The Journey? Or the Destination?
"I've flown around in many pretty circles, but—I'm tellin' ya, lassie—I haven't had much luck in recruiting brave ponies to our cause!"
"Really?" Props leaned in towards the microphone of her communications array. "Why is that?"
"Yer a smart girl! Do I really have to explain it to ya, Propsicle?" Prowse's voice echoed across the bulkheads of the engine room. "It's a wee bit hard to trot up to random equines and say, 'Oy, there's a distant kingdom under threat from a shape-shifting death queen. Would ya kindly mind trottin' on board my dead friend's manaship so we could get the drop on her now that her drones have skipped off to oblivion?!'"
Zaid cleared his throat. "Well, when you put it that way..."
"Where've you been seeking help, Unky Prowsy?" Props asked. "Pleast don't say Gray Smoke."
"Ach, no! Them buggers can choke on their own farts for all I care! I've been makin' me flights around eastern Luxmare! But, with peace bein' the new big thing'n'all now, it's tough to talk ponies into fightin' for something on a continent far away!"
"You sure of that?" Zaid smirked. "That continent has its fair share of idiots."
"Aye, and you speak from experience, don't ya, laddie?"
Props frowned. "Hey! Don't be so snippy with Zaidy Waidy!"
"With who?"
Props suddenly blushed. Her blue eyes blinked. "Uhhhh... uhhhhmm..."
The microphone whined as Zaid leaned over and tilted it towards his muzzle. "Ahem. How about taking a right turn and giving the Xonans a shot?"
"Ehhh?"
Zaid shrugged. "If those dudes could believe a big glowy doom dragon was their goddess incarnate, they'll believe anything! I'd say have a go!"
"Hmmm... I haven't seen any of those tattooed blokes since I dropped off Arcshod and his Queen. But, now that I think about it, that could very well be the best plan."
"There ya go!" Zaid turned and smirked at Props. "That time I was speaking from experience."
Props grinned back.
Prowse's voice crackled: "How about your journey, lassie? For a solid week there, I couldn't reach you for the life of me! Had me worried sick!"
"Erm... y-yeah." Props grinned nervousy. "I'm soooooo super sorry about that, Unky Prowsy. We had to make a detour into this realllllllly snazzy crater for Rainbow Dash's sake. But we're out of it and we're on our way to Val Roa again."
"You made a detour for Rainbow Dash, huh?"
"Yup yup yup!"
"Lemme tell you something, lassie..." A crackling sound, and then Prowse's voice became suddenly clearer. "When it comes to that spritely haired pony of yours, there ain't no such thing as a 'detour.' The way I see it—she saved all of our lives back in Stratopolis. She is the journey. Stick to her like soot and you'll be just fine."
"Don't you worry one bit!" Zaid said with a grin. "We're clinging to Rainbow Dash every wing-flap of the way! Especially now that she's extra sticky!"
"Dammit, Propsicle, who is this? I can't put my hoof on his voice! Is he the blind one?"
"Uhhhh... duaaaaaaah..." Props batted the microphone back and forth between her hooves. "Oh noes! You're breaking up, Unky Prowsy! It must be a lightning storm!"
"A lightning what-now?"
"Give Xona a shot! We'll catch you on the flipside! Okie dokie! Bye bye!" Props flicked the communications array off and exhaled heavily.
Zaid glanced at Props. "You think the Tarkington could even catch up with us at this point?"
"If anypony can make an engine purr like a kitten, it's my uncle." Props looked up at him with a thin smile. "I'm sure he'll join us beside Rainbow in no time."
Zaid gulped. "That's what I was afraid of."
"Buh?"
"I don't look forward to being on the receiving end of a boomstick."
"Awwwwwwwww..." Props stood up. "Ya silly bean!" She hugged Zaid, nuzzling his neck with her blonde mane. "It won't be like that!"
Zaid sighed through a smile. "Ah... well... if you say so, then I feel better."
"Yeah..." Props closed her eyes, grinning. "Besides, my Uncle likes to beat ponies up with a wrench before shooting them."
