Crashing.
Her blue ears fluttered.
Roaring and crashing.
She stirred, her bruised limbs shifting against the wooden planks of the raft.
A rush of noise, undulating... then low and deep.
Rainbow Dash's brow furrowed.
It was a sound like a horn. A bass salvo of noise that crackled off into the distance like scattering cannonballs.
And, at last, her eyes opened.
At first, she saw nothing but darkness and chaos. Night had fallen, and the sea was churning heavier than ever.
It had to have been another storm, but the water wasn't spraying on her at random. What's more, the waves...
“Grmffnngh... mmff...” She stirred, wincing as she attempted to sit up—but failed. She slumped back down with a heavy exhale. Once her lungs emptied, she remembered why her ears tickled in the first place. “Where...” She squinted, tilting her weary head around like a drowsy feline. “Who...?”
Water rolled and roared somewhere in the depths. Rainbow became aware of a bitter, chilling wind. It fluttered at her bangs, soothing her burns and scrapes.
Wincing, she tilted her head up more—an act that took a great deal of feeble strength to accomplish.
At last, her eyes started to adjust to the darkness. She saw a layer of blackness lingering over an even blacker plane of shifting shadows and shapes. The ocean was moving, billowing, and crashing—but to where?
She blinked, sitting in numb confusion. The noise circled all around her, and she glanced left and right, trying to make sense of it.
It was then that Rainbow made the most startling realization of all.
“Yaerfaerda...!”
The symbol was gone. The lavender symbol had vanished completely from the ocean, and there was no telling which horizon she was looking at.
“But... b-but...”
Another loud roar.
Rainbow Dash looked up, and she gasped.
Yaerfaerda was floating—up high—a few hundred feet above her head. It was moving... and yet it wasn't. The glowing sight stayed in place, but Rainbow sensed that there was some sort of movement going about.
It was then that she realized that she was doing the moving.
Panting, Rainbow sat up straight, wincing through the pain of her stiff legs. The source of the roaring and crashing became evident to her. Somewhere between her and the area below Yaerfaerda, the ocean water was coming to a climax—churning and colliding against... something.
Alarmed, she reached a hoof up to her pendant in order to summon an emergency swath of light. At the last second, she faltered—for she realized she didn't need to.
Her eyes made out several columns. Thick metal spires emerged from the ocean—no more than ten of them—and they all rose vertically into the air, like iron bastions standing resolute against the might of the Grand Choke. Waves upon waves of salt water were crashing up against these beams. What's more, the liquid surrounding the site was swirling in a counter-clockwise fashion, carrying the remnants of the raft—and Rainbow Dash—along with it.
“A whirlpool...”
Rainbow gritted her teeth, steadying herself for fear of falling into the maelstrom at any moment. Panting, she tilted her head up, attempting to see how high the metal beams rose, and where they ended.
Just as she looked—something spectacular happened. Beams of energy shot out from an immense, circular circumference. Rainbow couldn't help but let loose a tiny shriek in her nervous condition. The bolts of lightning were ruby in color—a familiar shade of red—and they reflected off an immaculate shell of gold surfaces. In a blink, she saw dormant cogs and pendulums and gears clinging to the side of a massive tower. Just as the lightning cleared she heard an enormous salvo of bass noise, rumbling off into the distance like thunder. Then, just as swiftly as the phenomenon began, all was silent save for the crashing of waves.
Rainbow Dash panted and panted, gazing in a dumb stupor. Sure enough, she didn't have to wait for long. The bolts of lightning erupted from the heart of the tower once more, shooting off into every direction while illuminating the lofty collage of ancient machinery. Rainbow saw every splashing waves of the spiraling whirlpool, and then all was as dark as it was before.
Meanwhile, Yaerfaerda lingered above—hovering above the unexpected tower... or perhaps inside the tower.
“...the Machine Layer.” Rainbow gulped a lump down her throat. “It's here. It's... it's...”
Gravity shifted.
Rainbow gasped, clinging to the raft as she felt her whole body leaning precariously forward. The derelict vessel skimmed the crest of the circling waves at increasing degrees. The pegasus swiftly put two and two together. The Scootaloo was caught in the vortex, and soon enough the whirlpool would be slamming the vessel—along with her—into those immovable beams of metal.
In the next flash of unnatural lightning, Rainbow's face twisted into a retching grimace, and it was difficult to hear herself beneath the bass thunder.
“Hoboy.”
Legend tier troll chapter title
How nice of you to give us a present.
