At Least It Ain't For Pearls
Rainbow Dash swam deep.
She was anything but alone. There had to have been over two dozen Nealend ponies diving and darting around the coral of the lagoon, catching fish with remarkable ease and finesse. The water was quite clear, and Rainbow Dash could see for several yards into the distance. It became obvious to her that the coral structures were super complex and multifaceted, hiding all sorts of edible life and fish schools deep within their vibrant, hollow pockets. For every Nealend diver the pegasus saw, she realized that two more had to have been hidden beneath her, mingling beneath the coral caves, utilizing their expert lung capacities in order to explore every niche and fish out a good day's supper.
“I'm still not seeing the absolute bottom of the lagoon,” Twilight Sparkle spoke, clear as day. It was their fifth consecutive dive, and the unicorn was doing her best to visually scan the rigid structures below. “Maybe if you pointed out precisely where Yaerfaerda is, I can find the nearest trench to it?”
Rainbow nodded. She swam up to the surface, took a huge breath while hearing the mirth and laughter of Nealenders, then dove once again into the unsettlingly deaf depths. It took a bit of searching, and two more dives, but Rainbow spotted an area right above Yaerfaerda where the coral formations had thinned ever so slightly. Halfway through the latest swim, she pointed at a parting in the orange and red structures.
“Got it!” Twilight hovered forward, her violet mane unaffected by the shifting currents. She phased through a pufferfish and a manta ray, then stopped in place. Waiting for Rainbow Dash to catch up, she pointed straight down at a narrow ravine between two coral formations.
Rainbow nodded back, then pointed up at the sunlight.
“Right! Get another breath!” Twilight said. “I'll be sure to mark the spot!”
Rainbow made her swim to the surface, inhaled, then dove again. Twilight met her halfway, gestured, then led the way down... down into the trench. There, they coasted along a narrow stretch of sandy beds. The tops of several clusters of seaweed tickled at Rainbow's belly, making it all the harder to keep her breath in. By now, Rainbow was squinting, for the glow of Yaerfaerda was becoming almost unbearably bright.
Twilight easily noticed. “We're right on top of it, aren't we?”
Rainbow could only nod her head.
“I'm not seeing any lights myself,” Twilight uttered, looking through each dark hollow in the flanking coral. “From what Mr. Mane said, it sounds like the Shard of Verlaxion is supposed to glow with bright resonance. Unless, of course, he was referring to a sort of inner light... a sort of spiritual contentment of transcendence that one feels when their heart and soul are convinced that they are in presence of a goddess' divine gift—”
Rainbow seethed, spitting bubbles.
Twilight blushed. “Er... right... 'stuff it, egghead.' Ahem.”
Rainbow Dash held her breath as the unicorn looked around and around. At one point, the duo's path was blocked by a brilliant fish with bright blue fins and a yellow mouth.
Twilight couldn't help but coo. She grinned at Rainbow Dash, whose eyes also shone in delight at the remarkably colorful creature.
Schlunnnk! All of that ended at the tip of a spear. There was a brief spurt of red murk, and then the fish twitched for the last time. A Nealender added it to his bounty. He paused to look at Rainbow Dash, smiled wide, then swam off to the next patch of coral.
The two Equestrians hovered in place, exchanging grimacing expressions. Rainbow pointed up, and Twilight nodded.
“Go on ahead...”
Rainbow Dash returned to the surface. In truth, the water there was not so deep that Twilight couldn't remain where she was without fear of being yanked away. This allowed the unicorn to glance around with a casual gaze. As a result, her eyes caught a curious spark. She turned around, lips pursed as she squinted at sudden fissure just beyond a final wall of coral.
When Rainbow Dash returned, she could tell from Twilight's body language that something was different. The pegasus dove down towards the mare's level, and Twilight wasted no time in pointing at the phenomena.
“About twenty feet that way!” Twilight exclaimed. “Beneath the crag of rock! See?”
Rainbow squinted. Coiling her wings tighter at her side, she kicked her rear legs in ardent frog-strokes. In very little time at all, she had reached the edge of the fissure—though she needed Twilight to tell her.
“This is amazing! Rainbow, please tell me you're seeing this!”
Rainbow blinked a few times. At last, her eyes adjusted, and the glow of Yaerfaerda dwindled beneath another source of light. Below her and Twilight, a perfectly hexagonal hole had been bored into the seabed. That is—it was once a hole. Something had filled it up at some point in the past, something luminescent and crystalline.
