Her ruby eyes flew open. She sat up in a silent jerk.
Rainbow Dash was lying in the center of a large velvety bed full of plush pillows. A lacy, milky-white canopy dangled around her, dancing from the distant breezes of the Emeraldine night sky. She exhaled, slumping down once more onto the folds of the bed. She stared down at the cushions, attempting to remember how she arrived there in the first place. Just then, two wet spots formed on the velvet immediately beneath her. At first, she was confused, until she felt a warm trickle down her cheeks. She brought a hoof to her face, then examined it. At the sight of the tears, she merely groaned.
“Mnngh...”
Slowly, she stood up, alarmed at how much her limbs ached. She realized that she had to have been sleeping for a very long time. Regardless, she parted the bed canopy and stepped out. Rainbow Dash made a slow, shuffling bee-line towards the edge of the distant balcony, her hooves scraping against the polished marble floor of the grand hall.
She passed the pillars and came onto the platform overlooking the edge of the spire's summit. The world of Emeraldine stretched far beneath her, a hazy sheet of rolling plains and quiet trees stirring under sleepy night. The stars formed a glittering spectacle of violet hues above, and the platforms and urban sprawl below mimicked the cosmos with hundreds upon hundreds of distant torches and candles of its own.
Rainbow Dash knew enough about the stars to realize that her balcony was facing east. Rather than question the dark irony of it, she sat her haunches down on the very edge, closed her eyes, and inhaled the breeze gently flowing from her elusive destination. The wind tugged at her robe and fresh braids, making her feel like a stranger dressed in a far more important mare's skin. It was hard to imagine that just weeks ago she was bashing minotaur skulls and outflying horrible winged legions of chaos.
A shudder ran through her, and she tried to lose herself in the lofty scent of Verdestone night. To think too much was to fall back. To turn around was to regress. She was too scared to open her eyes, to return to the chamber, to put her back to the east. Her eyes were moist enough as they were.
“What danger is there in something that has known so much love”
Rainbow Dash's eyes finally blinked open. Her ears twitched, and she pivoted to her left to see a large equine figure seated beside her.
Her coat shimmered like polished porcelain. Milky-white layers of fur fluttered in the breeze. Atop her neck, a gorgeous mane of alabaster hair billowed like a comet's tail. She turned to look peacefully at Rainbow Dash, and as she did so, the shadow of an immense horn brushed past her nose.
“Perhaps... merely a danger to herself?”
Rainbow Dash gulped. “I... I-I happen to like danger.”
“Hmmm... Of that, I have no doubt, child,” the massive unicorn said, only to flex a pair of wings so that she was no longer a unicorn at all. “But for how long, I wonder?”
Rainbow's eyes jerked towards the sight of the ivory-white figures. “You're... You're...”
“Not the first of my kind that you have met?” The alicorn replied. “There are very, very few mortals on earth who can make such a claim. I am very blessed to be in the presence of one, more than you could ever be honored to be in the presence of me.”
Rainbow Dash took a deep breath. “Queen Whitemane, I presume.”
She slowly bowed her head in a graceful manner. “A pleasure to meet you. I do hope your accomodations have been more than adquate.”
“Er... Yeah. I guess you could say that.” Rainbow Dash glanced back towards the hall beyond the pillars. Her face scrunched up. “But... I can't remember ever falling asleep. I mean, I've been conked out quite a few times in my life. But if I crawled to a bed as frickin' crazy as that—heh—I'm pretty sure I'd remember it.”
“Do not worry. I've made sure that you've been in the best of care.”
“Well, you're getting no argument from me. But I just don't get it.” Rainbow Dash turned to look at her. “Why did you wish to see me? Why was I summoned up here? Did Evergreen somehow put you—the Queen of Verdestone—up to this?”
“The Mayor of Ridgeside undoubtedly sent you to the capital city for noble reasons,” Whitemane said. Her voice was like the crashing of waves, and yet as soft as raindrops. “But she couldn't sense in you what I did. It was my choice and my choice alone that you be invited up here.”
