"I can't expect you to understand, Sera," Rainbow Dash muttered into the firelight.
"Try me." Seraphimus marched closer to the gathered group. "Understand what?"
"Anything!" Rainbow Dash's voice cracked. "The sarosians—Princess Luna's beloved children conjured from nightmares..." She gestured dramatically with her hooves. "That's thousands upon thousands of years of history at play here! That's the sort of leverage we potentially wield in dealing with these Bloodwings—"
"You came into Rohbredden—my home—without any knowledge of the trials and tribulations of the Five Tribes," she said.
"Six," Kepler hissed.
Seraphimus clenched her beak through that. "You knew nothing about Unification. The Council of Verlaxion. Or even the Month of Thawing. And yet—you tackled the hurdles set before you. Tell me... what was the solution in the end? What allowed you to triumph while surrounded by so much adversity?"
"Sera..." Rainbow shook her head. "I... I kinda thought we were past this—"
"Do not cower from the truth—"
"I'm not cowering!" Rainbow Dash frowned. "I had to take the blame for Verlax's death!" She sighed heavily. "It was the only way to assure that the Tribes turned on me instead of each other. Otherwise, every pony and griffin you ever pledged your life for would be jumping at each other's throats... while windigoes preyed upon them from the skies!"
"So your solution was to manipulate the strife and dissent of my continent to a unique advantage."
"It's... it's not that s-simple!" Rainbow's voice cracked.
"Stay calm, Rainbow—" Twilight insisted.
Rainbow nevertheless hissed through her teeth: "Your beloved 'queen'—a demented dragon Divine with a goddess complex—set a gazillion traps for me! It was all an elaborate plan of hers from the beginning!"
Ariel cut in: "Verlax had everything covered. There was no avoiding any of the tools of deception she had placed generations in advance."
Seraphimus merely nodded, not taking her gaze off Rainbow Dash. "So... of course... you went straight to her lair and talked things out... harmonically."
Rainbow Dash blinked.
Wildcard glanced curiously at the rest of the Herald.
"I remember once, Rainbow..." Seraphimus arched a feathery eyecrest. "...in Steamfall... I had made you an offer. I was willing to take you all the way to Frostknife... to the Council of Verlaxion so that you could air your grievances to the highest authorities in the land."
"Somehow... I dun think she was bein' sincere about that at the time," Applejack muttered.
"If you were with us then, darling, then perhaps you could have told us the truth," Rarity said.
"I..." Applejack nervously winced. "...I ain't too sure anymore." A gulp. "I ain't too sure even now."
Seraphimus continued speaking: "I gave you a peaceful and harmonic solution, given how chaotic and redundant the pursuit had gotten for the Right Talon of Verlaxion. What became of that offer? Would you care to remind us?"
Rainbow Dash opened her muzzle. She lingered... then eventually hung her head. "I... uh..." She toed the ground with her front hooves, sighing. "...I refused."
"Why?" Seraphimus cocked her feathery head to the side. "Was not my solution a pacifist one? Did it not align with the harmonic virtues that you learned in your own homeland? That you've struggled to carry for all these countless months of ardent flight?"
"I couldn't do it." Rainbow angrily clenched her jaws, yet she avoided Seraphimus' gaze. "Not so long as I knew the true nature of Verlax... what she was capable of... what 'her children' were capable of..."
Seraphimus leaned back, exhaling. "And... now... do you not know what this Lexxic is capable of?"
Rainbow shut her eyes with a sigh.
"It's just not the same situation here, Seraphimus," Ariel said. She stood up tall, frowning at the griffin. "Verlax was an immortal with a crazed obsession with the Austraeoh! Lexxic is just some edgy midnighter who doesn't even know the Austraeoh exists! And unlike Verlax, Lexxic and his kind have a personal connection with Princess Luna, whose enchantment still empowers Rainbow's Element and—"
"I know how terribly you wish to mate with your impulsive leader," Seraphimus calmly said, staring daggers at the female Heraldite. "But let that not excuse you talking yourself into an illogical cesspool."
Flynn and Logan flashed each other looks.
"... ... ...!" Stupified, Ariel shook with a quivering jaw. "I...! That's not...! Why you stuck up oversized—!" She jerked in place.
Wildcard was holding onto her tail with a metal talon. He gently tugged her back to the ground—where she folded her forelimbs with an angry huff.
