"It looks pretty cool, Your Highness," Rainbow Dash said from where she reclined lazily on the bow of the Noble Jury's hull. She gazed up at the shimmering heavens as her pendant pulsed like a torchlight. "The moonlight, I mean. Even from so far away, in a country screwed over by war and slavery, your glow is still strong."
"It pleaseth us to hear that detail, at least. Admittedly, we art not too proud of the negative attributes of that landscape."
"Hey, what can you do?" Rainbow Dash shrugged with a smile. "Besides... erm..." She winced. "B-besides raise and lower the celestial bodies and stave off chaos from devouring the heart of Equestria, I mean."
"We hath a great deal to discuss with thee concerning thy travels abroad, Rainbow Dash."
"Oh yeah?" Rainbow Dash sat up. "Shoot."
"We wouldst not wish to bore thy companions."
"Heh... Don't sweat it. They've all gone to sleep." Rainbow Dash glanced over her shoulder at the cockpit windows where a lone elk gazed at his controls with glittering antlers. "Well, most of them, that is."
"You certainly hath acquired a motley crew, Rainbow Dash."
Rainbow Dash shrugged. "They're a bit wonky, but I like 'em. Even the annoying ones like lardo and thunder horns."
"We beg thy pardon?"
"Ahem. Josho and Floydien."
"Ah, but of course."
"So... uh... you said you wanted to talk about some serious stuff?"
"Affirmative. Thou remembereth Axan, the Queen of Flame?"
Rainbow Dash fidgeted, flapping one of her wings instinctually. "Erm..." She gulped. "H-hard not to."
"As thou may well know, she is one of five Matriarchs known as the Divines. They were brood queens, siblings who were responsible for fostering the draconian population of this world. They hath been on this earth for as long as the Alicorns of Harmony, and for many millennia we worked in tandem with one another to maintain peace and equilibrium."
"Well, looks like things didn't work out that well, huh?" Rainbow Dash said with a sullen expression.
"Indeed. The alicorns dwindled in population, and both our magic and our resources grew thin. We suspect that the Five Divines—if they still took it upon themselves to protect this world—subsequently spread to the furthest points of the physical plane."
"And you all lost contact with one another..."
"Indeed, and if what Axan told us remains true, then the Divines have acquired more knowledge about this world than our sister and ourself hath been capable of learning. Chiefly, the fate of this very plane..."
Rainbow Dash gulped. "Do you really think it's all going to end?" She gazed at the jagged horizon, christened by stars all around her. "It's such a big world. I can't imagine it going kaput overnight, even if 'overnight' counts as a few hundred years."
"Nor can we. To that extent, we have attempted to bridge communication with the Divine Queen located west of Equestria."
"Oh?"
"Her name is Sturke, Queen of the Equinox, and apart from Axan she has been the last of the Divines with whom we and Celestia have associated. In the past, Sturke hath proven to be a great deal more agreeable than her four siblings. We art hoping that if Sturke is still alive, then she will be able to help us in areas where Axan has only proven to be both cryptic and adverserial."
"But... like... how do you plan on reaching this 'Sturke' Queen? From what you're telling me, she's just somewhere 'west' of Equestria." Rainbow Dash rubbed her scalp through her prismatic mane. "Seems like you'd need an expedition of some sort..."
"Precisely."
Rainbow Dash did a double-take to the heavens. "Wow... no kidding?"
"Princess Cadance, a mortal alicorn in high standing within the Canterlotlian Cabinet, and an ambassador of love and harmony, is flying west with a convoy of five airships. She is being accompanied by Shining Armor and Flash Sentry, two esteemed stallions of the Canterlot Defense Force. Overall, the expedition numbers in over three hundred Equestrian explorers. We are in constant communication with Cadance much like we are with you."
"Whoah whoah whoah—Wait! Does that mean you're interrupting your talk with them by chatting with me?"
The air was silent for a few seconds, as if occupying the space of regal laughter. "Fear not, Rainbow Dash. We art in possession of pluralized speech. Hath thou not stopped to consider that we art likewise in possession of pluralized hearing?"
