Rainbow Dash stumbled out of the Fur-Blooder Tradepost. She bumped into two or three Dihmers in the street outside. They teetered a bit... but soon resumed trotting in their usual soundless circles, acting as if the dizzied pegasus did not exist.
Once Rainbow found the stone wall of a building, she leaned against it... wheezing for breath. The dull world spun around her, and the constant beat of invisible drums sent her head pounding. She clenched her eyes shut and shivered in place, battling her way through migraine-inducing nausea.
As her mind and body evened out, the voices of her friends materialized into full focus, circling around her.
"...saw those thingies they were wearing!"
"...it was chaos metal!"
"...it had to be!"
"...but how can anyone possibly use that sort of hogwash as currency?!"
"Helloooo?! This is the Dark Side, AJ! Of course they can use all sorts of creepy crawly coinage!"
"Uhm... they called them 'strips.'"
"Whatever!"
"Everyone just..." Rainbow gnashed her teeth. "...everyone just stop shouting!" She opened her eyes with a flicker of red-on-yellow. A blink or two later, and she gazed normally across the crude Dihmer city. "I'm okay. I just... I just gotta catch my breath a bit..."
"Rainbow Dash..." Twilight Sparkle hovered to a stop in front of her. "I'm so sorry. I... I should have noticed what it was before you got so close to it!"
"Same here, darling!" Rarity spoke in a whimpering tone. "I couldn't even conceive of those metal strips having a chaotic purpose! I wasn't using my senses right!"
"But... but..." Rainbow's brow furrowed under a curtain of sweat. "...everything was j-just fine until they showed them off to me..."
"Yeah..." Pinkie rubbed her ghost chin in ghost thought. "How come they didn't send you on the merry-go-vom earlier?!"
"Maybe they're not as pure as the other chaos metals Rainbow has come across on the Dark Side," Fluttershy said.
"Huh?" Applejack squinted at her.
"Fluttershy has a point." Rarity nodded. "It's likely not pure chaos metal... if there even is such a thing."
"You mean it's an alloy?" Twilight remarked.
"It would make sense," Rarity said. "If such a material is indeed a wealthy commodity on this part of the plane, then you'd want to compartmentalize and conserve it as much as possible. Like gold or diamonds."
"Whew... Rarity..." Applejack adjusted her hat. "Who knew that your esteemed knowledge of wealthy know-how would come in use over here?"
"I didn't even think it would matter." Rarity blinked. "Until we met these horrid creatures."
"I don't know..." Fluttershy smiled slightly. "I think they're kind of adorable, the more I think about them."
"Get out of town, sister!" Pinkie shrieked.
"Rainbow..." Twilight floated closer to their anchor. "Were those the same kind of goblins that you met in Val Roa?"
Rainbow gulped, her shivers normalizing slightly. "I mean... of course they're not the same. These guys are nestled in over here and they've got some city named 'Petra' that they're high over. The ones I ran into were farting away on the other side of the world..."
"What I mean is—are they the same species? The same kind of imps?"
"Well... yeah. Only..." Rainbow shook her head. "It's too late to make a verdict, but the little buggers over in Val Roa were way nastier then these guys."
"Didn't they want to tak over the world or some such sucky nonsense?" Pinkie asked.
"Their boss Haman was a crazy freak of a megalomaniac who was egged on by Chrysalis to attack the capital of Val Roa," Rainbow explained. "We had to fight a bunch of them off." Rainbow's ears drooped. "Many to the death."
Fluttershy shuddered with a sad expression.
"But... we got rid of their crazy leader," Rainbow said. "And now... they're on the path to recovery. It's all Roarke's doing..." Her words trailed off. She glanced at Fluttershy, then at the rest.
Twilight ended up saying, "Well, maybe—for whatever it's worth—your experience will give you an edge in dealing with them here."
"Yeah, well, only I just friggin' lost that edge if the kind of currency the goblins exchange is the sort that sends me reeling into the gutter!" Rainbow ran a hoof over her face, sighing. "It was just like back with the Bloodwings," she muttered. "A single flash of the metallic glint and you girls vanished." Her jaw muscles tightened. "Discord appeared in your place... and I felt like throwing up."
