//------------------------------// // The Seed at the Woven Reed // Story: Ynanhluutr // by Imploding Colon //------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle winced. Rarity gritted her teeth. Rainbow Dash cringed. Pinkie hummed, smiled, and rocked from side to side. Before Rainbow and her ghostly companions, a full line of Luminards sat on folded limbs, their heads tilted towards the low-hanging wooden ceiling as they engaged in wave after wave of deep guttural uvulations. Beyond the hollow ends of their lean-to's, a crispy golden sunset fell on the shallow waters of the Quade. The air outside the platform looked like the most inviting thing in equine comprehension, and yet Rainbow—sighing amidst the constant bass vocals—sat frozen in place. Bard and Wildcard squatted side by side. The Desperadoes' faces hung in a conflicted struggle between curiosity and utter discomfort. Galloran, meanwhile, sat up straight, smiling. “Aren't they absolutely inspirational?” he murmured quietly so as not to disturb their concentration. After several seconds of no response, he turned to grin at the visitors. “Oh!” Bard jolted. “Uhm...” “They're...” Rainbow hissed. “They're...” Bard squirmed. “Uhm...” “...cultured!” Rainbow squeaked. “Yeah! That!” Bard nodded. “If you listen closely, you can hear Nicro and the pilgrims closest to her hitting two notes at once!” Galloran sighed in admiration. “It's a Wonder of Modern Rohbredden.” “Yeah... uhhh... I find it to be mighty purdy-like!” Bard smiled as best as he could. “It's... g-got a nice beat and you can... dance to it?” He looked over at Kyron. Kyron sighed through his smile, opened his eyes, and gazed kindly at Bard. “We do not dance.” Bard gulped. “No. I reckon not.” Kyron smiled some more, closed his eyes, and quietly meditated some more—along with his fellow pilgrims. “Ooooh!” Galloran leaned forward, whispering while the bass grunting reached an even deeper pitch. “Here's my favorite part!” He smiled... then smiled wider, glancing aside at the visitors with sparkling eyes. “Quick! Rarity!” Twilight whimpered. “Give Rainbow Dash an adjective!” “Extraordinary!” “Extraordinary!” Rainbow quietly blurted, smiling. “Certainly beats anythang I've ever put my pluckin' hooves to!” Bard added. Frowning, Wildcard limply gestured his talons in the air. Bard “heard” what he had to “say” and immediately whacked the griffon. Wildcard winced, rubbing his shoulder. He eventually pulled out a block of wood and a dagger to begin whittling—...but stopped. He glanced right at the many woven platforms surrounding the sacred Reed. He looked left at the rows and rows of Luminards sitting close by. Then, with a defeated sigh, he pocketed his tools away and leaned his toothpick-less beak forward on a metal palm. “Rainbow, darling, I have a confession to make,” Rarity droned. She watched the endless performance with limp, heavy eyelids. “I've attended kindergarten plays with greater harmony. This is horrible!” “Well, Rarity, to be fair,” Twilight droned, “I imagine the transcendent feeling the meditative chanters experience is far more important than the performance they're giving to the listeners.” “Then why give a performance to begin with?!?” Rarity cackled. “If this is Mr. Kyron's anointed way of recruiting new members, then he's sadly mistaken!” She choked on a sob. “And I shudder to think when was the last time they even touched those sackcloth tunics with soap!” “I don't think much soap gets shipped out here to the Quade,” Rainbow quietly muttered. “Oh dear Celestia take me now!” Rarity groaned, leaning back in a fainting slump. “Say...” Pinkie glanced aside with a grin. “Do ya girls think that if you recorded this stuff, then sped it forward in a tape machine, it'd sound like a bunch of buzzing bumblebees?” She giggle-snorted. “Or Trot Yorke?!” “Pinkie, don't tell me you're actually enjoying this,” Twilight grumbled. “You gotta look on the bright side, Twilight!” Pinkie smiled, waving a hoof at the scene. “'Cuz they sure are! Heeeheee! Wanna bet that—deep down, underneath all of those scratchy-looking tunics n'stuff—they're actually having the time of their lives?” “There's something to be said about ponies who enjoy life by taking away everything that it takes to live.” Rarity frowned. “You could live completely in the dark and yet still claim to see. How would you know whether your eyes are open or not? It doesn't matter! And yet—even still—it does not change the fact that you willingly chose to snuff out the light to begin with!” “But Rare-Rare?” Pinkie pouted. “They really really seem to believe in all the nifty stuff they're doing! Maybe they know something that we don't!” She