“Do you invite all pegasi to your castle in the sky with a bunch of armed guards?”
“Given the circumstances, it was the utmost, wisest precaution.”
“Uhhh... what circumstances?”
“But I know the truth now,” Whitemane said with a soft smile. “And you cannot understand the degree to which I am relieved. I am sorry that I ever doubted you, Rainbow Dash.”
“Well, glad to be of service, I guess—” Rainbow Dash's eyes twitched. She squinted up at her. “How in the hay did you know my—?” She gasped.
Whitemane's eyes came into focus for the first time. They were like twin pearls of aqua blue, piercing in their gaze.
“You!” Rainbow Dash stood up on all fours, gnashing her teeth. “It was you in my dream!”
“You must understand,” Whitemane said in a calm voice. “I needed to ascertain the truth—”
“I do not like ponies messing with my head!” Rainbow Dash barked, to the point of snarling. “It's not right! I don't care who you think you are or how many tiaras you have in your closet! I am totally not down with that!”
“Such anger. Such defiance.” Whitemane merely pivoted her head to the side. “Is this the first time you've yelled at an alicorn?”
Rainbow Dash heaved and heaved. Slowly, her frown left under a weak grimace. Sighing, she slumped to the floor of the balcony and hung her head. “I really, really don't like what you did.”
“It is hardly something I hold pride in myself,” Whitemane said. She flexed her limbs and trotted slowly closer to the smaller pony. “And as a pony first and foremost, I apologize to you, my child. But, as a Queen, I have the safety of my royal subjects to be concerned with. I needed to know if the power that you carried was something that could threaten the populace of Verdestone.”
“And is it?” Rainbow Dash mumbled.
“You mean you don't know?” Whitemane stood before her and pointed towards the golden pendant around her neck. “You are not aware of the sheer precipice upon which that object fastens you?”
Rainbow Dash bit her lip. She brought a hoof up and lightly stroked circles around the ruby lightning bolt. She exhaled long and hard. “How...” She gazed up at Whitemane with soft eyes. “H-how much did you find out about me?”
“Enough to know that—no, Rainbow Dash,” Whitemane slowly shook her head. “You are not a danger to my subjects. You are not a danger to me. You are not a danger to anypony.” She sat down close beside Rainbow Dash, gazing at her deeply. “So, I left your mind as swiftly as I could. And now, because of that, I am terribly curious of one thing.” She breathed sympathetically. “Are you simply a danger to yourself?”
Rainbow Dash merely stared at her.
Whitemane smiled, her face framed by the stars beyond. “You are a most fascinating, remarkable pony, Rainbow Dash. You exercise unfathomable courage. But your bravery is not so much measured in the things you put yourself through, as it is in the things you hold onto.”
Rainbow's lips parted at that. “I...” She gulped. “I-I don't understand...”
“And you wield total mastery over yourself,” Whitemane continued. “From your mind to your soul, you are completely your own masterpiece. What, then, does such an example of perfection have to prove? Is it enough that it's worth risking such a work of art in the end?”
Rainbow Dash briefly sneered, “If you had decided to trespass a little longer in my brain, your highness, you would have figured out that you're asking all these stupid questions for nothing.” She grumbled and rested her chin atop a pair of limp forelimbs. “There's really... really nothing deep about me.”
“It is most challenging to sense depth in oneself, especially when the foundations have been torn out from under one's hooves.” Whitemane reached down and gently urged Rainbow Dash to look up at her. “No pony can stay in the sky forever, child. Even you must touch down from time to time. And, eventually, you must touch down permanently. It is the way of all things. It is even the way of me.”
“Pffft... Yeah right.” Rainbow Dash brushed Whitemane's hoof away and frowned. “You're—like—a frickin' goddess or something. You're just gonna live forever like the other alicorns.”
“Perhaps that would be true,” Whitemane said. “If I was of pure blood.”
Rainbow Dash blinked crookedly. “Wha-huh?”