"Yeesh..." Pinkie's frown went flat. "I bet Discord would like these creatures!"
"Seems like a bunch of selfish varmints to me," Applejack said. "Probably for the best that we avoid them from hereon—"
"Like we've been avoiding the Bloodwings?" Rainbow droned. "Or been chased around by the trolls?? Or been turned off by the Dihmers???" The mare shook her head. "We can't friggin' ignore every single race of creatures that we come across on the Dark Side just because they're less than savory, AJ." A frown. "At some point or another, we gotta face this chaos crap head-on." Her ears curled back. "I gotta face them. Between here and the Midnight Armory, something's gotta give!"
"Well, we just hope it's not you who caves to all the chaotic pressure," Twilight Sparkle said. She pointed behind their anchor. "Fuzz alert."
"... ... ..." Rainbow blinked. Without looking, she spoke over her shoulder. "I'm okay, Ariel. Just catching my bearings..."
"You sure you're good?" the pegasus asked in a meager tone. She stood behind Rainbow Dash, her face full of worry and compassion. "You limped out of there like how I once limped out of taverns in Rose Prefecture... and not in the sexy way."
"I find that hard to believe."
"Huh?"
Rainbow finally turned around to smile at her—albeit tiredly. "I was just surprised. That's all."
"It's the stuff hanging off their necks," Ariel remarked. "It's more of that chaos metal crap, isn't it?"
"Mmmmmyeahhhhh..."
Ariel sighed. "Guess that's another group of Dark Siders we gotta check off the 'interaction' list."
"Screw that." Rainbow pointed. "They've got answers and we're sorely in need of friends in this part of the world."
"But Rainbow..." Ariel gestured. "The shit they use for currency can knock you out with so much as a coin-toss!"
"And there are six able-bodied members of the Herald who won't get knocked out!" Rainbow insisted. "I need you guys to talk to these goblins. Fur-Blooders... Tail-Blooders... Fart-Blooders... whatever. Find out as much as you can about Petra, the ocean, the Bloodwings and the changelings. Sell out our entire arsenal if you have to..." Rainbow blinked. "...except maybe Bard's bo-staff and Kepler's alchemy stuff. Never give that up."
Ariel's eyes were wandering. "Did you just..." She squinted Rainbow's way. "...include Seraphimus as one of the able-bodied Herald?'"
Rainbow blinked. She glanced towards the curved horizon, then back at Ariel. "Never you mind. Please... can you do this for me? Her eyes glistened, pleading. "I can't risk stepping back inside that place, so I need you and Wildcard and Logan and the rest to go to bat for me."
Ariel sighed long and hard. "You're doing that on purpose, aren't you?"
"Doing what?"
She smiled tiredly. "Using that face on me."
Rainbow blinked. "Does it mean you're game?"
"Rainbow Dash, I'm a member of Mortuana's Sovereign Seven," Ariel said. She held a hoof on Rainbow's shoulder. "I was game before I met you."
"Heh... so was I..." Rainbow smiled. A blink. "Game, I mean."
Silence.
Pinkie leaned in. "Pssst. She said 'game'—"
"I heard her," Rainbow growled aside.
"Heh..." Ariel backed up. "I'll leave you and the girls alone. How about you fly around some? Catch some air?" She glanced nervously at the soot-stained twilight. "Wherrrrrre there is air worth catching..."
Rainbow nodded. "I'll do my best."
"Cooly crispies." Ariel saluted, then returned to the trading post.
Rainbow was alone with her companions.
"She really is such a darling," Rarity said. "When we all get back to Equestria, I'm just dying to make her a silky silver dress gown." Her eyes sparkled. "And a dashing suit for the little wyvern! OooOoooh!"
"Heeheehee..." Fluttershy turned towards Rainbow Dash with a smile. "You see, Rainbow Dash? Chaos isn't such a danger after all." She shook her head. "Not with friends like that around to help you out."
"Yeah..." Rainbow exhaled. She leaned back with an anxious gaze plastered on the trade post. "...I just hope it doesn't keep me from helping them out..."