Interview With a Rainbow Rogue
The next day...
In the blistering sunlight...
“Gather around, ya little seafoam pricks!” Saxon barked, marching down the length of multiple welded boats along the eastern strut. “Dredger Nixkit needs the pipework here fixed, then shined up all clean and sparkly! So no dragging tail or you won't get any nibbles! You know the stinkin' drill!”
Dozens of foals filed in line, muttering and murmuring to themselves.
“Mrrmmmfnngh...” Whony limped alongside the slowly marching orphans. He rubbed his eyes. “Why do they have to pick the brightest Strut for this crud?”
“The latest drift south wasn't very good on the steamworks,” Quint said. “My guess is Skagra is planning on having us cruise back north... in search of better shelves to harvest.”
“Grnnngh...” Whony blinked wearily into the glittering waves around them. “They can harvest my sorry flank, for all I care.”
Quint raised an eyebrow. “What's wrong, Whony? Didn't get any sleep last night?”
“Hrmmmf... no...” Whony smiled bitterly. “Was up late, taking out the trash.”
“... ... ...” Quint squinted. “Whony, what have you been up to?”
“Heh...” Whony smoothed his bangs back, smirking. “Let's just say that the labors around here are going to get a tad bit less clumsy, thanks to yours truly.”
Quint simply shrugged that off. He stared down the line of orphans, doing a mental headcount. A few gasps broke out amidst the group, and that's how he knew that an elite dredger had shown up.
Nixkit strolled in from the central strut, followed by a few of Skagra's lackeys. He strolled up to Saxon.
“They're all yours,” Saxon mused, chuckling. “Save me some of their teeth after you kick them out. I'm trying to make some brand new die. Heheheh...”
Nixkit rolled his eyes. “Can't believe I'm saying this, but I almost miss Digiff.” He cleared his throat and raised a clipboard before his muzle. “Alright. Listen up!” He glared at the many-many orphans gathered. “Red Barge is going mobile soon! Monket will be returning. And when he does, we need to be able to spread the struts apart so that his ship can make port again! That means the steam from the harvest chambers have to flow evenly through the pipes! We don't want a repeat of last summer's incident in the West Strut, do we? Nopony knows better than the likes of you seafoam just how blazingly hot it can get in the crawlspaces when the junctions break!”
Several orphans hung their heads in grim silence. Croche stood on the sidelines, her sunken eyes staring out across the bulkheads.
“Work hard... show the shine from your efforts... and you'll get extra nibbles!” Nixkit declared, flipping a clipboard. “This should come as rudimentary to most of you! What matters here is speed more than dexterity! Show energy and initiative, and you will be rewarded handsomely!” He smoothed his pale, matted hair back and pointed. “Hell... just follow his example!”
“... ... ...?” Whony, Quint, and several more foals glanced aside. Within seconds, Whony's eyes exploded wide.
Swab galloped speedily across the bulkheads, deposited a series of grimy rags into a soapy bucket, fetched some fresh pieces of cloth, and sped back the way he came.
Croche blinked, her lips pursed.
“Hey, seafoam,” Nixkit droned. “What's your progress?”
“Five lattices polished since sunrise!” Swab sputtered, wiping the sweat from his brow. “But I-I need to get to work fixing a leak on some pipework two hulls down!”
“Good. Very well done,” Nixkit said with a nod. “If only every other urchin could follow your example.”
Swab shrugged. “Guess I just had some extra energy this morning.” Turning about, his gaze scraped across the many faces, lingered on Whony's for a length of time, then flitted off as he galloped back to work.
Whony's jaw dropped. Upon receiving Quint's glare, Whony winced, his ears and tail drooping.
“Now get to it!” Nixkit barked. “Get the whole strut done, and I'll even put good word in to Digiff for when he returns!” He tucked the clipboard away with a sigh. “I'm sure all of you would appreciate less bruises. Now move!”
Quint, Whony, and several other colts grunted... sweated. They laid on their backsides, fussing with the steaming joints of complex pipework in the roasting sun. Using a wild assortment of rusted tools, they struggled to contain the venting steam before leaning closer to polish the hot, metallic surfaces.
Dozens of foals had to take multiple breaks. They rolled over, sitting on their haunches and panting for even breaths. Between them, multiple stomachs growled, and there was more than a small amount of whimpering.