smiled. “Maybe it gives them super powers!” “If giving up everything I can earn for myself in life is what it takes to transcend to a new level of perception, then I think I'll settle for remaining a world-savvy tadpole, thank you very much.” Rarity folded her forelimbs and leaned back. “Hmpff!” “Rarity, let's not be so quick to imprint our own feelings and lifestyles on what the Luminards have accomplished,” Twilight said. “After all, it's rather evident that what they've done here has worked for centuries... millennia, even!” She smiled. “Could a system truly be so bad and yet still have so many followers?” “Twilight, darling, don't you think it's possible to commit to something—no matter how unhealthy—until you've become conditioned to accept it as 'normal?'” Rarity suddenly grimaced, gesturing towards nowhere in particular. “I mean, you saw those scars!” “Uhhh—” “Don't tell me that you didn't!” Rarity frowned. “Those poor ponies weaving the platforms out there had the most garish wounds on their shoulders and flanks!” “Maybe they all tripped and fell on a buncha sea urchins?” Pinkie chirped. “Ugh! Honestly!” Rarity rolled her eyes, then looked over at Rainbow Dash. “Rainbow, tell me you saw the scars.” “I saw the scars,” Rainbow droned quietly. Bard glanced over, blinking. “See?” Rarity smirked smugly at Twilight. “Rainbow saw them!” “But it could mean anything,” Rainbow Dash muttered, eyes locked on the chanting equines in front of her. “It's too early to jump to conclusions.” “Rainbow...!” Rarity gawked at her, muzzle agape. “How could you say that?! After seeing those scars, you must know that something here is amiss—!” “We know nothing,” Rainbow whispered firmly, her jaw tight. “Something I've learned in my travels, Rarity, is never to judge something by it's first glance.” “But—” “You want to understand more?” Rainbow's glaring eyes swept towards her. “I'll show you how.” She then cleared her throat, stood up on wobbly limbs, and leaned towards Galloran. “Uhm... Mr. Galloran, dude?” The young stallion leaned back towards her. “Yes?” he whispered beneath the guttural chants. “How can I help you, Miss Rainbow Dash?” “Well... uhm... I-I'm not sure you can,” Rainbow said. Her voice took on a squeaky, feminine pitch, and she smiled bashfully. “These Luminards are pretty remarkable and all... but... I-I wonder if they actually afford themselves a little filly's room.” Galloran blinked. “Ohhhhh...” “I mean, I-I guess I could go in the Quade, but then that would do a nasty number on the Holy Reed n'stuff.” Rainbow suppressed a giggle. “A nasty number two, to be exact.” Pinkie snorted. “Good one, Dashie!” “Shhh!” Twilight insisted, reading Galloran's expression. The stallion nodded. “Well, there's actually a platform situated along the north canyon wall where all of the outhouses are positioned. An old, dried-up estuary within the rock face acts as a cesspool. Here.” He stood up, gesturing. “I'll take you over there by raft—” “Uhhh...” Rainbow Dash shook her head, easing him back down. “Thanks for telling me, Mr. Galloran. But now that I know, I'll just get there on my lonesome.” “But... it's only proper that I row you across the way, Miss—” Rainbow smirked and waved her wings in his face. Galloran blinked, then blushed. “Oh... eheh... right.” “You really aren't used to pegasi visiting this place, huh?” “Well, no.” He shook his head, gulping. “Admittedly, they don't hang around for too long.” “Jee,” Rainbow droned. “What a shame.” She side-trotted out of the way. “I'll be right backsies.” She waved at Bard and Wildcard. “Shouldn't be too long.” She paused to bow at Kyron and his associates, then galloped briskly out from beyond the lean-to's. “...!” Wildcard stood up to join her. Bard yanked him back down by his lion's tail. “And just where do ya think yer goin'?” He turned aside and smiled sheepishly at Kyron. “Mares... huh?” Wildcard sighed, slumping once more as he glared his goggled eyes beyond the chanting monks. Rainbow Dash lightly hoof-trotted from one platform to another. She paused in the crimson haze of sunset, turning to glance over her shoulder at the tiny shacks situated on the highest woven level. Even from several yards away, she still heard the deep vibrations of the Luminards' groaning voices. The mare sighed. “Well...” Rarity floated around the mare. “I must say... that was stupidly easy.” “Most stupid things are,” Rainbow muttered. “Over there, Dashie!” Pinkie said, pointing down and across the waters at a tiny wooden platform connected to the rocky southern face of the northern bluffs. “And it doesn't look like any of the outhouses are occupied, either!” She blinked wide, her left