So Few Even Know
Five pairs of ghostly eyes traced the shadowed edge where the horizon ended in the epic distance above them. A terrestrial black swath ate at the cosmic swirls beyond, and everything in between the far end and that very spot was darkness. There was the occasional splotch of dim luminesence: a river of firelight twinkling off several unknown continents away. But—for the most part—the landscape bending ahead of Rainbow and her friends was darker than dark. The presence of stars flanking the plane—afforded to their peripheral thanks to their position at the very edge—made everypony feel even smaller.
"It's so enormous," Fluttershy murmured. "And yet—when you take it all in at once—it seems so small."
Applejack whistled. "Reckon so."
"How come we can't see it all like this on the other side?" Pinkie Pie remarked.
"Because, darling," Rarity explained, "The world was constantly curving away from us when we lived in Equestria."
Pinkie Pie squinted, rubbed her head, then squinted again. "... ... ...I don't get it."
"On a convex plane, the rest of the world is obscured beyond the vanish point and—" Rarity went cross-eyed, then sighed to herself. "Why do I even bother?"
"Wait!" Pinkie Pie waved a hoof. "I think I get it! It's like a cockroach getting lost on the outer ring of a doughnut!"
Rarity beamed. "Exactly, Pinkie! Once again, you never cease to ama—" She suddenly winced, drawing her forelimbs daintily to her ghostly chest. "Wait... j-just how often did cockroaches make contact with the treats back in Sugarcube Cor—???"
"Let it rest, Rarity," Applejack muttered. "You ain't got the same stomach y'all had then."
"Mmmmmm..." Rarity squeaked with a noticeable shudder. "Don't s-say things like that, Applejack!"
"But it's true."
"I don't care!" Rarity tilted her nose up. "I aim to reclaim my vital organs when all this is said and done." She suddenly gasped. "OooOooOooh! Perhaps our bodies will be even better once we bring the Harmonic Prism back to Equestria?! I could certainly do with a pointier horn, how about you, Twilight?" She batted her eyelashes. "It goes so fashionably well with sunhats."
"A lot of time has gone by, Rarity," Twilight said, staring up at the furthest end of the curved plane with squinting eyes. "Odds are Canterlot fashion has gone through several seasons."
"Well..." Rarity slumped with a frown. "Did I just get off the Barge of the Damned and Depressed or what?"
"Sorry, Rarity," Twilight murmured, continuing to gaze skyward-and-earthward at the same time. "I just... can't get over how wrong this feels."
"Wrong?" Fluttershy gulped. "H-how so?"
"The furthest edge of the plane." Twilight pointed. "I can see it."
"Yeah?" Pinkie Pie dug into her ghost ear. "So?"
"Well... it shouldn't be possible," Twilight snorted. "Considering the thick atmospheric layers that must surely be collecting along the curvature of the plane..." She glanced back at their anchor. "...the gas should refract light far too much for such a piece of the earth to be visible to the naked eye from so far away!"
Rainbow Dash was wrapping the last length of a bandage around her forelimb. In so doing, she obscured the last exposed wound suffered from the battle on the Light Side. The glowing dissipated altogether, masking Rainbow and her ghostly mares in the penumbra of starlight.
She tilted her head up to meet Twilight's gaze. "The Firmaments were placed here by the alicorns to protect the Light Side—just like the Sun and Moon. We know this."
"Yeah! But even still—!"
Rainbow raised her bandaged hoof. "Before you even start, Twi." Her brow furrowed. "... ... ...do you honestly expect all things in an ancient realm exposed to pure chaos to function just like you'd expect? Even scientifically?"
"... ... ..." Twilight Sparkle sank beside Rarity. "I'm not sure I can handle this." Her teeth chattered. "Everything I ever learned at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns... to think that it's all out the window."
"I dunno 'bout y'all," Applejack said, tilting her hat back. "But I plum lost any semblance of familiarity the first moment I saw ponies in Rohbredden fixin' to kill each other."
"Well, of course, Applejack," Twilight muttered. "We all had to struggle with the morality of this situation."
"Some longer than others," Fluttershy said.
Rarity and Twilight winced.
"Wooo!" Pinkie waggled her eyebrows. "Look at the tail extensions on you, girrrrrrl!"
"Yes, well..." Fluttershy fidgeted with her forelimbs, although she didn't look even remotely ashamed. "It had to be said."
"Maybe..." Applejack fanned herself with her hat. "...I'm a mite big lucky I didn't pop out of the Vanilla Zone until the very last second."
"We all had our struggles to deal with, AJ," Rainbow said. "Let's not pretend otherwise."
"Yeah, but it's all simple now, right?" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "We made it past Verlax and her army of meanie-pants in Rohbredden! Now all we gotta do is jog to the Midnight Armory, grab the Prism, then hop-skip-and-jump back!"
