//------------------------------//
// Better Check Your Gear 
// Story: Ofolrodi 
// by Imploding Colon 
//------------------------------//

"So..."  Rainbow Dash squinted nervously at the dormant hovercraft.  She trotted around the Herald's makeshift vehicle at a cautious distance, wings tightly coiled.  "...it still runs off the chaos metal... buff thingy?"

"Yes," Flynn nodded, polishing off one of several lunar runestones where he stood in the middle of an elevated bridge.  He gestured at the wagon—almost fully packed with the Herald's equipment.  "Only this time, it isn't all half-assed together."  He smirked as his mechanical eye rotated in and out thoughtfully.  "You can thank the Spindlers for chewing up all the remaining trolls to shit.  Without those pale buggers on our flanks, we can take off for real this time."

"But... it's still chaos energy."  Rainbow gulped.  "So I'll still have to keep my distance, huh?"

"Mmmmmmmmhmmmmm."  Flynn nodded again.  "I'm afraid there'll be no Hoverplank rides for you.  But—you're nothing if not used to the solo flight thing."

"I'll manage."

"You sure?"  Flynn's good eye flicked up towards her as he arched his eyebrows.  "With all that spider crud stirring inside you, it wouldn't be that much of a crime for us to wait and shove off later—"

"We've waited long enough, Flynn," Rainbow said, continuing to stroll in a half-orbit around the vehicle.  "If there's anything I've learned—it's that allowing myself to stay grounded for more than a day really screws up my pace."

"Well, I won't pretend to argue with you there."

"But... uh... the wagon's good to fly now?  Like for real fly?"

"The key word is 'glide,' but... more to the point... yes."  Flynn smirked wryly.  "What the Hell do you think I've been doing these past two weeks?  Winning chicken dinners?"

"Sorry."  Rainbow shrugged.  "I've been vacationing in a spider coma."

"Bet you're itching to get moving again.  So's the rest of us."

"Only... I don't really have much of a destination marked out."  Rainbow's ears drooped.  "Meeting Dihmers or figuring out this whole 'Grand Ocean' business would be really smexxy, but that's not something you can sketch on a map—now, is it?"

"It will be once we've accomplished both!"

"Come on, Flynn..."  Rainbow shook her head.  "Even you have got to run out of patience at one point or another."

"Yeesh.  Did the arachnid slumber lay on an extra thick layer of angst or what?"  Flynn stood up straight, staring at Rainbow evenly.  "Once a member of the Herald, always a member."  He gestured boldly.  "We're in this with you to the end, Austraeoh.  And in case you can't take my word as a member of the Sovereign Seven... then take it from a Job Squadder."  He winked.  "No job is too big or too stupid to tackle.  It's Dark Side or Bust—and we've barely pierced a third of it so far."

"Heh..."  Rainbow Dash smiled crookedly.  "You know what they say about 'going into a forest.'"  A flick of the tail.  "You can only do it halfway."

"And once we're halfway, then we can talk about stressing over strategy."  Flynn returned to polishing the lunar rocks.  "Until then—time to move move move."

"I've got a question."

"Shoot."

Rainbow's brow furrowed.  "So we've been stuck here for over two weeks... here in this city."  A blink.  "How are we on rations?"





Ariel grinned wide.  "You're gonna love this..."  Ch-Chtunkkk!  She yanked open the lid to a Darkstinian crate.  The air around the supply cache dropped by ten degrees as white vapors emanated from the container.

"Guhhh!"  Rainbow Dash leaned back, flinching slightly.  "Whoah... who the heck ordered the penguin sauna?"

"The Spindlers—actually!"  Ariel beamed, her eyelashes batting.  "Check it!"  She wrapped her left forelimb in a blanket until it was nicely bundled.  Then—after sucking her breath in—she reached her insulated hoof deep into the container.  When she pulled it back out, she was cradling a cluster of large red vegetables that were covered with an ivory sheen of frost.  "Ta-daaaaaaa!"

"Wow, it looks very... ... ..."  Rainbow blinked.  "...cold."

"Rainbowwww..."  Ariel smiled slyly.  "They're vegetables."

"For real?"

"According to Merula—well, one of the Merulas—the Emeraldinian Expedition had a huge supply of these things when they first arrived at this city generations ago.  What's more, they had the means of refrigerating the stuff."  Ariel pointed at a series of dimly glowing stones lining the interior of the cold, cold container.  "Turns out to be an old Darkstinian spell that harnesses cold from manastones.  Flynn was able to recreate it—at least well enough.  It's a good thing, because the vegetables tend to rot quickly in non-freezing temperatures.  But—as Kepler discovered—if you defrost the stuff, heat it up, and eat it shortly afterwards—it's very nourishing!  Sorta like beets with the texture of potatoes."

"Uhm... yum?"

"Yum enough!"  Ariel slapped the frosted morsel back into the crate and fastened the lid shut.  Th-Thap!  "There are three crates of these.  They should last us a while.  Or—at least..."  She winked over her shoulder at Rainbow.  "Last you a while."

"How... did the Spindlers even get these for us?" Rainbow asked, her muzzle twisted in confusion.  "Don't tell me these things have been frozen for hundreds of years...!"

"From what I understand, a supply of these... uhhh... 'dark beets' were left behind by the Emeraldinian Expedition.  For whatever reason, the Children of Abaddon were motivated to grow them deep in the lower recesses of the city... where the temperature is cold enough to allow for full planting and germination."

"So these are spider-grown?"

"Mmmhmmm."  Ariel nodded.  "They must have figured they'd have mortal guests in the future."

"Or... more to the point..."  Rainbow Dash strolled past the crates.  "...they probably realized that Commander Gwen wasn't the Austraeoh of Ilrifa's codex... and so they felt the need to prepare for the actual arrival of me and Eljunbyro... or Odrsjot... I mean..."  Rainbow's eyes crossed.  "Grnnngh..."  She rubbed her forehead.  "Now I just confused myself."

