Josho shuffled closer to the grave of Hurricane. He squinted at the effigy, turned to blink at Rainbow, then stared at the statue again. “Looks like you two dipped your heads in the same toilet.”
“Derm…” Rainbow Dash fidgeted.
“I do not understand,” Pilate murmured aloud. “What’s just been revealed?”
“Dashie and Hurricaney totally have the same maney!” Props exclaimed, staring wide-eyed at the spectral arrangement of the granite equine’s hair. “They’re practically sisteroos!”
“The resemblance is certainly uncanny,” Elma Boreal said. “And that’s not just my personal bias as a talking snapping turtle. Heh.”
“Whit ur th' odds ay thes sort ay guff unpeelin' itself frae th' proverbial wall, lassie?” Prowse remarked.
“Hey, don’t look at me!” Rainbow Dash grunted. “I just fly here!”
“Listen, Paint Bucket.” Josho pointed at the statue with a frown. “You can’t just ignore this shiznet!”
“Considering everything we’re learning about this place, I think it begs the question, Rainbow Dash,” Pilate said. “How much do you know about this… Commander Hurricane?”
“Dude, what is there not to know?!” Rainbow Dash tossed her forelimbs as she hovered before the tomb. “She was the leader of Pegasopolis! She helped found Equestria back when windigos ravaged the landscape! She fought griffons and wyverns and cyclopses and all manners of bad dudes across the pre-classical skies of my homeland!”
“Yes, but what her specifically?” Pilate’s metal brow furrowed. “Did she have any physical descriptions? Any relations? Heirs? Descendants?”
“I… uh… I’m afraid I can’t h-help you there,” Rainbow said with ears drooping.
“Pffft. Terrific.” Josho rolled his eyes. “The one pegasus from Equestria and she sucks at her history lessons.”
“Choke on your own fat, lardo!” Rainbow frowned at him. “Hurricane’s a friggin’ household name where I was born! Every pony with an ounce of feathers knows all about her legacy and career! Her private life, however, was hers and hers alone! She disappeared in obscurity, and the whereabouts of her final resting place has been a huge mystery in Equestrian society!” She sighed, staring dully at the tomb. “Until today…”
“So there’s no description at all about her physical traits?” Pilate asked.
“Or that she looks just as adoracute and colorful as Dash-Dash?” Props asked.
“Hey, don’t push it,” Rainbow Dash grunted, pointing at her. Rainbow turned towards the tomb once more, shrugging. “There’ve been statues of her, but all of the ones that survive to this day were built well after the Pre-Classical era. There’s no written records of--like--what her mane looked like.”
“Alright, Rainbow, then perhaps I have a more appropriate question for this situation.” Pilate fumbled a bit before he blindly paced towards her side. “How many… uhm… pegasi are born like you?”
“Pfft. Never.” Rainbow Dash smirked. “Come on, Stripesy. You can do better than that.”
“Please, Rainbow, be a bit more receptive here.” Pilate leaned closer. “Your mane color. Is it a common trait in Cloudsdale? Or in all of Equestria for that matter?”
“Jee, I dunno.” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I never given it much thought…”
“Given what much thought?” Josho asked.
“Well, I mean… no. There aren’t any other ponies in Equestria with my mane color. None that I’ve seen, at least. With one exception, of course.” Rainbow Dash fidgeted. “My dad. But… uhm… I b-barely have any memories of him. He didn’t exactly hang around much.”
“Drap them an' lae them, huh?” Prowse remarked.
Rainbow’s eyes sliced his way like ruby daggers. “He died, ya beardborg.”
“Oh…” Prowse rubbed a flesh leg with a metal hoof, avoiding her gaze.
Sighing, Rainbow looked towards the others. “And don’t get me started on my mom, cuz I’ve honestly got nothing to go by. I kind of… grew up on my own. I really didn’t like attention at first--at least not the kind everypony gave me. Tons of ponies were gushing all over me, full of pity n’crap. I think that’s why I decided that the only way to live was awesomely, cuz then I could earn everypony’s praise, y’know?” She smiled awkwardly. “Boy, did I tick a lot of pegasi off in those days. But it was worth it. I stopped being a charity case and became a legend pretty darn quick, y’know?”
“What a pleasant life story,” Josho droned. “Can somepony tell me where we’re going with this?”
“Do you remember any striking details ponies gave you about your mane color, Rainbow?” Pilate asked.
“Ugh. Please. I grew up with older mares wanting to turn me into a diva left and right!” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “They said that I had ‘the most beautiful and rare mane in all of Equestria’ and that ‘it was a shame for me to not go into modeling’ or some junk. Brbrbrrbrbrbbrrr.” She shivered from head to tail. “Even Rarity gave me a bunch of that same crap. I just did my best to ignore it.”