Haven't you been doing this whole time? I mean that RD was traveling the whole time. . .
edit: wait. waitt. . . The symbol does move when she is flying doesn't it.
tee. 'bastions'
Sounds like your element much?
I just read Scale. . . This is really familiar.
https://youtu.be/7WJXHY2OXGE?t=39
Into the Machine once again!
5779478
Or on to, I suppose, as it's rising out of the sea to greet her.
I'm still angry you used up yesterday's update on a one word chapter >:T
i.imgur.com/mzfoS6K.png
BUT IT WAS ALL A BAIT
Into the whirling depths we go!
Never can tell what lies ahead, for all that we know, she's already dead.
-Spirit
images1.tickld.com/live/633486.jpg
5779475
Alas, if only we had the technology to embed youtube videos into our comments! Lo, weep, for such technology is far out of reach.
5779483
Though it does bring to question exactly who said it. I doubt it matter all that much but it's still a rather valid question
5779480
But she must go inside to get to the flame however.
5779483
Is that a lemur?
5779496
I totally read that as 'flame thrower'.
WAT is wrong with me.
5779494
Doesn't work with the time modifier. Nobody was going to watch 40 seconds of video to get to the one line I thought made sense and was funny.
5779475
fimfiction-static.net/images/story_images/108950.png?1370666564
I was almost surprised someone had actually made this the first time I saw this. But then I remembered what fandom this was. Everything shall be ponified.
Are the columns connected to Yaerfaerda or close to it? Rainbow is going to need to get up there somehow as she has no magic to fly.
5779496
...... Shell. His ghost is haunting RD.
What?
PROS: No more interminable flying/trotting/rafting/swimming. The quadrathlon is over, rejoice!
CONS: We got a 1 word update so we get one update for two days.
PROS: Something/one said her name. Last chapter wasn't a complete waste.
2 to 1, pros get it.
Thanks for that.
5779507
NO. Absolutely not
5779507
shell
. . .
Ah, so it was a whirlpool.
Also, damn you for that one-word chapter.
You know what's worth considering? The lavender light used to lead to flame sources, with symbols on their doors. This time the light led to a symbol on the horizon, and I'm guessing to a subsequent source of flame. Just to state the obvious.
Maybe Dash will get a recharge. Something is bound to happen, anyway.
Brace yourselves for the troll chapter on April Fools.
Am I the only one getting shades of the tower of the gods from Wind Waker?
-Treachery and deceit, kingdom of conceit Yaerfaerda.
Ah! The Machine World. I was hoping it'd come into play before everything was said and done. I'm really not sure what to expect. Perhaps another recharge. Or maybe there'll be some kind of shortcut to the Dark Side, allowing her to bypass what's left of the Choke. Or it could be that IC has something even wilder in store for us. After all, those two options wouldn't be that hard to prepare for. And then there's the matter of the voice from the previous chapter.
5779558
Heh, I thought the same thing.
Yeah, still not seeing anything coming.
I'm lost.
I'm engrossed in lostness.
Maelstrom. Called it.
Great, she's caught in the middle of the spin cycle. She's gonna get all tangled up.
Well she'll survive this... somehow... she's the main character. And she's already been in the dryer, so let's not have her in a dryer again. She has no tent now or magic snacks and fizzy-pop. I know she's soggy but I don't think she can go through that again.
5779498
Well if RD had a Flame Thrower a lot of things would be a lot easier in her journey. Also a lot more on fire.
5779498 Yes. Yes it is.
This broken machine is the reason for the grand choke, I just know it
As long as Rainbow doesn't go destroying more wonderful area phenomenons like the Strip of Flurries, it's all right. Let the Choke keep existing.
Motherbucking Called it!
Welp, I was wrong. I thought Axan was flying past Rainbow Dash to go get Verlax. I mean, that could still happen I suppose.
Terraform the Choke!
No worries, I was planning to rip up all my predictions anyways.
how convenient
Who said that, and why did they pause so dramatically before they did?
All that buildup in the last chapter for no immediate answers. Damn you, IC. Damn you!
5865745 yeah it was an exceptionally dramatic pause
Hoboy indeed.
The center... The source... The heart of darkness.
The source... The heart of darkness.
This is what Red Turnip was talking about.
It's probably the cause of the anti magic
Well, that adds a sense of urgency to this situation
10/16/2019
19:52 UTC
Well that explains the anti-magic crap.
But lets get in that bad boy!