Yaerfaerda loomed above a dipping horizon.
Sand dunes cascaded into a flat bed of salt flats and fractured earth.
Fissures ran in every direction while gusts of sand blew across the unfeeling landscape.
The sun baked, relentless in its punishment.
“It's hard to explain. Red from yellow. Blue from green. I'm sure there's part of you that remembers it all, Stripesy. The crimson shine of an apple. The vibrant emerald of lush grass. The sky has this blue hue to it that you can just dive into. Well, maybe not you, cuz you don't have wings. And—er—not here, I guess, cuz the sky over this place sucks dragon toes. When you think about it, colors are all in the words. I mean... I should know a thing or two about colors. I carry a bunch of them wherever I go. My old friends used to think it was super cool. I never got it. I'm awesome cuz of all the things I do. And what a pony does is what makes her... y'know? I'm not pretty. I never have been. Just... not pretty. Not pretty... not pretty... not pretty...”
The moon cast a silver sheen across the dusty swaths of stone.
Stars rolled slowly over the heavens.
Yaerfaerda blinked along the horizon, ever-waking.
“You are both so adorable together. I mean it. You really are. Just... don't get too wrapped up in the whole Chrysalis business. I mean, I know she's your Mom and all, Ebon, but she's made plenty of mistakes in the past. It's okay to forgive her, but don't live her life. Live your life. You've earned it. I don't want to... to know that you've thrown it all away for a defeated supervillain. I mean, no offense, but that's kind of what she is. Reformed or not, just... just be careful, okay? I dig you two stallions too much. You deserve... to live and... and love. And b-be loved. Please... just be loved...”
There were lights.
And then there weren't lights.
The world flickered between supremely hot and supremely cold.
Rainbow took breaks every now and then, eyes shut, limbs quivering.
She nibbled on her Heaven's Slices, the corners first.
She turned the nozzle of the Nebulum container barely a quarter of the way.
She was proud of herself for conserving as well as she could.
She was proud of all the distance she traveled... even if she couldn't quite make out what she was passing anymore.
She was proud... so long as she kept her eyes closed most of the time.
It didn't matter much... Yaerfaerda never went away.
And Rainbow Dash never died.
“I... I don't know what... what he wants... I really don't, Kera. But... he seems mostly harmless. Besides... you could totally kick his flank if you wanted to. Just... just give him space, cuz he's not gonna give it to ya. Guys... deer or ponies... they're easy to dance around. But don't ignore 'em. They're like sick puppies that need love. Or at least that's something Rarity used to tell me. She never ended up with anypony. She never... never was gonna... I-I mean all of the dress making. What stallion is going to wear that many frills? Sewing herself into a hole, really. She should have... g-gone into the wagon building business. Stallions... love to collect wagons. He may not be a pony, but if you showed up on this wicked ride... he'd be starry-eyed for a week. You wanna bet? Just don't let Roarke build it, or else it might explode in his face. Then who... who's... wh-who's gonna make you grasshoppers. Hmm... don't get it. Never... n-never did...”
Roaring.
“Just... so gooey... and icky...”
Roaring... crashing...
“And all the parts that would twitch in your mouth. Ewwwww. Gross city. Gross...”
Roaring... crashing... echoing...
Rainbow smelled salt in the air.
“...Kera?”
More roars.
“... … ...Kera?”
There was another gust of salt air.
Rainbow finally opened her puffy eyes. She stood on the crumbling edge of a sandy dune, staring out with a bleached face and chapped lips. Blinking, she squinted harder and harder.
The horizon gave way, dipping into a wide blue haze.
“I... I don't...” Rainbow slowly shook her head. “...Ding Dong? You seeing this? Almost like...”
The horizon undulated. White foam formed along the front, collapsed in on itself, and receded.
Rainbow Dash gasped, ears twitching. “...Luna Poop.”
And, just like that, an ocean.
Shame a sound stone wouldn't work this time.
Her friends might find her wisdom interesting.
Finall, salty water for Rainbow Dash that isn't from tears.
Though, this line is somewhat disturbing-
And Rainbow Dash never died.
Past tense? That could refer to so many different instances.
...Well...not what I expected at all.
...She...she actually made it, right? I'm rather skeptical right now. If so, don't drink the water, paint-bucket. It won't help.
Well if thaaaaaaaaaaaaat isn't ominous-sounding...