Zaid's pupils shrank.
"Hey! I know! Heehee! You wanna have some more cheese?"
Zaid whimpered, "For as long as I have left to live..."
Clouds sped past the porthole windows of the mess hall as Roarke trotted through the chamber. She passed by a bowl of salad lying at the end of the table. Suddenly, the metal mare stopped. She pivoted her neck and stared with rotating lenses at the meal. After a few seconds, she trotted towards the kitchen.
"Ebon," she spoke quietly. "I see that Rainbow Dash's place in the table has an uneaten meal."
The stallion stepped out of the kitchen. He gazed blankly at the mare.
"Is she not hungry?" Roarke asked. "It seems odd for her to give up such good greenery."
Ebon kept staring.
Roarke's brow furrowed. "Ebon? Is there something wrong with your ears?"
The stallion twitched. "S-sorry. Heheh..." He rubbed his neck nervously. "I'm just not used to you calling me anything but 'breeder.'"
Roarke exhaled heavily through her nostrils.
Ebon gulped. "Right." He pointed at the table. "I made that for Rainbow ten minutes ago. She was about to eat, but said she forgot something she left in her room. I... g-guess she hasn't been back since."
Roarke turned towards the table. "Mmmmmm..."
"Hey! Would you like to remind her that her lunch is served? I'm sure she'd hate for it to go to waste."
"I think I will do one better," Roarke said. She turned and glanced at him one last time. "Thank you, Ebon."
Ebon blinked, then smiled sweetly. "It's my pleasure, Roarke."
Roarke expertly climbed down the vertical crawlspace while balancing the bowl with a prehensile metal tail. At last, she reached the bottom, pivoted about, and shuffled into the observation room. Daylight shimmered through breaking clouds, glinting off her metal parts as she entered.
"Rainbow Dash, I did the favor of bringing Ebon's meal to you. Perhaps you would be more comfortable eating he—" Roarke froze in her tracks.
Rainbow Dash was lying limp on the floor.
Roarke's lenses rattled. "Rainbow...?" She dove forward. "Rainbow!"
Clack! The bowl fell to the floor behind her, spilling lettuce and other vegetables across the floor.
Roarke squatted at the pegasus' side and lifted her in her forelimbs. "Rainbow?! Speak! Say something—"
"I hear you. I hear you," Rainbow hissed, stirring numbly in Roarke's grip, but completely awake. "I... unghh... heard you the first time." She gulped. "Just calm down..."
"You are... fine, then?"
"I'm okay," Rainbow wheezed, nevertheless draping off of Roarke's hooves. "Really..."
Roarke sneered. "You are not fine! Is it another dizzy spell?"
"No..."
"Rainbow..."
"Okay, yes, it was," Rainbow muttered. "But it's over now. Still... damn things take their toll on me. I was just catching my breath."
"For ten minutes?" Roarke frowned. "It's doing more than that, Rainbow. It's paralyzing you."
"Well, look at it this way..." Rainbow smiled dazedly at her. "At least it cures my insomnia!"
Roarke said nothing.
"... yeesh, I wish you could take your metal eyes off more often." Rainbow gulped. "It's getting hard to tell when you're glaring or not."
"You are right to suspect my ire," Roarke said. "It is not right to play off your condition."
"Hey... who's playing it off?" Rainbow remarked with a weak shrug. "It totally sucks. I know this too well, girl." She sighed, leaning into Roarke's embrace. "Timing couldn't be worse."
"How do you mean?"
"Mrmmff..." Rainbow closed her eyes. "Do I really need to explain it?"
Roarke bit her lip. She glanced back at the fallen bowl of food, then up at the hammocks. Holding her breath, she lifted Rainbow and placed her into the lower net, laying her body out so that she could rest comfortably.
"Ah jeez..." Rainbow grimaced slightly. "Next, you'll be singing me lullabyes or something."
"You are still too weak to move?"
"I... uh..." Rainbow stirred and stirred. She gulped. "I could use a few more minutes before I get my fuel back, I guess."
