"Don't... d-don't leave me..." I murmured. "Don't leave me. Please. Don't..." My eyes flew open.
An alabaster ceiling of marble hung over me.
I shot up with a shout, my wings spreading. Instantly, a cloud of dark blue magic fell over my body, pressing me gently back into a plush bed. I panted, gazing sweatily out through carved marble arches laced with midnight velvet curtains. Mountains loomed, along with crashing waterfalls that glistened with moonlight. Beyond, the stars hung over the wide expanse of Equestria as a deep mist drifted over the land.
"We giveth thee our assurance, thou art not alone."
Gulping, I glanced weakly up at the source of the magic.
Princess Luna stood above me, her royal features calm and wise. There was a tranquility to her eyes, something that reflected my exhausted features with no ambitious attempt at sympathy.
"Thou hast been unconscious for quite some time, Rainbow Dash," Princess Luna said. "For a moment there, we feared that thou may never have woken up."
"How long has it been?" I asked, rubbing my head.
With a straight face, Luna icily declared, "Nine days."
I felt my eyes twitching. I squinted up at her. "Nine days?"
"Indeed."
"But... how..." I glanced at my hooves. "How am I even alive?"
"Through great difficulty hath we brought thee to this place of waking," Luna said as she slowly paced around the bed. The midnight winds blew at her mane. "I took the greater part of our powers to keep thy body within this realm, and our magics have been taxed enough as it is..."
"Where am I?" I asked.
"Canterlot," she replied. "The Midnight Wing of the Royal Palace."
"You mean this is your room?" I inquired, squinting. I tried sitting up. "Why am I not in Ponyville? Where is..." My breath left me with a guilty grimace. Gulping, I murmured, "Celestia..."
"She is... preoccupied at the moment," Luna said, and her face gazed aside.
I noticed it. As I turned to get a better look, I felt an incredible weight tugging on my skull. "Unnngh... Huh?" My hooves reached up and fumbled over a golden band. I glanced down to see the edges of the Element of Loyalty hanging from my neck. "The hay is this still doing on me?"
"Rainbow Dash..."
"I... I-I gotta get back to Ponyville!" my voice cracked. I flapped my wings and tugged at my pendant in one movement. "I left the place in pieces! I—"
Suddenly, Luna's hoof was holding me in place, positioned directly over my pendant. "It wouldst not benefit you to remove that now," Luna said. "As a matter of fact, we'd strongly advise thee not to remove it ever."
"What are you talking about?" I exclaimed. I frowned in frustration. "What's happened since I was under? Where is Celestia?"
"Our beloved sister is in Ponyville, and before thou asks, thou cannot see her."
"Yeah? Why not?!"
"For the same reason thou canst remove the Element of Loyalty from thy neck." Luna narrowed her eyes. "Doth thou not feel it? Is there not an apparent change to your senses?"
"I..." I bit her lip, flying in place. I tilted my head around, reeling from a slight dizziness. "Everything's kind of... I dunno... fuzzy. But that doesn't matter!" I shook my head and pointed out the window. "I gotta get back home!"
"Rainbow Dash," Luna spoke gravely, her tone cold yet gentle. "Thou canst return to Ponyville, not now, not ever."
"Can I ask why?"
Luna stared into my face. "Because thou art dying."
My wings stopped flapping. I fell onto the bed, gazing up at Luna in a numb stupor. Eventually, I stammered, "Dying? As in... as in 'no longer gonna be alive' dying?"
Luna merely stared at me.
"But.. But I feel..." I looked at my limbs. I didn't tremble, nor did I shiver. Nevertheless, my voice wavered, "What happened to me? Is it the Element?"
"On the contary, the Element is the one thing that is keeping thee alive currently," Luna said. "It is bringing balance to your body, through no small feat of its own. We had to spend four solid days of deep meditation in order to come up with an enchantment that would make the Element ten times as resistant to the forces of chaos. However, even our powers aren't enough to hold chaos at bay."
"Chaos?" I murmured. My ruby eyes blinked, and I gazed down at the bed. "That... that stuff that flew into me..."
"We shalt not pretend to cast judgment on thy decision to eradicate Discord; his presence was an absolute bane to Equestria. However, when his body was destroyed, his essence remained. What's more, it sought a host. We taketh no joy in informing thee that thou art now the vessel of Discord's chaos, and as soon as thou fell unconscious, it started to... manifest itself in thy body and mind. The only solution we had to ward off the effects of chaos was to seal it away with the one device that thou didst use to defeat Discord in the first place: thy Element. With our enchantment, the power of the Element hath been magnified, but it is still only a temporary salve."