The end of the Choke? And right as Dashie was working through her issues, too...
Thirty sit-ups, ):(. Knock 'em out!
Didn't that Red Turnip
stallionchangeling mention something about a land bridge far to the south?Because, I dunno, this is a dead end unless a certain divine shows up.
Oh boy, welcome to the ocean Rainbow. Hope you can swim.
Already?
For some reason that last sentence tickles me.
It really shows just how inattentive to her surroundings she was while lost in her mania...
Too bad she wasn't also given an inflatable raft along with her other supplies... or was she? I can't recall.
-Treachery and deceit, kingdom of conceit Yaerfaerda.
So can she fly again?
Ahh, the sea. Where things have started and where things also come back in the end. Now RD needs a raft. A strong raft.
5727458 I don't think so... I think I recall the tale of the explorers mentioning that the anti magic field kicked in while they were on their magic powered boat at sea.
And who knows how far out from the Choke they were when they crossed into the field.
Edit: Yup. I remembered right.
Hype for the crossing is off the charts. Thank god it's no more desert.
It was probably about time for a change of scenery.
Suddenly, a wild ocean appears.
Welp, I was wondering how long it would be before she got to the fabled sea. Now it just raises the question of how she's gonna cross it. I doubt anyone tucked an inflatable raft into her saddlebag. Unless some otherworldly ferrypony is waiting to take her across, this could be tricky.
Also:
I'm glad I'm not the only one that found that ominous. I'm not sure how much to read into that. It makes me wonder if--I dunno--the chaotic forces that we have presumed to be bombarding the Choke (thereby stifling normal magic) are reacting with the discordification inside her to keep her alive to some extent. As in, similar to the way she regenerated after having the Jury crash on top of her in Roarke's flashbacks. Granted, we don't have much in the way of a time-scale for her journey through the Choke so far, but frankly, it's impressive she's made it so far with such limited reserve of food and water.
Especially purple.
I refer to my previous comment: Rainbow must now find a way to Cross an ocean without wings or magic, against a prevailing oceanic current, with zero knowledge of sailing.
IC, once more I offer the challenge: IMPRESS ME.
5727426 My guess is that it refers to her desire to die. She still has that. Her personality thrives on attention; she gets self destructive without it. Right now, that's clashing with her desire to save the world and make it a better place for everyone she knows. Loyalty is keeping her alive in more ways than one. Hence the effectiveness of Eljunbyro. She isn't trying to go out in a blaze of glory because she has something to return to now.
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Now she just needs to figure out a way to cross the ocean.
Finally, time for a great adventure on the Grand Seas. Will we meet Chaos Daemon Pirates? And if so, will they decide to give Dash a lift across the Grand Sea once they find out about Chaos Dash? Only time and IC will tell. And Zadubadabu. Zadubadabu knows all.
5727426
Rainbow Dash was expecting to die. Maybe these are just frame stories like that other one...
livinglabellavita.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/success-beach.jpg
5727426
5727430
5727524
If you remember, way back in Eljunbyro...
I don't know if this has anything to do with Rainbow Dash surviving the Choke, but I thought I'd throw it out there.
5727635
I needed that quote, I had vague memories of it but couldn't find it. Thanks.
Well an empty ocean is just as much of a desert as the rest of the Choke. This force keeping her alive, whatever it is, could allow her to just lazily swim across it. The real challenge is the monstrous waves reported by those other Choke crossers.
5727635
So, as long as RD is too stubborn to give up, she's still going to be kicking around?
I am just going to echo the opinion of the majority here and say that the "Rainbow never died" line worries me a bit. Almost makes me wonder if she did, but if just didn't stick...
I wonder if there's any coal-powered or oil-fired steamboats around here?
If not, sorry Dash; good luck and don't drown while you swim. A raft will probably just shatter, a wind-powered boat will likely meet a similar fate, and a magic powered ship will just be dead in the water.
Maybe If she's good at rowing...
You know at first I didn't think much of that line (and still think everyone might be over thinking it) however now that its been pointed out maybe it does mean something. It could be that actually she has technically died multiple times over her journey in the grand choke; and really there are quite a few times I can think of that that really could be the case. This could be just another one where she died of starvation and hunger but willed herself back to life.
However I have a feeling its more likely everyone is just over thinking this one this time.
