A Hard Act to Follow
Beside the stationary Noble Jury, Bellesmith and Pilate cuddled closely with one another on the grass. They weren't asleep, but they weren't exactly awake either. Their calm breaths were interrupted every now and then by a sad shudder or a sniffle. Otherwise, they were still.
Ebon and Eagle Eye sat not too far away along the Jury's hangar doors, their slumbering expressions frozen in a melancholic glaze. Further inside the hangar entrance, Props slumped in Zaid's faithful forelimbs. The two of them were as cold and still as the metal bulkheads of the Jury that loomed around the two.
All in all, a bitter quiet hush hung over the Jury as they greeted the dawn.
And then the dawn greeted them.
Kera was the first to notice it. Her tattooed face twitched, wrinkled, then scrunched. Her soft eyelids fluttered open, crusty with the salt of nightly tears. She squinted her emerald eyes, peering into the mists. She stood up, climbed over Bellesmith's tail, and padded quietly through the grass.
She passed by Roarke, who stood at the forest's edge with her head bowed. Upon hearing the crunch of leaves from the filly's small hooves, the metal mare looked up. Her brow furrowed as she followed the foal's gaze. Roarke's head tilted up, and she gazed into the treeline with whirring lenses.
Belle looked up as well. A slow gasp escaped her muzzle with increasing velocity. She vigorously shook Pilate, who snapped awake.
Ebon and Eagle woke from the sudden commotion, peering upwards to see. Not long after, the rest of the Jurists trotted quietly out of the ship's hangar. Josho, Floydien, Zaid, Props, and even Booster Spice stepped out into the clearing, all of their eyes locked on the mountainside.
The fog was receding, dissipating. It ran up the mountain's southern face like a reverse blanket, evaporating with translucent tendrils along the way. Within the span of a minute, the entire cloud of mist had vanished, exposing every beautiful green treetop in the crispness of dawn.
Kera gawked at the sight. She spun and looked at Belle and Pilate, her muzzle dropped. The couple stood up, trotting softly towards her in numb awe. Suddenly, Belle flinched, shading her eyes. Pilate lurched to a stop, tilting his head towards his beloved worriedly.
Curious, Kera spun around—and she too had to squint. The sunrise had just broken the eastern edge of the mountain, and it pierced the fir trees around Amulek with multiple golden harpstrings.
Kera had to rub her eyes. Roarke, on the other hand, stared persistently through her guarded lenses. Her lips pursed, and it wasn't long after that an uncharacteristically dainty gasp escaped her lips.
Wincing, Kera looked up, once again braving the brightness.
As the sun slowly swam its way above the mountain's edge, a petite figure came into focus, trotting quietly towards the Noble Jury, emerging from the dense forest with all her healthy limbs intact. An unblemished coat shone like the blue sky itself. At last, when she had fully entered the treeline, Rainbow Dash came to a stop with a rattle of her pendant, bearing a devilish smirk.
Kera gaped. Slowly, she sported a tattooed grin that almost mirrored the mare's, if only it weren't for the happy tearstreaks. She waddled forward, ran, galloped—then threw herself into Rainbow Dash's chest, nuzzling her fuzzy coat.
Rainbow wrapped a hoof around the filly, messing up her mane. With a slight chuckle, she looked over the child's shoulder. When she locked gazes with Belle, her cheeks turned suddenly rosy.
Belle was lurching forward with Pilate not too far behind. She reached a trembling hoof forward, giving Rainbow's face and ear the lightest of feathery touches. Rainbow giggled and nuzzled Belle's hoof back. At the warm touch, Belle finally caved. She flung herself forward, swallowing Rainbow in a deep hug with Kera smooshed in between.
Breathless, Pilate wandered in a zig zag, reaching forward with a stumbling hoof.
Rainbow pulled her neck out from Belle's nuzzles and gave a sharp whistle.
Pilate jerked towards the sound, collapsed, and practically plowed the group over with his hug. The four of them laughed and sobbed at once, all of them clustering together to hold Rainbow Dash tight.
Eagle shivered, holding a hoof over his muzzle. He glanced aside at Ebon with a bittersweet smile. Ebon smiled back, nuzzled him, then grasped the unicorn's hoof with his own—graciously leading him forward. Soon, both stallions were squatting down, reaching in to nuzzle Rainbow Dash as dearly as they could.
