Several Gray-Feathers stood side by side, all bunched up in a thick crowd at the tunnel's stone exit to the metal-floored chamber. They murmured amongst each other, craning their necks to see Rainbow Dash and Fawful.
"Is it true...?"
"She makes her own Gold Lights?"
"Impossible! Only the essence of Valkryie can create the Lights!"
"But the First-Borns say they saw her!"
"Could it be outsider sorcery?"
"Not a chance! Look at her. She's a foal of the Valkyrie just like the rest of us!"
"This doesn't make sense..."
"Duranda's scrolls would have mentioned something—"
"Please... please!" The elder stallion stood before the group, stretching out both his wings and his forelimbs. "Everypony, calm down! There is no need for this juvenile display! Be calm. Meditate! The Valkyrie's righteous intution shall make itself known to us!" He sighed, turned around, and gave Fawful a tired gaze. "Would you wish me to summon the high elders? If so, then I will need help passing by all of our fellow companions here..."
"Not... not just yet," Fawful stammered. She paced and paced before the helm, her hooves brushing over the half-illuminescent sheets of metal. "I... I-I just need a moment to think."
"Fawful," Rainbow murmured from where she hovered above.
"Just..." She gritted her teeth, staring ahead of her at all times while she trotted in circles. "Just concentrate... focus." She gulped. "Nothing Duranda taught suggests that a pegasus couldn't possess the Gold Lights from the Valkyrie. After all, we are all her foals. Why shouldn't she choose to hoof down even the barest sliver of her glory?"
"Please, girl... would you..." Rainbow winced. "Would you relax for one second? You're making me anxious just watching you!"
"There's... th-there's no reason to say that any of this invalidates the scrolls!" Fawful skidded to a stop, shuddering. "But the light... the light was so bright... and... and..."
Rainbow's hoof rested on Fawful's shoulder.
"Mmm!" The elder spun, taring up at Rainbow with twitching eyes.
Rainbow gulped and smiled. Slowly, that grin faded away. Her ears drooped and she glanced aside. "Look, I'm... I-I'm sorry..."
Fawful stared up at her, shivering slightly. "Why?"
Rainbow looked at Fawful once more.
Fawful was still, quiet.
After a breath, Rainbow gently said, "Look, I-I didn't come here to rain on your parade. What you all hold faith in, it totally works for you! I mean... you've got a pretty nifty society goin' on here! Fruit-picking, leatherback-milking, flight-racing and love-making?" She grinned. "That's all awesome! And I'm super happy to witness it all up close. So please... believe me..."
She hovered lower until she was a few inches from Fawful's gaze.
"I didn't mean to come down so hard on what you believe in," Rainbow said in a low tone. "It was never my wish to shatter beliefs or crush hopes or any of that jazz. I have nothing against this 'Valkyrie.' Heck, if she truly is the pony I think she is, then I believe in her too! Er... more or less. But... please, Fawful... understand." Rainbow bit her lip. "I'm not out to tear your faith to shreds. I-I wouldn't have anything to friggin' gain from that! I wouldn't want to gain anything from it! All things considered, I'm just passing through!"
"But... the Gold Lights!" Fawful stammered, her eyes turning misty again. "You... y-you summoned them." She gulped, shivering. "Nopony h-has ever been able to summon them without the essence of the Valkyrie..."
"Yeah, well, now that I have..." Rainbow hesitated slightly, then muttered, "Just what does it mean to you Gray-Feathers?"
"I..." Fawful grimaced. "I do not know." She gazed at the crowd of onlookers. "Already, even the slightest hint of what's happened here has made everypony... uneasy. I am less scared of what this means about the scrolls and more scared of what it means to every Durandanan."
Rainbow held her breath. She turned, glanced at the onlookers, then looked back at Fawful. "Maybe they don't have to know."
Fawful's eyes twitched. "Wh-what?"
"Sivrem saw me do a sonic rainboom up above! In the Raked Ravine!" Rainbow smiled sweatily. "I-I'm full of tricks!" She gestured with her hooves, wings beating heavily. "Fwooosh! Zooom! Ker-sparkle!! Heh... perhaps it was all an optical illusion, y'know? Silly guards are down here for hours on end—maybe their eyes just played tricks on them! Heh! Yours too!"
"Rainbow..."
