"Dun dun dunnnnnnnnnnnnnn!"
Rainbow, Rarity, and Twilight winced hard.
Pinkie Pie hovered in place, her hooves still cupped around her muzzle. A blink or two after the massive outburst, she shrugged and said, "What?! Somepony had to do it—Whoah!"
Applejack shoved her out of the way and floated in Fluttershy's face. "What in tarnation do ya mean 'somethin' deep in Darkreach has awoken?'"
"You didn't sense anything before, darling!" Rarity exclaimed. "Why are you suddenly sensing it now?!"
"I... I-I don't know..." Fluttershy trembled, receding from the group.
"Fluttershy..." Applejack rested a gentle hoof on her ghostly shoulder. "We ain't mad at you. We're... well... we're just tryin' to understand..."
"Did something climb up from underneath us?" Twilight remarked, eyes wide. "Perhaps... a hidden tunnel system? Lying beneath the Darkreach that the Emeraldinians carved?"
Fluttershy shook her head. "This life that I'm sensing has always been here. And it's somewhere beneath us. It always has been. Unless..." She cast a worried look towards Rarity. "...there's another way into the colony than through the top of the mesa?"
Rarity shook her head, muzzle agape.
"Just how far away is it?" Applejack asked.
"Mrmmmm..." Fluttershy's ears folded. "About six stories? Nearly seven?" She looked at Rainbow. "It's at the very bottom chambers of the facility."
Wildcard had noticed Rainbow's pale reaction to the news. He craned his neck with intense concern.
"Rainbow...?" Ariel stammered. "Is everything alright over there?"
Rainbow held a hoof up without looking. "I'll get back to you in a sec!"
"Huh???" Ariel blinked.
"The Hell is going on?" Logan asked.
"Fluttershy..." Rainbow's brow furrowed. "Are you sure it's not Discord?"
"Is what Discord?" Logan burped. Flynn lightly smacked him to be quiet.
"If he's anchored to you, Rainbow, then he wouldn't be able to go that far of a distance," Fluttershy said. "None of us can."
"Well, he's the lord of chaos!" Applejack spoke with a shrug. "Who knows what he'd be capable of doing!"
"For that matter, Applejack..." Twilight drifted closer. "Who knows what anything on this side of the Plane can be capable of doing." She looked at Fluttershy. "Maybe Fluttershy can't sense any living thing on the Dark Side unless it gets within a certain proximity?"
"I... I don't think it's that," Fluttershy said, shaking her head. "I'm telling you, it's... it's as if something has woken up." She gulped. "And it's moving... very very slowly..."
"How big is it?" Pinkie asked.
"I don't know."
"Is it alone?"
"I... I think so..."
"Is it bad? Is it a meanie head?"
Fluttershy bit her lip.
"I don't think that's Fluttershy's department," Twilight said. She looked at Applejack. "AJ?"
"I... I'm plum flabbergasted, Twilight. Reckon I dun feel a thang." She looked back at the ghostly unicorn. "How about you?"
Twilight sighed. "I'm not sensing anything new on the magical scale."
"What if we got closer to whatever it is?" Pinkie suggested.
"Eeeugh!" Rarity shivered all over. "Heaven forbid! Whatever's sleeping down there—best to let it lie!"
"Rarity..." Twilight made a face. "It's closed off. The only way for it to go out is through us."
"Sooner or later, we're gonna have to bump uglies!" Pinkie said. A beat. "Heads! Ugly heads is wh-what I meant!" She smiled, blushing.
"Whatever it is... it's not very strong," Fluttershy said. "I don't know if we should be that concerned—"
"Fluttershy, until just a few seconds ago, you couldn't even sense the thing's existence," Twilight said. "If it's a creature born on the Dark Side, it's quite possible that chaos has been masking it from you. Who knows just how strong it could possibly be?"
Fluttershy gulped.
"Flutters..." Rainbow clenched her teeth. "Are we sure...?"
Fluttershy nodded her head. "You're the best Discord-detector we have, Rainbow. Not me."
Silence.
"Rrainbow One?" Kepler craned his neck. "Some clarrification would be parramount."
