“Is everything okay, Rainbow?”
Rainbow stared ahead, blinking. After a few seconds, she looked aside in mid-trot. “Hmmm?”
Ebon Mane gazed at her worriedly. “You... you really seem preoccupied. I... I-I mean...” He winced slightly. “I suppose you have every reason to be. Not... not like there's a problem with that or—”
“Ebon, it's okay,” Rainbow said, smiling. “I had a long talk with the Queen yesterday Morning. I feel that what I'm doing here is the next best thing.”
“Yeah. Yeah okay...” Ebon gazed ahead as the two were escorted by six armed reindeer guards down a long darkly-lit basement deep beneath the Val Roan Military Compound. “I mean... I'm sure it will be the next best thing. Even if it isn't all good, it can st-still be for the best. But... th-that's probably because you're so good at making the best of things and... and...”
“Ebon...” Rainbow flapped her wings, hovering so that she could spare a leg and press it to his shoulder. “I can handle whatever happens next. But are you okay?”
“Me? Oh... yes! Yeah! I'm... uh... I'm fine...” He tried to smile, but it came out as a grimace. “I mean... aside from my only flesh-and-blood connection in this world being a former megalomaniacal bug vampire of emotion who's now imprisoned deep within the bowels of an angry kingdom...”
“Nopony should have to see someone they care about imprisoned,” Rainbow said. “It's gotta suck, I bet.”
“Sometimes...” Ebon shuddered. “Sometimes I think I'm the only one in this world who loves her... like truly loves her.” He bit his lip, gazing down at the floor passing beneath them. “It kind of makes me feel alone.”
“You've got Eagle Eye, haven't you?”
“Yes...” He smiled, his eyes flickering with warm green light. “Yes I do.” Nevertheless, he sighed. “But, with Mother's empathy gone, I... find it hard to read her. And not even EE can change the fact that... that...”
“That what?”
Ebon sniffled. “...I'm not even sure if she's capable of loving me back.”
The two reached a heavily armored door flanked by guards. Nevertheless, Rainbow pivoted about and placed both of her hooves on Ebon's shoulders. “Give it time, Ebon. You've only had the luxury of chatting with Chrysalis for a few days. Meanwhile, she's kinda sorta eons old.”
“Yeah...” Ebon shuddered, then bore an awkward smile. “It'll make getting her a birthday cake super awkward.”
“Considering you're all headed to Ether Point soon?” Rainbow winked. “I'd settle for ice cream.”
Ebon smiled. Then, with a bittersweet sigh, he turned towards the guards on either side of the door... and nodded.
They nodded back. Then, with glowing antlers, they powered the mechanisms within the doorframe. The heavy metal panels slid open with a grating noise. Inside, a dimly-lit chamber lay, with a barred cell at the very end.
“You... you want some company?” Ebon asked. “I might be able to persuade Mother to... to...”
“No.” Rainbow shook her head. “I have to talk to her alone.” With a flick of her colorful tail, she trotted ahead. “I... gotta start getting used to doing things alone.”
“Uhm... okay...” Ebon waved pensively as Rainbow trotted ahead. “Best of luck in learning what you need to learn. And remember, Rainbow...” He smiled as the doors behind her closed. “...she's changed now. Don't be afraid.”
THUD! The doors closed loudly.
Rainbow stood in the dimly lit dungeon, her breath forming tiny vapors.
“Luna's nipple, it's cold in here,” she whispered to herself.
“As it should be, Rainbow Dash,” a voice drifted out from beyond the glinting bars ahead of the pegasus. “Without the ability to shape-shift, my body reverts to its original state. A low temperature is the best way to regulate a changeling's metabolism.”
Eyes narrow, Rainbow trotted ahead. Slowly, the jagged features of a decrepit, horn-less alicorn formed beyond the bars, seated on a pile of velvet mattresses with her dark flank against the wall.
“How did you know it was me?” Rainbow asked. “I thought your empathic abilities and everything else went 'bye-bye' when you snapped your horn off.”
“But I still know you, Rainbow Dash,” Chrysalis calmly said. “Perhaps more than your friends know you. Why else would you be here?”
Rainbow frowned. “I'm here because the Val Roans have been an isolationist society for centuries. They know nothing about the outside world... not yet, at least. You, on the other hoof, have flown all across the world within the span of a mortal lifetime. Maybe two.”
“Yes, and?”
“I would like to know what you know about the rest of the world between here and the eastern edge.” Rainbow cleared her throat. “If... if you don't mind sharing, that is.”
“You mean you wish to know about how I scaled the Grand Choke.”
Rainbow's ears flattened. She merely nodded.
