Lecture For a Lecture
"So... in summary..." Twilight Sparkle adjusted non-existent bifocals and then slapped her ghostly forelimb as she floated right in front of Rainbow Dash. "...with full consideration of the sinful wages of hubris and the painfully-weighted inclination of naturally-occurring irony, you must never... ever end a conversation with 'what's the worst that could happen?'"
Rainbow Dash sat on the edge of a rock, her blue chin smooshed down against a lazy forelimb. The rest of the Mane Five hovered limply around her with identically lethargic expressions. "Mrmmfmfff... thanks, egghead." She stifled a yawn, staring dully at Twilight. "Could you have just saved us the forty-five minute lecture and told us that conclusion at the very beginning?"
Twilight tilted her proud chin towards the starry heavens. "Just wanted to make sure I nailed the message home."
"You nailed it alright, sugarcube." Applejack yawned. "Right to a cross."
"Oooh! I love carpentry jokes!" Pinkie Pie beamed.
"... ... ..." Applejack blinked. "Anyways..." She gazed at Flynn and Kepler who were kneeling before the partially-assembled pieces of a metal sphere. "Seems like they're makin' progress."
"Indeed." Rarity looked over at Wildcard, situated before a thrashing and bound Seraphimus. "Good to know that some of us are."
"I can't believe that she's still struggling so much," Fluttershy remarked. "Even after all this time."
"Well, she did lose just about everythang thanks to Verlax," Applejack said. "And she's been made to believe that Rainbow's to blame."
"Would you be even remotely forgiving if you had every reason to believe that something or someone had devoured the entire Apple Family?" Rarity asked.
Applejack tilted her hat back. "Rarity, Granny's dead. And if thangs had gone differently two years ago, I reckon she wouldn't be."
Rarity winced. She hung her head. "A thousand pardons, Applejack..."
"Naw... dun feel so bad, sugarcube." Applejack bore a gentle smile. "My point is... I know what led to such a tragedy." She looked warmly at Rainbow Dash. "And I have the capacity to understand it all. If thangs were a tad bit different...?" She shrugged. "I dunno what I'd do. But I reckon I'm just a far more reasonable mare than this wretched Seraphimus varmint."
Rainbow Dash took a deep breath. "I don't think any of us can even pretend to relate to Seraphimus." She looked melancholically across the way to where Wildcard was guarding his former companion. "Her life—her entire existence was sculpted by Verlax to be a self-destructing weapon to urge me onward in my quest."
"And now you've brought her with us to urge you onward even faster," Twilight Sparkle said.
Rainbow slowly turned to glare at Twilight.
Twilight raised her forelimbs. "I'm just saying..." She sighed, lowering her hooves. "Verlax is long dead. You should stop punishing yourself, Rainbow."
"Sparing her life was not punishing myself, Twilight."
"But how much are you willing to sacrifice to try and save her?" Twilight asked. "Given all that's already at stake?"
"I've got an even better question." Rainbow gnashed her teeth. "What does it friggin' matter?"
Twilight opened her muzzle... but hesitated before she could give a reply.
"Rainbow Dash..." Fluttershy quietly spoke. "We're all on your side—"
"Are you?!" Rainbow frowned. "Because from what it looks like and how it sounds, it almost seems as if I'm the only friggin' sane pony alive anymore."
"Don't be overdramatic, darling—" Rarity started, but couldn't finish.
"No... no!" Rainbow growled. "I have enough trouble as it is trying to keep the Herald from going all murder-y without you girls wanting to jump on the death train!"
"What are you goin' on about, sugarcube?"
"I want you girls to promise me something..." Rainbow shuddered, clasping her hooves together as if in prayer. "I need you girls to promise me something."
"Anything, Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy said.
Rainbow's gaze hardened. "Promise that you're on board with me on this." She looked at each and every one of them. "Promise that I'm not the only pony here who still believes in Harmony... that when push comes to shove you will support me in trying to get Seraphimus back on track to having a decent, self-respecting life... any kind of life... because it's frickin' life."