All the while, one body and one body alone zig-zagged all around, putting the finishing touches on row after row of pipework. Swab left multiple swaths of metal shiny and sparkly-clean in his wake. He even found time to wash the rags clean, wring them with soapy water, and pile them across the sun-roasted deck to dry.
“Done! All yours!” He sputtered towards a group of fillies gathering the rags. Without wasting a breath, he scampered back the way he came, eyes bright and ear twitching.
“Grnnngghhh...” Whony sneered under his breath. “Where... is th-that... little booger... getting the strength?!”
Quint casually exhaled, struggling with a crooked length of pipework. “Mrmmff... some of the other colts told me this morning that he went without nibbles for over thirty-six hours.”
“No kidding!” Whony grumbled. “He was light as a feather last time I saw!”
“Mrmmfff... easy to toss around, I bet.”
“Oh, totally! Last night it felt like nothing dragging the little fleabag across the struts.”
Quint glared aside.
Whony blinked blankly ahead. “Uhhhhhm... errrr... I-I mean...”
As if on cue, Swab scampered past them again. He carried a bucket full of replaced metal bits, then dropped them down in front of Nixkit. He stood up straight and at attention before the seated dredger. “Dredger Nixkit, sir! I finished with the central east strut like you asked!”
Nixkit looked over from several harvest reports he was going over. “Hrmm... good. Very good.” He flipped a sheet or two. “That puts us ahead of schedule.”
“Want me to work on the southern lattices?” Swab remarked, standing tall and resolute.
Nixkit rubbed his chin. He exhaled. “No, kid. Half of the seafoam's already covering that. You'd just get in their way... or vice versa, heh...”
“Then...” Swab blinked. “...what do you want me to work on next?”
“At ease, urchin. You'll steal all the other foals' thunder.” He signaled Saxon just as the guard shuffled up. Saxon huffed, reached into the cart he was pushing, and tossed a bag of rice at Swab's hooves. “There ya go,” Nixkit said. “Take a breather. You've earned it.”
“... ... ...” Swab took a deep breath. He tilted his chin up, not even looking down at the rice. “Two bags.”
Quint and Whony jolted to a stop, looking over. Croche blinked from a distance.
The rest of the nearby foals gawked while Nixkit looked up from his clipboard. “I beg your pardon?”
“I've done ten times as much work as anypony else here today,” Swab spoke firmly. “I should get two bags of nibbles.”
Several foals exchanged nervous glances.
“Hmmmfff...” Nixkit's pale muzzle bore an even paler smirk. “And just how does that math work?”
“Very easily,” Swab droned. “Don't make me ask for five bags.”
Several foals gasped.
Whony bit his lip.
“Grnnngh...” Saxon whipped out a crossbow and marched forward. “Listen here ya upstart little shit—”
“Saxon,” Nixkit throated.
The guard spun around, eyebrow raised.
Nixkit scratched his chin, squinting across the way at Swab. “... ... ...the kid's right. Let him be an example to the others.” He smirked. “Give him a second bag. But no more.”
Croche glanced at the dredgers, at Swab, then back at the adults.
“Hrrmmmfff...” Saxon clenched his jaws. With limp motions, he reached into the cart again and tossed another bag of rice at Swab's hooves. “What're these seven seas coming to, I swear to Verlaxion...”
Swab took a deep breath. He swept up the two bags and bowed slightly. “Thank you, dredger. I won't let you down.”
“Heh... I'm sure you won't.” Nixkit waved a hoof. “Now scamper off before I get to the really juicy part of these harvest reports.”
Swab did just that. He galloped southwest, blazing a path directly past Quint and Whony.
Croched stared after him. After a few seconds, the slightest hint of a curve crossed her pale pink lips. She returned to her polishing task with sudden vigor.
Several other foals found themselves working faster... harder.
“I don't get it...” Whony sputtered. “What's gotten into him?”
Quint coughed. “Probably whatever it is you've shitted out.”
Whony gawked at Quint.
Quint quietly and patiently worked on his pipes.
Whony blinked, then glared past his own work. “Mrmmmfff... shoulda killed the little bastard in his sleep. And just where is he off to, anyways?”
“I don't care how angry they think they are, Fluttershy,” a beat-up, battered mare muttered. She sat in the corner of her cell, just outside the reach of barred sunlight. “You gotta reach out to them. I know you have it within you.”