By this time, Props was bouncing in an ecstatic circle around the group, whooping and hollering her head off with several tosses of her blonde mane. She barreled into the pile, causing several ponies to chuckle breathlessly. Zaid smirked, squatting down and hugging Props from behind while the engineer gave Rainbow a cheek-rub or two or twelve.
Josho leaned on his shotgun with a smirk. Floydien trotted up beside him. Josho glanced at the elk and did a double-take upon seeing a smile plastered across the pilot's muzzle. Scratching his chins, Josho gave the air a booming laugh while once again returning his gaze to the warm scene.
The laughter was not unheard. Booster Spice glanced over his shoulder and spotted many familiar faces pouring out of the buildings of Amulek. From afar, the goggled stallion could see Merigold, Drakshaa, and several others emerging into the sunlight. The villagers gazed in shock at the clear blue skies and the golden dawn bathing their valley once again in wholesome warmth for the first time in months. Biting his lip, the stallion turned around and gazed happily at the returning hero. He clasped his hooves together and shuddered inwardly as his eyes moistened.
Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash was trying her best to catch a breath from all of the legs and hooves of friends enfolded around her. Chuckling, she blew her bangs out from her eyes and stared across the clearing. Her breath left her as her ears twitched.
Roarke stood across the clearing, staring into the hug. Her braids danced in the warm morning wind... and she smiled.
Rainbow Dash blinked. She clasped her lips together and grinned, a warm, lingering, amorous smile of contentment.
Roarke exhaled calmly, her cheeks starting to match the color of her mane.
Rainbow's teeth showed beneath her smile. She heard something—a shift in the wind. She tilted her head up from the center of the Jury, staring into the clear blue sky. For a second there she thought she saw something streaking overhead, the hint of dark red scales, and then those wings were gone once more. Her head fell to the mountain as the shadow slipped by, and then she glanced east.
Yaerfaerda was in another place, a distant, far-off destination. And now it glistened with a distinctly lavender shine.
Rainbow blinked, and she put on her best smirk. "Heh..." Closing her eyes, she calmly drifted back down to earth, caught in the loving hooves of Pilate, Belle, and Kera. "Awesome."
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I'm ready for Yugoslavia!
That's it, then. Time for yiffy-fart, which will, interestingly, be both the milestone 6'th book as well as the first one with a happy beginning. HOORAY!
Nopony dies, happy ending, that's something new.
What is this feeling inside of me?
Could it be the culmination of pent up emotions that are getting a release after several days of dread?
Yes, it just may be.
And it feels great.
4999517 Hey now, just because Urohringr ended with an uplifting note, it doesn't mean that Yaefaerda won't start with a tale of misery from ValRoa or Chrysalis punishing someone.
Or both!
He's all out of vowels, what's he going to call the next book?
So, Rainbow got a little boost from God, huh?
oi59.tinypic.com/ws7bwi.jpg
Rainbow is pony-Jesus...
Happiness at the end? Who hacked Skirts' account?
The return of space horse Jesus
4999546
Well unless it's the Jury or a new character that happens to be my namesake I couldn't care less. Everyone else can burn.
Joking, of course, but WHY DID YOU SAY THAT YOU JUST GAVE IC IDEAS YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS WHEN HE GETS IDEAS
IMRE.
4999558
I'd really love if part of Yaerfaerda is explaining just what the hell happened there.
4999557 I mean, Y is sometimes a vowel for reasons I never learned.
Woo! Eurosinger ends happily. And you guys know what that ♪♪meeeeeeeeeans♪♪
"Scratched his chins"
I love the dedication to Josho being fat.
Also now the question arises. Did the "god" character heal rainbow of the chaos?
Or would that be too Deus Ex for our sexy SS&E?
4999558
I'd say from Axan if it weren't "a soft hoof". Ringworld pony god has laminitis?
4999571
In my native language Y is a regular vowel, but there's no word starting with it, for unknown reasons ;)
4999567 Oh, please.
As if IC isn't sitting in front of the monitor with a glass of wine in one hand and a cat-sized pony on his lap while reading this and laughing to himself.
