For the Voyage Ahead
"Mrmmmfff..." Flynn clenched his teeth, aiming a flickering horn at a stack of gold metal shards. "Mrmmmfff... almost... g-got it... m-moving...!"
Kepler shuffled past him with a bundle of supplies over his hairy flank. "Has yourr herroic horrn recoverred, good frriend?"
"Well... erm..." Flynn fidgeted in place. Thunder rolled over the sterile precipice as he murmured, "Almost—but not fully—"
"Then save yourr telekinetic strrength!" Kepler commanded as he began assembling a crude sled out of their gathered materials. "If you shatterr yourr connection to leylines completely, then you might neverr cast magic everr again!"
"But I want to help!" Flynn frowned. "We're set to take off at any moment and the Herald can't afford for any of us to slack off—"
Heavy hoofsteps. "How're your muscles, baldy?" Logan asked, glaring down at him. "Still sore?"
"Well... n-no, actually—"
"Good." Thwump! Logan dumped a bunch of alchemic equipment over the unicorn's backside. "You wanna help? Throw out all the crap we don't need and pack up all the stuff we do need all neat and tight."
"But—"
"But what?" Logan arched an eyebrow. "You think—where we're going—we're gonna rely on your sparkly brain noodle alone? Pffft. This is the Dark Side, creampuff. Gotta brute force our way towards the horizon 'cuz it is literally all uphill from now on!"
Flynn pouted, carrying the alchemic equipment over towards where an assortment of supplies had been gathered. "I am not a creampuff."
"I'll believe it when I see some sweat kiss the twilight, buckaroo!" Logan spat, marching away. "You've got several dozen spent moonrocks to cast off! Knock 'em out!"
Kepler was waiting for Logan over by the strips of harmonic gold. "I've gatherred all I could carrry from the Gondola..."
"Well done, Kep," Logan said with a nod. "Just tell me where the heavy-as-crud stuff is and I'll haul it on over."
"To what end?" Kepler's spectacles reflected a pulse of lightning as he looked over at the remains of the Gondola. "Is not ourr intent to pack light? Surrely you can't carrry so much alicorrn metal..."
"I'd like to give it the ol' college try."
"If you must overexerrt yourrself, dearr frriend, best to do it herre than countless days laterr." Kepler's hairy brow furrowed. "While we arre in mid-trravel."
"I don't think I'll be the only one drawing the supplies."
"What arre you thinking?"
Logan tapped his chin in thought. "I'll haul the heavier stuff—like our medicine, the remaining rune stone gifts from Bleak's Plummet..."
Kepler smirked. "Ourr food supplies?"
"Shuddup, walrus." Logan gestured. "Leave the bare essentials to me."
"Then what will we need a second sled forr?"
Logan's nostrils flared. "What else?"
Kepler looked over to where Seraphimus lay dormant. "Ah. But of courrse. I suspect we can't allow herr to fly, much less trrot."
"I'd say pack a few non-essentials with her and then we've got ourselves a caravan," Logan said. "If... that's what the Austraeoh wants."
"Indeed she does."
"Now... I'm strong and all... but..." Logan shifted where he stood. "I sure as heck can't bend alicorn metal. Something tells me we're gonna have to arrange these metal planks as uniformly as we can and fasten them tightly together."
"I think I have yourr idea neatly picturred in my mind."
"Do you really?" Logan smiled sheepishly. "Because I sure as Hell can't draw a blueprint to save my butthole."
"Ha-Hah!" Kepler waved him off. "Go and fetch the largerr planks, brrotherr! Leave the engineerring to me!"
"Thanks, Kepler." Logan trotted off. "I'd ask Flynn, but I'd rather him feel as useless as possible for as long as possible."
"I heard that!" a voice cracked amidst the thunder.
"Then..." Kepler tappec his furry chin, speaking to himself. "...the next thing on our agenda is deciding prrecisely who shoulderrs guarrd-duty..."
