“I gotta hoof it to ya,” Rainbow's voice rasped through the bars. “What you did up there? Pretty spiffy.”
Keris' eyes fluttered open. Wincing from his bruises, he turned and gazed across the dilapidated corridor separating their cells. “I beg your pardon?”
Her figure shifted in the shadows of her prison. “You put your neck on the line for a bunch of noponies... all because you knew there were innocent lives worth saving, even in a heartless floating dump like this. That's kinda awesome.”
Keris sighed out his beak nostrils, gazing back into the shadows. “You know nothing of my failure...”
“I know that a bunch more ponies would be dead now if it weren't for you.”
“Hrmmfff...”
“... … ...tricking a bunch of murderous seaponies into leaping on dry bulkheads? That's pretty clever.”
Keris' eyes narrowed. He turned to gaze past the bars once more. “How... do you know about that? You weren't even there?”
“Dude. Like... how many times do I have to tell you? It wasn't my eyes. It was—”
“Eughhh...” Keris dragged a talon over his beak and face, sighing. “I've had about all I can take of your seasick delusions.”
“Then how can you explain what I know?”
“... … ...”
“Can you explain it any better than the stuff you saw at the Quade?”
“What I saw at the Quade...” He lifted his gaze up, sneering. “...needs no further explanation.”
“You have to see beyond the blood, dude.”
“Spoken like a true sociopath.”
“Will you just hear me out?” Rainbow shuffled closer to the bars. “Did the Luminards have any explanation... any answer whatsoever for why that metal tower was always hiding there beneath the Reed?”
The Lieutenant sat in silence, saying nothing.
“Any explanation beyond... y'know... 'Oh! It was the evil, sinful vagabonds of ancient Luminar! The godless metal built by their hooves!' Feh... or whatever?”
“They gave me nothing,” Keris muttered. “Hrmmff... they barely even acknowledged its existence.”
“Don't you find that a little... I dunno... weird?” Rainbow Dash breathed. “Or the fact that the thing opened up to let me go straight through it? That it reacted to me and me alone and to nopony else?”
Keris blinked into shadow. His beak moved. “The symbol...”
“You saw it too, huh?” Rainbow Dash chuckled bitterly. “To be honest, I was a bit too busy... y'know... being a public menace at the time to see if it stayed there on the side of the tower after I exited.”
“Did...” Keris hesitated, but ultimately blurted: “Did you know that it would open for you ahead of time?”
“Yes.”
He frowned. “And it didn't occur to you that explaining such a thing to the Luminards would be paramount?”
Silence.
Keris blinked. “Well?”
“I should have explained it to them from the get go,” Rainbow Dash said. “That... is my biggest mistake.”
Keris smirked bitterly. “Heh...”
“But if you knew what I knew... and you were facing the monks in the Quade... how would you go about explaining it to them?”
“It doesn't matter,” Keris muttered. “I simply would. They deserved no less, Miss Rainbow Dash.”
“... … ...how do you plan to explain it all to your Commander?”
Keris blinked.
“Or all of this, for that matter? How you got here. What you've done since?”
Keris shifted where he sat.
“You see... doesn't matter how awesome you are. How many medals you've got. How much of a hero you've been... or you think you've been.” She sighed. “At some point in your travels, you run into the truth. And the truth cripples. It's bigger than mountains... denser than any ocean. Pffft... anypony can say that they'll be absolutely truthful. Only a seldom few of them are willing to go the distance. Me? I thought I could go the distance. But then, when push came to shove, I did the cowardly thing. It seemed the kind choice at the time. But it was a useless... stupid choice. And when it came time to backtrack... well... the time for kindness was over. I was too late to confront the truth at the Quade without suffering for it. And now...” A long, winded exhale. “...that truth burns night and day... stabbing me and my insides. I... can... c-can hardly sleep to it. Not that it matters. Heh... all I have when I fall asleep are the same old nightmares... twists and turns...”