“Any doctors or physicians state that there was legitimacy behind the rare trait?”
“So maybe at a physical or two I was told that I was a one-in-a-gazillion case! What’s the big deal?!” Rainbow Dash flung her hooves towards the tomb. “What’s this got to do with anything?”
“Rainbow Dash, let it not be denied that you exist for a purpose,” Pilate said. “It would go against everything you, myself, and Bellesmith have discovered to ignore the ramifications of Austraeoh and being Austraeoh. Now, I am a scientist at heart, and yet I’ve given into believing the elements of prophecy we have extracted throughout our journey due to sheer exposure. But, pragmatically speaking, if there was an actual empirical explanation for what you are and what you’re destined to do, then it’s safe to hypothesize that you’re not the first one equipped with the faculties to do it.”
“The hay are you getting at, buddy?” Rainbow’s voice cracked. She pointed at the tomb. “That Hurricane was… was…another me?”
“Or vice versa; you are another her.”
“Pffft. Come onnnnn…” Rainbow smirked. “True, so maybe I’ve always fancied Hurricane the most whenever I was forced to watch a Hearth’s Warming pageant, but that never meant we were anything alike!”
“Aren’t you?” Pilate faced the pegasus’ general direction. “You both ended up flying east, did you not?”
“Yeah, but--” Rainbow Dash froze, blinking. She turned towards the tomb, fidgeting in midair. “...balls.”
The day a new chapter of this comes out is a good day. ...wait...
This is wonderfully ironic given the most recent episode.
Balls? Wait, Dashie, I thought you were in lurve with Applejack? Wait, is this still an IC story, or did Rainbow Bob pop back in? Futaringor...
Twenty-five close-hand pushups, ):(. Knock 'em out!
Discord is playing temporal cloning again?
And now there will be no more rainbow ponies... Sooo Sad.
So, Austraeoh is a bloodline thing? Huh. Didn't expect that. Cool beans, nonetheless.
And what about the damned inscription?!
I didn't learn anything - I was wrong all along!
At the same time I would've said that zebra Pilate's way of putting it was exactly wrong: Rainbow was not Hurricane and Hurricane was not Rainbow. As with every case of reincarnation, Rainbow is the part of the Spark that isn't Hurricane (or the others) and Hurricane was the part of the Spark that isn't Rainbow.
YEAH BUT BUT BUT BUT
Time loop, definitely time loop.
Maybe.
Probably not, but still.
Time loop.
The Spark happens to be Rainbow colored.
well, maybe the number of mane colors representing their lives was wrong, but that RD is somehow connected to Hurricane (family or Austreoh or both) is correct
so, that means that either Hurricane failed, or did exactly what she was supposed to do because prophecy and junk
Yeah. Really curious about that inscription now. What did Hurricane do to drive the saving of the world after she left Equestria? More importantly, did she leave a message for Rainbow Dash?
Yep figured it was a bloodline thing.
So if Hurricane was just as epic as Dash...
What killed her?
BALLS!
Wheels within wheels.
The new symbol (Urohringr?) makes me once again compare this story with the Sanctuary arc of Saint Seiya. This time due to it's resemblance to the fire clock.
img813.imageshack.us/img813/6299/reloj5.jpg
And just like I predicted the fourth story to be particularly dark and death-related (we even had a vision of the Yomotsu hill!), I predict this story will involve fighting against an ally and yet another heroic sacrifice.
Well, hot damn. This'll make for one hell of a story to tell Luna next time they chat.
I'm hoping it's a bloodline thing, seeing as Rainbow Dad
hashad the same kind of mane, but the "they're both an Austraeoh" theory still works for me. However, my question is: if Hurricane was an Austraeoh, what stopped her here? Those guards were fighting something, and it could still be around... none of the other wrecks left bodies around, and I doubt they all jumped off the edge of the city.And I concur: what about the damn inscription?! That's what you were trying to read in the first place!
Saying here, Hurricane brought all of Stratopolis east with her. Which was the plan behind going east for her. And this city knew about the machine world and presumably somewhere is Austraeoh prophecy. Maybe this statue, is that, not actually Hurricane herself. Since Stratopolis is probably the cause of flurries, I'm assuming that someone is alive and here, and behind it all. Maybe the dragon whose name I forgot, the Dragon of Frost is either here, or was here.
Anyway, Rainbow Dash = Commander Hurricane, Noble Jury = Stratopolis
Well this is just a big old pile of interesting. I wonder if the Lounge knows where they are? And if they do, have they been here before? They do know the way through the Flurries, they might have come across this place before. Perhaps they think of themselves as protectors, like Khao and his group? Perhaps they think of themselves as destroyers, like the changelings? Perhaps they are merely bystanders, caught up in this whole mess just wanting to leave?
