Getting the Hang of It
Rainbow Dash lay on her side, stirring ever so slightly in her sleep. The mare's muzzle tensed while her ears flicked one after the other.
As soon as a brown hoof reached up from beneath the hammock and gently stroked the pony's chin, Rainbow Dash murmured an unintelligible noise.
"Rainbow Dash..." Roarke's voice spoke. "Rainbow...?"
"Mmmrmmf... hrmmmm..."
"You must get up," Roarke continued. "Please. I insist. This will only take a moment."
"Grff... so m-many moments..."
"I know. I know." Roarke's forelimb pushed Rainbow Dash straight up in a sitting position. "Now, open your eyes."
"Mrnngnhhhh... f-fiiiiine..." Rainbow's eyelids parted ways. A pair of jaded ruby pupils squinted at the starry night beyond the observation room's windows. "What am I looking for?"
"Do you see the Yaerfaerda simble?"
"Guhhh... yes..." Rainbow yawned. "Of course..."
"Is it straight ahead of us?"
"Gzz-zzzzz..."
"...Rainbow."
"Snkkkt-zrkk-huh? What?"
"The symbol..."
"Oh. It's... it's..." Rainbow lazily rolled a hoof through the air. "A bit to the right..."
"How much?"
"Huh?"
"How far to the right?"
"Eugh... I dunno. Just—like—to the edge of the windows. Starboard side." Rainbow's head teetered. "Not sure what it matters anyway."
Roarke was busy craning her head towards the vertical crawlspace behind her. "Forty-five degrees towards starboard! Bend south!"
"Yes yes yes!" Floydien's voice echoed back down. "Adjusting to your metal muzzle mutter!"
Rainbow blinked. "Uhhhhh... Roarke?" She glanced aside. "What are you doing—?"
"Look now, Rainbow," Roarke said as the Noble Jury stopped pivoting. "Are we facing it now?"
"Huh?"
"The symbol. Is it dead-center with the windows, now?"
"Uh... n-no?"
"Where is it, then?"
"Like—just a sneeze to the left. Why—?"
Roarke tilted her head towards the cockpit again. "Fifteen degrees to the north! Port side!"
"That is one elusive glimmer shimmer!"
"Since when did you chart the stars with a space elk?" Rainbow droned.
"How about now, Rainbow?" Roarke asked.
"Roarke! For pete's sake!" Rainbow sat up, fidgeting. "Just what is going—"
Thwump! Roarke shoved Rainbow back down into the hammock. She leaned in, her metal lenses pistoning outward coldly. "You will tell me when it is centered. Do you understand?"
Rainbow gawked at her. She gulped and said with a cracking voice, "Just a tinnnnnny hair to the right."
"Floydien! Five degrees to the south once more!"
The Noble Jury pivoted slightly.
"There... uh..." Rainbow pointed a weak forelimb straight forward. "We're lined up, now."
"Are you sure?"
"I... I-I guess so..."
"Hrmmm..." Roarke took a deep breath. At last, she trotted over to the crawlspace and shouted up, "Stay on course! Do not meander north or south from this direction unless I tell you to!"
"Whatever the megaphone boomer says!
"But Roarke..." Rainbow winced from where she lay in the hammock. "Val Roa is—"
"Not our priority right now. You are." Roarke trotted up to the hammock and stared at the pegasus. "Don't mistake my actions for single-hearted heroism. I have the will of the entire crew backing me up."
Rainbow shrugged. "I wasn't assuming anything."
Roarke's pistons retracted. "...oh." She tilted her head down.
Rainbow gulped and produced a nervous smile. "But... uhhhh... that's really swell of you, Roarke, to be thinking of me."
"Indeed..."
"But... for Celestia's sake!" Rainbow's brow furrowed. "What is this going to accomplish?"
Roarke pointed out the window. "Something out there has a connection with you. If, perhaps, you are indeed destined to be Austraeoh, then helping you attain it might assist in your well-being."
"Roarke, I dunno if anypony's told you, but I'm infected with a bunch of chaos crap." Rainbow clenched her jaw. "I was dying long before I figured out any of this Austraeoh stuff and I'll be dead long after."
"Then you have given up?"
"No!" Rainbow sighed. "I didn't say that. It's just that Val Roa is insanely important and I've put it off for too long! Now's not the best time to be flying after a wild goose chase. I wanna know that I died doing something that mattered—"
"Even if that meant denying your own purpose?"
Rainbow blinked. "Huh?"
"Do you believe it's a complete coincidence that you stumbled upon Stratopolis, the remains of Commander Hurricane, and Sword of Solstice all within a short frame of time?"