Rainbow took a deep breath. She spun to face the Herald. "Fluttershy senses something beneath us... inside Darkreach."
Ariel's voice cracked. "What?!"
"Like what kind of 'something?'" Logan raised an eyebrow. "An animal? A monster? Soap scum? What?"
"She isn't certain," Rainbow said. "She only knows that it's... 'woken up' just now and it's slowly wandering about the corridors about seven stories beneath us."
Ariel jerked away from the ground. With squirming hooves, she flapped her wings and hovered in the center of the common room.
"This place has been closed up forr untold yearrs," Kepler murmured. "If something's down therre... still alive... then it must have a most peculiarr metabolism."
"Could..." Ariel turned to look at the others. "...could it be one of the surviving Emeraldinians?"
"Pffft. I doubt it. But perhaps..." Flynn's eye-lense rotated as he said, "...whatever is responsible for the colonists having disappeared?"
A cold shudder ran through the group. The manalights flickered as Onyxxus kept speaking to the walls.
"Do you truly... honestly believe this mare...?"
The group turned towards the cold voice.
Seraphimus sat with as much dignity as she could muster while manacled to the pipework at the far end of the chamber. "She speaks to shadows and empty air. Her mind is a fractured mess that she shares with unseen phantoms." Her hawkeyes narrowed. "And you put your trust in her wild delusions?"
"You shut up," Logan said, pointing. "If Rainbow says there's something down below us, lurking about—"
"—you will be consumed," Seraphimus hissed. "And not by her."
"You don't know anything," Ariel grumbled.
"I know that each and every one of us is dead," Seraphimus calmly replied. She glared. "And following her lead will only quicken such doom."
"And I'd bet you'd sign up for that, huh?!" Ariel frowned, planting her hooves on her hips. "You think you're so smart—how about we toss you down seven stories and see if whatever's down there thinks you're such a deliciously funny chicken!"
"Ariel, shut up," Rainbow said.
"Yes, Dash," Ariel squeaked, hugging herself.
Rainbow marched firmly through the group. "Whatever's down there, it's something we gotta deal with. I'm not about to play it off. Let's root it out now. Get it over with." She looked across the way. "Flynn?"
"Yo."
"You spent all of eternity getting the manabatteries of this place to sing again. Stay here and look after the leylines. Go no deeper than the generator room one floor below. We're going to need the lights on if we're gonna flush this hobbling crudsicle out."
"Uhhhhhhhh—sure!" Flynn gulped and nodded. "Sure thing!"
Rainbow swiveled about. "Kepler."
"Sisterr?"
"Stay here with Flynn. But—more importantly—I want you guarding her." Rainbow turned to point at Seraphimus. "Can't afford to keep our eyes on the true prize."
"Arre you cerrtain you do not wish me to venturre downstairrs?" Kepler gestured with his wings. "I've got claws!"
"Yeah, but your brain bone's sharper. Stay here with Flynn and the chicken."
"Ach! Rright you arre."
"Now for the rest of us..." Rainbow turned to face the remainder. "Let's form up. Mmmmmmm... two pairs."
With a scraaaaaaaaaaaping sound, Wildcard siftly strafed until he stood resolutely at Rainbow's side.
"... ... ..." Rainbow blinked. "Whelp. That's decided."
Chiiiiiiing! Logan was already brandishing his axe as he stood next to Ariel. "Didn't you say that there were at least three sets of descending stairwells?"
"True. We'll take the opposite ones." Rainbow looked at Flynn. "Can you and Keps keep an eye on the center path?"
"Totally."
"Good. We could descend in three groups, but I sure as heck aren't about to split us up individually."
Logan shrugged. "Might be the only way track this bugger down."
"Not unless we absolutely have to." Rainbow pointed at Ariel and Logan. "Stay. Together." She looked over her shoulder. "Double-yoo?"
Wildcard nodded. Cl-Clakkka! With Bard's staff extended, he made swiftly for the furthest stairwell.
"How... uh..." Ariel called out as Rainbow and the Desperado scampered off. "...how will we communicate?"