"This is not a good thing, Rainbow," Roarke said. "Your spells are getting worse."
"Mmmm... don't I know it?" Rainbow sighed, staring towards the bulkheads. "Thanks for being so swell to me, Roarke. Really. I just..." She paused to yawn. "...n-need a little more time, and then I'll be back in action. You'll see."
"And when your next attack comes," Roarke said. "How long will it take you to get 'back in action' then?"
"Hrmmmff... I dunno..." Rainbow curled up, her eyes shutting. "I think I'll sleep on it."
Roarke sighed and hung her head.
"Roarke...?"
The mare looked up.
Rainbow murmured, "If things weren't this crazy bad, I want you to know that nothing would have changed between us." She gulped. "Don't you ever think that you're... th-that you're just some sort of last resort."
Roarke's lips pursed. Her ears folded back as she trotted forward and rested a hoof on Rainbow's shoulder. "I believe you completely..."
"Good," Rainbow said. A smile crossed her muzzle as she drifted off to sleep. "So... don't be so stiff. Relax a little. Let your hair out..." Another yawn. "Mmmm... b-beautiful scarlet hair..." And she was slumbering.
Roarke stood their, her hoof lingering on Rainbow's shoulder. She stared silently into the metal bulkheads.
"And if color wheel boomer succumbs to the glimmer shimmer, what then?" Floydien asked, glancing towards the rear of the cockpit as the day beyond the windshield came to a dull end. "Nancy Jane and fellow boomers have much to work work."
"There's no telling when or where it will happen, but we have to come to grips with the reality of the situation." Roarke swiveled about, staring across the cockpit at the other three. "Rainbow Dash's end is coming soon. We must do something about it."
"Roarke..." Bellesmith fidgeted, clearing her throat. There was no hiding the wavering tone in her voice, much less the tears welling up in her eyes. "Roarke, Pilate and I have carried the weight of this fact for a long, long time. And as much as we wish for the better, we both know that—in the end—there is nothing we can do."
"So, as her best friends, you are willing to abandon her to her fate?" Roarke said.
"We are not abandoning her to anything," Pilate said with a frown. "Maybe there's more flame out there in the machine world that will give Rainbow Dash her strength back. Maybe the fate of the Austraeoh means for her to be 'reborn' again. There's simply no way for anypony to tell. Not us and certainly not her."
"We have to accept the fact that..." Belle choked back a sob. "Th-that one of these days, our options will run out. And then... th-then..." She held a hoof over her muzzle as she shivered.
Pilate leaned in to nuzzle her. After a breath he spoke to Roarke. "There has to be a reason for this vision... this new symbol that Rainbow Dash is seeing."
"Could it be another flame?" Roarke asked. "She's seen those before."
"Yes, but this isn't anything like it," Pilate said. "At least, not the way Rainbow describes it. There's no mention of the color lavender. What's more, this vision has a definite shape, instead of just being a vague light source that only she can sense."
Floydien shrugged. "Once a glimmer, always a glimmer."
"No, Mr. Floydien, this is definitely different," Pilate said firmly. "And it angers me that I can't come up with a solid explanation for it!"
"But you are familiar with the symbol...?" Roarke said.
"I've seen it—yes—but I have no way of deciphering it." The zebra sighed. "And, apparently, neither does Kera."
"I wish we had some sequencing equipment," Belle said, sniffling. "Maybe there's something new inside Rainbow Dash, now. A new spark to the Austraeoh that I could somehow examine for a solution..."
"And where would such shimmer metal be found?" Floydien tightened his jaw. "The boomers out here prefer wood and flame to clank and embers! Yes yes!"
"I do not believe that there is any point in us trying to ascertain the situation any more than we already have," Roarke said. "If you ask me, I believe the answer has already been given to us."
Pilate tilted his head aside. "How do you mean?"
"Yaerfaerda," Roarke uttered. "It can't be any coincidence that it has appeared to Rainbow Dash during the most intense throes of her chaotic condition. I believe the symbol is as much a beacon as the flames have been. Perhaps more so."
