Darkreach Chronicles, Part Three
"Repetitious overview: The function of that which would be the Verdestonian Expedition here in what would be called Darkreach—as fundamentally orchestrated by they who would be the Emeraldinian and Cylindrimanian Councils—is to endeavor to find a way to reach that which would be called the Midnight Armory and acquire that which would be called the Harmonic Prism.
"Current assessment: Chance of success in forging a path towards that which would be called the Midnight Armory is becoming increasingly difficult. While the missions conducted by he who would be Lieutenant Warhol have provided much information and reconaissance, the patrols are only proving more and more that there is severe peril and hardships to be had by those courageous—or suicidal—enough to venture further past an unmarked parallel of phenomenal importance."
Rainbow Dash and Ariel glided over arid plains and plateaus.
The landscape beneath them was the same slate gray and dull blue as the rest of the Dark Side behind them.
Nevertheless, the two persisted in their flight, piercing the curved horizon between Alpha and Omega.
At one point—after countless hours of flying—Rainbow Dash's brow furrowed. She squinted at the landscape ahead of them and slowed her wingflapping.
Ariel noticed the shift in momentum when she realized that she and Rainbow were descending. She opened her muzzle to say something.
Rainbow held a hoof up. She dove towards the ground in a prismatic blur.
Clenching her muzzle shut, Ariel flew after her. Soon the two were perched on a jagged precipice.
Both pegasi huddled under dull purple twilight. At last, Rainbow Dash crept forward and peered over the cliffside. Ariel shimmied up until she was lying down beside the mare. Her muzzle hung agape.
It turned out that the two ponies were teetering on the edge of a massive rift. A trench lay beneath them. Beyond that was a dense valley of... something. Stretching... yawning before the two mares was a massive plain dotted all over with organic structures. They didn't resemble trees and they didn't resemble fungae. The closest thing Rainbow could mentally compare them to was ocean kelp... only there was no water. The incalculably tall stalks drifted and swayed... only there was no wind.
Rainbow and Ariel exchanged glances. Eventually, Rainbow motioned towards Ariel's side with her head.
Ariel looked aside. She found a small rock. Grasping it in her fetlock, she awaited Rainbow's signal... then tossed the object down into the "forest."
The stone was barely ten meters above the "treetops" before—
Th-THWPPP! The tops of multiple stalks ejected featureless probiscuses that lashed and thrashed at the falling projectile. One lucky structure caught the offensive object, wrapping its prehensile stinger three times around the stone before violently sucking it back into its previously-unseen orifice. Once entering, the rock made an offensive lump that traveled slowly and grotesquely down the height of its stalk.
Ariel grimaced. Rainbow gulped.
The two backed away from the sight beneath them—with Rainbow hanging only slightly behind. She hovered a few meters above the cliff's edge to survey the area around her. She looked towards her right—towards Omega—and saw a solid cliff-face stretching as far as her mortal eyes could see. She made a similar glance to her left—towards Alpha. The same straight edge sliced towards a vanishing point. The plateau that brought Rainbow, Ariel, and the spirit of the Heraldites there ended at a savage hundred meter drop... and the alien forest stretched as far as the two pegasi could venture to guess.
"Casual observations: There are creatures and plants and insects here that are so bizarre, so alien, and so otherworldly that they defy classical scientific observation. The reason why they defy observation is that there is no conceivable way to get viable samples without risking life, limb, or—even worse—technology.
"Somber statement: He who would be Lieutenant Warhol has already lost nearly half a dozen of they who would be loyal soldiers under his watch. I who would be Chief Engineer Ranort do not blame he who would be Lieutenant Warhol for this unfortunate turn of events. Deaths were an inevitability in that which would be called the Verdestonian Expedition. Surely he who would be Onyxxus knew this which is why he forwarded such a project to they who would be the Twin City Councils with such a heavy heart.
"Personal assessment: I who would be Chief Engineer Ranort am troubled by my inability to sufficiently assist he who would be Lieutenant Warhol and she who would be Commander Gwen. It was long taught to me by the who would be technologically senior that science is the true path towards ascension.
"Honest refrain: What is transpiring here is something that simply cannot be contained by science—at least not to the extent to which I who would be Chief Engineer Ranort can understand it. For reasons that cannot properly be explained, the desolation of the Dark Side gives way to pure and unfettered alien wilderness that begins approximately five kilometers Curveward from the location of that which would be called Darkreach. At the same time, those who would be the unclassified denizens of this realm do not venture Edgeward past the inexplicable cliffface that separates all. While it is fortunate for that which would be called the Verdestonian Expedition that we are not consistently assaulted by these unpredictable hazards, it only makes the mission to that which would be called the Midnight Armory that much more difficult."