"Very very stupidly!" Rainbow hollered back. "Or not at all!"
Ariel nodded back. "Okay. Okay, good!" She grimaced as she looked to Logan. "Sooooooooooo... 'we made it alive as far as Darkreach,' huh?"
"Girl, if you're keeping tabs of this shit, you won't last another second."
"Jee, thanks for the confidence, partner."
"Anytime." Logan marched down the nearby steps. "Now keep your girly butt behind me."
So get this, I'm ready for some serious action and this was the first thing I see.
Come on IC, y u do dis.
And why we gotta pressure Fluttershy? She's told you all she can, just chill!
And good thing they've read up on their horror tropes. They'd definitely be doomed if they split up by themselves.
Sounds like something from the darkside.
Odd metabolism could be from the fact it doesn't get food often, this is the dark side we are talking about...
Two groups, one weapon per pair.
So, it woke up, and Shy can sense it, means it's at least partially organic.
Bet you're missing that Luxmaritan soundstone tech.
-Through the path long forgotten, into the darkness long begotten. Ofolrodi.
Confront it while it is still waking, a good strategy. Hopefully it will a. be non hostile or b. be enough to take it down quickly and with minimal fuss.
It woke up when the power came on. Hibernation chamber? Onyxxus himself? (Or however the hell you spell it)
I do wonder what qualifies as life to Flutter-sense. Sapients do, animals do, what about plants or simpler? What if this is some kind of mold monster that only counts when some stimulus "wakes" it up? Other option is that AI counts as life.
Epcot?
I doubt whatever is beneath them is friendly. When in Austraeoh, anything that is mysterious and ancient is most likely hostile!
Heeeeeeeee, discord reference!
Rainbow's been through enough to become genre-savvy. Good mare.
Judging by the timing, apparent lack of food/water, and the fact that the whatever-it-is suddenly appeared from thin air by Fluttershy's standards, we might be dealing with something or someone left preserved here for ages. Either that or something inorganic that was once a whole lot more organic. Soul-binding, anyone?
Alright. Daphne, Velma. You two come with me. Shaggy and Scooby, you go that way.
orig02.deviantart.net/1ad1/f/2013/090/f/5/scooby_doo_and_shaggy_running_icon__animated__by_scoobycool-d5zznd8.gif
Whatever it is, seems logical it was somehow tied to Darkreache's power system, because it only popped up on the Flutteradar when the juice got sufficiently restored. As others have said, its possible there was some kind of cryo-pod thingamajig that's turned on with the juice, but if that was the case what was keeping such a device functional before the generators were turned on? An independent power supply? Twilight did sense magic down there previously, I think. I suppose a system could have been designed to activate some kind of stasis pod if it detected the main generators coming back online.
Another possibility is that the bottom of Darkreach had some sort of prison in it, or just a very secure storeroom, where the survivors of the base trapped something, which then went into some kind of super-hibernation until the restored power opened up the doors for it.
Whatever it is, it being "weak" now doesn't mean it can't be dangerous. Is it a sign of my paranoia that my first thought is some kind of creature that consumes bodies whole, and that's why we haven't seen any skeletons or other remains around? Actually my other assumption on that front was that if the saraosians hit Darkreach, they just took the survivors for slaves, and the bodies for food.
Hmm, I wonder how one would go about proving the existence of the ghost gals to Seraphimus? There's got to be a way to functionally prove it, at least to the point where its clear Dash isn't juts hearing random voices in her head.
Could Fluttershys powers detect Cyborgs? Could it be some kind of worker bot or security that is partly organic? It could also be something that was hibernating in a death like state maybe? Either that or The Darkside or even Discord has some how weakened her powers
I'm enjoying WC's comedic side alot.
8307460 My money is on cybernetic watchdog. Hibernative stasis would require power to keep anything alive, and it's unlikely that Onyxxus (Onyxus? Oni-chan?) would need anything like that to stay functional. Because alicorn.