Rainbow Dash blinked. "Uhm... no..." She chuckled. "So, like, how long ago did this western expedition thingy begin?"
"Two weeks prior to now. We had hoped to inform thee about it during this lunar cycle."
"And you totally did. Heh... Fancy that..." Rainbow Dash smirked. "That's like a story in and of itself."
"Indeed. All of Equestria is quite fascinated with the nature of the expedition."
"But... uhm..." Rainbow Dash gulped. "You haven't... uh... haven't—"
"We hath no intention of informing the populace of the world's ill-fate, at least not until we art in a position to ascertain more truth. We can speak for Celestia in this manner as well."
"Well, right. But I was kind of asking about—"
"Nor have we informed any pony about thy terminal condition. This is a secret that we wisheth to keep secret, in thy honor.
"Yeah. Okay. Good." Rainbow Dash sat down with greater ease. "So... Princess Cadance, huh? Can't say I've heard of her."
"That surpriseth us. She is a prominent figure in Equestria, to say the least."
"But 'Shining Armor,' that totally sounds familiar. Didn't he marry the Princess or something?" Rainbow Dash's face scrunched up, and then she gasped. "Horseapples! That's right! He's totally Twilight's big bro, isn't he?"
"That he is, Rainbow Dash."
Rainbow Dash shuddered, resting her muzzle against a pair of crossed forelimbs. "Well... uhm..." She gulped. "I really hope he has a safe and successful mission."
"We carry the absolute same sentiment."
"You'll... uh... you'll fill me in when or if they make any contact with this 'Sturke' of the Equinox Dragon Queen person, right?"
"Indubitably. For gaining more knowledge on your own travels and the words of Axan is the very crux of that expedition."
"Plus, I bet it wouldn't hurt for Alicorns and Dragons to shake hooves again... or claws..." Rainbow slicked her bangs back, then blinked. "Hey, Your Highness, just who are the other Divines?"
"Axan, Queen of Flames, you already know personally."
"R-right..."
"Then there is Verlax, Queen of Frost, known for her conniving wit and occasionally duplicitous ways."
Rainbow Dash shuddered. "How pleasant..."
"Nevlamas, Queen of Magic, was once a close companion of Celestia and myself. However, she was the first of the Divines to break communication with Equestria. The last we heard from her, she had retreated to a distant part of the world, concerned about a deep-seeded darkness seeping through the plane. Considering Axan's dire words as of late, we now hath reason to suspect that Nevlamas may have been onto something."
"Eh... maybe. Seems like all you immortal types like to talk with a bunch of mystery." Rainbow Dash bit her lip. "No offense."
"None hath been taken."
"Was there another one?" Rainbow Dash gulped. "Another Divine?"
Luna's voice was gravely silent for a while. At last, she uttered, "Endrax. Queen of Shadow. If thou wisheth to have an archetype for mystery, she most certainly was the very epitome of it."
Rainbow Dash's teeth felt like chattering for some reason. She kept her cool. "What's her deal, exactly?"
"Not long after Nevalamas disappeared, Endrax vanished, but only after making a bold claim."
"Which was...?"
"She was heading towards the Dark Side of the world. For what purpose, she did not specify. Sturke attempted to reason with her. Axan was ambivalent. And Verlax... well... it hath always been hard to read Verlax, but she almost seemed amused with the entire situation."
"Yeesh... Glad I don't have any sisters."
"Rainbow Dash, the departure of Endrax was nearly thirty millennia ago. There simply is no telling what plans she had in mind for the Dark Side of the World, whether it was benevolent... or something quite the opposite. All we know is that the speed and intensity with which she exited the realm of light suggesteth something dire."
"I feel like you're really bent on telling me this for some reason," Rainbow Dash uttered, squinting into the starlight.
"So many eons hath passed by, Rainbow Dash. We cannot pretend to know what awaits for you upon the moment you reach the Midnight Armory. But it is quite likely that Endrax will be there, in some for or another. And if Axan has already been so adversarial to you..."
