Hope for the Harmonic Stewards
"Twilight?" Rainbow spun around. All of her friends were gone, completely replaced by a pristine marble room with flickering torches and breeze-blown curtains. She spat: "Twilight! Pinkie Pie! Flutt—" With gnashing teeth, she spun around. "What did you do with my friends?!"
"Relax, my little pony," the voice echoed, bodiless. "The spirits that accompany you are safe. It's only you who've disappeared, so to speak."
"I don't get it! Where in the hay are we—?!" Just then, a pale figure trotted through, Rainbow Dash in a flicker of lavender light. Rainbow watched as a majestic pale alicorn strolled across the marble balcony, bathed in starlight. "...Whitemane?"
With motherly grace, the mare in question strolled past several marble pillars before coming to a stop before a bed of velvet pillows. She stood in silence, gazing at a petite blue figure, slumbering peacefully.
"Tell me, Austraeoh," Whitemane murmured in a voice long forgotten, a voice sounding like bells and birdsong. "What is it that you see, child?"
Rainbow's lips pursed.
"Ah... I see that Verdestone still stands."
"...?" Rainbow spun about.
The Mountain Matron stood beside her, only—she was no longer an emaciated alicorn. A metallic blue coat shone in the Emeraldine starlight, complemented by a flowing mane of midnight black silk. Strong, healthy wings stretched outward as the alicorn inhaled and exhaled deeply.
"After all these years, she's kept her ambitions in check, protected the mortals of our kingdom. Father would be proud." She swallowed a lump down her throat. "As would her mother, I suppose..."
"You..." Rainbow blinked rapidly. "...you knew Whitemane?"
"All too well. Not a day goes by when I'm not taunted by the faintest aura of her youth... her vigor... her biting optimism. But this? This is the strongest I've felt her presence in centuries." She looked down at Rainbow Dash, violet eyes piercing. "She has blessed you greatly, Austraeoh."
Rainbow gulped. "Whitemane's spell has... g-gotten me and my friends through quite a few scraps. But..." She squinted at the lengths of Verdestone's lofty palace around them. "...every time I think that her magic has completely and utterly faded, stuff like this keeps getting dug up to surprise me."
"An alicorn's magic never fades, my little pony," the Mountain Matron explained. "Even if the original vessel does." She tilted her head back up, horn glowing. "For instance..."
FW-FW-FW-FWOOSH! Rainbow winced as the scene around them dissolved. She and the alicorn were thrown several continents and daybreaks away. At last, upon a dark dimming sphere, they both landed within the crumbling remains of a besieged throne room.
"Luna, I will not fight you!" Princess Celestia's voice boomed. "You must lower the moon! It is your duty!"
Rainbow spun, gasping.
"Luna?!" A dark spectre of a mare stood across from her sister, engulfed in black and wearing polished blue armor. "I am Nightmare Moon! I have but one royal duty now..." Rearing her hooves, she launched a beam of black magic at her sibling. "To destroy you!"
Rainbow Dash winced as the spell shot through her. She turned to see Princess Celestia dodging the blast, then fleeing through a hole in the palace ceiling.
"And where do you think you're going?!" Nightmare Moon soared upwards. Against a starry canvas, she pursued her sister, lighting up the bleak countryside with errant blasts of mana as the two fought a desperate battle above the Everfree canopy.
"Holy c-cow..." Rainbow slurred, squinting at the dramatic clash.
"Her betrayal was catastrophic."
"...?" Rainbow looked over.
The Mountain Matron stood at her side, calmly watching the dueling sisters. "Not since Tchern's treachery had the stewards of this land suffered such a calamitous setback. It was the last straw for the race of alicornia. My father, Onyxxus, would have lived longer—perhaps—if the celestial siblings hadn't poisoned their harmonic duties with their needless squabbling."
"I..." Rainbow grimaced. "I-I don't even know what to say."
"And you needn't try. I knew that there was a change to the sun and moon in the last few years. I felt it in my bones—weak as they may be." She turned to gaze at the pegasus. Their ears twitched to the sound of exploding spells, followed by Celestia's agonized sobs. "But now I know for certain—from the power of your attachment to the Lunar Princess—that Nightmare Moon is indeed no more. The Princess of the Night has returned to her core self. It pleases me greatly to know that the heart of the Light Side is being watched over."
"Yeah, well..." Rainbow Dash gulped. "No thanks to me."
The alicorn raised her eyebrow.
Rainbow hung her head. "If I hadn't screwed things up big time in Equestria... Celestia wouldn't have her hooves full like she does to this day."
