Ofolrodi

by Imploding Colon

Song of Circles, Two

Stars.

Nebulae.

Distant galactic swirls.

Gradually, the wayward light was interrupted by a curved shadow-upon-shadow.

Then, upon the fringes, shades of luminescent ruby structures formed.

One by one—as the eons drifted by—the structures took shape.

Animated and purposeful.

Brimming with energy.

Soon, they made constructs and scoured the inside of the curve.

Covering it with the faintest of light, both hopeful and ominous.

Searching, hungering, engulfing.

First there formed the Ruby Chorus, a glint
Of the same Spark that broke the circles, but
Not the same Spark destined to rejoin them.
Emboldened by a rhythm both dark and
Selfish, they seek to consume all that clings
To the Onyx Eclipse's periphery.

Floating constructs of crystalline plates, piloted by crystalline entities, skimmed the abandoned mountains, cityscapes, and oceans of the Curve.

Streams of ruby light drifted like clouds over the emptiness—only to be gradually absorbed by these icy patrols.

The luminescence intensified, focused through the crystal buffer.

The numbers were few, but the power intense... and only increasing.

Silent, contemplative and most patient,
The peripheral Spawn of the Fringes
Owned every portion of the shadowed Slice.
All portions but one: the Sarcophagus.

Then, there was an intensely blinding beam of light.

From the heavens, it billowed, framed by swarms of luminescent spheres of focused harmony.

The light pierced the slice, forming firmaments along the outer curve.

Within the Penumbra—trailing tongues of flame coalesced, rippling inwards towards the heart of the concave portion and settling into a singular spot.

The spheres took forms, and within an eon of gaining bodies they almost immediately became corpses.

Their bones and wings and hooves became the slade-black framework of a massive ziggurat, impermeable and epic, situated in the heart of the curve, surrounded by a once-verdant landscape cursed by vacuum and chaos.

Harmonic entities, migrating from
The outer edges of the universe,
Chanced upon the loose remnant of the Song,
And with love and pity they sacrificed
More than they had the faculty to know.
Thus in an act of pure benevolence
They unwittingly gave the slice a gift
That would also be, in time, a great curse.

One by one, the crystalline constructs gathered around the edges of the ziggurat.

With all of their ruby light harnessed into a focused beam, they tried to pierce the outer surface of the otheworldly structure.

As the centuries rolled by, they came upon the verge of unlocking the Harmonic puzzle.

The Ruby Chorus, lusting for power
Swiftly sought to contain the prize within.
What they would soon earn was not a treasure,
But instead a war to last forever.
For from the fringes came a nemesis:
A corruption of the benefactors,
Carried on gossamer wings: the Keepers.

Comments

[Phoenix Kitten]

Oh cool, a vision quest.

-Through the path long forgotten, into the darkness long begotten. Ofolrodi.

[RoboRed]

Hooooboy...

With all this talk and vision about the "Ruby Song", I'm starting to get the feeling that the Night Shard might be far more consequential than first thought...

[Feigned Ignorance]

Cool. I've been wondering who got to the armory first.

[geb]

Learning.

[ScopeGuardPony]

To the Onyx Eclipse's periphery.

Nopenopenope.

[RomanCandle]

Ruby Chorus, a Glint of the same spark that broke the circles - but not the one destined to rejoin them, hum? I interpret that as: Ancient Ponies/Angels broke the circles. The Ruby Chorus are also Ponies, but not the same ones that did the breaking. Follow it up with: "Crystaline ships piloted by crystaline entitites" - and I can only assume Crystal Ponies are the Ruby Chorus? And the Ruby Chorus is another name for the Night Shard, right? I was guessing early on that the Night Shard would be at least tangentially related to Sombra - I'm feeling validated in that supposition now, and excited.

The Keepers, corruptions of the benefactors, borne by gossamer wings points directly at changelings right now.