"Princess... Princess, please..." Rainbow Dash smirked as she waved a hoof. "I do my best thinking in the here and now. And tomorrow, I gotta look after a zeppelin full of ponies, as well as go about a way of finding them food before we get to some floating city in the sky."
"We cannot help but think in the long term, Rainbow Dash, especially since..."
"I'm honored that you would do so much for me and my journey, Princess Luna. And I promise—for your sake as well as for this western expedition of yours—that I'll get as much information as I can for as long as I'm able. But face it..." She exhaled heavily as she looked forward towards the moon-kissed eastern horizon. "The odds of me reaching the Midnight Armory, much less the edge of the world..." Her voice trailed off.
Quietly, Luna's voice filled the void. "We believeth in thee, Rainbow Dash, with all the might and intuition at our disposal."
"Yeah... well..." Rainbow Dash blew some bangs out from her brow and smirked tiredly. "Even immortals can't resist awesome..."
Flash Sentry...
You know, now I really want to hear about this expedition. Goddamn it, ):(, you can't just offhandedly mention this awesome thing knowing full well we're not going to see it!
Forty-five crunches. Knock 'em out!
At least it was nice to get more backstory with regard to the dragon queens. It will certainly be an interesting showdown in a year or two when they finally come into play. In that vein, can't help but see how fitting Rainbow Dash's parting words of the chapter are, and how much of a metaphor Luna is employing, perhaps unwittingly, in her speech.
So it's pretty much confirmed that other pegasi have tried, and failed, to reach the Midnight Armory. Hmm...
It's nice to hear from the Divines after, what, almost four hundred chapters?
I remember Axan making an appearence somewhere in Eljunbyro, but that was it...
I'm loving these chapters with Luna, but I'm assuming they'll be over after this and we'll have to wait another month.
In any case, this is shaping to be a quite interesting overarching plot, and can't wait to meet the rest of the Divines, which shouldn't happen for a couple of stories.
But hey, it's the journey, not the destination.
P.S.: You're a lucky one, Nevlamas.
P.P.S.: 3177141 I guess it would be too much to ask IC to write a side story about that, huh?
Final boss battle is against evil dragon goddesses. Plural. wheeeee
Interesting...I'm really curious to hear about the exploits of the Western Expedition really. I wonder if they will all meet eventually...Ok, I know it's sort of a flat world but that doesn't mean they won't all meet the edge eventually and maybe work their way to the Midnight Armory from both sides.
Good, you sent Flash away.
What...what if the other six stories chronicled "Cadence flies west"?
On that note, why the hell does Cadence get airships and 300 assistants while poor RD has to go in solo and hope something doesn't try to kill her... oh wait, that did happen, didn't it?
3177502
I can't imagine early Austraeoh Rainbow Dash easily accepting so much company.
3177631
True, i guess. Would've made Austraeoh probably a breeze, sic-ing an army on those minotaurs and giving Axan a run for her gold pile.
Would've been interesting.
Well, now we know all the names of the Divines. We also know from waaaaay back when that they can contact each other through their own means, and that Axan seems to be monitoring RD from some distance. I kinda want to meet the rest, now.
Woo Flash Sentry! Woooo!
3177502 Because until Axan they had no reason to believe that Rainbow Dash's mission was important to anypony but herself.
And also it was likely to end with her turning into a monster and killing everything in the vicinity long before reaching her goal.
3177211 Actually Axan was the last section of Austreaoh
3177897 I know, but I can clearly remember Axan making a one-chapter appearence in Eljunbyro.
*searches franctically*
Chapter 105 - Divine Intervention.
Which has some very interesting snippets now that our lore of the Divines has increased.
To that I can only say: Woah.
3177502
Well, RD's mission is a suicide run. Cadence's is see if there's an incoming apocalypse.
3177945
Now it's only a matter of figuring out which Divine is speaking to Axan there. I figure it can't be Endrax, because she's the "sister on the dark side", but I'm unsure who of the remaining Divines it is.