"You can't be serious," Ariel stammered.
Wildcard merely gave a vehement nod. He gestured as well as he could with one arm—which caused him to teeter off-balance towards his left.
Ariel reached out and caught him. "Look at you, for Goddess' sake!" She frowned as thunder rolled above them. "You're on three limbs and a prayer!"
Wildcard stretched and unstretched his wings.
"And we are not making you walk on your feathertips the entire way!" Ariel huffed. "If anyone should be drawing Seraphimus' sled and watching over her, it should be Big Show!"
Wildcard gave her a blank goggled look.
"I don't care if he's the strongest among us! Two of us can draw the bigger pack of supplies if we have to! You, though? You're in no condition to watch over Seraphimus!" Ariel folded her forelimbs. "If that batshit crazy fascist gets free again—you'll be the first thing that stands in her way!"
"...good thing he's the best equipped to deal with her," Rainbow Dash said, hovering into the conversation.
Ariel gave her a double-take. "Are you serious?"
"Jee. I said what I meant, didn't I?"
"Have you noticed that Wildcard here is missing a talon? He's only three-fourths griffin right now."
"Ariel, please." Rainbow gave her a bitter smirk. "A dude's feeling."
"This is no laughing matter."
"Good. Because I'm not telling a joke." Rainbow turned to face Wildcard. "You and the Commander of the Talon go way back, right?"
Wildcard took a shuddering breath. At last, he gave a sincere nod.
"Then that makes you our ace in the hole," Rainbow said. "You two have history together. If anyone in the Herald can convince her to see reason once she's come to—it's you."
"Uhm... excuse me, but..." Ariel leaned her head in. "What good is reason when you've got a complete psychopath on your hooves?"
"Nevertheless, Wildcard's volunteered. Who else would be drawing the sled that Seraphimus is on? Me?" Rainbow Dash suffered a cold shudder. "I think the further we keep me from that griffin when she wakes, the better." She pointed at Wildcard's missing prosthetic. "And we're blessed to have eggheads like Flynn and Kepler with us. If anyone can fashion Wildcard here a temporary walking-stick until they can craft a proper prosthetic, it's them."
"Still, Rainbow... I think this whole idea is messed up," Ariel said. She winced slightly. "No offense."
"I hear ya, girl."
"I mean... hasn't Wildcard here been through enough?"
Rainbow looked at the griffin. Her eyes rested on the bo-staff lying across his back, still stained in blood. A faint glow twinkled between the feathers.
"If Wildcard wants to guard Seraphimus, I am not about to argue with him," Rainbow Dash said. "And that's the end of it."
Wildcard bowed ever so slightly.
A heavy sigh escaped Ariel's muzzle. "Fiiiiine... but then..." She gestured at Seraphimus. "...what—exactly—are we going to do to keep Sleeping Beauty in check? I mean, the chumps on the Light Side tried to bind her—and they failed."
"Hmmmm..." Rainbow Dash slicked her bangs back. She gazed at the ruined Gondola, then at the spot where Seraphimus lay. "Why do hard work..." She smirked. "...when the alicorns have done all the labor for you centuries ago?"
"I must say, Rainbow..." Flynn reached in with both hooves, licking his lips. "...this was some pretty smart thinking."
"Is it?" Rainbow sweated, fussing with a length of metal cable. "Is it really?" She and Flynn leaned back, wiping their brow. "Because it looks pretty dumb to me."
Before them, Seraphimus' body had been bound in six places. Her arms and legs had been drawn behind her back, and her wings were coiled tightly together. Every single limb was entangled in a complex array of metal cords—and each of the cords wound their way to a series of straight golden rods fetched from the collapsed Gondola. The rods acted like splints, rigidly holding Seraphimus in place like a multi-layered griffin sandwich. It was obvious from looking at the job that the Talon member would have very... very little room to move once she awoke... which is just what Rainbow and Flynn intended. Lying on the side of a hastily-crafted sled, Seraphimus resembled a delicious slice of cat-bird meat pressed tightly between two slices of golden bread.