"Hey... it's okay...!"  Ariel smiled sympathetically.  "If it's any consolation, I give myself a headache twice as hard over it all."

"I doubt it.  But thanks anyways."

"Y'know..."  Ariel giggled sideways, hugging herself.  "Wouldn't it be hilarious if—after all this time—all of the important elements of the codex was just this 'Ilrifa' pony tossing darts at a crossword puzzle?"

"If that's true, her throwing hoof's got a fetish for vowels."

"I'm certainly not complaining."  Ariel shrugged.  "If something's gonna roll off the tongue, might as well butter the front end of it."

"To each their own."  Rainbow squinted at her.  "Did the Spindlers graciously donate anything else to our snazzy cause?"






Twnnnng!

An arrow flew across an urban courtyard and—

Thnkkkt!

—embedded into the glass windshield of a long-abandoned vehicle.  Dust flew in a ring around the impact, and soon the quiver rattled still.

Logan released the string of a large bow from his muzzle.  Exhaling, he turned towards an applauding Rainbow Dash.  "I'm a bit rusty, but I think this will help us save ammo on the Bleak's Plummet boomsticks."

"Pretty boss!"  Rainbow Dash finished clapping.  "You and the rest of the Job Squad are pretty experienced with arrows, then?"

"Well.  Me and Flynn, for sure," Logan said.  He took a moment to draw his hoof along the polished structure of the bow, admiring its sturdiness.  "Ariel and Keps?  Not so much.  Double-Yoo—of course—he can be skilled at anything.  Long story, in a pinch, at least three of us should be able to provide ranged cover in the event that we run into trolls."

Rainbow gulped.  "Or worse."

"Or worse."

"I think this is a darn good idea, Big Show," Rainbow Dash said.  "Especially when it comes to preserving the runestones.  We'll definitely wanna conserve those for when the big baddies turn out extra big and extra extra bad."

"It's gonna take some work to maintain, of course," Logan said.  He pointed at the arrowheads sticking out of a leather quiver lying on the ground.  "These pointy-bastards are simply chiseled out of rock, stone, metal—anything that we can get our hooves on.  The tools and weapons we borrowed from the Emeraldinians are enough to help us fashion them."

"Sure."  Rainbow nodded.  "Should give us stuff to do during the lengthier moments of our trip."

"Damn straight."  Logan nodded back.  "Although—something tells me—we're probably not gonna have the luxury of being bored."

"Maybe.  Maybe not."  Rainbow stepped over the new weapons, admiring them closely.  "Tell me, though..."

"Yeah?"

"What's the rest of them made out of?"  Rainbow pointed.  "The bows?  The arrow shafts?"

"Well, the strings...?"  Logan ran his hoof along the taut fiber of his bow.  "Spindler silk.  As durable as it gets."

"Sweet.  But what about the rest of the stuff?"  Rainbow looked at him.  "Looks like wood—almost."

"Uh huh..."

"But... there aren't any trees left standing about, are there?" Rainbow blinked.  "At least none that's ancient and petrified from the pre-Sundering days.  Seems like Lexxic and the Bloodwings made quick work of that centuries ago when they did their final assault on the Midnight Armory."

"Right..."

"So... uhhhh..."  Rainbow picked up an arrow, staring close up at the polished narrow stalk making up the shaft of the projectile.  "Just what is this stuff anyways?"

"Well..."  Logan cleared his throat, leaning back.  "Y'know how we all figured out that there's more than one Merula?"

"Totally."

"And... like... how she's always dying and being replaced by other Merulas?"

"Yeah... ... ...?"  Rainbow cocked her head to the side.  "The Winter Children of Abaddon live super-short lives.  I'm sure we all figured that out weeks ago."

Logan's nostrils flared.  "Well... what do you suppose the Queen's eight-legged maintenance teams do with all the piling corpses of their brothers and sisters?"

"... ... ..."  Rainbow stared at the chitinous material making up Logan's bow.  She then looked at the polished carapace-smooth surface of the arrow shaft in her grip.  "... ... ...!!!"  She dropped the thing like it was on fire, flinching.

"They gave us these things with their blessing, Rainbow," Logan said in a straight tone.  "I dunno about you, but I think it'd be a shame to waste it."

"I-I think so t-too... but... b-but..."  Rainbow brushed her limbs off repeatedly—as if trying to rub clean a sea of invisible cobwebs.  She resorted to shuddering in place... ultimately relaxing as well as she was able.  "Luna poop... why's everything on this side of the plane have to be so friggin' hardcore?"

"And to think..."  Logan arched an eyebrow.  "This is the one and only faction on the Curve whom we can actually call allies."

Rainbow flashed him an anxious look.  "... ... ...it really is our greatest hope to run into the Dihmers next... out of everyone that's left."

Logan nodded.  "And you can bet your ass that's gonna be a notch higher on the 'hardcore' scale."

Rainbow sighed.  "I don't know what Verlax was thinking... believing that she actually had the capacity to prepare me for all this ultra dark nonsense."

"Even Mortuana couldn't prepare us." Logan smiled tiredly.  "And she was the Alicorn of Death."

"When all of this is said and done, and I'm back in Equestria..."  Rainbow gingerly picked the arrow back up and placed it back in its quiver.  "I'm gonna take the girls to a griffin rock concert and I'm going to laugh my friggin' head off."

"Why not do the insane cackling now?"  Logan shrugged.  "Save yourself the time."

"Nah.  I don't want to insult Wildcard and Seraphimus."

"Pfffft.  Girl, please..."

"I'm going to wait for a moment when it'll actually be advantageous."

"That's more like it."