Where the Beacons Point
"Care to be more specific, sugarcube?" Applejack asked.
"Yeah!" Pinkie Pie nodded. "What's an 'Ithica?'"
"Ilrifia," Twilight Sparkle corrected.
"Whatever!"
Rainbow Dash looked at the Heraldites gathered as she proceeded to pace and dictate: "At some point... about halfway through my journey on the Light Side..." Her hooves scuffled as she trotted thoughtfully around the pile of ancient skeletons. "...I started noticing something... in the Machine World... while lighting the beacons."
Rainbow's friends—both physical and ghostly—listened intently. Even Seraphimus had her head craned in the pegasus' direction.
"Whenever I touched the ruby flame... I almost always blacked out. I'd experience a vision of sorts. Like... I would see an outline of Urohringr... or just this one part of the ring." Rainbow gulped. "Then I'd be floating among the stars... and I'd hearing a voice. At first, the voice and its words didn't make much sense, but gradually everything sorta started to become clearer and clearer. It started to get really intense after my first time coming into contact with the Yaerfaerda beacon. At first, I almost thought it was Verlax... but then I realized it was a different kind of presence... and it... she was warning me about Verlax."
Seraphimus' beak clenched. Before she could say something—
"Verlax had entombed many of the beacon locations with ice and chaos metals," Flynn declared. He lowered the skeleton in his grasp and laid it on the lobby floor with as much gentleness and care as his horn could muster. "Perhaps the Divine's presence had purposefully encroached on this... 'spirit' you're talking about."
"Well, if Verlax meant to squelch it, she didn't exactly succeed," Rainbow Dash said. "At long last—as recently as finding the Utaan symbol—I managed to have a half-decent conversation with this spirit." She gulped. "It identified itself to me."
"'Ilrifa,'" Ariel remarked.
Rainbow Dash nodded. "And while my vision of it was still somewhat obscured, I could have sworn I noticed a few... uhm... curious details."
"Like...?" Logan raised an eyebrow.
"A narrow snout. Large wings. A long, long tail..." Rainbow Dash took a deep breath. "I figured my head had just made it up, y'know? For ages, I've subconsciously known the fact that 'ancient pegasi' were behind Urohringr... or the Sundering... or both. So, when I last came into contact with a beacon, I sorta thought that maybe my head made up the fact that the soul in the machine world was a pegasus."
Wildcard hand-signed and gestured at the skeletons.
"Yeahhhhhhhhh..." Rainbow Dash exhaled, wincing slightly. "Not so much 'made-up' now, huh?"
"How verry currious..." Kepler rubbed his hairy chin. "So—as it would seem—the Austrraeoh's comprrehension of the Angels incrreased overr time."
"I... guess...?" Rainbow's voice cracked.
"It potentially confirrms a theorry that I have had," Kepler said. "As the Austrraeoh makes morre and morre contact with the rruby flame that powerrs up this forrsaken plane, deeply-encoded instrructions frrom the past make themselves evident in herr consciousness."
"You make her sound like some sort of manastone for data storage," Ariel remarked.
"Is it really all that different?" Flynn interjected. "Rainbow Dash's part to play in this whole thing runs deeper than all of us can even imagine. Especially if the powers of Urohringr have essentially run piggyback over the Elements of Harmony to bring her this far."
"Let us not forrget...!" Kepler raised a claw. "...Commanderr Hurrricane was likewise called! But she did not even rremotely make it as farr as the Rrainbow One!"
"Right..." Ariel nodded. "Because—as Rainbow told us—she died."
"Ach! Or is it—perhaps—because Hurrricane utilized a Sentinel forr trransit... while it was Rrainbow who traverrsed the entirre distance on herr lonesome, and therreby exposed herrself to the multiple beacons that werre always meant to prroperrly rrestorre her to the knowledge left by Urrohrringrr's prrogenitorrs?"
Rainbow's ghostly friends blinked.
Wildcard and Logan exchanged quiet glances.
