It was chilly, so he shivered.
His little body curled up and his teeth chattered. Squinting an eye open, he gazed straight out.
Beyond a flowing curtain, he saw a bright blue ocean... glittering beneath a sapphire sky.
A whimper escaped his lips, and he hugged himself tight.
Not long after, a pair of loving forelimbs bundled a woolly blanket around his figure and then held him close in a fuzzy embrace.
“Mmmm...” He squeaked, burying his muzzle into a warm chest.
“What's the matter, my little Swift Song?” her voice cooed, warm, smooth as velvet.
“I... I-I had a bad dream,” he stammered breathily. “That you and Daddy were g-gone...”
“Why...” She nuzzled him close, kissing his left ear, then his right. “...where would we have even gone, silly pony?”
“Then... th-then why do I feel so cold, Momma?”
Silence. Her breath cut short.
He gulped. “Momma...?”
The air rang with deep metallic thuds, draining the bright blueness from the sky.
“Mom—?”
“Dead drift!”
Swab's yellow eyes opened, brimming with tears. He glanced left, then right. At last, his body winced from yet another dull thud of metallic impacts through the lower hold of Red Barge.
“Dead driffffft!” Saxon's voice rang from the distance. One by one, the orphans stirred, rolling out of their filthy bunks and mattresses.
“Wake up, ya lazy seafoam bums!” Digiff suddenly marched into the domain, teeth showing beneath his snarling muzzle. He galloped from bed to bed, shaking and kicking tired foals out of their cots. “You all want nibbles? Then you'd better be prepared to grab us some goods! Up and at 'em! Don't make me tell you a second time or I'll skin your hides and shove you down into the Harvest chambers!”
Swab sat up, wincing. He rubbed his aching neck, then squinted sideways at the rest of the orphans. He saw Croche stumbling out of bed, her sunken eyes extra dark with the trailing shadows of sleep. In the distance, Quint slapped Whony awake then frowned at the nearby colts. “Alright! You heard the dredger! Rise and shine, muckheaps! We've got nibbles to earn!”
“I said move it!” Digiff suddenly snarled in Swab's good ear, yanking him viciously off his mattress.
“Guh!” Swab winced, legs flailing as he struggled to meet the ground with his flung momentum. “I-I was up! Honest—”
“No excuses! Grab whatever tools you can and go!” Digiff pointed up towards the top level.
Swab shuddered. Foals left and right were yanking various toolbelts and satchels off a rack along the wall. He grabbed his, slung it over his body, and marched out into the bitter cold night. As he reached the surface, his ear rang with the noise of chugging engines. Water splashed and churned against the edges of the struts as the entire Barge glided its way south. At last—following the shouts of dredger guards from tower to tower—the entire assortment of welded ships cut off the engines. Red Barge drifted south, slowly coming to a lazy glide.
As Swab felt himself surrounded by barely waking foals, he heard Saxon's voice shout overhead: “Incoming line! East southeast! Headed for the eastern struts!”
“Turn your filthy heads around and march east!” Digiff barked, suddenly there, leering over the foals. “No dragging tail! Move! Move!”
Swab and several other orphans lurched across the welded ships, making their way to the eastmost struts. There, the platforms had drifted far enough apart to afford a miniature channel that ran straight through the bulk of Red Barge. One by one, the guard towers switched their floodlamps on, shining spotlights on the open water with loud, buzzing electricity.
Swab had to squint at first, but soon enough he saw the dead drift... cruising icily towards them like a train of tiny frozen glaciers. He clenched his jaw tight.
Dear Goddess Verlaxion,
It is your foal, Swab. And I have sinned again.
One hoof at a time, Swab climbed down a length of cargo netting, lowering himself towards the cold lapping waters of the muddied ocean.
He wasn't alone. Several other colts and fillies shimmied down. They dangled there, hanging in the penumbra of the dredger guards' sweeping spotlights. The bright beacons caught waves of mist rising up off the frigid waters.
Swab trembled, hanging on. He craned his neck around and stared down the channel between struts. His good ear twitched.