"Or, y'know, 'outsider sorcery!' Nopony knows what crazy, wacky stuff happens beyond the greens!"
"Rainbow, don't be dishonest," Fawful said with a frown. "Even I can tell that it doesn't suit you."
Rainbow winced.
"It didn't work with Kitsune when you tried to pretend you were from East D, and it most certainly will not work here." Fawful gestured towards the onlookers. "Not before all of the Gray-Feathers, especially."
Rainbow hung her head.
Fawful trotted firmly towards her. "What else... do you know about the Lights?" Her brow furrowed. "About the Valkyrie?"
Rainbow opened her mouth, but hesitated. She stared forlornly at Fawful.
The elder mare waited with baited breath.
"What..." Rainbow fidgeted in midair. "...what if I told you that... th-that the Valkyrie was imbued with more than just the power to make these 'Gold Lights?'" Rainbow's eyes narrowed. "What if I told you that she was given power to wield the energy of the Lights From Above?"
Fawful nodded slowly. "That would be in accordance with the scrolls..."
"Right..." Rainbow flew in a slow circle. "And... like... what if there was—uh—an artifact, just like that helmet over there—only it was a direct vessel for the Lights?"
"You mean something that could make the lights on its own?"
"Erm... almost. But it so happened that the Valkyrie possessed it."
Fawful gave Rainbow a blank stare.
So the pegasus went on: "And... like... what if one of us—a mere pegasus—was to... er... stumble upon this artifact?"
"What kind of artifact are we talking about?"
"A sword," Rainbow Dash said. "A sword blessed with golden energy—like a living sunrise." She took a deep breath. "And... uh... it was something the Valkyrie used while she was still 'ruling the air.'"
Fawful eventually nodded. "The immensity of the Valkyrie's power has always held various interpretations in the minds of her foals. I can't see why a sword wouldn't factor into her righteous arsenal."
"I mean... she was totally a warrior, right?"
"Every Durandanan knows that—even from a sparrow's age."
Rainbow's eyes darted towards the helment. "How do you suppose Duranda got ahold of that?"
"She was given it by the Valkyrie herself."
"They knew each other in real life, right?"
"But of course. She was one of the few who was blessed to share breaths with the Valkyrie."
"And... like... what if history was different?"
"Huh?"
"Hear me out," Rainbow said, gesturing with a hoof. "What if Duranda was never directly given the helmet? What if she found the helmet... later... much later..."
"You mean... as if the Valkyrie visited Durandana?"
"I'm talking about finding it on the Valkyrie's grave, Fawful."
A few voices gasped from afar. Fawful glanced over. She shared worried looks with the stallion and other Gray-Feathers. Finally, she tilted her eyes back up to Rainbow. "Nopony knows the time or location of the Valkyrie's passing. She lives eternally in our blood. To... to assume anything about her final resting place is shameful."
"Well I know where she was laid to rest, Fawful," Rainbow said. "Because that's where I discovered the sword she last used." A gulp. "Up in Stratopolis."
"The... the evil cloud city."
"Yes."
"What would possess her to occupy such a place?"
"I tried to explain it earlier," Rainbow said, eyes darting briefly to the onlookers. "She was steering it away from Equestria. Comma—erm... the Valkyrie and her fellow soldiers—Duranda included, most likely—sacrificed their lives so that no equine civilization would have to suffer from this place. It turned out to be an even tougher job than they imagined. Something really... really nasty was waiting deep inside the bowels of Stratopolis. Once it woke up, it brought death to most of the Pegasopolitan expedition. I've every reason to believe it killed the Valkyrie off too, but not before she made a brave last stand, with several of her most trusted warriors at her side."
"The Valkyrie?" Fawful winced. "Defeated? That's..."
Rainbow stared quietly at her.
Fawful sighed. She rubbed her temple and grumbled, "It is not a concept that any of us can easily wrap our heads around."
"If there's anything I've learned from all my travels, Fawful, it's that everything dies." She blinked, then glance down at her pendant. "Sometimes more than once..."
"Huh?"
"But I'm telling you this: the sword is real." Rainbow looked up. "If I hadn't found it, I'd not have gotten out of Stratopolis alive. The power of the sun—or the Light From Above—saved me and my friends when I needed it the most. What's more, it allowed me to talk with my ruler—Princess Celestia—back in Equestria."
