The Labors of Foaling Yesterday
Keris panted and panted...
Gawking...
His hawkeyes wide...
The beast remained frozen in place across from him, its patchwork girth obscuring the tiny morsel of pony flesh beneath it.
Keris blinked. He grimaced through a quivering beak.
Seconds passed... and still the beast did not move.
The Lieutenant gulped. “Goddess,” he breathed.
And then...
A twitch... ...
A shudder... ... ...
From head to tail, the monster's body went limp.
The fur across its body turned black, molting. The tail drooped, then melted into ashen bits all across the floor. The leathery flesh of the creature's wings peeled off, its layers dissipating like blown sand in an invisible wind.
Keris held his breath. Anxiously, he craned his neck to see better, wincing in spite of himself.
Slowly, with each passing second, the beast shrank in size. The calico surfaces tore away, revealing soft blue fuzz underneath. At last, there was a clatter of two antlers dropping to the floor, and there sat in the beast's place a petite pegasus with drooping wings and a sporadically twitching tail. Color blossomed in the center of the brig, fountaining outward from the mare's neck and back.
Rainbow Dash shook... shuddered... heaved. With an audible squeak, her shoulders buckled, and she turned to look back at the griffon. A ruby pendant glittered beneath her chin, its golden bands having been clasped firmly around her neck.
Keris gazed back at her in dead silence.
Rainbow's muzzle hung agape. Her ears twitched... then twitched again. She interrupted her panting breath just long enough to gulp. Her forelimbs shifted... feeling the dull weight of a tiny body hanging limply in her grasp.
The mare clenched her eyes shut. Nostrils flared as she breathed in... breathed out... breathed in...
She faced forward, eyes still closed tight... muzzle scrunched. “... ... ...mmmm... ... ...” She swallowed a lump in her throat. She struggled... she fought it... but finally she found the courage to raise her hoof... and brush it across the lightning bolt.
Keris squinted as a ruby glow intensified, chasing away the shadows of the room.
Rainbow shook... quivered... then at last opened her eyes.
The body of a small colt hung off her forelimbs... loose... drooping.
Rainbow clenched her teeth together. With a shaky hoof she reached out... and tilted his head up.
Swab's neck came into the ruby light...
...and a circle of red whelts crossed his throat. It was a grazed line of shallow scrapes, not even deep enough to draw blood. Within seconds of observing this, the colt in her grasp wheezed, coughing up a whimpering tone as he drew breath.
Rainbow's muzzle hung wide open. As Swab once again coughed and shuddered, tears instantly welled up in her eyes. Her pupils rolled back as she dove forward, burying her face in his neck and mane. She cradled the colt tightly to her body, rocking the two of them back and forth. The mare shook... quivered... until at last an eternity of pent-up breaths burst forth from her chest, letting loose into Swab's dirty fur with a long, muffled wail. She hugged him closer, sputtering, sobbing into his neck and mane.
Keris watched from across the corridor, exhaling heavily. His hawkeyes blinked as he observed the scene, almost ignoring the pain in his limbs.
Rainbow Dash cradled Swab closer, whimpering in sweet, succulent waves. As he continued breathing, stirring—it only made the moment even more fragile. “Mmmmm... Celestiaaaa...” Rainbow choked on another sob, lifting her tear-streaked face just so she could nuzzle the foal's cheek and kiss his missing ear. She rested her chin atop his head as she continued rocking him, staring off into the distance with beaded lashes. She breathed... she shuddered... she cried. “I love... I love...” A tiny trilling sound, and she quivered again, relishing in each lively beat of the foal's heart.
The Lieutenant clenched his beak tight. At long last, his muscles uncoiled, and he leaned back against the wall, breathing in long spurts.
“Don't you see...?” Rainbow Dash asked the air. She sniffled, blinking until her eyesight was relatively clear once again. “Don't you understand...?” She nuzzled Swab's mane once again, staring off into the shadows to her left. “This is not what I want to be...” Another pent-up sob, and she gulped hard. “This is not what I want to do.” She stared into the shadows to her right. “But this place... this whole place...” She seethed. “This whole world.” Rainbow Dash approached the frothy crest of hyperventilating. “It doesn't want to play nice! No matter how hard I try! No matter... no m-matter how much I want to avoid... to avoid...”