"Of course we're with you on this, Rainbow," Twilight said.
Rainbow sighed. She leaned over and rubbed her forehead. "'But...'"
"I just..." Twilight sighed, folding her forelimbs. "I want to make sure that you're doing this to Seraphimus for Seraphimus... and not out of some guilt-ridden complex to rectify perceived mistakes of the past."
"Yeah?" Rainbow muttered. "Like what mistakes?"
"Well..." Twilight fidgeted, squirmed, and meekly said: "Like Shell."
Rainbow let loose a heavy sigh. "Twilight..." She looked up with a frown. "...for the last time, I'm not—"
A swath of leather wings streaked in Rainbow's peripheral vision.
"...?!?" Rainbow spun about, eyes wide.
Fluttershy shot up with a worried expression. "Rainbow? What is it?"
"Did..." Rainbow turned and glanced all around. "Did you just..."
"What, darlin'?" Applejack blinked.
"Is everything okay, Dashie?" Pinkie Pie asked.
"Thought... could have sworn..." Rainbow shuddered.
"My stars! You're so pale!" Rarity exclaimed.
Rainbow jolted. She stared at her. "... ... ...Cloudsdale... falls without me."
Twilight's muzzle scrunched. "Huh?"
"Heeheehee... what are you going on about, silly?" Pinkie burped.
"I..." Rainbow leaned over and rubbed her head. "I don't know..."
"Well, I do know something!" Pinkie stuck her tongue out, floating closer. "You could really use some shut-eye!"
"I whole-heartedly agree!" Rarity nodded briskly. "This seems as good a time as ever to set camp and—"
"We got it!" Flynn exclaimed.
"Eurreaka!" Kepler added.
The ghostly group looked over to see the metal sphere—conjoined and sparkling—lift up and levitate in place. A dull red glow emanated from the contraption's seams, like crimson vapors. Then, with a pronounced humming sound, the Cylindrimanian artifact zipped its way around the rocks and geological formations with smooth speed.
"It's going!" Ariel exclaimed. "Whew! Look at it!" She waved at Rainbow Dash. "What's the word?"
"Rainbow..." Twilight leaned in. "You really really should lie down and rest—"
"Hop to it, Herald!" Rainbow hollered. With a flap of her wings, she glided effortlessly forward. "Don't let it out of your sights!"
Wildcard whistled and swiftly reattached himself to Seraphimus' sled.
Logan hitched himself to the supply wagon and galloped briskly after the device while the rest of the group followed suit.
Twilight sighed, limply keeping up with their anchor. "Rainbow..."
"Twilight... if you know anything about me... anything at all..." Rainbow tiredly blinked in spite of herself. She locked her eyes on the red-glowing sphere as it illuminated a cone of dead rock in a diagonal swath. "...it's that stopping is the one and only death knell."
"Well, for all our sake, here's hoping that you're correct."
"Jee. Thanks for the vote of confidence."
"Anytime."
Stats
Page generated in 0.04 seconds
Total duration
1,043 users online
2,205,733 hits today, 2,561,572 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Well, they are almost certainly being watched, question is friend, foe, or foe that can be made a friend?
Rainbow is going to have a dizzy-spell attack in the next couple of chapters or so.
Calling it right now.
Also they are most definitely being watched by either a Sarosian or something with batwings. Question is, are they being simply followed....or being hunted?
Can't be Discord hallucinations, he only has one sarosian wing.
It looks like though, the influence of housing Discord's soul has lessened, the dizzy spells might have given way to just minor cases of Discording.
Never tempt fate, Dash, she lives for shit like that.
-Through the path long forgotten, into the darkness long begotten. Ofolrodi.
What method is West horse using to not even be picked up by supernatural senses of Element enhanced dead pones? Or Cant Shy etc sense them precicely because it involves deads and souls, which the guys in the middle have caused to be classed as militery and so stealthing in that realm has been a priority?
