//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: The Silver Sea // Story: Six Ways, Book 2: Duty // by the_bioXpony_guy //------------------------------// Wherefrom this plane of existence originated, nopony could say for sure. What rested within the shining silver sea—where it came from or what kind of water it held—nopony knew. What sort of horrors could possibly exist beyond Roodaka’s portal? To think of everything the Equestrians had done for their home, of everything they had put themselves through to ensure the sanctity of Equestria, a damnation such as this was the last thing either of them had expected. Twilight could imagine the bones of many long-deceased Equestrians pulling her down to the sea, plundering her soul and forcing her to become a plunderer herself. For all she and her friends had done back home, this new world could not care less. And even Celestia herself could not help them now. Like seven individual asteroids, the Equestrians blazed and plummeted and twirled toward this plane of oblivion. Having been struck so soon by the notion of failure, that their journey had come to an end before it could even begin, Roodaka’s evicted enemies could hardly even believe what had just happened to them. Could anybody truly warp somebody or something through a dimensional portal? Was the Teridax stone just one piece of a giant puzzle? Would they ever turn back home—as if nothing from the past week had ever even happened? "Just try and escape!" said Roodaka with a sneer, her staff pointed toward the Equestrians. From up so high, from the perspective of an ignorant mind, the pole in her hand was nothing more than a stick. To Roodaka, an enemy's lack of awareness only added to the convenience of any situation. For a moment she waited for one of the ponies to come charging back up. For a moment only the sound of fading screams surrounded her—but within seconds, the element of Loyalty sought past the danger of her current situation and regained control, tearing a hole through the net of freefall tangling and pulling her friends downward. You’re a brave one, thought Roodaka. Her signature smile came crawling back to her face. You’re also ignorant. I like that. The power of a cannon rested in the palm of Roodaka's hand, yet the ensuing pegasus knew nothing of the ensuing blast. Rainbow Dash grunted. "You're not going to take us down that easily!" Without hesitation, she began flapping her wings to their greatest extent, aiming to persuade Roodaka to get her and her friends out of this uncharted world. Roodaka laughed a most innocent chuckle. "Nobody escapes Makuta's grasp." "You're gonna eat those words!" said Rainbow Dash, clenching her teeth as she neared the speed of sound. The longer she flew, the closer she came to performing a sonic rainboom—and the closer she came to reaching her opponent. As she continued accelerating, Dash noticed a purple light building up in the center of Roodaka's clawed staff. Little did she realize, Roodaka had spent those few seconds prior charging it up, prepared to defend herself and Makuta’s cause. Though her subconscious fear dared to take over, Rainbow Dash continued to accelerate. If she made it in time, she could easily avoid Roodaka's impending attack; if not, all hope would be lost. Dash didn't know what that staff was charging up—and she was not about to find out. Her hoof came inches from meeting Roodaka’s face. Any second longer and surely a sonic rainboom would result. Rainbow Dash could only imagine the pain of being punched by somebody moving at the speed of sound. Yet she couldn’t help but wonder and imagine the pain of being attacked by the violet surge of energy brewing in Roodaka’s staff. Inner and outer pressure told her to cease flight, but she persevered. The pegasus could just barely feel tears streaming from the corners of her eyes. Roodaka could feel her staff getting hotter and hotter as time went on. A deafening blast unlike anything the inhabitants of this land had ever heard stung Rainbow Dash’s ears and spread faster than any bird could dare fly. A colored flash spread out along the clouds from that one opening between Equestria and the uncharted territory. Time seemed to come to a standstill when the faces of light and darkness came head-to-head. In an instant, the forces of speed and gravity came rushing back to reality, as did Rainbow Dash's senses: she had failed. The blast from Roodaka's cannon redirected the pony's momentum with nothing more than a shot to her heart. The last thing Rainbow Dash saw before falling back down was a great coat of violet—a coat which kept her from coming anywhere near Roodaka ever again. Yet while Rainbow Dash held not the slightest hint of consciousness in her being, Fluttershy—awakened by her sudden contact with the ocean—found herself already drowning in this viscous foreign liquid. She attempted to swim her way back up to the surface of the water, but only found herself being dragged by the invisible palms of fate. She saw no sign of reemergence—only evidence that she would continue sinking deeper and deeper as time ticked life into terrific tales for the next generation of Harmony. Help me, Teridax, she begged. I need you. No words. No answers. No help. Makuta could not help Fluttershy. Fluttershy could not even help herself. She wasn't sure if her friends could even help her. The drowning pegasus turned her head in an attempt to find her friends floating about somewhere in this ocean, finding only silver silhouettes of what they once were. When she looked in their direction, when she cried out for them, she received nothing in response. No movement, no bubbles, no trace of life. No! But before she could do anything herself, before she could say whatever remained on her mind, one final breath escaped Fluttershy for good. Listless, she let her life go. The disabled pony, able to do no more, let herself descend lower and lower into the cold abyss. Teridax...you will come down with me.... At that point, Rainbow Dash remained the only one of the ponies in the sky. Her sentience no more, she plummeted and plunged into the silver sea. Nowhere else to go, Rainbow Dash breathed one last sigh before splashing down into the silver waters below, bringing with her the dark energy cursed upon her by the servant of shadow. This resulting impact triggered a cataclysmic burst of energy to spread across the silver ocean’s tides. Shocks of violet lightning spread around like a net, expanding across a mile-long radius within seconds. Anything and everything within the vicinity felt the impact of a single bullet. “It is done, Master of Shadow.” Almost absentmindedly, Roodaka let a grin cross her face, knowing that the only people keeping her from victory would now drift in the sea of protodermis forever. Roodaka finished her job with a swift close of her portal—ensuring these so-called guardians would never step between herself and her duty ever again. Her destiny at Makuta’s side seemed all too close to exist in such a fragile reality. With Rainbow Dash's impact on the silver sea, the dark energy from Roodaka’s staff sought whatever it could—including the nearby Equestrians. Had they still any pumping blood in their veins, the toxic mixture of dark energy and protodermis would have killed the ponies and Spike on impact. Only recently deceased, protodermis worked in a much different way. Power unlike anything the Equestrians had seen in their living days found its way through the liquid, toward the fresh corpses from deep within the ocean quickly. Within milliseconds, the visitors to this land were stimulated—touched by millions of volts of power per second. At the same time, thin, solidifying layers of what was once the ocean’s water started surrounding the Equestrians. It was as if they were encapsulated in their own individual chrysalises—ready to emerge as butterflies in the midst of a forest fire. As time ticked on and on, the Equestrian natives’ cocoons hardened more and more. Eventually their density proved enough to stop their sinking—enough for them to ascend from within the ocean’s stomach. The heavens themselves reached their arms down to those deceased. Damnation by sea could come another day—but not that day. Seven gray capsules emerged from the ocean. The ocean, so lively and mysterious in nature, wanted no part of the dead. The subject of the dead remained a task for nearby island to handle.