Meanwhile, Seraphimus had begun pacing about the campfire. "Rainbow's quest is—at its core—a mission of 'harmony and restoration,' is it not? But—as I'm sure you well know—that does not necessitate doing things harmoniously all the time. In fact, to do so would likely have ended her journey prematurely on multiple occasions." She scuffled to a stop, glaring at the group. "For the longest time... I failed to understand this. I allowed my anger and vitriol to pollute my senses. The same emotional mechanics that saved the fate of my fellow citizens under the threat of unstoppable windigoes was a death knell for me. I took the death of Verlaxion to heart... in the same way that..." She sucked in her breath, and for a brief second she looked vulnerable. "...I took to heart the death of my family."
Wildcard stared quietly at his former Commander.
Clearing her throat, she regained her steely edge. "But I can see now. Well, I can almost see. The fact that I'm still here is by no small degree a measure of faith. Still..." She turned to face Rainbow Dash. "...faith isn't enough on its own to save your leader's journey. Common sense and tenacity are far more reliable traits. No doubt listening to them was enough to make Rainbow Dash survive in the long run... even if it required impulsive and brash decisions."
"Look, Seraphimus..." Rainbow Dash breathed sharply, gesturing in the air. "...my desire to speak with the Bloodwings—"
"Is neither sensible nor indicative of a tenacious mind." Seraphimus' charcoal eyes burned. "It is the foolish desire of a child to reconnect with a piece of her homeland. Didn't you achieve that with the midnighters of Bleak's Plummet?"
"Sure! I did!" Rainbow Dash stood up, making her ghostly companions squirm. "And from that experience, I feel that—"
"Yes. You feel." Seraphimus seethed. "Far too much, I suspect. Rainbow Dash, you cannot make it to your harmonic goal here on this plane by investing in feelings. There are creatures here numb to the most incomprehensible horrors. They feel absolutely nothing, and thus there is no peaceful anchor to their judgment. I do not speak just of the Dihmers, but those who have evolved to find security and contentment in causing suffering... not just experiencing it." She shook her head. "You cannot pursue a harmonic route with these cretins. Save yourself the trouble of contemplating such. The gangly creatures of this city have given you your one and only gift on this plane, and it would be a shame to waste it."
"Look, Sera..." Rainbow tried to breathe calmly. "I can't apologize enough for all the crap that went down in Rohbredden. I'm sorry about the windigoes. I really am. I know you'll find this hard to believe... but I have saved nations and continents multiple times before!" She slowly shook her head. "I'm not half as calamitous and foolish as you think I am. Verlax—your Queen—had sealed Rohbredden's fate long before either of us was even born! But that's not the case with the factions of the Trinary War! If my options in getting the Shards of Endrax fall down to only two choices—eliminating the armies protecting them or somehow getting them to cough the Shards up—then I wanna fight tooth-and-hoof to do the latter option! I mean... I have to try!"
"You cannot afford the luxury to 'try' anything here," Seraphimus said. She looked at the Herald as a whole. "None of you can. The stakes are the highest they've ever been. If this journey is as real and important as you tell me it is, then you cannot follow this leader of yours into a death trap."
"Ach... but we have beforre..." Kepler managed a smile. "...even one that you set within Frostknife. Were you blind to the Rrainbow One's tenacity then?"
Ariel smirked.
Seraphimus sighed. "She had an ace behind her fetlock." Her charcoal eyes fell on Rainbow's wings. "Tell me, Rainbow, do you possess such a game-changer now?"
"Like I've been saying..." Rainbow pointed at her Element. "...Princess Luna's enchantment—"
"Rainbow..." Flynn stood up and began pacing himself. "Rainbow..." With a sigh, he trotted about to face her, mechanical eye rotating to a stop. "What if it fails?"
"It's a risk I'm willing to take."
"Maybe you're willing," Flynn spoke as calmly as he could manage. "Hell, you're always 'willing.'" He gulped. "But this... this is just really bad shit we're up against."
"That's why we should come up with a plan!"
"What kind of a pl-plan?!"
"One where we can... where I can abort the whole thing at the drop of a saddle if I have to!"
"And somehow get away from under Lexxic's nose," Flynn droned.
"Something like that, y-yeah!"
Seraphimus groaned. "Has she always sounded this foalish in discussing strategy? It's a wonder I was ever close to being intimidated by the Rainbow Rogue."