Rainbow simply gawked at Roarke. "Uhhh... uhhmm..."
Roarke leaned forward. "And do you think the harmonic end to the Ledomaritan conflict could have been accomplished without you? Or the illumination of the Durandanans? Or the—"
"Roarke..." Rainbow gulped. "What do you believe in?"
Roarke stopped dead in mid-speech.
Rainbow raised an eyebrow, staring at her.
Roarke leaned back on her haunches. After a long breath, she said, "I believe that going to Val Roa will be pointless without you."
"Heh..." Rainbow slumped back in her hammock. "I see..."
Roarke hung her head. "And the same can be said of many... other th-things..."
Rainbow turned her head towards her.
Roarke sat in melancholic silence.
Rainbow smiled weakly. "I thought I'd be dead before I ever heard you buying into all this 'Austraeoh' stuff."
Roarke took a dee breath, nodding. "It c-certainly is close enough..."
Rainbow bit her lip. She closed her eyes with a sigh. "Roarke..."
"You should get some more rest." Roarke turned around to leave the observation room. "Thank you for your assistance in plotting a new—"
"We picked a lousy time to kiss each other, didn't we?"
Roarke's body froze. Her ears folded back. Slowly, she pivoted about, shuffled back towards the hammock, and nuzzled her cheek up against Rainbow's.
Rainbow's face flushed as she reveled in the soft, fuzzy gesture.
Roarke finished by running a hoof through Rainbow's mane and gazing straight way at her. "...does that answer your question?"
Rainbow gulped. "In sp-spades," she sputtered.
"My faith in you is not a trivial thing," Roarke said in a firm tone. "You have transformed my life from a metal-cased corpse into something that lives and breathes. If miracles can happen once, then surely they can happen again."
"Heh..." Rainbow smirked. "And I like the way you squeak when I featherstroke your hooves."
Roarke opened her mouth, lingered, then muttered with rosyc heeks, "I concede to your superior statement of affection."
"Heeheehee!" Rainbow clutched her blue tummy as she smiled. "Dang straight, you do."
Roarke's lips almost curved, but a sudden paleness overwhelmed her. She stared shudderingly towards the side.
"Hey..."
Roarke looked up.
Rainbow gave her a thin-eyed grin. "You're pretty cool, y'know... shoutin' orders like that. Getting the Noble Jury to follow you."
"As I said, this is a coordinated effort, Rainbow—"
"Horseapples! You know how long it took Floydien to take a direct command from me? Face it, you're a natural-born leader."
"Rainbow—"
"You're the Jury's natural born leader, and if I should—"
Roarke braced Rainbow's shoulders with both hooves. "You should concentrate on feeling better." Her lenses rotated. "Relax now and save your strength for whatever it is we might find when we reach the symbol you see."
"Roarke, we don't even know how far away the dang thing is."
"Which is why I've ordered Floydien to be as swift as he can."
"Heh... ya see?" Rainbow smirked. "You're totally on top of the game."
Roarke gulped and nodded. "I've had divine inspiration."
"You know what? I believe you."
Silence.
"I... am sorry for having to wake you," Roarke muttered. She shuffled backwards on her hooves. "I had better check on the rest of the ship."
"Really?"
"I... I believe..."
"They can handle themselves for a while, Roarke..." Rainbow fought a wave of dizziness and stammered, "Don't ya think?"
Roarke bit her lip. "Then... then what am I to do...?"
Rainbow blinked, her eyes lighting up. "Stay here with me?"
Roarke stared back at her. She glanced at the hammock, then back at Rainbow. At last, she stood up on her hind quarters and slid her forelimbs under Rainbow.
The pegasus rocked awkwardly in the hammock. "Uhhhh... uhhhhh—Roarke—?"
With sudden grace, Roarke slid herself into the hammock beside Rainbow. She shimmed and squirmed until she was lying against the net with Rainbow's back reclining against her.
"Whoah..." Rainbow wheezed.
"There..." Roarke spoke as the hammock slowly rocked to a stop. "Is that not more agreeable?"
"Oh..." Rainbow gulped. "I agree. Heh... I agree whole-heartedly." Rainbow glanced at the net with a slight giggle. "I-I'm just killing myself on the inside, trying to figure out how you did it."
"Mmmmmm..." Roarke's forelimbs wrapped around Rainbow from behind. "...pegasi are not the only equines with poise and grace."
"Me? Poise? Grace?" Rainbow chuckled and leaned her head back against Roarke's chin. "If you say so, girl..."
"I will stay here as long as you wish me to," Roarke said. She leaned down to nuzzle Rainbow's ear. "Be it a long flight or not."