We'll just have to wait and see, I guess.
Balls sums it up pretty nicely.
If Rainbow Dash is a future Commander Hurricane, I wonder if there is a element of loyalty or flame in that sarcophagus.
Interesting fact: In early Austraeoh Rainbow Dash says that she never knew her parents.
Of course IC is always making changes to make this series fit with current canon.
Hey, at least Luna and the rest of Equestria will be happy to hear where their hero went.
Poor Dashie...
So much exposition. I'm not even going to attempt to sort this all out. That's Dashie's job.
-Spirit
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
Well, part of it was indeed correct! It appears that Hurricane was another Austraeoh, and I'm guessing that the case is that she has failed her quest. Awesome! I mean, not for her, but now we know! This arc is AWESOME...there seems to be a much better connection to what makes Dash DASH here, if you know what I mean. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
So... I guess Rainbow's the Avatar, then.
4866699 Then suddenly, the fire nation attacked
4205627 very good question...-grabs picaxe- only one way to find out!!
Hmm...is Rainbow Dash...Commander Hurricane reborn?
5155219 Maybe not reborn, but a descendant. Like, maybe Hurricane had a kid, left the father and daughter to take Stratopolis out of Equestrian airspace and that kid carried her legacy on after she died.
If it is genetic inheritance, seems a shame that Hurricane's line likely ends with Dash.
Otherwise, cool revelation. So far not enough info to say whether or not Hurricane was acting as a Spark, but interesting nonetheless. What awesome challenges await the Noble Jury now?
... what kind of challenges killed an entire unit of warrior pegasi standing in formation?
Ahh, yes, this suits my fancy right here. I love the idea of reincarnation in stories. It's so perfectly screwy when thought of in terms of time and many other things. Basically, go read Sunset of Time.
I will reject this until further more solid proof is displayed
Commander Hurricane was Austraeoh.
History repeats itself.
So either Rainbow is a descendant of Commander Hurricane or she is the reincarnation of her.
Given the implications of the last part of this chapter, I'm going to assume it is most likely the latter. Although, it could be both.
Oh. I think this might be important to the plot. I'm not sure though, still waiting for the Church of Flying Grilled Cheese to make an appearance.
Balls indeed Rainbow.
Well Nevlamas already said it and from what the herald guys said there is actually a gene/blood connection to her and the .. well pegasi native to this plane. Those genes may got a bit washed out by them uh .. 'interacting' with the pony population that came with the alicorns. Or it was always rare and just back then ponies knew that there was more to it than a colorful mane.
And now for some Hypothetical rambling that jumps trough my head since a while and just came back with this new revelation, i will spoiler tag it in case i am on to something, which may not be likely but ... yeah..
I think her being an actual element of harmony which is like kind of an alien influence brought by the Alicorns, was never in the 'grand' plan.
So she kinda is Austraeoh with benefits and as Luna said, if she actually manages to restore the elements she would gain an infinite lease of life because the elements can't perish while supporting each other (which is my headcanon anyway) while the Austraeoh prophecy says that Austraeoh will sacrifice itself to make the world whole again, those two are now conflicting and may change the outcome of the Austraeoh prophecy a bit.
The other thing is that the unicorn from book 1 who's name i totally forgot kinda figured that rainbow isn't just bearing the element, she is the element. This got supported by .. was it whitemane ? because the harmony brought by the Alicorns started to actually sip into the beings of the plane, manifesting itself in a more Physical form that is actually part of the plane, a bit like spiritual/arcane terraforming. So taking that into account would mean that the other 5 where their respective element too and by restoring the elements she would probably restore much more than just five spiritual imbued gemstones.
So yeah .. totally hypothetical and stuff but it would be pretty awesome i think.
You know what they say about history though... those who don't learn from it are doomed to repeat it.
Austraoeh, the avatar: the last manebender.
Balls balls balls!
Such a lovely curseword; it needs to be used in more places.
One thing that confuses me a bit: In this setting, Celestia and Luna seem to predate most civilisations (right? It sounded like they arrived on this world with the other alicorns).
If they were around before Equestria was founded, wouldn't they have almost certainly met Hurricane in person at some point, and known her mane color?
You'd think they might tip off Dashie that she's likely related.
(Unless they decided it was stuff she did not Need To Know.)
I love that something is being done with Rainbow’s unique mane color.
I hope this isn't becoming another Avatar scenario.
Ah yes, I can see the pre-RD parents episode is at play here. Meh, it's inevitable I suppose.
But yup, Rainbow is definitely either the descendant or reincarnation of Hurricane.