At last, the first of several tiny boats came. The miniature coffins floated west, carried by a mid-ocean current. The pale muzzles of pale corpses lingered in each raft, their eyes shut and their hooves neatly folded. Rich silks adorned their bodies, and wreathes of pale white flowers filled the gaps between their stiff limbs. Several petals had fallen loose, and they drifted along with the current, littering the cold waters between the bobbing coffins.
“Mmmmm...” A filly sniffed the air from across the channel where she dangled from a length of netting. “You can smell the oils...”
“Stay focused,” Quint grunted, descending in a rope-suspended pontoon from the edge of the strut. Once it landed in the waters, two other colts jumped in, and he rowed the vessel out into the middle of the dead drift. “Whatever you collect, toss it here. You want your nibbles? Be quick, and leave nothing unturned. The dredger is watching.”
Swab glanced up. He saw the outline of Digiff marching along the edge of the eastern struts. With a shudder, he glanced back down, waited for a coffin to drift by, and jumped. He landed on a dead mare's chest, wobbled slightly, then found his balance. All around him, more and more orphans jumped, landing on the bobbing procession of the dead drift. Without wasting any time, Swab rummaged through the clothes, pouches, and belongings of the dearly departed Rohbreddenites. He stored away what he could in a second satchel, reaching in deep to check the moist recesses of the necrotic float.
Several of your children were sent off to sea, so that their bodies might find their way to the Spring Havens... and perhaps their souls too. They shouldn't have been disturbed... but this did not stop us.
On occasion, Top Dredger Skagra sends us into the drink to grab valuables off of the dead drift. A tiny little trinket here or there won't rake in many bits, but an entire bevy of items grabbed from an entire procession overnight? It's enough to make him a very rich pony... or at least that's what I'm told. I don't know, but being ignorant is not my worst sin.
No, what I'm guilty of is doing this to your beloved children without question. If I don't find any trinkets, I don't get my nibbles for a day. Maybe two days. If I was a good pony, I wouldn't even bother. I'd just leave the dead alone. But that's not an easy thing to do when it's so cold and you're hungry and you know that there's no other way to earn nibbles anytime soon.
It doesn't make it right. Because of me, your children are now lost. Without the gifts and heirlooms of their loved ones... how are they ever going to make it across the seven seas? How will they even arrive at the gates to the Spring Havens?
“Mrmmmf! Pearls! I-I found a pearl necklace!” a filly's voice echoed across the lapping waters.
“Bring it here!” Quint hollered. All around him, fillies and colts hopped from coffin to coffin, stripping the bodies of valuables. The cold night air was ripe with mildew and rigor mortis, and the sweeping spotlights caught the glint of teeth and pale flesh. “Don't forget to check each muzzle!” the oldest colt exclaimed. “The eyes aren't the only places where you'll find coins!”
Swab grunted, sweated, fishing his tiny limbs through a stallion's velvet overcoat. He found a pocketwatch, inside which was the faded photograph of four smiling pegasi. Clenching his jaw, he yanked the thing out—chain and all—and dropped it inside his spare satchel. He heard the rattling of jewelry beneath the corpse's body, so he reached his hooves past the mane, shrugging off lice and other squirming things as he grabbed coin after coin.
“Hah!” Two boats over, Whony smiled like a jester. “Boy did this mucker have rotten luck! Grnnngh!” With a sickening pop, he yanked a unicorn's prosthetic limb off, then waved it around like a puppet piece. “Hey! Who's deader than nails and hates dredge coal explosions? Me! Meeee! Snkkkkt—hahaha!”
“This boat's clear!” another colt stammered from the middle of the drift. “What next?”
“If it's clear, then show that it's clear!” Quint caught Digiff's gaze from the strut level, then motioned with a hoof. “Over and under!”
The colt gulped. Grunting, he used all his strength to pull the body out... then rolled it over the coffin's edge. The corpse fell into the drink with an icy splash—where it eventually sank to the ocean floor like an anvil.
“Don't stop for nothing! Move on to the next boat!” Quint heard a series of high-pitched grunts and struggling breaths. He looked over, frowning. “Croche! Dammit, girl, get a move on or you're bloat!”
“...?” Swab instantly looked up.
Across the way, Croche struggled with a mare's neck. Her tiny hooves wrestled with the tight, ice-blue flesh. “Nnngh... I can't... c-can't get the muzzle to open!”
