“Somehow...” Bard gulped, his ears folding atop his head. “I dun think that any of this is the seaponies' doin'.”
Wildcard nodded, his goggled eyes reflecting a bright blue sheen.
Squinting, Rainbow Dash shuffled slowly forward, her thin eyes darting left and right.
At the very end of a wide corridor, a cluster of enchanted ice clung to the wall. Misty vapors continuously wafted off the curved surfaces of the translucent material, slick with condensation. Icicles dripped in frozen grace from the granite ceiling, and snowy banks of white powder collected along the floor's edges. Age-old etchings and carvings of marine equines were swallowed up by this mess of icy crystals. Rainbow could instantly tell that the tomb was considerably older than the frost that had at some point blighted it.
“Verlaxion's Shrine,” Twilight murmured. She gulped. “This is what she left behind... after she visited to 'bless' the sirens' final resting place.”
Rainbow slowly nodded. “Again, Verlaxion's reached the Machine World before me.” She shuddered. “Somehow...”
“Huh?” Bard remarked, craning his neck.
Before Rainbow could respond—
“My goodness!” Rarity exclaimed. “I can't believe it! After all of our trials and efforts! The path is blocked!”
“Blocked?!” Twilight remarked.
“Just look for yourselves, girls!”
“It's not blocked,” Rainbow muttered. “Right there's the... door...” Her words trailed off even as she heard them.
“Door?” Bard repeated.
“Huh?” Rarity did a double-take. “Rainbow, all I see is a gold plate with curious circles!”
“Yes... I see them too,” Rainbow murmured, jaw agape. “Twilight, I see them this time.”
“Huh?” Twilight floated over.
Rainbow pointed over. “The symbol. Just like Theanim photographed underneath the Nealend Atoll. It was too bright for me to see last, but... but now I can.”
Indeed, before Rainbow, a rectangular plate of solid gold lingered—the only part of the wall that wasn't completely frozen over in glowing, enchanted ice. A curved line swam its way from the bottom right to the top left, wrapping around six large circles in the process. The bottom right circle glowed a bight blue, while the next two glowed lavender and white. The last three circles—positioned diagonally from one another—were blank and gray.
“You mean to tell me you've seen this here nonsense before?” Bard asked, approaching the seal with his hoof outstretched.
“No!” Rainbow hissed, forcing the stallion to jolt in place. “Don't touch it! Besides...” She swallowed a lump down her throat and slowly shuffled forward. “Only I can open or close the door to the Machine World.”
“Say what?” Bard's voice cracked. Beside him, Wildcard walked up, beak agape. The two Desperadoes exchanged glances.
Rainbow approached the door slowly. With flapping wings, she stretched her hooves out, coming closer and closer to the golden surface.
“Will... will it hurt to touch, darling?” Rarity squeaked. “I do not like the looks of that enchanted frost.”
“It's strange,” Twilight murmured. “Just from looking at this material, I know it's magical. But... b-but I can't quite sense it, Rainbow.” She bit her lip. “I-I don't even know what it might do to you... to us. Verlax's power is way beyond me.”
Rainbow took a deep breath. Her eyes squinted at the pulsing pink aura lingering just beyond the door. “Guess there's only one way to find out...” Then, fighting shivers, she made contact with the gold metal.
The sheer cold caused a terrible jolt to run up and down her spine, but she remained in one piece. Within seconds of touching the metal, a bright blue light emanated, running up the curved line that swam between the glowing and unglowing circles of the plate.
“Whoah dayum!” Bard gasped, charging forward. “Look out, Rainbow—”
“No. No!” Rainbow shouted, causing him and Wildcard to scuffle to a stop. “It's supposed to be doing this!” She took a deep breath, then summoned a deep breath. She smiled ever so slightly. “It's opening...”
Indeed, just as she said this, the blue line running up the plate widened. Then, with a deafening howl, the entire door slid open in two halves. The coldest wind Rainbow ever felt came fountaining outward, chilling her and the two Desperadoes to the bone.
“Guhhh!” Bard's teeth chattered as he hunched over. “Land's sakes!”
Wildcard gripped onto him and Rainbow until the full brunt of the wintry blast came and went.
Once the air was still, the trio looked up to see specks of snow hovering the air like a frozen snowglobe's.
“Goddess Alive...” Bard exhaled, his breath coming out in vapors. “You weren't kiddin' about this bein' Verlaxion's hoofwork...” He glanced behind them at the path they took to come down there. “Reckon this is way beyond us, darlin'.”
“If I used that excuse since the beginning, I'd never have made it to Wintergate,” Rainbow said firmly. She trotted forward. “Our best exit is on the other side, guys. But as for me and my business?” She marched bravely into the pink aura. “It's all right here. Waiting for me.”