It was Logan's time to stand up. "Alright, toots..." He marched firmly over towards Seraphimus, glaring the entire way. "...let's say we run muzzle-to-muzzle with Lexxic and his Bloodwings." His brow furrowed. "What's your genius plan?"
"It's simple." Seraphimus stared back at him. "We assassinate their leader."
Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie winced.
"Hit and run," Seraphimus continued. "A swift kill and an even swifter retreat." She nodded. "Yes, we will undoubtedly be pursued, but most of the Bloodwings will likely be thrown into confusion and disarray. Considering the proposed nature of these midnighter barbarians, the death of their leader would cause enough dissent and chaos that their entire army would distabalize. It is within this window that we perform a surgical strike of their lair, procure the Shard, and continue onwards to the next task."
"Hehhhhhhh..." Flynn smirked aside at Logan. "Ever still the murder chicken."
"Mmmmhmmmm..." Logan nodded.
"How..." Ariel buried her face in her hooves. "How in the Hell..." She slowly raised her head to glare at Seraphimus. "... ... ...is that even remotely better than Rainbow Dash's plan?! It could never friggin' work!"
"No." Seraphimus shook her head. "It couldn't."
"Then why would you friggin' suggest it?!" Ariel barked.
"Because it's still a far more viable solution than whatever it is your leader is conjuring." Seraphimus looked at Logan and Flynn. "Perhaps if we were to win favor with the Dihmers and goblins first, we could actually assemble an army sizable enough to make my plan more feasible. Call it 'absurd' if you wish, but it's far more suicidal to attempt anything with the scant numbers we currently possess."
"I'm not about to plot the death of a sarosian leader," Rainbow Dash droned. "Or anypony for that matter." She turned to frown at Seraphimus. "I don't care how much pain or misery they've spread! There's no excuse for it!"
"You didn't seem to care back at the World's Edge."
"That was different!" Rainbow's voice cracked. "Chandler's forces were trying to kill us and our back was to the wall!" She frowned. "And if I really wanted to tear some throats, then a lot less of Frostknife's finest would have returned home alive in the end. That I can promise you."
"Yeah! Don't even kid!" Ariel huffed. "We had Xarchellus' nightbloods on our side. It took a lot to hold them back—"
"Look, just—!" Rainbow Dash waved her hoof between the two females before turning to glare at Seraphimus. "I am way past the point of having an ethical debate with anyone! Much less you." She seethed. "Verlax did her worst to see how much blood I can shed in the end. I went butt over elbow to make sure she got as little enjoyment from my plight as possible... even if she was deep in the grave by that point."
"You surprise me, Rainbow," Seraphimus said. "I would imagine Verlax's trials—however horrible they truly were—would have hardened you far more than this." Her charcoal eyes narrowed. "A pony who survived her entrapment—who ascertained the cost of sparing Rohbredden—would know the proper way to deal with these midnighter barbarians."
"Yeah, well..." Rainbow stood closer to the griffin, staring her down. "...Verlax's plan included ruining your life and reducing you to a murderous exclamation point. And—in the end, at the world's edge—I didn't let her have her way with you. Did I?"
"... ... ..." Seraphimus was silent at first. Then—with icy grace—she spoke: "And all it cost you was one Dragon Divine. The only being left on this plane who even remotely had the strength and versatility to protect you all the way to your destination. But now—Axan is a pile of ashes overlooking the Edge."
Rainbow Dash blinked.
Twilight, Rarity, and the others exchanged anxious glances.
Seraphimus tilted her head to look at the rest of the Herald. "Who next is willing to give their life? A necessary sacrifice to assure the sanctity of your leader's priceless harmonic morality?"
Ariel bit her lip. She and Wildcard were silent.
Logan, Flynn and Kepler said nothing.
"I see... perhaps all of you, then?" Seraphimus calmly spoke. "Noble—to a fault, considering that such sacrifices may yield nothing in the face of such insurmountable adversity."
"They know the risk at hoof, Sera," Rainbow Dash muttered. She then frowned at the griffin. "And I'm not about to make them charge into death. You can learn a lot from them. Just have a little—"
"What? Faith?" Seraphimus' beak stared Rainbow down. "Know this, Rainbow. I am indeed indebted to you for the new lease I have on life... and for opening my eyes to this strange and ever-changing world. But this is not an exercise of faith for me. Verlax made you sacrifice your ethics for a spell... but in so doing she took away the only things that matter to me. My nation... and my family. I'm not in this for faith... I'm in it for a cost that cannot denied. I must strive—with every fiber of my being—to make sure that you do not waste that cost on an act of impulsiveness and blind daring." She leaned back, breathing. "Meditate on the price your friends have paid when you send them into the same gauntlet that you'll be sending me... and yourself."