“Your bag's practically empty, girl!” Whony barked from aside. “If you don't get any trinkets, you don't get any nibbles!”
“Quiet!” Quint hissed as Digiff strolled by overhead. “Croche, stop mucking about!”
“I... I-I'm sorry...” Croche sniffled, her sunken eyes narrowing as spotlights streaked over the cold waters. “I... I-I just can't get this to... to...”
“... … ...” Swab took a deep breath. He yanked at the body in his boat and shoved it overboard. “Nrnngh!” Sploosh! Sputtering, he paddled the coffin across the way. “All clear!”
“Good job, sea foam,” Quint muttered. “Move on to the next—”
“Httt!” Instead, Swab hopped over to Croche's boat. The filly gasped as the coffin nearly capsized. Swab expertly balanced it with his equally placed limbs. “Here...” He wrangled his way in, gently brushing Croche aside. He reached into his satchel, then produced a rusted pick. Patting Croche's light pink shoulder, he gestured at the dead mare's neck. “Stiffness has set in. You gotta aim at the ligaments in the upper jaw. Like... so.” He stabbed the pick in deep then twisted until there was a sickening pop. “Same on both sides.” He repeated the motions. Then, pulling out the juice-stained shiv, he stuck it in a third time—this time into the very base of the chin. “Now... pry it open... nnngh...”
Slowly, like a rusted vice, the mare's mouth opened, exposing her teeth. Three or four molars had bright gold fillings.
Swab exhaled, smiling through sweat and goosebumps. “H-hey... see?” He turned aside. “It was worth the—” He blinked.
Croche had her face covered with two shivering hooves. She sniffled, gagging slightly as she fought to keep the bile down in the back of her throat.
Swab's lips pursed. His good ear twitched, and he tilted his head up to see Digiff marching along the strut, watching everypony and everything. “Hey...” With a firm breath, he reached over and shook Croche's shoulder. “Hey. Look at me.”
Slowly, trembling, Croche did so. Her moist eyes twitched.
He gazed at her intently. “This is what you have to do.” He gestured for her to watch. Reaching into his bag, he fumbled, then finally yanked out several clumps of cotton. He stuffed them deep down into the dead mare's throat, blocking her swollen throat passage. Then, producing a tiny mallet from the bag, he aimed the stained pick straight up against a tooth, forming a forty-five degree angle. Holding his breath, he raised the mallet, then uncoiled his muscles.
Thwack!
He swung again.
Thwack!
And again.
At last, with a crack, the tooth with the gold filling popped loose. It fell onto the cotton blockage below. Swab reached in and swept it up in an instant, plopping it down into Croche's trembling hooves. Wasting no time, he did the same with the remaining teeth, loosening the valuable gold and depositing them into Croche's posession.
“The Drift's thinning!” Whony's voice echoed from a few waves away. Splash! “Good things can't last forever, huh?! Haha!”
“Just shut up and bring in your salvage, Whony.”
“Yes, Mommmmm.”
“There you go...” Swab squeezed Croche's shoulder. “Should be good enough.”
“But... b-but...” Gulping, she held the gold fillings out towards him. “Your nibbles—”
“Shhhh...” Swab's yellow eyes swung past Quint's raft. “Remember to toss the body when you're done.”
“... … ...”
“If you can't, I'll be back this way again later.” Then, with a grunt, he hopped onto the next nearest boat.
He nearly fell completely into the drink this time. Gasping, Swab flailed his limbs, catching his balance at the last second. Wincing, he looked into the coffin, thinking that perhaps it was empty.
It was not. However, he soon discovered why the boat was so lightweight. A tiny, frail sliver of flesh was all that lingered in the coffin. Wrapped up in silk robes was an infant colt, its mane barely formed. The effects of rigor mortis had carried it differently over the waves, and the little thing's eyelids had partially lifted, exposing two green eyes covered in a gray glaze.
The foal's limbs were folded across its chest, tightly clutching a crystalline effigy of a pair of windigos galloping away from a plume of frost—a totem of Verlaxion.
