//------------------------------// // Seizing the Choke by the Haft // Story: Yaerfaerda // by Imploding Colon //------------------------------// One scuffling hoof after another, Rainbow Dash trotted forward, then squatted low. Her ruby eyes narrowed as her blue muzzle scrunched up. She tilted her head left, then right, staring straight forward with intense scrutiny. The vacant hollow of a sideways reindeer skull gaped back at her. The long-decayed corpse had fallen over on its side. There it lay crookedly in the center of the Grand Choke... for an untold number of decades or even centuries. Rainbow's nostrils flared. Quietly, she shuffled forward, gripping the corpse and pivoting it upright. Once the antlers pointed skyward, she reached over and gripped a rusted shield, sliding it up so that it was braced against the jagged vertebrae of the dead sentinel. At last, with the task done, Rainbow backtrotted, staring quietly and unemotionally at the deceased Val Roan. The soldier now sat like a lone bulwark, staunchly facing the eastern dawn. A brief wind blew at the scene, fluttering loose scraps of flesh inside its jaws and nostrils, then settling with a dusty hush. Rainbow took a deep breath... then gazed beyond the shield holding the corpse in place. A dim, dull horizon spelled the western half of the world. Rainbow sighed through her nostrils. Quietly, she slid her goggles down over her eyes, turned a dial, and tinted the lenses. Then, with nimble grace, she turned around and faced the blinding sunrise. Spreading her wings, she galloped forward, leapt into the skies, and abandoned the soldier entirely. Hours passed. Rainbow veered north and south, casually transforming her eastward glide with latitudinal curves. She squinted through her darkened goggles, attempting to chase the clouds down—just to see how permeable they were. When she successfully found one, she'd slow her flight and glide directly over the misty beds, dragging her hooves across the wispy material. The clouds responded to her pegasus essence, and she found that she could spring her body off the clouds as though they were wooden platforms. This brought a strange breath of comfort to her, a second wind that was all too quickly shattered the very moment she gazed down at the blurring landscape. The entire world was nothing more than a ginormous polished sheet of brown malaise. It was as if she was staring down at a silk-smooth bowl of honey-glazed oatmeal. There were no ravines, no fissures, no dips or rises in the endless plateau of stone, stone, and more stone. The Grand Choke simply was, stretching perfectly mundane and unchanging in every perceivable direction. Occasionally, there would be a wandering cloud of dense dust, but Rainbow couldn't even begin to guess where they originated from. More times than she'd care to count, the pegasus' eyes locked on the horizon ahead of her, desperate to spot a mountain, a peak, any indication whatsoever of an earthen structure that rose above sea level. And in every instance, she was let down. She even ascended to a high altitude—flying as high as the atmosphere would let her breathe—and still she was disappointed. Eventually, she had to glide down to a more survivable level, gathering her wits with each wing flap. Rainbow Dash had learned enough to realize that the plane everypony lived on was on was bent... at least somewhat. After all, if it once joined with eleven more parts to form Urohringr, then surely the world had some curvature in order to make a whole circle. Then again, over the eons during which the plane flew alone and dormant, there was no telling just what the forces of gravity would have done to such an intensely large super-structure. However, Rainbow was no egghead, and she could only make vacant guesses at best. Sighing, she stared straight ahead. Yaerfaerda consistently lingered directly ahead of her. Rainbow noticed that when she ascended to a high level—the lavender glowing beacon ascended as well. It was then that she realized that the symbol couldn't possibly have stood for an exact location or destination. If that was the case—Rainbow reasoned—then surely it would be constantly situated below the horizon, especially with how grand and spacious the Grand Choke was unveiling itself to be with each hour spent flying, speeding, throttling east. Rainbow sighed. For all she knew, Yaerfaerda was something magical... something alive. It taunted and haunted her, just like every other ruby-flame'd piece of the machine world's essence that spelled the fate of Austraeoh, or attempted to. She wondered briefly if Commander Hurricane had lived long enough to be plagued by a similar, lingering streak of alien light, forever receding from her, frustrating her. But, then again, Commander Hurricane was surrounded by her own subordinates and fellow soldiers when she died. A shudder ran through Rainbow's body. Gritting her teeth, she flew down and glided just above the immaculate desolation of the Choke, keeping her belly a few dangerous inches above the hard stone, forcing her thoughts to focus on her motor skills—and nothing else. Carefully, with gentle hooves, Rainbow Dash twisted the nozzle to the bubbling canister of Nebulum. She hung her muzzle above the end of the tube. As the apparatus spat out a fine hydrated mist, she inhaled it as instructed by Duchess Arcanist. The pegasus' eyes fluttered shut. She shuddered slightly, overwhelmed by the intense need to cough. Nevertheless, she sat still, holding her breath as her lungs were thoroughly doused. Within seconds, the enchanted substance spread through her body, and she felt an overwhelming sense of comfort. To her surprise, her body was completely refreshed, as if she had just galloped twenty miles before drinking an entire bathtub of apple juice. She opened her eyes, and just as swiftly that comfort dissipated. A dead landscape stretched before her, growing dull and dim. She turned her head and glanced over her shoulder. A blood red sun sank towards the horizon, melting into the polished vanishing line. Rainbow exhaled heavily. She looked at her canister with a dull expression. Then, with dutiful motions, she strapped it back to the side of Arcanista's pack and slid the bulky material back onto her flank. Spreading her wings, she took off and glided east for at least another hour... maybe two... however long it would take for the world to grow cold from an absent sun. Rainbow Dash could see the stars that evening. She couldn't tell if it was because the clouds had broken overhead, or if her eyes were just adjusting to the environment. It didn't matter. She stared into the flame in front of her rectangular tent. The dancing bands of light were the only things that came close to distracting her. The warmth was a delightful respite from the desert chill, but there was no escape from the cold, no matter how tightly Rainbow curled underneath her blankets. She exhaled, and her breath made the tongues of flame rise and fall. Her eyes blinked, and she looked deeper into the burning aura... and beyond it. At some point, her eyes blurred. The fog was a very welcoming thing. It had no form to it, and yet was constantly shifting. She could almost let her mind wander into oblivion, a place where no thoughts or memories could blossom. It didn't last very long. In a blink, Rainbow Dash returned to the present, to the flame and the cold and the bitter hush of a dead world stretching all around her. Soon, it was all pierced by a panting breath, growing higher and squeakier in pitch. Rainbow knew the dam would burst eventually. She just didn't expect it to be the second night. Even still, there was no fighting it. The mare curled her forelimbs to her chest, burying her face in her blanket as wave after wave of tears fell from her eyes. The current rolled rapidly, and soon she was crying, sobbing, hiccuping with little spasms of lonely wails. She could only wish that the outburst alone would wear her out. In reality, she lingered there, dull and drowsy, for another three waking hours, until sheer boredom and ennui finally put her out, and she carried her tears with her into a fitful night's sleep.