Rainbow Dash and Ember Speak reached the mesa before the pegasus could even think twice about it. After having traveled the length of the sundered ravine, the two survivors approached a giant gash in the northwest edge of the grand promontory. The spectacle of the large structure had been drained from Rainbow's spirit, replaced by the gray solemnity of the heartless desolation that surrounded the landscape. The smog pouring out of the entrance to the dragon's nest was thicker than pure ash. Rainbow Dash had great difficulty seeing through the mess; it was hard enough as it was to breath evenly at over five hundred yards away.
Rainbow and Ember exchanged glances. With a shared nod, Rainbow darted to the left and found a flat ledge of fractured rock. She lowered the two of them down so that they perched at an even level to the entrance. Above them, a shattered temple loomed. Loose flakes of dust fell in the high winds as they took the opportunity to catch their breath.
“Doesn't look like there's much light getting in there,” Ember said. “How are we going to get a signal to that pendant of yours?”
“I haven't got a clue,” Rainbow Dash muttered, eying the frothing smog. “But somepony higher up on the ladder of smarts might.”
“Huh?”
“Live and learn.” That said, Rainbow Dash tilted her ruby pendant up towards the dim light and rubbed her hoof in circles across the polished circle. In a matter of seconds, the gemstone lit up and a familiar, regal voice hummed through the windy air.
“Rainbow Dash, we entreat thee.”
“Try and keep it down some, Princess,” Rainbow Dash replied. “We're just a sneeze away from dragontopolis.”
“Acknowledged. Art thou alone?”
“Nope. I got somepony with me. Consider her backup.”
“This is a most perilous endeavor. Is this pony certain she desireth to assist thee?”
“Uhm... Th-that I am, your highness,” Ember Speak remarked, bowing towards the winds.
Rainbow Dash smirked and rolled her eyes.
“We are happy that thou hast found the company of such polite equines, Rainbow Dash.”
“I could really use with a dash of politeness for what's about to happen,” Rainbow Dash replied. “You ready to put your charm on a dragon queen?”
“Verily, Rainbow Dash, we are both ready.”
“Good, cuz I—” Rainbow Dash jerked in place. Her face scrunched up. “Wait, what do you mean 'we both?'”
“Huh?” Ember Speak blinked. “But I thought your Princess always spoke like that—”
“This is a dire situation, Rainbow Dash, and we saw it fit to incorporate all of the wisdom available to us. To such an end, we have relocated ourselves within the rift's sanctum. Our beloved sister is here as we speak. With our combined talents, we shall speak to the dragon Matriarch and appeal to her better senses.”
Rainbow Dash took a deep breath, her jaw clenched and nostrils flaring.
Ember glanced at her curiously. “You mean the other Princess is there too? That's... that's good, right?”
“Would thou wish to speak with her, Rainbow Dash—?” Luna's voice began.
“First thing's first, Princess,” Rainbow Dash snapped in a cold tone. “The Dragon Queen's lair appears to be deep inside a giant mesa of rock. I doubt any of the moonlight can get inside.”
“Thou feareth an inability to broadcast our magical communication?”
“What do you think?”
There was silence on the other end of the ethereal conversation. After a brief moment, Luna's voice returned.
“With our sister here, we believe we have sufficient power to maintain a solid connection.”
“Like how?”
“By combining our strengths, we shall capture the moonlight that thou art exposed to presently. Our sister's light spells can keep us in contact for at least another two hours, even without exposure to the moon.”
“Is there a drawback?” Ember Speak found herself asking out loud.
“After we cast the spell, thou must give the pendant a brief moment to calibrate our sister's light spell, and then we shall be able to communicate freely.”
“Like how brief a moment?” Rainbow Dash asked. “We're kind of running out of time as it is, Your Highness.”
“Then we shall not tary. Art thou prepared?”
Rainbow Dash gazed at Ember, took a deep breath, and nodded. “It's now or never, Princess.”
“Indeed. When next we speak, we anticipate being in the presence of this Matriarch.”
“Be glad you can't smell her.” Rainbow Dash tilted her body up to get even more exposure to the moonlight. “Ready when you are. Give 'er the zap.”
The pendant went silent. Then, slowly, a deep humming sound filled the air. Suddenly—in a bright strobe—beams of shimmering energy burst out from the lightning bolt shaped ruby.
Ember Speak gasped immediately. “Why's it have to be so bright?! This is the worst place for that!”
“Shhh! I'm sure it'll only last a second—” Rainbow Dash stopped in mid-sentence, her ruby eyes twitching towards the horizon.
“What is it?!” Ember murmured in a panicked breath. “Another dizzy spell—?”