With that said, Seraphimus walked off, leaving the campfire and those bathing in it alone in silent contemplation.
I’m divided.
From religious fanatic to strategic mother hen. But her objections are valid.
In the Sixth Book of East Horse, Imploding gave to me
Six weeks a-Choking,
FIVE WAYS TO FLY!!!
Four warring sides,
Three great days,
Two Companions,
And a Rainbow that's flying East.
The problem is that, besides being unethical, slaughtering their way across the Dark Side would attract too much attention from the other factions. They would try to recruit her, assassinate her, and otherwise impede her journey towards the Armory.
I'm willing to bet that there's a Leviathan in that ocean they have to cross. Fear the Kraken!
Also, the book ain't over yet, folks. Here's to a hundred chapters of oceanic bedlam, sour goblins, lots of 'EEEEING', and a murder chicken slicing, dicing, and being reformed.
Checkpoint
Looks like we're going for 300
Well, on the one hand, Rainbow Dash has won a lot of allies and instigated a lot of change with her harmonic outlook.
On the other hand, she's going up against three kinds of crazy who only have murder on their minds, one of them sounding very much like Shell 2.0, which is enough to make me shudder.
I'm not saying give up on being the harmonic messiah, but if - or when - things go South in terms of diplomacy, RD will have only one option left. Unless she finds a third (which may actually be possible, who can say at this point?), she needs to face the fact that a bloody confrontation may be inevitable.
Let's go! 100 more chapters!
It seems like this is going to be a major theme going forward.
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The way IC made it sound during Utaan, 300 was just as arbitrary as 200. He said he expects Ofolrodi to be about as long as Utaan, so I think we should be looking at word count rather than chapters.
Seraphimus is giving good advice here. I don’t think Rainbow, or any of the Herald except possibly Flynn, know just how savage these factions are. I think the best possible plan is to ignore the Bloodwings for the time being and try to bring the imps (or Dihmers, although from what we’ve heard of them they’re not likely to be swayed) around. Then maybe use their army as a distraction while they sneak in and grab the shard. But even that sounds full of holes. I’m curious as to exactly what’s going to work in the end.
Crikey...we hit 200 already? Feels like it went by so fast.
I think one of the issues I have with this kind of debate is how its always one extreme or the other. Extreme harmony in an attempt to negotiate and convert an army who would do a good job at cosplaying as these gentlemen:
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Or going full Assassin's Creed on them, possibly leading up to full on genocide of the entire faction.
Its like nobody's willing to consider that chances are, especially with limited information, its best to maintain a flexible plan that accounts for trying to minimize damage done versus obtaining the overall goal without putting Dash or the Herald at stupid levels of risk. Like, taking out Lexxic isn't the worst idea if he really does prove to be as completely killtastic as reports indicate. There's no telling if that'd do anything other than just create a power vaccum that'd quickly get filled by someone worse than him, however. Unless you set up someone better than him to take the role of leadership.
You know, they keep trying to talk about the Dark Vigil as a whole, because the Song says they are a whole. But the spiders only have one limited view. There has to still be varied elements among the bat pones, because no matter the fanaticism, people are people and the can still think. Maybe not to the point of being purely harmonically receptive, so to speak, but there's got to be some bat pones around who don't like Lexxic changing the traditional methods of the Bloodwings to have no sense of honor any longer, or even fear that his tactics might lead to the destruction of their faction. So maybe instead of approaching the whole faction, find a way to approach smaller groups of bat pones and feel out for any elements among them who don't like the current status quo. Seek to form a resistance, or help one that might already exist, to gain more influence so that when Lexxic is taken out, there's somebody that can take his place that's more receptive to doing things somewhat more in Dash's favor.
Another possibility is to equip the group better in Petra and then just focus on a purely infiltration based mission of getting the Shard, then getting the hell out of Dodge as fast as possible (buy possibly stealing a zeppelin. Or a secret prototype bat pony airship... what, I could happen.)
Its just all the group is talking so far are the two extremes of how to do things, neither of which are proven to be all that effective in the long run.
