"Well, Rarity?" Twilight Sparkle leaned in close, hovering over the dense rushing waves that plummeted into the cosmic abyss. "How does it feel?"
Rarity had her eyes clenched shut. The ghostly fashionista concentrated hard, her horn glowing with spectral brilliance. At last, she opened her eyes and exhaled breathily.
"The chains attached to the harmonic alicorn apparatus stretch far beyond the reach of my senses." She gulped, turning to face the others. "However... from the tension that they are exhibiting, I would venture to say that they're firmly attached to something on the other end."
"You mean like the Gondola?" Fluttershy exclaimed.
"Or perhaps just a set of identical rigging on the other side," Rarity explained. "Although—presumably—a gondola could be made to travel the length of the chain. Like a cable track!"
Applejack squinted. "You sure it ain't just the pull of gravity makin' these ancient chains so taut-like?"
Rarity raised an eyebrow at her. "And just how far down the edge of the plane do you suppose the laws of gravity decide to work in the same way as they do here?"
Applejack shrugged. "I'unno."
"I think what Rarity is trying to say is that gravity isn't a constant when it comes to this piece of Urohringr," Twilight Sparkle said. "Whoever or whatever built this structure must have possessed the ability to artificially create the gravity that is generated by natural formations of huge mass." She waved a lavender hoof. "Therefore—in the process of transferring ourselves from the Light Side to the Dark Side, we can expect a spontaneous shift in gravity... or a complete lack thereof."
"Then... h-how does the Gondola even work?" Fluttershy asked.
"Oh, darling, it doesn't matter how it functions!" Rarity exclaimed. "Only that it does!" She pointed down the lengths of chain that pierced the incomprehensible waterfalls. "Mortuana and Whitemane's father saw to the engineering! And everything about my senses is telling me that the structure is intact!"
"So... all that's left is to call the dang thing so that it comes to us!" Applejack said. "Er... right?"
"Precisely!"
"But then..." Twilight tapped her chin in thought. "...how exactly do we do that?"
The Mane Five were silent.
Then...
"HEY GUYS!" Pinkie Pie phased out of the rushing currents below—startling all of them at once. "Guess what I am!" She reached up, forced her fluffy pink mane into the shape of a dorsal fin, and "swam" around the upper surfaces of the water. "Duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh...!"
Rarity sighed, staring at Twilight with bored eyes. "Rainbow Dash?"
Twilight nodded. "Rainbow Dash."
The four of them shot up like spectral comets, rejoining Rainbow and the Herald atop the platforms. Pinkie remained behind, flailing. She shot her head up. "Hey! Wait for me!" She "swam" up after them. "'We need a bigger Gondola?!' I could have told you that one for free!"
"Ahem." Twilight reached Rainbow first.
Rainbow stopped pacing to turn and face her friends. "So? What's the scoop?"
"Rarity's certain that the chains are still attached to a fixed point on the other end," Twilight said.
"You mean like another set of golden spires?"
"Absolutely, darling," Rarity said, floating closer with a nod. "You see, judging from the tension in each platinum link and the consistent pressure that they're exhibiting on the support beams on this side—"
"Hey!" Rainbow spun to face the Herald. "Good news! Rarity says the alicorn thingamajigger is in working order!"
Ariel, Kepler, and Flynn cheered.
Rarity frowned, her temple pulsating. "I would still issue extreme caution in what we're about to do next!"
"But Rarity..." Rainbow turned to face her. "...either this is our ticket or it isn't. So what's there to lose?"
"What's there to gain?" Twilight Sparkle shrugged. "Rainbow, I'll be the first to admit that finding this thing was an absolutely astounding accomplishment—even for the Austraeoh."
"Although... uhm..." Fluttershy blushed slightly. "...you could have done it in a less-frightening way than diving into the drink."
"Yeah, Dashie!" Pinkie hovered behind Fluttershy with a frown. "What she said!"
"Look, I'm sorry..." Rainbow said, shrugging. "But the gold light pointed me! So I knew there'd be a solution!"
"But what do we even do now?!" Twilight exclaimed, gesturing wildly. "There's no ruby flame to turn on or turn off here, Rainbow Dash! All we have now is a golden elevator—but nothing to move it with!"
"And how do we know if it can still move at all?" Applejack remarked, tilting her ghostly hat back. "That thing's gotta be super ancient!"
"But if it's anywhere nearly as intact as the specimen we observe here—" Rarity began.