Swab perched above the body, gazing with thin eyes. He shuddered through a dull breath, then eyed the gold embroidery of the silk fabric covering the foal. There was no point in wasting time. Reaching in, Swab pulled the valuable totem out, and prepared to unwrap the little corpse so as to salvage the precious silk.
Please know that I do not take pride in what I do, and I certainly am not happy about teaching others to do such wicked things. But, at the same time, I don't want them to suffer, my Goddess.
There are so many ponies here—sea foam orphans who are worst off than me. I often wonder about them, night after night. How will they earn their nibbles? Will they even live long enough to fill the hole in their hearts that was left when their parents died?
I hate stripping your children of their valuables. I hate tossing them into the drink... losing their bodies... losing their souls.
But if I don't do this, then it means others will suffer around me. We will all suffer. If your children who drift our way are already dead, then that means you've already prepared for them a place in the Spring Havens, right? Then is it so bad that I try to make sure that we survive long enough so that we might redeem ourselves of our sins and get there as well?
We all wish to reunite with you, Verlaxion. I just hope... I really hope that when we do... and when I finally meet my parents in your presence...
That you will be willing to even look at us...
Swab trembled. He was the last in line to shuffle past Quint and his boat—raised along the outer edge of the eastern struts.
One by one, under the glow of a rising sun, the tired and exhausted orphans shuffled past Quint's boat, emptying their satchels full of trinkets and valuables into an increasingly full wooden bin.
“Good job, Whony,” Quint muttered, scratching across a sheet of paper that Digiff had given him. “Go turn in. Brunch will be yours in a few hours.”
Whony chuckled slightly, his left eye twitching. He gazed off across the distant horizon, teetering slightly, then made his gradual march towards the lower hold a few struts away.
More ponies passed by, turning in their late night's work. Among them was Croche, depositing several gold fillings and a purse full of jewelry.
“Mmmff... not bad. Step it up next time, will ya?”
Croche merely nodded. As Quint scratched her off, she trotted away. Her sunken eyes swept the Barge until they met Swab.
Swab said nothing. He was too busy clutching something tightly beneath the crook of his fetlock.
“Sea foam...” Quint grunted out the side of his muzzle when Swab arrived.
The one-eared colt dumped his satchel in and moved off—
“Wait.”
Swab winced, turning about. “Huh?”
Nostrils flaring, Quint glared down at him. “Cough it up.”
“... … ...” Swab glanced at the bin, then at the frigid waters beneath them. He gulped in the hazy morning light. “Cough... wh-what up, Quint?”
“Rnnngh!” Quint slammed his hoof across Swab's face.
“Ooomf!” Swab fell to the floor. Instantly, he dropped the crystalline totem of Verlaxion. With a whimper, he clutched it to his chest with trembling limbs.
Quint loomed over him. “You friggin' idiot!” Gnashing his teeth, Quint crouched lower, hissing below his breath: “Don't you see what I'm trying to do? I'm looking after all of us!” He pointed at the totem. “If Digiff sees you stowing that below deck, he won't just toss you out into the drink to bloat, he'll hold back nibbles for the rest of us! We'll be starving for days!”
“He won't see it!” Swab gulped, shivering all over. “Honest! I know where to hide things—”
“Bullshit!” Quint hissed, then reached his forelimb out. “Hoof it over—”
“It was a little foal's totem!” Swab managed to frown. “It's his family's spiritual offering! To ferry his body into the Spring Havens!”
“Rnnngh... dammit Swab—”
Swab spat: “He didn't even reach the age of ascension! How else is he to reach Verlaxion's spirit?!”
“Fine!” Quint growled in Swab's face. “So suddenly you're a priest! So concerned over the souls of the dead, huh?! Well, stow it away, then! And when everypony else has beaten you to a pulp over it... and you've starved us all of nibbles for a week... it'll all be okay! Cuz one little bastard went to snow heaven! Is that worth giving everything up for, ya mucking little sea foam?! Then go on! I wanna see you steal that away from Skagra like a true thief!”
Swab blinked repeatedly, trembling.
“Well?!?” Quint's teeth glinted in dawnlight.
Swab blinked one last time. He sniffled... hiccuped on a sob, then slowly held the totem out to Quint.