“Do you expect me to pity you?” Keris muttered.
“No. I'm hoping that you can learn from this. That you... that I can teach someone else a thing or two. I never wanted to be a bad guy. But sometimes, to do important things, you gotta be bigger than the obstacles you're facing. If I had prepared better... if I had been truthful... and shared the truth with my friends... like a real hero... then maybe... j-just maybe I'd be out of this mess by now.”
Silence.
Rainbow sighed again, drawing Keris to crane his neck and listen harder.
“They say that 'the truth will set you free.' Hrmmfff... that couldn't be any more bogus. It's lies that make us free... that give us the liberty to do whatever it is that we want... or that we please... or that we feel comfortable with doing. Have you ever flown out this far before, Lieutenant Dude?”
“Erm...” Keris cleared his throat, hugging his bruised limbs to himself. “I have... r-rarely had the chance to do so...” He exhaled. “Despite my better wishes.”
“So something's drawn you out here, huh? Something... like conviction?”
“It matters little,” Keris muttered.
“Doesn't it?” A pair of ruby eyes glinted in a sliver of sunlight. “I bet it's a heck of a lot easier believing that all you've gotta do is protect Rohbredden proper, huh?” She gulped. “That there's nothing innocent or worthwhile about the seven seas that you gotta break your back over the 'heathens' out here? So long as you just worry about the goddess-fearing populace of the continent, then the rest of the world can suffer for its own sins... huh?”
Keris shivered slightly. “I have... n-never sat well with that presumption.”
“That's a shame. I've seen a lot of miserable places in my journeys... and many of them east of the Blight.” Rainbow Dash sighed. “The world could use more griffons like you, dude.”
Keris' eyes darted left and right.
Eventually, Rainbow's voice rattled through the bars again. “Verlax has built an entire kingdom on lies. It's a very comfortable kingdom, but one that's based on total-pretend all the same. So long as everyone believes what she's established for years and years, then it doesn't matter what the rest of the world goes through, right? Well, how else have monsters like Revan or Jeryn or Skagra come to be?”
Silence.
“And you know? For all intents and purposes, the big lie works... but only for so long. The monks of the Quade? Yeah, they were happy with their life. They were content with meditation and scripture-keeping. Nothing wrong with a peaceful life. But the fact of the matter is that Verlax orchestrated their entire culture as an obstacle for something far bigger... far more important and epic to move on through. Are they better off without the lie? I... I can't say. Heck, probably not. But being happy or not doesn't change the fact that they were victims for eons. They were victims ages ago when Luminar first sank in the ocean... and they were victims long before me.”
“You sound so sure of this,” Keris muttered.
“Tell me, Lieutenant, is there anything you would not do if it meant saving your entire continent?”
“If it meant saving all of Rohbredden?”
“How far would you go to make sure it didn't sink into the ocean or get burned to ashes by pirates or whatnot?”
“Well, I would sacrifice my life, of course,” Keris said firmly. “I have sworn my allegiance, after all.”
“Uh huh. And would you sacrifice your principals?”
Keris grimaced upon hearing that.
“Would you curse yourself? Shred your name apart? Even become a monster if it meant that the continent that means so much to you prospered in the end?” Rainbow Dash cocked her head to the side. “And what if you knew a far more cold-hearted truth? Hmm? What if you knew that you had to sacrifice yourself for something even bigger than Rohbredden? Bigger than twelve Rohbreddens stacked against one another in a row? Or even twenty-four of them?”
“Are you trying to legitimize what you've done in the Quade?”
This elicited a heavy sigh from the pegasus across the way.
Keris turned to gaze at her directly.
“Dude... I've spent hours... days... restless nights trying to excuse what I've done,” Rainbow Dash muttered. “And after all the circles my head has flown, there simply is no denying the fact that... th-that I've done a horrible... terrible thing.” She gulped. “I did terrible things to innocent ponies. I betrayed everything I believed in... shredded apart my own moral code. It wouldn't be the first time I sacrificed my own ethics... but never before have I done something... mrmmff... on th-this scale. It's not something I'm proud of. But...”