“The Shard...!” Twilight exclaimed. “That's gotta be it!” She pointed at the top left of the large, ten-foot-wide chunk of polished stone. “And look there! A piece is missing!”
Rainbow Dash swam closer. As she did so, the temperature of the water dropped dramatically. She couldn't stop shivering, and yet she summoned the strength to focus on where Twilight was pointing. She saw that a jagged chunk of icy-white stone had been fractured off of the rest of the material, and just along the ocean's floor there were several deep teeth marks bordering the missing part of the Shard.
“Ultimo really did take a bite out of this thing,” Twilight said. “But what for? What would make a monster want to do that?”
Rainbow was listening to her. There was no way she couldn't. And yet, as the pressure in her lungs started to boil, she kept staring more and more intently at the crystalline substance.
“Too bad the chunk doesn't go all the way through the Shard,” Twilight rambled. “It might be a way to swim past it. I mean... Yaerfaerda has to be beneath this, right? It's almost as if the Shard here is blocking the entrance, Rainbow...”
Rainbow's body shook and quivered. Her eyes feverishly pierced the translucent surface of the Shard, and the mare saw something layered within the material... a different kind of white substance that stood out like gray sediment within the ivory frost. It was a shade of gray she had seen before, and the more it glinted before her vision, the colder and number she got.
“We can talk about this later,” Twilight said. “Let's get to the surface. You've been down here long enough.” But there was no movement. She looked over. “Rainbow...?”
The pegasus had curled up into a little ball. She drifted backwards, wincing as her eyes flickred red-on-yellow. She couldn't move. She could barely even bend her ears.
“Rainbow!” Twilight hollered loudly. She lunged forward, only to phase through the drowning pony. “Rainbow?! What are you doing?! Swim! Swim to the surface!”
Rainbow merely winced. Bubbles of precious oxygen frothed out of her muzzle. A ruby glow pulsed from her pendant, and her eyes rolled back—just as her body rolled back against the sandy floor.
“Rainbow... you have to swim!” Twilight whimpered and hyperventilated. “Do you hear me?! I can't watch you die like this! Now swim! For Celestia's sake, swim!” She panted and panted. Ghostly tears dropped straight through the watery domain. “Please, Rainbow Dash! What's wrong with you—?” A shaved head burst through Twilight's chest, causing the unicorn to gasp.
Silver swam towards Rainbow's side like a torpedo. The stallion leaned forward, staring into her twitching eyes. His cheeks bulged as a barely audible grunt left his throat. His horn glowed, and he lifted a clamshell out of his satchel. Using the front of his teeth, he bit onto a string that looped out of the shell, then gave it a savage yank. Chemicals inside the clamshell ignited, sending a heavy and loud shockwave through the coral reef. Within seconds, Nealend bodies swam in from every corner of that patch of the lagoon. They each grabbed a leg of Rainbow Dash, braced themselves against the ocean's floor, then kicked off with gusto.
Twilight yelped, suddenly rocketing towards sunlight as the natives carried Rainbow's body to the surface. And once they broke through, Twilight nearly sobbed with relief.
Rainbow's sputtering, wheezing voice resembled a sweet symphony.
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Oh fuck, of course it had to be now.
Thank goodness the Nealanders were there. Rainbow's gonna have some explaining to do soon, but I bet she'll still try to dodge her way out of it.
Awww...that's just sad.
...We're gonna have to travel inside the beastie eventially, aren't we?
HUE.
Reaction to update: THE F? WHY NOW?
Absolutely beautiful.
Underwater grenades. Would that even be possible?
Oh dammit
Its Shell's soul fragment
[I'm not sorry]
It doesn't have quite as much ring to it as flying east, but it's acceptable, I suppose.
Yikes.
Well shit, one of the worst possible times for a seizure.
Chaos strip? Chaos Strip. And if it is a chaos strip, why would Verlax be using one and for what purpose? Though if animals are effected by it, that might explain why Ultima attacked the thing. Presupposing it is a chaos strip of course.
It's always the worst fucking time, isn't it.
Also, Verlax doesn't seem too fond of the seeds, judging by her blocking this one off. I think that this might come to a confrontation at one of the later seeds, once Verlax realizes what's going on.
Every time I see a Mr. Mane in this fic, it always reminds me of Ebon. Wonder how he's doing. c:
Chaos Strips. Tsk...
This is a chaos strip isn't it? I had an suspicion it might be a chaos strip from the start.
Now RD is going to have to talk to Twilight about everything. She has very little to no choice now
Underwater grenade-like flares. Clever.
Lucky Nealender's quick swimming.