“Hmmm...” She chuckled breathily. “Do you find it hard to believe that I am not immortal? I have been alive for a long time, yes, but I am hardly like the cosmic entities you have had the grace to know.” She flexed her wings. “As for these, well, I'm afraid they're strictly ornamental.”
“Huh...” Rainbow Dash gazed at the feathery apendages, noticing for the first time how loosely framed they were. “Y'know, I think I've heard of that before. There was a royal pony like you in the Crystal Kingdom north of where I born.” She sighed before tossing a bitter chuckle to the air. “Heh, guess it explains why all the Verdestoners were going ga-ga over me.”
“Or perhaps they were simply drawn to your charm.”
“That's the thing I don't get about royalty,” Rainbow Dash said in a low tone as she stood up. “They're always so lousy at humor. Well, at least they get their manners right.” She clenched her jaw and muttered, “Half of the time.” With a toss of her tail, she marched off. “I'm sorry, your Highness. But whatever you meant to do here, you could have just gotten over with in a snap. Next time you wanna horn-meld with a random stranger, do it a little more quickly, will ya?”
“At least answer me this question, child—”
“Nnngh!” Rainbow Dash spun around and snarled. “Stop friggin' calling me child!”
“Why are you in such a hurry to get to something that is impossible to reach?”
“How could you possibly know a dang thing about what I'm reaching for?”
“Because the Midnight Armory was built specifically to never be accessed by anypony, ever.”
Rainbow Dash froze in place, her lips quivering. She gulped before stammering, “I-I thought you said you pulled out of my head before you could—”
“Deduce the eventual goal of your epic flight? Whitemane slowly stood up. “I may not share the pure blood that flows through my cosmic cousins' veins, but I am no less in touch with the fabric of magic that covers this world like an effluent sheet. Something has been lost on this plane, something that is completely and utterly irrecoverable, save for the acquisition of one precious artifact, the only item of its kind in the entire world. And it was placed inside the Midnight Armory, hundreds of thousands of years ago, with the sole point of never being retrieved.” Whitemane softly trotted towards her. “Since then, nopony has dared scale the heights of the Midnight Armory's twilight spires to grasp it. Nopony has dared touched the surface of dark world to so much as find it. Nopony has dared approach the ends of the earth in the suicidal attempt to contemplate it.”
Whitemane stood boldly above Rainbow Dash, her gaze as sharp as her eyes for a brief moment.
“For while it is there, while it is locked away, the rest of the world exists in perfect peace, in perfect ignorance, and in perfect harmony. It has been this way for eons, in accordance with an unwritten contract, something that the founding alicorns established ages ago to keep the forces of chaos at bay so that this physical plane—a tenuous miracle at best—could remain in one piece. There is no reason for a soul to go above and beyond the limits of both mortals and immortals alike, so long as a single fragment of what remains in the armory touches the surface of the light world. So I ask you, Rainbow Dash...”
Whitemane knelt down and stared evenly at her, once again bearing a soft expression.
“Now that I realize that you aren't a threat, now that I realize that you aren't a danger to my subjects, I humbly ask that you tell me what indeed you are. And why would such a pony so wonderfully brave, so beautifully enigmatic, be the one soul in all the world so desperate to flirt with destruction?”
Rainbow Dash was silent for a while. She coolly gazed up at Whitemane. In a low tone, she asked, “Do you want to know what I am?”
The Queen merely stared at her.
Rainbow gave a brazen smile. “I'm a pony who dares.”
The Queen blinked. Slowly, her lips curved. “Hmm... Indeed. And I am an alicorn who knows.”
Rainbow's eyes squinted. “Knows what?”
“What indeed.” Whitemane stood up straight and trotted briskly into the temple. “Come. Walk with me...”
DEAR LORD WHAT IS THIS
THREE CHAPTERS, ONE DAY, ONE OF THEM OVER 2000 WORDS?
LAWD, I MUS BE IN HEAVEN
Also, jebus, Whitemane has a way with words. And dreams, evidently.
This is approaching the end isn't it?