Rainbow gulped. "Yeah... that's..." She exhaled with a squeaky voice, "That's cool..."
Roarke's brow furrowed. "Uhm... Rainbow? Is there something wrong with your—?"
"Just don't mention 'em!" Rainbow blurted, her cheeks blood red. "They'll... uh... th-they'll relax soon. I promise."
Roarke cocked her head to the side. "Ah... I see..." Her lips curved slightly as she stroked Rainbow's mane. "I understand now why you were never on your back the other night."
Rainbow wheezed and murmured, "Th-they're not as fragile as you think."
"Is that an invitation?"
"Uhhhhh... uhhhh..." Rainbow gulped. "I... th-thought the whole point of this was for me to relax."
"But of course..." Roarke kissed the top of Rainbow's head and held her closely. "I promise you, one way or another, you will get to your destination safely."
Rainbow sighed with a bittersweet breath.
"Do you not believe me?" Roarke murmured.
"It's not that," Rainbow said. "Just... being here... like this?" She closed her eyes and nuzzled Roarke's chest from behind. "...I almost don't care what happens to us."
Snap!
The hammock broke from the weight of the two.
Fwump!
The two landed on the floor in the exact position as they had dangled, with Roarke clutching Rainbow from behind.
As the metal mare's lenses rattled to a stop, Rainbow blinked dumbly towards the ceiling.
"... ... ...then again... ow."
Roarke bit her lip.
"...snkkkt—heeheehee!" Rainbow curled up in Roarke's embrace.
Roarke exhaled. Her lips closed as she held Rainbow close. Soon, a dry chuckling sound escaped her mouth, joining Rainbow's squeaky chorus.
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Does that mean Floydien is still listening to them while they're, ah, busy? Did she turn the megaphone off?
Okay, I'm a believer now. Those two are adorbs together... though I still say it will end in tears and kinda came out of nowhere.
Thirty-five crunches, ):(. Knock 'em out!
Teehee. They're adorable.
4924954
Rainbow is dying.
Roarke is showing signs of being a good leader.
We have less than 20 chapters until the book ends.
This is not a good omen.
I hereby declare DEFCON 1 status. The pistol is cocked. We are currently 2 Minutes to Midnight. Raise alertness level to Maximum Readiness. Mayday, Mayday, all hands brace for impact.
Because shit is about to go nuclear.
*pomf*
I asked it last chapter,I'll ask it again.
Roarke,are you taking Rainbow to get better,or to her tomb?
Dash is wearing the pendant, but Rourke will end up wearing Dash the pendant?
That was adorable as heck. I'm glad RD was more understanding of things then I thought she would be, though being as ill as she is likely helped with that.
Roarke squeaks? That's got to be adorable
Good episode of Rainboarke. So far, no significant levels of corn detected.
I really hope Roarke doesn't end up sacrificing herself to cure Rainbow. Somehow I feel like thats what is going to happen at chapter 200.
Holy gawd. Even as a longtime supporter of Rainboarke, I never anticipated these two being so cute together.
There seems to be a strong whiff of hope in the air, contrasted with a note of wariness and cynicism among the commenters. And I see where they're coming from; the timing for all this is odd. The end of Urohringr draws near, and really, there's only enough time for one reasonably short, climactic event. I'm guessing they're going to find the source of the symbol, for better or worse. Here's the catch, though: I think I speak for most when I assume that book six will be called Yaefaerda. Could be wrong, of course, but it seems like a safe hypothesis. Which means, if they do find the source of the symbol at the end of this book, the symbol's significance will likely extend through the next book. I smell a cliffhanger. We'll probably learn just what the symbol means at the end of this book, and book six will be one gigantic follow-through from that concept.
tl;dr - I doubt Rainbow will die at the end of this book, even if the symbol's meaning is bad news.
Now, Acceleron might be onto something in thinking that Roarke could sacrifice herself. Granted, that would be a huge downer, and it would suck for Rainbow to have lost both of her romantic loves, and a helluva lot of new story mechanics would have to be introduced to facilitate such a sacrifice. But it's possible. Terrifyingly so.
...damn it, knowing IC aka SS&E you never write a happy story...I fear for these two when your keystrokes determine their fate.
4924971 I don't agree with your Defcon 1 status. I think things are more serious, but this is setup for a miracle. It'll be a miracle dragged through hell, but a miracle nonetheless.
The thing is, it was claimed by Luna/Celestia that the chaos would kill her as it and harmony tore her apart. What if... what if it just transforms her in a way they didn't account for?