Silence.
The pegasus shifted her weight, wincing from multiple bruises. “How else? Sweet-talk them! Appeal to their sense of friendship! Use the stare, if you have to! Whatever! Just...” She sighed, her bandaged wing muscles quivering. “...you gotta get them to come out of that place. Even if they weren't copping an attitude, I... I just don't see how it's healthy to be in such a crazy... bright 'nothingness' for so lon—... ... ...huh?”
A beat.
She groaned. “So what if it feels like time speeds by in there? That's the whole point! They're hiding from everything just by being in that place! It's not going to help them... it's not going to help me... it's not going to help anything!”
More silence.
The mare leaned to her side with a flick of her colorful tail. “Yeah, and maybe they'd be right about that. Who can blame them? But the fact of the matter is... I ain't stopping. This journey is more important than both them or me... more important than all of us! And...”
She winced, then sighed.
“I don't know, Fluttershy. I... I-I don't know, but I'm going to get free! I've been in worse places before, believe it or not.” A brief silence. “Yes! Even without them if I have to!” She growled. “...I don't care if they don't like it! But if there's still a scrap of decency in any of them that wants me to get through this in one piece, then they'll stop their friggin' tantrum and come out and help me! You're going to have to convince them or else nopony will ever change! I don't know what you'll have to do to—”
She froze suddenly, her shoulders stiff.
“... ... ...who?” Her ears twitched. “What do you mean 'the cute lil' guy's back?'” She squirmed. “He has?” Another pause. “Since when?” A jolt, and her head spun up, squinting into the sunlight.
“... ... ...” Swab smiled, his scruffy little faced pressed up to the bars. “H-hey...”
“... ... ...hey yourself, kid.”
“Are... are you hurt bad?”
“Hrmmmff...” The pegasus winced, tightening her injured wingmuscles. “That sunlight really is blinding out there, isn't it?”
“I mean...” Swab gulped. “From when Digiff and the others beat you up.”
“Who?”
“Last night, remember? They surrounded you with the shark prods and—”
“Should you even be here, kid?” she asked.
Swab fidgeted, glancing at the prison corridor behind him.
At last, the mare sighed, hanging her head. “I can already tell this is no happy hotel. Better run off before one of the creeps who runs the place decides to kick and spit on you instead.”
“Pick a day of the week,” Swab droned.
The mare exhaled. A blink or two later, and she glanced aside. “It means exactly what it sounded like,” she said to the shadows.
Swab's eyes followed her gaze.
“... ... ...now don't you start crying again—” The mare groaned, rolling her eyes. “Honestly, Fluttershy. If you do that with every sob story we run into, you'll never stop!” A beat. “Yes this place is that terrible! And guess what? I've seen worse! That's what the other girls fail to understand! You wonder why I've made the kind of decisions that they hate? I've had to deal with stuff like this since the first day I ever—”
“Is that necklace heavy?” Swab asked, his eyes falling on the pendant. “It sure looks it.”
“Kid, will you just scram?” She growled up at him and the window. “There's nothing here that's worth gawking at. Trust me.” She hung her head, shuddering. “Nothing...”
“Monket put it on you, didn't he?”
The mare said nothing. Her ears folded back tightly.
“... ... ...it isn't even yours, is it?”
“Hrmmm...?”
“The Slaver of Waves was out searching for the Rainbow Rogue for barely a day... and yet he comes back with her? With you?” Swab remarked. He gulped. “Seems like it'd be super easy to just grab some poor, injured pegasus... throw a jewel around her neck... and say that he's got the prize.”
“What are you even getting at, kid?”
“He took in the wrong pegasus, didn't he?” Swab murmured. His muzzle hung open as he peered through the bars. “You're no Rainbow Rogue. You're just... the wrong mare in the wrong place.” He gulped. “Monket's attempt to convince Skagra and use leverage against some 'fat cat' named Chandler...”
The mare sighed. “You're wrong, kid...”
“Huh...?”
“That monster? The one that everypony's looking for?” She grumbled out the side of her muzzle. “You're looking at her.”
Swab blinked curiously.
“Just... just don't talk to me, okay?” The mare slumped down, burying her muzzle into her bruised forelimbs. “Just... just don't.” A slight sniffle. “Ponies around here may suck super bad... but only one deserves to be in this prison. So... so just leave it be... for real...”