"I dun care what you observe!" Applejack frowned. "Out of sight, out of mind! Unless we've got some definitive proof that this here alicorn doohickey can still tick like clockwork, then we're still stuck at square one—as far as I'm concerned!"
"Yeah, Dashie..." Pinkie sighed, positively deflating. "What she said."
Rainbow stared off in thought.
Remna shuffled past Bard, Wildcard, and the others. "What are they saying, Austraeoh?"
"I hate to say it, but it's a good point," Rainbow muttered aloud. She started to pace under the lightning-filled sky. "Dredging this thing up was awesome and all, but what's the point if there's nothing to get it moving?"
"The Gondola's on the other side, though!" Ariel exclaimed. She blinked at the others. "I mean... that's where it must be, right? Why else wouldn't it be here?"
"If I rrecall frrom the Motherr Matrron's storries," Kepler spoke, "Contact with Darrkrreach was brroken severral centurries ago." The wyvern adjusted his spectacles. "This was shorrtly afterr the Exodus of sarrosians rreached the prrecipice of the worrld upon which we currrently stand." He raised an eyebrow. "It is quite possible that—faced with an insurrmountable opposition—the prrotectorrs of Darrkreach submerrged the chain trrack and harrborred the Gondola prrotectively on theirr end of the plane."
"Oye..." Nicole winced.
Echo sighed, glaring off. "Way to go, our blood."
"Our ancient texts speak nothing of this alicorn construct," Enix said, exchanging nodding expressions with her fellow warriors. "Granted... if any group may have encountered this Gondola of which you speak, it would have to have been the ancestors of the Dark Vigil. And they carried their secrets with them to the Dark Side." She shuddered. "Somehow..."
"Well, that's neither here nor there," Bard said, strolling forward. "What matters is gettin' this dayum thang to sing." He narrowed his gaze on Rainbow. "Darlin', does yer fancy schmancy new 'Utaan vision' have any light to shed on the machine in front of us?"
Rainbow stared dumbly at the twin golden stalks. A platinum haze enveloped the thing unceasingly.
"It's lit up like a Hearth's Warming Tree," Rainbow muttered.
"Huh?" Logan exclaimed.
Wildcard gestured.
Logan glared at him. "For real? Pffft... Equestrians are weird."
"For realsies, Dashie?" Pinkie Pie floated closer. "There's still some... purpose in this machine?"
"That's remarkable..." Twilight Sparkle blinked. "I-I mean... that this new... sense of yours can change so dynamically on the fly."
"Well, it hasn't changed much now," Rainbow said. "It's still pointing me to what I just resurfaced."
"Care to explain?" Remna remarked.
"Believe me, I want to!" Rainbow barked at her, flailing her forelimbs. "But just because I was able to sniff up this crud doesn't mean I explain it!"
"Yeah, Remna," Ariel said. "Cut her some slack! It's not like there's a lever built into the thing that she can just yank and make the Gondola come to us!"
Just then, Wildcard whistled.
Everypony looked his way.
The Desperado calmly pointed a metal talon—singling out a lever built into the thing that Rainbow could just yank and make the Gondola come to them.
"Huh... neato..." Bard scratched his exposed head, then swiveled towards Rainbow. "Lil' Missy?"
"Hmmmmkay." Rainbow Dash trotted over to the machine. Wildcard was already pulling and tugging at the newly discovered mechanism—but it refused to budge. Catching his breath, the mute griffon gestured to Rainbow Dash and took a step back. "Let's see here..."
"Heeeeeeeee..." Pinkie leaned forward, grinning from ear to ear.
"Hmmf..." Twilight Sparkle folded her hooves. "I swear. If this actually works, I'll eat a hat—"
"Zoop!" Rainbow Dash pulled the lever. It easily slid out, glowing a bright gold at her blue-hoofed touch.
"Oh for Pete's sake!" Twilight tossed her hooves, then spun towards Applejack. "Gimme."
"No!" Applejack hugged the article in question, pivoting protectively away from her.
"Applejack—"
Applejack spat, "It's the only one I've got! Both in the past and in the afterlife!"
"Look!" Fluttershy pointed, gasping.
From Rainbow's touch—the gold light spread throughout the twin stalks... then shot brilliantly down the two lengths of chains. A beam of platinum energy briefly lit up the blackness, then dimmed to a low but persistent pulse. A high-pitched melodic sound filled the air, like tiny bells constantly ringing.