"Princess Celestia?" Fawful tilted her head aside. "What... I mean... how is Equestria related to the Light From Above?"
"Because..." Rainbow paused, then exhaled long and hard. "Because Princess Celestia controls the Light From Above, Fawful." She gulped dryly. "She makes the sun rise and fall."
The Gray-Feathers gasped and murmured in the distance. The stallion holding the line between them and Fawful shifted uncomfortably.
"Rainbow... d-do you realize what you're saying?"
"Yes. I know it sounds—"
"No single pony can control the Lights!" Fawful exclaimed. "Even the Valkryie—as glorious as she is—is empowered by the Light From Above! She's never wieled control over it!"
"Right! And Celestia blessed the sword that she gave Commander Hurricane to maintain harmony with! They also used it as a means of two-way conversation!" Rainbow swung a forelimb wildly. "I-I could even get you to talk to her yourself!"
"With your Princess? From far away in Equestria?"
"Yes! It's a really powerful magic spell."
"Too powerful if you ask me."
"And controlling the Sun is foal's play?"
"I'm telling you, Rainbow, no pony can do that!"
"Alicorns can!" Rainbow said. "They live longer than all of us mortals combined! I'm not saying that the likes of Celestia can make stars, but they come from a cosmic place so far away and so old that they've figured all that stuff out!"
"And it's Celestia's sole purpose to keep this realm lit?"
"Among other things, sure! Fawful, listen..." Rainbow sighed, gesturing with her hooves. "This is all pretty crazy stuff to take in, I'm sure. And... I-I could easily have just flown away and not said anything but... but..."
"But what, Rainbow?" Fawful asked, looking concerned.
Rainbow bit her lip. "I know what I know. And... and to think of leaving you ponies without letting you in on Commander Hurricane and Celestia and... and..." Rainbow grunted internally. "You're Equestrians, Fawful! You may not know it—or even feel it, but deep down—in your blood and guts and feathers—you're the same as me and all of the friends I've ever cared for... all the fr-friends I left behind... and... and..."
"...Rainbow?" Fawful suddenly stood up straight, worried. "What's wrong?"
Rainbow was teetering in midair. "Harmony... H-Harmony can't exist without th-the light... so..." Bulbs of sweat formed along her blue brow. "Buck me... n-not now... not here..."
"Fawful, what's wrong with her?" an elder from the tunnel asked.
"I... I-I don't know!" Fawful flapped her wings and hovered at Rainbow's level. "Rainbow, look at me. Are you ill?"
"So... so dizzy..." Rainbow squeaked, teetering forward. "Happening... again..."
"Valkyrie's Shout..." Fawful tried gasping Rainbow's figure. "Somepony, quick—"
"Mnnnghh..." Rainbow plummeted. She slipped through Fawful's weak forelimbs and collapsed on the floor. The metal instantly lit up with a gold aura, causing many voices to gasp and shriek.
Fawful hollered above the noise. "Get a wing-mender! Quick! She needs help!"
"Yes, elder!" Two First-Borns dashed up the tunnel, along with a few Gray-Feathers.
"Rainbow... Rainbow!" Fawful shook the mare's shoulder, cradling her. "Try and stay awake!"
"Can't... c-can't..." Rainbow's eyes were tearing.
"You'll be alright, just stay focused!"
"Whatever... h-happens..." Rainbow hissed, her eyes rolling back. "Don't... t-take my pendant off. Don't... d-don't..." And she went limp as the metal world spun.
Poor pegasi, they really get it rough in this series.
Is it just me, or are the dizzy spells hitting more often?
That's...been happening rather frequently, hasn't it?
4786234
Bah, ninja'd.
I think Fawful can handle it. She seems a good type.
If the pendant gets taken off at this point, I think the whole creator is going.
That title is so freaking ominous.
Sadly, no sultry scenes or sayings this segment. I suppose Swan Song's Sexy Shipping Synopsis shall succumb to silence this session.
Everypony (in the comments session) was expecting the Durandanan inquisition
4786236
Of course it has, there aren't any fight scenes to manifest dramatic moments with.
That was a lot to take in at once...
Isn't this like her second dizzy spell in the same day? That probably isn't a good thing.
Bloody meat chunks! This isn't good! If Fawful doesn't listen and they take the pendant off!
