Rainbow Dash traverses the perils of the Dark Side of the world to reach the Midnight Armory.
The mountains dropped.
And they gave way to a valley—more like an expanse—that was filled to the brim with towering spires. Row after row of gigantic, jutting structures sliced the sky for as far as the bent horizon could afford. What's more, each spire reflected a portion of the twilight above, contributing to a grand blue sheen that illuminated the expanse and glinted off of the Herald's gawking expressions. The reason for the structures' reflective nature was that they were covered all over with glass... and with windows.
They were artificial. It was a city.
Dead still, ghostly, and devoid of movement... but a metropolis none of the less. A city like nothing Rainbow Dash had ever seen before.
Her eyes slowly lowered, and she spotted bridges—elevated platforms—that hugged the midsections of the towers. Her gaze desenced further, and she spotted smaller buildings, geometric structures that were packed together, residential complexes, open courtyards overgrown with luminescent fungae, and countless winding streets that were littered with dormant structures and loose debris.
Rainbow glanced towards Alpha and Omega... and she still could not tell where the city ended... if it ended. For all she knew, it stretched across the dim continent like an urban belt. And yet—as she and the rest of her friends continued gazing—it was quieter than death. A pindrop would undoubtedly send thunder reverberating through the vacant downtown.
"Rarity..." Rainbow Dash finally murmured, making Ariel and Kepler jolt. She swallowed a lump down her throat and further whispered: "Is it... it actually—?"
"Yes, darling," Rarity exhaled. Her gorgeous eyes were locked on the static spectacle below. "Purely hoof-built."
"Built... by ponies?" Rainbow's voice cracked. "Or by what?"
There was no response.
"Rainbow Dash..." Twilight Sparkle began. "Do you remember the sketches we found in Darkreach? There were... spires beyond mountains..."
"Did they see this as well?" Rarity murmured. "Or are we the first to feast our eyes on it?"
Twilight looked at the other ghostly unicorn. "Just how far does it stretch, Rarity?"
She slowly shook her head. "I cannot tell..."
"Land's sakes..." Applejack murmured, hovering next to Pinkie Pie. "...this place could house millions... millions..." She grimaced. "M-my mind's got an empty apple core right now. What's bigger than a million?"
"A million million!" Pinkie squeaked.
Applejack nodded in agreement. She looked aside. "Fluttershy?"
"Do... do you detect anything?" Twilight murmured.
Fluttershy bit her lip.
Rainbow looked at her this time. "Flutters?"
"About... the same thing I witnessed back during our previous treks," Fluttershy said. "Some mushroom clusters... bioluminescent creatures... animals nestled here and there..."
"In other words..." Rarity trembled slightly. "The original denizens are all...?"
Fluttershy's ears drooped. "For how big this place is... I don't detect a single resident."
Silence.
"What... even is this place?" Twilight murmured. "How could it have been built on the Dark Side?"
Rainbow's muscles tensed. "Only one way to find out."
She kicked her legs... and flapped her wings. Seraphimus flinched slightly, awaking to the reality of the moment. She watched as Rainbow Dash gently glided out into the urban mess... with Wildcard and Ariel following close behind.
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An abandoned city, looks like Silvadel all over again. Now what caused the denizens of this place to pack up and leave, and what did they leave behind that could be useful? Also, is there anyone left Flutters can't see?
An enormous city...
An enormous empty city.
How much you want to bet that whatever made the population leave is still lurking close enough to attack our heroes when they get too close/careless?
It'll be nice to get some information on the spindlers.
A million million is a trillion.
i1.ytimg.com/vi/GD6qtc2_AQA/hqdefault.jpg
Here's hoping there isn't a resident dragon brood mother or eldritch monstrosity awaiting them in this abandoned relic-land!
...
Pfft, it absolutely reeks of 'trap'. At least there are explosions in the near future. Those are usually fun.
A twi-million!
I'm both sad and happy now that I've caught up with the entirety of this story that I started this summer. Time to read this as the rest of you have done for years now.
Why are there skyscrapers here?
The lesser known Glass Empire.
No base/golf/kickballs allowed.
Appears that they are not there, I wonder what happened to them.
8549083
You mean a billion, peasant!
An illion is a mi illion, an illion illion is a bi illion, an illion, illion, illion is a tri illion. Or at least it was in British maths before the Americans decided that increases in three orders of magnitude at a time was m ore than enough?,
A thousand million English used to be a Milliard.
just like the Mushroom Kingdom on the prior side of the caves. All fungi and animals.
Except this side, when the Trolls Swarm, we have Glass, and Sonic Rainboom.
Ever seen what happens when a Pumpkin gets hit by a shotgun flechette round? these trolls are going to find out first face.
8549083
That's... Not correct in America OR in the UK. Here in America, a million million is a trillion. In the UK, it's a billion. See, they number their things differently, and I personally feel it makes more sense.
Thousand Thousand
Million Million
Billion Milliard
Trillion Billion
It makes the mi, bi, tri, etc. prefixes make more sense. There's a numberphile video that explains it better than I can over text, though xD
Undetectable.
An entire city, just abandoned on the Dark Side? Something isn't right...
8549056
>inb4 some monster is using the city as a nesting ground
8549083
A quadrillion is a billion millions, not a million millions, that's a Trillion.
And I'm sure you've been told this four times by the time I finish writing this so. Yeah... Still gonna send this. Bad math bugs me and it's human nature to point out when things are wrong. It makes everyone feel better about themselves.
8549115
I'd say welcome to the journey east, but in all honesty, I can't really remember the name of the new directions anymore
Welcome to thunder-dome, I'm master, he's blaster. And you are in for one hell of a ride.
8549211
perhaps the city is from before the sundering. It could be that old.