"Coolie crispies!" Rainbow leaned back from the apparatus with a devilish smirk. She released her grip of the lever and turned towards Rarity. "Rare-Rare?"
"There's definitely something different about it, darling," Rarity murmured, brow furrowed. "Yes... yes!" She gasped, grinning wide. "There's a consistent vibration! Intensifying at a gradual pace!" She tried to contain her squeals. "I do believe you have summoned something!"
"So..." Fluttershy blinked brightly. "The Gondola, then?"
"It's got a longgggggggggg way to go," Pinkie said.
"Yeah..." Rainbow Dash nodded, gazing at the chains as they stretched brightly into the ether. "A super long way."
"Can somepony please fill me in?" Logan groaned.
"Rainbow Dash has obviously triggered the alicorn mechanism," Flynn said, gazing in awe at the chains. "I don't know if it's... because of the Equestrian Princesses' enchantment on her pendant... or the powers of Austraeoh invested in her—"
"Can we cut the pretense?" Remna grumbled. "It's because she's the Austraeoh. Simple as that. Honestly, mortals, let's move on." Snorting, she turned towards Kepler. "Did Mortuana have any more wisdom to impart in this matter?"
"I fail to rrecall," the wyvern said. "But one thing is forr cerrtain, the lift that is attached to this apparratus has a grreat deal of distance to trravel."
"Just how big is the thing?" Ariel asked.
"Considerring that it was used in prre-classical times to ferrry multiple Emerraldinian subjects and rresourrces to and from Darrkrreach, I would venturre to guess that the Gondola itself is quite large." Kepler blinked through his lenses. "And its weight most substantial."
"In otherr worrds..." Flynn nodded. "It's likely designed for efficiency... not for speed."
"Then it's going to take its sweet time," Bard said.
Flynn nodded. "Most likely, yes."
Wildcard glanced about. He gestured.
Bard interpreted, "So... what do ya reckon we should do in the meantime?"
Rainbow looked at Enix and the other nightblooded warriors. She smiled proudly. "What do you think?"
Last August, I started Austraeoh. I almost didn't, what with the wealth of hundreds of other fics that had already clogged my read later list. However, my curiosity won my over in the end, and thank Celestia for that. Now, 13 months later, I did it. I finally caught up with the tens of thousands of words, but goodness if it ain't worth it. Now, just as our beloved Rainbow is about to cross over to the Dark Side, I'm finally caught up with the frontlines. I know we've never met, but after a year plus of reading the comments of those who have come before me, from the beginning until now, I consider you Jurists my friends.
Now, I'm gonna cut this sappyness short for now, but I just wanna say I'm glad to be here.
East-Horsing Forever,
Dark
Fight club!
7597718
In all seriousness, glad to have you here.
I'm picturing this Gondola, at the edge of the world, with stars in the sky, a fog below, random columns of water shooting off into the abyss, and the Herald all watching the sheer beauty of it. I really want to see some fan art of this.
7597718
Congratz on finally catching up! Welcome to the club.
7597718 Welcome.
7597718 Welcome aboard, the Noble Jury is happy to have another crewman. Cabins are on the 4th floor, gym is in the auxiliary hangar, and we're looking for a room to make into an armoury. We're gonna need weapons on the darkside I think.
AJ, that hat is so much a part of you, you could probably grow a new one.
Time for a hold out I think.
-Companions are abound, frozen spectres hound. Utaan.
7597718
It is a pretty awesome feeling to get caught up on a story this large, isn't it? Of course it comes with the downside of now having to wait for more, no longer being able to binge click through the chapters, but totally worth it. Welcome aboard.
And, now for the chapter...
HOLYCRAPLEVERS!
Its... Its...
Its so beautiful! A sensible, working mechanism that you just have to pull or push to make function. Okay, sure, it only works if you rub the Austraeoh on it... which really begs the question how anybody else ever used the Gondola, but who cares!? LEVER! Where the heck where these things in literally every other part of the Machine World ever? Maybe they're in hidden spots all over the place and we just haven't ever seen them because Dash has the perceptive skills of a banana. Hmm, somebody did mention the Urohringr dudes had consoles too. Not that I remember this. I wonder if its just contact with Dash that activates this stuff, or if it'd work if you just, like, had a piece of her to touch the machinery with? Like a lock of mane, a blood sample? Did the Ledomare dudes ever try that when they were screwing with her back in Blue Shelf?