"How..." I gulped. I looked up at the Princess. "How long do I have to... to...?"
"Without thy pendant, less than a day," Luna said calmly. "With the Element protecting thee, it is difficult to predict. Several months, a year at best."
I held my pendant, breathing calmly as my brow furrowed in contemplation. "Gone... J-Just like the rest of them..."
I heard what sounded like thunder.
Blinking, I gazed out beyond the windows. To the far west, in the middle of the valley, a beam of dark energy shot randomly towards the sky, like onyx lightning.
"Ponyville..."
"It still standeth," Luna said. "Our sister doth see to that."
I took a deep breath. Eventually, I wrenched my eyes bravely from the shimmering sight in the distance and gazed up at Luna. "Your Highness, tell me everything..."
Answers, what?
A solid chapter that clarifies a few things we already knew.
1) Vessel for chaos. Dash absorbed the energies and is slowly succumbing to them. Pretty sure death is implies, as opposed to Discord v2.
2) The closer to the source, the worse it is for Dash. Ponyville is west of Canterlot. West.
The rest continues to fill in the backstory we've been waiting 250 chapters for. It's actually rather interesting how much we already knew about everything from past exposition, but are getting it from the base perspective. It is analogous to Belle gathering all the information she needs, let's just hope she can remember it.
Fun Theme-y Things:
That whole transition is rather great. Belle is sobbing about Pilate into Dash upset about AJ and the mane 5.
"Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to fly over the edge of the world and deliver the Last Spark of the Elements of Harmony to the Nightmare Armory, whereupon the Elements shall be reforged and the stability of this world restored."
"I.. I'll do it. I will take the Spark to the Armory. Although... I do not know the way."
"Fear not, Rainbow Dash. Rest now, while we pack thee some provisions and a map. Time is of the essence, and so at dawn, you fly to the east."
---
((I don't know where that came from))
Also, things to try and implement:
"Up is Down."
"Sunrise is Sunset."
"Over the edge, over again."
Now you know, and knowing is half the battle.
Oh shit, so all this time she's been teetering on the brink of becoming another Discord?
...Why do I get the feeling that if and when Belle wakes her up, she won't be quite the same anymore?
Onward. To the East.
1660950
No, she's teetering on the edge of death.
1660986
But who's to say that her body won't be up for grabs for whatever is inhabiting her body after she bites the dust?
I predict future body horror.
1469455 FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOX!
Aw! When it was Dash at the start with no italics or anything I thought she was awake back in Belle-land. But this is good too. Its taken a zillion chapters and even more words, but its been worth it. Its more than a little heartbreaking how Dash was more contemplative than anything when she realized she was going to join the others in death. That, combined with the opening lines, and her last words after Axan's attack...
Things are really getting good, and I'm more psyched than ever for a Belle/Dash team up - which I'm assuming will happen at some point, for some reason, in some way. Till tomorrow!
I wonder if Dash being in stasis or whatever does anything to her chaotic nature. Would it continue as normal, or would it also be frozen in time, giving Dash a week or two extra?
Not that it matters all that much. If Belle can't get her shit straight, Dash won't make it to the Armory at all.
1661190
Which is exactly why Whitemane is showing all of this to Belle.
1660927
War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Power
The parts of this story with Belle are just so full of 1984 undertones that I can't help it
1660946 Yo Joe!!!!!
This is gunna be so awesome.....but it needs more socks.
1661208
If Belle wins victory over herself and loves Big Brother, I'm going to stab Enforcer Shell with a multitude of sharp, serrated objects. And then unleash rats to eat his face.
Perhaps just like the horcrux in Harry Potter, where Harry dies, but only Voldemort's part in him is killed. Maybe the Discord part of Rainbow has died yet Rainbow remains?
1660996>>1660986
Just saying but in "Austraeoh" every time the pendant was removed (bar one occurance) she went through what I felt could only really be described as a transformation.
Namely protusions forced their way through her forehead (like horns) her eyes always turned red on yellow (like Discords) and her body was either wracked with pains or she gained supernatural strength (the hot spring caves with the giant lizard).
There's also the fact that she's the host of the chaotic energies and usually parasites either need the host alive or kill them to make something nastier than itself.