She took another look at Swab... at his pursed lips... at his twitching ear as he lingered beneath the penumbra of wakefulness.
Rainbow clenched her eyes shut. She buckled... she wheezed... she cried, “I'm sorry...” Another stifled squeal. “I'm sorry...” She shook her head viciously, fighting the urge to whimper. “I'm so... so sorry...” A sharp inhale, and the hint of a frown flickered across her face. “Not for what I've done... but for how I did it. Because... b-because if I had faith... the same faith in my friends as I once did... then I could easily have avoided the choice that I made... and the choices I still feel like making. I...” She gnashed her teeth.
Keris blinked.
Rainbow stroked Swab's cheek, gazing at him with moist eyes. “I should have told you... I should have told all of you from the very beginning how bad this world was... how bloody it all could be. But I held onto hope...” She sneered. “A lie that I told myself... that I could somehow let you all avoid it... so you wouldn't have to be destroyed inside. So you wouldn't have to be emotionally and physically wrecked as I...” A grimace, then a squeaking tone: “As I was... when I lost the f-five of you...” She seethed. “And I had no choice but to throw myself into this grim... grim world... entangling myself in something far friggin' bigger than big.” She gulped. “I th-thought it'd be easier to lie to you... to protect you. But then... the lie swallowed me up... and it was too big and too dirty and too late to claw my way out from the meaty center of it all.” She closed her eyes. “And ponies suffered for it.”
Swab stirred and stirred. At last, his eyes fluttered open. He gazed weakly up at the mare who was cradling her.
“But ponies are suffering again... right now... right here...” Rainbow gritted her teeth. “And all over the world. And you know what? You can't solve it by just sitting in place... using some white light to blind yourself to the ugliness... hoping it will all go away.” She shook her head, jaws clenched tight. “No... you have to keep moving. You have to keep carrying the burden of all the terrible things you've lost... and all the terrible things you do to make up for it.” She gulped. “Just as I'll always carry the weight of Aridstone... Lerris... the Quade...” She tilted her face up to the ceiling, stammering. “Just as I've always chosen to carry the weight of you... and what it meant to the world... and to me... to be completely and utterly stripped of you girls once. But again...?” She whimpered. “Again...???”
Rainbow Dash hunched over, eyes clenched as more tears squeezed out of her shivering body.
“I've done horrible... horrible things. I've broken the rules of harmony time and time again.” Rainbow gnashed her teeth. “But I don't need harmony right now! I need my friends! Grkktt...”
She looked back into the shadows, panting, sobbing.
“Please... won't you h-help me?” She sniffled, holding Swab close once more. “Won't you help me help them?” She shook her head. “I can't do this on my own. I could never do this on my own. This is something experience has taught me! Not Whitemane. Not Verlaxion. Not any of the friggin' Austraeoh junk. Life. And I'm sorry that you couldn't experience it all with me... but you can join me now! We can learn together. Like friends. Please... I'm begging you... pleading with you. Help me... help me make this world right...”
Rainbow Dash leaned down once again, nuzzling Swab as her sobs came now in quiet little bursts.
Keris watched with a dull expression, blinking blearily. Suddenly, something made his hawkeyes squint. He cocked his head to the side, studying Rainbow Dash closely.
Swab blinked, a tiny gasp escaping his muzzle as he looked up at a flickering pulse of ruby light.
Rainbow's eyes opened. She looked down at her own pendant. Her breathing halted, and she looked straight forward. Her eyes blinked...
...and when they reopened, Fluttershy's gently smiling face gazed back.
Rainbow's lips moved silently, pronouncing all three syllables of the kind pegasus' name.
Fluttershy gave a tiny nod, then stepped aside, gazing into the shadows. In a faint flicker of ruby light, a pink figure emerged, her blue eyes welling with tears beneath a drooping mane.
Rainbow stared, her muzzle agape. Another flicker of ruby light—and she jerked her head aside.
A pale unicorn materialized, avoiding Rainbow's gaze. She sniffled, quivering tightly where she stood.
Rainbow held Swab even tighter, sitting still and speechless.