"Dumb, it may be. But so long as dumb works..." Flynn shrugged. "...then it's more than fine in my book." He looked at her. "I'll be sure to triple-check that the cords are taut once my magic works again."
"Good stallion," Rainbow said. "Getting her to eat and use the bathroom is going to be one heck of a challenge, but we'll deal with that when we get to it."
"Or Wildcard will deal with it."
"Heh. Yeah. Exactly." Rainbow's ear twitched, and her muzzle scrunched. "'What's the safe word???' Tchh..." She frowned into empty space. "AJ, get Pinkie to shut up, please. Thanks."
"Kepler and Logan should be done with the supplies soon," Flynn explained. "And I've neatly sorted through the runes that the sarosians gave us."
"Do we have enough ammo for the trip ahead?"
"I... can't say how powerful the lunar enchantments are... at least not until my horn is back to normal," Flynn said. "But we have a sizeable amount of kersplodey rocks at our disposal."
Rainbow breathed in. "Cool."
"But... only two boomsticks."
Rainbow exhaled. "Cool enough... I guess."
"Would you rather have none?"
"Nope. Not on your life." Rainbow turned and gazed away from the world's edge. The tiny golden speak lingered slightly above the visual terrain. "I've got Ariel surveying the landscape eas—er... I mean ahead of us."
"I've been meaning to talk to you about that," Flynn said. "The compass doesn't work out here. I doubt any other conventional navigation would help us either."
"Lemme guess. The stars are all different."
Flynn nodded. "Completely. We might have to invent our own means of directions."
"But... we're essentially going west now, right?" Rainbow looked sideways at the unicorn. "I mean... compared to how we were going?"
"In relation to where the Edge was on the Light Side? Well, sure, Rainbow... but I'm not sure that metric's going to help us much now." He gestured. "Once we get barely one-fourth of the way into the shadowed madness, we're gonna have the horizon stretching wildly in all directions... at least from our perspective."
"We'll still know which horizons lead to the edges, right? I mean... all we gotta do is look up."
"Certainly." Flynn nodded. "But how easily might we lose track of where we came from with where we're headed?"
"Uhhhhh..." Rainbow fidgeted slightly. "...leave bread crumbs?"
"Heh..." Flynn smiled awkwardly. "Considering how far we've got to go between here and the Armory, we'd starve before we made it one tenth of the way." He gulped. "I hate to make things sound dire, but we're going to need to take our time and forage around the landscape. Try and find wood for fire. Food for eating. Resources for making a mobile shelter. And we gotta find it all pretty darn quick."
Rainbow's body shrank as she exhaled. "I guess I was... just fooling myself in thinking we could wing it to the Armory and zip right back, huh?"
"Even without a Trinary War to deal with, I wouldn't be surprised if..." Flynn cleared his throat. "...if it's years before we manage to see the Sunrise again, Rainbow."
Rainbow nodded. "Here's hoping awesomeness outlasts youth."
"I'm with you on that one."
"Still..." Rainbow flapped her wings and ascended towards the twilight. "...I'd better check up with Ariel. If this crazy friggin' trip is going to start, then we'd better figure out a path to take."
"We'll be ready when you are, Rainbow!" Flynn called out after her.
Kepler shuffled up, and the first thing he did was stare at Seraphimus' bound figure. "My oh my... you cerrtainly crreated a worrk of arrt with the alicorrn metal."
"Yup." Flynn sighed. "That we did."
"Still..." Kepler winced, staring at the weighty golden bars holding Seraphimus' unconscious body down. "...do you think we'rre overrdoing it a bit?"
A beat.
Flynn's fetlock slapped Kepler upside the hairy head.
Kepler blinked. "Rright." He straightened his spectacles and marched off. "Ahem. I shall go and assist Wildcarrd in crrafting a walking stick."