"To make it brrief..." Kepler sipped from a canteen and gazed across the metal map of the HQ room. "...Chief Engineerr Rranorrt was deeply trroubled by his findings."
"Well, he was pretty darn accurate," Rainbow muttered, standing beside Ariel and Logan. "The desolate landscape does—in fact—end at a sheer drop about five kilometers Curveward."
"What kind of a drop are we talking about?" Logan asked.
Ariel "dove" her hoof down and made a whistling noise... followed by. "Plunk!" She looked at the others with worried blue eyes. "Right into a bunch of hungry grass!"
"Hungry grass...?" Logan squinted. "Based on most coffee clubs I've been to, it works the other way around, girl."
"She's being literal, Big Show," Rainbow droned. "There's a big freakin' forest of... like... five-story-tall demon weed." She gulped. "And when we tossed a rock down into the whole mess, they slurped it up like a brussel sprout."
"Why not just say 'meatball?'" Ariel remarked.
"Do you forget who you're listening to?"
"Ah. Heh. My bad."
"Meh."
"A forest of rock-eating trees..." Logan was already grimacing. "And was there any clear path through this shit?"
Rainbow shook her head. "Not that we could see. We flew about a mile towards Alpha and then back the same distance towards Omega to check."
"But we didn't fly much further," Ariel said. "We had little resources and needed to come back, after all."
Logan sighed heavily. "I hate to say it, folks. But if we can't find a path through a pony-eating backyard... then I'm not sure we're gonna get all that friggin' far in this safari of ours."
Kepler spoke up: "I grreatly suspect that therre is a way thrrough the mess," Kepler said with a smile. "I've not had time to arrrange the crrystaline data crrystals at ourr disposal. So—I've been listening to ourr beloved Ranorrt's audio logs out of orrderr."
"Yeah? And?" Rainbow blinked. "Did any of Wormhole's expeditions make it through?"
"Warhol," Kepler corrected. "And to answer your question—yes. However, I've yet to learn how."
"Well, what did they find out there?" Logan asked.
Kepler fidgeted. "It... is difficult to explain."
"Keps..." Logan folded his forelimbs, huffing. "Do you have a job or don't you?"
"Please be patient with me, brrotherr. Evidently, the Cylindrrimanians werre nothing if not thorrough in the depths to which they made notes of things!" He smiled in spite of the situation. "I've no doubt that I will be able to piece an entirre picturre togetherr in due time!" He suffered a prolonged sigh. "I simply took a brreak because I feel terrribly forr our illustrrious engineerr of olde. Turrns out he was quite vexxed at the rreporrts that came in frrom Warrhol's crrew."
"I don't blame him," Rainbow said. "I'm pretty vexxed by what Ariel and I saw ourselves."
"Well, maybe it's not so bad," Ariel said. "We've got one thing Ranort didn't."
"Oh yeah?" Rainbow looked over. "What?"
"You." Ariel slapped a hoof over the edge of the desk. The pins lifted, fell, and lifted in fluid motion. Eventually the rusted metal landscape "shifted" from the mesa, gradually sloping upwards until it came to an abrupt end at a straight-edged neverending cliff. "This is what we have mapped five kilometers Curveside from Darkreach. And what's the distance anyone would venture to guess is between here and the Edge?"
Kepler's brow furrowed. "Why... I would say ten kilometerrs."
"Yeah." Logan nodded. "Twelve tops."
"Okay... so..." Ariel pointed. "About fifteen to seventeen kilometers from the plane's Edge is this big frickin' scar. And—look—from the shape of the gigantic stone plateau sloping upwards from place we left Axan's corpse... doesn't it look sorta like some severe cataclysm happened ages ago?"
"The Sundering..." Rainbow murmured.
Ariel looked at her. "What have you in your travels learned, Rainbow, that Ranort couldn't possibly have figured out on his own centuries ago, even with all the Cylindrimanian smarty-pants at his disposal?"
Rainbow took a deep breath. "That there are several planes. More than one of them." She gulped. "That this world came from an entire ring... from Urohringr."
"Maybe... just maybe..." Ariel gestured. "...something to do with the Sundering has made this whole land—this whole plateau—super duper inhospitable to all life trying to settle here." She looked aside. "Glowing mushrooms and forcibly planted forests aside."
"It would also suggest that the Sunderring was everry bit as severre as the verry name entails," Kepler remarked. "What's to say therre werren't a myrriad of harrmful elements at play... perrmanently scarring the landscape so close to this plane's edge when the porrtions of Urrohrringrr separrated?"