What is it you were trying to protect Twilight from, Rainbow...?
What is it with chaos and serpents, anyway?
What good would squinting do? She can see it with her eyes closed.
Briefly couldn't read, because of !BIRD ATTACK! but now I'm back. Dangit. Are they allowed to just go up and take the shard aside? Is that a thing?
Goodbye, thoughts of Twilight attempting magic this chapter.
Nice grenadey, flarey, explodey things.
Man, you sneaked this update in right under my nose! But anyway, I think that this is where Rainbow starts talking about her ailment. It's about time, too, because Twilight should have known a long time ago. What gets me, though, is that it seems almost like it was triggered this time instead of random. Unless it was mere coincidence that she starts remembering the color gray and then slips into chaos seizures.
Either way, I think we've reached a new low for how bad these seizures can get.
. . .
If I recall, one of the side effects of a chaos strip is that it enlarges the creature it is in contact with. Like Nevlamas grew with the funky chaos metal growing out of her. I'm guessing Ultimo was a decently sized fish that, for whatever reason, took a bite out of the Shard and then grew and got hostile as it went mad.
Wait a second...
The Tower caused the Blight, correct? A place devoid of magic. And, once Rainbow passed through, she sorta-restored Twilight, the Element of Magic. So, what if each Seed is the antithesis of the bearer it restores? Once Dash restored Magic, bam, fish got greedy and ate the shard, opposite of generosity. I'd bet my hat that whatever Seed they visit next will suddenly have something happen that is the opposite of whatever element it is. AJ will be last, we have Twi and Rarity... My bet's on Pinkie. Hello, glum town!
Welp. Is this the first dizzy spell that Twilight's seen? 'Cause if so, Rainbow's got some 'splainin to do.
5964176
Evidence points that she got to close too what appears to be a Chaos shard/strip
5964185
Ahh, okay. It feels like so long since we've encountered those that I nearly forgot.
5964177
That's what I've been thinking. So basically, when Rainbow reaches each seed, she'll restore one of the elements to the land, which means we'll be dealing with some interesting places in the future. I'd hate to reach the part of this land without honesty because then we'd become paranoid of who's actually telling the truth.
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaah, Rainbow, you're kinda screwed. Dunno why you even tried to keep the thing to yourself, it's not like you can actually hide from Twlight.
And there are the dizzy spells, always at the worst possible time. It's a good thing those other divers were there. Well, it looks like Rainbow has some explaining to do next chapter.
So... did Verlaxion get strips from her dear chaos-infused co-Divine, or is there another source of strips we have to worry about?
5964115
natural brightness reaction.
I'm surprised she didn't sneeze
Seems everyone's voting for a chaos strip as what Rainbow saw in the shard, I suppose I'll throw my vote into a different direction for the sake of providing a different view. Could the piece of grey she saw be another entrance to the machine world? While it seems odd to have an entrance underwater, the entire known world is technically built onto on the machine world so it's not entirely impossible. Besides the area that brought Twilight back, everything else machine world related has been hidden away and blocked off with an entrance disguised/built into its surroundings.
Also, of all the times for Rainbow to have a seizure this was most certainly one of the worst, but it's also good to know that IC hasn't forgotten about Rainbow's condition. Now she'll have to either come up with some convincing lies to get Twilight to let it go, or come clean and explain things to her.
Looking more like Verlax is no friend to Austraeoh's mission, and, by extension, that there is a distinct lack of solidarity among the Divines, though I guess that's no surprise. Awfully inconvenient though. Chaos strips seems as good a guess as any, all things considered.
Also:
hylianhelpdesk.com/ocarina/imgs/items/fire_arrow.jpg
Chaos Shards slipped in the NevermeltIce. That only is a little wierd when you consider it's only a super good defense vs Rainbow Dash. Why would she set these up? She must know about her whole problem, or have known it would be a problem Dash would eventually have.
And... damn it. I'm caught up.
5964086 No, Fluttershy's correct reaction is
i1.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/012/564/fluttershynature.png
or
mlpforums.com/uploads/monthly_10_2014/post-22941-0-32956700-1412261495.png
So Ultimo Is like Stephen Magnet, in being the protector of one of the Shard points. But, by Verlaxions sending, or the Machine Worlds?
Hmm. you are faced with a verticle tunnel filled with magically cold infused ice, itself infused with mutagenic cold generating metal strips. Do you try to melt your way through, drill your way through, pull out the stopper.
Or nuke it?
I bet it's the same shade of gray as Shell or Imre's coat.
well..i was wrong...that was a dumb leap of logic
What if it wasn't rarity?