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looks like they are just about set, I guess all they need is for Ariel to come back from her scouting and then make their next move.
They off to see the wiza- Shit, wrong thing!
But hey, atleast they're moving now!
Well, I know who that reminds me of!
No, Kepler. There's definitely no overdoing it as far as handling Seraphimus is concerned. Also...
1) Impressive use of the leftover gondola material.
2) Heh..."birdburger".
Pretty much expected that WC was gonna be the one picked to watch Sera. He is really the best one suited for the job.
Well, technically that's just an illusion created their relative point on the inner surface of the ring compared to the position of the *blah blah blah blah*...
Anyways, I'm looking forward to what they find/have to do to survive their trip over to the armory on the Dark Side. It's gonna be a long one.
Also, I'm still expecting an ambush or something...
"tapped"
Can't wait for Sera to wake up.
I love how Wildcard was able to say a whole sentence with just a look.
I think WC wants words with his former commander.
-Through the path long forgotten, into the darkness long begotten. Ofolrodi.
Pfft, as if you went to college, Logan.
Oh don't act like you don't know what a safe word is, Dash, I'm pretty sure Roarke taught you all about them... huh, actually Roarke might not have believed in safe words, so maybe this is legit.
The bat ponies have zeppelins. You guys really need to steal one of those. It'll shave a lot of time off of this journey. Heck, the batsies has zeppelins millennia ago, so by now they might have legit high-speed rocketships. Whatever they've got, steal the crap outta it.
8222654
Wonder how she will wake up to having invented a new kind of delicacy?
Seraphimus is gonna be nothing short from livid once she awakens. Lots of shouting, struggling, and perhaps bitchbird smacking will ensue. Hopefully.
One of two things will happen with this, One, which I think is more likely, they will find some faster form of transport. Or Two we could have a time skip coming up at some point.
Seraphimus is likely going to be a raging maniac when she gets up, I suspect that Rainbow might actually let her go when she does. It seems like the kind of thing she would do at this point.
Well, this is going to be an interesting journey.
Hopefully they'll find a faster mode of transport at some point. The batponies had some kind of flying vehicles in that flashback chapter, and that was quite some time ago. Or they could really spice things up and crystal-jack something from the Shard.
Also, I wonder how long before Death-by-Feathers wakes up. The idealist in me still hopes she can be reformed, but I'm realistic enough to know that, if such a thing is even possible, it'll be a long and arduous path, with no small amount of eye-opening on her part. And if anything can open eyes, it'll probably be the Dark Side.
With the way Seraphimus is being held down I'd say they got her covered.
One panini pressed catbird coming up
So, what's the bet on Rainbow spending he remaining books on the Dark Side versus her meeting up with Shining and Cadence/coming up from the western edge?
I wonder if we're going to have chapter upon chapter of desolate Wasteland, kind of reminiscent of the grand choke. Sort of push home that lifeless vibe that The Darkside gives. I also wonder if there's any life over here other than the Trinity War? And if there is life, is it Life as We Know It?
If this is going to take years to trek over, then . . . well, I think this kind of opens my eyes up a bit. From Austraeoh to Utaan, we have come such an incredibly long way, but that was only a quarter the distance that they have to travel for them to go home. Right now, it's going to be a similar amount of time as the last stories for us to get to the Midnight Armory.
This story definitely isn't even close to over, and that is both amazing and scary. What will we face? Who might be lose? And will Rainbow stay together without the support and knowledge of the princesses and their friends and family back home? If this were the beginning of the series, Rainbow would be far better off and prepared for the road ahead, but I don't know whether or not even all the experiences from the beginning till now will be good enough to face off against what this chaotic side has to offer.
I suppose the one thing that is exactly the same as the beginning of this series is the sense of unknown, maybe even more so than the beginning, but now I have, personally, an added sense of uncertainty. I hope everything will be fine in the end.
To infinity and beyond!
If they plan on making it, they need a dark side airship.