Anyway it can't just be Dash that activates this stuff because otherwise how would the alicorns use the Gondola way back when, and shut up Axan. Sorry that's obligatory for me at this point any time Axan says stuff. Stupid dragon. So yeah, probably alicorn magic can get the machinery working too. Maybe that's how Chrysalis got back and forth between the Dark Side?
7597894 Flynn did guess it might have something to do with the lingering alicorn magics in her pendant.
Of course it could also just be a simple lever that works for anyone and everyone else just let her throw it because she's the party leader.
A lever that triggers a magical mechanism instead of a physical one, because if you're an alicorn you don't dirty your hooves with gears and pulleys.
At Mach 2 and planetary thickness it would take 10 hours for the Gondola to make the trip.
So 100 mph and a thousand miles thick for a ten hour trip, 10 mph for a 4 day trip?
Its gonna have to be a Big Gondola.
And somewhere out there is The Third Man, sorry, Ship.
And now they wait and play cards or something I guess.
7597718 Welcome aboard the Noble Jury!
Are you suuure about that, Kepler? According to Cht.1, the Sarosian exodus took place three hundred years before Whitemane's journey to the edge. Given that Onyxxus referred to them as "the expedition," it sounds like they were just getting started with Darkreach then.
That is to say, the exodus predates Darkreach, not the other way around.
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Thanks Guys!
7598043
Huh. I was under the impression that "the expedition" was the Alicorns' doing, but you could be right.
This is my excuse for bad programming.
Now looks like it is back to the Sarosians.
7597894 Way back in the first book levers were mentioned several times, like when she activated the Windthrow elevator.
7597718 Welcome fresh meat.
7598123
Now if we just had some buttons to go with the levers then everything would be complete. Or maybe a button-lever combination? A Bulever.
7598077 Oh, it is. Sorry if I wasn't clear.
Darkreach (what I said Onyxxus called "the expedition") is the Emeraldinians' attempt to put a colony on the Dark Side, in hopes of one day reclaiming the Harmonic Prism. They're probably extinct by now, but might be potential allies if not (or they could have something to do with the Night Shard).
The exodus is the Sarosians crossing to the Dark Side, calling themselves the Dark Vigil.
*Muffled Elevator music*
7597718
Welcome aboard! Please have a seat, cuz we're going for a ride!
That's... actually an interesting question. It may depend on just who built the thing. On one hand, since the pieces of Urohringer connected together, and this place didn't used to be the edge of a plane, it seems like the gondola would have to be a later addition of alicorn design, which would suggest that it's the enchantment in her pendant that activated it. But on the other, the gondola mechanism is made of gold, like the Machine World, and seems tied in with Rainbow's Austraeoh powers. Or maybe the alicorns were able to modify the Austraeoh code, so to speak, to incorporate their device (which seems like a stretch, since even the alicorns seem fairly clueless about the origins of the world). Or the Austraeoh magic itself is adaptable, which raises even more questions.
That, or I'm just over-thinking things.
And on that note, welcome to the show 7597718
7597718 welcome dude.
By
I now pronounce rainboarke best ship.
...aside from appledash.
I regret nothing!
7597718 Welcome aboard!
7597718 hi. I did some pics and left for a while after lerris. I was back a little after.
"Not my hat!"
Time for a very looooong gondola ride.
7597718 Jeez man. I joined back when it was still on the first book and it was an undertaking then. Starting these days? You're a real champ.
Eggheads hate it: Instant easy solutions for all difficult problems, hat mandatory.
So if I'm not mistaken the piece where they are on is a 12th of a ring which is part of even more rings. I somehow doubt that the thickness of said ring is more then the distance she has travelled so far.
The last line makes it think rainbow wants to play spin the bottle with the herald and the sarosians.
P.T. was mentioned again.
7598077 i have to say youve inspired me to reread all of the austraeoh books, from book one all the way to the next book(which i assume is coming really soon). WISH ME LUCK IM GONNA BE GONE FOR A MONTH OR TWO! POSSIBLY SIX!
7597718
Welcome to the ride!
7598991
Pull all-nighters. Lots of them. I guarantee you you will catch up again in like 2-3 weeks
You and your abundance of references Pinkie
"I'm the Austraeoh. I don't gotta explain shit."
Well, now that they have to wait for the elevator, you know what that means.
Survival level!
Unfortunately, I don't see any healthkits or ammo caches lying about.
7597894
Actually, the first three beacons were filled with them. She used one to trigger a lift in Windthrow, and a whole bunch to make the obelisks rise in Darkstine and Blue Shelf.