“Well...?” Fluttershy cooed, staring both mares down. “What do you two have to say for yourselves?”
Pinkie Pie was the first to whimper. She blinked, and in that blink she shedded thick rivers of tears. “Oh Dashie...” She shook her head. “You d-don't have to beg with us...”
“We're so... so sorry, darling,” Rarity stammered, muzzle quivering. “Won't you ever forgive us?”
“I j-just can't stand to see you suffer like this...” Pinkie rubbed her face as her thick, heavy mane hung over like a fuchsia shroud. “I c-can't stand to let any more of it happen. It's so... so...”
“Horrible... abominable...” Rarity wept. “...uncouth!”
“Hrmmmmm—!” Pinkie buried her face in Rarity's mane, wailing. “What she saidddddddddd!”
Rarity cried, holding Pinkie close as she stared Rainbow Dash. “What h-happened to you just now.” She gulped. “Everything went all black! We tried calling out to you, but there was no response! And th-then when we came out of where we were...” Her muzzle melted into a pained grimace. “...it... it was like our very best friend had been replaced by some terrible monstrosity...”
“We th-thought we had lost you for g-good! Our bestest pal, Dashie!” Pinkie wailed. “And it was all our fault!”
“There there...” Fluttershy drifted closer, calmly nuzzling the other two. “Neither of you girls infected Rainbow Dash with chaos from the get go.” She wiped her muzzle try and continued to pat their shoulders. “In fact, n-none of us are responsible for making this all happen. But we are responsible for helping it all stop.” She turned to glare into the deeper shadows of the brig. “Isn't that right, everypony?”
Breathless, Rainbow Dash peered into the far corner of the place.
With a final, firm pulse of ruby light, a lavender figure emerged. Twilight Sparkle shuffled forward from the emptiness, her head bowed... face frowning.
Rainbow blinked.
Twilight came to a quiet, shuffling stop. Try as she might, she couldn't contain the frown forever. It buckled—as did the rest of her body, shaking loose tears that trickled freely down her face. Sniffling, the mare muttered, “I... I thought I had learned all I could ever learn about friendship.” A muffled whimper. “But I was wrong. I wasn't even close. But you, Rainbow Dash...” She finally looked up, making eye contact with the pegasus. Her ears instantly drooped. “After all these months of flying alone... you know far more about life than the rest of us combined... d-don't you?”
“I wasn't always alone,” Rainbow Dash said, shaking her head. She took a deep breath, and then murmured: “Help me, Twilight,” she breathed. “And we can learn together.” A gulp. “From now on.”
“I...” Twilight winced. She looked at the other three spectres, and she shuddered. “I-I don't even know if I can...”
Rainbow nodded. “Honesty's tough, isn't it?”
Twilight shook... heaved. A breath rose up her throat, fought its way past a thick lump, and found a voice to carry out her muzzle. “Mmmm... if... if I forgive you... for... for what you did back there in the Quade... and beyond.” A sniffle. “Would... would you forgive m-me... and the rest of us for disappearing on—?”
“Already done, egghead,” Rainbow exhaled.
Twilight instantly hung her head. She clenched her teeth as the tears flowed freely. Pinkie and Rarity floated in, hugging the unicorn from both sides. She draped herself against them, sobbing. Through moist eyes, she squinted at Rainbow Dash. “I'm sorry... Rainbow Dash.” A sharp inhale. “Rainbow, I am so... so sorry.” A squeaking sound. “I had no idea it was all so... so horrible...”
“I did,” Rainbow said, shuddering. A tear trickled down her cheek. “And I'm sorry anyways.”
Keris blinked, glancing between Rainbow and the shadows.
Fluttershy leaned in, nuzzling Twilight and wiping her cheeks dry with a soft hoof. She turned and smiled tearfully at Rainbow Dash. “And I forgive you, Rainbow Dash.” A slight shudder, and she hid behind part of her mane. “Uhm... I-I mean... if that's quite alright with you, that is...”
Rainbow shuddered, smiling.
“Snrkk... Rainbow...” Swab wheezed, rubbing his sore neck. “Does... d-does this mean your friends are back?”