How? This old long story get in the fav.... Wow!! Its like I posted this before.
Obvious question: Why is the city empty?
Additional question: How could they sustain a population of several million individuals in the first place? Okay, the dark side is not as barren as it seemed, but a metropolis like this requires much more than a few hunting grounds and glowing mushrooms.
An abandoned city of reflective buildings. An astonished Herald both terrified and intrigued. What dangers await them now?
Don't miss our next episode "The City of Ghosts" or "Knock Knock. Boo's There?"
So, how many books before we finally find actual civilization?
Well, an abandoned city smack in the middle of the Dark Side is certainly odd in its own right, but there's still the matter of the music. Something tells me this place isn't as dead as it seems.
...would Crystal ponies show up on Flutter's life sense?
There's nothing really... living about them iirc, at least not the way IC described them back in Innavedr.
Weren't they more like... energy beings that had taken over crystals?
-Through the path long forgotten, into the darkness long begotten. Ofolrodi.
8549252
Sorry. I knew that; had a momentary lapse of reason. As far as I can recount from memory, the American system numbers upwards like this (Latin prefix meanings in parentheses):
Thousand
Million (One)
Billion (Two)
Trillion (Three)
Quadrillion (Four)
Quintillion (Five)
Sextillion (Six)
Septillion (Seven)
Octillion (Eight)
Nonillion (Nine)
Decillion (Ten)
Undecillion (Eleven)
Duodecillion (Twelve)
Tredecillion (Thirteen)
Quattuordecillion (Fourteen)
....
(Skipping some I don't remember, namely 15, 16, 17, 18, & 19, but they exist)
....
Vigintillion (Twenty)
Unvigintillion (Twenty-one)
Duovigintillion (Twenty-two)
Trevigintillion (Twenty-three)
....
(A whole other bunch of numbers from {24-99} that I don't recall the names of)
....
Centillion (One hundred)
....
(Centillions are followed by obscenely high numbers that no one typically works with)
And a googol is NOT a member of this list; in point of fact, it's ten - well, somethings; i don't know the number, but it's Ten (Thirty-two)-illion, given that it's 10 to the 100th power.
8549144
What about sopranos?
8549213
inb4 Rainbow somehow befriends it in a roundabout manner and it spends the rest of the journey sneaking after them an Deus-Ex-Machina'ing at opportune moments.
8549476
Here is googol written out:
10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.
And a bonus fun fact: A Googolplex is ten to the googol'd, or 10(10100).
Ok, so what are the odds it's actually abandoned? Whoever built it had to be a very large civilization, and likely evolved on the darkside, it's possible that they are undetectable to Fluttershy.
8549115
Welcome aboard!! It's a bit crowded in here, but I'm sure you can find an empty hammock somewhere. Don't eat any of the glowy stuff, and don't meddle in the affairs of chaos dragons. Enjoy the ride!
8549115
Hey, another ship to cannibalise for spare parts, welcome aboard.
As has been said, we're getting a bit crowded, but there should still be a few rooms on the 4th floor, if not, there's space for a hammock or sleeping bag where ever you can find it, within reason of course. Try the library, or the common room, or even the aux. hangar.
Please, enjoy the rest of the flight.
MegaCity One unlocked on the world map.
Thinking maybe this place is going to give off the same vibe Darkreach did. No bodies or anything to really clue the Herald into what actually happened to the locals. Hopefully there's more useful things to be salvaged in the city, including a water supply.
Seraphimus Solo Quest Chapter Counter : 5
Abandoned cities on the Dark Side. But I’m questioning why and what happened over there.
8549115
Welcome and enjoy the ride.
Welcome to Chernobyl, Dark edition.
8549833
Here's a bit of rope and a life preserver to get you started. Don't touch my stuff.
Ah, of course it had to be spires. They are everywhere, but they are considered luxury buildings, so taxes for living there are high, and they always end up abandoned for that.
And for the people discussing long and short scales, stop. (In a related matter, one million dollars equal six thousand millions of my local coin).
8549115 8550029
Congratulations, both of you, and welcome aboard!
8549115
Welcome aboard. Use the ship's intercom system if you need Austraeoh Fact Checker, and the crow's nest/lookout point is mine, so don't try sleeping up there.
I do wonder who erected those. They're certainly neither Night Shard nor Changeling architecture, and while we haven't learned all too much about Sarosian design, the rather modern materials and total lack of runes suggests it was not them either. Dragons don't build cities, escaped prisoners huddle away and it appears strange that a populace of multiple millions could have inhabited an area that close to the edge without anyone ever learning of their existence.
Can we ignore the millions thing and just post unsettling music instead?
8549641
Which is still a Ten Something-illion.
a great big empty city.
Here's hoping they have cars that work.
That doesn't sound like they're going to get much of a welcome, sadly. Maybe they all got killed by the trolls.
(Hell, for all they know, maybe the original builders turned into the trolls.)
You bring shame to the memory of Carl Sagan, Pinkie.
wait, are they just going to leave the cart behind?
Empty city? I don't think so. I guess the same thing that makes their souls unharvestable for the Night Shard(?) may be shrouding them from Fluttershy's senses.
I don't think I need to say that I expect half of the city being reduced to rubble and shards (through various traps and unexpected encounters) before they leave it.
Pretty~
Oh boy! A vast, deserted city with strange architecture in a region of the world where nothing should be able to survive, let alone form civilization.
Is there a shoggoth waiting for them down there?
So. An abandoned Corsucant. This just got so much better.
finally interested in the world again
8550733 was thinking more
Ultra Megalopolis from the latest Pokemon game comes to mind. Especially due to the lack of sunlight.
I was expecting something else from Sera's reaction two chapters ago, though.