With a pained breath, Chrysalis slowly stood up. She winced from her fresh wounds, and only when she trotted closer into the torchlight did Rainbow see several bandages wrapped around the top of her forehead. The alicorn's long translucent mane had been completely lopped off, which made her skull and neck seem even ganglier than before.
Misty vapor lingered between them as Chrysalis produced the breaths to speak: “Many have attempted to travel the Grand Choke. I know this. My broodlings have transmitted countless tales to my consciousness of ponies who have attempted the sojourn from both the western desert and the eastern shores. In all cases, none were ever heard of again.” The former Queen's eyes narrowed. “Am I to understand that Val Roa has in its possession the relics of a successful group of travelers?”
Rainbow cocked her head aside. “How would you know that?”
“I didn't,” Chrysalis said. “But Sharp Quill did.” She paced slowly, her porous hooves scuffling across the concrete floor on her side of the bars. “He also knew less savory facts that—no doubt—Queen Azira failed to mention.”
“What?” Rainbow watched her, standing still. “That Terra, Eddings, and the other ancient ponies from the west cannibalized on their fellow companions?”
Chrysalis stopped, swiveling to blink at Rainbow. “So Azira did tell you.”
“Why do you find that so surprising?” Rainbow asked. “I may be a stranger from Equestria, but she's placed her trust in me.”
“A very curious thing.”
“Or maybe you're just not used to trust,” Rainbow said. “Or at least trust that comes out of choice and respect.”
“I hadn't guessed that you had actually come to lecture to me, Rainbow Dash.”
Rainbow motioned towards the large doors behind her with her head. “Out there is a little lost changeling who loves you.” Rainbow's eyes narrowed. “I mean truly... truly loves you. And as much as I wanna find out how I can make it across the Grand Choke, there's a part of me that wants to make sure that his adoration won't go unanswered once I'm gone.”
“I cannot pretend to explain why Ebon Mane worships me so,” Chrysalis said, shuddering slightly. “Only that he was once a drone...”
“Is that so?” Rainbow smirked. “Then why did you refer to him by his chosen name?”
“... … ...” Chrysalis fidgeted. “He... appreciates being called that...”
Rainbow took a deep breath. “So... maybe there is some hope for you yet.” She sat back on her haunches. “Now... is there any hope for me?”
“I doubt it will be of any surprise to you,” Chrysalis said. “You cannot cross the Grand Choke—alone or with the company of others—so long as you lack the one thing that I possess.”
Rainbow swallowed hard. “Immortality.”
“Indeed.” Chrysalis nodded gravely.
Rainbow bowed her head. “...then it really is impossible.”
“Not necessarily.”
Rainbow looked up.
“Alicorn magic, as it turns out, is the one thing strong enough to preserve life in a place that is defined by total desolation.” Chrysalis cocked her head aside while pointing at Rainbow. “And you are not entirely devoid of alicorn magic, now are you?”
Rainbow raised a hoof to her pendant. “My Element...”
“A blessing... and a curse...” Chrysalis stood up straight, her brow furrowed. “I sensed both of them in you on each occasion you brushed paths with my broodlings. As you carved a path eastward, I felt it like a knife being dragged across my collective consciousness.” She raised a hoof towards the ceiling. “There was a time, Rainbow Dash, when I felt this entire world like a firm mattress being stretched and shaken all around me. My mind was a fabric that I shared with this entire sun-lit plane. And only the dark side was a mystery that blinded me...” She hung her head. “...that blinded me to my sister.”
Rainbow leaned closer to the bars. “Is that why you went after me, then? Because I stood out like a hot knife or some-such?”
“Partially. More than anything, I knew that a living juxtaposition of both chaos and harmony possessed an unprecedented purpose, and intercepting that could affect the outcome of thousands... millions. My broodlings had to feed, and using you to alter the landscape and provide them nourishment was just too tempting of an opportunity to pass up.”
“Only... you bucked up,” Rainbow said, smirking slightly. “You tried to get me to sow chaos. And, though a lot of bad stuff happened, the world behind me is a lot better off than it was before. Did you ever expect that?”
“If I was wiser, perhaps I would have.” Chrysalis shuddered. “I... I'm old, Rainbow Dash. Older than you can possibly comprehend.” She gulped, then continued in a humbler voice. “Old enough to forget that Tchern is not my only sister.”
Rainbow blinked.
“Celestia and Luna... they gave everything to protect you. And yet, instead of choosing to die a peaceful and harmonic death in Equestria, you chose adventure. You chose danger. You chose... change.” Chrysalis met Rainbow's gaze. “This world is dying, Rainbow. Even in all of my selfish pursuits, I knew it. I thought that by reinforcing Tchern and finishing the Trinary War, I might shift the balance of power so that we might take control and save both sides of the plane before it was too late. But that goal was flimsy, nebulous at best. It didn't work for the alicorn hosts when they first arrived, and we numbered in the thousands then. What are a few paltry survivors meant to accomplish in the long run?”