Silence.
Th-Thump. A small bag landed next to the mare's face.
“... ... ...” She tilted her head up, squinting at the satchel of rice. Before she could blink—
Thump. A second fell next to it.
"Rice," the colt's voice said. "And I promise that it's got zero percent fish in it."
The pegasus looked up, muzzle agape.
“I've lived my whole life around monsters,” Swab murmured. A delicate smile broke across his face. “You don't deserve to be down here.”
“Grffff...” The mare glared into the shadows. “Stuff it, kid. You don't know anything.”
“I know that monsters don't have friends.”
Blinking, the pegasus looked up. “The buck are you even talking about? You're a total friggin' stranger to me—”
Swab was already shaking his head. “I wasn't talking about myself.”
She blinked. Her gaze fell to the metal floor.
“Did... did they abandon you?” he asked through the bars, his tone soft but imploring. “Or did you just get lost? Because I know a thing or two about—”
“Do you ramble to every dangerous prisoner who comes here, speaking to invisible ponies?”
“No.” Swab shook his head. “Only to the ones who feed me.”
“You must be friggin' bored.”
“Maybe.”
“I'm only going to tell you this one more time... stop talking to me,” the mare hissed. “There's no telling what these melon fudges are doing to do once they get their hooves on my flank. A little scamp like you shouldn't get caught in the crossfire.”
“I'm small. I can get out of their way.”
“I mean it, kid. Buzz off. I don't need you or your company.”
Swab stared. “... ... ...then does that mean you're going to throw the rice back?”
The pegasus opened her muzzle... but fidgeted. She gulped an empty lump down her throat, gazing down at the two bags.
“You're right. I should probably get going before Digiff finds me and beats me up.” Swab turned, trotting away. He paused, glancing back with the barest hint of a smile. “Go ahead and shove the rice into your bucket if you want. Still, if you know what's good for you, you'll let it slide through your insides first.”
“Mrmmfff...”
“And Red Barge never gives anything away,” Swab said. “It's earned. Bye now.” He took a deep breath and... proceeded to trot in place. The little colt lessened and lessened his hoofsteps until they became feather-light pitter-patters. At last, he stood still, leaning back and craning one good ear.
He listened... and listened... and...
The unmistakable sound of dried rice being consumed...
Swab smiled... then smiled some more. Stifling a giggle, he scampered up to the top deck of Red Barge with a proud grin.
His first one in months...
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...Wow...I didn't expect the magic to start working that soon.
Well maybe if you saw to it that all the little barnacle-biters got fed once in a fuckin' while...
I hope Swab doesn't get too friendly with her too fast. Somepony's gonna catch on and suspect something.
Swab is like an adorable stray cat. One bowl of food and he's imprinting on her already.
Something is going to have to get them to change, lets just hope that they can see reason.
Rainbow might just have to forgive herself first.
swab meeting rainbow is good for the both of them, he has something to work for (he puts others before himself) and rainbow gets to see/hear about red barge.
Two updates before I got to bed? Awesome!
At least RD's echoing the sentiments of many of us here; the rest of the girls need to stop throwing their tantrum and learn to accept that the rest of the world ain't anything like how it is in Equestria. Again, I can't wait to see what sort of damage that's been doing to Rainbow, and, even more so, what sort of stress it's put on Fluttershy with her having to play arbiter in this dispute.
And Swab is finally redeeming himself by showing some character other than pitiful punching bag. Hopefully this trend continues; maybe then we'll all like him.
I'm really enjoying the intelligence and agency displayed by (some of) these characters. It's not being genre-savvy, not quite, it's just being smart. Rainbow's right, the ghosties are pulling a tantrum, and it's not going to help anyone. We'd been fearing that their judgement would override her own sense of self, reducing her to a really shitty state. I'm so glad to see that Rainbow's too awesome for that to happen.
Similar thoughts regarding Swab, Fluttershy, Quint, even Skagra. Though the organisation of Red Barge seems inefficient, particularly when juxtaposed with how much just one fed orphan can do. I suppose they have more orphans than they really need, thus fostering competition helps keep everypony in line . . .
It appears the magic of Harmony is spreading.
