scootaloo needs her to be.
Man, when the filly finds out it's just gonna rip all our hearts out, isn't it?
We had a good run, didn't we?
I wonder how the Royal Guards feel, practically building a coffin around their ruler.
I swear, I can never remember Scootaloo’s gender consistently.
6138980
And to add to this, the longer the truth is hidden, the more painful it will be when it finally does come out.
08/22/2019
01:19 UTC
9793821
Is that why we learn all this in book 2?
Poor Celestia having to go full God-Emperor of Mankind on this chaos rift.