"Interesting that you say that." The Mountain Matron waved a hoof.
FW-FW-FW-FWOOSH! The centuries peeled back. Millennia dissolved in a blink. Once the colors stopped spinning, they streaked to a stop, and a tiny alicorn with a rippling pink mane stood upon an enormous terrestrial shelf overlooking a bleak wasteland.
"Those flashes of light!" The filly pointed, her jaw agape. "Are those what I think they are, Mother?"
A glowing equine figure trotted to a stop. "Yes, my child." The aura about her dimmed, revealing a gold face of immaculate beauty and wisdom. Above the two, several winged figures sliced the dark sky, spreading warmth and light from horizon to horizon. "Those are the focus points for our spells. The leylines of this plane intersect most elaborately, forming dense webs that are prime for harmonic channeling."
"It's... it's almost like someone put them there, mother."
"That is correct."
"But who?"
The radiant mare shook her head. "We do not know, Celestia. In time, you will have the power to find out for yourself. As for right now, we must oversee the manifestation of this spell. It is the only way to properly bring light and warmth to the forsaken denizens of this realm."
"But... what of the other side, mother?" The filly looked up, muzzle agape. Her pale wingtips fluttered. "Won't they be needing light as well?"
"Even with all the magic at our disposal, we cannot maintain harmony on both sides of the plane. You may be immortal, my little pony, but even you—like the rest of us—have your limits. You must remember this, Celestia, and keep your ambitions in check... or else you and all of the stewards to come will lose governance over these precious creatures."
Celestia gulped. "I will do my best to maintain harmony, mother." She stood tall and proud, wings spread. "You have my word."
"Hmmmm..." The mother leaned down to nuzzle her child. "...all I desire is your love. Share it with your mortal kin, sweet Celestia. Maintain peace through friendship and trust, and this plane shall endure. I promise you that."
Celestia suddenly gasped, gazing upwards at a sudden cascade of light. "Mother! Look! The spell!"
"Ah... indeed. The Harmonic Prism is channeling its energy into this realm's leylines." The alicorn pointed. "Now, watch... as your father and his siblings focus it into a self-contained sphere—"
FLASSH!
Darkness fell. Rainbow Dash found herself reeling in a forest of dust and detritus.
"Rainbow?" Rarity cocked her head to the side.
"Rainbow Dash?" Twilight and the others floated in front of their anchor. "Are... are you back?"
"Guhhhh..." Rainbow rubbed her head. She muttered into the air, "How... h-how could I contain that memory?"
"Because the Alicorn of the Sun has blessed you as well," the Mountain Matron said. Rainbow and her friends turned to see the alicorn shuffling to a stop along the edge of the chamber. "The last guardians of harmony have granted you the extent of their power. The celestial siblings have enchanted your armor while Whitemane surveyed your spirit and—no doubt—found you fit for the journey ahead. No doubt she had a hoof in the mechanisms that brought you to me, a personal delivery, so to speak." Her violet eyes dimmed as she hung her haggard head. "I... suppose I should be thankful to her. But that would be awfully short-sighted. After all, this moment... this very conversation upon the brink of everything has been set into motion long before our very forebears stumbled upon this plane."
"Rainbow," Twilight leaned in. "Did she just give you a vision?"
"Yeah... kinda sorta..." Rainbow cleared her throat, murmuring. "I think she's Whitemane's sister..."
"Half-sister," the alicorn said, her voice taking on a briefly abrasive tone. "But I am blessed to be related, nonetheless... and it gives me a spark of joy—however brief—to know that she still draws breath from beyond the Plains of Magical Drought."
Rainbow narrowed her eyes. "What's your name?"
"The Mountain Matron, of course." Violet eyes swam her way. "Patron Matriarch to the Wyvern Brethren, Stalwart Guardian to the Angelic Scripts, Immortal Overseer of the Heraldic Seven..."
"Yeah, I get all of that, but... like..." Rainbow leaned forward, along with her spectral companions. "With all due respect, ma'am, what's your name?"
There was the tiniest of twinkles in the alicorn's eye as she gazed towards the slitted windows of the dusty place. "Hmmmm... a long time ago, I went by the title of Princess Mortuana of Emeraldine, daughter of Queen Mesmer and King Onyxxus. That... was several millennia into the past." A shuddering breath. "I remember everything in shadow: nights when sarosians peacefully shared the skies with pegasi, a kingdom full of enormous effigies built by mortal artisans, a continent to the east ruled by harmonic caribou..." She grimaced. "That was several lifetimes ago. I have seen many... many friends die... and my soul dissolved layer by layer with them. But such was my station... my focus, as it befits the name given me upon foaling. Alas, as fate would have it, that name now has come to define me. You see, Austraeoh, this creature you see before you... this pallid shade of 'Mortuana' is dying."