Slave New World - Sepultura
Well there goes my theory that the dragon stole the Element, and left her for dead. Unless Belle saving her cleanses Dash of the bad stuff, which I don't see happening.
1661208
Mother of mercy I've already read two stories that ended/going to end (don't lie to me Bronystories!!) similarly to 1984 I don't need another one with the system crushing our hero....
1661534
That would be the chaos energy ripping her asunder. Death with not be pretty, or instant, but the way exposition in this chapter describes it the implication is that she'd die. I suppose we'll find out next chapter if that also means the re-birth of Discord. Luna and Celestia seem to know what they're doing, though, if Dash was a risk like that I seriously doubt they'd send her eastward.
1661534
The question I'm asking, though, is this: Is the parasite even inherently evil? Chaos isn't evil. Discord was evil because, well, he was an insufferable asshole.
Granted, so far it's done nothing but torment Rainbow Dash, and at the beginning of Eljunbryo it was stated that all of the land around her body was charred, warped and devastated. So maybe I'm just speculating futilely.
ONWARD AND EASTWARD!!!
1661597
Unless it was the only way.
1662080
The implication from the chapter where she destroys the statue—an implication that answers the question of why Discord is in stone in the first place—is that Discord was a living embodiment of Chaos, thus killing him meant releasing that energy across the world. Therefore the best way the Elements could deal was to freeze him. When Dash destroyed the statue she opened the chaos rift in Ponyville by letting all that chaos seep. In the process, she also absorbed some of it. If Dash were at risk of becoming a threat like Discord was they would have stoned her, or otherwise kept her immobile. Rather, I think she's going east because reaching the Armory means freeing Celestia from holding the rift shut. (Perhaps also bringing back the Elements somehow, and maybe even letting Dash join the spirits of her friends or some such, hopeful but doubtful).
Unreliable Narrator, Untrustworthy Official. Things are not always as they appear. The Enforcers say a lot of things.
Holy mother of information...
I'd like yo focus on what part in particular.
That first of all clearly explains the necessity for Dash to always leave the pendant around her neck. Not really much to debate about there. It proves the blood forming on those two spots in her forehead, the feeling of something trying to break through... it all links to her being the vector for discord's discord. The spirit is in her, and it's only a matter of time until the body is taken over too.
So, the fact that Dash is definitely dying and only has about 1 year left to live brings up an interesting idea. If from that time she only had a year left to live, then she should be in a worse state then she is now, right? Well, I'm pretty sure it has to have been more than a year since then, and we don't know if Dash is alive or not. I may be just being optimistic, but I think she is still alive.
I mean, why wouldn't she be if everypony still has such a high level of interest in her. The Ledomartian council still obviously wants answers, and answers that they can probably only retrieve from a living being as opposed time a dead one. So given the fact that they haven't given up must be a sign that she's still alive.
And then of course, there's Whitemane. (Who btw I am still very surprised is such a big part of the story, I didn't think we'd hear much of her, at least not this much.) Whitemane clearly still senses some urgency into bringing the wind to Austraeoh. So if even Whitemane is still so adamantly focused on Dash, she must be still alive. If anypony is going to know if Dash is alive or not, it would be Whitemane.
So it's just more speculation, but I get the feeling that either it hasn't been a year since Dash was "diagnosed" with a severe case of Chaos, or the prediction of only having one year is incorrect. Or of course, we have a Discord-Dash.
Onwards!
Oh wow I just caught up didn't I? That's what happens when you 54 chapters in three days.
1663225
Welcome. I know the feeling.
1662104
The idea of the Midnight Armory somehow closing the chaos rift makes more sense than it being a vessel for the resurrection of Dash's friends. First, it doesn't match SS&E's style to have such a happy ending, but that in itself doesn't mean anything concrete. Perhaps he's trying something new. Everything that happened in Austraeoh, however, indicates that RD considers this a one-way trip. She has refused to get tied down anywhere for any reason. The sole exception to this rule would be her confrontation with Axan, which seems to have been a fated encounter anyway. Other than that, her actions have been consistent with a pony who has no regard for her own future because she knows it doesn't exist.
1662368
Luna and Celestia never spoke of Dash being the "spark," nor have they contacted Belle about the "wind." Whitemane seems to be the only one who knows anything about anything at this point. The Princesses must have missed something big in that regard. By their estimation, Dash should probably be dead by now, and yet as you pointed out, there are a lot of powerful players still vying for her body/memory/essence, which lends credence to the idea that she is still alive in some capacity, if only minimally so. If I were to guess (and I will), the main conflict of Eljunbyro will be Belle racing against time with Whitemane as her pit crew/manager, to overstretch the metaphor.