"There's a Trinary War in effect, Pinkie!" Twilight grumbled. "Remember? Three giant armies killing everything in their path in a death struggle for the Armory?!"
"Yeah, so?" Pinkie stuck her tongue out. "We just avoid those cranky melon fudges!" She chuckled in Rainbow's direction. "Sorry to steal from you without asking."
"It's okay, Pinkie." Rainbow gulped. "And—more to the point—there's Luna knows what waiting for us between here and our golden destination. Never mind the factions of the Trinary War."
"Well..." Pinkie's ears folded. "...I said it'd be simple... I didn't say it would be easy."
"How... uhm..." Fluttershy bit her lip. "...how are we going to get back to Equestria?"
"Oh Goddess..." Rarity grimaced. "Fluttershy makes a good point." She looked at Rainbow. "We can't very well go back the same way we came, can we?"
"Maybe..." Rainbow tightened her bandages,wincing slightly. "Maybe not. I dunno." She looked behind her at the cosmos lingering beyond the windblown precipice. "The Emeraldinians weren't the only ones to cross over. Someway—somehow—the Dark Vigil carried an entire civilization of Lunar Imperialists over to the Dark Side."
"And don't forget Chrysalis and her hive!" Twilight exclaimed.
"The alicorns also visited this side," Fluttershy said. "Right?"
"I don't know, Fluttershy," Twilight remarked. "I don't think Luna or Celestia have been to the Midnight Armory since it was first planted there by their forbearers. And all others—like Whitemane and Mortuana and Onyxxus—only made it as far back as the edge on the Light Side."
"Oh." Fluttershy stared woefully at the ground beneath them.
"Duaaaaaaaaah!" Pinkie gasped through an epiphanous smile. "The Divines! Endrax!" She grinned in Twilight's face. "A dragon matriarch got us to the Dark Side! Maybe Endrax can do us a favor and bring us back!"
"Uhhhhhhhh..." Twilight leaned away from Pinkie, wincing. Her eyes darted aside. "You want to handle this one, Rainbow? Or should I?"
Rainbow Dash stood up on aching limbs. "Mrmfff... I think the Herald and I are on our own with this one, Pinkie."
"But—"
"After all, Verlax went searching for Endrax." Rainbow sighed. "And we all know what happened to her."
"Yes... but still..." Pinkie cocked her head innocently to the side. "A big meanie dragon like Axan turned good after doing super horrible things to a bunch of ponies. Who says someone like Endrax can't do the same?"
Applejack and Rarity exchanged thoughtful glances.
Rainbow took a breath. "I don't know... at least—I don't know enough to bet on it." She gazed up at the dark plane's curve once again. "This is the Dark Side. It's way... waaaaaaaaaay different from anything I've ever experienced or faced before." She gulped. "Just... who knows what we're going to run into?"
"Then... do we even know how we are going to get back?" Fluttershy murmured.
Rainbow slowly shook her head. "I've no clue, Flutters. But—then again—I also had no clue before I touched the Utaan symbol. What's to say I won't learn a new way to go beyond once we've gotten the Prism?"
Silence.
The six souls continued staring at the dark swath.
"Whereabouts—would you say—is Equestria?" Rarity asked.
"From everything we've learned from Luna, Whitemane, and Mortuana," Twilight stated. "I'd say it's safe to bet that it's directly opposite of the Midnight Armory."
"Then... in a way... we're looking at Equestria right now?" Rarity stated.
"I suppose you could say that."
Rarity exhaled through a bittersweet smile. "I wonder what they're all up to now... everypony in the sun..."
"It could be night for them, Rares—" Applejack said.
"Bah! Of course, I realize that! Even still... how remarkably odd..." Rarity cooed. "Very soon we will be treading under their very hooves—trying to save each and every one of them—and only a handful of mortals on the Light Side even know it."
"Yeah, well..." Rainbow Dash's nostrils flared as she turned to face her ghostly companions. "Let's work on a way that every pony born after us will know about it. Ya dig?"
"How?" Pinkie said.
"How else? We go ea—" Rainbow winced. Hard. "Forward. We... uh... go forward..."
"Reckon we should pack our things, then," Applejack said.
"Yes. But..." Twilight pivoted about to gaze sympathetically at Rainbow. "Are you sure that you're ready, Rainbow?"
"Nope." Rainbow spun about with a flick of a short tail. "Which is why we should get going."
"Better fetch the Herald, Sugarcube."
"Stop being ahead of me, AJ," Rainbow Dash muttered in mid-trot. "You're not that psychic."
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Ahh yes...the ever-persistent question of “How the f*ck do we get back to the Light Side?”...
Well, whatever the answer is, pretty sure the Midnight Armory is tied to it.
Let’snotaskquestionswedon’twanttheanswersto,Rares.
Should be Applejack.