The imagery so far in this story is amazing. First with Echo, then Rohbredden and the icy tomb thing, and now Dashie in the cage. I'm loving this story more than the others at the moment.
Huh.. look at that, I said I'd give him a chance to shape up and the little turd delivers.
He actually did something I found enjoyable. He showed his backbone and didn't back down immediately.
Also, I seem to be the nicest of the dredgers...though that ain't sayin' much.
Dash, still making good points, hiding from all the bad isn't going to help the others.
If Fluttershy has any sense at all she'll browbeat the others by giving them an earful about how they think they're being strong when they're just being massive cowards, shielding themselves from all the bad stuff that's going on out in the world, and that the only pony braver than she is right now is Dash, who's had to deal with that bad stuff for a lot longer.
Also, does anyone recall what Twilight said back at the KMCA after Dash told her about her travels.
"You don't have to be alone anymore, you can have friends, your real friends, with you."
Her real friends huh? Her real friends were the Noble Jury, they never turned their back on her, even when she was at her lowest point around them. They helped see her through her troubles.
When Dash was feeling low, they picked her up, when she had to make a hard choice, even if they didn't like it, they supported and trusted her.
Just something I remembered just now.
-In the end isolation, hunted by a nation. Utaan.
Well, that's one tally in the "Fluttershy is actually there" column.
I'm liking this. It's like a bizarre Silence of the Lambs where everything is inside out.
Swab is no pony. Swab is cat.
Rainbow needs them to come out on their own, to see with their own eyes what kind of things she has had to deal with, and understand that not everything can be solved with friendship and harmony. But many things, like Swift Song's situation, can be solved in that way. Knew he would come back, and he knows that a monster is a monster due to actions, not traits. More importantly however, a monster feels no remorse for the horrible actions they commit. Rainbow's actions at the Quade were indeed monstrous, but I am pretty sure she regrets them deeply, and that she will likely never forgive herself for them, even if everyone else does.
6578855 the goal here is not to get the work done. The goal here is to get as much out of everyone for as little supplies in as possible. If they were able to get away without feeding them at all they likely would. It is highly likely that there is simply not enough food period to feed everybody on the barge.
I like Swab's and RD's interaction. Especially Swab.
No. Stop doing that. You're not allowed to make Swab likeable. It's not natural.
Well she's kept a hold of her attitude to a degree. And her emotional state hasn't completely shut down. Huh.
Flutters may be getting teary-eyed almost every other minute in this dump, but she's doing a bang up job keeping Dash in check... psychologically.
...It fills Swab with determination?
Ok that was a huge switch in personality for Swab there. I didn't expect him to go straight to the cell door that seems far too dangerous. Also Dried Rice has to be terrible as food, and it's the only thing they seem to get, I mean at least cook it (from what we have seen the kids can't) for them than you could get actual nutrients out of it. I know it's better than nothing but damn that is really bad for food.
It's good that Rainbow has at least Fluttershy to help her through this, and she's in surprisingly good condition even after the guards. I was honestly expecting much worse conditions for her to end up in. Good on Swab for suddenly bucking up and being useful, though it does seem a bit sudden. So is his decision that Rainbow is somepony worth helping, though I won't protest that too much - after all I'm sure he will be essential for her to escape.
Rainbow hits the nail on the head, they're throwing a tantrum and it's not doing anyone any good. Hopefully Fluttershy will be able to talk some sense into those naive ponies, especially as she's starting to see just what Rainbow has to go through.
You know, when he asked for 2 bags I thought he'd at least keep 1 for himself... Also dried rice has got to suck.
Two chapters! Truly this is the end of times!
also plot! 
I've never expected Rainbow Dash to say this and still be in character. Looks like whatever remained of her ego has indeed been toasted and buttered to Tartarus and back.
10/10 GJ IC.
Swab is becoming one of my favored characters in this arc. Kinda scary... I hope he doesn't come to a bitter end. Such a sad pony deserves better. Sad pony in snow kinda sorta.
That said, I'm glad Fluttershy came out and is helping. Perhaps she'll be able to convince the others to come out and play again. Twilight's stubbornness was legendary when she was -alive- (well, she is alive, kinda, but MORE alive then).
6578990 when it's a choice between that or the equivalent of raw intestines (to use something we'd find as disgusting as she finds fish), probably not so much. How different can it be from grains, anyway?