I think in just a few chapters, the major questions from Austraeoh will be answered. Now, all that's left are the questions from this story. Good lord, Colon, hurry the heck up with these answers.
Yes, Luna. Please exposit the story for us.
All of Discord's phenomenal chaotic power, none of his good humor. I wonder if Discord himself had once been a mortal host for the powers of chaos?
Well, there's our answers again. Although, most of it could be pieced together along the duration of Austreaoh.
Also explains her utter recklessness on her journey.
A message from MASH-
So I'll be gone skiing for a few days. I'll be coming back Sunday night, when the evaluations will hopefully resume. I tell you this because I don't know if the place we rented has wi-fi or not. But I suppose we'll find out soon, won't we?
IIIIIt's Dashie's Ninth Marathon Evaluation Time!
So we get a bunch of Austraeoh exposition in this chapter. I'm not really sure what to make of it, though...it seems to detract from the original mysteriousity that made Austraeoh so compelling. I suppose it would have to be explained to us eventually, but I don't know that I like it...Also, just a note that I'd like to add. Back in Austraeoh, many of the regular readers,( being myself, Ledomare, Mintelle, Pilate, etc.,) came up with the theory that each story arc had an Elemental theme to go along with it. For example, Loyalty for Windthrow and Magic for Darkstine. The two Elements left over at the end were Honesty and Kindness. Thus far, Eljunbyro seems to be written in the style of one large story arc, with seemingly no Elemental theme. But just keep your eyes peeled for any Kind or Honest events you see going forward. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
P.S. So...long story short, they didn't have wi-fi.But that's okay, 'cause I'm back now! And it's the first Marathon of Eljunbyro! Yay!Haven't done this in a while, but we'll see how it goes.
1661760
It saved her once. That sphere of sand at the sandstorm.
I listened to some Alan Rickman lines from the third Harry Potter movie before reading this chapter, and now I can't read Luna's lines in any voice but his...
On a more related note, I would not want to be Dashie right now. Not now, and not at any point in the future of this story... Poor girl, she never asked for that. Damn Discord brought all this down on her by trying to have his way with the world. I guess now we're getting to understand why she's so... alone. Downtrodden.
1861215 i know its late but take a few turns for me would ya?
only got up once this year, life kinda got in the way
So much exposition... I can't handle the knowledge!
4090853
So, in other words, you're saying you can't handle the truth?
LunaDash? Kinky.
And the adventure begins.
I can't even begin to fathom what it's like being told you are going to die...especially right after you lose all your best -and in rainbow dash's case, only- friends in this world....
And it had to be my favorite pony...Who just 2 weeks ago (to rainbow it probably feels like 24 hours) was soaring happily over a sunlit ponyville. shifting clouds around, napping, playing with Tank, Loop de looping willy nilly. Not a care in the world...Now this...
All the terribly morbid and nostalgic feelings...This is hands down THE overall BEST fanfic I have ever read. I was intimidated by the sheer number of chapters in the first story in this trilogy, but im glad i decided "what the hay, lets try it". Best decision ive ever made on fimfiction.
...i dont know why i didnt do this earlier.
[favorite]
1660927 Midnight Armory
So I took a long ass break from reading this, forgot about it, then notice another story is out. So time to get butt into gear and catch up !
Edit: Wait a sec this is not were I left off!
So Dash is on the clock, now where does the eastward journey come into play?
So, is it really actually Discord's magic that is the problem, and not Discord himself? That puts a slightly different twist on things.
The question is; now that Dash's body seems to be dead already, will bringing her back also bring back the chaos? If not, then things just got a lot better for our co-protagonist.
If so, then...
Well, things just got a lot more interesting.
I wonder; with Dash's body a ticking time-bomb, does that make her Al, and Belle Ed?
Interesting development right there. I mean, we all kinda knew it already, but it's nice to have it stated for us. Discord was indeed sealed away in Dash, but now that she's kinda dead, will he be gone forever? Or will he come back when Dash is somehow revived?
~SolidFire
As effectively serious as these past several chapters have been, I couldn't help but smile at that.
Well, now this is all beginning to feel very clear. Cool.