After reading that dream sequence, I've now got a really good theory of what happened. And it may very well explain the "Alternate Universe" tag...
Maybe, after 122 chapters, we're finally gonna get some real answers
Why, Csquared08 ? WHY ?!? For 121 chapters you wrote a comment. And you just stop now ?
Suddenly, the story skips past the entire conversation of exposition and we're still left in the dark.
I'm calling it now.
This story can go on forever, for all I care, I really don't want it to end, it's all so intriguing!
1109213
Yeah, I've been enjoying his/her comments for the past 9 hours!
1108629 "Let me get this straight, we're 122 chapters into this story and we're only just NOW beginning the exposition of the plot? Did J.J. Abrams write this script?!"
A reference to Cadance, eh? And maybe some answers too? I want more! dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Lyra.png
1109213
Um, er, I just now read the update?
1111243
I'm glad someone enjoyed them!
Oh, and "his."
Yup. Official. This story has driven me over the brink of insanity.
1113721
Always best to play it safe.
Hm. What she describes within the midnight armory reminds me of the Seed from joe Abercrombies series.
Window to the east. Go now, Rainbow Dash, out the window... but I know she'll follow her anyway. :/
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
At last! The quest is revealed! The Midnight Armory, contrary to my earlier beliefs, is what everything in this story revolves around! The description of it knd of reminds me of The Pandorica from Doctor Who. Although I am quite intrigued as to what is inside of it. Perhaps a seventh Element, stronger even than Magic?
Also - If it took us 122 chapters to get to the exposition...I'm not sure I want to know how long it will be until we reach the climax.
These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
P.S. I made it with 15 minutes to spare! It is now 11:45. I think this is the first time I've had to fight the clock to evaluate.
The thing in the Midnight Armoury is the Onyx Nightbringerclipse. Calling it now.
I knew it was the Midnight Armory all along. Guys, she even talked to Luna about it right after Windthrow. Don't be dumb.
And we still don't know what the hell happened in Equestria.
1108400>>1636966>>1559306>>1307866>>1267805>>1115052
Okay, I'm loving this story, and I want to keep reading, but i NEED one of yall to answer a question for me:
The sequel, in the description, says, "Rainbow Dash Continues to fly east." Now, Knowing the author well enough, tell me this: does this story have a non-ending? Like, am I going to read for 200 chapters, just to see Dash not accomplish her goal and still not have any firm answers and the world still sucks but at least she learned about herself but that doesn't hep the rest of the world and Discord is still inside her so really nothing was accomplished besides character growth and all the usual things that make me unable to enjoy Short Skirts A—er, I mean, Imploding Colon's more famous stories?
I'm not asking for spoilers, just tell me if the story ends properly.1108400>>1108479>>1108523>>1108547>>1108629
Right, so I registered. About bloody time, right? This is beautiful. So, so beautiful. One of, if not the best novels I've ever read. Thank you, Colon.
So, risking Loyalty to restore the whole set....
Risky, but then, what's the use of one element without the rest?
White mane seems like a pretty chill mare. I dig. And also, holy plot exposition batman!
>alicorn OC
THE STORY IS RUINED FOREVER!
YES! At last, we have answers. The Midnight armoury holds an artefact she's searching for, perhaps one that will bring back her friends.
1858443
It seems that you asked the wrong people.
3679374
Too bad she isn't an alicorn.
To the ends of the earth.
Do the impossible, see the invisible. Row, row, fight the powa!
3884756
Well then. We have an artefact to find! That we probably will never find because east continues for the next four stories
Oh wait. Did IC just predict the Crystal Empire? This chapter was posted before Season 3.
-INCOMING RANT-
Wow I don't like Whitemane. I don't care who she is, you don't just look into people minds like that and expect them to understand any reason why for it. It's their last bastion of sanctuary from the world and to trespass without consent is a violation of their own being. I can understand it in certain situations but this is no such situation. It's not even a last resort.