4999580 I don't think she's "healed" per say, rather it gave her a temporary boost in harmonic power. I don't think the Austraeoh can ever be pure harmony (at least not for long.)
Well then...?
4999617 someone needs to make an image of this.......
4999617
Well, obviously he is. He reads every comment, I think. He knows the events we fear, he knows when to talk about the foxes again, etc.
Wow. A happy ending. And no, I'm not saying "It's Skirts, therefore unhappy ending, lulz". He's written happy endings before. But... this is the first installment of this series that has basically no bittersweetness or tragedy about it (I guess there's a little, for the valiant changelings). The only thing that would make it happier is if Rainbow was cured, but that might be asking for a bit much. But as it is, I'm tickled pink.
Though, the alignment now between the Yaerfaerda symbol and the lavender color has me intrigued, as does its new location.
Well, so ends Urohringr. Y'know what? I think this was my favorite one since the original "Austraeoh". Nothing against the Ledomare trilogy--there were a lot of fun moments, not to mention some great new characters--but I think this story is at it's best when it's... on the road, as t'were. I can't wait for book six, and the other books beyond the horizon (literally).
See you there, Easthorse fans.
Huh. An almost anticlimactic ending. It felt so short. No ominous hints other than an axan sighting. Huh.
I eagerly await Book 6, Mr. ):(.
With that much harmonic power hopefully Rainbows affliction is held back for a while
Happy ending yay! I was totally not expecting this.
Hold on hold on hold on....
Theeere we go,perfect.
In my opinion at least.
Wow...
...Hard act to follow, indeed....I was on the edge of my seat there for several hours (in between the time where I wasn't and was actually moving around, but still...), worrying if it was truly the end for Rainbow there.
Well, her time's still going to come at some point, eventually. It's still in the prophecy there somewhere. But for right now, good ta' still have you with us, paint bucket.
4999699
Pretty much everything you just said. Great to have the story "on the road". Plus, there was all that world/history building with Statopolis. Crazy smooze pony battles and all that happened, too. There were the Naga/Lounge (that reminds me, I hope they can salvage Whizzball), the turtles of Alrafeo, and there was Durandana, which was FRIGGIN' AWESOME.
So... all those Changelings died. Damn. Onto Yiffy Ear Da!
4999567 Someone say my corpse's name?
Even now, it's hard to believe this book ended, especially since it's the one I caught up during.
On to Yaerfaerda!
Awesome indeed rainbow. RAINBOWS GOT HER GROOVE BACK!! (At least for ahwile) so glad I was right and didn't buy into all the doom and gloom, I kept hoping and wishing she'd get better with this flame. Onward to Yerfranzferdinand! I wonder if booster well join the jury? Will roarke fix whizball?
Another job well done.
So she died and was reborn again.
Huh. Okay, so this was a circumstellar-style Ring, but around an artificial star. Yay, lore!
And this one just one of many. Just what was this galactic civilization? If they can control stars, they seemingly have abilities on-par with or even exceeding the Alicorns, yet were they ignorant of Chaos? Why would they fly into the cloud of chaos unless they didn't know it was a hazard? 
Were the Rings only habitats, or something more?
Also, WTF Axan?
4999937 Again.
Next time she gets double the frequent-dier points! 
Ever eastward, friends. Forward unto Not-Vowel.
To Val Roa! Something tells me Chrissy isn't going to be the big problem.
Ahhhhh, a very happy ending for sure. Urohringr is my second favorite of the series so far with Eljunbyro being in first, however barely at this point. On to the next adventure!
4999617
This needs to be a thing, someone, somehow make this a thing, I need it in my life.
Onwards, noble jurists, and ever Eastward! Here's to the end of another great installment!
It's weird, seeing a happy ending in this series. I want to say I like the change, but I'm too confused about what just happened to know how to react. Then again, the last time I was seriously lost regarding the ending of an arc, we got Eljunbyro, and I sure as hell can't complain about that.
Onwards and eastwards!
4999617
4999677
5000288
And since his avatar is disney's Belle, that's who it should be drawn as. Her, in front of the monitor, with Lyra on her lap.
Also holycrapthisending!
Flight of the Pheonix.
Now she is a Prodigy. A real Firestarter.