“Somethin' tells me it's more than just business 'waitin' for ya,' Rainbow,” Bard said. Wildcard nodded emphatically.
“You won't be the first ponies to enter this domain besides me,” Rainbow said, looking left and right as she spotted the first tell-tale signs of pistons, pulleys, and pendulums frozen in the darkness. “Just stick close and try not to—”
“Rainbow Dash...!”
“Guh!” Rainbow twitched, nearly collapsing as she gripped her head.
“What?!” Bard did a double-take. “What is it now?”
“Camellia...” Rainbow hissed through clenched teeth. “Not so friggin'... uh... loud, Your Highness.” She nevertheless stood up straight, eyes darting around the golden domain. “What's the matter?”
“There's been a breach.”
“Huh?! What kind of breach?!”
“What? A breach?” Bard and Wildcard jolted.
“Revan, Jeryn, and his stallions have rounded up a terrible mob. They've overpowered the guards on the other side of Verlaxion's Shrine.”
“No friggin' way...” Rainbow Dash exhaled. She glanced at the Desperadoes. “The Syndicate's busted their way into the tombs.”
“Awwwwww Hell...”
Wildcard gestured.
Bard nodded. “Then the jig is up for them varmints. Can't Camellia wrangle them up?”
The siren's voice was already echoing through Rainbow's skull: “I've sent the rest of my forces in to retaliate, but I fear they've holed themselves up too deep.”
“Then how in the heck are we supposed to get out of here, Your Majesty?!” Rainbow gnashed her teeth. “There's not enough oxygen in the suits to swim back the way we came!”
“Fear not, Rainbow Dash. I am calling upon the assistance of a distant ally to help in this matter...”
“H-huh...?!” Rainbow Dash gawked. “A 'distant ally?' What the heck are you talking about?”
“A siren is friend to more than just seaponies, Rainbow Dash...” As Camellia broadcasted her words, her “voice” became more and more faint, as if dwindling down the far end of a long tunnel. “Do not... …. … Austraeoh, there... … … yet for... … … and your friends...”
“Camellia...?!” Rainbow Dash stammered. “Camellia! You're... you're fading out! What's going on?”
“Damned if I ain't havin' one helluva time keepin' track of yer invisible friends,” Bard droned, rubbing his scalp.
“Hush!” Rainbow hissed, then spun about. “Camellia! Can you hear me?! What kind of help are you sending?! I need to know if we have a way out or not—!”
“Rainbow Dash...” Twilight stammered, looking all around.
“Huh?” Rainbow spun, suddenly teetering. A dizziness spread through her body out of nowhere. “Unnngh...”
“Oh no!” Rarity shrieked, pointing. “Look!”
With a loud swish, the gold plated door behind them slid shut, glowing symbol and all.
“Huh?” Bard and Wildcard spun. The stallion grimaced. “Awww hell!” He whipped out his staff. Cl-Clak! “Dubya-Cee!”
Wildcard was already gliding like a feathery missile towards the seal. THUD! It was too late. The door closed completely, locking them inside. The griffon slammed the golden surface multiple times with his nighsticks, showering the floor with sparks and specks of frost.
Bard trotted in a circle, gripping in his staff. His ears twitched to the sound of crackling ice and settling metal joints from beyond the darkness. With chattering teeth and vaporous breaths, he said, “I ain't particularly favorin' this situation. Rainbow, I thought you done said only you could open or close this here door.”
Silence.
Bard and Wildcard looked over. “Rainbow Dash? Darlin'?”
“Guhhhh...” Rainbow shuddered in pain, rubbing her head. The lightning bolt of her pendant pulsed with ruby light. She struggled to open her eyes, and when she did they were pulsating red-on-yellow.
“Rainbow!” Bard rushed over, resting a hoof on her shoulder. “What's happenin' to ya? Speak to us!”
Rainbow panted and panted. She stared into the fringes of the round golden platform suspended over the gaping basement of the Machine World. It was then that she took notice of the ivory-white sheets of ice and snow hanging all around them. As her pendant's light swam over the drooping icicles and snowbanks, she finally saw Yaerfaerda. The beacon lingered atop a pedestal, but that pedestal was located deep... deep inside a solid block of translucent blue ice. What's more, the ice, the snow, in fact every frozen structure that lingered invasively inside that chamber was filled with a coarse white powder, like bone dust.
“Chaos...” Rainbow Dash whimpered, her eyes pulsing red-and-yellow again. “All chaos...” She gulped. “No wonder you couldn't sense anything, Twilight, it's beyond magic.”
Silence.
