Always Ever Charcoal Brown
Seraphimus' charcoal brown eyes narrowed on the blue shape shuffling about in front of her.
Rainbow Dash swept a patch of blue weeds clean of dust with her tail. She then placed down a narrow strip of armor designed for guarding fetlocks. Rainbow positioned it so that the concave portion of the metal armor faced up, like a plate. She then placed two strips of Bleakweed directly on top of it. The material was frayed, but still edible.
Taking a breath, Rainbow Dash plopped back on her haunches, faced Seraphimus directly, and opened her muzzle—
"No," Seraphimus grunted.
Rainbow's brow furrowed. "I haven't said anything yet."
"Whatever it is, the answer is no."
"But—"
"You had best let me be," Seraphimus exhaled sharply.
Rainbow Dash sighed. She leaned back, forelimbs folded over her fuzzy tummy. "... ... ...I didn't order for you to be clubbed in the back of the head."
"I know."
"It was an impulsive decision made in the heat of the moment," Rainbow Dash said. "Even still, can you blame us for not fully being able to trust you?"
"I know who did it and for what reason."
"Lemme guess." Rainbow blinked. "You wanna tear out his guts."
"Not really," Seraphimus droned.
Rainbow was silent.
"Well..." Pinkie Pie drifted in towards the mare's side. "That's a welcome change... isn't it?"
Rarity floated up along Rainbow's other side. "I beg to differ. Some ponies never change. Griffins too—it would seem."
"Uhm..." Fluttershy phased through Rainbow Dash's body and twirled around to face the whole of them. "No offense... but there's really only one pony here who can be of help to Rainbow in this conversation."
Rainbow's eyes darted over.
Twilight followed her gaze as it landed on Applejack. "You heard Fluttershy, AJ." She gestured with a smile. "Front and center."
Sighing, Applejack tilted her ghostly hat back and drifted over to Rainbow's side. "She's mad as the dickens, Rainbow. That hasn't changed." Her emerald eyes narrowed. "But something is different. She actually had to put up some effort to come across as bitter just then."
"Maybe she's tired?" Rarity remarked. "Celestia knows I would be exhausted after being so cross for so long!"
"But Rare-Rare, you didn't have all your family thawed to death!" Pinkie Pie remarked. "Grumpy Feathers here has reason to maintain her stick-in-the-mudness for the long term!"
"Did you not hear me?" Seraphimus spoke up, staring at Rainbow's dead-still figure. "I do not need any lecturing right now."
"The fact of the matter is... you do need something," Rainbow said, looking calmly at Seraphimus again. "Something I wish I could give you. To help you. I just... refuse to believe it's too late for that... for fixing your life."
"Clubbing me in the back of the head was a start," Seraphimus said in a cool tone. "I would suggest repeating that—only harder this time."
"I am not going to execute you," Rainbow grunted.
"Doing so back in Frostknife would have stopped this 'damnable path' that you perceive me as taking," Seraphimus said. "And—for practicality's sake—it would presently rid you and your group of unwanted stress. It's what I would do in your position."
"Rainbow..." Applejack began.
Rainbow looked over.
The farm mare was shaking her head. "She's fibbin' for sure."
Twilight Sparkle craned her neck to look over Rainbow. "About what?"
"Do ya really need me to spell that out?"
"... ... ..." Rainbow looked at Seraphimus again. "If all this time you've wanted so frickin' badly to die—"
"Have I not told you that?" Seraphimus spoke intensely, close to hissing.
"... ... ...then what motivated you into helping me, Kepler, and the rest of the Herald back when we had to fight the giant wyrm?"
"Yeah!" Pinkie Pie pounded her ghostly hooves together with a piercing grin. "Answer that, ya big bad birb lady!"
Seraphimus sighed. "I've lived a long... mostly honorable life." She clenched her beak. "I would rather not perish from the casual whim of a giant, mindless beast."
"What does it matter?" Rainbow Dash asked. "The 'Goddess' you serve is long-dead. There's no going back to Rohbredden... no way of engraving your name and accomplishments deep within the Frosted Shelves."
Seraphimus' neck feathers crested. "As you're so keen to remind me..."
"All we have on the Dark Side is each other," Rainbow Dash said. "With just those factors and those factors alone..." She shook her head. "...I really don't think we should be leaping at each other's throats."
"You're obsessed with making me see the universe through your twisted, blighted vision," Seraphimus growled.