Also going to point out that fighting hardcore to kill doesn't actually make it more likely anyone in the Herald is going to survive. Bard fought to kill, and it didn't keep him from getting a sword through the stomach. Just a reminder that even when you're willing to spill blood, you're not actually guaranteeing, or even really increasing, your chances to survive.
Seraphimus x Logan Ship Confirmation Chapter Counter: 7
I’d worry for the inevitable scapegoat, unless they blame one of their own and don’t go full MDK on the passive inhabitants through blind rage and indirection.
Sera’s intentions would likely spark a bumper soul harvest either way. No wonder the Night Shard are sending scouts out that far.
And that is the kind of attitude that has a high chance of getting her killed on the Dark Side
Finished my first re read of all the stories just in time for Ofolrodi to update again. Oh IC you truly never let us down. Keep being adequate. I mean awesome lol.
I take it that the Lizerts with their Edgestone mines are not on the Dark Suede?
Who wants to play Hardball.
This is going to be interesting. I think they will end up using the plan of assassination as a backup in case diplomacy fails, which also means that no plans can really be made until they reach the Dihmers.
But Sera, how can you truly know that the Dihmers and goblins are even capable of going against the Blood wings? If they go to the goblins first they will also be exposed to Tchern's spies with potentially no support.
Reverse that Seraph, she cannot afford the luxury to NOT try anything. Peace has to be given a chance, otherwise she is just another faction in the Trinary War. One does not destroy monsters by becoming a monster, but by becoming MORE than a monster.
As for Verlax, the difference between her and Lexxic is the difference between ignorance and malice. Both have pretty nasty effects, but Lexxic, in ignorance, merely knows that what he/she (we never did get a gender as far as I recall, I could be wrong) is working, not knowing the greater consequences of said actions. Verlax knew full on what the greater consequences of her actions were, and chose to DO THEM ANYWAY, thus being malicious. Whether Lexxic will keep on his/her course once made to understand the greater consequences is a question that cannot be answered yet. Guess we shall have to see what happens.
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I'm half expecting them to try for peace, and while working their way along someone (cough Sera caugh) decides to take things in their own hands and things go Alpha quick.
Seraphimus has a lot of good points but I think she is wrong to at least not want to try Rainbows plan as they are going to need at least some more allies on this side. Just as Rainbow is wrong for not at least wanting to plan for the possibility of killing Lexxic (or anyone else for that matter). Honestly, it should be some kind of combination of both plans. Start with Rainbows plan and if that fails, kill Lexxic. Though they need to come up with an escape plan here.
She makes a good point.
Dash is... nearly immortal, as long as that element comes off, she can regenerate from damn near anything, heck, she came back from being puddle under a skystone ship.
The herald are.. not.
If Dash's mission of peace goes tits up, then chances are high someone is going to die, and while Sera's not gonna come right out and say it, she knows just how much that would cripple Dash.
I kind of want to see Dash tell Sera her entire tale, from why she left her homeland, through Luxmare, Xona, Val Roa, and up to her failure at the Quade.
-Through the path long forgotten, into the darkness long begotten. Ofolrodi.
8773199
Agreed. I think that's what Sera meant by not having the luxury to try anything. At least from her perspective she expects that trying and failing doesn't mean you can try something else. It means you're dead. You have one shot, success or death. Talking means getting physically close, and that makes you an easy target.
"Do or do not. There is no try." - Yodaphimus
Sera raises a valid set of concerns, but she fails to offer a truly viable alternative. Somehow getting into the sarosian lair, somehow getting face to face with Lexxic, somehow killing him, somehow retrieving the shard in the hypothetical confusion, and somehow escaping doesn't seem like much less of a suicide mission to me.
But the point remains that they're going to have to come up with a plan. Probably one falling somewhere in the vast spectrum of possibilities between making friendship bracelets with Lexxic and going Rambo on a vast, genocidal army. They'll need to come up with something inspired. Something crazy. Something, dare I suggest, a little stupid. And hopefully something at least a little bit harmonic.
8772228
That's fission. We want fusion. Solidarity, consensus.
We need a plan.
Plus, fusion is cleaner and way sexier.
Not that I'm a fan of the Imperial System of Measurements, but who thinks Ofolrodi will end at 212 chapters, the boiling point?
I don't see how they can get the Shard from the Bloodwings, let alone the other two factions, without allying, subverting, or co-opting the existing power structure.