That's the biggest question mark for me, too: That Fluttershy sensed it so suddenly. It's possible that it's a matter of proximity - that it was simply too far away, but then crossed the sensory threshold. But that's never been an issue before, to my recollection, and too much was made of its connection to the power coming on ("woken up"). So what state was it in before, that Fluttershy couldn't sense it? Short of something dead coming back to life, it seems like any scenario would've left something for her to sense.
It's a tank. I bet its a tank.
Anyways, as mentioned before in the comments, Fluttershy's sensor treshold can sense beings as far as the bottom floor of darkreach? Huh, neat.
As to what has been activated, it could easily been in hibernation, artificially or otherwise..
So eventually we'll get a jumpscare chapter?
Rainbow's party should make the first move. Once they are close enough to the signal, her friends can make use of their state as spectres and scout ahead to give a first impression of whatever this signal is before it has chance to spot somepony. And even if it is aware of their whereabouts for some reason, they can still take advantage of staying in a safe distance.
That's probably the safest and smartest option they have, which means Rainbow will do the exact opposite.
Oh daddy there’s a guest in the basement
Oh daddy can we see
Go tell ‘em that the guest room is vacant
Welcome to the family
Seven floors, three stairwells and the fastest flyer?
What is she, a Koenisberg?
When in a horror story, never go into the basement. Things are always fucked up down there
What could it beeeeeee?
Never.
Split.
The.
Party.
I say it's Tchern, who wanted to quit the war, and was thus imprisoned and replaced by some changeling (wouldn't that be ironic?) She was super hyberating but Sera's hate was enough to wake her up.
I'm getting a very "Pitch Black" vibe here. Or maybe this:
cdn.instructables.com/F53/NXAO/H7URGN5M/F53NXAOH7URGN5M.MEDIUM.jpg
It's the Smooze!!!
8308028
Aww yeah Miracle of Sound.
If only this song existed at the start of this epic.
8308266
If the entire Austraeoh series had a theme song, this would be it!
Seriously, it just fits Austraeoh to a T!
More and more "alien vs predator" vibes.
8308266
Literally every line applies to Austraeoh. Nice pick. You've also inspired me to finally finish BotW. Thanks.
And now a curse lingers... It better not be the Smooze.
8307582
yeah, all it took was the utter decimation of the Sentinel that was only accomplished by flying it into the edge of the world.
Sooo since we are on the nostalgia trip at the moment, if the thing is hostile, could Dash stab it with one of its own dismembered body parts ? I remember when that was a returning thing in fight scenes.
8308156
Rainbow is a savvy adventurer, but she hasn't quite grasped proper dungeoneering yet.
8309161
Yes! I forgot all about that!
Hehe, you said brain bone
8308290 To be fair, about half of MiracleofSound's songs fit some aspect or character of Austraeoh to a T and the rest at least somewhat. I think it's in equal parts thanks to the sheer range of topics and characters that the series encompass and MoS's thankworthy habit of keeping his lyrics deliberately vague. Just take his recent releases: Breath of Dawn, Force of Nature and The Great Unknown for the Spark, Replica for discorded Dashie, Keepers for the Herald, We Are War for the Trinary hosts...
Oooh, now things are picking up a bit. Onward!
Maybe it's friendly?
Actually, nevermind that.
Time to deal with the nasties below Darkreach...
8307540
It seems pretty obvious: ask Sera to lie, and Rainbow will know when she's lying. Hell, any situation involving Rainbow having knowledge that she shouldn't have is good enough to prove that Rainbow isn't . . . entirely crazy.
That's how it's worked through the series thus far.
The Dark side contains creatures some might consider ... unnatural.
Only you would write a phrase like this.
What’s up with this new nickname?
8922442
I think it's something they just started doing instead of saying Dubya, because it's something Bard used to do.
I’m predicting it’s a ponie that was in some form of stasis.
So Seraphimus is Scootaloo now
And so it turns out that the entire party is more competent than the average set of horror movie protagonists. Let's hope that bodes well.
I am still convinced that WC has an (unrequited) crush on Rainbow.
Edit: Nah
OH MY GOD SERA THIS IS NOT THE TIME YOU DAFT IDIOT.
Unsurprising really.
Big Show has got a point.