“Hrmmff... figured...” Nostrils flaring, Quint yanked the crystal effigy from him. “Friggin' coward.” He tossed the item into the bin and walked back to the boat with a vacant expression. “You belong here more than I do.”
Swab hung his head, staring dull and dead at the metal deck.
Quint scratched off the last name, then threw a tarp over the bin. Around this time, another colt shuffled up to him. “I just did a headcount, Quint.”
“Yeah, and?”
“One hundred and three of us have reported in.”
“...?” Quint blinked at the foal. “But there's... one hundred and five of us.”
The colt merely shrugged.
Quint looked at the sheet Digiff had given him. “...Lance and Sea Swell. Where are they?”
“I don't know.”
“But I saw them an hour ago. They got plenty of trinkets.”
“I saw them too, Quint,” the colt said. “They were both standing in empty boats, last time I noticed.” He gulped. “Staring into the waters. All quiet. Just before the spotlights dimmed.”
Silently, Quint stared into the channel between the struts. Empty coffins and flecks of flower petals lingered across the filthy surface. The struts drifted gradually together, closing up like the jaws of an icy beast.
“Go under,” Quint muttered. “Get some rest.”
“But... but Quint—”
“Just go!” Quint snarled, frowning off towards the bright horizon as he rolled up Digiff's sheet. “I gotta get this shit in to Nixkit! So beat it!”
With a shudder, the colt obeyed, galloping past a dazed and distant Swab.
Dear Verlaxion, please forgive me.
I try and I try so hard...
But I just don't know how to be strong anymore.
I want to be a good pony. I try hard everyday. Please don't take it out on my parents. They're much better ponies than I've ever been. I understand if you're mad... and that you have every right to toss them before the tide... like I have stripped and tossed so many of your children into the depths...
But they don't deserve to be lost just because of me.
I just...
I just wish I knew where they were...
And that they were okay...
And that somewhere, somehow, something good that I have done is warming them... feeding them... guiding them home to me...
Where we can both be warm again.
Please, Verlaxion, I know that I don't deserve this, but my parents...
They deserve everything. Bless them. Protect them.
Your sinful but humble servant,
-Swab
Limply, Swab shuffled along until he couldn't shuffle anymore.
He lurched against a rusted railing along the western edge of Red Barge.
He stared deep into the dark waters, lapping cold and filthy against the rusted hull below.
At last, he buckled... he shook... and then he lurched forward, collapsing against the railing.
He buried his muzzle in his hooves, stifling a whimper, failing.
“Goddess... Goddess, please...”
Sniffling, he wiped his eyes dry and covered his face again.
“Anything... j-just anything... I-I beg you...”
He shook... shuddered... then opened his foggy yellow eyes.
The waters glistened for a brief moment, crystalline and refreshing.
His lips were parched... his body aching.
One limb after another, he began to move—
“Monster...!”
He gasped. Eyes twitching dull and dry, he looked up at the western horizon.
One of two steamships came charging in, its hull doused with rainwater. Monket's flag hung in tatters while smog poured into the air.
“Monsterrrrr! We caught the monsterrrr!”
Red Barge came alive in wild commotion. Saxon spun about in his guard tower, squinting. Dredgers of all shapes and sizes rushed out of the metalwork, gazing west. Nixkit and Digiff shuffled up, eyeing Monket's armada.
“The Rainbow Rogue is ours! Make way! Open your port and make way!”
Nostrils flaring, Nixkit swung his hoof in the air. “You heard 'em! Spread the struts! Open the port and make a path towards the southern brig!”
“Aye!”
“Move it! Move it! Move it!”
“Spread word to the Skag Hole! Monket's nabbed the monster!”
“Mucking fantastic...”
Swab exhaled, his ear twitching with abject curiosity. One shuddering hoof after another, he backed away from the railing, and watched the slave ship glide its way into port.
Ladies and gentlemen, Rainbow Dash has entered the Barge.
Hang in there, Swab. It looks like your meal ticket's just arrived.
Ugh...grave robbing, though. Is nothing sacred in this corner of the world?
I totally feel you Croche, I'd rather starve a day than touch a corpse. A little hunger pain should be nothing compared to the punches of full grown stallions.
Though I was kind of hoping we'd be seeing the remains of Monket's crew after one of them got greedy and grabbed her pendant.