“... … …Twilight?” The pegasus looked up to her left.
She saw nothing.
She jerked her head to the right.
Still, nothing.
“Twilight?!” Panting, hyperventilating, the mare spun and spun, eyes wide and wider. “Rarity?!”
“Uhhhh...” Bard and Wildcard stood in place, shivering, helpless. “What's the matter now, Rainbow?”
“Rarity?!?” Rainbow shrieked, her breath fogging and her bulging eye sockets close to tears. “Twilight?!?!” She buckled, heaved, then hollered: “Where are you?!?”
The haunting sound of groaning metal...
With a gasp, Rainbow and the Desperadoes spun towards the center of the frozen realm, facing a glowing blue light.
I'm sick of your shit Rainbow Dash, stop flying east.
Uh oh
They're gonna open the door and see the Boss Revan standing on the other side.
6369830 Burn the witch.
Well as least Camellia is tracking what's going on, but was Dash moving forwards into a psychic dead zone or did something start causing this?
Are these set up by Verlax to keep people out or do they have another reason for being there? Why didn't she do something to the First Seed, the tower Twilight was in? Or was the Choke's anti-magic her work? Mystery abounds.
Also, introducing Chaos-Shards(TM) They keep out annoying voices that interrupt your adventuring. Tell them to shut it with Shards!
(Chaos-Shards may cause, dizziness, drowsiness, sudden bouts of nausea, unconsciousness, rapid transformations into bloodthirsty monsters, depression and confusion. Do not use Chaos-Shards(TM) if you are nursing, pregnant or may be become pregnant, whether with a foal or nascent chaos magic. Contact your local Princess if Chaos-Shards cause issues with any world changing epic quests you are engaged in.)
Hmm.. the first broken shard held chaos metal in it. And now Dash is having a reaction inside the machine world.
The white powder must be made from chaos metal.
And in such a high concentration..it's probably interfering with Twilight and Rarity's ability to manifest themselves. They've probably been forcibly sucked back into the pendant.
-Memories given light, ease a lonely flight. Ynanhluutr.
Ice is mixed with powdered chaos metal, dang.
Also, a strong enough chaos aura thingy can turn off ghost-friends - either that or it's taking too much of the harmony power stuff to keep the chaos at bay that it can't afford the "auxiliary" function. Woop
Well shit...
Calling it now, Camellia's bringing in ultimo to lay the smackdown on Jeryn and Revan
Well, that blows. Verlaxion must be uber desperate to stop Rainbow. I'm getting more and more curious to see what the dragon's angle on the whole state-of-the-world situation. She clearly knows what's going on, and had the foresight to know that Austraeoh was coming. So the only two options I can come up with are: 1.) She did all this to test Rainbow, for whatever reason, or 2.) She doesn't want the world to be rebooted (her use of chaos magic seems to back this up). But if the latter's the case, why bother with the whole "oversee an entire civilization" thing? Isn't that like polishing the silver on the Titanic?
More Chaos metal just great. Good to know help is on the way from Camellia RD just has to hope can get here in time and hold off that mob.
6369830 heresy
6369830
Burn the heretic. East horse will east.
6369877 6369881 6369944 6369959 Honestly, maybe the chaos metal isn't intended to be malicious. If chaos energy make the impossible a reality, ice never melting would normally be impossible. I'll claim that the chaos metal in the Verlax shard's are a fuel/energy source for maintaining the never-melt. It just happens that RD doesn't react well to chaos.
Also, if Verlax is best at making illusions and things, maybe RD was still the first into the machine world there, and Verlax makes them think there's chaos ice everywhere. I don't remember if Spookle detected anything from the Nealand Verlax chunk...
... or Verlax made herself an illusion of RD's energy to sneak into the machine world in the first place. Remember, the Yaefaerda symbol didn't show up until the end of Urohringr. Who knows what the ice-god-dragon-queen was doing before Nevlamas kicked the bucket up until the Blight was cleared.
6369830 Would you rather she walk and swim?
6369959 Revan shouldn't be able to get into the Machine World without someone to open the door... unless more MacGuffins are afoot
6369830
tse1.mm.bing.net/th?&id=JN.SMBNEwiYHQcqozy/9dNmjA&w=300&h=300&c=0&pid=1.9&rs=0&p=0
tse1.mm.bing.net/th?&id=JN.zwdSy5XtSxFIPTiTdBvMkA&w=300&h=300&c=0&pid=1.9&rs=0&p=0
6369830
6369856
flavorwire.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/84123-monty-python-burn-the-witch-gi-ezmu.gif
6370031 There's the possibility that it's enchanted, so the chaos energy wouldn't be necessary.
And the fact that the chaos metal is powdered and floating around freely and not just in the ice and snow itself seems to support that.
