Ripples in the Strings
Rainbow Dash had put some distance between herself and the Herald. Floating in the shadow of immense urban spires, she turned to face Applejack.
"Okay, AJ. Spill it. Just don't get any ghost freckles on me."
"Huh?"
Rainbow sighed, waving a hoof. "Tell me what's on your mind."
Applejack straightened up and pivoted to face her anchor. "Somethin' about our last conversation with Merula ain't sittin' with me right."
Twilight Sparkle and Rarity materialized in a blink, eyes wide. "Merula?"
"We're being lied to?!" Rarity floated closer. "Out with it, darling!"
"I... I-I didn't say them spiders were lyin'!" Applejack stammered.
"But something is troubling you," Twilight Sparkle said, eyes thin. "Care to tell Rainbow Dash? Care to tell us?"
"Well..." Applejack looked at Rainbow. "...it's just that somethin'... changed in the middle of the last conversation we was havin'. Y'know... when we pressed them about bringin' along Wildcard and the Death Turkey?"
"Changed?" Pinkie Pie floated in, munching. "Changed, how?"
Rarity gave Pinkie Pie a double-take. "What...?" Her lips pursed. "Pinkie Pie, what could you possibly be eating?"
"Ghost candy!"
"Ghost candy?"
"Yeah!" Pinkie opened her muzzle wide, revealing nothing. "I made it up! Isn't it sweet?"
Fluttershy materialized beside her, smiling and "munching" as well. "Mine is vanilla-flavored! Mmmmmmm... I love vanilla..."
Rarity face-hoofed with a dainty sigh.
"Applejack...?" Rainbow looked at her honest friend with a tired smile. "Back to the sapient spiders and the looming intrigue."
"It's just that..." Applejack gestured. "These bug-folks are... are..." She fumbled. "I guess 'pure' is the word for it. They're right to call themselves the 'Winter Children,' cuz they're all like foals, really. They're very innocent and trustin' and they hardly ever question anythang... especially when it comes to their 'Lyric Mother' and her 'Song.'"
"Soooooooo... what happened during the last conversation to put a dint in all that?"
"Ain't a dint, exactly. Just..." Applejack looked at Seraphimus in the distance. "Seems they weren't expecting you to bring along two visitors."
"Merula said it was acceptable," Rainbow said. She raised an eyebrow. "Are you telling me that she was lying?"
"No, I sensed that they was okay with it. Only... somethin' in their perspective has been stirred somewhat. Reckon it's hard to explain." Applejack tapped her chin thoughtfully. "It's like they never even comprehended that you would do anythang but show up on yer lonesome. But now that there's been a flank-bump in the square dance—so to speak—it's gotten their rhythm all caddywankas."
"Hah!" Pinkie said between phantom candy-bites. "Leave it to AJ to rely on countryisms... even butt-deep in a sepulcher city full of talking spiders!"
"Whatever the case, there's been a ripple in the pond," Applejack said. "I dun feel like it's cause for concern, but I'd hate myself if I didn't mention it." She gulped. "Sorry for bein' mighty slow on the draw."
"It's fine, Applejack," Rainbow said calmly. "What matters is that you said something before I took the penultimate cocoon ride down into Abaddon-land."
"Brrrbrrrrrr..." Rarity shivered all over. "Can we please not call the silken transport a 'gondola?'" She flashed a frown towards a distant, feathered figure. "Not so long as Seraphimus is going to be descending with us?"
"Ugh!" Pinkie Pie rolled her eyes while "chewing gum." "Agreed!"
"Everything about the Winter Children is about relying on the 'Song' of their brood mother," Twilight Sparkle. "The Queen of Strings has been teaching them about the Austraeoh and Urohringr since their hatching for countless generations."
"Yes." Fluttershy nodded. "And—like trusting foals—they've known nothing else but the regimental truth they've lived by four eons." She gestured at their anchor. "The moment Rainbow Dash introduces something that they're simply not expecting, and it throws their balance off completely!" She smiled gently. "It's somewhat precious, actually. It reminds me of baby birds learning to fly for the first time. Sometimes a gentle prod from their mommies and daddies isn't enough to prepare them for the winds to come."
"These aren't freshly-hatched songbirds, darling," Rarity said with a slight shudder. "This is... a ghastly colony of unearthly invertebrates that have been operating by an acoustical construct to live and abide by. It goes beyond natural instinct and simple reasoning. They completely and absolutely depend on the Song. For the life of me, I cannot fathom how this 'Abaddon' matriarch expects her hatchlings to exist outside the frame of welcoming the Austraeoh to the Dark Side."
"Probably because she doesn't," Twilight said. "It's obvious that Abaddon was stuck here against her will when the Sundering happened. She survived a cataclysm that Ilrifa, Gardez and potential others did not. So—to make do, and to support the fate of the Austraeoh—she nested up on here and went into full birthing mode." Twilight gestured. "She spread her hatchlings—and her Song—to the far corners of the Dark Side, keeping watch and gathering information for the exchange that is now—finally—about to go underway." She gulped. "Can you imagine the sheer amount of preparation and sacrifice that had to go into this sort of an endeavor? For so... so many epochs that most mortal beings like ourselves cannot even comprehend?"
"You make it sound like she's gonna curl up and die once Dashie finishes having her chat with her!" Pinkie declared.