Seraphimus sighed. "Your cosmology is absurdly convoluted."
Flynn flashed her an angry glare. "What the Hell do you think we're all standing in right now? A sand castle?!?"
Seraphimus was silent.
"Soooooooo..." Ariel hovered, pacing in mid-air. "Just what is 'Ilrifa?'"
"Not what," Rainbow Dash muttered. "Who."
Twilight Sparkle looked at her. "Are you sure of that?"
Rainbow bit her lip.
"If the ancient pegasi who knew of the Sundering meant for you to do something about it..." Twilight Sparkle gestured. "...would only one of them reach out to you?"
"This most certainly had to have been a group effort, darling," Rarity said. "If our kingdom of Equestria had met an unfortunate end, I'm certain both Celestia and Luna would utilize all the help they could from their subjects to assure a future restoration."
"This 'Ithica' does want to help us, though..." Pinkie Pie raised an eyebrow. "Right?"
"Isn't that obvious by now?"
"But..." Pinkie's ears suddenly drooped. "...how do we know that she or he or it or they want what's best for this world?"
Twilight blinked.
Fluttershy bit her lip.
"They want me to restore Urohringr," Rainbow Dash eventually said. A breath. "I'm pretty sure of it."
"I would hope so!" Ariel exclaimed. "Otherwise—heheh—what's the Herald even around for?!"
"It would seem damned stupid and absurd for the forces at play in Urohringr to string you along just for nothing," Logan said with a grunt. "Otherwise, there's a cosmic skull out there just waiting for my axe."
"Let's..." Kepler sighed, waving his claws. "...let us not unnecessarrily give into cynicism and ennui, my frriends." He gestured at the skeletons before them. "A horrrible fate befell those who once dwelt within this city... this plane. It stands to rreason that any lingerring enerrgy at play simply desirres to rrestorre that which was lost."
"That makes sense to me!" Ariel said with a nervous smile.
"Does it?" Seraphimus blinked. She droned, "All forms of energy in this universe work to achieve the lowest state through the path of least resistance. Life wants to die. Why would some lingering cosmic force imbued upon this plane seek anything but oblivion?"
Several Heraldites winced. Wildcard face-claw'd.
Fluttershy and Rarity squeaked in subdued peril.
"She's a worshipper of Verlax, alright," Flynn grumbled.
"What is she even doing here?" Ariel hissed.
Seraphimus sighed. "An answer that I myself am seeking."
"Well, can you seek it somewhere else?" Ariel frowned. "Like at the bottom of a pit?"
"Have we not reached that here and now?"
"Ugh..."
"Anwers..." Rainbow Dash spoke warmly, regaining everypony's attention. "...would be pretty awesome." Her wings fluttered. "I suggest we keep searching."
"Searching?" Flynn's mechanical eye rotated. "For what?"
"Anything," Rainbow said. "We've already learned so much from what we've found here. I suggest we go even further..."
"By that—do you mean deeper?" Logan asked.
"If we must."
Logan leaned back, folding his forelimbs. "...I suggest we split up in no more than two groups."
"I'm in Rainbow's!" Ariel chirped.
Flynn rolled his eye.
"Uh huh." Logan nodded. "Double-Yoo. Death chicken. You're with me and the wagon."
Seraphimus looked over, squinting. "Since when was I following your commands?"
"Since you started answering to 'Death Chicken.'" Logan marched out of the lobby and into the dim twilight. "Now come along... or maybe you've decided to go on your lonesome 'pilgrimage of oblivion' or whatshit."
Wildcard followed Logan out the room.
Seraphimus stood dumbly in place, blinking. She looked at Ariel.
Ariel stuck her tongue out.
"Hrmmmm..." Seraphimus followed the first departing group.
"Really, though..." Ariel planted her fetlocks on her hips as she hovered. "Just why are we keeping her along?"
"I'm not the only needing beacons to light my path," Rainbow said.
"Huh?"
Rainbow sighed. "Just give me this, girl. I really really really want that catbird to see the light."