Rainbow Dash gulped, then quietly said, “We'll find a solution, Chrysalis. Between Celestia, Luna, Axan—whoever... this part of Urohringr won't bite the dust.”
“You are the solution, Rainbow Dash,” Chrysalis said firmly. “Only when you defeated me did I finally realize this.” She took a deep breath. “Yes, you could very well make it past the Grand Choke. Or, you may not. Either way... it's what lies ahead that concerns me more than anything. What stands between the Grand Choke and the Eastern Edge is more dangerous, conniving, and malevolent than a thousand Grand Chokes piled together.”
Rainbow's hairs stood on end, though she nevertheless muttered, “Verlax.”
Chrysalis nodded. “Verlax.”
You never know, maybe she's lightened up a bit. Her world's just been shaken, after all.
Heh.
Yeah...that's a sobering thought.
...Le wat.
Welp...looks like we once again may have a book ending with a dragon. Hoooooo boy.
I'm really wondering about what this means regarding Chryssy's comment about Dash's element. Is she going to have to learn how to harness the chaos trapped inside her or something in order to survive though the Grand Choke?
At some point she is going to become an Alicorn isn't she? Either at the end of this book or in one of the next, I don't think that the Element is going to be enough. I figured that was likely to happen really.
Verlax: For when you need to be at your most regular!
Twenty-five pushups and twenty-five situps, ):(. Knock 'em out!
5619463
Or perhaps some kind of hybrid between pegasus and her chaos state? I mean, it can't stay entirely suppressed forever, especially given whatever weirdness she'll find on the Other Side, can it?
...Bloody ominous...
Verlax.
5619488
That is also totally possible, especially if that voice that wanted to help her really was Discord.
I am so FUCKING READY
I hope Dashie packs socks cause it's gonna get cold.
5619476 24.media.tumblr.com/25a4c732eed7396f69c6b620e525e49e/tumblr_mytlm0WIy61s0my1wo1_400.gif
If I had known this would happen, I would've saved that picture of Hannibal and Clarice. Oh well...
So that's her ticket across the Choke, huh? But then, wherefore the Yaerfaerda symbols? Or are those just to keep the chaos at bay? Eh, I'm getting ahead of myself.
Inception bwaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh
Remember, cheese-legs had no qualms with manipulating Nevlamas for her own gain in Xona, and remember how powerful she was. If Chryssy is worried about Verlax...
Typical, just when you think all you have to deal with is a few hundred miles of magic killing bone searing lunar surface desert, folowed by a couple thousand miles of chaotic field maelstrom ocean, some ,Divine, has to go and say they have the right to how far anyone gets before dieing.
Pity the roof of the world is so low round the end due to the chaos region surrounding it, wouldve been so nice for Dash to have an easy trip by throwing her on a long ballistic path above all the problems.
Then again, you know what they say.
Range Radar is down, technicians are looking into it.
Dashie is immortal. She has died several times and come back. But there's a gotcha: to come back, she has to take the pendant off, and once off who will put it back on?
As for Verlax... Axan will lend a helping claw, I'm sure. At the last possible second, 50 chapters after she should have intervened, naturally.
Sooooo... what are we going to see between now and the end? My best guess is that Rainbow scales the Grand Choke, and ends the book with her starting to cross the Great Sea. After that, I really hope that we get to see the Dark Side of the world before too long... I don't want to wait another 200 chapters.
Also...
Will Cheese-Legs be talking to Moon-Butt before RD departs?
V for Verlax | V for Victory
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I do hope Axan accompanies Austraeoh across the Grand Choke in some capacity. I can't imagine that she would stay behind.
So, Verlax is gonna be a problem after all? Great. So far Dashie has yet to defeat a Divine in combat without aid. And they're all too stubborn to reason with. Honestly, the only way I see Rainbow making it through this is with aid from Axan. And she's probably still planning on killing Dash if she survives her trip to the Armory. (I'm calling that now.)
I'd call it bookends but Austraeoh didn't start with Dash dying at the claws of a dragon.
I'm just curious about the naming pattern of the books after this one now.
-Treachery and deceit, kingdom of conceit Yaerfaerda.
5619743
We have theorized that it will go from Y then backwards.
I wonder who Chrysalis' other sister is....? Epcot? Maybe there are more siblings than single digits?
5619463
While I do believe RD is going to need something else to help her on the Dark Side, becoming an Alicorn would be a bit disappointing. It's a bit too... cliché and feels like an easy way out. That being said, I do feel that RD does deserve some sort of beneficial reward along those lines for all that she's gone through and suffered (and will go through in future books).