Rainbow took a deep breath. “Well, how about it, girls?” Her ears twitched. “Are you back?”
The spectral mares looked at one another. In a pink explosion, Pinkie shoved the other three back and propelled herself forward. Her mane fluffed out as she grinned a crescent moon. “Twitchy tail! Watch the kid!”
“...!” Rainbow swung Swab to the side—just in time to avoid a falling chunk of metal debris.
“Whoah...” Swab cooed, eyes blinking wide.
“This place looks absolutely dreadful,” Rarity said, batting her eyes dry. She sniffed, cleared her throat, and spoke evenly: “But it's still structurally intact, save for a few weak spots in the wall behind your former cell.” She pointed past a crumpled wall of bars. “There are several metal pipes lingering just inches beneath the surface. Quite vulnerable.”
“Half of them are full of hot, billowing team,” Twilight said, phasing out of the wall in question. She pointed straight up. “And at least seven of the thugs up above us are carrrying polearm tasers charged with lethal electrical leylines.”
“Your griffon friend is hurt pretty badly,” Fluttershy said, floating just above Keris. “His right talon is broken in three places and he has multiple lacerations across the leg and torso, including a nasty cut across the forehead.” She looked over. “However, I think there're enough bandages left in one of the cabinets to patch up the wounds. He shouldn't bleed out.”
“Also...” Rarity pointed at several shattered bars across the floor. “Three or four of these should be the appropriate length to fashion him a makeshift splint.”
“You'll wanna be quick about it, though,” Twilight remarked, floating down from the ceiling. “I spotted several containers incoming, full of what looks to be flammable material.”
“Yeah!” Pinkie levitated besides her. “Also, my left eyebrow is aching! That means a bunch of lowlife thugs seek to pump a bunch of nasty dust into the brig in order to knock Dashie unconscious in her super freaky chaos state!” The rest of the mares gawked at her. “What?” She shrugged. “These baddies are—like—super specifically evil!”
“Okay...” Rainbow Dash gently placed Swab down. Smirking, she stood up, wiping her muzzle dry. “Ahem. Fluttershy, keep track of Keris' vitals, alright? Rarity? Help me scrounge up the perfect sized rods to make a splint.”
“Will do, darling.”
“Twilight. Use your eggheady knowledge of first-aid to guide us with the griffon's talon. Pinkie? Keep an eye out for those specifically evil baddies.”
“Okie dokie lokie!” The mare saluted before floating upside down through the ceiling.
“Uhm...” Keris winced, watching awkwardly as Rainbow Dash spoke towards the shadows. “I know I've suffered several hits to the skull... but what exactly is happening before my eyes right now?”
“What else?” Swab coughed, wheezed, and smiled weakly. “She's being awesome...”
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A-Team is back.
IC, you gigantic, colossal, mammoth, gargantuan tease. Don't ever stop.
YES!! THE GANG IS BACK TOGETHER
Now comes the next part, getting out of here, and leaving the bad guys to look like complete idiots in the process, alongside getting exactly what they deserve.
This should be easier now that Keris understands fully that Rainbow could have done so much worse at the Quade, and that they now have a common enemy.
*whew* Kid's alright.
Welcome back, everypony.
Powers are back, time to hit the ground running. Breaking out is definitely more possible since the cell got damaged.
Thank you SO MUCH for this double post. Thank you...
Someone got the right A-word! Now some epic shenanigans are going to happen, and then we'll be on the way to AJ. And about damned time.
This, I think, was the correct turn of events in order to bring the girls back. Well done.
Too optimistic, i am frightened !
The biggest lesson here was Rainbow successfully throwing out Chaos and Harmony in favor of an even more primordial element: Friendship.
Rainbow Dash's mind is clouded no more by inane
philosophyideology!This is how she'll stick it to Verlax's face!
I've said it once and I'll say it again. It's about god-damn time!
6653097
You're right, that did happen. Odrsjot 82 "Infinitely Piercing the Abyss"
Yes!!! I feel like doing a fist pump right now. I mean, seriously. That didn't go as horribly awfully bad as I feared it would. Everyone's okay, the girls have finally accepted the world for what it is, and our journey continues--hopefully with Swab and Keris (maybe Croche, too) coming along.