8222735
New theory: all of the flames Dash has been finding are powered by pure souley goodness, straight from the tap. Oooh, OOH, wait...
—Morty, Utaan, 176
The soul sinkage from the light side is a relatively new thing, whereas the presumed Night Shard have been doing whatever it is they're doing for millennia, right? But we know The Machine has been searching and figuring things out basically since The Sundering, trying to preserve itself and find energy sources to move towards a fix. We believe now that it's figured out how to use 'Harmony' to do so, but what else has it figured out over the eons?
Maybe it examined the Night Shard's localized soul usage, and eventually figured out how to replicate that on a grander scale, as an emergency power source. Maybe the flames are basically powered by souls, as that's the only way The Machine has stayed operational of late?
omnomnom
Well, unless we find a Noble Jury II: Zeppelin Boogaloo or something like that.
Still, though, I can't get over how cool this whole image feels. The entirety of the world curving up ahead of you, lights twinkling in the middle from a war that's lasted thousands of years...
This is just plain awesome, ):(.
More to the point of this chapter, here's hoping our jury-rigged Gryphon-holder works long enough to keep Seraphimus from going all Shell on everybody, and here's hoping for good luck for the long march ahead.
Just kidding, there's not going to be luck. Only 40k levels of grimderp. Probably.
8222850
The noble jury appears out of nowhere and after a joyous celebration the whole crew takes fight, once again.
I can dream!
Hmm, I'm mostly interested in Seraphimus awakening, it's gonna be the most interesting character for now on in my opinion.
I feel like Rainbow it's not gonna do it, but I really, really think that once Seraphimus awake (also, let's ignore how conveniently for the plot is that Seraphimus it's the only to still be knocked out so she can be strained, and hadn't already gutted half of Dash friends, which would have proven Logan right about the whole stuff), Rainbow should get close to her, and tell her all the thrut: that Nevlas wasn't a god, all about the other side, the machine, etc etc. Of course, she won't believe her, she won't care, at the beggining but it will give her something to start believing when she starts to get her mind blowed by all the freaky suff ot the dark side. At the same time, I'm curious that if she ever turn sides, how guilty she gonna felt afterwards about all the stuff she did.
I'm waiting really that IC explores that, since, tbh, withouth Keris, Bard or Theanim; I'm not too much involved with the rest of Rainbow partners right now.
Gilded cage?
No, this catbirb gets special treatment.
Gilded straightjacket!
Still better than if things were going downhill.
Lovely how both these words for altitude change have a negative connotation
Are they not still travelling towards the right edge of a north oriented map (East)? If they crossed from the east side of the light side, they should be on the western edge of the dark side.
I'm not surre even the alicorrn metal cables are strrong enough. This is gonna be a massacrre!
8223002
Indeed.
I think Dash is hoping that like a Phoenix, Sera will rise from the Ashi, and not like an all consuming ball of fire that cant be killed off permanently.
Too many books for them just to be ambushed by Team Rockets laser cage, hauled off in their balloon to the boss on the edge of the central battlefield, only then to have to escape and go round multiple times putting all the puzzles together on a multipart fetch and trade quest just to work out how to reach the Armory in the first place?
Hm, now that the topic of resources was brought up, we have no idea how the "economy" of the dark side works. Especially when you think of all the material that was burned in the millennia of endless war. Wood and other natural materials are likely scarce or non-existent due to the lack of sunlight. The Night Shard uses some forms of crystals and the bat ponies have airships.
Coming to think of it, how do they supply their forces, even with basic things like water or food?
8222919
Well there are already some devices in the story that will probably make Seraphimus change sides.
Seraphimus lost a fuse when her family died, her whole existence was built on keeping them alive and cure them some day, Verlax was her only hope there, so she became her obedient right talon.
Then Dash 'killed' Verlax and the rest is history.
But how will Seraphimus react to a faction that will eventually inhale the essence of her family to gain power to fight a pointless war on the dark side.