But seriously, that was crazy d'awwable. One of the sweetest moments in the entire series. We're all shipping Rainboarke so hard right now.
If you end it, we will end you.
Title Obtained: "The Hammockslayer."
Awwwwwww. That's adorable.
Now, time to panic. Something is going to go down by the end of this book, and I'm scared to think what. The obvious thing would be Rainbow dying.
But I do think 4925471 might be on to something.
Either way it's going to to be sad.
That...was perfect.
4018814 I'm still on the second story, (I'm not even going to try to spell that name and I'm a little too lazy to copy and paste it at the moment), but I've calculated that if I can read at least fifty chapters per day I can catch up before the final chapter of book 5 is written as I've recently been a bit out of it and have resolved that even if I read nothing else on this site I WILL finish this series.
Hhnnnnnnnnggggggg
All of the hhhhhhhnnnnnnnnngggggggg
FUCK. seriously. How are they this cute?
I admit, I was pretty much anti Rainboarke a while back, when people were first hinting at it. I simply could never see it happening, what with the baggage on both sides and Roarke's tendency to blend in with her more heterosexual society through her dialogue. But I gotta say, IC has done this beautifully so far, and I'm glad they've both found ways of coping through each other.
Also,
This is the second time I've seen this written as Yaerfaerda, starting to get a little confused on whether that "r" belongs or not.
Did anyone else think this is hinting at something? Maybe Roarke's been chatting with Luna in her dreams to get help with Rainbow?
4926195 it' so truuuuuuue
4926294
I think it might've been intended to have an R. Oh well, doesn't throw it off too hard.
I wonder myself how far off it is.
4925471
Oh dear Valkyrie, please no.
There. Destiny. She said it.
...dying has never been this adorable.
Roarke is getting too cute.
Baah ha haa! So much adorableness. *Squee* So cute~
4924971
I'm not even going to worry right now, I'm just going to sit back, relax, and enjoy to RainbowRoarke love fest.
Oh dear Faust, they're all going to die, aren't they?simbletone.com/i/simble-tone.jpg
adorableness overwhelming. Please let everyone survive, we have become too attached to them. If any couple absolutely MUST be destroyed I vote zaid/propsy as they are mainly comic relief.
so..... much...... D'AWW
Hmmmm I wonder what comes next. I'm thinking more Austraeoh style travel.
This is even better than Roarke feeding RD the salad.
Ok...
forget the sheets, Rainbow needs a new bed
Heh, I now have a mental image of Roarke casually telling the rest of the crew over breakfast that they broke Rainbows bed.
And that's why even though I sleep in a hammock, it's built into a loft bed frame with a proper mattress on top.
Come on, we can save Rainbow! Full speed.
-Spirit
I will kill someone if this beautiful Rainboarke ever ends.
Ah yes, the chronic wing boner
4925726 so, were ou right about Rainbow 'transforming' in an unexpected way? If the new book ynanhluutr has anything to say about it in the description...
Also, I hope my paranoia is wrong here....
Roarke Laughing. god, It's amazing.IT's funny though, People who Weren't paying attention may think this is a sudden inexplicable 180 degree character change for her. but it's not, It's been a slow, gradual long time process, Going all the way the chapter where Rainbow saved her life after kicking her ass.
The last quarter of this book though has just been a culmination of all the little things finally starting to build up into something wonderful. I'm a little scared of whats coming in the next book now, For roarke and Dashes sake, but I'm also Super excited for Where Her character is going.
RIP hammock. All you wanted was to hang around.
Oh god, these two are the best. I think the anticipation of it made it worth more than Praid, haha.
Those two are absolutely perfect for each other in every single way. Way back in Eljunbyro... or I guess Innavedr, I never thought I'd see Roarke even a fraction as awesome as she is now. I mean yeah, she's always gonna be a badass flank-kicker, but now she's fuzzy and affectionate and everything else that can make us love her all the more.
~SolidFire
6882000
Eljunbryo. She showed up in the Foxtaur Mountains when she got her flank handed to her by Dashie, and then her life saved by Dashie. Then in "Rise Again" saved Dash from Shell, whisking her off to the Searonese Hold. Although not quite a main character. She made a huge entrance, left a huge impression. And started showing some character, even if that character was Texas, in pony form.
Although it wasn't until Innavedr when she was given screen time, more of a character, and she truly became part of the team [around the same time Floydien [introduced at the end of Eljunbro] reunited with Nancy Jane, and the Noble Jury formed.
7023708 Foxtaur Forest
...simble?
Yes, you should've done it a book and a half ago.
There's nothing straight about any of this
A match made in heaven
06/12/2017
17:18 UTC