//------------------------------//
// Rainbow Dash Goes Forward 
// Story: Ofolrodi 
// by Imploding Colon 
//------------------------------//

The group carried themselves boldly into the ever-dark.  In so doing, they formed a solid line.  Logan carried the sled full of supplies.  Wildcard carried a few more materials—along with Seraphimus' unconscious figure—and he kept far to Logan's left.  Kepler and Flynn carried whatever they could on their backs and filled up the center of the moving line.

"The morre sprread-out we arre, the betterr!" Kepler had said.  "If therre's any sign as to the location of Darrkrreach, we arre surre to find it this way!  Ha-hah!"

In essence, the team was performing a clean sweep as they trotted along.  This required more than just the combined observation of Flynn and Kepler—or the ones pulling the sled—of course.  Rainbow Dash and Ariel were the quicker and more athletic members of the group.  Ariel held up the left flank; she made sure to keep within earshot of Wildcard to her right.

Rainbow Dash kept to Logan's right—as far from Seraphimus' sled as possible.  As she and the rest of the group carried on, they realized soon that they would inevitably lose each other in the bleak shadow of the curved plane.  The further they drew from the World's Edge and the wreckage of the Gondola, the less brilliant the starlight above them.  Their peripheral vision was slowly being encumbered by utter darkness as they lost visual contact with the precipice behind them.

"Oh, how terribly frightening!"  Rarity shivered noticeably.  She clutched Fluttershy's limb as she looked all around in a demure fashion.  "It's like we're cascading into a steep valley that never ends!"

"That's pretty much what this side of the plane is, Rarity," Applejack said.  "Reckon we ain't seen the half of it."

"The half of darkness?"  Pinkie Pie made a face.  "How does that even make sense?"

Twilight Sparkle face-hoofed.  "Oo-wee... this must really be a world of chaotic opposites for Pinkie Pie to be asking that."

"Baby steps, everypony," Fluttershy said.  She turned and smiled at Rarity while squeezing her hoof.  "Stay close, Rarity.  I'll keep you safe."

Rarity blinked.  "... ... ...I don't rightly know what to say anymore."

The group marched for minutes... and those minutes turned into hours.  As it turned out, the deepening darkness wasn't quite as alarming as they first thought.  The precipice behind them drew further and further away until the very edge was a dim line of pale starlight, and yet the bleak landscape around them became slightly more discernible with each progressive step.  Granted, it helped that the lifeless stone was as predictably flat and barren as when they first graced upon it, but even in the shadows of the sun-less realm the Heraldites could make out the etched surfaces of the rock beneath their hooves.

"I'm not the only one seeing this, right?" Logan asked—having to speak above the scraping of their sleds.  Despite the wear and tear from constant contact with the rock, the alicorn metals proved durable—and the structures remained in tact behind the pony and griffon drawing them.  "Like... I can almost make out the shape of the field all around us."  He blinked hard.  "Can... you call it a field when it's made of stone and not grass?"

"Call it whateverr you wish, brrotherr," Kepler said.  "I suspect that—the furrtherr we traverrse this domain—the morre ourr eyes become accumulated with the lighting... orr lack therreof."

"Huh..."  Logan tilted his head up, realizing he now had to squint to shield his pained eyes from the endless bands of constellations.  "I should have expected that, I guess."

"I can see pretty damn far," Flynn said, his mechanical eye whirring.  "Just give a shout if you need me to spot something."

"Hrmmmffff..."  Logan's jaw muscles clenched.  "Cheater."

"Pffft!  Oh come on!"  Flynn smirked, gesturing to the sled on his left.  "You think I can see well?!  Wildcard must be having a ball with his eyes!"

The goggled griffon saluted with a makeshift crutch and resumed his steady march.

"Double cheater," Logan grunted.

Rainbow was silent the entire time.  Usually, such slow progression would have meant complete and utter torture for the petite pegasus.  However, this was a completely alien landscape and Rainbow Dash wasn't about to throw herself—or her friends—blindly into the opaqueness of it all.  She took the time to observe the shadowed landscape along with her friends.

Four hours into the march, she started discerning... color.  The Dark Side wasn't entirely dark.  In fact, if Rainbow Dash had the opportunity to label the stone beneath her, it would be "cold blue."  Something a few shades darker than an aged Wonderbolt Uniform.  If a moon had the opportunity to shine on it, she suspect it would glow quite spectacularly.

What's more, the stone wasn't entirely dry.  A cold, thin layer of moisture gathered over the earth—growing more and more prominent as the group carried on.  It was as if a great ocean had receded away from the World's End and left just enough condensation to coat the steel-hard flesh of the plane forever.  The etchings—a constant mar to the otherwise immutable stone—formed narrow and lengthy puddles that splattered under Rainbow's hooves.  And as she crossed a few fissures, the liquid deepened enough to reflect the stars above, producing a violet sheen to the sleep shadows all around.