"Then have Flynn build a laser-pointer."
"A what?"
Ariel blinked. "... ... ...you flew through two warring kingdoms equipped with flying battleships and managliders and you don't know what a laser-pointer is?"
"The only lasers the Ledomaritans had were the kind that fried kittens and fed them to orphans."
"... ... ...huh."
"Or maybe that was Searo's Hold. Or the Sacred Hold. Or the Special Hole." Rainbow shrugged. "Whatever. Can we ditch the Skeleton Discotheque already? I'm starting to get the creeps."
"I'm all for that!" Flynn said, trotting out.
"Seems a crriminal shame to leave these fossils herre so uncerremoniously," Kepler remarked.
"Keps... dude..." Flynn looked over his shoulder while exiting. "These remains have been here longer than all known kingdoms have existed and burnt out. Finding a weird place to bury them would be the truly heartless crime."
"Hrrmmm... impeccable logic, my frriend!" Kepler exited, shortly followed by Ariel. "Onwarrds to furrtherr discoverry!"
Rainbow Dash took up the rear.
As she was about to leave the lobby entirely...
...she stopped suddenly in her hooves.
The petite pegasus' ears twitched. For a moment there, she thought she heard a sound. A melody... like violin strings.
"... ... ...?" She turned and looked over her shoulder.
All she saw were dim shadows... scattered twilight... and the flounce of spider webs.
"... ... ..." Rainbow allowed her gaze to fall on the ancient pegasi once more. A somber breath... and she finally marched out of the building with firm purpose.
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This kind of destruction was the consequence of the Sundering—would a de-Sundering would be just as cataclysmic? Does Illyria care about incidental casualties due to reassembly?
8567250
I was sooooo glad to see Pinkie voice that as it's been on my mind for a while. What's best for the "angels" might not be best for everyone on the plane now. Wouldn't be the first story where someone was tricked into their own destruction.
Ok so the music is back and now Rainbow is hearing it. That is just great!
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Considering that the ancient pegasi lived on what is now the Darkside of the plane it is very likely (I would say almost certain) that putting it back together would make the dark side the light side again and vice-versa. Not to mention how it would get back to the rest of the ring likely through some form of jets that would obviously be on the side that didn't have things living on it originally thereby burning up everything on the light side.
Maybe they became a collective conscious, or maybe only one COULD reach out. At any rate, Ilrifia has not given Rainbow any reason to distrust her, so branching into that kind of thinking reeks of paranoia.
Sing my song and become nothing
It’s the skeletons they are singing....Someone please find out what it is cause it’s getting real creepy.
8567322
It tends to be a lot punchier when the letters are bold font and shaded violet.
Great reference though. I award you a cookie.
You know Ilrifa literally translates to evil tear. I would say a more proper translation of Ilrifa is The Sundering. Ilrifa most likely sundered Urohringr. Trusting Ilrifa is mistake until they learn more for sure.
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...well shoot.
Introducing the pocket murderbird! Simply point the included laser pointer at the thing you want dead, and WALLA!
There's that violin again.
And the Seraphimus Solo Quest Counter now ends. Sorry, ThatGuyVex.
If I ever start a band, I know what I'm calling it
Reckoner? I hardly know 'er!
Confuse her to salvation.
8567382
Want another one? An older one?
8567317
Depends on what they have done before their fall. Ilrifa could be either an AI, an individual pegasus and/or a collective of several pegasi whose mind(s) was/were uploaded to a machine, or something different that just feigns an equine form. We cannot tell yet.
8567322
Oh god, please no. The choir of shackled souls is still creeping me out.
You know what those violins in the context of the general scene remind me of, strangely?
It is that same still, melancholic calm - steeped in a mounting sensation of wrongness, the unskabable feeling that something horrible is about to happen.
It's probably a speaker somewhere still puttering away on a ceaseless cycle of elevator music.
On the winds little more than a whisper... Doot Doot An errant bone shifts without aid.
Oh no! Sera is turning into an edgy teenage goth!