“You wouldn't take it back,” Keris said. He craned his neck to look.
Indeed, the mare was shaking her head. “I've learned to live with a lot of awful things about myself before,” she muttered. “That isn't the hard part. What makes it difficult this time is my friends.”
“I fail to ascertain what you mean by 'friends,' Rainbow Dash,” Keris remarked.
“Heh...” She exhaled. “I don't blame you one bit. You know... they're invisible to me too. All but one. I mean... I'm glad that Fluttershy still sticks around, but somehow... it almost...” A shuddering breath. “...it almost makes it worst.”
“Was what you believed in worth sacrificing them?” Keris asked. “Ethics and moral codes aside... I think I'm starting to understand the true fabric that was ripped asunder.” He arched an eyecrest. “When you attacked the Quade, you stopped being the pegasus from beyond the Blight and became the Rainbow Rogue of the seven seas. And these... these so-called friends of yours... they could not handle that, could they?”
She did not respond.
“How terrible it must be,” Keris remarked. “To be loathed on both the inside as well as on the outside.”
Eventually, she murmured back: “I... h-hope you never have to f-find out what that means, dude.” She cleared her throat. “Even still... it doesn't matter.”
Keris blinked. “Even now, you can say that?”
“I may have sacrificed them... but that... th-that's fine.” She took a deep breath. “If it means saving them along with everything else, then... th-then that's what I'm going to have to deal with.”
Keris sighed. “Well... it does not appear as though you'll be dealing with it very easily.”
“Hmm?”
He waved an aching talon at the surroundings. “You are stuck here, much like me,” he said. “With friends like those... the very focus of your otherworldly powers...” His hawkeyes narrowed. “...I imagine you could find a way out of this prison in an instant.”
“Not a second goes by when I don't think about that, dude.”
“And yet, you don't strive to make an escape from this place,” Keris remarked.
“Huh?”
“Well...” He shifted where he sat, sighing. “Correct me if I'm wrong... but if what you believe in is so grand... so epic that it necessitates wrecking the Quade and betraying your friends' trust... then what's stopping you from making every attempt to break through your shackles and these bars?” He glanced at her cell. “Your cosmology is evidently so superior when compared to Verlaxion's, that it hasn't stopped you before.”
“I... I-I can't...” Rainbow gulped. “I simply can't escape from this place, dude...”
“You're not liberating yourself this time,” Keris said, shaking his head. “There's no point in lying to me, Miss Rainbow Dash. I know you're capable of overpowering your bonds. After all, you did it before,” he said. “When the nasty individual known as Monket first captured you.”
“Dude, don't...” Rainbow groaned.
Keris blinked curiously.
A cold voice rattled across the brig: “There is no way in Tartarus I am letting that happen. Never again.”
“Even if an incalculably important fate hangs in the bal—?”
“When I let loose... it's more than becoming a monster... or a wrecker of the Quade.” Rainbow shuddered. “I lose all that makes me who I am. I become death itself. Chaos incarnate. If I do that... if I give in, then... then...”
“Then what?”
“... … …I become what Verlaxion desires. And you, Lieutenant? You might think you want to see Verlaxion's will manifested.” The petite shadow slowly shook its head. “You don't. You don't at all.”
“I see...” Keris' beak nostrils flared. “And what of your friends?”
“... … ...I would lose them for good. I... I'm afraid they'd never be able to come back. Even... even if th-they actually wanted to.”
Keris leaned back against the wall, his gaze quiet and contemplative. “...does the Rainbow Rogue think she can complete her journey without her friends? Even after all the sacrifices made?”
“... … ...truthfully?”
“Truthfully.”
