Whurrrrrrrrrrrr! Chtung!
The hatch to the top of the mesa slid open, revealing stars and twilight.
Kepler calmly shuffled towards the entrance. He dragged a chair with him in one talon while balancing the briefcase atop his curled scorpion tail.
The wyvern hummed calmly to himself as he sat down, facing the starlight. He balanced the briefcase on his lap, stuck a triangular crystal in, and cranked the recorder to life.
Bzzzzt!
Fluctuating lights.
Managlow.
Then...
"Brzzzzzzzttt—Achievement unlocked: access to expedition logs. This is the voice of he who would be Chief Engineer Ranort."
"Hmmmmmm..." Kepler took a calm sip from his canteen and smiled into the twilight as he listened. "Speak to me, ancient brrotherr."
"Expository statistic: It has been thirty blanketed solar rotations since we who would be the Verdestonian Expedition first settled here in the caves carved by he who would be Onyxxus. While alicorn magic has run out, the spiritual cogworks of Ring City have made themselves manifest to fill in the industrial gap. Emotional aside: I who would be called Ranort am satisfied so far with the work of my fellow brethren. Whether or not it will be enough to sustain us remains to be seen, for a candle must burn at full fuel to make even smallest spark in this forsaken wasteland."
Wildcard sat on the edge of his cot in the common room. He held his left limb out—or at least what remained of it.
Flynn, in the meantime, sat on an overturned bucket facing the griffin. With careful magical ministrations of his telekinesis, he attached numerous experimental metal bits and rings to the end of the Desperado's stub. The unicorn licked his lips, concentrating hard on his work as he sized up one structural piece after another. His mechanical lense went into overtime, rotating in and out as he attempted to concoct a mental blueprint of the new prosthetic-to-be.
Meanwhile, Logan marched up a nearby stairwell, hauling a metal crate full of rusted axes, spears, and hammers. He slapped the box down onto a table and pulled up a chair. With use of multiple sharpening stones, he inspected each weapon—one after another—and prepared to salvage what he could from the allotment. His deadpan gaze scoured the rest of the room until finally falling on the pipework opposite of the Verdestone mosaic.
Seraphimus sat calmly, munching on bleakweed as she looked at a series of parchments that had been laid on the floor before her mat. With her talons bound, she had to use her lion's tail like a prehensile limb, turning maps and ancient documents over so she could better ascertain the contents written therein.
Logan huffed and returned to his work with somber dedication.
"Labored observations: those who would be our scouts have found nothing remaining of the abandoned lunar colonies on Omega Side. It has been seven blanketed solar rotations since the last encounter with those who would be called Bloodwings.
"Prevailing theory: something of dire importance has made it more beneficial for those who would be called Bloodwings to relocate themselves elsewhere rather than perform counter-reconnaissance on that which would be the Verdestonian Expedition. Those who would be scouts believe the evidence discovered at abandoned sites suggest a swift migration Far Side.
"Personal observation: Nevertheless, she who would be Commander Gwen has taken it upon herself to issue her next few commands with more than a modicum of caution.
"Declarative statement: The latest briefing indicates that she who would be Commander Gwen has decided to send he who would be Lieutenant Warhol towards the Alpha Side to seek out more information on they who would be called the Spindlers."
Rainbow rubbed her pendant.
A ruby glow illuminated the old, rustling sheet of paper in Ariel's grasp.
Both mares hovered in place, studying the yellow'd map between them. They rotated it until the 'Omega' symbol was positioned in front of them.
Then, with calm breaths, they peered up from the parchment.
Below them stretched a sloping valley bathed in starlight. The cold earth was peppered with organic material: hundreds of thousands of overturned structures.
Rainbow looked to her side.
Fluttershy and the rest of the ghostly mares levitated nearby. The dainty pegasus looked back at Rainbow and gave a gentle nod.
Rainbow whistled, gestured to Ariel, and dove swiftly towards the ruined landscape. Ariel flew closely behind.