Now what to do when a village has months of expensive useless heavy weaponry laying about, and the person who actually saved them is about to head off over the horizon to tell everyone abou the loss of the silver mines for trade? Maybe its time for someone to make like a changeling, and bug out.
But, Jehova starts with an I.
Given a Bwylch(?), I suspct Y is a vowel in Welsh.
Sigh, all that advanced stuff that will no longer be made by the artisans.What a loss.
Well, might as well get up. Aint noone round going to read this, theyre all following East Horse in the Next chapter.
A tough act to follow indeed! You could certainly say that Rainbow... Rocks >:)
Wow. Another 200 chapters pass us by. We've seen so much and come so so far. Heh. It's not over yet.
Urohringr is done. I have fallen off the edge of my seat. We still don't know what Yaerfaerda means. All in all, more questions have been raised than answered.
Let's sail on Jurists.
4999795
Well done, sir.
4999839
A little jelly here. Your corpse it still more famous than mine and Zap's. And a legitimate Jury member to boot.
I shouldn't be, but I am. Just a little. I think I might have a great shot in the other one as a Big Bad, so I shouldn't be complaining.
Congratulations on 1000 chapters!
I was sure the Jury would think Dash dead till midway through next story. I'm glad this was averted.
5000381
The Spark lights the flame. Beautiful.
On to Yaerfaerda.
I look forward to six-word chapter titles.
The central theme of Urohringr has been this: “Who am I?”
There are three levels of conversation that we can engage in. The surface level is just small talk. “Hi, how are you?” “I need more coffee, haha.” “I know what you mean.”
The second level is the feelings conversation. This doesn’t tend to happen except with friends and family. It reveals, well, your feelings. You can learn a lot about a person by knowing how they feel, what scares them, what they want in life.
The third level of communication is the identity conversation. This reveals the deepest truths about what we believe about ourselves - and what we believe about who we are determines how we relate to everyone and everything around us. Many people will never get to this level of conversation with anyone, not even themselves, because this threatens the core of who we are - are we good enough, are we good, do we deserve to be loved? This is why therapists exist. Those who have had shared this conversation have usually only done it with a pastor, a spouse, or a very close friend.
And in this book, Imploding Colon has taken us into the identity conversation with each character, delving deeper than ever before. This question of identity has driven every character development and plot device in the book.
Starting, of course, with the aftermath of Lerris. Rainbow blames herself, Belle blames herself, Kera blames herself, Pilate blames himself, Roarke blames herself… and the central focus of all of this blame is the question of identity. Is Rainbow really the Austraeoh, the bringer of harmony? Is Belle fit to be a mother? Is Pilate fit to be a father (or a flat background nopony, as he had been for so long), or is he just a useless, handicapped nopony? Is Roarke just a mercenary, or does she have a heart? Can Kera be anything but a victim?
The Jury as a whole suffers the same question. As a group, are they destined for some sort of purpose, or are they just a ragtag band of refugees running from one horrific event after another? What is it, if anything, that holds them together?
Even the flying city of Stratopolis deals with this issue. Moreso the changelings within, as they are, uh, infected? With the knowledge of love from the temporary Applejack changeling to whom Rainbow showed compassion. They had been mindless drones, sowing and feeding on chaos and suffering, but now they are… capable of feeding off of love but possibly dangerous to those they do love?
Abinadi does not, as they are quite secure in their identity and strong family bonds, which brings stark contrast against…
Durandana! The big question of identity. Who are these pegasi? Where did they come from? And who will they become? We left them behind, so who cares!
Even the world itself struggles with the question of identity that was brought up in Innavedr.
But let’s look at the identity crises of each individual so far.
Elma, obviously. The changeling that RD rescued. Don’t need to say much about either.
Rainbow Dash: Bringer of Harmony… and Shell. Is she the prophesied Austraeoh? Obviously. A descendant of Hurricane? Probably. The new Valkyrie? Debatably. Just a pony running away from her past, and her feelings, dragging a bunch of innocent ponies along for the ride, collecting bruises on the way? Definitely. Destined for
greatnessawesomeness? Heck yeah!What that all means, well, that’s the question on her (and everypony else’s) mind. She’s not sure if she’s capable or deserving of love, but even so she’s more concerned with her friends and what will happen to them when she inevitably leaves (by distance or death) than she is about herself. She managed to finally open up to Roarke, but there’s still a lot of question about what it means to be the Austraeoh… but she doesn’t care. She can die happy in Roarke’s hooves, and I think that says a lot about who she is right now, and how she’s grown.