"If... that's true..." Rainbow blanched. "...then how come we didn't see any of that in Rohbredden?"
"Who says we didn't?" Logan remarked.
"Huh?"
Logan shrugged. "The alicorns blessed the Light Side, remember? There're oceans flowing and forests growing and squirrels having sex all over the place there." He raised an eyebrow. "The Sundering's scar has scabbed over."
"Lest we forrget..." Kepler waved a claw. "The Six Trribes werre in turrmoil... fighting overr a frrozen landscape. It took Verrlax's intervention—howeverr malevolent in the end—to turrn the sole continent at the Edge into something rremotely 'civilized.'"
"Okay... I'll buy that." Rainbow took a deep breath. "So... what does that mean for us?"
"Things get hella harder at the cliff's edge five kilometers from here," Logan said. He looked up. "And the next order of business is finding a path through it."
"Or how to clear our own path."
Logan's nostrils flared. "I think the former is a Hell of a lot easier than the latter." He flexed a muscle. "Unless you want me to grab my axe and start monster-weed-whacking."
"Ugh..." Rainbow rubbed her head.
"'Ugh' is right," Ariel remarked.
"Kepler, keep listening to Ranort's blargh."
"Aye, Rrainbow One."
"Logan, keep putting together an arsenal. Ariel?" Rainbow turned and trotted out of the room. "Get some rest."
"Rest?" Ariel winced. "What about you?"
"Gonna talk to Flynn about some stuff."
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I had a funny feeling that these guys weren't just going to the Dark Side for shits n giggles.
....I'm tempted to make a hentai joke, butt fuck it
Gotta love the fact that these guys value technology over their lives! They remind me of the Adeptus Mechanicus!
Well...that right there is a whole forest of "nope", mhmm.
Broken tag here.
8349645
Holy fuck I managed to post just one second before you did O_O
That's one forest best left alone that's for sure.
Actually, the Starkiss could be one. I remember it being described as a giant rift, and I speculated back then that it might have been the site of an ancient impact, but maybe it was a remnant of this type of 'cataclysm canyon'. Also, the main feature that Rohbredden has that could be covering up all sorts of scars is ocean, and just the fact that there's so much lowland to hold ocean may be telling. Those ancient tales of a civilization falling into the ocean around the Quade could also have been true: maybe a landmass was weak from this sort of damage, and finally collapsed. Further back, maybe some of the features of the Choke were more of this.
Its the Grand Choke all over again, except this time theres no Controlling Tower they have access to with the Machine World to raise the Masada Causeway?
Two main things, leaving room for author fun. Standard is somehow Flynn works out how to create an air vessel with enough capacity to carry the non flyers and equipment. Crazy is Forbidden Voyage. Flynn builds a Tank, and Dash and Logan get some of that kelp, transplant it on the top and they drive through the forest under violent carniverous camoflage?
Freaky organic thoughtless tentacles?
Yeah... Nope!
Ah, now here comes the chaos, though it is still pretty tame so far. On another note this story has exceeded one hundred thousand words already. Here's to many more to come
Even Smokey the bear would tell people to get matches for that forest.
That sure is one heck of a forest. Gonna need several flamethrowers for that one.
I wonder what Dash is going to talk to Flynn about?
8349645
A whole forest of nope rope.
Mutant venus fly traps.
Sounds like fun.
-Through the path long forgotten, into the darkness long begotten. Ofolrodi.
Now we know why the Bat-ponies had to build Airships to move out far-side. I think perhaps it's time RD and crew seriously started considering a new mode of transport. Nobody travels across the world on foot. In most stories and books I've read, they would be on horses. As that can't be done here, a large vehicle they can ride in would be a boon. An Airship would be optimal, but unlikely at this point.
A hundred thousand words in and they've only about 10 kilometers from the edge. I guess IC wasn't kidding when he said this one would give Utaan a run for its money in terms of length.
Not that I'm complaining, of course.
As for the "demon weed", we know that flying contraptions are a thing on the Dark Side. Finding one of those would be pretty nifty.
How is Rainbow not beyond exhausted at this point? Is she stealing energy from Applejack and the rest?
What they need is an airship... or perhaps a spaceship. Hopefully there is enough tech leftover in Darkreach to make one. If not, they're gonna have to weed whack their way across.
So she's gonna help them build a crude manaship, powered by pegasi and gryphons, and kept aloft with Flynn's magic and various enchanted crystals.
Yeah, easy peasy...
-.-
Wow, we're getting all Ultima up in here, what with the deadly lawn that will kill you.
Maybe the way past the Slurping Forest isn't "around" it so much as there's a way beneath it?