leg joint shivering. “Whoopsies!” She giggled, pointing at the spasming limb. “Better be careful for black widows building nests in the toilet seats.” She winked. “Just trust me.” “Rainbow doesn't need to use the little filly's room, Pinkie,” Twilight droned. “She doesn't?!” “No. It was just an excuse to get a better survey of the place on her own.” Twilight smiled tiredly at Rainbow. “Wasn't it, Rainbow?” “I gotta get down to what's causing Yaerfaerda to appear from inside the Reed,” Rainbow said, peering at the lower platforms. “Literally.” “Just what do you have in mind?” Rarity asked. “Kyron and Galloran have been super cool to give me a guided tour,” Rainbow said. “Now it's time for an unguided tour... from the inside.” She flapped her wings and glided quietly towards a shadowed platform full of tiny shacks. A two-story building hugged the central shaft of vertical shoots. “I'm thinking there.” “Wooohoo!” Pinkie Pie cheered. “Alright! A one mare sneaking mission!” “Now where have I heard that before?” Rarity mused. “Rainbow...” Twilight gulped. “Do be careful. There's only so much we know about these ponies.” “Which is why I gotta do this,” Rainbow muttered, crawling along the bottom of the higher platform and using her wings for leverage. “So long as Fluttershy's locked away, I gotta figure things out any way I can.” “But still... if you get caught going someplace you're not allowed to—” “What are they gonna do, Twi?” Rainbow muttered. “Quote scripture at me until I die of boredom?” Twilight sighed. “You know what I mean...” “Just trust in my awesomeness and let me do my thing.” Rainbow froze in place, clenching her throat tightly as two Luminards shuffled out of the nearest building beneath her. Neither of the two figures looked up, and Rainbow waited until they were out of earshot. Breathing regularly again, she flipped, fell, and landed nimbly before the two-story building. “This will be over before you know it.” “I-I only hope in a good way,” Twilight said. “Shhhhh...” Rarity floated ahead, motioning. “I've got a read on the interior layout ahead. Follow my lead, Rainbow, and I will lead you closer to the central shaft.” “Thatta girl, Rares.” And Rainbow threaded her way into the dimly-lit interior. “Oooooh!” Pinkie cooed, eyes hungrily digesting the rickety wooden walls and petrified ceiling beams. It was very cramped and claustrophobic inside the shack. Sparse furniture lingered around every corner, and tiny candles danced—causing a soft sepia sheen to waft over every gnarled contour of the old, old wood. “I'm getting flashbacks to home!” She took in a deep breath, then sighed. “Any second now, I expect to smell Maud baking some sugary sweet rock candy...” Twilight shuddered. “The fact that this place reminds you of your hometown doesn't exactly console me, Pinkie.” “Why?” Pinkie blinked, muzzle scrunched. “What's so bad about my hometown?” “Shhh! Girls!” Rarity frowned back at them. “I need concentration!” Brow furrowed, she turned to look ahead of where she was hovering. “There's a long corridor up ahead. It leads past the shaft. To get to the center, hug the left side, take the first staircase you see, then turn to the right and take the centermost door.” Rainbow nodded. “Got it,” she whispered. “Still, I can't help but notice,” Pinkie said, glancing around. “This is an awfully big building for so many awfully skinny ponies!” “A bunch of them are outside chanting or weaving,” Twilight said. “Ponies that disciplined probably have regular sleeping schedules, and now must not be the time.” “Yeah! But even still!” Pinkie tongued the inside of her muzzle. “Doesn't seem like enough of them could fill the rooms here!” “Could be possible that there... just aren't as many Luminards here in the Quade as there once were when they first built this place.” Twilight glanced left and right. “I mean, this structure does look very... very old.” “Heehee! Yeah!” Pinkie grinned. “For all we know, maybe Luna and Celestia both stayed here for a summer or two!” “I find that highly doubtful.” “Why, Twi?” “Well... I think it's already been established that the Grand Choke came into being after the rise of Verlax and the Unification of Rohbredden,” Twilight said. “Luminar likely collapsed into the ocean at some point after the last time Celestia and Luna could feasibly have visited this far east of Equestria.” Twilight gulped. “Or the edge of the world, for that matter.” “Wowie-zowie!” Pinkie gasped. “You mean the Princesses actually took a hop, skip, and a jump over to Blake's Playstation?” “Bleak's Plummet. And the answer to that is—yes—Pinkie. Celestia told me multiple times about the exoduses she and the other