Looks like rainbow needs to get the fire arrows first.
Bard can't wait to bomb some dodongos
6370031
Y'know....
All this stuff was placed, what, centuries? Millennia ago? Even if it's chaos-stuff, there's no real way for Verlax to have known that the Austraeoh would have a vulnerability to chaos.
6370040
True but I'm more thinking about when they get out of the Machine World. I guess it might be unlikely that the mob hasn't dispersed by that point but I could see Revan escaping and confronting them after.
Oh, an afterthought. Anyone taking bets on the next beacon color? Giving 20/1 payout on Yellow, 50/1 on Orange, and I was gonna give 100/1 on another color but I can't remember what it was gonna be.
6370186 It's gotta be yellow. We'll have all of next book to rescue best poni.
6370186 I'll take Yellow.
Aj's gotta be the last ghost, and she's also gonna be the one that's hidden deep in Verlax' empire. Maybe in Verlax' castle.
6370186
I say yellow. We're going in the opposite order of Episode 2; also, it won't be orange for dramatic reasons.
6370172
I dunno, Austraeoh was prophesized, and somewhere in that prophecy could have been mentioned a weakness to Chaos. Or Verlax is Chaotic/puts that metal errywhere.
6370248
Huh. I never noticed that. Nicely spotted.
well, that's concerning.
As crowded as it would be in Rainbow's head with all of the other Mane 6 in it, it would be kinda scary in their position if they had to swap out, never knowing for sure how long they would be 'awake' or if they would ever be again.
These are just going to get harder and harder... I wish Dashie luck.
Dubya-Cee = W-C = WC = Wild Card.
I can't believe I only just got that. Wonder if either of them know the other meaning of that nickname . . .
Verlax's motives remain ambiguous, though she clearly has some interest in being difficult. Bard and Wildcard are getting their proper introduction into the madness of east horse. And Chaos seems to block, among other things: Camilla's psychic power, straight magic, and the Element-ghosts. Curious. Perhaps it's just forcing them back into the Element of Loyalty.
This is the first arc I've been reading live, and it's quite the different experience from playing catch-up. I can't really fault the pacing, but it's just so infuriating to be treated to cliffhanger after cliffhanger every day, and I love it. Excellent work building the tension here, IC.
I'm calling upon the mighty power of Austraeoh Fact Checker and I plea for help. Where's the chapter where mane6(-RD) confront Discord and die?
Oh yeah, let's fuck around with chaos metal for a little trial. Verlax must be out of her tiny dragon mind!
The Machine World has been tainted with chaos metal-infused ice?! Damn you Verlaxion!
Those dragons must be made from chaos
You know that Rainbow's test has begun when her study buddies aren't around to help.
6370820
My Friends
6370820
Eljunbyro 47, aptly titled "My Friends"
Well, this is a screw up.
All I can think of, is will one of the Mana driven bombs use chaos power to burn through the ice to alow the chaos dust to flow out to allw the ice to melt? If they dont have a dedicated device, then one of the Mana oxygen tanks, but they took the suits off, and thell be faced with the goons on going back, if they can reopen the door before clearing the interfereing chaos effect?
Someones been looking up Kobayashi Maru options.
6369830 Scootaloo, is that you? I know this must be difficult for you, but don't worry girl, you'll see her again.
(crosses hooves).
6371132
6371109
Thanks a lot.
So after reading it, my theory's busted. I thought we're going the opposite order in which they died. Looks like 6370248 is right.
Ah the water temple. Always the most frustrating one.
Well things just got a whole lot more difficult. Hopefully Bard and WC can get rid of the Chaos metal before Reven and Co. catch up. Or maybe not? We've seen that Chaos Dash is a pretty unstoppable force.
6369830 Silence Heretic! The
CultChurch of the Almighty Austreoh will prevail!Twilight didn't disappear when they went to the Second Seed. I wonder what's wrong this time... Perhaps something Verlax did to it? Maybe the powder or ice has something to do with it?
-Spirit (Yeast and Treacle)
6370771 Oh! Welcome to the Lunar Ninth. Congratulations on catching up!
6369830
Go outside and skateboard, you blasphemous fiend!
Ahh, how poetic. At the end of the day, when victory is nearly certain, she'll still be alone. That's how this all has to end, right? It's her journey, and no one can do it for her. I hope they found a way to solve this, though. I'd rather not have a rainbow Popsicle, no matter how good they might taste.
. . .
Okay, that sounds sexual.
6369830 Leave.
NOW.
6370186 It's vicious, the way you toy with my emotions.
$50 on mint, if you please.
6373683 Just a little XD