“... … ...no. Not... not anymore. That's... mmmm... what really cr-cripples me. That's what cripples this entire world...”
Ah, back to some good 'ol straight talk.
Yeah, you did kinda drop the ball on that one.
*cough*overarchingthemeofHonesty,everyone*cough*
Don't you mean "worse"?
Hmm, some introspection from Dash, and a bit of understanding from Keris.
True.
And his armor is down! Keris will now be the Talon of Dash. And Twilight and co will keep being "they who abandoned their friend out of spite."
...Please don't tell me that there's going to be TWENTY-FOUR BOOKS of this series!
If Keris becomes a new long-term companion for Dash, the first thing he needs to know is that he'll never truly replace Wildcard.
And the what's really the worst of it all, Rainbow, is that you're going to have to do even more horrible things in the future to move forward.
Because Verlax is a bitch.
Dash is broken. For all her strength and drive, she's lost the one thing that would help her the most right now.
She's sitting on a broken pedestal...
When the Talon comes, when they free Keris, will he spring to prevent Seraph from gutting her where she stands? or will he watch, as they remove her pendant, witness her transformation, and know that she is telling the truth?
-In the end isolation, hunted by a nation. Utaan.
Well that's strangely introspective of Rainbow. Although I guess it makes sense with her not being able to, you know, go anywhere. I'm still wondering if she can maybe turn Keris to her side... the more time she interacts with him, the more likely that seems to be.
But Seraphimus? I don't think that's going to work at all. She's way too ingrained in her beliefs to change. After all, she believes it's Verlax's good graces that are keeping her family safely preserved in time until a cure can be found. How can she turn her back on something like that?
If the Talon strikes at Red Barge, it's going to be a hell of a wild ride. Especially because Rainbow isn't going to get away from Seraphimus when she's cornered on a barge like she is now.
Morbid and violent though it may be, I doubt the school fillies of Rohbredden would have a problem with that.
6648199 I would not object to this.
6648199
There and back again.
And There. And back again.
6648227
Time for Harmonic MediLaser?
I love chapters like these, and it's great seeing Rainbow and Keris actually communicate.
Though, I have to question Rainbow's philosophy, as sure as she seems to be about it. I return to the question I've asked a few times before: Can she even save the world at all, in the sense that the Austraeoh is meant to, if she trades away the harmony inside of her? This "the ends justify the means" mentality can lead to pretty horrifying things, and the fact that she's bought into it in such a wholesale way worries me.
6648199 no no no, only 12 books. We've passed the halfway point
We are spending far more time on the Red Barge story than I thought we would. But I guess IC needs an excuse to allow Rainbow's wing to heal.
6648249
The Harmony boat has long since sailed, boyo. Dash lost that sometime around when she killed Shell. Now it's a question of either sliding all the way into Chaos or finding a happy medium.
Also, good to see Dash is ruining more people's religious faith. It's going to be funny as all hell when she accidentally founds a religion instead of shred it.
I'd put my little tagline here but doing it on my phone is super annoying.
Big Lie. That specific quote was used by Adolf Hitler regarding the Holocaust, and many other atrocities he committed. I can't believe I didn't make the connection sooner, Rohbredden is just a variant of Nazi Germany, a paradise built on the backs of those deemed unworthy.
Sounds Rainbow has her work cut out for her then, she has to get her friends back and able to face the reality of the situation in order to complete her journey, which will bring her friends back.
I wonder, if Rainbow kicked the bucket would her friends still be present within the amulet? If someone came across it in the future would they manifest before him/her? What would the mass of the brick be after it was shat?
My heart really goes out and aches for dash. The way things are going, twilight, pinkie, and rarity will be the ones to destroy the world. I think that is really ironic, elements of harmony and all that. She can't go forward because her friends were the wind beneath her wings. She did what she had to do to get fluttershy back, and her sticking around just reminds her of her ugly deed. She tried explaining things, but even then the monks turned her away. Rainbow Dash.. I hope for your sake, that your somehow able to get your friends back. I'd hate to see you just waist away, or let the talon rip you apart.
