A Home for Dreams, Underwater
If Rainbow Dash hadn't gotten a good survey of the structure of Bleak's Plummet from the outside, she would very easily have gotten lost within the winding corridors of the place. The interior was nothing more than a labyrinthine collection of unpredictable cylindrical passages—some of them dropping off into vertical shafts. The chambers echoed with surreal reverberations—like an endless conkle shell going off in every direction, filled with distant shrieks and the flapping of tens of hundreds of leather wings.
And the passages were dark. Insanely dark. The presence of manatorches and luminescent moon rocks was scarce at best. More than a few times, Rainbow Dash nearly bumped her nose against pure Bleakweed, and the complexity of the intestinal corridors constantly threw Rarity for a loop—making it nearly impossible to guide her anchor.
"Watch your head," Echo occasionally muttered, saving Rainbow from an embarrassing collision.
"Enix is ten spaces ahead," Nicole said from the rear of the group as they ascended. "Towards the upper left."
"Shucks..." Bard exhaled out the side of his muzzle as he stumbled along, squatting occasionally to avoid the low ceiling. "I dunno how ya do it. I can't even see my own hoof in front of my face in this consarn underwater treehouse."
"I... can't really explain it," Nicole murmured. "I can see just fine. That's all." Her slitted eyes blinked and her leafy ears twitched. "It's like walking into a barn without a candle back home."
"Yeah, but this is a long throw from where the cattle graze."
"It's usually darker than this," Echo said.
"Oh?" Rainbow Dash exhaled.
"Yeah. More than the usual torches have been lit along the path to the Matriarch's chamber."
"Well, that's a good sign, right?" Pinkie Pie remarked. "It means they've prepared for guests! Like good hosts!"
"Or this is simply how they prepare for an execution," Rarity muttered.
"Can't we be a little less pessimistic?" Twilight Sparkle droned. "Let's give Princess Luna's influence the benefit of a doubt. After all, if a fierce warrior like Enix here could be pacified—"
"She... uhm..." Fluttershy bit her lip. "She could be playing face just to lure us into a trap, don't you think?"
"Nope." Applejack shook her head. "She ain't lyin'. This mare may not be pleasant to look at, but she's sincere about negotiatin'."
"And... uh..." Rainbow Dash glanced left and right, spotting leathery movement in the distant shadows of Bleak's Plummet. "What about the rest of the bat horses in this place?"
"That... remains to be s-seen, sugarcube," Applejack muttered.
Remna leaned in towards Rainbow Dash in mid-step. "Do your friends think we're trotting into a trap?"
"Eh... jury's still out on that," Rainbow muttered. "What do you think?"
"Even if I hadn't been manipulated by my late sister, I would have argued that everything stands to be a trap," Remna muttered. The violet mare took a deep breath. "Do not be scared, Austraeoh. I shall put a quick end to anything that might attempt to claim your life."
"I'm not scared." Rainbow blinked, then glanced back at her. "Are you scared, Axan?"
"You cannot intimidate fear incarnate," she grumbled in a draconian voice.
Rainbow's brow furrowed. "You didn't answer my question—"
"Shhhh!" Bard hissed, squinting ahead. "Ya hear that?"
"Hear what?" Rainbow asked.
Nicole gulped. "Midnighters... lots and lots of them."
Rainbow turned to look at Fluttershy. Fluttershy nodded back.
"It's the habitat center," Echo said. "The walls will be spreading apart soon."
"Keep following," Enix said, her pace not slowing. "We're nearly there."
Just as Rainbow heard that, she looked up to see that—indeed—the corridors were opening up to form a fairly massive chamber. The Bleakweed walls showed signs of countless ages of carving, chiseling, and axework. She guessed that—ages ago—this was once a tumorous nub of converging brambles, but had since been hollowed out over the course of multiple generations. Since then, complex wooden platforms had been built and braced against the curved walls of the place. Tiny structures stood on these balconies, lined with dim manatorches of an electric blue tint. Strings of moon rock—pebbles, really—lined the balcony edges and glowed with persistent silver enchantment. The same luminescence subtly lined the various contours of the dome-like interior. Standing at the bottom of the cavern had the same feeling as standing in an open field beneath a full moon.