Also - Onyx Eclipses again! I'm trying to remember where, exactly, that came into play, other than Onyxxus

EDIT - ALSO ALSO skystone, at the edge of the world. Isn't the red kind significant?...

oh man what if skystone is powered by the absorbed life force being sucked into the plane and the Night Shard is the only group that knows oh jeez

[Spiral_Donut]

Harmonic entities, migrating from
The outer edges of the universe,
Chanced upon the loose remnant of the Song,
And with love and pity they sacrificed
More than they had the faculty to know.
Thus in an act of pure benevolence
They unwittingly gave the slice a gift
That would also be, in time, a great curse.

There are your alicorns I think.

[zaponator]

So the crystal dudes existed pre-Alicorn, eh? Neato! I guess it makes sense, if you think about it. A lot of life existed before the Harmonic Prism.

[IceKitsune]

I'm gonna wait until the rest of this vision is out to give any real thoughts on what this is showing us.

[Hawattie]

[andwhyisit]

The Onyx Eclipse is the plane where the souls of the dead migrate to.
Periphery means surface.
The Ruby Chorus is the Night Shard.

[AppleTank]

That's some spoopy shit

[The 24th Pegasus]

shit man, so much exposition. I love it.

[Boersencrash]

Their bones and wings and hooves became the slade-black framework of a massive ziggurat, impermeable and epic, situated in the heart of the curve, surrounded by a once-verdant landscape cursed by vacuum and chaos.

Talk about dark turns...

[Vermaak]

HEre’s when I blame my mind for not being able to save all that information from the last 6 books. Fuck.

[Boop-Happy Lass]

I just wanna say...

These kind of chapters so far have been THE BEST. :O

[Merula]

8611360
Same. I wanna remember but I just CAAAAAANNNNN'T

[Merula]

Lemme guess, there are more of these chapters to come?

[Booster Spice]

Dashs greatest fear. losing her wings. Not being able to fly. Trapped.

Ringworld was an Ultra Ark. Halo was a weapon. The structure from the story Pushing Ice is the only one I can remember thats larger than Uringa(???) and Cageworld.

[AotheOverGod]

Aww, I thought the night shard were sombras servants. Am I not right to think that anymore.

[Leftover of Saikano]

The night shard came from the ruby light that split the world. It gets ominous if you remember that until now, all that was ruby has come from Rainbow Dash.

[Cynderfall]

Hmm...

[Tim the Planes-pony]

The Night Shard of course has a huge part to play yet, for good or evil.

[Nevlamas]

8611210 From what we heard here the Night Shard are far, far more ancient than Sombra, the first beings to dwell on the world after the second Sundering. Given how they were told to hail from the fringes, all my money is on them being born from Skystone, infused with the souls of those that died during the destruction of the Ring.

8611298 8611210 The souls of the dead migrate to the Plains of Harmony. These Onyx Eclipses were something Mortuana mentioned back in Urohringr - they're holes in the edges of the universe, tears through which Chaos may bleed into the cosmos. Onyxxus got his name for being an expert at sealing them.

[Hazard]

So the shard was born of the machine world's energy, but they have their own motives. Interesting.

[Revan]

And who was starting to best the stalemate before the arrival of the Sarosians? The Night Shard, or the Changelings?

[RomanCandle]

8611632
Sombre could have been one of the Night Shard, or learned to use the same tech/magic as them is what I meant- I don't expect Sombra to be the big bad evil mastermind, just a feeling that he and the crystal ponies/Empire are connected to the Ruby Chorus somehow.

Very much thanks on the Onyx Eclipses - wasn't even 100% sure that was from this story.

[arancaytar]

Their bones and wings and hooves became the slade-black framework of a massive ziggurat

Man, alicorns are metal.

[Ms_Fruit_Bat]

8612290
Wow, I can't believe how many alicorns had that same specific transformation fetish...

[kihutaja]

8612073
Sombra was said to be a former alicorn and brother to Chrysalis and Tchern.

[Super Trampoline]

8612290
I miss when relevant heavy metal used to comment.

[General Lemarc]

Yay, remembering what's been going on!

[Youdidwhat]

Wait are they made of sky stone?

[Tim the Planes-pony]

First came the night shard, consuming the dead, then came the flux, twisting themselves and those around them to their benefit.

11/17/2019
01:13 UTC

[hypervelocity]

Hmmm....