That Relevant Chaos Metal
"Rainbow Dash," Logan grunted, marching awkardly after her up the arid embankment. "You really should go back and rest."
"I've been a dead fuzzball for days, Big Show," Rainbow grunted back. On flapping wings, she swiftly—and angrily—scaled the steep hillside, approaching the edge of the crater. The first of several floating boulders peeked into view beyond the ridge. "I need to check out what's going on."
"Yeah?" Logan's jaw muscles tensed as he struggled to keep up with her. "And then what?"
"Then I'm going to kick the crap out of Flynn and Kepler until they tell me what in Celestia's name they think they're actually trying to accomplish down there in that inside-out crudhole."
"Hell, I can make that easier for you," Logan said. He nodded his head towards the rocks floating beyond the crest of the hill. "See how all that shit's floating around?"
"Lemme guess," Rainbow grumbled. "They wanna do the same thing to the wagon, somehow?"
"None of manashards are good enough anymore. Seems like the silvery stuff down below is the ticket."
"Big Show—I've seen what chaos metal is capable of doing." Rainbow gritted her teeth, frowning. "It wasn't safe then and it's sure as heck not safe now."
"No kidding...?" Logan squinted warily at her. "When and where, pray tell?"
"Back in Wintergate. The Quade. Rohbredden. Nevlamas' stronghold..."
"All on the Light Side, huh?"
Rainbow "skidded" to a stop in mid-air. She turned to squint down at the sweating, panting stallion. "What point are you trying to make?"
Logan slumped in place. "Just that..." He wheezed. "Cheese and crackers, I hate hillsides..."
"You think that just because we're on the Dark Side, we can somehow magically rely on the same kind of crap that has caused nothing but death and misery where the sun shines!"
"Rainbow—"
"You think that after all the sacrifices made by Mortuana, Bard, and Axan we can just put harmony aside and dabble in... in..." Rainbow shrugged wildly. "...evil chaos smegma garbage!"
Logan finally caught his breath in time to say: "When was the last time your chaos half knocked you out of the air?"
"Dude! I was in a coma for—"
"I'm not talking about the crater. When was the last time you needed to touch the ruby flame to stay alive?"
Rainbow bit her lip.
"Things are different here, Rainbow Dash," Logan said. He pointed. "Hate this place all you want, but it seems pretty on point to believe this chaos shit all around us is sustaining you. It stands to reason that maybe—just maybe—it can sustain other stuff as well." His brow furrowed. "Stuff that can benefit the Herald as well as you."
"I've risked life and limb to stave off the influence of this crud, Big Show," Rainbow said, nearly growling. "I've seen what the corrupt metal can do to ponies, places—entire cultures!"
"Then maybe the big bad problem is not the metal itself, but those specific A-holes on the Light Side who chose to use it," Logan said.
"And that... is the start of the problem right there," Rainbow said. "That flavor of arrogance."
"Rainbow Dash, we're the Herald. We're on your side." Logan leaned back, blinking. "Don't you trust us?" he asked in a noticeably gentle tone.
Rainbow Dash fumed. She looked down the hill, past the vestiges of the crater. She saw the campsite, saw where Seraphimus was sitting, and saw the scraps of bones left over from the killed game that her friends had slaughtered, cooked, and eaten.
She bit her lip.
Swooooosh! Ariel flew in, frazzled and panting. "I'm here!" she wheezed. "Sorry! I was... uh..." She gave one rear leg a little shake. "...using the Dark Water Closet."
"Kinda late to the game, girl," Logan muttered.
"What did I miss?"
"Rainbow Dash is being a thick-headed turkey and I'm trying to talk her out of it."
"What? Is this about what Flynn and Keps are doing with the silver deposit?" Ariel asked.
"Chaos metals," Rainbow grunted. "And I'm not a turkey." She pointed at the crest of the hill before them. "The moment I pass the event horizon of that crud's influence, my friends disappear and he takes their place. Permanently."
Ariel blinked wide. "You mean Discord?!"
"No, 'Stu Leaves.' Who do you think?!?!" Rainbow Dash cackled.
"I..." Logan blinked. "...was not aware of this."
"Of course you weren't! But did you take the opportunity to believe me that this chaos stuff is bad news bears? Noooooooooo..." Rainbow spun and continued ascending the crater's edge. "'Rainbow Dash couldn't possibly be an expert on the stuff! Not like she single-hoofedly wrestled a chaos dragon to the Xonan countryside or nothing!'"
"Rainbow!" Ariel flew desperately after her while Logan scampered to catch up below. "Okay, so the Discord thing totally sucks! But maybe we can work a way around it!"
"Ah jeez, not you too—"
"We're out of options and we gotta preserve our supplies somehow! Plus, if we're ever to get to the Midnight Armory—"
"Here's a new idea!" Rainbow barked into the air while approaching the crater's edge. "How about you guys just go back to Darkreach and chill while I break into the Midnight Armory on my own?!?"