6648306
It could be argued that killing Shell wasn't a breech of harmony, as Shell was a sociopathic twat and lives were in danger. It might've been less harmonious for her to stand by and let him slaughter more people. Most of Rainbow's potential transgressions in the past have followed similar circumstances. The Quade situation, however, was markedly different. She did was she did in order to tick off another box on a to-do list, and in so doing complied with the orchestrations of a being of questionable sanity.
I dunno. The purpose of the Austraeoh, as I understand it, is to be the Spark that... jump-starts (?) the world, and her journey seems inexorably tied to the Elements of Harmony. My point was, can she even do that if she not only betrays the principles of harmony, but is willing, in her heart of hearts, to do so again? I recall that bit at the end of the previous book where the cosmic powers (or whatever) seemed to turn their back on her.
Rainbow seems pretty sure that her outlook is right and justified, but I suspect the truth (I'm looking at you, apple horse) of the situation is something Rainbow still has to discover.
Nares. You mean nares, right? Because I'm pretty sure those are called nares.
6648248
oh ok thx
6648199 Well we still have to return from the midnight armory after we get there...
I love this chapter, the feels are real
6648507 I'm imagining a twelve-book-long victory lap as Dash just backtracks all the way to Equestria and has "where are they now" moments with past characters.
*sigh* Sorry Dash, I get that you're meaning well and trying your best to figure this shit out, but I'm still not entirely in your camp here. Its nice that you can at least partially recognize how and why you screwed the pooch at the Quade, but your still on this obsession about the goal of your quest supposedly being so big and important that it automatically justifies any action you take to accomplish it, belittling any responsibility you have to do better and learn from your mistakes. You're still so focused on looking for why its okay to sacrifice the very real and present few for the future and hypothetical many that you're forgetting that what you should be doing is everything in your power and then some to prevent such tragedies in the first place by outsmarting the obstacles in your path and being prepared to risk the success of your quest to do what's right rather than what will let you move forward.
At what point does the sacrifice of the present good of the people in front of you stop looking justified against this distant theoretical future danger the world is supposedly under and hypothetically couldn't survive without you; the genetic/magical evolution/accident maintenance pony/savior built/destined/genetically engineered by a race of mysterious pegasi/angels/spacebirds to put together a giant space station/ringworld that for some reason was pulled apart by the same mysterious pegasi/angels/spacebirds that supposedly/theoretically/hypothetically created you and your whole bloodline in the first place to be the most inefficient repair system ever devised?
Seriously, at what point do you stop sacrificing lives for all that crazy ass horseshit and realize that maybe, just maybe this whole Austraeoh business isn't worth all the blood and suffering, at least not without you fighting back against it with every fiber of your being instead of letting it bend you over the cosmic radiator?
What she did at the quade is killing her..Not having her friends is destroying her..yet she almost seems at peace with these things, like she feels she deserves it. I honestly don't know what could happen from this point on..keris is a cool guy.
6648534
-The good doctor Halsey before 343 decided she should undo all her character development to become a villain.
We can hope Dash comes to a similar conclusion before it's too late.
6648371 Thank you for bringing up the grand will of the macrocosmwill anyone even get that reference still?, I've had this thought bouncing around my head that maybe the voice is Endrax, having ascended to another plane of existence.
It's really good to see her acknowledge that what she did in the Quade was a bad thing, even if she feels it was in the end justified which I don't think is the case personally. Others have basically given my feelings on this chapter and Dash as a whole right now namely 6648249 and 6648534 so I'm not going to go over most of their points yet again.
Well, time to give my opinion on this.
Does the ends justify the means? Let me ask the opposite question then; do the means justify the ends? Is it worth staying true to your principles if at the end, noone is alive at all? It's always one or the other. Either the ends can justify the means, if adequately important, or the means ALWAYS justify the ends.