6578939 If ponies can digest hay and grass, it doesn't seem to be that much of a stretch to process other starches/grains. Also, assuming these guys want to reduce waste regarding food, cooking the rice might dissolve some of the starch that (unless they drink the used cooking water) would be unconsumed.
6579047 6578990 Speaking from experience dry, uncooked rice does kinda suck, but it's perfectly edible. It takes patience though. The grains need more water than saltines need to wash down without coughing.
Out at sea, fresh water can be a luxury...
6579047 Oh, I was completely understanding of her choice not to eat her original rice. Good point on the grain comparison though, it'll just swelly in her belly more.
And the moral of the story is, kids, to always eat your fish.
Too bad I don't really like fish.
Clearly reports about slavers removing RD's necklace were exaggerated. She probably fought more ferociously when she noticed they were trying to take it, but her wing and possibly her scarring would have been "healed" had she fully transformed. At least that's what I remember from... urohringr? early yaerfaerda? That time when Roarke was a total badass after RD pancaked herself on Mary Jane. And a mountain. Roarke won, at least.
RD probably re-secured the necklace from the slavers quickly, like in the Bard and WC fight.
6579063
Oh I wasn't talking about them being able to digest it, obviously they can do that. I was talking more that it has to taste terrible and be hard to eat. I can't imagine they can't get that much out of it nutrition wise even if they can digest it. Again though it's better than nothing.
Two chapters in one evening? You spoil us IC.
Now, let's see here. Fluttershy is out and about and talking with Dash. Good on her. Dash herself is still clearly on edge but dealing with things better than could have otherwise been expected. She certainly had a rapid positive effect on Swab, even while trying to do the whole "I'm a monster I gotta push new ponies away, yarrgh!" act. Seriously Dash, stop trying to act tough. You know it and we know it that you're not getting much of anywhere without help, not just from your ghostly friends who are still in a bit of a tizzy, but from the flesh and blood ponies who are going to be willing to help you.
As for Twilight and the rest of the Harmony Spooks... I'm not quite as harsh on them as others have been. Oh, don't get me wrong, they need to get out of the Vanilla Zone and start talking to Dash again. Its obvious that the separation isn't helping them or Dash. That said, I'll bring up a few points.
1) Its unrealistic to expect the girls to get over Dash's actions at the Quade, her admission of having taken lives, and the sudden dip into the darker aspects of the world so quickly or easily. Try to understand these ponies lived in Equestria for their entire lives and have only very recently had any hint of how violent and uncaring things can get in other parts of the world. Expecting them to so rapidly and easily cope with factors that took Dash herself multiple books to adapt to is just ridiculous. Oh, they do need to learn to adapt, its true, but its understandable if its going to take them time to do so, and honestly they should never abandon their ideals in harmony even if they need to accept that those ideals won't always be easy or plausible to work. However, just as the world isn't so simple that harmony and friendship can solve every problem, the world isn't so simple that violence and chaos should solve every problem either. A balance needs to be struck, and ideals striven for despite obstacles and adversity, but that can only be done if the girls work with and support Dash. Its just going to take time for them to get to that point, and a yelling match won't help that.
2) Its also very likely that time perception in the Vanilla Zone is way off from real world norm. Its entirely possible that Twilight and the others don't know how much time has passed for Dash since the Quade. To them they might just be conferring among themselves for a matter of a few hours, unaware of the days passing outside. Fluttershy might have exited on her own to go check on Dash, and may not have gone back in yet to inform the girls of just how much time has gone by.
3) There's no point trying to compare the Harmony Spooks to the Noble Jury. The Jurists all came from diverse backgrounds, but all of them had experience with violence and unpleasant situations before they met Dash and were never given a reason to oppose Dash or question her methods. In fact Dash, while among the Jurists, was the most harmonious one and among the least likely to use lethal force in a fight. What this means is that the Nobel Jury was never tested the same way that Dash's friendship with the rest of the Mane6 is being tested right now. Sure the Jurists had their share of ups and downs, especially after Lerris, but I don't recall a single instance where Dash took actions that the entire Noble Jury disagreed with, nor did Dash ever do anything that was so against the Jurists' own sense of morality that they'd feel the same level of shock that Twilight and the others would have felt after the Quade. So to compare the two sets of friends is simply without merit, as the circumstances the two groups found themselves in and the backgrounds both groups stem from is so radically different that they can't really be compared.