alicorns used to take to the Edges of the World.” Twilight shrugged. “She just... never put much emphasis on the visits. She never had much of a reason to.” She gulped. “Until now...” “Shhhh!” Rarity hissed again. “Would you two please keep it down?” She turned to frown at them. “We're here to make like Shadow Spade! Not spastic sporks!” “Actually, I'm kinda glad for it,” Rainbow muttered, swiftly ascending a crooked staircase with flapping wings. “It's almost like you girls are acting as my inner thoughts.” “Huh?” Rarity blinked. “Are you serious?” “Of course I am.” Rainbow exhaled through her nostrils, bearing the tiniest of smiles. “You guys have no idea how many times I've done this sort of a sneaking thing... having to talk to myself in my head in order to keep centered... keep sane.” She pressed herself against a wall and shuffled along, carefully eyeing the centermost door ahead of her. “In a way, you three are doing half the work for me.” “Oh... well...” Rarity fluffed her mane, smiling coyly. “In that case, then prattle on, girls—” A body phased through her and she shrieked. “Waa-haaa-haaa!” Pinkie and Twilight froze in place. They watched as an old monk trotted casually down the corridor, then shuffled down the steps. Nervously, they glanced around... and around and around and around. “Uhhhhh...” Pinkie blinked. “Where's our dashie anchor?” “Look!” Twilight pointed up at the ceiling. Rarity and Pinkie craned their necks to see the petite pegasus scrunched up against a wooden nook, her body pressed tightly to the ceiling. After the Luminard was long gone, Rainbow Dash exhaled, flipped off the nearest wooden beam, and landed nimbly on the floor. “Woohoo!” Pinkie pumped a hoof in the air. “That was awesome, Dashie!” “Finally...” Rainbow smirked, slinking ahead. “A pony I can trust to use the right a-word.” “Can we proceed now?” Rarity moaned. “We're all good, Rarity,” Twilight said, smiling. “Where next?” Rarity pointed. “Past the middle-doorframe, take a right, then proceed along the left side of the next hallway. There are many segmented alcoves, so keep your eyes peeled for what's around the corner at all times.” Rainbow nodded. “Got it. Twilight? Any magic?” Twilight shook her head. “I'm afraid not, Rainbow.” “Well, keep your horn peeled, regardless.” Rainbow snuck ahead. “And Pinkie? Watch your tail.” “Okie dokie lokie!” And the ghost bounced along after her. The next room was even dimmer, dustier, and danker than the ones previous. The air smelled of burning incense, and it tickled Rainbow's nose. The wooden framework of the rooms here was especially ancient. The surfaces flickered pale and paler with each subsequent candle the pegasus passed. Rainbow glanced left and right. She proceeded slowly, for at each five steps she passed a tiny enclosure formed by tight wooden beams. They somewhat resembled stables, only they were completely bereft of straw, hay, or anything else to make the interior more comfortable. At one point, the mare had to pause in her stroll. She spotted the bodies of Luminards—squatting on woven mats as they sat, facing the left side of the gradually bent corridor. Shuffling to her right, Rainbow hugged the opposite wall. There were less candles on this side, and she was able to slink her way safely through the shadows. It was nevertheless a perilous endeavor, leading her past the quietly meditating monks. She came within such close proximity to the ponies that she could almost hear their whispering chants, repeated in sequence as they faced the left wall within each enclosure. “Verlaxion's glory anoint us... so that we may lend our spirits to the Reed... and bury the Plight that binds Your foals... Verlaxion's glory anoint us... so that we may lend our spirits to the Reed... and bury the Plight that binds Your foals...” “That's the worse lullaby ever,” Pinkie muttered. “Shhh!” Twilight insisted. “But it is!” Pinkie whined. “The mare's right... in a way,” Rarity whispered. “It's like they're all... praying to someone... or something.” “Right. I get it.” Twilight nodded. “Verlaxion.” “I think it's more than that.” Rarity pointed. “Look at what they're all facing. It's... not the same as the rest of the wood constructed around us.” “Huh???” Pinkie and Twilight simultaneously murmured. Rainbow took a daring step into the candlelight. She peered into an enclosure that wasn't occupied by a squatting, meditating monk. Before her, the wall of the two-story shack gave way. In place of wooden planks, there were columns and columns of vertical shoots. “It's the Reed,” Rainbow said. She glanced up... then down. “This building is hugging the central shaft,” she whispered to her