Murder wife speaks the truth.
Honestly, I'm so tired of "pacifist" Dash. Like, she's killed Ledomare soldiers before, and she doesn't need to be a murder hobo, but just like with Shell, she can just kill the giant dangerous assholes!
You can kill monsters without becoming one!
Seven.
Military genius right there.
8772599
Wow, that’s a lot of rereading!
8776850
I think, Seraphimus understands all the shortcomings of her plan. She just thinks it's their best chance. And tactically this is even true. Bu-u-ut... In the great scheme of things Rainbow has two options:
1) Defeat three armies on her own.
2) Find a powerful ally.
And here a option "to make contact with Bloodwings" is her best shot. Although the option "Make them allies" does not exclude the option "Kill their leader".
Merula, soon: "bye boys! Have fun storming the castle!"
Merula 2, electric spideroo: "do you think it'll work?"
"It would take a miracle."
Dammed if you do either plan, dammed if you do neither plan.
Dang, did they need Sera
It's simple. We kill the Batmare.
8773634
To be fair, she doesn't need to present an alternative in order to point out the flaws in Rainbow's plan. A bad plan isn't better than no plan unless you lack the time to concoct a better one. Overall though you're not wrong.
8772599
Holy bananas, that's some dedication. This story is amazing, but there are just so many good horse words on this site that I can hardly imagine going back through a story this long a second time. I suppose I wouldn't rule it out entirely, but if I do come back for an encore, I'll wait till after it's finished.
8776850
Nevlamas...giving constructive critique even from beyond the grave.
8774337
The only real problem is that there are three factions instead of two.
If it were two it'd be easier to pick one or both sides and ram them into each other with a little shove.
I, for one, vite the Night Shard as the first viable stop.
It doesn't matter that they are an enigma and unpredictable. What is predicable is that they are confident in their power. Rightfully so.
As such, they are the least likely to aggressively pursue Rainbow Dash should she "day hi then bye" in one go.
This is less likely for the other two factions.
The Flux for the reason that Tchern likely holds I'll feelings towards Rd simply for encountering and defeating her sister, not to mention the ramifications of even mentioning her sister, whom she may have no love for anyway if Chrysalis' indistsnce was any indication.
And lastly the Bloodwings are the most hazardous of all to approach, regardless of any one ups you may think you have.
Unlike the Night Shard who may let you go with a moching smile, or Tchern who has a familial connection with a known psudo Ally and a history with harmony, the Bloodwings are under s "kill-on-sight" motto right now, and regularly practice mallice, thus making them the least likely to take diplomatic measures, let alone allow a retreat in their borders.
thumbs.gfycat.com/BlueEminentIberianbarbel-size_restricted.gif
I was actually REALLY happy Sera brought up Axan. How by doing the "Harmonic" thing by not killing the turkey she inadvertently cost the life of her protector.
I've for a while now been keenly aware and thusly annoyed by the, "hey its stupid but lulz, thats what I do, stupid and it works so why not!", bullshit that seems to come from Rainbow's idiotic face more and more often.
She has learned before that consequences happen when she's an idiot but somehow she seems to have completely forgotten ALL of them. I get it she's a terrible leader, but plot armor be damned the character needs to think at least once for goodness sake.
BTFO
Oy. She's got good points there. Don't wanna go in wings flailing and lose someone in the first few minutes.
Y’know, Sera’s really got a good strategic and tactical head on her. She’ll be a major boon to the company, if she is fully aware of their strengths and weaknesses.
She has (maybe? kinda?) come to accept that Rainbow has real ghost-friends with real abilities, but that’s pretty much the extent of it. At some point Rainbow’s gonna have to give her the full run-down of what the gang can do - with Sera organizing the ghost posse, they’ll be f’ing unstoppable.
Pretty much. Everything was so entrenched in Verlax's like that there really was no option left after the failed council meeting that would have taken down Chandler.
Yeah....Ariel is turning into too much of a Rainbow fangirl. That's what made Roarke such a perfect match for Dash: she was willing to call out her bullshit and kick her in the head when she did stupid shit. Ariel is almost devolving into a yes mare for her and it's not going to help int he future.
Sera is pretty much right here. Maybe there's a way to combine her plan and whatever Rainbow wants to do, but...we need to go into this thinking that it's not going to be pretty. Or nice and harmonic.