“Mmmfff...” Rainbow Dash's lips quivered. She turned her head over, and it brushed up against a pony's flank. “Nnngh...” She stirred again, and felt several limbs converging on her. “Grrgghh... Let me go!” She mumbled at first, and then was yelling. “I don't need you guys! Leave me alone!” She flew up before her eyes opened.
She looked down and saw several Wintergaters collapsing from her explosive liftoff. They struggled to get back up to their hooves as Astral and Red Turnip Sr walked up to her hovering position.
“Well, that's gratitude for ya,” Red said with a smirk.
“Huh?” Rainbow Dash blinked. “What?” She looked around. She was inside the giant underground structure. It was bright—brighter than earlier. Everypony was on the other side of the bridge. In the center, the pedestal was empty. “How... How long had I been out?”
“I'm guessing three hours,” Astral said in a low voice. “You gave us quite a scare, Miss Dash.”
“I...” She bit her lip, trembling in mid-air. “Yeah... Yeah, I guess I did.” She gulped. “Sorry...”
Astral raised an eyebrow. “You touched that flame. You risked your very own safety. By nearly killing yourself, you risked the safety of us all! Are you really, truly sorry?”
“Look,” she touched down with a sigh, folding her wings beside herself. “I can't explain why I did what I did. But if I knew better, I wouldn't have done it. Still, I'm sure that doesn't make the last three hours any less crappy.” She gazed sincerely at the ponies. “I apologize, everypony. It was very stupid of me to have done that. Even if I didn't understand everything, it's no excuse for me doing what I did. I'll... I'll try to be less of an idiot from now on.”
“Miss Dash?” Rockspoot appeared, trembling, behind his father's legs.
“Yeah, Spotty?”
“What's wrong with your eyes?”
Rainbow Dash blinked. She held a hoof up to her face and blinked several times.
“Oh... Uhm...” Rockspot made a face. “Now they're back to normal.”
“Uhhhh...” Rainbow Dash gulped. “Okaaaay...” She shuddered, briefly touching the surface of her pendant before swiveling around. “Well, onwards and upwards, I guess.”
“That's it?!” Red exclaimed. “You're just gonna pretend like you didn't fall into a horrible coma for several hours?”
“Well, I'm up now, aren't I?” Rainbow Dash said, trotting through the gawking crowd. “I'm a heck of a lot more useful now that I'm not a vegetable. So, what are we waiting for? Let's continue this bodacious hike!”
“Miss Dash,” Astral said softly. “I don't know if you've noticed, but something's changed. As soon as you touched the flame, it flew into the Element of Loyalty. I saw it with my very own eyes. On top of that, this section of the structure around you has started to glow brighter, as if your influence on this place has intensified.”
“Nonsense,” she spat. “This place is just a stupid maze.” She shuddered and glared ahead. “Seriously, you guys. All I want—all I really want—is to get you guys through this labyrinth.”
“What for?”
She gulped. “Just 'cuz...”
“Could you at least take a moment to rest?” a random pony asked.
“Yeah,” a mare joined in. “You're no good to us if you're still a little loopy from that magical craziness.”
“It's not craziness!” Rainbow Dash growled. “I'm totally fine! I'll dig up a way out of here! Just as soon as I get my bearings—” She stopped in mid-trot, blinking widely.
“Miss Dash?” Rockspot asked in a nervous little voice.
“Is something amiss?” Astral asked.
“Uhhh...” Rainbow Dash squinted.
Before her, she saw a lavender glow. It was a winding stream—solid and undeniably bright—and it was running a path before her, dipping into corridors and veering into adjacent hallways. Rainbow Dash didn't have a way to explain it, but she somehow knew that the lavender light was leading her towards the right direction. Everytime she doubted it, her heart would beat a little harder, and she felt the weight of her pendant intensifying.
“Do... Do you guys see that?” Rainbow asked.
“See what, Miss Dash?”
She gulped. “Never mind,” she murmured and flew forward. “Follow me.”
“Follow you where?”
“Just trust me!” As she soared after the lavender glow, she smirked back at the group. “I think I now know a way out of here!”
Lavender glow...
A lavender glow, eh? Twilight, perhaps, somehow? dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/shrug_Twilight_Sparkle.png
Hm, this is quite odd, I wonder if Luna would know anything about this.
I wonder if this is all happening inside Dash's head, and the purple glow is Twilight trying to free her from Discord's influence. Even I don't think that theory is right, but with this story, anything is possible :D
I think i was right. The bearers are around physically, but they are with dash spiritually
Loyalty is useless without friends. By touching the thingy, she has started to channel the other 5, wherever they are. It only makes sense that twilight the magic expert would be able to communicate the best. But then again it's been 76 chapters and I've never seen anypony else's influence. Maybe twilight's fate is unique.
She said BODACIOUS! She used a large word! She's an egghead...
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
So in this chapter, Dash wakes up after three hours of coma. But this chapter is really confusing. When Dash touched the flame, her eyes went red on yellow and her mind got all wibbly wobbly. But it has also caused the Iron Factory to react to her more; that is, it gives off more light around her, and she discovers the lavender trail, which has to have something to do with Twilight seeing as how the Factory is a haven (perhaps) of the Elements. I am truly and utterly confused by this...I suppose it will all make sense in a later chapter. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
"My little birds tell me many things "
So in a game of thrones and mlp cross over, Rainbow would be Lord Varys the eunich. Intresting
Just opened "Animals", and gonna listen through "Dark Side of the Moon" for this one
...Oh.
So, her eyes turn yellow when she's being dislo-
OH!
OH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So I've heard that later on Imploding colon aka shortskirtsandexplosions starts using commenter's names in the story, I'm gonna try commenting every chapter now, even if it a banal comment. Everypony generally has said all I would say each chapter. AMAZING STORY!
>“Miss Dash?” Rockspoot appeared
lel, Rockspoot
2012273 What is "dislo"?
I'm not entirely sure what to say. Um, great chapter?
3673691
top kek
3860636 #huesatval#
Lavender, eh?
You know, that sounds a lot like she's apologizing for leaving the game in The Return of Harmony...
S2 recovering Rainbow from disharmony. interesting.
Twilight influencing again?
There's something to be said here, but I have not the words to describe
5791015 Five weeks with ten or more chapters a day is a lot(i do about ten or more so thats where i come from). Still your comments are one of the closest to me. I wonder where you are in the story now.
Oh hey, my comment is still on top, fancy that...
When you have lost everything else, blind faith is all one can cling to. But what Rainbow is clinging to is a bit more substantial fortunately.
02/18/2017 18:02 UTC
I'm willing to bet, that if one showed a color expert that "lavender", they'd say that it was a 'pale, light grayish mulberry, RGB #D19FE4'.
The color of Twilight's coat.
7958231
Yes, fortunately.
And here we see another instance of FIM authors being completely incapable of describing any other shade of purple.