In short, yes I feel the girls need to start talking to Dash, but at the same time if Dash just turns such a talk into another shouting match where she tries to make herself sound entirely in the right and them entirely in the wrong, with no attempt by either side to understand one another... then absolutely nothing of value is going to be gained.
And so it begins. The broken rebuild the broken.
6579169
Well for me, I like certain fish. My favourite one are red snapper and tilapia fish. (Don't know if the red snapper is correct translation in English and tilapia is from family of cichlid fish. Tilapinne if I wasn't wrong.)
Red Snapper (I think)
ikanlaut.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/kakap-merah.jpg
Tilapia
agrotechfeedsltd.com/images/talapia23.jpg
6579206
For some reason it sound a broken hammer to fix a broken bridge.
6578939 I think it WAS cooked, but over time it dried out, becoming stale and crunchy. That was then implication I got, anyway.
Seems like rainbow sorta knows what's up after the quade. Twi and rare are being lame...
And now Rainbow's escpae plan is to get Swab to work his way to top dredger and let her go
I think this is what swab needed in the first place he is trying to earn redemption for his 'sins' but he can't while everyone forces him to commit new ones so he needs his secret way to be 'good'.
Realizing that Dash isn't what everyone else made him believe is one step of breaking out of his circle of misery, because he now knows that they are wrong and if they are wrong with one thing they can be wrong with more.
He seems to try to do the right thing as often as he can and it seems he is determined to make helping Rainbow his good deed that will make him sleep easy again.
Lets see how determined he will be about it and what role he will play in her escape.
As for Twilight and Rarity, i am not sure yet what they are thinking but it seems like they do what verlax told Dash, they are using harmony as a prison for them self and pretend that what they can't see does not exist and therefore is none of their concern.
I am curious how IC plans to mend this because right now they are ok with Dash dying because of their withheld help and that is a rather large step away from being friends, especially for them. So i guess we can already prepare for some tear soaking chapters.
Wow, he gave her both bags of rice? I really was expecting him to jeep one and give it to Croche or eat it with Rainbow. A switch was flicked and Swab is in overdrive now. Seems like Rainbow has that effect on the various people she meets in her long adventure.
I'm also enjoying how Quint is not evil just because.
6579461 Well, Swab is probably thinking of visiting again later to eat Rainbow's rice and fish. It's probably worth more than two bags of rice.
Oops, I thought Swab would ned two bags just because normal work makes then need one bag and he had been doing lots of work, and not asking for scale means he would be getting less food for the work than those not working as much, which is the way of all industries over time, from slavery up.
Wonder if Whosie will end up Chaos healing food.
I was beginning to miss the way Rainbow's dialogue is written.
Can we get out of this Steampunk Nightmare? It's like reading the World Shaker series again, except a barge on water, not a massive-as-all-fuck tank on land.
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Totally, yes. The specific limiting resource for the Barge itself could be either food or bodies, but it definitely isn't work. The limiting resource for the orphans, on the other hand . . . This is why characters like Quint are so rare: because of the extreme shortages on food, and the way acquiring food is linked to completing tasks, it would be rather easy to game the system, use older colts to strongarm a monopoly on tasks, and as a result, food, then using food to keep themselves stronger than the others. From what Swab pulled this chapter, there's no reason to think the overseers would have any problem with that, either.
Quint's not doing that, though. He's not specifically helping the weaker ones, per se, but he is actively inhibiting the competitiveness of the situation, which goes a long, long way towards making life better.
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It is unfair to compare the ghosties with the Jurists, yes. Absolutely right. And it's also a good point that Rainbow took multiple books to deal with these issues herself.
But Rainbow was forced to deal with those issues predominantly alone. All the way back in Book One she was running into some pretty heavy stuff--Darkstine and Silvadel still rank up there in the list of Most-Graphic-Moments. Hell, even the initial Discord fight had a huge impact on her mental state. Rainbow, though, never run away, or hid from any that, she fly into it headfirst.
Now that's Rainbow. Why should we hold Twilight, Rarity, or Pinkie to the same standard? They're radically different characters, after all. It's been stated numerous times that none of them would have made it, in Rainbow's place (tangent: interestingly note that Rainbow recently decided that Fluttershy might have, and she's the only one speaking to her at the moment.)