"You think we can help Rainbow Dash by following it?" Belle remarked.
"We owe it to her to try," Roarke said. After a deep breath, she turned towards Floydien. "Change our course. We are no longer headed to Val Roa." She glanced down the vertical crawlspace. "Not without Rainbow Dash in good health..."
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I'm anticipating a “Rainbow Dash 2: The Return of the Groove" relatively soon.
Rainbow Dash is not going to like this one bit.
Oh, okay,
This is certainly different.
Roarke is the new "leader" and she's going to try and find a way to save her love's life.
That's both romantic and awesome, awesomely romantic, romantically
apocalypticawesome.4920934 Shell whine and fight and then they'll help prolong her life and she will be angsty and then she'll have hot make outs, and more, with Roarke and then everything will go back to normal and then...
But are you taking her to her eventual recovery or her tomb Roarke?
--- Oh my. Rianbow's friend haz hands. dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/Emoticons/misc_Lyra.png
So. 19 chapters to go. Rainbow getting hit worse and worse. Race against time, most likely. Hooo boy.
Speculation:
RD saved. Val Roa burns. Roarke is ded.
Don't worry Roarke. Your marefriend is only half dead. She might hate you for saving her at the cost of the bloody town.
People really need to get to know the story about the hair, just to clear the air.
4920954
Yeah I'm expecting it to go something like that.
Eh Rainbows probably gonna be pissed, but she can sod off. Roarke cares for her and its going to be hell on earth before she lets something happen to Rainbow.
The Tarkington is in good hooves.
"Beautiful scarlet hair"
Well, I certainly hope Roarke knows what she's doing. Hang in there, Dash...
I love Roarke. I swear.
Another detour. We're getting pretty close to chapter 200. I wonder how this'll affect the conclusion of Urohringr.
I'm seriously not sure what to think of Rainbow's fate. I've said it before--and I still feel inclined to think--that Rainbow will die in book six. There's a certain structural logic to it (being the halfway point of the series, and all), as well as the poetic factor involved in Easthorse dying when there's no more east to fly to. It also explains the persistent tagging-along of the Jurists; after all, someone has to continue her journey for her. In this regard, I wonder if the Yaefaerda symbol represents death--travelling "across the worlds", as t'were.
But on the other hand, something about it smells funny. As was said in this chapter, Rainbow Dash is the journey. It just wouldn't be the same without her. There would be something inherently unsatisfying about Rainbow not seeing all this through to the end. Besides, Rainbow's passing seems too plainly laid out; IC is rarely that straight forward. And in this regard, perhaps the new symbol really is a beacon of hope; a lighthouse steering chaotic ships to cleansing waters. Whether Rainbow lives or dies, I can't help but feel that something big is coming for the halfway mark, and a glorious rejuvenation would certainly fit the bill.
Either way, I'm eager to see. Until then, Roarke is best substitute leader.
4921203
There was a story I read where the main antagonist is in a coffin for half the book. We could very well have RD dead, and then in Yaefaerda a rush to find a way to revive her. Heck, RD could even be dead for the entire Yaefaerda, while the Jurists collect materials or info or something, maybe finding out that they need to go to the dark side for a cure.
dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/Emoticons/shrug_Twilight_Sparkle.png?wrap=true
I wonder...
If Rainbow Dash were to pass away, would the chaos inside of her try to take over?
4920946
To:
EMISSARY OF EQUINITY
TWELFTH AND A HALF STREET
APARTMENT SEVENTY BEE
MANCHESTER,
SENTINEL #3
FroM:
THE DESK OF FLOYDIEN
NANCY JANE
WILDERNESS
FRAGMENT OF UROHRINGR
Yay, new epic quest time to find the Rainbow Dash saving Mcguffin
Rainbow is in good, metal hooves. Save your lover roarke! This new beacon has got to be something extremely helpful to rainbows condition.
4920963
She's only mostly dead!