And how do you know that what she thinks is best for this world is also good for the invasive infestation that is currently crawling all over it, otherwise known as "sentient life"?
Would the outside ring even remain habitable? Would the inside become habitable? Would any civilization survive the undoubtedly cataclysmic shockwaves that come with moving around and connecting the planet-sized megastructures they live on? What about gravity?
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When the Alicorns arrived, they said they found life on BOTH sides of the plane, but had to choose ONE to light up because they only had so many alicorns to sacrifice for the sun-moon-harmonic-firmament-creation spellwork; most of the alicorns died during that casting, not from exhaustion, but from casting from life force until they had nothing left and let the spell sublimate their bodies for the extra raw Harmonic-mana as spellfuel.
The Sundering that Ilrifa is attempting to repair (out of guilt or geas) is actually the Second Sundering.
The First Sundering seperated the cylinder habitats into ringworlds via sequential ejection similar to rocket staging, each ringworld came with their own central mana-star, each ringworld segment with four setinals per ring segment.
Evidence from the Urohringr-visions and the Machine World operations and the plane's north-south geography indicates the First Sundering was intentional, as if the original cylinder design was simply the logical way to construct a series of ringworlds efficiently for diaspora.
The Second Sundering caused this specific ringworld to seperate along its pre-existing segments, as was displayed in a Urohringr-vision, where it showed multiple ancient pegasi (possibly including Ilrifa herself) activating every ruby-flame station in a circle across the entire ringworld in quick succession to overload the ringworld into exploding apart into planes, each carrying two setinals per side.
8575579
I wonder if we'll ever know why they split it.
8567250
Here's a better question. Everything dies over the eons. Metal, earth, tools, water, magic. Even this city, while remarkable whole, is still rusted and broken, and the machines total slags of metal and no longer operational.
So why is the Machine World still running? Why is it still in perfect condition? Why are the 'Flames' still fuctioning as they should be.
And finally, the greatest question of all. The ancient pegasi had 'Sundered' the world for a REASON. It doesn't matter what that reason was, but they did it... So... If they 'Broke away' for a reason. Good enough to doom their whole world and civilization... Why are they trying to reverse it and go BACK to how it was before?
8617477
Perhaps it was an accident?
Someone quick! Try to draw this ancient pegasus or 'Angels'. I wanna see how do they look like cuz I can't really imagine how they're look like.
And those melody really getting creepy...
You know, I don't think Ilrifa is actually her name anymore than Austraeoh is Rainbow Dash's name. It's her designation, her role in everything. It's why she was so guilt ridden. It was Ilrifa who caused the sundering.
As a matter of fact, I would hazard a guess that Ilrifa means "Sundering".
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i.imgflip.com/2evv2e.jpg
handdrawn myself!
It’s the spindlers they are gonna be spiders I’m calling it now
9075073
Not bad, really fits both the general description and MLP build.
11/15/2019
22:55 UTC
Love this. She is right. Also the fuck is with the music?
That sound again? What could it be?
Admit it, Sera, you love that name.
Oh wow, I had completely forgotten about this. So is Ilrifa our next word?
Welcome to the club Sera!
Me too Rainbow.
I had the absolutely horrible thought that this crossed over into Background Pony and we're actually listening to Lyra play in the other dimension. Hahaha, but that's a silly....right?
Oblivion is calm, boring sameness, which chaos, a cosmic force surrounding and imbuing this plane, really does not want, and actively fights against. Chaos defines itself by defying the rules of logic and physics, the latter of which almost certainly includes whatever arcane laws magic obeys.
What even is magic anyways? It, like chaos, defies IRL conventional physics, allowing modern-day pegasi to fly despite all known laws of aviation. Perhaps magic and chaos are related cosmic forces in this universe, vaguely like the strong and weak nuclear forces of IRL physics?
Theory: Severed from the original power source of Urohringr, this plane would have fallen to its lowest possible energy level and died already if it didn't happen to float into a cloud of physics-defying chaos.