Rainbow Dash grabbed Ember Speak and hoisted her up into the air viciously.
“Gaaah!” Ember remarked then fell silent as she saw several leathery shapes surging below. Rainbow Dash was dragging her up towards the temple's level. She flew swiftly behind a fallen slab of rock and dropped the two of them beyond view. The gray chunks of building material just barely snuffed out the light that was momentarily issuing out of the magical pendant.
Ember peeked from around the edge of the stone material, watching with panting breath as several dragons soared towards the opening beneath them. They carried pieces of ruined buildings and armored lockers and wooden chests that had been scavenged from the graveyard of Silvadel. No less than six shrieking drakes flew into the opening, sending a deep vibration through the upper lengths of the mesa.
The last dragon, however, stopped and hovered in air. Its slitted eyes squinted and blinked towards the heavens, catching the fringes of the solar spell emanating from Rainbow's pendant.
“Blessed elders...” Ember murmured.
Rainbow Dash was already stripping of her saddlebag and planting the thing directly in front of her in a desperate attempt to blot out the light. Just as she did so, the wind around the temple picked up. With a heavy slam, the dragon perched on the rock cropping behind them, its talons digging into the soot-stained concrete just above their shivering heads.
The temperature in the air picked up. Sulfur and ash billowed in waves as the drake swung its snout around—nostrils flaring as it scanned the immediate ruins before it. After squinting, the creature grunted in impatience and kicked off the rubble, littering a cloud of pebbles and dust onto the two equines below.
Ember Speak suppressed the urge to cough. Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth, feeling the air grow colder as the dragon's flapping wings grew distant. She craned her neck and saw the monster flying a grand circle around the body of the mesa, as if searching the broader stretches of the mountain for any sign of ponies. After several seconds, Rainbow Dash lowered the saddlebag. Her pendant had a dim glow to it now. She could feel the heat of the solar spell from deep within the fluctuating surface of the ruby lightning bolt.
“Looks like it's charged,” Rainbow Dash said. “Only a matter of time before we hear from the Princesses again.”
“Remind me,” Ember remarked. “What's the name of Luna's sister?”
Rainbow Dash ignored her question, instead glancing once more at the circling dragon and uttering, “We can't waste anymore time. Who's to know how many more dragon flocks are going to rush into the entrance behind us?”
“What are you proposing we do? They'll spot us at a distance so long as that thing is glowing even remotely!”
“Then...” Rainbow Dash's eyes narrowed as she saw the dragon circling around one last time and darting straight towards the entrance. “...we get closer.”
“Huh?” Ember's eyes went wide as Rainbow grabbed her, galloped over the edge of the temple, and dove straight down.
Just then, the dragon was soaring through the smoggy opening.
With perfect timing, Rainbow Dash flipped the two of them upside down, pierced the smoke, and glided until the two of them were levitating just inches above the dragon's undulating spine. They kept with it, sandwiched between the creature's scales and the surface of the tunnel's ceiling above. Out of sight of the dragon and yet within a gobble's distance, they stealthily entered the dark stomach of the mountain... where a deep, rising heat awaited them with a crimson glow...
here it comes!!!
Oh, that was a nice move. Very clever of Luna to go that way, and I can honestly applaud RD's style and ingenuity there. Can't wait for the next chapter. Maybe we'll actually get to talk.
"I wonder if Celestia was the one that stuck Discord into Rainbow Dash?"
Again with Dash's aggression at the mere mention of Celestia. Luna seems oblivious, so it's definitely a private matter. Hmm.
Definitely a good idea on their part to work together, though. They need every angle they can get, and the sisters are a pretty epic tag-team. Supposedly. Maybe?
Rainbow dun gone pissed off Celestia.
I don't see how the next chapter can be anything but big. They're in the lair (finally), and there will be two princesses negotiating. I've looked forward to every chapter so far, but now I'm on the edge of my seat.
"You're late!"
“Imploding Colon is never late, nor is he early, he releases new chapters precisely when he means to.”
Wow...hide in the shadow of the enemy...takes guts, or horrible insanity. Have mustaches. Mintelle, title obtained; The Pink Submarine...
1435922
These last few have been pretty "big," as well. There's a lot a stake and we've seen some really awesome maneuvering out of the athletic Dash even thus far. I am interested to see if we'll learn anymore about why Dash is so cold towards Celestia. I presume Dash blames her for everything, but I doubt we'll learn much.
1435923
Sage wisdom, Duke.
New Objective: Confront the Matriarch
New Objective: Survive
Secondary Objective: Keep Ember Alive.
Breathe.
1435954
Tertiary Objective: Have wild, passionate, "Bloody Hell We're Alive!" sex with Ember Speak.