Soon, the two were within spitting distance of the earth. What they saw took their breaths away. The landscape was littered with the husks of tree trunks. The inner dense wood had been carved away with miraculous precision. All that remained was the bark, some of them still preserved in cylindrical fashion. Most of the husks had collapsed with time and age... and a thick sea of wood chips and mulch covered the stone floor beneath the ancient ruined forest.
Rainbow took a look at Twilight.
Twilight nodded back, confirming the sign of magical intervention from a time far-gone. Fluttershy—in the meantime—kept peering about for a hint of life that was still living.
Rarity gasped and gestured at Rainbow.
Rainbow jerked to look at her. Following the unicorn's motions, Rainbow flew over a mound of crumpled tree trunks... until she came upon the hints of a wooden shack.
Ariel's muzzle dropped. She looked on with intense fascination.
Rainbow was far calmer. With cautious steps, she approached the crooked one-story structure. Her pendant illuminated a doorframe bent under the weight of time. Peering in, she caught crates full of charred black stones. It didn't take long for Rainbow to figure out that they were ancient lunar rocks—their runes spent countless ages ago.
She pivoted about, her light illuminating a tattered velvet banner hanging from a wall above a set of rusted tools. She raised a hoof, lifting a torn length of the tapestry. Her pendant revealed the crest of Nightmare Moon, faded with time.
It was around this point that Fluttershy squeaked in a sound that was more curious than alarmed. Rainbow turned around, and her ruby eyes reflected something cold, blue, and glowing. Intrigued, she held a hoof directly over the lightning bolt of her pendant, blocking out the ruby light.
Indeed, there was a cluster of luminescent material situated in the very corner of the shack. While Rainbow looked on, Ariel crept closer. The pegasus reached a hoof out and tapped the bio-luminescent structures... which turned out to be nothing less than mushrooms. Toadstools. Concentration of fungae. The material dotting the mushrooms was alarmingly bright, and Ariel could see the sheen of her own mane in the glow. She turned to smile victoriously at Rainbow.
Rainbow exhaled warmly.
The first sign of life on the Dark Side.
It wasn't long before Ariel opened her saddlebag and began stuffing samples of the fungus into the pockets.
So normal forms of life do exist on the Dark Side.
🎶We're gonna need a montage!
Even Rocky had a Montage!🎶
Ten burpees, ):(. Knock 'em out!
Then the shrooms turn out to be toxic
Hey sup
No signs of the REALLY Discord type mess. Are they still at least partially under the firmaments influence, or is something else going on?
I don't know about you, but I hear glowing mushrooms lead to wicked hallucinations.
I smell shenanigans!
But at least Seraph is... warming up. She's definitely tamer now than before! She hasn't said infidel in ages! Whoop!
so.....food i guess? Or drugs, either one is fun
It's like a peaceful slice of life episode, dark side style. And everything is fine for once, almost hopeful and as harmonic as it can get, Seraphimus included.
Verdenstone Data Entry Transition has been added to your logbook.
Verdenstone Data Entry Traces has been added to your logbook.
At least Dashie can stay vegetarian for now. If the mushshrooms contain high traces of Chaos Metal, however, then ingesting them would probably induce seizures and hallucinations.
Also, about that shack being abandoned?
media.makeameme.org/created/its-too-quiet-0zruq8.jpg
Ancient forests, and old shack, and glowing shrooms.
Aw.
Hell.
Yeah.
Ariel, we've been over this. Dont do shrooms, just drink. Like me!
What did all those trees use as an energy source to grow that large in the first place? Nightmare forces mushrooms, from the evrelasting night research labs?
Evreyone always forgets the tail.
All Sera needs now, is a chicken.
LIFE
Good to see things are somewhat calm even Seraphimus.
Sera's starting to come around. Good, good. Her tactical expertise will prove invaluable.
-Through the path long forgotten, into the darkness long begotten. Ofolrodi.
They have found Life! Lets hope it's the edible kind.
Hopefully it's not psychedelic.