Rainbow blinked. "Dying?"
"And I haven't much time left... which is why we must make haste to ferry you boldly and courageously past the instrument of my demise..." Mortuana's jaw clenched. "...even now as she threatens to sacrifice this very continent that she's deceived for eons."
Rainbow took a deep breath. "Verlax."
"Your destiny and the Divine's are locked together, Austraeoh," Mortuana said. "The fire of Yaerfaerda cannot be quenched with both of you surviving. It is the necessary task of the Herald to make sure that you survive to rekindle the dying flame of this world. In the end, only one spark can transcend beyond."
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I love when this updates right before I go to sleep so I and cap off my day in an awesome way!
Well, there it is, Dash. You heard it from Mortuana herself. You will have to kill once more. You will have to go through Verlax to get to the other side.
I wonder what the heck Verlax did to Mortuana to sap away her life like that? An alicorn dying is serious business. Furthermore, I wonder if the wyverns and the Heralds knew that she was dying.
At least the sisters got to see each other again one last time.
huh, called it.
Or half called it.
I find myself wondering more and more what the Divine Dragons plan is. Because we know from Ejun that Axan has had contact with Verlax since she "killed" Dash.
More alicorn manipulation seems to be showing as well, which also interests me.
Mortuana. I was close in remembering. Regarding what she says, everyone keeps saying that she needs to kill Verlax to continue. Yet her greatest triumphs are when she forges her own path. The Urohringr spirit even mentions that she needs to complete the circle with a straight line, I.E. find her own solution that others consider impossible. I don't think Rainbow will kill Verlax, but I know she won't let Verlax win the game she is playing.
Mortifying chapters
Oh mane oh mane oh mane more alicorn world building!!!
7019630 Is that supposed to be a pun?
So uuhh.. did anyone else catch this particular bomb?
One spark.
Are Dash and Verlax both Austraeoh?
Dash pure and Verlax Corrupt?
Attempt 2 at the rhyme for the next book
Those who watch the world die, the duel of Sparks grows nigh. ???
-Companions have returned, inner darkness spurned. Utaan.
7019637 Those who watch the world die, smoke weed and get high!
Only one spark can survive? Does that mean that Verlax has one as well? Does this mean that Rainbow has to kill Verlax?
It is one thing to destroy the Quade - a holy place. It is another thing entirely to overthrow their god..
7019656
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Soothsayer - Buckethead
The last chapter said it a few times but this just cements it. (You know, 'cause Utaan means Beyond.) I wonder if we will get an Utaan symbol?
Hooray for more alicorn backstories! It was pretty neat to see a shout-out to the episode where Twilight relives the fight between Celly and NMM. Keep it up, IC!
Welp, looks like Verlax is gonna have to go. I mean, we mostly knew that anyway, but still. And considering the fact that all the previous beacons have tied in to their respective element's virtue, I suspect that Rainbow revealing the truth about this Queen of Lies to the citizens will be necessary. Maybe it won't even be Rainbow that gets rid of Verlax, but the open-eyed citizens of Rohbreddon. I wonder if that's what Verlax planned all along.
Also, this story continues to have the best world-building on this site.
And lo, the hammer falls.
But there must always be Seven. And when Mortuana dies, who will take her place? Bard? Does Wildcard know how close she is to death, and thus trained Bard as her replacement? Curious...
I don't think this advice can help Rainbow. Like with Goddess of FOE, they can't just defeat Verlax in combat or by Rainbooming her castle, can they? They need to break her chess logic somehow first... Having both Elements would likely defeat her immediately, but she would destroy Rainbow if she tries to get that.
Hate to tell ya this Verlax, but sounds like your death warrant has officially been sealed
Well then, it sure feels like we're getting really close to the big confrontation with Verlax, and then the inevitable Edge Of The World. Only 47 chapters remain in Utaan.
Verlax is also dying, as a mirror to Mortuana, her equally battlescarred foe.
7019657 Verlax would take the blame for those equally, were it not for the fact that the latter leaves her dead.
7019637 From Morning, to Zenith, to Blackest Plain,
the Spark flies on, for All to gain.