"Heh..."  Rainbow bore a bittersweet smirk as she muttered, "Millions of miles away from home and on the other side of the world and still I'm scaling a purple landscape."

Only Pinkie Pie laughed.  The rest of Rainbow's marefriends were mute with marvel as Rainbow and the Herald lost themselves in the belly of darkness.  It was a hauntingly paradoxical thing: trotting along a dead-flat plane that inevitably led them towards a curved horizon stretching up, above, and into the stars.  It was already resembling the universe's longest, cruelest uphill climb.

Another hour passed—and at last one of the Heraldites spoke up.  It was Logan, boldly questioning when the group would pause to rest and eat.  It wasn't a fault of innate laziness; the stallion was presenting a good point.  With no sun, no moon, and virtually no marker whatsoever to determine how far they had traveled and for how long, there was no telling how they were to pace themselves.  There simply existed no scale in the history of anything.  The closest comparison was spelunking underground for weeks at a time, and out of the whole of them only Rainbow Dash was remotely qualified.

"Perrhaps some of yourr frriends would be useful in giving us a temporrarry map to plan by," Kepler suggested.

Rainbow opened her muzzle, but Rarity was already speaking.

"I'm sorry, Rainbow, but I simply don't detect anything beyond this..."  She shivered again.  "...insurmountable flatness."

"Sounds like Maud in middle school!" Pinkie Pie said.  She tilted her head in Applejack's direction in time to receive a well-deserved swat.  "Heeheehee...!"

"Is it really this desolate for miles and miles ahead of us, Rarity?" Twilight asked.

Rarity nodded.  "I'm afraid so, darling.  However... not to sound like an oaf..."  She fidgeted slightly before looking at Rainbow.  "...I might get a better bearing if we were to move faster."

"Or higher?" Fluttershy suggested.

Rarity pointed.  "What she said!"

Rainbow took a deep breath.  She turned to her left and witnessed the entirety of the Herald glancing at her in mid-march.  She bore a smirk.  "Maybe... uh... Ariel and I should catch some air and fly ahead."

"You mean..."  Ariel was already grimacing.  "...split up?"

"What?  No!"  Rainbow rolled her eyes in the twilight.  "We'll stay close; we won't go crazy far.  I just... think there might be a better chance of catching our bearings if we gain altitude."  She looked at Kepler and Flynn.  "At least for a bit."

Kepler and Flynn exchanged glances.

"Verry well, Rrainbow One..."

"If you think it will help your friends and their senses—"

"Hold on a damn second."  Logan scraped his sled to a hault.  He frowned, holding a hoof.  "I can barely see where my piss lands in this dayum inkiness.  How will we keep from losing sight of you gals completely?"

"Uhhhhhhh..."  Rainbow rubbed her pendant.  The air around them lit up with ruby haze, illuminating her smile.

"Yeah... uh huh..."  Logan gestured towards the rest of the Herald.  "And how will you find us?"

Flynn held his breath... strained... then finally illuminated the tip of his horn.  "Ah... there we go... kinda sorta..."

Wildcard nodded briskly.

"Well then..."  Logan exhaled, moving again with the sled of supplies.  "Guess I'll shut up, then."

"No, Big Show, I super appreciate it," Rainbow Dash said.  "Your caution makes a whole lot of sense.  Believe me... losing sight of each other in this mess would be absolute... er... Luna Poop."

Twilight sighed.  "Rainbow, really?"

Rainbow shrugged.  "Old habits..."  She then looked at Flynn.  "However... I also think we should wait a bit longer.  Let Flynn here get fully reconnected with his leylines."

"Not a bad idea," Flynn remarked.  "Should... hopefully be up to snuff within the hour."

"That's okay," Ariel said, hovering and rubbing her forelimbs nervously.  "I can wait."

Logan raised an eyebrow.  "Not keen on volunteering?"

"The Twilight Lands where Bard and Nicole grew up is one thing... but going this long in this place without more than a dim light to guide you?"  She shook from head to tail.  "I'm a bit scared to fly more than five inches ahead of me."

"It's okay, Ariel," Rainbow said.  "When it's time to get going, I'll light the winds for us."

"But..."  Ariel squirmed.  "How's just that one pendant going to keep me from getting completely lost or separated?"

"Then I guess you're going to have to stay really close to me."

Ariel blinked.  Her wings beated a bit more stiffly now.  "Eheheheheheh..."  She glanced over her shoulder and brushed her bangs back.  "...oh... the horror."