Here, the echoes were considerably more voluminous, and—glancing about—Rainbow Dash discovered why. Countless leather bodies huddled on the platforms, peering down from their perches. Dozens—if not hundreds of slitted eyes peered out from the penumbra of the ever-pervasive glow. Rainbow could only really detect the subtle glint of their pupils in her peripheral; she had to look off at an angle to take a proper count of the huddled masses observing the strangers' ascent through Bleak's Plummet. The air above and around them filled with tiny, melodic squeaks—both breathy and inquisitive. If it wasn't for the fact that she and her friends were deep beneath the dark waves in a habitat maintained by bloodthirsty pirates, then she might almost have considered the whole spectacle borderline adorable.
"Watch where you step," Echo muttered.
Upon hearing that, Rainbow Dash's nostrils quivered. For the first time since entering the chamber, she became aware of a relatively offensive smell lingering in the air.
"Ah jeez..." Nicole whimpered from behind.
"Whoah nelly!" Bard breathily added.
"What's their problem?" Rarity asked.
"Uhm..." Fluttershy cleared her throat. "...don't look up."
"Hmmm?" Rarity did so anyways. She leapt in place and clung to Pinkie's ghostly body. "Waa-haa-haa-haa!" she shrieked.
"...?" Rainbow stared up—only to see that the entire ceiling was quivering with leather wings and leafy ears. Over a hundred pairs of slitted eyes blinked down at her from where the mass populace of Bleak's Plummet hung upside down from lofty vines, branches, and wooden protrusions. Lovers and mates clung close, cheeks nuzzling together as they blinked as one. A few suspicious souls hissed from afar, their fangs glinting in the enchanted lunar light. Tiny foals hung, curled like velvety fuzzballs in the hammock-like embrace of their mothers' wings. Older siblings swung from their lower hooves, craning their necks around to get a better survey of the strangers trotting upright through the habitat center.
"It's like a ceiling slumber party!" Pinkie remarked, holding Rarity.
"Could they be slightly less creepy about it?!" Rarity stammered.
"Rarity, relax," Twilight murmured. "If these many sarosians took objection to us, they would have pounced on us moments ago."
"You're n-not helping!"
"Crazy stuff," Rainbow muttered in Echo's direction. She blinked up at the massive congregation. "Is this... what Ponymonium was like? Only on a small scale?"
"That's what our forbearers always taught us," Echo droned. "But seriously. I wouldn't look straight up if I were you."
"He ain't kiddin', darlin'," Applejack said.
Rainbow grimaced. "You can't possibly mean what I think you mean."
"Wish I was," Echo grunted. "It takes... erm... a few years for youngsters to get properly 'ceiling-trained.'"
"Yeah." Nicole gulped. "Let's get moving already."
"How much further, warrior?" Remna asked in an impatient tone.
Enix didn't reply. Instead, she was busy approaching a group of fierce, angry-looking sarosians standing before a solid wall of dense vines bespeckled with moonrocks. She squeaked several breathy words in moonwhinny, gesturing at Rainbow Dash.
The other warriors craned their necks, looking unimpressed. After a noticeable delay, Enix growled, her back hair bristling as she glared the sarosians down—one by one.
With drooping ears, the doorkeepers backtrotted, exhaling in one accord. They parted ways, allowing Enix to approach the wall of vines. With a deep breath, she exhaled: "H'jem!"
The wall unfurled, exposing a wide corridor that ascended even deeper into the heart of Bleak's Plummet. Here, the torchlight flickered with a crimson tint.
"Well, that's not ominous whatsoever," Rarity grunted.
Enix gestured at the group.
Feeling countless eyes trained on her, Rainbow Dash proceeded forward, followed closely by Remna and then the rest. They traversed a series of gradually rising steps, leading towards a blue-tinted room at the furthest end, rippling with reflective waterlights.
Echo leaned in, murmuring: "This is the Hall of Blood. Only the most courageous warriors of the Midnight Exodus are allowed in here... usually..."