They have been missing since then, though. Seclorum's Line, the way had already been blasted open; Amulek, she was too busy dying to pay attention; and all of the seeds just kick her out and disappear on their own (I suspect this is Ilrifa's fault, who was "aquired" thanks to Nightshade's false spark in Amulek). Have I mentioned that I think Ilrifa is the false spark?
7598991 I've been wanting to do this since... Well, Ynanhluutr. I miss the Jury. But it's not 7599044 that simple! I have this tendency to read everything everyone says out of respect, and most chapters have 50+ comments. And I get distracted easily, my mind wandering off to play out other scenarios and what-ifs as the story goes along. And I've got so much stuff on my list that I haven't even read once, or read much longer ago than Austraeoh!
7597718 Sup, girlfriend. Who do I get to ship you with?
7597718 Welcome aboard, Darknutlord! You've seen ample realms of both wisdom and stupidity in the comments section, so I don't need to worry about embarrassing myself. I tend to be in the crow's mast, staring at the horizon and getting drenched by the rain. I also can be impetuous, which has gotten me into hot water on a number of occasions. I'm surprised I haven't been keelhauled yet.
You can use my cabin if you wish. As long as I can sleep in a hammock in the rigging and I have my personal stowage locker, I'm good.
And here I was expecting something like an elevator in a machine world alcove providing the means to get to the dark side. A gondola works just as well, I suppose, though the logistics of such a thing blow my mind. I wonder what Rainbow and Co. will see as the gondola makes its way across once they they're on board.
I was really hoping that Rainbow and Co. would be able to get across before Chandler caught up to them, it would have been a nice (though somewhat disappointing) plot twist but the long wait for the gondola is going to give Chandler plenty of time. The slowness of the gondola also means that if the epic battle should go poorly their escape won't exactly be a swift one.
7597718
Welcome! Pull up a chair and rejoice for you're now at the forefront of an epic adventure
7597718 Welcome! Just wait till the realisation that you can no longer binge read Austraoeh for hours hits.
That chapter title...
Hats are a good source of fiber, don't you know
The path to the dark side is laid out for them, now... now they just have to enact Dash's crazy plan. I can only hope that things will end up going smoothly for them, but I've got a gut feeling that things are going to go very bad very soon. Either way, the next group of chapters are going to be entertaining and captivating.
~SolidFire
7599630 Yeah. It really sucks
7599504
I must be lever blind because I don't remember Dash ever doing anything other than throw herself at doors and/or walls when it came to Machine World stuff. Then again my only clear memory of the first book was my raging desire to punch Axan in the ovaries. Everything else is kind of a blur.
7600548 You don't remember Gold Petals?
But here you are. Darkstine:
And Blue Shelf:
If you need more levers, most of them are in Searo (including Rainbow's armor), or various manaships.
Oh, and back to your original comment, yeah, a piece of Dash like her hair would be sufficient to make the Machine World react. It glowed for the Durandanans when exposed to Commander Hurricane's helmet, which presumably contained some of her hairs. At times, it's also been operated by Changelings posing as Rainbow (well, Stratopolis, but that's technically part of the machine world) and OASIS.
7597718 OK, I think you've officially received the most emphatic Jurist welcome I've ever seen. So... Congrats again!
7600762
Gold Petals... Gold Petals... uhhhhh...
That the chick who was pretending to be a dude for some reason who was totally into Dash but Dash freaked out because the mare didn't have green eyes? Like I said, most of the first book is a total blur to me now.
I do like me my levers, though most of my comment is about how it seems like, at least recently, the Machine World doesn't have identifiable means of operation other than rubbing Dash on it. Hmm, if Dash bits can make the stuff work even when not presently attached to Dash then it'd be smart for her to, like, take some clippings of tailhair or mane and made some small talismans for the members of the Herald to carry, just in case they need to activate Machine World tech on their own if they get separated from her at any point.
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discogenie.dyndns.org/imgur/sN2poi1.gif
...Yep, it checks out
Just in enough time to have a final showdown with Chandler and Co.
Beautiful.
So no infinite hats and bows closet?
So much fun with elevators - what does this remind me of?
Jesus, even the narrator is getting all sassy on us now.
7598043 vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/wowwiki/images/7/73/Blizzcon_2010_-_The_Red_Shirt_Guy/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/380?cb=20130618074029
7599424 Nah, this is clearly gonna be a strategy game defense mission!
...of Bleak's Plummet. Not the elevator.