What's even more annoying is Whitemane even bothers to ask questions she shouldn't even know. Seriously why not peek a little longer you arrogant prick. She has absolutely no right to question any information she pulled out from Rainbow Dash's head. It's like if you steal a ten from someone's wallet instead of all of it their money, they find out after you spent it, then you ask if you can borrow a five. Seriously, she has the nerve to ask for more information after just taking some form Rainbow's head? (Even if she is giving the readers some much needed info.)
She might say it's for the safety of her people but since that wasn't the case the ends most certainly do not justify the means here. Even if Rainbow Dash brought danger, could Whitemane really not be bothered to ask Rainbow Dash any of her concerns before hand? Yeah, Rainbow likes to dodge questions, so give her a reasonable ultimatum . At least ask Rainbow Dash for consent to looking into her head or she isn't welcomed to the city. If you think she's so dangerous to her people just shut her out. Yeah she can fly into the city but then if she has any reason to hang around it's suspicious and Dash doesn't have one. This is not how a ruler should act, and I can't take her apology as sincere unless she truly had no other choice, but she had other options she didn't even bother to try. Immoral much.
So I hope anyone who reads this can understands why when I say,
Fuck you Whitemane you immorale prick.
Also Luna views dreams, not probes ponies minds for information, she also has a duty to watch over dreams, which goes along with her perk of dream watching and control. So no I don't think it's the same thing as poking around in someone's head because you couldn't be bothered to ask them first or tell them to leave because you think their dangerous. (Then again in other chapters or stories in the series can have Luna do that with dreams, but I haven't gotten that far obviously.)
-DONE-
Beyond that it was an excellent chapter, for making me hate Whitemane with a passion. Haven't got so worked up about a character in a long time.
AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!!!!!!!
Give me anwers already!!!!!! Please?????!!!!!!!
So the Armory holds an object (note holds not held) that so long as even a part of it exists, the world should be fine and no one should even need to look for it. Whitemane seems to be implying that Rainbow is risking something (aside from her own life) by going after it. I assume that this Armory could remake the Elements of Harmony (assuming that the objects were destroyed with the bearers [though im thinkin they aren't truly dead]) but to what end? Sure it's pretty compelling to get rid of the Discord crap happening to her, but to risk the entirety of the world for it? I don't think that's the end goal here. But what is? what will be accomplished, or rather what or where, is the need for this goal coming from? Celestia's manning the rift, Luna's managing the solar cycle, so where's the problem other than the mane 6, minus one, are dead?
K, I was wrong, no more guessing
Also I bet that Whitemane doesn't know that something bad happened in Equestria. Something so bad that RD has to make a trip to the Midnight Armory to restore harmony.
What, I really can't help myself :|
Just like us reading this story...
4125118
Maybe, but remember that hints and promo material for season 3 would've been out when this was written. (Published mid-august 2012, season 3 aired early November), so IC may have taken those and rolled with it.
Backstory, ho!
And now we have the destination, but the journey seems to be far more important if the story is anything to go by.
This may be a dumb question, but... what do the titles of the books of this story mean?
Rainbow Dash meets pony Giladrial.
6158506 I admit I was curious about that too, so I googled it and found the wiki for the series (yes it has a wiki). According to the wiki it takes most of its title from Norse, and translates literally to "east horse". I'm assuming there's a bit of grammar I'm missing, so my best guess at it's real meaning is something like 'the horse goes east'. I'm probably wrong, but the thought got a chuckle out of me.
Gotta say, this Whitemane seems interesting. Interesting indeed. The more I hear about the Midnight Armory the more anxious I get for Dash to finally get there. Jeeze, this series is going to drive me insane.
~SolidFire
6585298 Going to? You mean it hasn't already?
So at this point she has yet to have grown out of the childish fear of being seen as childish and weak.
This part however I cannot blame her, as I also would hate it if somebody poked around in my head.
That sounds ominous.
And... ooooh, incoming exposition!
1115052 you have no idea how right you are.
1858443 it keeps going for a bit of a while longer
8034750 how goes catching up?
8194221
Rainbow just got to Red Barge in Utaan!
(also, wow that book is massive )