Rainbow Dash looked left and right. She saw dark chambers full of shifting shadows. With coordinated shrieks, able-bodied sarosians sparred with one another, wrestling and butting heads with a flash of fangs. Spears and clubs bearing lunar runes clashed with a shower of sparks. A few sweaty combatants stopped to glance at Rainbow and her group as they passed by.
"Have.. uh... have you ever been here before?" Rainbow asked.
Echo hesitated... then eventually murmured: "Yes. But... I wasn't here for long."
Rainbow's brow furrowed. "You were a warrior?"
"A failure," Echo muttered. "A lot is... expected of young midnighters in Bleak's Plummet. Making it to age thirty is a reward for brutal tenacity... and not accomplished easily."
Rainbow glanced at Enix's scarred body ahead of them. "Yeah. I can tell."
"Staying alive is one thing." Echo gulped. "I was... not very fond of all the corpses I'd inevitably have to climb to get there."
"You didn't want to kill?" Nicole murmured. "Was that it?"
"Sure. Let's just roll with that," Echo muttered.
"I..." Rainbow grimaced, glancing into the nearby chambers as more and more slitted eyes peered out. "I had no idea, Echo."
"You were never meant to." Echo shuddered, ears drooping as he looked ahead at the blue-tinted room. "All things considered... I was never meant to return here."
"Well, let's not waste a good opportunity when we've got one," Bard said. "Reckon?"
"Shhhh..." Remna exhaled. "There's an aura about this place."
"Oh?" Rainbow blinked at her.
Remna's violet brow furrowed. "I know a lair when I see one."
"M'rymym yln N'ymym!" Enix hollered, followed by several shrill shrieks.
"Look!" Fluttershy exclaimed hoarsely.
Rainbow and her friends watched as several shadows darted overhead. They entered a chamber lined with translucent panels that looked out onto dark twilight waters overhead. The floor gave way to an inexplicable pool of glowing water, shaped like a silver-blue crescent. A wooden stage loomed over the rippling liquid, lined with several calcified structures: enormous skulls of hunted creatures. Rainbow saw shark jaws, whale vertebrae, orca skulls, and serrated teeth so large that they surely had to come from sea serpents. All of these fossilized trophies were arranged in a symmetrical fashion, leading towards a thick veil of gossamer silk lined with moondust at the end of the chamber.
Enix settled down in the middle of the stage, bowing low. "L'symlym wynyl m'rhymym s'ymmlym W'ynlppa yln H'Luun! H'jaamym 'Austraeoh,' hymym Rainbow Dash."
Rainbow and the rest of her friends came to a stop. They glanced left and right, silent and curious.
One by one, gray faces emerged from the shadowed corners of the place. Wrinkled muzzles peered out of dark velvet robes lined with faintly glowing runes. The slitted eyes of elder mares peered emotionlessly down at the gathered guests.
Rainbow's ears twitched to the sound of muffled squeaks behind her. She and Remna looked over their flanks to see that all of the warriors in the sparring chambers had formed a solid line at the group's rear. However—despite the sarosians' menacing presence—they refused to pass an invisible line of demarcation. Their slitted eyes remained locked on the stage above them.
The blue tint of the room washed over with silver.
Rainbow looked front and center.
The moondusted veil glowed down the center. Like a stage curtain, it lifted slowly... revealing a huddled group of elder ponies. Old mares shuffled out, runic robes dragging across the wooden platform. Among them, a few young souls hovered, acting as protectors and guiding the elders with gentle hoof-holds. Their coats were of the same silver sheen as Enix, and their ears just as pronounced.
Rainbow squinted, cocking her head to the side.
At last, the elders formed a line down the center. Four nightblooded sarosians took their sweet time assisting a single, hunched-over figure. She trotted with the assistance of a rickety Bleakweed crane lined with lunar shards. The edges of her robe glimmered with the same silver as the veil.
Rainbow noticed a movement in her peripheral. She briefly glanced over to see that Echo was bowing low—mimicking Enix. She opened her muzzle as if to say something... but decided to remain silent. Looking up, she watched as the elder was led to the center of the platform.