Of course, she won’t die. Because she’s Rainbow Dash. Or maybe she did die. What’s with the mysterious voice in the cosmos, the “soft hoof” who lifted her out of death itself?
Her relationship with Roarke deserves its own identity question. We don’t know if Rainbow has ever had a romantic relationship before; although she pined for Applejack, she never confessed her feelings. I’m going to guess that she had never done much dating before joining up with the rest of the girls, and probably hadn’t done more than a little kissing. We know that, despite Roarke’s extensive, uh, “bedroom experience,” she has never had a romance, either. I don’t think either of them knows how a relationship is supposed to work, and that’s a good thing. Too many real relationships are ruined by silly expectations.
Still, this relationship promises much drama, so feels (chapter 193, anyone?), and plenty of d’awwww. I am, however, scared of the potential for loss. I don’t want to lose Roarke, not now that Rainbow finally found somepony to be this close to. Roarke is also terrified of losing Rainbow - especially after having lost Imre, who was close to cracking her open. Whoever said “‘tis better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all” hadn’t lost as much as some people have. Rainbow may disagree, having lost AJ without ever having loved, as it were. Roarke, as well. Regardless, this is a most exciting and most welcome development. Rainboarke forever!
Roarke is probably the most interesting character in this book, and has been asking herself the identity question since Rainbow first kicked her flank in Foxtaur Forest, then spared her. But she didn’t allow herself to realize what she actually felt until Rainbow booted her off the ship. Since then, she’d been following the group, being introspective and deep in her own way. She returned, different. Generous to a rare degree. She was called a “rarity,” in italics, even. But now Rainbow has asked her to be loyal. I wonder what this means - is she going to be the new element of magic, bringing together the rest of the elements in friendship?
What that all means… is up for debate. But it’s obvious that she is somehow connected to
the element of generosityboth elements of generosity and loyalty? New elements forming around Dash? Some other possibility? I have no idea, and I’ve got a really bad track record about speculating on the future of this story. But IC has made it obvious that something is going on.Roarke has changed a lot in this book. Far more than she has changed since her introduction in Eljunbyro up to getting the boot after Lerris. She shows up with some fancy tech for Pilate, because…
She wanted to restore his confidence?
Wat.
Roarke what is I don’t even.
We see that what Rainbow said to her really cut deep. She’s trying to get back in Rainbow’s good graces by helping the ponies that Rainbow cares about. But it’s more than that; as she bonds with Belle, and with Kera, we get to see that she’s really changed. She actually has the well-being of her friends (and she has friends!) at heart, and even more than that, this includes their emotional well-being. She has a surprising amount of insight into Kera’s needs and feelings.
She’s looked into herself, and didn’t like what it was she saw there. Not many folks manage to accomplish that. Fewer still manage to do something constructive about it. She stopped threatening Zaid. She called Ebon by name. She had girl talk with Belle. She kissed Rainbow Dash, and talked about her feelings. She even played relationship counselor, bringing common sense back into EE/Ebon’s relationship. She’s managed to become a totally different pony without changing who she is. But now she’s got nothing without Rainbow. She doesn’t want to live without her. That’s big.
Ebon, obviously, has never really known who he was. We found out, along with Eagle Eye, that he is in fact a changeling. One of Chrysalis’ changelings or one of Tchern’s, we don’t know. Elma didn’t seem to drain the Jury when they showed her love, and neither did temporary AJ when Rainbow loved her. But Ebon did drain the life out of the original Ebon Mane. So he seems to be different, or perhaps just an aspect of changelings we haven’t seen, some sort of near-death recovery ability?