Welcome to Happy Valley!
Ayy, classic.
8349832
Hope they cope & don't get groped. Yeah, my rhymes are dope. Uh... allotrope.
There are so many chances for silly jokes here.
You know, some ponies might be terribly offended.
orig02.deviantart.net/3aa8/f/2014/208/d/4/it_s_crunchy____by_zacatron94-d7shkh0.png
Of course not. Who would want to travel edgeward?
By the way this chapter is pretty edgy. The word edge is used 10 times (11 if you include edgeward). With a word count of 1897, we have one edge for every 190 words in this chapter.
Yes, I am bored.
Hey... She's no rainbow but that a bit harsh.
8350179
Um... Can't pagasus / pegasi pull carts through the sky?
The Grand Choke had deep scars of mechanically angled pits for canyons, and those never really ended, because the Rohbredden Ocean began, and the ocean probably hid and/or weathered away these sundering-scars.
Here on the Dark Side there is no ocean to cause any weathering, so similar sundering-scars should be present.
One has to ask why the Dark Side's magical environment is nothing like the Grand Choke or Blighted Sea?
8350465
They still have to build one, and that hasn't ever been a real theme in this tale. If it was they'd have easily flown the Herald across the divide... With the exception of Chandler before his glorious end, there hasn't been a mention of pegasi pulling carts for a long time. ..
8350571
Perhaps the topside was the outside of the bend? Maybe we will run acros mountians on this side
If a tentacle demon tree falls in the dark side and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?
8350139
The crystal ponies from the night shard, who probably hail from the leftovers of that expedition already were so nice to send them one i think.
So, the spindlers are not spiders. They're so much worse. They're a forest of tentacle trees.
8350605
You are correct in that the "light side" was the outward face of urohringr, but as to the Grand choke, all I could really hypothesize is that the chaos it got blasted with was of a different overall frequency or something. Or perhaps it is a scar from the sundering as well, just not one that split the plane.
8350889
I thought Velax put it there. To what end, I don't know, maybe to test rainbow? She certainly liked doing that.
More mysteries to explore. I look forward to the next one.
8349757
Only you can cause forest fires.
If only they could all fly over it. Or go under it. Maybe they can navigate the machine world to get to the other side
And that reminds me that we still don't have Book 8 added to the Austraeoh worldmap. We need that thing pronto.
Not to mention that the Dark Side Map needs to be started, too.
8350590
Well, if push comes to shove, 4 of the 6 members of the Herald can fly, surely Kepler and Wildcard are strong enough to heft Logan, Ariel can lift Flynn, and since Pegasi flight magic seems to extend to whatever they're hooked to, just hook Dash to Sera's sled and tow her across.
Even if the need for wheels is somehow related to that, then it shouldn't be too hard to fashion some wheels out of the spare parts laying about.
8351508
Grab your hoses and load the tanks with Liquid Nope,™ because we have a whole forest of nope rope to burn.
Edit: Hap beat me to it.
"HEY!"
Two occasions in the fight with the changeling, and now this one — ):( really likes having things wrap three times around other things, doesn't he?
Damn nature! You scary.
A truly alien world - hostile, terrible and inhospitable to the extreme. Environmental dangers of the most horrifying kinds on top of the inhabitants of that plane.
Magnificent.
"This ecological biome matches 7 of the 9 preconditions for stimulating terror in humans."
"Hello, Kepler? This is the Department of Redundancy Department calling. We'd like to inform you that we're calling you to inform you of our call. Thank you for your time. Goodbye, and thank you. For your time."
8354775
He just rrrreally likes words with an Rrrr in them.
8350904
It is a little of both. The partial exposure to chaos left it relatively lifeless. Verlax's tampering with the machine world kept it that way by blocking all magic in it. My theory, anyway.
Now I have to wonder if these tendril forest things are a forest of individuals, or are they a single interconnected clonal colony like Pando? Makes me wonder.
How interesting. I have a feeling that if this forest is supposed to be a prelude to what we will soon be to come, then they will have a bad time. We haven't even scraped the surface of what kind of awful, Lovecraftian horrors that are inhabiting this plane.
General Lemarc wished he wasn't reading this at midnight.
Hey Primaris, did you lose any techmarines in a time-travel related incident?
I like the hostile kelp things. Excited to see how they manage to get through that mess.
8349958
Plenty of horses to ride.
They've definitely got their priorities straight.
With all the flying around together Rainbow and Ariel clearly have been/will be doing, if they haven't just dropped down and banged at least once I'd say there was something seriously wrong with them. Screw the floaty ghost friends, they can look away. Or not, if they get off to it.