Ah yes, time to get up and start my day... why is my phone beeping? Wait? A second chapter!
Only you would think everything's a metaphor.
5964351
At first I was thinking that the machine layer is gold, but then I remembered that the entrances are usually an unmarred flat silver. Rainbow's dizzy spells have happened at random times, so this could work. I'm going to believe this, simply because I don't want to have to think about how Rainbow is going to move a chaos strip.
5964304
If I recall, Luna mentioned that the first chaos strips were remnants of Discord's bones after he first attempted to take over the plane.
This conversation is going to be fun. I know Rainbow has been hesitant to mention certain details about her travels, and has completely skipped over some "events"; but this is one thing that she has waited too long to explain. Better go and find a quiet place, this is going to become a long drawn out discussion.
wait at tick.... that chapter?
Was.... was that a reference to my previous statements!? I think I'm glad I didn't hear my phone go off, otherwise I never would have gotten to sleep.
Well, at least she'll have to come clean now...
Chaos metal... of course the shard itself has hexagonal, usually with six being the number of Harmony... perhaps I'm reading too much into either, but Verlaxion's mentality remains uncertain. She knows, but what does she know, how does she interpret that knowledge and to what ends does she interfere?
You know, the last Divine we met with a penchant for chaos metal was... less than pleasant.
Hopefully this one only has one mouth.
When does big eely thing died?
When does get Rarity Ghost?
When do the get to edge of planet horse?
All soon to be answered, I am hyped.
Darn it IC is it Chaos Strip metal or Machine World silver!?
Oh no. Ohhhhhh no. If anything isn't good, it's that. Was Ultimo trying to bite the strip free or something?
-Spirit (Yeast and Treacle)
5964449 Welcome to the Lunar Ninth! (Or something.) Congratulations.
Does this mean that IC makes updates for the weekends too?
What is in that shard to hurt Rainbow that way?
This does not bode well for her.
Hmmm...it could be chaos metal. Something to keep in mind is that we haven't actually seen the Austraeoh prophecies. For all we know, they are detailed enough to mention an equivalent to RDs condition. Verlax, being the old hoodlum she is, would possibly have seen these prophecies in their entirety, and would know the Austraeoh would be weak to chaos metal (which I don't believe is just Discord's bones. We don't even know if he's a unique being, as there are tons of chaos creatures in the, for lack of a more interesting name, Underdark.).
The real question here isn't whether or not that is chaos metal, my good chaps. The real question is: why would Verlax ever want to block up the path of the Austraeoh? Don't the Divines have a vested interest in the world not ending? And yes, it could just be blocked to prevent everyone else from entering, but then why use what we belivev is chaos metal?
I think that either Verlax wants to stop the Austraeoh, or that isn't chaos metal.
Confirmed that Ultimo damaged the Shard. Some further thoughts:
● Yaerfaerda moved after the Shard was damaged.
● This implies the Shard was doing something good.
● Another corollary is that Verlax had a good reason for putting the Shard there.
● Finally, Ultimo had a not-so-good reason for taking a bite out of it.
5965100
Yup. It's every single day, no exceptions.
I'm back from my week off, and it seems chaos shards are back too.
It seems Ultimo tried to pull the drain plug of the lagoon, so the current can flow fully, instead of just the little opening that transformed the current into a whirlpool. But he screwed it badly, and now he completely closed off the hole, and no current flows at all.
5964177 5964211 Is it bad I'm sorta dreading the AJ return chapters, purely from the inevitable tidal wave of feels that will accompany it?
5965380
I already have a bucket marked "In Case of Applejack" specifically for this story. I'm prepared.
5965119
We know Axan talked to one of the other divines about how they should all prepare and that the proficiencies were coming to pass. I think this confirms that all the divines know about the prophecies, and the second part shows that they are in the process of spreading the information to each other, perhaps in hopes of relaying it to Endrax that they are coming true.
Why would a divine not want them to come true (other than becoming corrupted by chaos magics)? I think Verlax(ion) blocked access to the Seeds as a means of "testing" Rainbow Dash. If she's really the one the prophecies spoke of, and going to restore/rebuild Urohringr, then she should be able to get past each "challenge". In this case: the Serpent.
5965646 5965380
I need a bucket just thinking about it.
5965233
Except, you know, when it doesn't.
Chaos strips eh? Interesting. Also props to Silver for the nice save.
5964177 hey look, another person on my theory. I proposed that way back at the KMCA. Glad to see others thought of it too.