“seasons”
...I’ve got bad news for you, Pinkie.
But, that’s a good idea, actually. Maybe there’ll be an entrance to the machine world at the Midnight Armory, and they’ll be able to just pop over to Equestria by going through that. Some hidden exit underneath Canterlot, or something?
If not, they could always get some shovels...
Maybe there’s a little digging cart that lets us go for the Motherload.
miniclip.com/content/game-icons/medium/motherload.jpg
Well, it is called the Midnight Armory, so maybe there’s something snazzy in there like an ancient alicorn spaceship that can get them back to the Light Side? Giant alicorn robot? Or how about alicorn rocket powered jet bikes?
Also Dash, I think you’re still technically going east. It’s just, like, upside down east.
Well, they better hope they have good transport to get back to the Light Side, otherwise they will be stuck with the Dark Side....and the cookies...if there even is any cookies......eh, fuck it, I doubt it
Also, Twi trying to explain everything with science and failing is oddly hilarious.
HAH!
Onwards with the fuwerd hoersin!
Rainbow, no! East is east! Don't let Chaos take that from you!
8220670
Let's hope that Dashie can get one of these babies
Oh cool, copypaste now copies formatting.
Sweet, no more copying everything into a word doc and manually adding in the bolds and underlines and shtuff.
anyway, Applejack’s hat gives her psychic powers!
-Through the path long forgotten, into the darkness long begotten. Ofolrodi.
A harmony-powered megazord B)
It would actually make for a really cool finish if the Midnight Armory opened up into the heart of the machine world, and they were able to get back by going - through - the plane rather than across it. Imagine seeing the guts of the machine world at it's very center!
Of course, then the three factions of the Trinary War would have a direct line to Equestria, sooo...well, I guess we'll see when we get there, huh?
I have a feeling that getting back to Equestria isn’t going to be as hard as they think honestly. I’m sure the Armory has something they could use to get back.
I suddenly had a weird mental image of the Midnight Armory ”falling” to the opposite side of the humongous donut world, digging a hole in the ground, and opening an entrance straight to the light side, back in Equestria.
I doubt it’d be that simple, but whatever’s the case, the fact that it’s perfectly opposite has to mean something.
Rainbow Dash flies... forward.
Huh. Doesn't quite have the same ring to it. But we all have to make sacrifices, I guess.
Anyway, I've finally gotten these opening chapters squared away. And what an opening it is. We haven't seen too much yet, but it's already meeting my most enthusiastic expectations, in terms of scope, tone, and all-around worldbuilding. I'm really, really excited to see what this volume has in store, particularly in regards to what will come of Seraphimus, as well as potential new allies they might meet. A new batpony friend would be nifty. Hell, even Alamais has the vague makings of a potential ally.
As far as getting back to the Light Side, all we can do is guess, of course. Maybe there's some kind of contraption at the other end too. Or maybe Sturke can give them a lift (hopefully without barbecuing herself in the process). Or, there's always my old theory that there might be some kind of shortcut through the machine world. I dunno.
Either way, these are shaping up to be interesting times.
Saddle up and roll out
So… do we need to start calling this series "Forward Horse" now, or…?
Also, why's ):( using two blank lines between paragraphs instead of one now?
Plot twist: The prism was created by M.A. Larson. Mane 6 alicorns confirmed.
I'm really gonna miss East but forward it is.
My best guess is that they'll end up somehow making use of the chaos rift in Ponyville to get back to the light side.
Either that or there isn't going to be a return journey.
If only they knew that Endrax was dead. But I'm sure they'll figure out a way back. Maybe even Axan's soul will help later, supposing they can figure out what happened to it.
Actually, I just realized something that might be incredibly important to the current question of what happened to it. In the second chapter, Alamais hisses "I only ever had one sister," which were Axan's last words. I could be drawing connections where there are none, but that to me implies that Axan's soul at least brushed up against Alamais' senses in some fashion. What exactly that means I couldn't possibly tell, but I suppose we'll find out in time.
And if Rainbow and co really need Divine help to get back to the Light Side, the only survivor is Sturke. I wonder how that poor dragon (the youngest if I recall correctly) is going to take the news that all of her sisters are dead. Probably well because she's still really ancient, but having all that dropped on you would hurt no matter how wise or hardened you've become.
Onwards and... uh, forwards, I guess. RIP East.
She wasn’t pretending. That’s sounds like a joke that flew over Dash’s fuzzbrain.
I still believe that they'll reach the Light Side via the far edge of the world. The setup with Cadence and Shining Armor's too great for skirts just to write it all off, not to mention the last Divine waiting for them there. Although I also believe that they'll find something in the Armory or before or perhaps after it, that will Aid their Journey to the edge. Perhaps the other flying City? Who knows at this point. Ever forward ever onward.