But that’s what he is, not who he is. The latter is the more important question. We are starting to find out, but Eagle Eye is hampering that process - or was, right up until the very end. Now that we’ve seen Ebon as a changeling, we see that he’s still him, even when he’s, well, black and shiny. Speaking of…
Eagle Eye asks the identity question constantly. Perhaps to an excessively angsty degree. Even before leaving his family in Franzington, he’s been asking the question. The Jury is the closest he’s ever come to finding an answer. He’s found a father figure in Josho, somepony to have girl-talk with and share shampoo (Belle), and maybe somepony to love. But he’s having trouble being honest, and there’s question (which he doesn’t seem to have picked up on) of whether the love is genuine or instinctually induced by Ebon in order to feed. He’s insecure, and scared. Scared that he’s not good enough for Ebon, scared of actually being happy. Hopefully his outlook improves now that Ebon is openly a changeling.
Josho’s struggle has been a bit more in the background, but with the end of the war, and his meeting the real Seclorum in Stratopolis… He’s trying to reconcile who he was with who he’s turning into. A remorseless soldier, a drunk who has been perhaps not as remorseless as he thought he was, saved by a pony he would have hated to have had for a son, who he now loves like a son. He tried to sacrifice himself on Stratopolis, and I think that’s evidence of his struggle with guilt, though now he’s starting to ask the identity question and he’s trying to be a father to EE, who desperately needed one to kick his ass and tell him to be honest to Ebon. Not that Josho knew, but still.
Props had been searching for her uncle for so long that when she finally found him, then found the real him, she kind of forgot who she was. She had to grow a lot in order to be her own pony without him. If she hadn’t found him, she may have been lost for a long time.
Zaid still doesn’t have much personality beyond stereotypical surfer-dude stuff, though he did his part to help Kera. His relationship with Props seems along the lines of “we’re the only straight and available ponies, so let’s do it.” Simon and Kaylee at the mutated cow fetus, yet successful due to not pointing it out. They may work out, if only because they’re the only ones weird enough to put up with each other. Still doesn’t reveal much about identity.
Floydien is still a mystery.
Kera, my dear sweet niece. She chose to leave behind almost everything she knew… then lost everything she had. Who could blame her for being catatonic? Halfway through the book, she wakes up due to miraculous intervention by Elma. Prior to that, the most development she’d had was eating some fruit with Zaid. And we were all ecstatic about it.
So Kera wakes up, and she’s totally fixed! Or not! “Fix me again, Elma, please…” Hm. It’s not that easy, is it? Watching someone you love die is hard enough. Watching ALL OF THEM die, and being told it’s your fault, well, that’ll mess somebody up pretty bad. It’s going to take a lot of work for her to ignore those voices in her head telling her that “it’s all your fault” and “you weren’t good enough” or “you should have done something.” “You’re useless.” “Worthless.”
Interestingly enough, the pony to help Kera deal with that kind of loss is a pony who’s never had the things that Kera lost. It’s fitting that they should grow together. With Roarke, Kera starts to get in touch with the powerful filly that she’s destined to become. Who knows what they talk about together, but Roarke has seen some shit. Kera has seen some shit. Of all the ponies on the Noble Jury (Dash excepted), I think that Roarke probably respects Kera the most, and has the most in common with her. This is a duo that I couldn’t be happier to see shape up.
Pilate finally managed to break out of the background. At least for a while. He had some angst in the background before Roarke thrust him into the action. Belle had been treating him (and Kera) like a useless, handicapped piece of scenery. He was starting to believe that’s who he was. He essentially had been useless except as moral support for Belle. Sure, he did some danger-ranger kinda stuff in Innavedr, but that was mostly Simon, who I think could have done it all by himself anyway. I suppose there was some exposition he translated from some ruins or a book or something, but we ended up learning about pretty much all of that from Nightshade anyway.
I’m sure Pilate has noticed this. In fact, since Lerris, he has been dwelling on it. Belle neglected to notice it, just as she had neglected so many other things. Being useless is a bad place to live, and it was showing. He really believed that it was who he was. That identity question was eating him alive. Shell could threaten his life, but the identity question threatened everything that he believed himself to be.
Pilate wasn’t the only one to notice. In fact, Roarke noticed that Pilate had been dwelling on it. And Roarke noticed that Belle had been reinforcing it, pushing him back down into the mud. Belle’s behavior was self-destructive and antisocial… and Roarke picked up on it, and decided to fix it.
Urohringr has been the book of Roarke, and the book of identity. “Awesome.”