"Seraphimus... girl..." Rainbow waved a hoof. "Kihutaja and the Seven Seas are a gazillion whale farts away on the other side of the plane! Face it—you left the so-called 'Blight' behind long ago! And—with all things considered—doesn't this crazy star-lit wasteland make the Blight look like peanuts in comparison—?!"
Seraphimus blurted: "Assisting the Herald afforded me another day that I might actually slay you with my own talons!" She sneered. "Did you ever stop to conceive of that, creature?"
Rarity fanned herself. "Well... so much for progress."
"I... wouldn't draw conclusions so quick-like, sugarcube," Applejack said.
"You sense something, Applejack?" Fluttershy asked hopefully.
"Like what?!" Pinkie Pie flailed. "You heard her! She totally wants to skewer the Dash-Dash!"
"T'ain't that simple..." Applejack tapped her ghostly chin, staring at the mare. "She's... desperate to keep you in the mood to detest her. It's like she's strugglin' at this point to push you away."
"Or...!" Twilight Sparkle brightened. "...she's struggling with herself over the fact that she's gotten so close!"
"So close to what?" Pinkie Pie raised an eyebrow. "You don't mean to Dashie! She hates her!"
"Or maybe it's not so much 'hate' anymore," Fluttershy said. "Would you blame Seraphimus for being confused? Frightened, even?"
"What's this bird-cat got to be frightened of?" Pinkie asked. "She's a total badflank!"
"I suppose it would be awfully frightening to face the enormity of a world such as this one," Rarity stated. "For anypony... much less a soul that's been so steadily indoctrinated to accept one cosmology and one cosmology alone."
Rainbow Dash closed her eyes. She took a deep breath, then spoke: "Do you know why I can't yet bring myself to unshackle you completely?"
"I think that's more than evident," Seraphimus muttered. Her eyes wandered to the morsels of food, but she made a good show of denying that her vision had graced them. "You fear for yourself."
"Even you would know better by now."
"You fear for your ill-fated friends."
"That too. But there's more." Rainbow leaned forward, ears drooping. "I fear for you, Seraphimus."
"... ... ..."
"I fear for what might happen to you—even if you didn't just turn around and slice my throat out from under my chin. One way or another, you'd be out there in the great Curved Dark... on your own... struggling to make sense out of the very same shadows that confuse all of us." Rainbow breathed. "It's tough enough trying to keep sane with such an uncertain future ahead of us. Thinking about Equestria and the plight of the entire world just... drains me. And if that wasn't enough, there's memories of the crap I had to pull in Frostknife. Memories of..." She gulped. "...of Bard."
Fluttershy sniffled while Rarity hung her head.
"I see it draining the Herald too," Rainbow continued. "They try to keep strong. Even Wildcard—or Jordan, as you know him—has his moments where... everything just collapses." She slowly shook her head. "I can't get to the Midnight Armory alone. But neither could any of them. We gotta lean on each other to make the impossible happen. And even if you don't share our mission or our belief... you do share our strength. You've already proven that we can depend on you. But that dependency works both ways."
"It was merely desperation," Seraphimus said.
"And it's totally okay to admit that!"
Seraphimus flashed her a surprised look.
"Because... I think you really need to, Seraphimus," Rainbow said. "I'm just starting to understand precisely how... long you've been alone. Even when you had your family around... you couldn't bear to burden them with what drained you, could you?"
Seraphimus opened her beak... but had nothing to say.
So Rainbow said it for her: "You almost had something... someone to depend on, and Verlax took that away from you. I'm sorry. But... even if you think it might be too late... you have ponies you can depend on here and now. It's never... ever too late, Seraphimus."
Twilight and Pinkie smiled—
—but then Seraphimus blurted: "The only thing I depend on is a swift death," she spat. "Yours or mine. Whichever comes first will work."
Rainbow rolled her eyes. She looked at Applejack.
With a wry smirk, Applejack shook her head.
"You're lying," Rainbow droned.
Seraphimus' beak clapped. "To blazes with your damnable metaphysicality. You're a blighted sham and you will collapse from the weight of—"
"You're lying." Rainbow Dash stood up. "I know you are. And now you're scrambling to act 'tough' in order to compensate for the fact I know. Well, tough manure, babe." She trotted away. "I've met scarier melon fudges than you in my day."
Seraphimus fumed. "You haven't the faintest idea what I'm capable of—"
"You're hungry. Eat up."
"I am not hungry!"
"... ... ...you're lying again."
Seraphimus shook so hard her manacles rattled. She looked at the strips of bleakweed, then at the stubborn pegasus who was trotting away. Fuming, she covered her eyes with her bound forelimbs and slumped down against the rock... struggling for as long as she could to stop from looking at the edible morsels.