"An even better question..." Fluttershy grimaced, ears folding melancholically. "...what's going to happen to the Winter Children once Abaddon has fulfilled her life's purpose?" She blinked at the others. "What is their fate here... on the Dark Side?"
Silence.
"They aren't called the Spring Children, now, are they, darling?" Rarity quietly said.
Fluttershy stifled a whimper, holding a pair of hooves over her muzzle. Pinkie Pie nuzzled her gently.
Rainbow took a breath. "There's clearly a lot on the line. Let's just... try not and shake the strings too much, okay? I mean that literally."
Applejack nodded back. "I will keep my eyes peeled when the meeting goes down." She blinked, then smiled sheepishly. "Well... y'know what I mean."
"That's fine. For now..." Rainbow gestured after the Herald. "I suggest you guys follow suit. Rest up. Vanilla Zone and all that."
"Mmmmmmm..." Rarity stifled a yawn. "...just who's turn is it to keep watch?"
"Oh!" Pinkie Pie piped up, waving her forelimb. "Me! Me me me me!"
"Ughhh... Pinkie..." Twilight frowned. "I think we've all mutually agreed that you should not be 'standing watch' any more."
"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?" Pinkie pouted. "Since when?"
"Erm..." Rarity fidgeted. "No offense intended, darling, but..." She squinted at the mare. "You have a rather unfortunate habit of dozing off in the middle of your vigils. And—all things considered—that is something that Rainbow Dash simply cannot afford while she's here on the Dark Side."
"Pffffft!" Pinkie waved a dismissive hoof. "Me?! Sleep on the job?! This is Dashie we're talking about! Miss Loyalty Extraordinaryette! Nooooo way would I leave her hanging! I mean—good gosh, Rarity—that would make me worst pony! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha—"
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That sounds mighty familiar.
One chapter later...
Abaddon is sounding like Verlax, somewhat.
Creating a civilisation for the sole purpose of a singular being's arrival.
Anyone who has played Tales of the Abyss probably drew the same comparison to the Score here that I did.
Oh? I thought she would.
AJ does bring up a point. Most spiders don't live that long, and except for Abaddon we haven't had any proof otherwise that they are now all merely months old at most. I have to worry about that, and what it means for the future.
Oh, Pinkie! And yeah I have a feeling she will up and die once the talk is over. I just hope her children take it well.
Cattywumpus.
I gotta love preconceived notions, and how their shattering can create open-mindedness regarding future expectations. Why should we assume that Abaddon is a spider herself.Take a being; give them some Clarke-tech level of magic, and let them magic up an uplifting of an existing resident species to both nurture and guide them. Abaddon might be an analogue to Celestia, but with arthopoids instead of the proto-ponies.
Also, is no one going to mention Pinkie Pie creating a sensory construct (candy) that she shared some with Fluttershy? Is some of the dark side's ambient chaos diffusing into the Spooky Five's energy pool? Chaos and Harmonic feedback shattered their forms. Harmony preserved them. Will Chaos be a key in releasing them? Might they be able to influence the world without directly going through Rainbow? Could this also imply that Discord could be getting a slight Harmonic tempering, if only through osmosis?
IC likes to throw words like "eons" and "epochs" about, usually to signify a really long stretch of time. I'd just like to take a moment to clarify what those mean.
Here on Earth, we know the planet is about 4.6 billion years old. We've divided this time into four eons which are each about 1-2 billion years long. The first three eons were so long ago that we don't really subdivide them further beyond "early," "middle," and "late". The current eon is subdivided into three eras, which are each about 200-300 million years long. These eons are divided into periods which are about 30-60 million years long. You've probably heard of some of the periods, like the Jurassic and the Cretaceous. Finally, these periods are divided into epochs, which are generally 10-15 million years long. The current epoch, the Holocene, started only .01 million, or 10,000, years ago, which was the end of the last ice age.
SO! While eons and epochs both describe periods of time which mere mortals have a difficult time comprehending, an eon is about a hundred times longer than an epoch.
Dont kill the spiders! Grr...
God damn it, Skirts.
8595975 A word's meaning is the meaning people want to convey with it. Both terms have long moved away from that precise and original definition.
Something tells me Abaddon has a plan for a successor. Ancient beings with eons to prepare for their demise usually do.
One thing that's been bugging me is that the hatchlings have been eating - but the adults haven't.
8595988
15 chapters ago i'd have called you mad.
I mean, Verlax did it, maybe she was preparing Rainbow for more of that too.
Eep.
Actually that's exactly what I figured would happen. Especially given all the build up of how old she is and what a task it is to wake her up for what I think it was mentioned as a final conversation with the Austraeoh.
8595975
8595998
Well, actually both words existed long before they were given the precise geological meaning.
The more AJ using her power, the more it's sounds more useful than before. Now it's sounded like she can read thought either.
"Goodbye, friends of Hagrid...."
Better to bring up things that might be a problem, even if you don't think they will be, then to not and find out later that they are problems.
And of course, we all know how this one ends
🙄
01/12/2017
22:31 UTC
It's a mad house!
So essentially, they’re all cinnamon rolls.
archive-media-0.nyafuu.org/vp/image/1417/11/1417118522909.png
Aaaaaaand cue Pinkie sleeping like a bear.
I swear to God, Sunbutt, and Moonbutt, this better not end up like the spider meeting in Harry Potter.