• Published 4th Jun 2017
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Ofolrodi - Imploding Colon



Rainbow Dash traverses the perils of the Dark Side of the world to reach the Midnight Armory.

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When the Smoke Clears

As soon as they had erupted, the flames cleared up. The air of the upper storage chamber returned to a dim twilight, tinged with smoke.

Rainbow Dash and Ariel crawled out from behind a pile of junk that had shielded them from the changeling's self-destruction. Breathless, they gazed across the room.

They saw Wildcard with a few of his wingfeathers burning like candles. He twisted and shook and writhed in a desperate attempt to put them out. Suddenly, a large figure loomed over him.

"Let me, Double-Yoo. I've got it—" Logan gnashed his teeth and slapped the sparks out with his heavy hoof. "I've got it!"

"Holy shit..." Ariel exhaled, trembling all over. "I mean... j-just..." She ran a hoof through her frazzled mane. "Holy shit."

"Okay, everypony remain calm," Rainbow insisted, gesturing with both hooves. "Are we all in one piece?"

Wildcard grimaced, examining his glowing wounds. With a jolt, he frantically looked all over... then was relieved to find Bard's staff lying un-damaged on the ground beside him. He picked it up and collapsed the thing with a contented sigh.

Rainbow gulped. "Fluttershy," she spoke aside. "Tell me. Is everypony in one piece?"

"Yes, Rainbow," the ghostly pegasus said with a nod. "They might be slightly bruised up, but I assure you... Flynn, Kepler, and Seraphimus are fine as well."

Applejack cleared her throat. "Ya might wanna think twice about Seraphimus." She looked at Rainbow. "Reckon you should go visit her, sugarcube."

Rainbow was about to reply to that—

"Dashie!" Pinkie Pie pointed. "Look!"

Rainbow and her ghostly friends turned around. Along the crest of the concrete ramp leading out to the exterior of the mesa, there was an unmistakable burn mark. Green blood boiled to a stand still and a few chitinous pieces of flesh lingered along the edges of the point of explosion. However, that wasn't precisely what Rainbow and her companions were staring at. Lifting up from the singed epicenter was a misty cloud of ruby light. It lingered in spot, harboring far too much purpose for any normal, mindless patch of fog.

Twilight's muzzle hung agape. "It's happening again, Rainbow..."

"Then..." Rainbow gulped. "...that must mean—"

Just as they spoke, the ruby aura moved. At first, it looked like it was shifting directly out of the entrance to Darkrreach. But as the ponies witnessed, it sank as well... descending through the ramp and—presumably—through the mesa altogether.

"Where's it headed?" Pinkie asked.

"Judging from the way the entrance is facing..." Twilight swallowed. "...the same direction Axan's... erm..."

Rainbow merely bit her lip. She heard the scraping of metal and looked over to Logan.

The large stallion was picking his axe up in tense silence. Smoke and slimy green blood clung to the blade's edges. He sighed with a shrug of his shoulders.

Rainbow trotted limply towards him. "Logan..."

"Look, Rainbow..." He grumbled. "The lil' bug-eyed shit was tearing us all a new asshole, and—like you said—it was just a bee's harvest away from warning the whole hive about us. Take it or leave it, but we just can't afford to make friends with every dayum thing that moves on this side of the plane!"

Rainbow grimaced. "I-I wasn't even going to go on about that." She cleared her throat. "I... I was only wondering—"

"What the Hell was that just now?!" Ariel stammered.

Rainbow sighed. "Ariel..."

"Who were those ponies, Big Show?" Ariel exclaimed. "I know that bugger was only trying to mess with our heads, but... but..." She shuddered. "Shit... that last one was so friggin' mad at you. Is there something you're not telling us—?"

"And what if there was?!"" Logan spun to snarl at Ariel, startling her. "I don't remember a rule about volunteering information when we all signed up for the God Squad!"

Ariel jumped back, shivering. "I-I'm only concerned about you, Big Show—"

"Well, stuff it!" he spat, shouldering his dirtied axe. "I'm the same big idiot you've always known, just a bit more pissed off! So back off!" His nostrils flared as he turned towards Rainbow. "Are Keps and that bald bastard okay downstairs?!"

"Logan, we're your friends. You can tell us—"

"Ask your spooky friends!"" Logan stomped a hoof. "Are they okay or not?!"

Rainbow nodded nervously. "Fluttershy says they're fine!"

"Good. I'm going to go check on them." Fuming, Logan marched towards the nearest stairwell. "Somepony remember to close the goddess-damn door, okay?!" And he was gone.

"Logan, wait—!" Ariel darted after him, only to have Bard's staff block her way.

Wildcard stood in somber silence, looking after the stallion's exit. Despite his fresh wounds and bruises, he remained the calmest of the three.


"Friggin'..." Flynn sat at an overturned bench in the common room, holding a rag to his bleeding gums. "...damn freak took me by surprise. Who'd think we'd run into a changeling this soon?"

"Ach...!" Kepler sat beside him, bandaging the stallion's right forelimb. The thin materialy barely contained the lively glow as the wounds were patched up. "It wouldn't be called the 'Darrk Side' if it wasn't full of unpleasant surrprrises, brrotherr..."

"I was so busy trying to get Darkrreach operational." Flynn spat on the concrete floor and frowned. "Feel like a damned fool."

"You arre not alone, forr what it is worrth..." Kepler sighed, adjusting crooked bifocals. The frame had been bent when he took a fall, and they needed to be repaired. "But—live and learrn! It'll be that much harrderr forr the childrren of Tcherrn to drrop the prroverrbial anvil on us! Ha-Hah!"

"Heh..." Flynn rolled his one good eye. "'Kerrrrsplat.'"

"Well put, frriend."

Heavy hoofsteps.

They both looked up amidst the flicker of manalights.

Logan gave them one glance. His body was covered in soot and slime.

"... ... ... ... ....had a bad date?" Flynn suggested.

Logan merely snorted. He trotted clear across the room.

Kepler and Flynn watched him pass by. "Okay then," muttered the latter.

But before Logan exited completely, he glanced towards the far end of the chamber. His eyes fell on the griffin tied to the pipework.

Seraphimus shook and trembled. Tears ran down her face as she stared into the corner of the room. For a brief moment, her gaze lifted and she looked at Logan.

Logan looked back.

Amidst the tense silence, their vision was severred... and Logan made his way into the adjacent corridor.

And Seraphimus...

Seraphimus went nowhere.

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