After nine days I let the horse run free
'Cause the desert had turned to sea.
~America, "A Horse With No Name"
Behold, the ocean. Now comes the trouble of actually crossing it.
5727680
*shrugs*
I believe that's the case, also assuming she continues to find the beacons in the Machine World to hold off the chaos in her. If/when she gets to the Harmonic Prism in the Midnight Armory (and takes the Wonkavator to Equestria), she will be immune to the effects of aging. I'm assuming she can still be killed by normal means, such as poison or death in combat...
...
...unless, she can't die, which could be the reason that she's survived such impossible things thus far. I mean, from right after absorbing Discord's essence when she tried to kill herself, to when she was killed by Axan and subsequently revived by the Ledomaritans, to everything in getting the Noble Jury assembled and leaving Ledomare, the chaos crystals/strips thing with Nevlemas, Stratopolis, and now the Grand Choke, and everything in between, she's been in a lot of situations where she should have died.
And, I mean, I get it that she may just be that awesome for most of it, but especially with this Grand Choke business? She shouldn't be alive, and yet she is. Maybe she can't really die unless she gives up, and knowing Rainbow Dash (particularly how IC/Skirts/JE/etc. portrays her), she'll never give up.
And damn if that isn't depressing.
Mm. I don't trust this. She can't be there already.
Well, here we are. Twenty chapters actually might still be enough to cross the Sea, confront Verlax in Rohbredden and finally cross over to the Dark Side (or at least reach the border). I also like how we still got one last bit of Keraine.
Hopefully the King of Red Lions will show up and give Rainbow a ride. Every hero deserves a good boat.
5727439
Nah, Chrysalis confirmed he was lying, remember?
5727596
But Zadubadabu was destroyed...
Okay... Now what? Magic deadzone rules are still in affect, and the last boad that was there would be traces of a hull, if that. Swimming then?
About that
line, on it's own it is quite deep. Pushing on and on, over vast distances of thaumical and social depravation...
But it is not on it's own. I think there's a very deeper meaning when connected with the previous line.
I dare not speculate on what it means would happen if/when she reaches it or whatever. But I remain at the edge of my seat and root for Rainbow who passed mountain heights and desert widths, to pass the ocean depths as well.
5727465
Isn't that interesting? It's phrased like there really is something that doesn't want anyone to cross the Choke. . . .
(hee. . . elements)
5727790
Over thinking is impossible. Remember, IC is reading the comments. . .
Have commented in a bit but I am keeping up with y'all. I don't think she's give crazy. She's giving herself closure I feel.
Ocean of water separating the two sides of the world?
Honestly relatively glad I let myself fall behind. I don't know if I could've handled this much sad heart crushing for a week or two.
5728182
I don't think so. Maybe the expedition wouldn't have noticed crossing over (though I doubt even that), but Chrysalis certainly would have known.
5727383
Yikes, I didn't realize I was so old, haha! I've been quietly reading along, as usual. I'm only marginally more outgoing online than I am in real life, so I guess I tend to keep my ideas to myself. This a huge turning point in the story though, hard to keep quiet. Lol, 'one of the ancients', never thought I'd hear those words uttered about me.
A lot of these ramblings sound a lot like goodbyes. Maybe the ones she never got to say. Also, the Nebulum still seems to be working, maybe the magic negation field will start weakening?
I expected Dash to walk the desert for forty chapters, all the time being tempted by Shell. "If you are really Austraeoh, command these rocks to turn into apples."
About Dash not dying, it makes me wonder if actually she crossed the desert in several decades. Time flies when you lose your mind.
Of course, a Dash who can only die when she gives up, will never die. It's like how Harry Potter and Voldemort are the only ones that can kill each other, according to the prophecy, and will Voldemort dead, Harry has rejected death forever. Both Dash and Harry have most of their loved ones in the other world, and forfeiting death is the greatest sacrifice they have made, as they will never rejoin them.
5728398 Oh my gosh, that first part's the best thing I've heard all day!
I love beaches, but I've yet to be fully alone on one. I'm missing out on so many surreal moments in this busy stage of life.
One day I'll go to Iceland.
The sea at last.
Now the shipping shall truly begin.
5727635 I think you're on it, Saxon. I was going to say that she basically can't die - we've seen this with Axan, with the ship crash etc due to an underlying pervading chaos power. Glad you found the quote.