Oh no!
Somehow I suspect RD hotline to Celestia is going to be disconnected. Should have paid the phone bill.
4786339
yeah. as soon as I saw the title I thought "well I expected it".
perhaps the dizzy spells are coming because the crater thins the covering of the machine world and there is a flame here. we haven't had one of those in a while.
They're going to take off the bloody pendant.
God dammit.
I wonder. If those chaos flights were trapped inside one machien world tower, is there links, deep enough down, through the rest of the Machine world, and could they have the ability to follow Dashs Chaos beacon?
Wonder if Dsh is going to be allowed to rest there until she recovers, or if her emplacement is going to allow teh illumination of a set of access symbols through the surface or other in the chamber?
Meanwhile, Kera is throwing rocks and eating grasshoppers?
There has to be some shit about to hit.
Pendant removed.
Chaos Dash appears.
Kills a bunch.
She gets stopped by Kera.
Pegasus Society exiles her.
Rainbow Dash handled it really well I'd say.
That title tho... I'm sure we all expected it. It is this story after all. We need to do something for the remaining 46 chapters. Time for chaos dash to come out possibly. Or maybe a nice little meeting with sunbutt after finding a flame down there in the machine world. Gotta get our flame this book after all.
There's most likely a lavender flame somewhere in there. Those have historically provided her respite from the dizzy spells, yes?
I'm looking forward to Rainbow putting Celestia on speaker phone, even if it'll likely cause problems.
Oh boy I really hope they listen to her. If not well everyone is going to die pretty fast, Who knows maybe they will find a way to finally cure her. (that is really wishful thinking I know.)
4786900
I hope not, but I can see that happening.
4786236
I kinda had the feeling that they happened more often when she was close to machine world stuff.
Wonder what's gonna happen when the Jury finds out about all of this?
Something tells me that dashie is going to have a full armor set by the end of her time on the light side of the world.
So every great place they go has the potential to start the worst chain of events? I can buy that.
Something tells me that the pendant may be coming off in the near future.
faq
also this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tym0MObFpTI
...they'll take it off, right?
The trusty ol' one-two sucker punch to the bedrock of faith an entire civilization is founded upon. Nice one, Dashie.
4788193 that's colon for you /)
They're going to do the dumb thing and take it off.
-Spirit
You know, Rainbow is right. You can't let ignorance settle; in the end, no one is wiser.
well, as I previously said: shit! these dizzy spells are happening a helluva lot more often than before.
4806958 yes
Serious talks are in order.
The only issue is that even exposed to Princess Celestia they might not believe this. It's too radical of a shift...
Finished Towering Above The Rest disk 19
Holy damn, that's quite the wake-up call Dash dropped on all of those
DurandanansEquestrians. Hell, she's not really saying that all the stuff they believe in is a lie, she's just saying that she knows the rest of it. The Durandana ponies have their "bible", so to speak, but Dash has Jesus's coffee mug from the Last Supper and has one of his friends on speed-dial. Eheh, the last few chapters here have been absolutely insane, but I love them. I can't wait to get through more of it! Onward I go!~SolidFire
6869976
Best comment ever.
6869976 a-are you the spirit of Zaid come to life? That was quite the eloquent comment, and surprisingly accurate.
Phew. Rainbows influence won't be destructive or transformative, it will be transcendental. Certainly a first for this journey. We'll look back on the crater not just as another redemption but as a home away from home and a reassurance that the equestrian way is not just a fluke on the disc.
Shit. This is what colonialism feels like isn't it?
Hi!
Your god is dead
Your religion revolves around ignorance
I'm a decendant of your fabled god
I know someone who can't make stars, but she might as well be a nuclear reactor set to "burn eternally"
Surprise! Alicorns arw from Oa.
I have some god relics that act as a phone to a pony who raises the Divine light from heaven.
Didn't mention she has a sister tho.
Did I tell you that I'm afflicted with chaotic forces that render me prone for 1 hour? Disadvantage on all saving throws.
Oh yeah, and you're all harboring a long begotten hull of a giant world monitoring spaceship.
..whew, was that all of it?
Good thing I don't have Twi here, esle this may have turned into Waaaay bigger list.
8771480
I mean true
This is going better than expected.
So of course a dizzy spell hits.