Im sure theres going to be Fallout from Wizzball Junior.
Thank you! That needed to be done.
Hah!
futureambushfutureambushfutureambushfutureambushfutureambushfutureambushfutureambush
Well, it would appear that everyone's breaking a bit. Maybe they should all just sit down, relax, and join me for a drink.
I swear to Luna, if this whole thing is just an extended version of Discord's mindfuckery....
...Endrax, quit beating around the bush and reveal yourself already. You're driving the poor mare insane.
Something tells me that when Rainbow Dash has her next attack, it's not going to be like anything that's happened before. Perhaps being on the dark side of the plane, she now instead of becoming weak when her dizzy spells hit, instead she'll transform into her beastly Discord form.
Oh boy, this is going to go bad fast. I have to agree with Twilight at this point I think Rainbow is helping Seraphimus but out of misplaced guilt for things she has done. It's more about redeeming herself than anything else.
I honestly think that Seraphimus needs far more than the Herald and Rainbow can give her; while it's nice she wants to try (for whatever reasons she actually has) Rainbow Dash is likely deluding herself at this point.
I also have to agree with others on the comments, some kind of Dizzy attack is coming soon or at least something similar. Also, she seriously needs to tell the Herald about what she is sensing it's just putting everyone else in danger regardless of something actually being there or not.
8254618
I second this notion.
With a majority vote of two to none, it passes. :3
Further reading of prior books has revealed more things of relevance! For example, from Chryssy in Stratopolis :At last, after thousands of years of chaos, we will unite the fragments of Endrax and lay claim to the Sarcophagus of Ages. Both the Sarosian and Night Shard armies will be driven into ruin, and we will have our rightful claim to the powers of harmony and chaos that keep this plane adrift."
So our new mcguffin is going to be dragon...bones? Somehow, in sealing the SoA (Midnight Armory), Endrax fragmented herself, and these fragments are tied to the seal. Nifty.
And my theory flew out of the window. It's amazing and sad how many details one can forget in less than a year.
Whatever these visions are, their relation to Discord is pretty much confirmed now.
Getting ominouser and ominouser.
They've repaired the Toclafane!
~100 chapters of travel and no sleep makes Rainbow something, something...
It's not like she was subjected to nightmares the last time she dozed off prior to her visit to the Sixth Seed, but there does appear to be a layer of fear in her words. If this is the manifestation of "the shadow" coming into effect and sleep leaves her completely open to its influence then she might end up wishing she'd kept the dizzy spells instead.
Uh oh... Dashie is going crazy and Flutters cant detect chaos monsters!
I'm hoping that despite her nonstop verbal assault that seraph is paying attention to the world and conversations going on around her. Perhaps if she witnesses enough it might sink in that rd is telling the truth.
Wild speculation: What if the sixth seed gave RD a Discord ghost buddy, but he only comes out when the pendant comes off?
Twilight's right that Dash should be helping Seraphimus for Seraphimus' sake, although there probably is some serious guilt issues muddying the waters. I sometimes think people mistake guilt for being solely a destructive thing that you have to either bury, or cast aside. Guilt is a motivator, but it doesn't have to be a destructive motivator. You can seek to correct past mistakes, perceived or otherwise, without becoming self-destructive or forgetting that the reason you should be trying to help others is for others.
I can understand Dash's worries concerning her friends. She probably knows just how bad the Dark Side could get, and as the only currently known bit of Harmonic light on this side of the world, Dash needs her friends to have her back on a moral and emotional level more than ever.
Unfortunately I get the feeling the Dark Side is already having a negative impact on the ghost gals, and possibly the whole Herald. I feel like it might affect the ghosts more, because the girls are basically just floating harmony spirits at this point, but instead of being surrounded by the generally Harmonically charged Light Side, they're now surrounded by a realm filled with ambient chaotic energy. Their ability to think straight and maintain a moral center is probably being eroded before they even encounter any seriously bad things here on the Dark Side.