Oh boy I can't wait...
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i2.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/007/423/untitle.JPG
1436177
I'm running out of creative ways to rebuke anyone who deviates from RD/GP, so I will just give you an angry twilight.
Quaternary Objective: Do not shout Gold Petals' name during completion of Tertiary Objective.
((Better?))
((Also, sorry, but my inner troll just finds this too easy))
1436223
You spend too much time around Tia
There's nothing really I can say about this chapter besides...
MOAR
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alltheragefaces.com/img/usercreated/507a34813e313.png
1435951
You just reminded me of how long since our dear Mintelle has commented on these hallowed pages.
Huzzah, the princesses have been doubled! Tension's really building now, isn't it? RD's clearly pissed at Celestia - I wonder if we'll actually be told anything more about it during the talk, or if it'll be glossed over altogether? Anyway, so far so good, and things are really amping up - can't wait for the confrontation between the matriarch and the princesses
Riding On The Wind - Judas Priest
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1434322
Yes, it's pretty obvious that the branching probably is at Return of Harmony. But this is the first thing I've seen that I can point to that's concrete.
weknowmemes.com/wp-content/gallery/aww-yea-guy/aww-yea-meme-original.jpg
FINALLY CAUGHT UP!
New Title unlocked: The sneaky
First go at titles
Wow. Only actually finally caught up.
I miss the days of Windthrow and Dashie's evaluations.
I'm gonna say it... I liked the earlier chapters more. Just under 100 chapters of solo flights and then the Windthrow ordeal were the pinnacle of this story. From then on, we went through two civilisations, plus solo flights, into our third civilisation in less than two hundred chapters. It just seems rushed.
So many moustaches for your writing finesse
1437881
The only way this story could seem rushed is if your definition of that word is horribly skewed. We're 185 chapters in and we still don't know exactly where the story branches off from canon. We also still don't know exactly what Dash's sickness is. We have theories (some of which make a lot of sense), but nothing has been confirmed. This story epitomizes well-paced storytelling.
Woah. Detecting some hate vibes between Dash and Celestia.
WHAT DID YOU DO TIA.
1439090 I think you do
1437789
Tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitles!
-Minty
(I haven't been here lately because I'm building up chapters to read all in one go)
1439320 I was thinking of doing that but the temptation to read was too intense
Don't ask about the video
[youtube=fA9bCV7zLv4]
1437881
Rushed Rushed?
One does not simply rush Austraeoh.
Also, turn out the light! Turn out the liiiight!!!
...we have to go deeper.
Also: Shiz, something tells me Celestia and Dash don't have the best relationship after that calamity or whatnot back in Equestria. I can just imagine them having a casual meeting now:
"Hey, Luna! Great to see ya!
...
oh. Hello, Celestia. I didn't know you'd be here."
One take on why Dash might hate Celestia is the feeling that she abandoned them. When Discord returned, she essentially hoofed all responsibility over to the elements of harmony and then seemingly disappeared. Assuming something went wrong, which it pretty obviously did, Dash could easily blame Celestia for not coming to help, for abandoning her and her friends. And if said friends died. . .
yeah, that is a pretty strong motivator to hate anything related to Celestia.
Uh-oh. Looks like Dash doesn't seem to like Celestia?
Brilliant!
CELESTIABERG...
IIIIIt's Dashie's Seventh Marathon Evaluation Time!
So in this chapter, we get the first hints of a possible Celestia encounter, which sounds interesting. Also, Dash expresses slight hostility towards Celestia. I believe that this I'd because she blames the princess for not being able to save the mane six from Discord back in Ponyville. We'll see soon enough if I'm right. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
P.S. And...that's...it...
I'm impressed that IC fit everything in exactly 200 chaps.
Death star ref.
Through a trench and sending a "package" through a port.
The time comes for diplomacy.
More exposition of Dash's dislike for Celestia. I wonder if we'll find out why...
Such sneak.
Such daring.
Such stealth.
All sneaky peaky like
Sneaking, she needs a cardboard box.
I've been around enough horses to know that when their nostrils start flaring you get out of the way. Why is Dash so ticked at Celestia?
Hmm... so, for some reason or another, Dash is really mad with Celestia. More and more questions, some that I dread seeing the answer to.
~SolidFire
Uh-oh. Exactly what happened between Dashie and Tia? I she the one who forced Discord in her?
6132115
Rainbow Dash? Rainbow Dash! RAINBOW DAAAAAAASSSSSH!!!!!!
8560553
I've been wondering about that since one Cabin
Wow, I know it's been brought up before, but we're really nailing home how much Dash hates Celestia in this chapter. Something serious and awful went down specifically between the two of them.