Yay, the dragons are relevant again! After, what, about three hundred chapters, give or take? And methinks we've found our end boss in Endrax. Unless, of course, there's an even bigger, nastier force at work here (think: Nevlamas' "deep-seeded darkness"). And then there's Discord, too. But regardless, I think Endrax is a good candidate. Because let's be honest here, Rainbow Dash is almost certainly going to make it to the Midnight Armory through some means (I'm still expecting something to artificially prolong her life [unless the series continues to compound so much action in such short spans of time]).
I'm also intrigued by this western expedition, because it's no longer just Rainbow and her little band puttering along; there are other pieces in play now. I wonder to what scale this scenario will escalate over the course of future installments.
Also, the choice to include Flash Sentry in this is a bold one, considering how controversial he is in some circles.
3178020 I'd dare say Sturke, but that'd be just for the sake of convenience, given that she's the closest one.
3178030 I now fear that when all the pieces are in play and roaring for the grand epic finale, IC will pull a Monty Python and screw us over.
3178081
I don't expect anything quite as anticlimactic as what Monty Python dealt Arthur and his fellows, but even so, it's entirely possible that a lot of the global-scale action will fall in the periphery of this story's focus on Dash, with other pertinent information only be relayed in the aftermath, or something of that kind. Unless, of course, Cadance's journey eventually takes her clear around the world and meets Rainbow coming from the other way. Now wouldn't that be something?
3178111
3178178
That would be pretty awesome. Made me think of:
24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m05f0hd6Tx1qiz3j8o1_500.gif
3178225 So, Cadence and Shining Armor would be Gandalf and Éomer?
I approve.
3177141
Methinks including bits of this expedition will feature soon. Maybe before Odrsjot is done, but I wouldn't be surprised to see "U________" switch to Cadance's journey, or maybe the one afterwards.
In other news - more names! More dragons! Will we see them? Who knows!
3178694
From that sentence, I was half expecting to find the first chapter of that story online. Might still happen tomorrow, for example. (More likely not, I guess.)
I'm in the camp that dash is closer than she thinks.
We shall see.
From reading the other comments here, what's wrong with Flash Sentry? I don't get the hate for him.
At least we have something to look forward now--the final boss fight with Evil(?) Shadow Dragon Queen!
i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/183/251/FYIAD.jpg
I have waited all my life for an opportunity to use this picture. With this argument, I shall from now on win every discussion at any given time.
I had always secretly hoped to join the Jury one day - well, now I am forever stuck as an ancient, seemingly benevolent, infinitely wise and powerful dragon matriarch and a patron deity of magic with a pretty male name.
...
...
images.t-nation.com/forum_images/6/7/67c6b_ORIG-I_Ain_t_Even_Mad.jpg
He has chosen me in His benevolence and I shall honour his graceful gifts with all of my puny little mortal heart.
So with Endrax on the dark side, we now have the five dragons. Funny, the symbolism would have suggested that Endrax belongs to the dark side by nature, that each of the dragons is associated with one of the four ends of the world and her being the antithesis - well, Endrax seemingly isn't natively bound to the dark side, but as queen of shadows I daresay she is bound to it by nature at least. It is also funny that with her being an obvious antagonist, one would expect the other dragons to be helpful and good instead of what they have shown to be thus far. Then again, even Axan has made clear that she is eager to assist Austraeoh - she only failed to recognize her.
On yet another note, I can't wait for the next ConQuest of Mythodea now. I'll march up this fair lady here
y-punkt.de/resource/resource/MzEzNTM4MmUzMzMyMmUzMTM1MzMyZTM2MzIzMDMwMzAzMDMwMzAzMDY4MzgzNTc0NjI3MzM0NzEyMDIwMjAyMDIw/image_popup.jpg
and laugh in the Lady Magica's face. Well, who's the avatar of magic now? Eh? EH? AHAHAHAHAHAHAH!
media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lj7cujXO5r1qafrh6.gif
That pretty much sums up my reaction.
Hell yes, I'm a goddamn dragon. And I'm not sure if I sound evil or not. Maybe even an end boss! Either way, this is awesome.
Interesting. Even more depth to the world.
I like this.
~bass
3178081
3178111
I'm thinking the ending may fall on the darker side of things, (see Background Pony or World of Chaos)
But the world's destruction happens when Discord's residual chaos is gone from Equestria/MachineWorld. Harmony exists only with a balance of Chaos and Order...