marefriends. “The Reed is exposed here.” “Makes sense, I suppose,” Twilight said, brushing her bangs back. “Kyron's ponies are all about worshipping the Reed. This place right here is where they must do it.” “Yeah... but I think there's more to it than that,” Rainbow muttered. “Like what, darling?” Rainbow shook her head. “I dunno.” She looked to her left, then in the opposite direction. There were far less monks positioned on the right end of the corridor, so she swiftly trotted that way. She glanced to her left, looking into every enclosure. She saw reeds, reeds, and more reeds. Then—all of the sudden— “Guhhh!” Twilight stumbled. She rolled forward, phasing through a support beam. “Oh no!” Pinkie reached over and steadied her. “Twilight! Are you okay?” “Yeah... just...” Twilight looked straight up, blinking wide. “Where did that come from?” “Was it magic, darling?” Rarity asked. Twilight nodded. “A sudden, focused bolt of it.” She gulped, then gestured. “It c-came from the left.” “... ... ...” Rainbow turned, squinting, searching. Something bright and yellow pierced her gaze. Blinking, the mare looked straight ahead... then shuffled forward. Lips pursed, she approached a wall of reeds, looking closer... examining. A few of the vertical shoots had grown apart from one another over time. This allowed for a narrow space to form between them, turning into a sizable gap. A faint yellow glow emanated from within the Reed. It was the veiled light of Yaerfaerda... only not quite so veiled. As Rainbow's eyes adjusted to the magical aura, she detected a shiny texture... an immaculate glint from beyond. “It's...” Rainbow's ears twitched. “...it's metal.” “Duaaaaaaaaaah!” Pinkie gasped. “Metal?! That's like... the anti-wood!” “No. Wait.” Rarity leaned forward. “Rainbow's right!” She tilted her horn to the side, eyes thin. “It's... it's inside the Reed. Tall... vertical...” She glanced over at the others. “Pierces deep into the earth! Yes. Yes! I do sense it now!” “I dun get it.” Pinkie squirmed in place. “Why would the Lumimarios' holy bamboo be covering a bunch of metal?” Twilight gasped. “Rainbow! Omigosh!” She gawked at the pegasus. “It's a Tower!” Rainbow looked at her. Twilight grinned. “Just like the piece of the Machine World where you found me! Y'know... the Tower in the Grand Choke?!” She pointed at the wall. “This whole shaft—the Reed—it must have grown all over a Tower!” Rarity winced. “You mean... like the structure in the Nealend Atoll's lagoon? Only... already risen out of the ground?” “Precisely!” Twilight danced in place. “This must be where Yaerfaerda is!” Rainbow gulped, staring dead at the Reed. “And Fluttershy...” “Excuse me...” All three ghost mares gasped, spinning around. Rainbow slowly turned to match them. A shadowy figure loomed beyond the candle-light. “What do you think you're doing here...?” Rainbow bit her lip. “Uhhhh...” The figure trotted forward, a pair of cold blue eyes appearing before his royal purple coat. He sported the heaviest and most elaborate mane Rainbow had yet seen among the Luminards, with fibrous red-orange hairs branching off at painfully complex lengths. He came to a shuffling stop, blinked, then smiled. “...it would benefit you greatly to have a guided tour, dear foal.” “Uhhhh...” Rainbow gulped. “I was part of one already.” “Oh?” “Yeah, with Kyron. But...” Rainbow squinted out one eye. “...I got... lost?” The stallion stared... stared... then laughed on a dime. “Hahahahahahaha!” He trotted forward, then leaned back on his sackcloth'd haunches. “So are all who come to the Quade... only to find themselves in Verlaxion's glory.” “Yeah. That.” Rainbow smiled nervously. “And to bury our sins in the... shadow of Luminar's Plight... r-right?” “Mmmm... I see you have been on a tour,” the stallion said. “And a quick learner too.” “Yeah, well, it's a very long and detailed tour.” “Not really, no,” the stallion said, shaking his head. “You've only been here for a short while, dear foal. Trust me... I can read these things about visiting spirits.” He chuckled again, his cold eyes hanging sleepily under his fiery braids. “I can also tell you have an insatiable curiosity about the Reed.” “Heh...” Rainbow waved a hoof. “You know it!” “I can answer your questions, if you so desire,” he said. “And much... much more.” “Yes, well, I...” Rainbow's eyes traveled down. Incidentally, she glanced at his fetlocks, spotting several hooflets built out of sharp, rigid thorns. His limbs were scarred in many, many places. “Uhhh... I... uhhh...” “Please, do not be afraid,” he said, his voice full of youth and vigor. “My anointed name is Antsan, and—like all pilgrims of the Reed—I live only to enlighten.”