5619488
This sounds a bit less cliché and sounds more in line with where the story could go, I feel. RD has chaos inside of her and is both wearing and is the embodiment of harmony entering a land of complete chaos. A fusion of the two elements within her could ramp up her power nicely and still keep the whole 'battle between what's killing her and keeping her alive' a thing. RD would have to learn to use both sides without going too far in one direction or suffer consequences.
5619828
Isn't Epcot just a construct? An AI? I don't think she could be Chrysalis' other sister unless Epcot is either storing the consciousness of, or is based on the personality of the 'other sister'.
5619883
5619828
Epcot does not exist in this reality. The Cider Space she's a part of was created and populated by alicorns from a different reality. And she's not a real pony anyway.
My bet is that Chrysalis is sister to Celestia and Luna. They don't like talking about the black sheep in their family, which is why it hasn't been mentioned before. Cue long distance pendant call on the next full moon.
5620116 If my memory serves Luna mentioned that Chrysalis, Tchern, and Sombra were their siblings WAY back a books ago, mentioned that they all went nuts over using dark magic.
5620207 Not that I can find, which, admittedly, is not conclusive.
Well that settles a lot of questions. But raises more. Why don't they just go south or north around the grand choke. It was super hyped up. If this story series maintains symmetry so that she starts book 7 on the dark side of the world, these last 50 chapters are gonna be hella long. But also, starting in about 5 to ten chapters, the most exciting and anticipated ones in a LONG time. Already the last chapter was a world building wet dream. Looking forward to meeting the queen of frost and luna again and hopefully finally hearing what luna heard from Cadance.
And maybe dash will have to become discord to survive the desert.
HYPE!
5620242
5620207 Quade is correct. I remember this too. Will be interesting to see if the Chrystal empire comes back in this timeline.
Rainbow Dash will not be truly alone: Axan is still looking out for her.
We have Axan (who's still trailing Dash), Nevlamas (who's
suspectedlydead), E-something on the dark plane, the dragon in the west Cadance went to, and Verlax.Things are heating up faster than dragonfire.
Oh, and isn't it about time for another full moon?
Mojave Wasteland?
cdn.alltheragefaces.com/img/faces/png/fuck-that-bitch-yao-pff.png
5620346 That E-something would be Endrax.
5620251
5620207
5620242
It was revealed in the Urohringr chapter That Which We Drive Away
that was a real bitch to find
I like how IC is handling Chrysalis here.
5619670 5619452 5619828
I'm pretty sure the "not my only sister" line referred to the other (non-corrupted) alicorns, like Celestia and Luna.
5620517 I stand corrected, though the way it was worded there's a slight possibility "brother" and "sister" were being used in a metaphorical sense, as in all alicorns are siblings in some sense.
However, more disturbing, is this passage:
5620521
Could be. Sometimes my memory of stuff that happened way back in the story isn't that great.
5620116
5620521
I know. But messing with other commentators is just so fun. I don't do it to grief, but to amuse.
Nothing beats the danger of Verlax, who is between the Grand Choke and the edge of the world. Except whatever is between Verlax and the edge.
fc01.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2010/121/7/8/Sindragosa_by_Quickstrike1802.jpg
My body is ready.
All aboard the hype train!
i.imgur.com/CDpt12Q.jpg
5621232 That's because Epcot (short for Experimental Pony Chaperone of Tomorrow) is not in this story. She was introduced in the current arc of Appledashery, where it was also established that it was part of the same multiverse as this story (by Rainbow Dash of that story briefly witnessing an event in this story before it got posted here).
5621405 Not a problem. It's nearly romance free. However, you'll have to get past nearly half a million words before you get to the AI. But you'll get plenty of Lancie, diamond dogs, Zecora, Daring Do, Maud Pie, Trixie, Photo Finish, buffalo, and others along the way.
As you might have noticed, there's a large overlap in readership between these two stories.
... WELL, I LIKE HER!
5621023 Surprisingly, what's between Verlax and the end is piles and piles of delicious fried foods.
5619516
i.imgur.com/PzssP2v.jpg
I'm more interested in how the chaos will effect the pendant. We haven't heard anything from discord at all in this series. What is the likelihood that this new journey might revive his sentience. Even if it's just RD hallucinating, bet no one would expect him making a reappearance.
5623699 She certainly changed her name often enough.
5619701
I really want to hear a conversation between Chrysalis and Celestia.
Maybe in 100 years Chryssi will have enough good behavior for a phone call.
The Grand Choke and Ocean aren't the end? We've got one more country of pegasi to see in the next book, then, asi t seems. But first... Verlax.
-Spirit
Valuable information indeed. I like how there is a noticable change in Chrysalis already. I'm seriously liking this story's happiness and victory.
and rest time..
zzzz