That part with Swab though? Tears, everywhere.
I'm just relieved everything's okay.
This chapter was an emotional gangbang. RD being reduced to a crying mess always works. Didn't help that for a moment I thought Swab was actually dead.
Now we just toss aside the tissues, wait for Seraphimus to show up while laughing at the thought of baddies getting pummeled.
Why did no one tell me to prepare a feels bunker? WHY?!
woo hoo
Looks like Monket has a better sense of self preservation. Still not happy over the slave thing, but eh.
Screw the new episode, this is the shit I want to wake up to on a Saturday morning.
wooooo featured!!!
6655224 I literally have stopped watching the show, this book is my life.
6655120
And she will get her easily. Remember what Verlax said about getting her friend? That she had to do the opposite of Element. What is the most cruelest terrible lie? Lying to yourself.
I was holding my breath back there. Man, that was amazing. The Talon of Dashie lives on!
I've gotta admit that I was not expecting to be this satisfied with the conclusion of Twilight's Betrayal in the Quade.
But man, this was more perfect that I ever could have expected. Good show!
6655157
Cough. Poor word choice. Ideology is a much better one (unless you're calling philosophy in general silly, in which case, fisticuffs).
But yeah, when her friends came back? Tears. Tears rolling down my face.
Keris, you have no idea the kind of mare Rainbow is when she has her friends.
The mares are back in town!
That's it, girls. Accept that the world can be an awful, abominable shithole at times. That your friend has been forced to take actions that will forever weigh heavily on her. That she's cursed to become an avatar of pain and turmoil in the absence of that item on which you rely on to communicate. Accept that being there for her is the only way she can press on. Not to like it. Nor explicitly will it. But to still have her back in unsavoury situations and to support her when the weight gets too much.
The colt she's cradling right now needs her as much as she needs you girls. And while much of the world is blind to her grand objective, they all need you just as much.
Don't slow this bird down, now. We'll be honesty-bound soon enough.
Now I know what it feels like to be that one guy at every movie theater that stands up to clap at the screen during the triumphant moment. That was incredible IC!
6655318 Plato was a hamster and Socrates smelt of elderberries
Well, isn't such a refreshing feeling to reconcile with your user interface after a traumatic experience? Now we've friendly and foe health bars back, strategic structure analysis online, short time precognizance running, and magical resonance detector humming at full power again.
Geez, am I the only one that hates when the game disables your powers to force a sappy moment?
you saw the demon Keris... now you get to see the angel.
6655168 Thank you, Oh Pfact Checkere of the Pfates! I think I'll reread that real quick.
I know everyone's excited that the girls are back in town. Now I'm just waiting for all the slowclap.gifs over the return to Painbucket's perspective.
Woah dayum, Dashie's breakdown while nuzzling Swift Song had me in tears too. Whoop.
Rainbow resolved the conflict with her friends without Luna getting involved. That is equal parts surprising and pleasing.
But that still leaves the matter of several thousand times a normal "dose" of paralytic dust about to be pumped into the locked and sealed brig with all three main protagonists (and four ghosts) in it.
One word: perfect
I dont even know what to say beyond simply yes. This chapter. And the previous one. This is why this is seriously the best fucking fanfic ever written, and easily above a ton of popular, published, original works. IC, you are fucking insane and I love you.
God, I cant even.
Things to say:
I love me
Keris I'm so proud of you for even trying to awaken Rainbow Dash from that chaotic mess.
Whony I'm so proud of you for dragging yourself out of the depths of grief to fight for what you once believed in, and for Quint.
Oh my gosh we're back to Rainbow!
Twi . . . didn't Zecora once say something about not judging a book by its cover?
Hmmmm?
Swab yay you're aliiiiiiiiive I don't know what I'd do if you died.
Also Dashie now would be a good time for profuse apologies that Keris will refuse to accept.
Just sayin'
This could not have been more perfect. The last chapter had me on the edge of my seat. That hasn't happened in... I can't remember how long.
“What else?” Swab coughed, wheezed, and smiled weakly. “She's being awesome...”
Rainbow Dash is finally -back-.