Why are the lives in the present more valuable than lives in the future? Yes, this can be a dangerous thought, but mainly because people are so awful at calculations. The lives in the present are only more valuable to us because we have personal connections to some of them. If you consider that, then the lives of anyone you don't know at all in the present should have equal value compared to the lives of people in the future.
The most important thing is understanding probability and game theory. Doing what feels right doesn't work if it comes down to the lives of hundreds, thousands, millions or even billions. Human minds are simply incapable of truly comprehending such numbers; gut feeling becomes nearly useless. "The death of few is a tragedy, while the death of many is statistics". When you hear of hundreds of people dying, you feel sad, but not nearly as sad as when you hear the individual stories of a few of them. The death of a hundred should be a hundred times more tragic than the death of one. And yet we do not feel that way. Thus, we must calculate, when feeling no longer suffices.
Were RD's actions at the reed justifiable? The main question is, how probable is it that the world will end if she does not complete her mission, and how long will it take for the world to end? The thing is though, even with a probability of only 1% that the world will end, and if the lifespan of the world is extended only by a few generations, Rainbow Dash will still have effectively saved more lives(even if you consider lives without meaning "lost") with her actions than she sacrificed.
When has she crossed the line? If it is truly for the sake of the world, in my opinion the answer is nothing short of guaranteed suffering for over half the population of the world, for the rest of the lifetime of the world.
6648646
See no this is not the question that should be asked. The question (when it comes to what she did at the Quade anyway) is how likely is it that Dash, Bard and Wildcard could have made it to Rohbredden and the Council, convinced them to help evacuate the Quade and gotten back to it before Dash died. Considering that the Council basically didn't care all that much about the Quade either way I think it would have been easy to convince them to let her do what she needed and to evacuate the Quade so no one was hurt. The Monks way of life was going to end there was no way around that; opening the door was always going to destroy the Quade. However not trying to do everything she could to evacuate the place was the issue.
I wish the Elements would get their heads outta their arses; suck it up and face the sea salt ladies, this ain't Equestria and things are gonna get a whole lot worse before they get better.
6648700
Yeah, that would probably have been a better method, if it would have worked. It's very well possible it would have. But how can she convince the council? They too believe in Verlaxion. And even if they considered the inhabitants of the Quade too extremist, they also considered the reed holy. Not to mention, this was after the Quade already considered her a heretic and banished her from the Quade (unless you suggest she should have done that beforehand, but that is already murky anyway, considering that she had far less information on the topic at that point). Still, I agree she should have tried. Although even that is debatable, considering that if she fails, the council would know of her intentions, making her reaching the beacon by force as she did considerably harder.
My point though, is not that Rainbow Dash made the best possible choice. She did act rashly. I nonetheless however still think she made a good choice. She and all her friends, at that point thought there were no more options. Seeking the next beacon is also pointless as a rough position won't be enough to locate the entrance, and her deteriorating health means that time is becoming more and more of an issue.
Should she have told the truth sooner? Certainly. Would there have been better options? Definitely. I simply think that what she did is good enough that one should not condemn her actions, although criticizing them is definitely fair. She chose the option that she considered the best at the time, and even now no one has given her any plausible alternative option. It was worse than the options she did not think of, that actually noone she knew thought of, yes, but still better than just moving on to the next tower.
Heart to heart with the guy who came for your neck.
6648597 I got that reference.
6648534
This. I'm glad Keris is forcing Rainbow to face up to what she did in the Quade, though.
6648527
I would be all for this idea.
6648186
I really don't think they're doing this out of spite so much as fear, though. I mean, they're completely unused to all the death and carnage outside of Equestria. It's going to take them some time to adjust.
Dash did what she did at the Quade, ebcause Verlaxion had got to her, and was dancing with Discord inside, twisting and corrupting Dashs thoughts of what and how she was supposed to be doing at each problem?