Oh boy will she be pissed and with Dash being the best hope to stop those guys i wouldn't be surprised if she eventually replaces Verlax with Dash on her 'duty-meter', because whithout her she would never have learned about this.
The shard is already kind enough to send her some airships, i am sure one of those would make moving on the dark side more easy and at the same time might shed some light into their technology to trigger Sera.
Not too long till we get some angry bird/cat noises
Oh my god, my sides!
Too many good lines in this chapter. Nice to have some levity after all the heavy stuff. Also, Big Show is definitely channeling the spirit of Constable Jake!
Hmm, I wonder if Logan was in the army long before all of this...
Also, I cannot wait to see what strange plantlife and wildlife makes the Dark Side their home. It totally wont be hostile or mutated or anything like that.
Also, it would be funny if there was a place named Darkstine (totally by coincidence) on the dark side.
Heh bondage.
8222654
They'll have to put her on egg laying duty. Dash needs her supplemental vit D.
Yay, the paragraphs are fixed!
Is anybody else having to get used to daily chapters all over again? Isn't it wonderful?
It's the thrill of discovery, all over again. An entire world ahead of us, a cast of characters and a plethora of unknowns. And Rainbow Dash, doing the stupidest plan.
8222914
Well hey, once Urohringr is repaired, there'll be a whole lot more east to explore!
8222831
I dunno if it'll be a quarter total. It is if you assume that they have to go from Armory to Edge, Edge to Equestria. However, I find it hard to believe that a ringworld fragment has no maintenance shafts, or other forms of access between inner and outer.
Honestly, what I'm hoping for is for one or two of the books to deal with a re-united Urohringr. You think journeying around a single section is time-consuming? Imagine journeying around a completed ringworld, which, depending on what it was made for, might have the same circumfrence as a solar orbit.
Can't wait to see more of the Dark Side proper. I bet there's all sorts of freaky things living there.
8223083
Plump helmets, cave wheat, and fungiwood
There is a constant feeling of the journey closing to a finish around, it is indeed good to keep in mind that there's still the equivalent of the entire Ledomare arc ahead of us - far more if you assume the size of each volume to remain even remotely the same.
Note to the author: no more writing while hungry.
So, it seems that IC dealt with my objection here (8212729) with this passage:
I'm pretty excited for the way this story is going so far. The darker tone, while bleak, breathes new and fresh 'life' into the story. A change in pace that could make this part of Rainbow's journey the most interesting of all. The potential for worldbuilding and new characters is also quite intriguing, and we've already got some good snippets of it so far.
I am really glad they found a way to bind Seraphimus and aren't just relying on a friendly speech of friendship and harmony to not kill them all when she wakes up. I still believe it was the wrong move to let her live... but I can still see how she'd be useful if she can come around. I just don't think that will truly happen. Seraphimus might eventually 'join' the group but I don't think she will ever be a real part of it - and I anticipate the forces of the Trinary War will take advantage of this.
All that said, I do look forward to seeing her awaken... that's going to be one heck of a couple chapters as either Seraphimus's mind is blown by what she's seeing on the Dark side... or tries her darnedest to escape.
8223369
Yeah I'm super looking forward to the last book basically being a million-word space opera.
And now I'm caught up again! :D
Welp. I'm back, and Forward Horse and Crew are almost ready to head out. I say we have a drink before we head out, huh?
8223369
I can agree with you there; journeying back to the places we've seen would be amazing. And yeah, I can agree with you also that, maybe, the journey back won't nearly as long because of shortcuts and such. Once the Midnight Armory is activated, the machine world should be fully turned on, so who knows what will happen.
I knew it. Logan is Tweak in disguise.
8223490
Good points. I guess my thinking was literally too superficial.
Here's hoping we'll get to meet some of the natives soon.
And there's hoping they're friendly.
I have my doubts.
8223614
I wanna eat that bird sandwich even if it kills me