6655168 You were correct. The second chapter I was thinking of was Odrsjot Chapter 89: Friends In Unlikely Places. That's where the lonely singing broke my heart.
There needs to be fan-made everything for this series. Art, animation, music, games, radio plays..
Hoodies.
Which is worse, trying to get away from a stream of nitroglycerin being poued down through a small pipe ino your cell to take you out or sparking the end of the stream and hoping it back propagates up to the delivery tanks before the flame thrower effect torches you?
Yaay, Swab survived by the skin of his neck, Dash gets healed, Keris is only down one leg, and Spock is back.
Wouldnt the pieces of metal be used for Splints, not tourniquets, given if they are correctly placed and selected, Keris could have spear points strapped to his otherwise unuseable limb?
You know what this calls for? A PARTY!
...You know, once everyone's not in danger of dying horrendously.
It's about goddamn time.
holy balls that was intense. Even if I did figure that Keris was going to somehow survive his dance with Chaos Dash. But then again, anybody other than a highly trained legendary badass would have been dead in an instant.
And now the girls are back. I figured it would take something as dramatic as Chaos Dash to bring them out of their idiotic stupor. Although, even though we're not even 25% of the way through this story, I thought they were going to be absent longer... but it looks like the Red Barge arc is coming to a close. Onwards to exploring the rest of the continent.
Now that my relief is put aside, oh how different this would have been if somebody had died.
I mean, if Keris had died in that fight or in the aftermath (which is still coming), then that really infuriates the Right Talon and Seraphimus would pursue Rainbow even harder. As it stands now, Keris has a chance to reason with them so they don't attack her on sight... which would be a real letdown if that were to happen.
If Swab had died, Rainbow really would have had a hard time forgiving herself, and then the return of the girls could have helped drag her back out of that pit of depression. Keris too. That also would have been really interesting.
I guess we just have to see how things play out from here. Keris' wings are unbound now thanks to Chaos Dash, and Rainbow's wing should have healed itself after all of that. Time to break free from the bird cage and fly towards the continent?
...
What if AJ's Yaerfaerda symbol is right underneath Verlaxion's palace? With Rainbow having to go through Verlax herself to get to it? And the effect that's going to have on Rohbredden proper?
swab's not dead! dash is back! the gostly 4 is back! keris didn't die! two chapters in a day! dash's POV's back! sortez le champagne !
dash's
godawesome mode activatednow that we're back to dash's POV, only dash's companions won't understand what she's talking about when with her friends. I think I'll miss been able to hear only one side of dash's conversations with the gostly 4.
6655404
is there still place in your club for a digiff ?
6655582
not perfect, awesome
Finally! Something extremely positive happens!
Not only did Keris and Swab survive, but the girls are actually back!
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't still a little miffed at them, but what matters is that they are back and can help Rainbow not be stuck anymore, both physically and emotionally.
Now to get out of there, and epically beat up the baddies!
This was nice.
Im not sure how much better this is going to make the situation if im honest. Now shes talking to multiple invisible ponies. Shes going to look utterly insabe once more. Wonder how the dredgers are gonna react?
Someone at Hasbro needs to read this and see how a story is written properly!
6655239 This series is featured at least once every three weeks, sometimes more.
6655404
I fail to see these as bad and/or inane things.
Woo everypony lives! Party like a pony!
Pure, unbridled awesomeness, that's what.
hmm.. I guess that when the pendant is separated from Dash, the others get pulled inside it, and they can't see her unless the jewel is pointed at her.
Swifty... ya done good kid. ya done good...
Heh... nice accidental guilt trip there Dash.
I'll be honest, I thought for a second that Twilight was going to keep being a butt and be staying in the pendant until AJ got freed.
I think the name of this track is pretty appropriate.
-In the end isolation, hunted by a nation. Utaan.
Its about time those sad sacks got their heads out of their asses. It's good to see forgiveness going around, though I know this is far from the end of it. They left her alone for too long for it to be over this quickly.
The last two chapters were perfect. It felt just like when I first started reading Austraeoh.
6655816 Oh definitely, especially if you bring that champagne!
6655997 Touché
Nothing really bad happened?
I am shocked.
You've got that right Pinkie. Something tells me Skagra is utterly screwed.