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Keep trying to help, that is all that you can do. One day, that help may be accepted.
My my my...
How the turns have tabled.
And finally. I love this chapter. A breakdown of Seraphimus' character and her reasons for being such a hard nut to crack. Even though it's just the beginning... it is so very satisfying.
Yeah she's hurting bad. She needs help but just doesn't know how to accept it.
Progress slow progress.
Maybe there is something deep inside her that wants to have what the Herald has. I think that being around such a defiantly merry group, in the face of all the awful things they have witnessed, done, and will eventually go through, Seraphimus has gained a respect for them, and that has turned emotional now.
I think this might be the drive for her doing what she did, and, specifically, saying what she said. She doesn't want respect; she wants acceptance. She wants peers.
She wants . . . oh God, what am I saying . . .
I think she wants friends.
It's finally getting through to her, the walls are all coming down. It will be a bit longer but she will come around completely eventually.
Is it bad that this line made me want a Shell vs Sera fight scene?
8475838
You know, that thought is tempting. It would at least show her an example of true blight.
Three words: Prime Enforcer Shell
8475838
Oh no...
I can't image who'd win!
Shell would probably roll a nat 20 charisma and convince Sera to join him in killing Rainbow Dash because she took his... Job, was it?
He was already insane and lost all credibility on his own... Still a tough call.
I'd bet on Sera but expect Shell to win via damage done to opponent ending in a bloody draw.
Rainbow's finally getting through to her… it might not be all that long anymore until it's time to let Seraphimus free.
Damn, and it was going so well too...
Tsunderemurderbird
Trust me, you're not capable of what Rainbow is remembering right now.
I thought the other five were supposed to be taking turns as to not all get trapped...I guess they gave up on that if he's showing up even when they are around or can force them all back into the pendant. It seems he mostly shows up during times of extreme stress on Dash's part. And it is a good thing that she has more conscious control when she's in that other form.
She'll probably need to use it at some point and it might terrify the Herald and kill the connections she's making with Sera currently. What an interesting turning of events that would be...
8475838
At least he'd have a hard time pulling his signature Murder Everyone You Love move on her, so it's anyone's guess.
8475838
Meh. Shell was the Energizer Doombunny, but Roarke could wipe the floor with Murder Turkey.
8478680
...now I want more fights.
Can we make an Austraeoh fighting game?
Where you can play as all the different characters and beat each other up?
Seraphimus has now undertaken her first steps of becoming a Faceless Griffon. Just keep going until Applejack doesn't know if you're lying anymore, girl!
She's got a hard shell, but she's not hollow, and we're chipping away.
Keep on keeping on Dashie. The probability of success has risen by 4.73% since this all started!
(KMan reads rest of chapter) Silly Sera, don't lie in the presence of an empath. It doesn't suit you. Now eat your veggies before they blow away in the (potentially non-existent) wind.
8479315
inb4 MooseJake (see Yaefaerda 33)takes up half the screen during play. I'm imagining an inverse of Oddjob from GoldenEye 007. Then Logan must acknowledge that he can only be called Medium Show from now on.
Everything with Seraphimus up to this point has been proverbial foreplay. This was the first true step in the right direction. Her first real stride towards salvation.
This raises the question: can Lavender Unicorn syndrome be self-diagnosed?
8476848
Probably only for night shifts.
---------------
My little Austraeoh: Friendship is the only thing keeping you alive bucko.
How Seraphimus was reformed: Violence and yelling and insults. Wouldn't have it any other way.
One cannot remain angry forever, eventually it fades away, question is what replaces that anger.
11/08/2017
16:42 UTC
#3edgy5me
A wise person once told me that anger is often just a mask to hide how scared you are.
I am really liking AJ's powers right now.
And to think date...nobody match the bad rep of Shell.
9043236
Yep, as much as people try to compare Seraphimus to Shell, nobody in this series will EVER compare to him.
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/JerkWithAHeartOfGold
She wants friends.
And how long has desperation been driving you? Because I bet it was long before Rainbow even started her eastward journey.
11/15/2019
00:15 UTC
It’d be so damn annoying traveling with Dash. She pretty much can sense everything you’re doing and feeling. Zero privacy with the damn ghosts even in your skull
Sera, being that angry for that long won't do you any good.
Honestly, you'll get tired of it at some point. And like Rainbow said, the Dark Side is draining. You'll need someone or someone's to help you eventually...