Looks like we have a pair of runners, or they drowned.
-In the end isolation, hunted by a nation. Utaan.
Looks like Swab won't have to wait too much longer, now he just needs to convince Rainbow that she is still a good mare.
About time. Now Rainbow can break free and rescue all of these little foals and fillies.
Yay, now we only have to wait like 5 more chapters before Swab finally somehow gets close enough to Rainbow to get her finally introduced into the plot. I've been going nutso waiting for her to do something god damn it.
I wonder what significance Swab will hold in the future chapters. He's being built up very well and his chapters are extremely enjoyable.
Lord have mercy....
Rainbow, I don't know if your psyche can take it right now, but.... I think this place needs some serious house cleaning.
Poor Swab. I hope Rainbow really turns his life around.
Seraphimus wouldn't be too happy with grave robbing. I'd really like to see her reaction.
Not sure what make out of Quint... I guess I should hate his guts, but... I kinda understand him... in a way.
Damn it.
Trojan East Horse reporting for duty.
Aaand Rainbow has entered Red Barge.
Hm. I wonder if someone will see the pendant and send one of the orphans (more specifically, Swab) to go grab it.
In the intro to this chapter, poor Swift Song was giving me some serious Feivel Mouskawitz vibes. Did I spell that right?
6568490
RD is using them for free transport. I refuse to believe in anything else.
I want asskickings, dammit.
6568439 Just Verlax, apparently.
But this was interesting:
Assuming this statement is genuine, then Quint just gained a few points in my book. Which will help balance out all the uncalled for cruelty against those he considers inferior.
And we got to learn Swab's name. Swift Song, huh? Wonder if that counts as a second mention for Swan Song? Either way, love the kid: he's like a saint. Which is good, because RD needs a little salvation right now.
And all that's left for me is to ponder the implications and effects of Rainbow's inevitable dismantling of Red Barge.
I can't think of a place that needs Austraeoh more. The only question is whether Rainbow has a spark to give at the moment. And with Swab and Keris coming into play, this could go so many directions. The suspension is grievously wounding me.
Damn that is some hard stuff they have to do. This place seriously needs Rainbow to kick some ass. However I don't know how much she is going to be up for that at the moment. I know that somehow Swab is going to sneak her his food that's for sure. I just can't wait for this to switch back to her perspective
I'm starting to think that this book will not focus on RD until around the ending. If that will be the case, I'm going to like it. Kinda like watching how the ponies will react and help/try to stop the pony from beyond the blight. :3
Gah, I'm starting to understand how some of you folk must've felt all the way back in Eljunbyro. At least when I got to that story I could just keep clicking on through the chapters without having to wait. I'm seriously starting to wonder how long its going to take to actually get back to Dash's perspective, though I understand that IC needs to establish a whole bunch of characters and setting stuff for this arc.
6568623 Those were the good ol' days. :3
This is what desperation, greed and slave drivers do to you.
Quint seems to be... reasonable... if a little too forcefull. Still, I have a feeling he'll do something stupid. And not he awesome kind of stupid, quite the opposite.
But clearly Whony is the Deranged () one you have to watch out for.
I have a feeling Red Barge is going to start a trend of Rainbow showing up somewhere, beating up scum, and Chandler and Co. on the council using it as further proof of her malevolence. Her infamy is just going to keep growing, no matter how much good she does.
I, for one, really like the idea of an entire continent designed over thousands of years to be nothing more than a test for a single individual. Hearing so many innocents praying to the entity that more than likely orchestrated their plight in the first place really casts everything in a very stark light.
Remember Nightshade's plan to switch Ledomare from manatech to electrical steampower once the local Machine World Tower had overloaded and sucked the magic dry?
Remember how the explorers who reached Val Roa five-hundred years ago, who accounted that their ships completely imploded in the Blight because their vessels were nearly entirely manatech with magic-based mobility?
Remember that there used to be two small continents worth of mineable dry land this side of the Blight before the one known as Luminar was sunk?
Remember that the other small continent known as Rohbreddon was accounted as perfectly habitable and heavily forested until civilization-destroying windigo invasion that lasted for an untracked length of time; an invasion that was only ended with Unification 300 years ago?