(Morning being her journey's start in Equestria, Zenith being the climactic showdown against Verlax, Blackest Plain being the dark face of the world. The second phrase is self-explanatory.)
... Niether can live as the other survives.
Ahmm... So, "Neither can live while the other survives"?
Edit: just looked at the comment above mine
...old? Check.
...wrinkled? Check.
...calls rainbow child? Not check.
....you did that on purpose didn't you IC. I feel like I just got
and I love it.
Has anyone made a "There can be only one" joke yet? I guess its too obvious. At any rate, maybe Dash can now hear some actual details as to what to expect from the dark side of the world? Be nice if she doesn't have to go there completely blind. Also, wonder if this alicorn can shed some light on why Dash's wing has been so slow to heal?
I'm expecting the road to and eventual confrontation with Verlax will be intense, and hoping Dash is canny enough between herself and her friends to figure out her own Option Z for getting through it all without screwing over Rohbredden in some disasterous manner.
7019813
7019845
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Yeah I have a feeling that Rainbow isn't exactly going to just go along with the whole killing Verlax idea; at least in the end. I'm also expecting there to be a whole lot of "but thou must" going on as well.
7019979
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Calling it now, most of job squad won't live much longer.
Wildcard and Remna definitely will definitely perish, but Wildcard will run into the Talon first. That way Seraph and friends will experience losing him twice. (That is, if my theory about him being a former Talon is correct)
7020052 Even better, Wildcard will die shielding Dash from a Talon capture scheme gone wrong.
So Dash has to kill a dragon matriarch? Oh sure, because that went so well for her the first couple of tries.
7019601 Maybe it was something to do with that storm of windigoes several centuries back?
The theme song of this arc will be The Touch. I suppose that sound fits Dash.
But a spark is a spark is a spark, so for there to be harmony without conflict, the greater must absorb the lesser, and in doing so become even greater than both induvidual sparks together.
Wonder if Twi and the girls are about to get a new roomie?
What about Axan tho? She was supposed to be watching over RD.
7020242
I'm pretty sure that in the first or second conversation with Verlax it was said Axan was gone or taken care of, of course I don't quite remember its been a while so could be totally wrong
I don't think she's actually part of the seven if this is her title, which leaves the slot open for someone else still. I'm not quite sure who is though.
7019726 Wait she?
Holy fuck WC's a chick?
I feel like an idiot now.
7020275 It's true but also Verlax could be totally lying
7019656 that would be a twist
verlax and dash smoking weed together
7019637
it would explain how she got her ice-golems into the machine world and how she knew so much about the austraeoh's journey
I was gonna make a Transformers reference (Hasbro, Heyo!) but I was beaten to it.
Then I was gonna make a Harry Potter reference, but people beat me to it again....
Oh, who cares, post Stan Bush
7020303 the mountain matron is a she.
and she is close to death, the question was "does Wildcard know how close the matron is to death, and has the Matron been training Bard as her replacement?"
7020242
7020275
Actually, I believe it was a talk with Luna where they relayed some info that Cadence and Shining had learned from Sturke, that she got a...'call' from Axan that was cutoff halfway through.
Yup. Chapter 177, a Conference held about holding conferences.
But you are somewhat correct, Verlax never called Axan or Nevlamas by name but she did mention them briefly in the vision under Shoggoth.
Chapter 166, Follow the horizon, break the circle.
Also, fuck me sideways, that was half an hour of searching through chapters for those conversations.
Much respect to AFC for digging through not just chapters, but sometimes pages of comments for the answers to our queries.
I'd love to see more of Mortuana in the future, but considering her current state, I believe attempting to keep up with Rainbow would be... arduous.
7020318 well, April Foals is coming up. Imploding Colon, there's a joke chapter idea for you...
Mourtuna.... I don't think I've heard this name before...
Yet another Divine that has to be killed off, guess this really is the end times for them. Strange that all the ancient powers, except the Alicorns, are being killed off on this quest to save the world.
Hmm, so the Matron is pretty weak yet will be helping Rainbow. I hope she's up to the task, Rainbow's journey is pretty dangerous.
7020524
You can download an entire story as a single file, using the icons next to the Complete/Incomplete status. Makes searching for character/place mentions and the like much easier.
Mortuana is giving off very strong Dark Souls vibes. The entire atmosphere of decay and decrepitness treated with such casual acceptance serving only to strengthening the gravity of it feels alike.
7019637 And with this we're also going full Harry Potter on the side.
You know, Rainbow has gotten past two divines already. Then again, Verlax isn't like anything she's gone up against before.