At last, the Maria Matriach came to a limp stop. A transparent blue shard hung from a necklace around her neck. Slowly—with the grace of a tortoise—she tilted her wrinkly head up, peering out from beneath her hood. One eye was clouded with gray cataracts. A single slitted pupil swept left... swept right... then settled on Rainbow Dash. She took several seconds to inhale... then breathily produced: "W'ynlppa yln H'Luun?"
Enix nodded, head bowed penitently. "Ywm, M'rymym yln N'ymym. H'Luun y'lynwyn wylynym y'hnyrr h'lym yln n'ymym." Her fangs showed. "H'jylym sylppa yln H'cylsialym w'rhynnym..."
"Ywm..." The elder slowly nodded. It took her a quarter of a minute to tilt her head in Rainbow Dash's direction. Her voice wheezed with a thick, whinnying accent: "I am Xarchellus... the eldest surviving Maria Matriarch. My strongest Nightblooded child says that you are the chosen Avatar of the Mother of Nightmares." Her fangs showed beneath her wrinkly muzzle. "The Blood of Luna."
Rainbow Dash nodded. "Yes, ma'am. I've been sent by Princess Luna."
A heated breath. Xarchellus' good eye narrowed with an icy glint. "Prove it."
Bard and Nicole blinked.
"Whelp..." Pinkie Pie gulped. "I was afraid she'd say that."
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Pfft, hoarsely . . .
Sorry.
Bat guano is a highly effective fertilizer, as it contains high amounts of potassium and other minerals required for healthy plant growth. Combined the calcium from leftover fish bones, perhaps this is the secret to Sarosian underwater agriculture!
Thank you for subscribing to Bat Facts!
Uh oh....
And Rainbow proceeds to blind them with ruby-colored harmony.
7490534 can I get bat facts sent to my email at ponytones@gmail.com?
( yes, that is one of my real emails which I use for my my little pony choir )
Rainbow really better hope that Lunas enchantment thing works now. If it doesn't I don't think that Enix's word will be enough.
Having a Spehss Mereen moment there, are we?
Reason demands that I assume this is a typo, but I want to believe - I want to believe so badly!
Tee hee ceiling hugs!
7490950
[youtube=https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LJMLfACod48]
Now I can't get that image out of my head. Too damn adorable!
Of course no one would just believe her like that.
Well, Luna's enchantment had better work here.
The tension is palpable. I'm on the edge of my seat.
Wow ! I didn't expect to get a name drop so soon, if at all. I am so happy and inexplicably proud.
Well, I don't know what to say except thank you ! I love you !
7492948 Congrats!
Well if we take the elevator back above water we can talk with Luna. At Xarchellus's pace it will only take a few hundred chapters.
I know we are reading about fuzzy horse words....but how the hell are they clinging to the ceiling with hooves!?
And the gauntlet has been thrown.
And thus is court in session. Rainbow is guilty of association with the mother of nightmares, but she must prove it to the judge. (I think the jury already knows)
7494494 the same way earth ponies have been demonstrated to be capable of "holding" objects in a single hoof, just turned up to eleven because batponies.
7490534
I fear it's horsesh*t.
On one hand: aww! little bat ponies!
On the other: well. this is about where shit hits the fan, doesn't it?
Of course she wouldn't believe her. I'd honestly slap the Maria Matriarchs if they did so readily. Let's hope Rainbow Dan electrify the Matriarchs with proof.
That is freaking adorable.
7522123
Well, let's hope there aren't any fans in the guano cave.
hah! Two chapters in a row Axan has made me laugh! I'm starting to really like her character.
Although, Skirts keeps referring to her as Remna even though Rainbow calls her Axan. Makes me believe Axan will get her true form back at some point and until then she is still technically "Remna."
Abrupt and simple but proves she ain’t messing around.
This can only go in two general ways:
1) Luna’s essence is preserved during R.D’s presentation and everything goes smoothly.
2) Her essence is somehow wasted by some form of event or action or screwup, leading Rainbow Dash to improvise.
Yeah, that figures.