For me, the difference is one of scale. The sort of stuff that Rainbow's done and seen throughout this series blows what happened in the Quade so far out of the water she's practically in low-earth orbit. I'd be much happier with their arc if it pertained to her admission of murder, re: Shell, than destroying the Reed, but as it stands, they're over-reacting.
This stands because what they're doing is both a punishment and a retreat. The retreat, that's fine. That's ok, understandable, even pitiable. They're young, naive, yadda yadda. But they're also punishing Rainbow, and therefore they're choosing their moral outrage over their friendship.
Yeah, no. Emotional blackmail isn't friendship, it's a transaction. Even at this point, Twilight has decided that the preservation of some random plant, in a random place thousands of miles away from her home, held to be holy by ponies she's spent just a few days with, is more important to her than Rainbow Dash? Really? They don't have to understand or condone or approve, but they do have to try. They do have to talk to her.
So what we have is a group of friends waking up incorporeal, attached to a close friend who they've been told carries not just their souls and hopes of life, but of the world itself around her neck, witnessing that friend act, for them, horribly out-of-character. They see her do this in a needlessly painful way, in order to preserve as much as she can of the lives of those attempting to murder her. They then decide that the appropriate reaction to this, in full knowledge of how incomplete their world-view is, is to completely cut her off.
I just . . . I can't get around that.
The only way to redeem them here (and they don't have to be redeemed, even, just forgiven. They're not perfect, either) would be the acknowledgement that their actions were entirely to do with their own rejection of reality, a reality that just happens to contain Rainbow, and not an explicit rejection of Rainbow herself. Otherwise, they've made their own choice: to lose all pretense at friendship with Rainbow in favour of holding onto a dangerously fragile Equestrian world-view. Honestly, that's why I think they're not coming out any time soon. You'd have to imagine, in that scenario, the niggling little voice whispering "But what if I'm wrong" at the back of your mind, and the fear that, if you poked your head out of the comforting white for just an instant, you'd see it was right.
/end rant
Ugh... now I know how frustrating it must have been for Dash's past companions only being able to hear one side of a conversation with the girls.
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6578888 Unless withholding food is the method this place uses to throttle production and control the market value of dredge coal.
So, IC is still reading the comments. I can tell, because these past two chapters talk about and/or are about what I'd predicted they'd be about two chapters ago.
Anyway, so Swab already believes in the existence of Rainbow Dash's ghost friends. Fastest one to believe that after meeting Rainbow Dash besides Princess Camelia. (Please verify that, Austraeoh Fact Checker. I don't want to find out that I overlooked someone.)
We finally get to see Rainbow Dash, but not from her perspective. It may be a long time before we see that.
Or it could be next chapter. Never can tell with IC.
Anyway, since we've been seeing things from other pony's perspectives, I'd say that there will be a chapter where we see things from Twilight's viewpoint in the negative zone. Fluttershy enters the negative zone to plead with her friends, and we see Twilight's internal conflict over Rainbow Dash.
Also, Rainbow Dash should confront the council at some point. That'll be fun.
In addition, I get the feeling that Rainbow Dash will talk with Verlax in the flesh, and we'll find out more of Verlax's backstory.
And some poor schmuck, overcome with anger, will run in as they're parading Rainbow through town, and in fury rip off her pendant, since it was the thing that she used to destroy the quade. The carnage will be incredible.
Maybe then someone will realize that it is a Harmonious artifact, and that will get them thinking over what Verlaxion's magic must therefore be.
And the book will climax with the destruction of Verlax's reign over the Robherdrons. Rainbow Dash's harmony is too powerful for even Verlax to halt.
So, in short: Awsomeness ahead.
Wait, wasn't Croche supposed to be the cat?
Daww Fluttershade things Swab is cute~ We all agree with you Flutters.
Twice the rice is thrice as nice as no rice at all.
Alright Swab! Getting friendly with the mare of mass destruction. No way this gets you in trouble.
Go Swab.
Although I was hoping that Rainbow would dish out some more fish-rice to him.
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No chapters this evening? You're an asshole, IC.
All you guys are going to be so surprised when Swab's great plan finally comes to fruitition and Rainbow trusts him enough to let her guard down - and then he's going to eat her. Just you wait.
6580250 headcannon accepted