"Oh for crying out loud, Rainbow—"
"Don't give me those puppy dog eyes, girl! I'm serious! If all of us going after the Harmonic Prism means we gotta saddle up to the Church of Chaos, then maybe I'm better off on my own! Maybe we're all better off with me on my own!"
"Just let's talk to Flynn and Keps about it, huh?! Hear them out! There can still be a way to make this work! Rainbow?! Rainbow!!" Ariel struggled in mid-air to catch up to her.
By this time, Logan had reduced his gallop to a lethargic uphill stroll. "Geeeeeeeughhhh..." He sighed, pausing to rub his forehead. "...thousands upon thousands of years past the Sundering, and our only savior is a scampy bag of sour fruit candy..."
Down below, along the fringes of the crater...
...Seraphimus sat alone, shackled to the dormant cart, as always.
Kepler had laid out a few books preserved from Wyvern Point. Over the past few "days," the Heraldite had donated them to the former Talon Commander to help her pass the time. She never bothered opening a single tome while the Heraldites were around to see, of course.
But now that she found herself gloriously alone, she had reached forward with her shackled claws and taken more than a little peek into one of the books. Her charcoal brown eyes leisurely swept over the pages of ancient wyvern writing. She breathed in and out with calm repose.
Then... off in the distance...
...a high-pitched wailing sound. Faint, yet piercing. Like a banshee cry.
"... ... ...?" Slowly, Seraphimus looked up. She glanced Curveside, towards the crater.
The dots of Rainbow Dash, Ariel, and Logan grew distant... disappearing amidst the dimness of the Twilight.
Seraphimus blinked. Her headcrest slowly raised in curiosity.
Another shriek, this time slightly more pronounced.
"... ... ...!" Seraphimus' head jerked in the opposite direction. She looked Edgeside, downhill.
Luminescent biomatter twinkled in random splotches. The floating insects and reptiles grew more and more sparse. Then—one by one, like the shutters to houses closing—the natural light sources flickered to black. The sloping plateau enveloped itself in a tense shadow, and off in the distance—as far as her trained eyes could observe—she saw the shifting of limbs. Pale limbs. And even whiter swaths of calcified material.
Claws.
Seraphimus' beak parted slightly...
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First Reaction: I see what you did there...
reactiongifs.com/r/mnlgh.gif
Rainbow needs to stop being so grouchy, I mean I get her reluctance but she doesn't want to listen to the good points they are bringing up here. They are going to need something to get the hovercraft going, and if the metal can do it why not use it. Also, I'm surprised this is the first time anyone has brought up Dash being sustained on this side.
Shit looks like Sera is in trouble!
We've got incoming!
Ooooh, shit!
While the others have a point, they have to ask if it is really worth the risk, and if they can find a way to mitigate said risk? Rainbow nearly died to get the experience that Chaos metal is not a toy.
That can't be good...
And Seraphimus was never heard from again. The end
Oh fuck, something actually living and horrifying out here.
At least for a definition of "living"...
Eyy, I actually called something for once. My psychic powers are growing.
That can't be good.
Something's lurking...
Well son of a Mumford. not sorry I never thought of that.
Am I correct in saying that Stu Leaves is from Appledashery?
Deal with it. :P
What're those...?
This happened before with the glowing book. All they need to do is find some way to isolate the power source from Dashie. Or perhaps in a small enough amount, it wont effect her.
I think for her though, it's more a matter of personal philosophy then of survival imperative. She hates Chaos and anything to do with it. She blames it -and more specifically Discord- for all the hurt she has suffered in her life. For everything that's ever wronged her.
8502588 Because the metal has a tendency to warp reality around it into pure, unfiltered, nightmarish evil and you might as well strap a dozen plutonium rods to your chest if you're going to spend a lot of time around a major amount of it.
8503075 But Chaos metal does horrible things to more than just Rainbow - its habit to breach a gap for horrendous monstrosities to cross over into reality is just one of those.
Yeesh that stuff is BAD!
I have multiple concerns about this plan.
I've gotten just far enough in Appledashery to finally get a reference.
Well, it wouldn't be the first time Rainbow's companions had to power their flying transport with a power source that was harmful to her.
Wouldn't want them to think you're an egghead.
I've forgotten what exactly the role of chaos metal was in the Quade and Verlax's lair.
8503639
In the Quade, it was the sacred “Reed” that covered the entire tower, that Rainbow destroyed and ended being branded a heathenistic criminal. Then Verlax has thrown the stuff inside the towers areound the Ruby Flames, for the sake of “testing” Rainbow.
Stupid, Stupid Leaves!
Well then, it looks like the action is starting to ramp right back up.
Nightcrabs. That's what I'm going to call that.
Stu Leaves...
i.imgur.com/Bh4xRIW.jpg
Nature goes quiet when things get bad. Too bad only Seraphimus is around to see it, they could have really used the warning.
11/08/2017
19:24 UTC
It would seem that nature on this side has many ways of killing you.
Oh fuck.
Shit. More of those bat winged fucks.
Fuuuuuuuuuck.
Welp, back at it Herald.
shit
Damn now this is juicy
ohOHO
Yeah, this side is.... something else.
FuUUuuUk