Also probably not helping that it's entirely possible Discord is actually manifesting to some degree or another. The things Dash is seeing might be figments of Discord.
They might also be bat pony ninjas.
I'm actually kind of pulling for bat pony ninjas.
Black scales, a dark shadow and leathery wings. It almost certainly is a dragon of Endrax brood - or something related thereto. But what about the Chaotic flashback it gave her?
That quote might as well be from one of the wizards of the Unseen University.
8255893
If it flats like a discworld and narrative-causalities like a discworld...
Sunovabitch. That was a good one!
Welp that doesn't sound good.
Something something batponies.
Something something sleep deprivation.
Something something... Cloudsdale? Hey, you never know. Maybe she's just homesick...
Aww, who am I kidding? Time to join the evil premonitions train- It's not like we're on the dark half of the world or anything like that.
Its getting so predictable that Twilight's doing analyses of it.
Little doubt at this point that's Rainbow's coming apart at the seams. As much as I'd like to say that sleep deprivation is the culprit (and it probably doesn't help), the truth of the matter is probably more... metaphysical(?) in nature. Whatever of Discord resides within her is starting to stir in a way we haven't seen before, and I have no idea what to expect.
She's sleep deprived, for sure, but something deeper is affecting her. Something... chaotic.
Well, that little blink of past memories doesn't bode well for Dash. Looks like the chaos of the dark side is impacting her like it did when Discord first brainwashed her... or something. This is going to get hella interesting.
~SolidFire
I do believe that we are dealing with bat ponies. I'm not sure whether that's a good thing or bad thing.
And now, we have hints of chaos Dash Emerging...
until you find out that this whole quest was a farce from the start. That Celestia had just sent you away so your eventual death would have meaning to the other ponies and give them closure while she fixed the damage.
Fear is the emotion that doesn't fade over repeat exposure. The Descent is only just beginning. All it takes is one line to change 'drama' to 'horror'. It is not what's known that's distressing, but it is the unknown that is truly unnerving.
I read this chapter at half past midnight and see the line, "Cloudsdale... falls without me." It feels like ice water spiders crawling up my spine. RD may be more balanced harmony-wise, but the ambience (chaos, magic, darkness, etc.) has Rainbow (presumably) taking some SAN loss. Perhaps it's an artefact of Dash being on the business end of the sequencing machines from Eljunbyro. Maybe it's just natural hallucinations from lack of stimuli. Maybe it's bits of Chaos, and fragments of Discord are getting thought/memory connected. Maybe it's something darker, something we can't think of. Shouldn't think of. Hurts to even want think of.
Either she's made to forget, or she doesn't know. Because knowing would be all that much worse.
Only if she chose to pursue the wrong choice, and that wasn't actually what was told to her.
10/12/2017
15:47 UTC
8483455
You're missing something.
What else do we know has leather wings?
I think it may be illusions of our favorite Lord of Chaos finally returning to the fold, where it's easier for him to get a hold on her sanity, and where his element is the primary element.
Also the spehere glows red. That's enough evidence for me.
Damn
Thank you for the much needed explanation to basically every character in a piece of media with irony.
I like that “nailed it it a cross”
I’m gonna steal it. There are LAYERS
I'm curious would she say the same with other people they encounter.
You tell 'er, Twi.
Hmm... more peripheral visions... Speculation time: two guesses— either bat ponies that move so fast that even Flutters can sense them, or Discord is inching his way out since we're on what is essentially his side of the plane.
Thank you Twilight.
WOW APPLEJACK
Again, Shell became a full on monster, and he wasn't all that great a stallion in the first place. There was flat out nothing Rainbow and the Jury could have done to change that.
Sera, as batshit as she currently is, might still be reachable. It'll be a fucking task and a half, but there's a far better chance. And, well, Rainbow would know if it works or not so she doesn't have a full repeat.
Ah, the bat ponies have caught up to us. Or something else that we don't know...
Silvadel flashbacks