Sleep on it, Rainbow? And waste an scene of you being fed salad by Roarke in bed?
4921203 Her problem with Applejack's ghost has been resolved, so it could be a good time to kill her off. She still could return later, as fitting her messianic archetype. Rainbow Optimus Neo Jesus.
4921443
Good question, I had always thought, seeing as the chaos energy transfered from discord to Rainbow when she killed him, that upon rainbow's demise, it would attempt to find the nearest host and infect them. Conservation of energy and such.
Also, I just keep thinking about how far Roarke has come along in character since her introduction. Rainboarke forever
And that is the pinnacle of strength and devotion: the willingness to take control of others for the sole purpose of getting shit done.
Nah, that'd kill us all with diabetes and then Skirts would be left without readers.
"We are no longer headed to Val Roa."
Set course for a balanced breakfast for Rainbow Dash. Make it so.
Not unless we take a detour to save Rainbow, during which time Chrysalis heals up and rebuilds her brood, leaving an epic battle between the Jury and Tarkington versus the brood in Yaefaerda, ending in chapter 194, with Rainbow sacrificing herself to save the rest of the Jury, and having figured out that the Jury are the new Elements.
Or not. I dunno.
I really hope the Jury finds something for Dash, or just to help, one way or another, wherever it is they are going.
It would be very intresting if the diagram is not just A flame, but The flame, The Core.
The Valkyrie Will fly again?
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/40/North_American_XB-70_above_runway_ECN-792.jpg/306px-North_American_XB-70_above_runway_ECN-792.jpg
Hold on, last time it was Yaefaerda, and now it's Yaerfaerda? WHICH IS IT?
Feels like something's gonna be rushed if we get a resolution/satiation on the topic of Val Roa. Guessing we'll be following Rainbow's chaotically transmitted cancer till the end of the book. Looks to me as though it's gonna be suspenseful, tragic worry for the next half a month or so. Oh joy.
Um...
This death is coming quicker than I thought. She probably won't be able to hold out all of book six.
prowse/zaid fight incoming
Chrysalis will be dead from old age by the time they get to her
4921242 What story is that?
Hmmm... Another book that will end up with Rainbow dead only to be revived in the next.
Considering IC says in this that Dash is the journey, I don't think he'll kill her off. Hes laying all the signs that yes she will die, but has he ever been as straightforward as that... things are never as they seem
4920946
I see what you did there
4931907
Heh, Zaid's going to be in for it soon.
But I wonder where this symbol will lead them.
-Spirit
It seems that Urohringr is finally coming to an end, and Yaefaerda is getting ready to begin. I totally didn't just say that so I could save "Yaefaerda" to my phone. Anyway, I hope that if Rainbow does die at all, then this would be a good example. She gets a dizzy spell, and them she fades away into a blissful sleep. And then she is reborn or something because I know she has to stick around till the end.
We still have 19 chapter to go and I have no idea what can happen. Everything that could have happened, already happened.
6039072 but that's half the fun. Not knowing what is next.
A long shot is still infinitely better than no shot at all.
Prowse may be good, but mana engines are no match for flame-tomes and skystone.
I doubt your meddling's gonna go over well with Paint Bucket, Roarke...
4921242 What book was that?
That was no detour, it was a shortcut. A shortcut to pegasi!
Don't worry, brother Zaid, at least you won't be concipus when he blows you to smithies.
Aha! I see now! Before the next book - or even the one after it - I have discovered what "a new transformed rainbow dash" means!
The tree of life - as is self-explanatory - shall cure dash and reinvigorate her!
She is not meant to die yet, so the tree is calling.
The damn piece of kystic wood is literally just sending brain pulses into her cranium saying "come find me before you die!"
I can already tell this upcoming book is gonna focus a lot less on RD herself, but on the capability of her companions.
It's like Doctor Who, only without time travel.
Or aliens. And ancient symbols.
Roarke taking charge, me like. She's gotten her chance to feel love and ain't backing down.
No! THE FOOD!
At least put it down safely before you run over, dammit!