Those aren't mushrooms... they're batpony turds! Everybody knows they glow in the dark...
Oh hey, Rainbow entering an abandoned cabin? I think I'm having a little deja vu from Book One...
Well. I guess she can live off of mushrooms. In hindsight I see that there would have to be some kind of plant life. With no plants, there could be no animals.
I also think I have an answer for how plants can grow with no sunlight. It's the same reason that this world has an atmosphere, stays warmer then the depths of space and could maintain life for all the time after the breaking, all the way until the Alicorns arrived.
It was built to do so. That is to say, that the world as a whole was made by some super, over the top god-tear powerful beings. If they wanted Urohringr to act in every way like a normal planet that could support life, then I'm sure it would be child's play for them. My guess is that that's part of what the "machine layer" dose. It helps maintain life.
Don't eat the shrooms, man.
I hope they put a mana crossbow in wildcard's new limb.
Bio-luminescent mushrooms growing in the lifeless remnants of a forest chopped down by guano-producing horses in a land with no sunlight?
Yeah, that's good eatin'.
Trust the fungus!
Hey I know that one too
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Them's the good stuff.
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That looks like a Pidgeot actually.
Skarmory doesn't evolve into or from anything.
Edit: Cross referencing sprites with the silhouette, yes, that is a Pidgeot, the HGSS Pidgeot sprite, making that a Johtonian Pidgeot.
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Whoop!
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....
Yes.
Also some more tech upgrades for our robot cat bird would be awesome.
In fact Logan's arsenal, Flynn and wildcard's tech, rainbows ... Powers, and such like are all important developments for facing the dark side
Ariel just wants them 'shrooms!
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I'll feel vaguely let down if they aren't magical,
Glow in the dark shrooms? Answer is of course,
MAGICAL HALLUCINOGENS
Even if the shrooms are edible, they'll still need to find/grow more.
Magic mushrooms?
This is the first I remember hearing about the original Ring City, so that's pretty cool.
Trees?
Trees!
A Shortcut To Mushrooms.
So Seraphimus is educating herself? The Bloodwings used to have a major city nearby, not just hunting grounds? There might be a stable food supply available?
Well!
Well, murder bird has calmed down and is now reader bird.
The Five (Possible/Future) Stages of Seraphimus:
1. Denial
2. Anger
3. Reflection <- YOU ARE HERE
4. Acceptance (?)
5. Awesomeness (?!?!?)
I just wanna say... the writing style for this chapter is hella cool.
This was a really nice chapter. There are unresolved conflicts and mysteries, but this is a great reprieve from the intense battle with the changeling. Also, I saw that Sera was being semi helpful. I wonder if that is a sign of things to come.
No dialogue. Wonder if they'll all be like this.
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I don't know what you're eating, but mine don't.
I really hope there's a hallucinatory episode like in cowboy bebop or other series.
Mushrooms: the preferred meal of those without sun.
Sponsored by the end of ponies
Well, this forest is probably where they got all their wood for the airships in the first chapter... so if it's gone, that probably means no more airships, either. Either that or they've found something else to make them of, at least.
Oh now this takes me back, back to the REALLY old days of the first chapters of Austraeoh. I bet Rainbow really misses those days, when all she had to worry about was the next horizon, and not having to balance the fate of multiple worlds on her shoulders. Perhaps days like that, but better, are in her future.
10/17/2017
16:19 UTC
Blue glowing mushrooms... you mean like the ones from Terraria?
Here's hoping they're safe to eat.
I wonder if spindelers are the thing rainbow encountered in windtrow? Never less the first place she went with the fog
The fact that Flynn can just use a bunch of scrap to make a prosthetic cyberlimb is insane. Especially considering he's self-taught.
Also, mushrooms! I'd been wondering if they would be the base of the food chain around here.
Ooooh, we're in a montage anthology series now!
Old wooden shack in the middle of nowhere...
I find that those scenic chaprters of early Austraeoh are some of my favorites