Ofolrodi

by Imploding Colon


Winter Children of Abaddon

"The... uh..." Rainbow Dash trotted slowly forward, eyeing the jumping spider seated amidsts its invertebrate companions. "...the Winter Children of who?"

"Abaddon," Merula reiterated. "The Song-Weaver. The Forever Poet. The Elder of Strings."

"Uh huh, who's—"

"Lyricist of Circles. Ally to the Ancients. Keeper of Shadowed Truths—"

"I got it. I got it!"" Rainbow barked, teeth showing. "Look, no offense to your... uh... eight-legged diva godess or nothing... but..." She gulped. "My friends and I have been stumbling through the niches and crannies of the Dark Side for months and... and you guys are the first things ever to actually sit down and talk to us."

"Except for a friggin' suicide bombing changeling," Logan grunted, fiddling with his silken restraints.

"Big Showwwww..." Ariel grumbled out the side of her muzzle.

"So... like..." Rainbow shrugged. "...forgive me if I've got a million questions."

"As you should, Austraeoh," Merula calmly remarked.

Rainbow squinted at the arachnid arrangement. "Were you actually expecting me?"

"Of course. You responded to the Codex."

"Codex..."

"And you are escorted by Eljunbyro," Merula vibrated. "You are the Austraeoh of Song. You have come to bring the Spark to Ignition and Complete the Circle. Such has has been sung since the days of Abaddon's allies."

"Uhhhhh..."

"What we did not expect was the hour of your arrival," Merula said in an emotionless tone. "So late in Winter. The Song is nearly over."

"Okay... just..." Rainbow ran a hoof over her muzzle, sighing out her nostrils. "...one crazy metaphor at a time, for the love of—"

"Grnnngh..." Seraphimus shook and struggled in her restraints. "Damned... blighted crustaceans..."

Rainbow shook herself out of her lethargy. "Say! Uhm... could you free my friends?" She cracked a nervous smile. "They won't attack you anymore. I promise."

Violin strings scratched the air.

"That's fine. Thanks, I think I got it—" Logan flinched as a hundred hatchlings swarmed noisily towards him. "I said I got it—!" He winced as a thousand tiny legs crawled all over him, then receded. The silk had been cleared; he and his axe had been freed. "Nnnnnnnnngh-yeahhhhhhhh..."

Wildcard stretched his muscles as he too was freed from his restraints. He looked over to see that Seraphimus was still stuck in silk.

"Uhhhhhh..." Rainbow leaned forward. "...her too, please."

Another violin scratch. Hatchlings swarmed over Seraphimus, and at last the seething griffin could relax.

"A thousand apologies, Austraeoh," Merula said, abdomen glistening. "The Song has been echoing your approach to Abaddon's nest for a long time, and from the melody that was gathered we did not interpret her as a 'friend.'"

"Yeah..." Rainbow nodded breathily. "...I can't really blame ya."

"Wait..." Rarity looked at her and the others. "...these dreadful things have been monitoring us throughout our entire journey?"

"Well, duhhhh!" Pinkie Pie frowned. "I did tell you about the music I heard, didn't you?"

"Incredible..." Twilight Sparkle rubbed her chin in thought. "These creatures must all operate under a hive mind... orchestrated through a collective response to acoustic and sonic resonance..." She smiled brightly. "Hey! Rainbow! Ask them if they're the Spindlers that Ranort and the Emeraldinians spoke of!"

"Dang it, egghead, I'm not about to—"

"Ask them!"

"Alright! Fine!" Rainbow turned to face the jumping spider. "Yo. Are you the Spindlers?"

Merula's abdomen shook. "That is our title in Penumbral tongue, as conceived by the Dihmers."

"You don't say..."

"...also maintained by the Penumbral invaders, to Abaddon's detriment."

"Wait... hold up..." Rainbow hovered in place with a curious expression. "...did you say 'Penumbral invaders?'"

For the first time in ages, the other spiders around them shifted, their fangs and hooks clicking cacophonously for a few tense seconds before quieting.

"Yes," Merula's voice scratched before achieving a smooth tone once again. "The Bloodwings. At first, we feared their arrival meant the complete corruption of Penumbra, and the Winter Song became a Dirge of Mourning."

Twilight floated closer. "The Dark Vigil, Rainbow Dash," she whispered. "Sarosians—"

Rainbow angrily phased a hoof through her. "Yes. I'm not an idiot, Twilight." She looked towards her invertebrate reception yet again. "This Penumbra—it's the Light Side, yes?"

"Paradise," Merula affirmed. "The Land of Brightness and Harmony."

"That's where the alicorns are," Rainbow said. "What's left of them—Princess Celestia. Princess Luna." A gulp. "Cadance. Whitemane. I come from their land. But I'm not allied with the Bloodwings. I've met some of them... and even borrowed some of their magic. But I'm no invader. In fact... not all Bloodwings are evil—"

Merula's "voice" scratched loudly through Rainbow's speech: "They certainly haven't shown any goodness in their corrupted hearts. They hunt down all keepers of the Song, whittling Abaddon's Winter Children to the thinnest strand. We can barely project the Song across the surface of this world any longer. The Winter is almost complete, and it is only a matter of time before the Bloodwings or the Flux find the Ancient Poet's nest and end the Song forevermore."

"The... Flux...?" Rainbow Dash murmured.

"These fellers are good at dishin' out information," Applejack said. "...but I reckon they ain't so good at narrowin' it all focused-like." She looked at the others. "Ya think?"

"Applejack, darling, when did you first realize that these creatures did not want our blood?" Rarity asked.

"Somewhere between the first or second time Discord and the trolls separated us from RD here," Applejack said. "In the midst of all the chaos, they was the only things not wantin' to take us to the woodshed."

"Well, I think it's very nice of them," Fluttershy said with a smile. "We fell in the company of the most exquisite nature." She smiled at the suffocating wall of spiders with glistening eyes. "And—might I add—they're absolutely beautiful"

"Yeccccch with a side of barf salad!" Pinkie Pie wretched. "If you say so!"

As Rainbow listened, Merula's eyes shifted for the first time since arriving. "Is the Austraeoh conversing with Eljunbyro?"

Rainbow and her ghostly friends locked up. She looked at the jumping spider with wide eyes. "How... did you know?"

"Some of the greatest melodies are those Unsung. We expected no less from the Austraeoh, for she was sung to be one who speaks with the hidden flame of the Spark itself. You've come to align the circles in light once more, and as the Winter Children we seek to guide you along your path, as Abaddon has composed."

"Rainbow..." Twilight drifted closer. "...I think these... Winter Children know an awful lot more than anything or anyone you've stumbled across before."

"Yes, darling..." Rarity nodded. "...all of our solitude and suffering here on the Dark Side may finally be showing its karmic reward."

"That... remains to be seen." Rainbow took a deep breath. "Hey... uh... dudes?" She looked over her shoulder, addressing Seraphimus and the Herald. "This might take a while. Think that'll be okay?"

She was answered by the nod of several nervous albeit earnest heads. All except one.

Rainbow craned her neck. "Flynn? We cool?"

"Uhhhhhh..." Flynn had curled up into a little ball... a little ball that was reflected hundreds of times by the surrounding kaleidoscope of marble-black eyes framed atop giant hairy fangs. "Y-y-y-yeah... t-t-t-totally c-c-cool!" He nevertheless whimpered like a puppy while the smell of urine lit the air.

"Alright..." Rainbow turned back around. "...at least we'll be dignified about this."