//------------------------------// // Destiny of a Madman // Story: Ofolrodi // by Imploding Colon //------------------------------// The blue glow of the glen had dimmed to a soft azure flicker. Hours had passed. Rainbow Dash was no longer on patrol. She lay curled up on a stretch of canvas, struggling to get some slumber. She was only half-successful. Across the clearing, other members of Herald fared better. Logan snored loudly while Ariel lay on her back, kicking randomly at dreamly clouds in the air. Flynn's slumber was a remarkably peaceful thing, and all traces of migraines had left his otherwise relaxed complexion. Kepler had evidently attempted reading one of the books he had miraculously smuggled all the way from Wyvern Point. The seal of Mortuana lingered on its bindings, but the wyvern had fallen asleep in the midst of perusing the tome's contents. His spectacles dangled crookedly off his hairy snout as he lay against a bag of supplies. The only shifting body—and gentle and slow at that—was Wildcard. The Desperado slowly flew a vigilant circle around the clearing. He paused at each earthen corridor leading Edgeside and Curveside. Looking to see if the coast was clear, he dutifully resumed his circular motion, drifting close by Rainbow Dash with a flick of his lion's tail. He lingered a bit—examining her from above—before fluttering on ahead. A few ghostly breaths away, the figures of Fluttershy and Rarity lingered. The other three spirits had retreated into their invisible domain, undoubtedly to "rest up" for the next leg of their anchor's journey. The two mares talked amicably—but also quietly. It was more than obvious that they didn't want to wake up their petite friend, so they kept a respectful distance, hovering at half the allowable anchorage of their binding to the Element of Loyalty. Every so often, Rainbow's eyelids would flutter open. She'd observe the slumbering Herald, the gentle drift of Wildcard, and the glowing pair of mares a few steps away... and then Rainbow's eyes would close once again as she teased the dark fabric of unconsciousness. The "night"-within-a-night proceeded in such an anticlimactic fashion, quiet and unassuming, peaceful yet mildly tense. And—at last—a mischievous voice broke that tension: "Do you ever get tinnitus?" "... ... ..." Rainbow's eyes slowly fluttered open. A hairy figure hovered sideways, ninety-degrees to the earth. His antlers pointed perfectly "upwards" in Rainbow's vision. There was a fan of paper-thin objects levitating directly in front of him. Rainbow watched as he sporadically reached a lion's paw to his hairy muzzle, plucking teeth out that morphed comically into playing cards. Discord proceeded to play solitaire in the tranquil silence of the glen. "I suppose I already know the answer to that question, Sparky. Considering all of the grotesquely capitalized explosions and sound effects you've encountered, you've undboutedly got the darnedest-ringiest ears in this quadrant of the galaxy." Rainbow Dash fidgeted. She was too damnably exhausted to produce so much as a growl. She rubbed her eyes and blinked at the casually levitating dragonequus. "Still, such a thing must annoy a mortal beyond measure. I mean, how can one relax with all of that... pent-up mayhem just banging on the poor fleshy ear drums in your petite little skull? I can say 'petite', right? It's not too terribly overused?" Rainbow Dash's lips tightened. "Anyhorse—tinnitus. Constant ringing. Such an alarmingly sad condition. At least it won't follow you into sleep... or death. I mean, that's what you mortals expect, right?" He continued to lay down more "teeth" cards. An ace of spades graced the blue glow of the glen. "If nothing else, death is the ultimate escape from all of life's troubles... all of the mayhem... all of the chaos." Rainbow blinked. She looked at Wildcard gliding a distant circle... at the soul-esque manes of Rarity and Fluttershy blowing in an unseen wind. "But..." Rainbow's eyes silently darted back towards the speaker. "...what if I was to tell you... that in the absence of light, matter, consciousness... in the absence of everything... the ringing only intensifies? That is to say, in a state of oblivion, one enters the repository of all the spent-up physical, spiritual, and otherworldly detritus you could or couldn't imagine. Just... an infinitely deep pocket of all this unnameable bric-a-brac jumbling and banging and rustling around... with nowhere to go but deeper, tighter, and louder. Could you imagine a far more cacophonous fate for all things that have ever lived and died?" Rainbow Dash bit her lip. "Oh... but don't you fret, Sparky." A final teeth glinted before two talons plucked it free. With a flick of the scaled wrist, it turned into the Queen of Hearts. Discord turned his head to smirk at her. "You've got your ever-precious Harmonic Plains to escape to... or..." His eyes traced the Curve of the Plane. "...or maybe you don't." A beat. A shrug. "Either way... you've got an out. Because you're harmonic. Way to go." Rainbow Dash gulped. Her lips parted ways— "Me?" Discord shrugged. "I know where I'm headed... because I've been there. I was there for only a blink—mind you. But a blink for me was several, several months for you. And yet—in all that time... all that wonderfully jumbling, rattling, noisy time... I had glimpses of the winged maverick above the pit... the possessor of that endlessly entropic pocket. And... I must say... I'm half-tempted to thank you." There was no response. He wasn't expecting any. "And yet... here I am. Even I couldn't expect something so unpredictable... and that's what makes me so excited. But—sooner than later—the thrill of discovery must wear off. And I must come to terms with the fact that I can't be in that perfect place forever. I'm here for a reason—and I absolutely loathe 'reasons.' Much the same way you don't particularly care for the delicious ambrosia that is spontaneity... or at least you pretend not to." Rainbow's brow furrowed. "Eh... lecturing isn't my forte either. That's one thing we have in common. Besides something else..." He laid the last of the cards down and looked at her. "We both want to share what's best with this world. It's just that... every time I give, you take. And every time you take, I give." He picked the cards up and fanned them out in front of her. "We both have the same deck... but you can't have two dealers, can you?" "... ... ..." "I heard you talking to the death bird. Nice strides you're making." He flipped the cards from one paw to another. "Of course, it won't work. Not with her. That's because she understands what I do... but that you don't... or refuse to." Red-on-yellow eyes flickered, but they weren't his. "Until you embrace all that you are... and all that we both can be... then you're as stubborn a liar as her... and there's really nothing left to believe in, now is there?" Rainbow Dash winced. She rubbed her eyes and shuddered through a cold spell. "Hmmmm... it really is a pity that you can't understand. It's much like a swing band down there. Hmmmm... I suppose some of us must wait for paradise." As Rainbow's vision went foggy, he slapped the cards back into his mouth and clapped them back into teeth. "Get some shuteye, Sparky. No need to tell your horse friends—especially the pink-haired one. I can tell she's quite the sensitive type." Rainbow deflated back to the canvas, her eyelids falling heavy and heavier. "But... sooner than later... you will have to talk to me." Eyes flickered in the cascading darkness. A trace of venom. "You will..." And Rainbow embraced the blissful silence.