Verlax has been suppressing manatech development during her current reign through eliminating access to key raw resources as naturally occurring magical crystal veins underground!
Simultaneously, Verlax's conditions prevent access to raw fuel resources as underground coal veins and sustainable forest harvesting!
Verlax has made coal dredging the only existing viable fuel source usable for mass area heating in the civilization of Rohbreddon!
6568489
Someone takes her pendant for a big shiny and everyone dies.
Incidentally, since it was mentioned that it's been two weeks since the Quade incident, and that was a little over a week after Rainbow and the Desperadoes arrived there, it seems the next full moon is coming up in less than a week — which is precisely when Unification Day happens.
I feels for ya Swab, poor thing
6568846 whoa
6568846
Yep that seems to be pretty much what's going on here.
6568878
Certainly looks like it's heading for that conclusion, chap. I wonder if her friends will be aware during such an episode.
Well that's just unpleasant. Don't worry Swab your salvation and or reckoning has just arrived on Monket's ship. Now we just gotta wait for Keris and then it's a party.
WARNING. UNIDENTIFIED SHIP APPROACHING. RAISE ALL SHIELDS.
I hate it when Im right.
6568563
The problem i see is that there can't be done much for this place, even replacing the leadership wouldn't bring any good.
This place seems like it is designed to cause misery, yet it is still important to the mainland since it is one of their few sources of fuel.
Wrecking it and rescuing the exploited ponies there might be the morally right thing to do for the moment but at the same time it will cause ripples of bad events throughout the mainland.
There doesn't seem to be a way for safe coal harvest. at least not when trying to fill their estimated quota.
I am pretty sure that this place will be going down but it most likely will just boost up Rainbows bad reputation even if she did the right thing.
Verlax designed her 'kindgom' in a way that harmony in one place most likely causes a storm of chaos in another place, she confronts her with situations where none of her decisions can cause an acceptable harmonic outcome.
If i had to guess she probably does this to make Dash abandon her own ways and not even try to solve things harmonically anymore by inducing a learned helplessness that verlax most likely experienced a long time ago and called it her 'lesson' .
So we get Swab's real name as Swift Song. I wonder if he's any relation to Swan Song...
Swift Song is cute and I hope good things happen to him. I wanna give him a new ear.
Damn that's sad. Forced to steal from the dead.
Rainbow will liberate Red Barge no?
There is only one way I can think of to describe my feelings for this chapter... Through song.
vilcheez: Oh good Verlaxion...
https://youtu.be/KxHhmj9keEg
Except replace "magic" with "Rainbow Dash"
Look down, look down,
Don't look him in the eye!
Verlax' guilt is limitless.
Most detailled description of grave-robbing I've ever read. I won't go around questioning what you do in your spare time, Skirts, but...
6569049 6569071
It's almost like Verlax wants an economic collapse if the coal stops flowing...
6569331 "Magic" for "Chaos" maybe? I wonder if there's someone making an analogue of evil principal whats-her-name...
This is the beginning of a cleansing here.
First person narrative for a moment. Who's the Scootaloo here?
6568878 Personally, I think that her pendant will be taken off, and that will force her friends out of the 'Vanilla Zone'. Whether or not they stay out is another question, though I think that they'll stick around long enough to make sure that she survives before retreating into their self-imposed exile.
God it's almost adorable how optimistic all of you are about this book
6569953
Yeah it's like they don't remember the last time an immortal manipulated an entire continent into a state of barely contained despair and chaos...
6569504 Nah, I wouldn't replace magic with chaos. Chaos is given.
Seriously though, lots of ponies are gonna die when, and I say when because someone's going to get greedy, the pendent is removed.
I betcha it's both swab who removes and replaces it.
6568846 ...woah. /Keanu
I'd wager you're on to something.
6568846
Repeats everyone elses gasps. That's pretty legit sounding.
6569502 I wonder who might cause the coal to stop flowing? It's almost as if Verlax wants Rainbow to do Very, Very Unkind Things.
Croche just did basically what I would've done.
That's creepy.
That's very creepy.
6571253
Now you know how i feel everytime Menthe appears!
6571561
It's like Skirts is secretly a close friend that we all somehow share.