8220922
The question now is if they're going to be traveling east or west. It depends on the interpretation of the topology. I would argue that east horse mode is still in effect.
They will make it back. Dammit, I’m holding out hope for a happy ending to this dreary mess.
Twenty close-arm push-ups, ):(. Knock ‘em out!
Rares, you need to calm down.
There!
8220756 Indeed. I have always found it strange that no one ever even considered going through the machine instead of around it. On that note, the Prism is the single most powerful Harmonic artifact in known existence. I imagine with it in hoof Rainbow and friends wouldn’t have that much of a problem passing the Chaotic emptiness of the sides of the world either.
This is all well and good but I just keep wondering when Seraphimus is going to wake up.
Fluttershy laying the guilt trip on thick! I love it.
Rainbow Dash now has to move west?! BLASPHEMY!
Wait....You can go not East? The Dark Side truly is chaotic...
Why aren’t these chapter updates being sent to me? Did auto-emailing break in FimFiction 4.0?
The Midnight Armory is Twilights Castle?
Which story was it where thre was a giant old tree in the middle of the desert because it had landed there while the area was grass land, and due to it shading a powerful mage or something, they returned it home?
While the girls are distacted by infinity, the Herald are building Rosebud?
8220911
*checks* Because ):( isn’t using paragraphs at all. Those are manual line breaks. Dude, the site added “choose your own paragraph style” for a reason, don’t roll your own.
While Rainbow is right that they need to press forward, if the entire herald is going to be going with her they need some form of transportation, or they are not getting to the midnight armory inside their lifetimes, even without opposition from the three armies here.
And now our plucky adventurers salvage the ruined gondola then head out to their
doomdestiny.8220726
that show died waay before its time.
Curse you executive meddling!
Getting back is a good question to have.
Maybe...I dunno, some sort of secret spaceport under the armory?
8220913
*snerk*
8221016
Alamais said that was a “reflection” from a shard of Endrax’s soul. Whatever that means.
Rainbow dash flying west ?! It feels weird. As if the world was turned upside down !
Oh wait...
I’m sure there is a tunnel leading from the Armory to Ponyville. Hope there is no big granite structure blocking the exit.
Rainbow Dash trots West
No, you just got on it, if Sombra's Soul Squadron has anything to say about it.
What exactly were the firmaments again?
Go beyond the impossible and kick reason to the curb, because that's how the Noble Jury rolls!
8221275
…I'm not sure you know what a paragraph is. Like, the text here is very clearly separated into paragraphs.
What I'm pointing out, to be clear, is the fact that the space between the paragraphs is suddenly bigger now, like ):( hit Enter an extra time. Like, compare the formatting of the first four chapters to these last two — see how the empty spaces in the text are bigger now? That's what I'm talking about. It's a pretty weird, spontaneous change that doesn't really make sense. Come to think of it, since the change happened at the same time as the site update, I think it's just a matter of that messing with ):('s formatting.
8221844
It's not a paragraph in HTML/GDocs markup.
The first chapter's code looks like this:
That's TEXT, end-of-paragraph, new-paragraph, TEXT. The formatting button on the chapter lets each user decide whether that should be shown as:
or
The latest chapter's code looks like this:
That forces an extra blank line in between paragraphs. It's causing the double-blank between paragraphs (normal blank + forced blank), and buggers up the display for anyone who didn't want a blank line.
Ah man, Rarity's dialogue is some of my favorite. In spite of everything she really hasn't lost any hope at all. She just takes everything in stride, and is hilarious to boot.
And with that statement, all east-horsing comes to an end. Now there's just forward-horsing. Guess that's as good as we'll get. I can't help but wonder just how thick the ring of their world is though. Just dig your way back to the other side of the world, Dashie! Now that's what the builders of the world should have installed. Some stairs or an elevator or some shit, like from Total Recall, to go from one side to the other.
~SolidFire
The story of the east horse ended the moment they crossed over, I suppose. Forward be the destination!
Anyway, I wonder if Cadance will meet up with them on the opposite side. I believe that they will probably either end up crossing over themselves, or they will wait. I am making a guess, though, that if there is a gondola on the east side of the plane, then there should be one on the west side as well. If it hasn't also been destroyed, then there is their return vehicle.
I just hope that things will be easier after they reach the Midnight Armory.
doesn't this technically mean east horse becomes west horse...or am i wrong?
It's still east, Rainbow Dash. I'm surprised Twilight didn't correct her on that. East and West are defined relative to north and south poles, so unless she retraces her route on the same side, she's still flying east.
Also, for some reason I just realized I've been reading this as Trinity War the whole time.
It's still east, it's just inside out.
Oh, and dark and chaotic.
8222135
She's gonna need a pretty awesome shovel to dig through the machine layer.
But How Can East Horse Be Real If East Is Not Real.
Seriously though, Forward Horse just doesn't have the same ring to it.