Timey-Wimey-ness from Dash saving the world rolls her back to S2E2 cannon and Discord goes to stone
She may remember (That World of Chaos Story)
She may not
(Think if BP Lyra chose to roll back) or (Bastion and it's fix everything ending)
...
Okay, that was interesting. Diplomatically saying. I didn't expect that, but I'm cool with that.
Besides that, incredibly awesome chapter with a lot of world-building and shiny lore. So for now, we know which divines RD can meet during the journey. However, what about countries? We know about "Xonans" but what later? No-ponies land? I hope for some countries based on the Eastern culture ( particularry, Poland-Ukraine-Russia of XVII century ), or maybe Roman Empire? I think that it is enough of this steam-punky based nations. I have nothing against them, but there are simply too many of them.
PS. I'm dragon! YEAH.
3180105 Well, you may not be that off, since the stories seem to be getting slightly darker in tone as the story progresses.
And I don't know how I would feel about RD going back in time to defeat Discord, would that mean that all that she accomplished in Windthrow, Darkstine, Silvadel, Ledomare and Searo would be erased?
Also, I haven't read Background Pony yet, I'm saving it for vacations, so no more spoilers, please.
3180105
Maybe, but for some reason, I don't see a darker ending for this (or that dark, at least). I mean, it's entirely possible that Dash won't make it - perhaps sacrifice herself to save the world in one final act of awesomeness. But beyond that, I
hope forforesee a satisfying, happiness-for-most ending, at least. As far as the chaos-balanced-with-order deal, I suspect that whatever forces constructed/operate the machine have taken that into consideration, and that the jump-starting of the world, or even the cleansing of Discord from Dash, wouldn't necessitate the complete negation of chaos from the world. If anything, chaos is running rampant, and needs harmony to keep it in check. And, on top of that, what is a balance between harmony and chaos except a form of harmony? Of course, I could be wrong, but only time will tell.I also suspect that this story's repeated reference to Discord's "end up back where you began" line will somehow factor into things.
(And all this, of course, is assuming that there is a definite ending planned at all yet).
Ha! Haha! I have finally caught up.
3180611
Congratulations!
We got cookies and stuff. Kinda. ( At this moment, I'm thinking how many people are still chasing the rising amount of Chapters. I guess that a lot of them ).
While I can see the twisted logic here, I just don't think anyone aside from a foal would actually think this way. Well, apparently aside from Luna that is.
Time for the spin-off series, twelve stories long, about Cadence heading west. Huzzah.
Yeah! More info on the dragon queens! I hope we learn more on them in the future.
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
Now this is rather interesting. We get a bit more backstory on the Divines. Endrax, huh...looking forwards to meeting her. Will she be the final boss? These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
Another expedition, eh? I'm probably in the minority, but I'm absolutely fine not knowing the details of that one. It makes it more mysterious to not know what they're doing. Plus they're less interesting than Dash.
And more info on these immortal dragon things, too? It could really go either way for Dash once she reaches the cusp of the world. Will the dragons team up to help her? Will some of them decide its better to hinder her instead? What inherent dangers already exist there?
Its nice to see that Luna is getting others more involved in this "the end is possibly nigh" business, though. As spectacular as Dash is, putting all of your hopes in a pony that could die before reaching her goal is a bit optimistic of an immortal goddess.
This thing is taking some really interesting turns, and I can't wait to find out what you do with it next - onward!
WAIFU STEALER!
3181026 me!
World building! Weeee! Also, I'm now only a half year away! earliest comments were from 26 weeks ago. Huzzah!
Doo de doo just passing through
Also, the dragons are back.
-Spirit
I'm torn. One side wants me to get IC to write the Cadance expedition in a seperate story. The other wants him to keep devoting all his writing time to getting the 1400-odd chapters of the saga done.
This is very interesting indeed. I have a feeling that things are going to be very interesting later on in the series.
4794075 I just want to why there are no griffons yet. Talk about a missed opportunity! The same goes for Chrysalis and her changelings.