It would be nasty if its now Keris job to break his own Verlaxion programming, so he can then help Dash break hers.
I can't help but notice that this could have two meanings. That Which Cripples Forever, and That Which Cripples On Account Of Good.
Probably both.
The truth would set everyone free. But so as long as you're even somewhat ahead on that scale you're not a liberated - you are a liberator. And that's responsbility - another word for restriction. And that's what's dragging you down. Of course you are always acting in their interest, but what if they are blinded to a level that they will never realise it? Plato correctly stated that from the viewpoint of mediocrity, idiocy and genius, vileness and benevolence look like one and the same. So if you have great power and are willing to do great good with it - a countless many will call you a monster. And you'll have to live with that. Perhaps that's the greatest sacrifice of any saviour or hero.
Cue Batman.
Umm... Dash? Not to be rude but, could you get off your ass and do something interesting besides bitch?
i'm finding myself agreeing with 6648728, which makes me rethink way to much
imma need time to reorder my thoughts
ugh
6648804 has Plato reference, good philosophical statement
finishes it off with batman
6648895
I was in a deep thoughtful state of mind. Then your comment. Your mucking comment.
Despite still being annoyed at the ghost!Mane 6, I don't want them to come outta the Vanilla Zone yet. They aren't used to how different and violent the world is outside of Equestria. They need baby steps, and Red Barge is sure as hell not the first thing they need to see, otherwise I can guarantee they'll run away right back into the Vanilla Zone hugbox
6648527 that and maybe opening the midnight armory unleashes some terror to counterbalance the resurrection of her friends and Dash must now gather all her most influential past friends in a last ditch push back toward equestria to "again" save the planet. Think about how awesome it would be to get a huge airship called the "Ark" or something deep like "Chasm" and then collect 200 friends as she passes go.
but I'm just worried that once we get to midnight, Dash might not actually complete the mission and die or we get left with her getting ready to go back but the series ends with a cliffhanger of sorts. I want this to have a solid ending because I have been reading with anticipation for this for soooo long.
6648791 Fear is more than likely correct, but not just fear of the world outside Equestria...
Fear of Rainbow.
6648906 Because Plato started stuff. But did he finish it?
Oh no, you wanna finish some
onething, you gotta get the goddamn Batman.I'm still split over what happened in the Quade. Sometimes I think it was the best course of action at the time. But it still doesn't sit right with me that she felt she had to do something so drastic instead of doing the I dunno, heroic thing. But the heroic thing would've taken a lot of time, time Rainbow didn't have.
I'm not gonna decide my opinion anytime soon, so I'm just gonna be mad at all those currently hiding in the Vanilla Zone. Hiding won't do them a lick of good right now. It's definitely not doing Rainbow any good.
6648907
My pleasure!
6648371
Two things:
First, I said around the time of killing Shell. Before or after. Overthrowing a government or breaking a religion->not harmonious. Harmony and Chaos are NOT good and evil, and good and evil should be put aside when calculating how harmonious or Chaotic someone is.
I suppose there is some merit to the idea that the Elements are tied into her journey. Not as heavily as you seem to be implying (they aren't the crux of things), but definitely tied. They were what kickstarted her journey, one keeps her alive, and you could say that they are one of her goals, at least the remaking of them.
Rainbow dash, knight of faith
6648371 She seems to have forgotten that the Journey is just as important as the destination. Not just where she is going and what her objective is, but how she obtains that objective. Apart from Fluttershy's retrieval and the part with Shell, invariably her methods of obtaining her objective have overall helped all of those around her (except those who directly oppose her). Right now she is trying to lie to herself, to justify what she did. But she will hopefully realize that she messed up, and learn from it and try again.
Rainbow, you did a horrible thing. That is true.
You need forgiveness, healing, and compassion.
But above all, you need to rediscover this truth...
The End Does Not Justify The Means.